Chapter 18: Black Cat
"Masatsuki, what's wrong? You could barely keep your eyes open in class. Did you stay up too late training? You need to take care of yourself, too."
Rangiku Matsumoto looked at Masatsuki Aozaki, her expression serious as she took in the dark circles under his eyes.
Masatsuki glanced at her, waved a hand dismissively, and said, "Don't worry, I was just up all night learning how to cultivate tea trees. It's nothing serious."
"The Captain-Commander knows how to grow tea trees?" Rangiku asked, puzzled.
"This has nothing to do with the Captain-Commander. It was Lieutenant Sasakibe who taught me," Masatsuki replied with a bitter smile.
All that trouble over picking a few tea leaves, and he ended up stuck in tea cultivation lessons the whole night. Next week, he was definitely going to complain to Yamamoto about this.
"I'm skipping training today. Gonna head back and catch some sleep."
Seeing how exhausted he looked, Rangiku nodded. "Alright, get some rest."
As their conversation ended, the two went their separate ways, and Masatsuki made his way toward the dormitory...
The moment he opened the door, his expression changed.
There was an unfamiliar pair of shoes in the entryway—ones that didn't belong to "Masatsuki Aozaki's group."