Lost and Found... Hopefully? [Open]

Oh man. Oh man. This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all. In fact, it could have been called the absolute opposite of good: bad. Who knows how grilled Hisao would end up if it happened that the higher-ups found out that his armband had gone missing? He had it on the last time he had a formal thing to go to.

Of course, he didn't regularly wear the emblem unless he had to, so it wasn't like the sight of Hisao shambling around the Seireitei was entirely out-of-place, but he definitely had to find the thing before he caught flak for it. Of course, he had half a thought of just running back into the 9th Division and just making do with throwing together something from cardboard. That was totally a thing, right?

The way he wandered around and looked concerned, it might have looked that Hisao Miyanagi, hapless 9th Division Lieutenant, was merely lost.

"...."

"...."

This...was awkward. Both men felt the awkward air about them as they walked.

Masaru let out a silent breath; Kaimu had...come to him saying he needed to ask something, but then the dual eyed male had clammed up.

Neither had spoken beyond that and were now about the Seireitei walking...

"So-"

"Ah-"

Again, they both silenced themselves.

"Shirakawa-" Before Kaimu could get a word of his request out...he caught something out of the corner of his eye.

Glancing to Masaru, it seemed he'd noticed as well.

There was a shinigami wandering around, which was nothing unusual, but he seemed pretty worried.

Masaru was the first to step forward, moving over to meet the person where they were greeted with a kind smile.

"Afternoon, I apologize if I'm imposing, but is everything alright?"

Kaimu approached as Masaru spoke greeting the man himself with his own bright smile.

It seemed asking Shirakawa's assistance to help him in cooking for Lakshmi would have to wait.

Did he even have cardboard stowed away? This was a pretty good question to pose, seeing as if there were no means to get cardboard at all, he was probably best off just going around and keeping up the search for his actual thing. Were there spare armbands? He had never seen one around. Then again, Hisao had never heard of someone losing their armband quite like this. In battle? Sure. But in his professional career, he didn't know what dark fate lie ahead if he were to go in without the whole symbol thing.

He would have speculated further, if Masaru hadn't brought him out of his reverie. The flummoxed shinigami glanced over, and spoke in his most intelligent voice.

"Uh."

It took his brain some backtracking to filter out what Masaru had said, and then a little longer to process the question. Hisao took the last part of Masaru's speech as a suggestion. He smiled and shrugged, throwing up a thumbs-up. "Sure, we'll go with that. Everything's totally alright."

"A-Ah, alri-"

Everything was alright...

We'll go with that?

Masaru blinked, though realized a crucial mistake in how he'd approached this person. How could he have forgotten!? He felt somewhat ashamed at his thoughtlessness.

"Ah, right! I'm Masaru Shirakawa, Captain of Sixth. I apologize I should have introduced myself first." A sheepish chuckle was given as his hand moved up to rest on the back of his neck, "and the other shinigami with me i-"

"Kaimu Miura~" Kaimu chimed, his tone pleasant; "Assistant to the Captain of Fourth."

"R-Right, I noticed you seemed a bit worried so I approached you to see if there was anything you needed help with."

"Oh, yeah. Don't worry about pleasantries; I know both of you. Being Gotei 13 brass kind of makes you guys a big deal. Hisao Miyanagi, from ninth division. Cool to meet you, all the same. And uh," he frowned for a moment, considering the question. What were they so caught up o- oooh, right. The emblem. Fuck. He had almost forgotten himself.

"It's nothing I could trouble you two with. I mean, going by how you two are acting, it looks like you two need to figure out something more than I do."

"I see, well, it's nice to meet you." Masaru answered, though...

Nothing to trouble them with... Looked like the two of them needed to...figure out something more than he did. The noble blinked at that, glancing over to Kaimu to see he'd averted his eyes, shortly after a moment of silence though, Kaimu spoke up.

"Aa~ Aa~, It's nothing much; I just needed to ask a...aha, favor of him." Kaimu answered, giving a chuckle despite the amount of awkwardness he felt within him, though he was careful to not let that show. "Ne~ Ma-sa-tan~"

Masaru wasn't sure of how to take that tone...

