Under Grey Skies [Murasaki, Makoto]

It wasn't inherently unusual to see the Captain Commander outside her office, given her natural social tendencies. But seeing her with such a serious expression, and moving through the Seireitei with such intense purpose, was a bit less common. She'd been informed that the 6th Division Vice Captain had reports for her, but she'd returned the message that she could come by instead. After all, she didn't want Vice Captain Arima wasting any time by coming to her office.

Though Murasaki received many respectful greetings as she walked through the division's barracks, she didn't give them much more than a polite nod in return, if that, and she stepped into Makoto's office fully intent on handling official matters. The woman's usual levity was entirely absent, and there was an intensity to her presence that was rare.

"Your report, Vice Captain?"

Her voice, like her gaze, cut through the room like a blade. That sort of authority was the most vital part of being Captain Commander in a time of crisis, and Murasaki had no intention of seeming the faintest bit lax.

At least she had the courtesy to call ahead. Makoto wasn't fond of unexpected visits like an obsessive need to have everything in its proper place, otherwise there was just chaos and she hated that. This investigation, like all others, was to be done in the same way that she lead her life, systematic from beginning to end with nothing left out. So pulling the report from beside her the vice-captain gave it one final flick through to ensure that all was accounted for and to put to rest the concern in the back of her head that something might've been unaccounted or had fallen out.

"Yes, ma'am. The preliminary witness reports were compiled by Eighth Seat Hinamori. The forensic investigation of the hospital is in the process of being completed by Nineteenth Seat Takahashi with assistance from the Third Division. Of Hinamori's reports he determined that a package arrived for an empty room, the room had no patient administered at the time and was right next to Captain Hisakawa's own room. While we will not discount the possibility of Captain Hisakawa being the cause there is enough evidence to suggest he is not the cause, and will continue investigations."

She paused while flicking open the report to find the reference she was looking for.

"Room 313 is the room in question. I have assigned the Eighth Seat to pursue collaberation with the Second Division to assist in recovering security footage in the hospital prior to the blast with the hope that we can utilise it to further our investigation. While I am overseeing this investigation, I am primarily focused on assessing the risk of further incidents and would appreciate the cooperation of the First Division in this process, ma'am."

Now that she had flooded Murasaki with information and lifted the files up to the captain commander to keep, Makoto offered a moment for Murasaki to consider all of that before moving onto discussing the finer points of the Soul Society's security.

"Mm. That's definitely suspicious, yeah. Good work, keep looking into that. You've got my authority to ignore any of the usual paperwork on that if it seems like that'll give a lead time to go cold, just make sure you fill it out later. People're starting to ask my office for a statement, but I'm not gonna put anything out until you guys give me something you want made public. Last thing I wanna do is get in the way of your investigation, just keep me up to date on whatever you find."

Murasaki understood, of course, the importance of her division's cooperation in any investigation, especially in the past. But she didn't want to stand in the way of the leadership she'd put in place, and she had exceptional confidence in Makoto even if the two of them didn't see eye to eye on any personal matters. She was duitful, professional, and extremely focused on results. In that sense, Murasaki couldn't hope for much better.

"I'll do whatever I can to support you keeping things secure, of course. You're in charge of law and order, so as long as you're maintaining that, and the Gotei can still get its duties handled, I'm not going to get in your way. What did you have in mind specifically for us to help with?"

"Yes ma'am. I intend to follow this lead to its conclusion. Fortunately this package went through an official channel by merit of the deliveryman, that means he was in a service. I intend for Hinamori to acquire the details of which service second division utilise for their hospitals. Sent packages require a sender, I'm certain the name and identity will be fake but their appearance and features will be more than enough to build a profile."

Makoto explained the entire course of events. She figured Murasaki would like to understand the process of how she has reached this decision too.

"With that in mind, I appreciate higher security on the Senkaimon. Restricting the travel to prevent escape and further incursion. Heightened security in areas of vulnerability, and for records on Vizards within the Gotei United. I do not attach suspicion to them but Captain Hisakawa was potentially a target immediately after he became a Vizard. I believe this is enough reason to consider the possibility of prejudice, or to simply attract attention to the captain of covert operations and lock us down with all eyes on such a high profile individual."

The vice captain explained while leaving the floor open to Murasaki with another influx of information.

"That's good thinking. Even if they had someone else send the package for them, that's still a point of contact. Follow enough of those back and you'll end up at whoever did this. Or you'll just find a line of bodies, but that can tell you a lot too."

