The Gentle Death God Laughs Above the Cherry-Blossom Sky.

That guy flashed a smile at me and turned to speak to Mr. Reaper. I stood still like a statue, in fear that I would interrupt what was about to happen. I decided to understand what’s happening first, before I asked any questions.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” The other guy asked Mr. Reaper. It took a solid 3 second silence for the latter to answer a simple question. I mentally snorted.

“—My job.” He said plainly. I saw the other guy nod his head in agreement.

“But you see it’s past work time—” My eyes widened when Mr. Reaper shamelessly covered the other guy’s mouth. 

I guess they have some confidential stuff too.

I was too busy staring at the two men  fighting, to notice that Mr. Reaper whispered “Not in front of her” to the other guy.

The moment that they let each other go, I felt a sense of relief wash over me. Not because I was worried that they would fight for real, but because I was worried for Mr. Reaper. It was the first time I saw this side of him; he was unusually agitated.

“As I was saying, before someone rudely interrupted me—” He glared daggers at Mr. Reaper’s face. Even though I couldn’t not see it, I felt as though he was currently rolling his eyes at the snide remarks of the newcomer. Atta boy.

“The report that I requested last week was not on my desk today, and as a dutiful guy, I came to fetch it personally… Now pass it over.” He said with so much authority, that I nearly stumbled. My Reaper sighed and bowed his head.

“The due date is not until tonight!” Snapped Mr. Reaper. I noticed that after they fought, they then sat down comfortably on the sofa like noblewomen and behaved as if nothing had happened earlier. 

Reapers are weird.

“Na-ah, the due date is yesterday night.” He said with too much emphasis on the date. He seemed to be a deadline crazy guy in my eyes, as shown by his attitude. 

The sass, oh I can not.

Mr. Reaper scratched his head when he realized that he was right. And like an eavesdropper, I looked at the both of them alternately as though I was watching an entertaining show. 

Mmhmm this is juicy.

“Whether you like it or not, I’ll take it home with me this instant so sit down. Oh, we’re sitting down already, anyway, just do it now.” He pointed at the table in front of them as he urged Mr. Reaper to write. 

“Do it right now? Here?” Mr. Reaper asked.

 Yes idiot, just do it now so that he can leave you alone.

 My mind urged him, hoping that he would get the idea. I rubbed my thin arms because it was rather cold in the room, and my arms were freezing. I took a glance at the remote of the AC, but it was so far that I was scared that they would notice my presence.

You know what, let’s just accept this fate.

“If you don’t like it, it’s fine. If you don’t want to do it, it’s fine too. But I’m guessing the punishment you will receive is the last thing you want right now.” He said teasingly. I mentally nodded. It’s better to finish the job early rather than take the punishment for not finishing it on time.

I’m not sure if I’ll be able to take punishment myself. 

While saying so, that guy looked at me. Mr. Reaper, on the other hand, looked at the table.

“Write now—” The other guy said.

“—Do it from the beginning”

Mr. Reaper took the paper and pen and placed them on the table. I noticed his reluctance to do the task at hand but still strived to write something on the blank parchment.

I kept my sitting position on the top of my bed. Since I didn’t know what to do, I imagined Ren’s touch on my head when he pats me. 

He’s a nice guy indeed.

After a minute of reminiscing, I got bored. I stood up and gathered enough courage to speak, but it was in a slightly higher tone than what I was used to. 

With so much disappointment, the only sound that came out of my mouth was a painful ‘eek!’; I sounded like a dying cat. Unfortunately, the two hooded men looked up. My cheeks burned red when I heard Reaper-san stifle a laugh and the other guy coughed.

There goes my pride.

The other Reaper looked at me and smiled. I was not aware if his smile reached his eyes because it was hidden. I gulped as he began speaking.

“I’m sorry. I’ll borrow this guy for a moment.” 

Anyways, who is this guy? He was wearing a black-hooded jacket with black pants. He didn’t look like he’s a Reaper because it did not fit his appearance. His figure was also a little thin, and his palms were so pale, that it looked as though he was dead or dying.