"I needed to learn a few things with...cooking.... For Lak-tan..." He stated, glancing away again; "She likes your curry best...Mia's busy with...helping me with things, as well as dealing with sweets."

That... A-Ah! That's what he wanted? Just help with cooking? Masaru felt slightly relieved, if it was that then it'd be no problem.

"That's not a problem, none at all." He answered before turning back to Hisao with his smile back in place. "I apologize, it's just family things."

Kaimu could hardly believe that word had left Masaru's mouth. F-Family things!? Well, he wasn't wrong...but...weh.

"Right, right~ Hehe~ I used to be a member of Ninth myself; Norma-tan's been quite busy though, I haven't had a chance to visit..." Kaimu stated, giving a laugh; this person was a member of Ninth then! Perhaps it was the workload that troubled him? Norma was a strict captain...

"Yeah, pleasure's all mine."

Oh boy. Kaimu sure went off on those namedrops something fast, and with terms of endearment, too. At least they had turned back before they had completely lost him. From what Hisao could piece together, it was something along the lines of Masato being homemaker extraordinaire and Kaimu getting in on that.

Hisao could see the good captain putting in a good curry. Funny how Kaimu looked so flustered at the mention of familial matters, though.

"Well, yeah. It was kind of a stir when you up and disappeared into the void. Uh, congrats on the whole pardon thing, by the way. I'm sure boss'd love it if you'd drop by. Probably."

Kaimu gave a nod, "Aha, yeah; I try to find times to stop by, we have tea on occasion!"

The man had, for now, halted in his awkwardness towards familial matters -- it was...just weird considering how the two of them were; it was partly his fault things were so awkward, but it wasn't something so easily fixed considering their meeting circumstances still along with his own actions...

Masaru had quieted some, letting the two of them talk; perhaps the two had some common ground, Kaimu was once a part of Ninth, after all.

"It's good to be back, I caused a lot of trouble -- sorry about that." Kaimu's smile was apologetic, though he still believed in his reasons for leaving... He had caused a stir though, and needed to own up to that.

"It is what it is. Just you do you and things will probably sort themselves out eventually?"

Oh man. Like this courtesy call was pretty nice, but he had to figure out the whole armband thing at some point. If he drove on further in the conversation, it wasn't like it would sap the daylight away, but seriously, it would probably be best if he tabled everything 'til after he found it.

"Right, well, uh. Better get back to looking for my armba- er..."

Shit! He let it slip. He laughed nervously and scratched his head.

"Well, I mean, I guess the cat's out of the bag now! I lost my armband, which is why I'm milling around. It's not the end of the world but I don't want to rock the boat the next time something formal comes up..."

"Right!" Kaimu answered, giving a happy chuckle before Hisao went to excuse himself- eh? Armba? He blinked, glancing at Masaru who also seemed a bit confused about the fact the man had cut himself off before-

Oh. The armband, the lieutenant's armband.

Kaimu wasn't entirely sure of the protocol for those, considering he'd never been a lieutenant, but they were important... That much was obvious to anyone.

"I see, hm..." Masaru looked thoughtful for a moment; "I could put in a request for a replacement, if you'd like? Your badge has to be around somewhere, but a spare is always good?"

"Oh, spares are a thing? Yeah, that sounds fantastic. If it's no trouble to you I'd really appreciate it."

They were a thing! Plus, the captain that he spilled the beans to didn't chew his ear off! That worked out more perfectly than Hisao could ever hope for. Okay, it was a bit less convenient than the damn badge just falling into his lap, but there was a point where wishful thinking just stepped outside the realm of feasibility.

A mix of relief and half-baked enthusiasm bubbled up from Hisao's guts, quelling his microquakes of panic. He sighed and stooped a little, deflated from how much he had worked himself up scrambling around earlier.

"Yeah, I was freaking out a little, but it looks like it shouldn't be too bad."

