　Chapter 5 Part 7 | 22

　His rest is troubled by the fact of sleeping in a unfamiliar bed.

　There's a small level of comfort; having returned to his old squadron's base, and building.

　However, his discussion with 'Sir' had brought back many supressed memories. Not just in a quick glimpse like usual, but enough to stick to his consciousness.

　Shigure's morning is rather typical. He awakes far earlier than all others, spending the morning twilight reviewing documents and filling out paperwork. Warmer, and less prominent lighting; it helps him keep a level head.

　07:30 rolls around, and Shigure decides it's time to leave this new office and attend to some introductions. Walking through those halls, he recognises many places he used to interact with his past squad members. The thoughts of the halls slowly becoming less and less busy pair with the more enjoyable ones.

　Plastered up walls, exposed wooden supports, it all appears far older in construction than other buildings. Shigure doesn't know for sure, but he suspects it to just be a design choice, not authentic architecture of the past.

　A fact catches his mind. He hadn't seen any Akasha squad members this whole morning, take for Sukagawa who'd visited last night. It's strange, considering this is the Akasha squadron building... for all the Akasha squad operators. He continues to reiterate this point, mildly confused as to where everyone is. Partially, he thinks it may be another one of those dreams, a dream he can't seem to realise and escape.

　Ahead of him, the door through to an atrium or common room of sorts. If anyone were to be anywhere, this'd likely be it.

　He unenthusiastically twists the handle and lightly pushes the door open. A few steps into the unilluminated room, the lights suddenly flick on, met with loud indiscernible noises.

　Blinded somewhat by the sudden light change and hearing a flurry of un-seen sounds, his hand shoots down to his holster. Poised to draw and react.

　Though there's no need. The smell of gunpowder is present, but so is the sound of voices and cheers, clearly happy. Grasping his bearings again, he sees the bright, rainbow, colours of streamers and confetti.

　"Surprise Sir!" Amongst other declarations of a 'surprise'.

　A quick scan of the area, Shigure sees the un-uniformed Akasha squadron's members, smiling and pulling on party poppers. Initially, he thinks this may be the same monition he'd seen earlier. However these faces are faces he had not seen before.

　He relaxes his hand from his holster. "Surprise, hm?"

　"Yeah~! Surprise~!!"

　"Welcome to Akasha Sir!"

　"Hoorayyy~!!"

　The soldiers appear excited, crowding around each other to look at Shigure and shout welcoming messages to him.

　As much as he'd love to scold them, or even better, close the door and leave. He can't help but feel a slight twinge of happiness inside of him.

　"Yes yes, I'm here." Sighing and shaking his head, not without a tiny smile on his face.

　"Ooohh!! He's smiling! He's smiling!"

　"I thought he didn't smile?"

　"We did it! We made Sir smile~!"

　"Alright Alright. Enough." He gestures for them to calm down, beginning to walk through the group slightly. Surprisingly, they are relatively obedient, quieting. Though there are still giggles and murmurs among the diverse group of soldiers.

　"How many of you are there?"

　"22!" A voice reports - belonging to Sukagawa.

　Shigure closes his eyes and sighs silently. '22? Really...? I'm going to be here a while...'