The odd part of my encounter with this Reaper, was that I thought I had seen this guy before; I couldn’t say so certainly, but my intuition was telling me otherwise. I stared at him.

“S-sir-” I asked. The both of them looked up at me. A faint smile was written on the face of the other guy where else Mr. Reaper’s lips were in a thin line.

“Hmm?” He asked me. Mr. Reaper on the other hand was forced to go back into writing when the other guy hit his neck.

“This doesn’t concern you my dear Reaper, just continue what you are doing because I’m in a hurry.” He turned his head to the side and went back to looking at me with the same faint smirk on his face. I sighed.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but how can you see him? You don’t look anything like him I mean-” A faint laughter can be heard from the guy. He tapped Reaper-san’s back causing him to shoot his eyes to me like he was saying, “I look like what now?” 

“What I meant is that you looked more human than he was– Ah!” I decided to close my mouth because nothing praiseworthy was coming out of it. I looked at Mr. Reaper with apologetic eyes, hoping that he would understand what I meant.

“HAHAHAHAHA, I was often told that I was much more handsome than this boy and I guess they were really right.” 

Unbelievable. That’s not what I wanted to say at all! What kind of perception did this guy have? I pouted and looked at Mr. Reaper and oh boy, he was smiling. I think he’s finding this quirky situation funny.

“Anyways, I do appreciate the compliment. But the answer might surprise you.” He  said.

I tilted my head. It was natural for me to talk to Reaper-san because I was dying, whether that’s fortunate or unfortunate. But seeing another person that could see him had no other explanation other than 1 thing. 

“Are you dying soon too?!” I said with widened eyes.

The both of them stared at me in astonishment for about 10 seconds. And out of the blue, the guy began laughing so hard as if he was going to die.

“DYING WHAT?” 

“Am I wrong?” I asked out of curiosity. I looked at him, wanting to ask all the questions that were going around in my head. I felt uncomfortable and humiliated at the same time, I don’t even know why!

I didn’t know why he was laughing, and when I asked him, without him hiding his odd attitude, he said “I’m sorry, I’m sorry” and laughed again.

He stopped laughing when he started to snort like a pig. I guess he felt embarrassed too, and decided that the jokes were over. The reaper at his side looked at him pathetically. I didn’t know how I knew, but I kne

w.”Haah, I guess you’re ready to talk now?” I pouted and folded my arms on my chest. I took it upon myself that I have the right to be angry too and the both of them didn’t seem to mind. Well, I’ll just show them then! 

“I’m this guy’s boss.” I was stupefied at the moment. The anger that had accumulated in memelted. All the previous displeasures I had felt were now useless. I didn’t know how I should react now ! My actions earlier were really laughable.

If there was a color deeper than red, maybe that’s the color flushed by my pale skin right now. I was super embarrassed!

“Boss?” I asked pretty innocently.

If he’s a boss, then my calculations tell me that…

“Yes, I’m a god of death, so I can see this guy.” Right on the money! 

“You… A god of death.” I let the words play on my tongue for a moment as if urging him to explain. And you know what, he did. 

“But I’m not doing any soul-taking work anymore.” I nodded unconsciously. Then if he’s not taking souls anymore, he can’t be called god of death. What should I call him?

My trance was cut off by some sort of smell. I noticed that I was standing face to face with the guy, and he smelt of summer breeze and I flinched. He does smell like summer breeze, but he’s oozing off cold air. Should I tell him to change his perfume?

Saying “Thank you,” the person extended his hand. 

In response to his kind but odd gesture, I squeezed his hand, but I couldn’t keep up with the situation. This person was the god of death and the god of death’s boss, uh …? There were too many things I didn’t understand. but…

His cold palms, like my Reapers’, told me that this person was not alive either.

He laughed at me AGAIN and released my hand. He went back to his seat and tapped Mr. Reaper’s shoulder.