He began to scan the horizon again. If he were an armband, where would he skitter off to?

Masaru gave a nod, glad that was the thought that had come to his mind. "Yes, it's good to have them around, so I'll place the request in for you and send word when I've done so."

A message through hell butterfly would be simple enough to send, once he had the request sent through he'd let the lieutenant know. After that, the man would be able to have his badge on hand.

Seeing the relief that appeared in Hisao's face made Masaru happy to have been able to of helped.

A nod was given at his words; "Right, things should be just fine."

Looks like the lieutenant would be fine, that was good, Kaimu felt so... It would be good if he could remember where his first armband had gone missing though. Best case scenario would be if the man would remember where he'd last had it and see if he left it there...the worst case would be if it just fell out at random while he'd been on a walk...

"Yeah. Now all that's left's the business of actually finding it."

Hisao was seriously putting a tracking kido onto everything he owned of import, now. All of this work was a serious hassle... He began dusting off the catacombs of his long-term memory, trying to piece together the movements that he had over the last few days. Well, paperwork. There was definitely that, and he had been on top of that, but before that...?

...Not too much outdoorsy things, huh? There was a time that he got a young Academy kid out of a tree. Entirely likely that it was around that time!

He wordlessly moved to the nearest tree and began to flash step up, glancing around the branches to look for anything caught on the branches.

A small nod from Masaru was given in response to Hisao, as well as another smile from Kaimu; he was determined to find his first badge, if he kept at it he was sure to find it... That's what Masaru felt any way.

"If you'd like, I wouldn't mind helping, two people for a search are better than one." Masaru offered as Hisao approached the tree to search.

"Aaa~ I can join in to, if you want." Kaimu followed up, hands moving behind his head in a relaxed posed. He'd asked the favor he'd been meaning to ask, and it seemed fine to offer his own help. He wasn't due back at Fourth for a bit, so if the lieutenant was fine with their offers they'd have a search party of three.

"Oh, uh, I wouldn't want to impose. But politeness aside? It would totally be helpful if you guys did. You've got my thanks, really!" So he said as he began to ascend further onto the tree. He scratched his head. It didn't look like it was on the tree that he was on.

"A couple days ago I ran into someone stuck in a tree. I dunno how they got up there, but it totally was around here somewhere."

If Masaru or Kaimu noticed? On the bark of one of the nearby trees, there was a forehead-sized bloodstain where the trunk met the roots. Hisao definitely wasn't looking there, though, so he just moved on to the next tree over.

"Funny how kids end up in trees, though, without a good way to get down from them."

"It's not a problem." Masaru answered, walking over to one of the nearby trees that Hisao wasn't currently inspecting. There were a few around, so if he felt it might have been lost in a tree...

Ah, so a couple of days ago he'd helped someone out... It was reasonable then it might have gotten caught on one of the branches.

Kaimu went off to looking as well after Hisao had shared his story on what had happened the other day. Making sure to go over things with a careful eye as he turned his attention to another one of the trees. It could be any of them...

"Sounds like some time you had, I used to climb trees to rest in back when I was in the academy." Kaimu mentioned, giving a chuckle as he examined the tree he was near.

Hm? Masaru blinked, noticing what...looked to be something that resembled a bloodstain near the bottom of the tree. "Did either of you happen to have fallen out of the tree that day?" He questioned, looking over towards the man.

Had either fallen? That was an oddly specific question to ask, especially given that he didn't remember much anyone around besides the student who had dragged him towards the tree... Still, he shrugged off his brief bout of confusion and humored the question.

"Well, yeah. I had a nasty spill after we got down. The kid was alright, though! Uniform just got caught on the tree, is all. Why do you ask?"

"Ah well, I think I found a bloodstain." Masaru answered. "I assumed it might have been caused if one of you had fallen out of the tree."

Hisao had mentioned his uniform had gotten caught just now as well... If that were the case...

That in mind, he looked up, examining the lower branches of the tree first. If it'd gotten caught perhaps his badge could have gotten snagged. If that were the case, it was likely up here somewhere...