Though few expected it of her, Murasaki had done quite a few investigations during her own time as Earth Affiliation captain before her promotion. It came with the job, after all. Any time someone did something wrong down on Earth, she had to be the one to see it through, and there'd been a lot going on down there back then.

"I'll talk to Captains Kuchiki and Kishimoto about tightening things at the Senkaimon, then. I don't imagine either of them'll mind either way, but I'll make sure it gets done. As for records on the vizards, I'll tell the people in the records department that you have free authority to access that, including anything sealed for classification. If they give you a hard time, let me know."

Makoto's reasoning was sound to Murasaki, and that was enough reason to be supportive of her efforts. As far as she was concerned, getting this handled as quickly as possible was the only appropriate outcome.

"Yes ma'am. That concludes my report. I will keep you appraised of the various ongoings of this situation as they develop. Do you have anything else you wish to ask about?"

Well, ask about or give orders to do. There was always the possibility that Murasaki wanted to give her some kind of orders to execute in her stead but she had her own vice-captain for that so unless it was related to the realm's security she had nothing else to give her. It was still quite early into the investigation and the immediacy had yet to settle down.

Once she had their man then she would happily hand them over to the Fifth Division for questioning. She had an idea of how that could look like but Makoto wasn't really caught up on the means, just the results.

In other, lighter circumstances, Murasaki probably would have told Makoto "good job," given her a compliment on how well she was handling this and told her too keep up the good work with a smile. But this was a more serious matter than that, and frankly, she wasn't willing to tell anyone "good job" until they actually had the culprit.

"Nothing else to ask about, no. I'd recommend talking to Captain Urahara if you think the trail's ever starting to run cold. He's good at this sorta stuff, usually has somethin' for every problem, but I'd say that's a last resort."

Obviously, Murasaki trusted Urahara enough to have him in the Gotei for now, but that was a tenuous situation, and she knew that. He'd joined for access to the Rings of the Dead, and even if she liked the man, she understood that was the crux of his reason for joining. He was a shady character, someone who definitely worked in the shadows, probably more than 5th Division. Murasaki didn't like the idea of putting unknown variables into this any more than they had to.

"Oh, right. If the nobles or anything try and get in your way, just send 'em to me. I don't want that whole mess getting in the way of your work on the actual investigation. I don't think they're behind this or anything, but I know a lot of them probably won't like the idea of us tightening things even more around here."

Send the nobles to her? Makoto understood where she was coming from here but she had someone she liked to think was far more reliable for if that became an issue, and someone who would likely cause a lot less trouble to dissuade them. She could very well use Murasaki to strongarm them into submission but that would only cause more issues down the line in her head. If she could rely on Shishiyuki as one of the Four Great Heads, which admittedly she was deign to do unless it became necessary, then it would be more fortuitous to have their support.

If they weren't guilty then it suited their interests to assist, if they were guilty then it suited them to expose the culprit. It all came down to who delivered that message in her mind though and the woman in front of her was not her first choice from a pragmatic standpoint as long as they occupied the same space.

A district rat like herself should probably word it as boorish as don't shit where you drink from but she was a little bit more articulated than that.

"I will keep that in mind, ma'am. The nobles will get in my way."

She declared boldly despite saying it as plainly as one might state the sky is blue.

In lighter circumstances, Murasaki might have laughed at Makoto's statement. After all, she was right, there really wasn't any way to sugarcoat that. The nobles were always getting in the way, that was just what they did. The fact that at least some of them were supportive of the Gotei was nice, but Murasaki wasn't the type who was gonna pretend that she should expect that from all of them. Nodding firmly at Makoto's statement, she simply glanced out toward the rest of the division.

"That's good. Keep up the good work, Vice Captain. I'm always around if you need. I've got a few other people I need to talk to, so I'll get outta your hair."

She offered a bow of respect to the younger woman, not really concerned with the idea that Makoto was, in all respects, her junior. She was the one who'd been visiting and stepping into Makoto's domain here, after all, and besides, she knew Makoto was probably pushing herself well beyond what Murasaki would ever ask of anyone.

"And don't forget to rest when you can. I know it's not really easy to right now, but it's important to keep you at your best."

It wasn't just a matter of being kind or offering a friendly word, even if that was also Murasaki's motivation. It was just the reality that nobody was working at their best when they were exhausted.