“You done, my dear boy?” He asked sweetly. 

“A little longer……”

“Get it fast, because I have to go back too.”

“Excuse me”

Reaper-san wrote faster than a normal human could. I was not sure if he’s rushing or that’s his usual speed. I tried to peek at his work but his boss blocked my view and muttered, “I’m sorry.”

“You are Mahiro-chan, aren’t you?”

“How—”

“I remember the name of the person my subordinates are handling.”

“Really”

I felt a sense of relief when I saw him smiling. I mean, I couldn’t see their reactions but I felt them somehow, and I can feel him smiling. I smiled in response because I was really enjoying the conversation too.

“It’s nice weather isn’t it Mahiro?”

“Well, that… uhm, what should I call—”

“Hmm?”

“Uhm—”

“Oh, me? You can call me oni-cha—”

“Sir. I’m done”

“—still talking.”

Our conversation was interrupted by Mr. Reaper. His boss sighed and took the paper from him and scanned it a little. When he was satisfied, he turned to me.

“I’ll submit this then.”

“Mahiro-chan I’m—”

“Upperclassmen?” 

“Ugh I can’t have a proper conversation with Mahiro because of you… anyway, I’ll go now and submit this poorly made report.”

When his boss made a small poking gesture, Reaper avoided it as if he was accustomed to it.

I enjoyed looking at the smiling Mr. Reaper the most. His boss and him seemed to have a great relationship. It seemed as though they were brothers that had been arguing for a long time now. 

Reaper-san looked at me while I was giggling. 

“Now I’m being laughed at because of you.” He said, annoyed, which only made me giggle even more.

“That has nothing to do with me. Stop being so stiff all the time dude. Why is it because of Mahiro here?”

“Wrong”

“I see I’m going crazy.”

“Please go home. Thank you in advance for submitting the documents.”

Mr. Reaper was trying really hard to push his senior away and the other one seemed to be having fun. The senior laughed awkwardly and smiled.

“I’ll see you again Mahiro.”

“Oh, that!”

“Hmm?”

“Please do come again”

I felt like my words were very unexpected, because silence enveloped the room. Boss looked at Mr. Reaper with that all-knowing smile.

“Mahiro wants me to come”

“—I see”

“If Mahiro wants to see me, you have no right to stop, right?”

“Please just go.”

Mr. Reaper said, dissatisfied and turned away. When I said, “Bye,” the senior melted out of the window and disappeared, just like the Reaper when he wanted to leave.

Mr. Reaper lightly muttered: “Idiot,” while stomping his feet and proceeding to sit on the sofa. I found it cute and laughed.

“Well.”

“What?”

“Nothing”

The current tone of his voice was kind of cute and it made me laugh. After all, when his boss was here, I feel like his emotions were expressed more directly than when he’s with me.

“Hey, Mr. Reaper.”

“What?”

“You’re on good terms with your seniors.”

In response to my words, he shook his head as if what I had said was ridiculous.

“Apart from that, just being a boss doesn’t mean you’re on good terms …”

“Is that so?”

“That’s right. I only talk to him when it’s absolutely necessary for me.”

“I see… “

“What’s with that face”

“Hehe, it’s because he seems nice”

I was sure I was giggling, and I was sure underneath that hood, he’s getting more annoyed. Imagining such a scenario, it was so funny that I couldn’t stop laughing.

I laughed too hard and proceeded to cough like a maniac for a long time.

“What were you thinking that made you laugh like that?”

“I’m sorry”

He told me that I was laughing too much and was upset, and when he took out the water from the refrigerator, he handed it to me.

The god of death’s hand that I touched, when I received it while saying “Thank you” was colder than the refrigerated water; and I was reminded once again that this person was different from a living person even though he was having such a good time.

“Ugh.”

My chest hurts.

I was trying to assume that it was because of my illness, but… It may not be possible to escape from the truth behind the pain.

To counteract that thought, I poured cold water down my throat at once. It was like my chest felt a huge relief when the water was poured down inside.