Hearing their discussion, Kaimu had looked over after jumping down from the tree he'd been looking in, landing on his feet before approaching the tree Shirakawa was examining. Seemed he was on to something...

There was, in fact, a scrap of fabric on a low-laying branch, poking out from underneath the leaves, and closer inspection on that branch would yield the sight of of a wooden pentagon with the image of a poppy painted on it below the kanji for nine.

"Oh, yeah? That might just be the one."

Hisao began to jump across the trees towards the one that Masaru indicated. As he got near it, he began to jump down closer to ground level, finally landing next to the other shinigami.

Masaru gave a nod, turning his attention back to the branches as Hisao jumped across the trees towards this one. There was...a piece of fabric? It didn't look like it belonged in the tree, at least... Perhaps...

While Hisao moved down the branches, Masaru attempted to get a closer look. It was... That was it! He couldn't mistake that shape as he noticed the wooden pentagon, seeing the kanji for the lieutenant's division painted on it.

"Found it!"

Kaimu looked to where Masaru had his eyes, his smile growing as he noticed it. "Aaa~ That's it, alright!"

"That's awesome! I don't know how long it would have taken me to catch that if you guys didn't help out." There was totally something to be learned from all of that. Something about like looking at a problem from the bottom-up or something, but in Hisao's defense? The entirety of that day was hazy in his memory, and he had only just remembered that he faceplanted into the roots of the tree.

Funny how it worked out that way.

Hisao flash-stepped up to the branch and all the way back down with his armband in tow, not willing to risk the same bout of silliness that had lost him the damn thing in the first place. It wasn't even particularly worse for wear, either!

"But yeah, that's one thing over and done with for the day. I'll probably put a kido on it so this trouble doesn't come up again."

"Welcome~" Kaimu answered, his smile bright as Hisao jumped up with a flash step to fetch the armband.

"It wasn't a problem." Masaru added in. Hisao had been able to locate his lieutenant's badge, and he was happy that they had been able to find it. It didn't seem to be in bad shape after being up in the tree for a bit either...that was a bonus to be relieved about.

"Sounds like a good idea, it'll never get lost that way." A tracking kidou on it might be helpful, that way a situation like this one where he'd been worried could be avoided!

"Yeah, well, anything I can do for you? If anything, I'd like to return the favor. Don't let me keep you if there's a thing going on, though!" It helped a lot that the Captain and Coffee-Boy duo were so nice, but in matters of peace-time and utter triviality? An owed favor was an owed favor and Hisao definitely wasn't one for just empty words of thanks.

"I mean, if it's curry, I can probably help out a bit? I'm a bit of a foodie myself. B-but like you said, I wouldn't want to get in the way of 'family matters!' I could just hop along and leave you two to it, if that'd be better."

"It wasn't a problem, you don't need to worry about doing anything." Masaru answered, while Kaimu gave a nod to confirm. It hadn't been any trouble at all really, what they'd been doing had been settled now.

Though...

"If you'd like, you can taste test, though the curry I make when the Captain of Fourth asks is typically quite spicy, if you don't mind that?" Masaru added. If Hisao wanted to try it, there were other things to prepare as well...

Kaimu still felt a bit embarrassed having to resort to asking Shirakawa to help with this, even if he would never show it. Lakshmi loved the curry he made though, and it would be best for him to learn. It would make her happy, after all~

Lessons were something he had concerns about, simply due to the awkwardness... Well, Mia would love for them to spend more time together... and he needed to learn how to better his cooking, and Shirakawa was the expert...

Oi...

"Oh, I'd never say no to an offer like that. Curry's good for the soul, and I'm always up for that!" Really, though? Soups and stews were basically the fundamental meal, as far as Hisao knew. It was inarguably one of the best formats for nutritional intake (even though, being souls, they were kind of... dead) and curry was one of the greats: rich, spice-packed, piquant, utterly delicious.

"Spicy I can handle, probably."