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

That night, I was thinking solemnly.

I found out that there may be another person that Mr Reaper was closely monitoring in this hospital. Maybe that’s why his boss told him that he couldn’t get out of my hospital room whenever he pleased.

Who is the other person?

Is that person within my range of movement? Are they close to me?

Oh my God, I can’t think properly.  My thoughts were clouded with a sense of despair crawling up my spine. I didn’t know what to think.

“No—” I groaned. My chest tightened.

My spine was numb in chills. My hypothesis was full of uncertainty but I knew that it was plausible. Monitoring? I think not. I think there’s someone he’s going to reap here and he can’t show himself with me because that may cause problems.

This will explain the reason of why he’s always entering this room through the window. It’s as though he’s wandering around the hospital.

“Hey, Mr. Reaper.” I mumbled slowly.

No matter how much I thought about it, it couldn’t be helped. I knew that he couldn’t give me a definitive answer because it would violate the rules of their kind.

I called his name in the pitch-black hospital room.

But…

” —That?”

Normally, I would get a reply soon, but I couldn’t hear anyone today. 

The window didn’t open either. 

The wind wasn’t blowing either.

This feels odd.

“Mr. Reaper?”

I’ll try calling your name again.

However, in a small room where no one could hear me, I could only hear the sound of my heart pounding. 

I had a bad feeling.

No way, maybe, yeah, but …

I stared at the ceiling as I wondered what to do. 

At that moment, I heard the sound of the window opening, and I looked toward the window vigorously.

“Grim Reaper!”

However, it wasn’t Mr. Reaper who was there.

“Good evening”

It was the figure of the boss sitting with his feet on the window.

He’s smiling as usual. 

But huh, why was the atmosphere so scary?　

“Mr. Reaper’s boss… uhm, that—”

“Hey, Mahiro-chan“

He continued speaking as if he never heard me.

“Can you tell me where he is?”

“Huh?”

Maybe he is …

When he smiled, I saw him take something out of his pocket.

“That’s—”

It looks familiar, it looks like a notebook.

Maybe …

“Mr. Reaper’s?”

“You know him well.”

He flipped the book over and showed me the familiar pattern I saw weeks ago. It was a book with a star pattern and the book containing that ever so familiar name. My name.　

It was that notebook with my name on it that Mr. Reaper took it out of his pocket one day.

“Yes, it’s his notebook.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“Have you heard of it? It has the name of the person in charge, the cause of death, and the date of death. Of course, Mahiro-chan’s is also written here.”

“So what?”

“There is a human who dies today in the name written here.”

“Huh?”

When the senior turned the page, he offered it to me. The page had a name that I was familiar with.

“Yagi… Nozomi-chan…?”

“Ah, that’s right. By this time, he’s going to get the soul of that little girl you’re close to.”

“What are you saying so suddenly—”

“Hmm?”

“Why that …”

I couldn’t believe what he told me, yeah, I didn’t want to believe it, and I shook my head like a disgusted child. I didn’t want to hear such a story. I didn’t want to hear it. But why …

I put my hand on my cheek as I tried to turn my face away, but the Boss said, “Don’t run away,” and looked at me.

“You don’t have to be afraid because that’s our job.”

“Then why… why did you have to tell me that?”

“Hmm?”

“Because if you ask me that, I …”

“Sad? In despair? Do you hate him?”

“Ah…”

Senior laughed aloud at me, who was rendered speechless.

I didn’t want to cry, but I was about to cry physiologically. When he laughed at me with his nose snorting, he told me to shake the feeling away.

“What an idiotic child—”

“Now—”

“You’re both idiots, you know that? Do you know why he’s not doing it in your sight? If you knew, would you still say that you like him?”

“What?! Such thing coming from you—”

“You know that he’s a grim reaper. Can you imagine what it’s like to take a soul?”

“Why—”

Why do you have to say that?

Because, even when he found out that I liked Mr. Reaper, he just laughed sadly as if telling me that I was stupid. But why is this …

While desperately wiping my falling tears with my pyjama sleeves, I stared at him. 

“Huh, huh. Staring at me with that kind of face doesn’t change anything. Now, what is he doing in that child’s room?”

“Haah—”

I shook my senior’s hand and jumped out of the hospital room.

Nozomi-chan’s hospital room was a little away from my room. The moment I saw it across the twilight corridor, I was relieved and gave out a sigh. In particular, no one seemed to be in or out of the hospital room. That meant that Nozomi-chan shouldn’t have changed. Because if something had really happened, the doctors and nurses would be rushing to the hospital room. That was a lie to rush me. I’m sure about it. It has been decided so.

I took a deep breath, trying to comfort myself as my heart was screaming inwardly; then, I touched the door of Nozomi-chan’s room.

“Huh?”

The wind blew out from the gently opened door.

“What—”

There was a familiar figure standing there.

The figure of Mr. Reaper, who wielded a giant sickle, slicing it down into Nozomi’s throat.