Chapter 1: Death "was" Imminent

Chapter 1: Death was Imminent

There was a sinking feeling in Yaz's gut as he took in his surroundings. The walls were bare, bland, and so pristine that it was almost as if it had been made out of marble….and was then shined, polished and lacquered to the point that not even a speck of dirt remained on it. It was almost as if it was constantly being glossed over by people with something beyond the capability of even the most expensive of cleaning products that had ever been invented….100 times every nanosecond. There were no cracks and no seams, no subtle designs and no hints of artistry. It was even clear at a glance that all four walls were exactly identical.

He had a feeling that somehow, if he were to take the world's best microscope capable of viewing molecules, he'd find that even the atoms of the walls had been arranged in the exact, precise manner that the other walls had been.

It was just a regular, corporate office-type setting with a large desk, a tall-backed desk chair which was currently facing away from him, a laptop, and a guest chair. A coffee mug was positioned next to the laptop, almost blindingly white. Yasunari could tell that there was some kind of message on it, probably like one of those "World's Greatest Dad" or "#1 Employee" mugs, as he could see part of the text wrapped around to the side that was facing him. It wasn't anything that he could make out, although the little smudge that he could see might've been the tail-end of an L. The flooring was made up of wood of some kind, contrasting the walls perfectly with its rich, dark color.

What made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up was the fact that it was all so perfect. The table was placed in the exact center of the room, with both the desk chair and the guest chair placed in the exact center of it facing each other. The laptop and the coffee mug were positioned on opposite sides of the desk from each other, and he had no doubt that after taking into account the mass, outward space and weight of each respective object, they probably weren't even a hair off from the exact spatial coordinates needed to perfectly counterbalance each other on the desk in terms of aesthetics.

In other words, everything was so flawless that it was inhuman.

He knew he should be panicking. Any normal person would probably have started hyperventilating at this point, freaking out and lashing at something, anything, just to get some semblance of control and normalcy reinstated….yet for some reason he didn't do any of the above. He still felt the immense need to do so, but his body didn't respond.

It was oddly almost like drowning. You knew you needed air, your body knew you needed air, but no matter how much you thrashed and clawed, you wouldn't get it.

Movement caught his eye, and he was glad to see the small bit of change in the room, small as it was. The tall-backed desk chair soundlessly spun, its occupant now facing him.

"Yasunari, son of Yuriko. You will sit down." An almost bored tone reached his ears. Before he knew it, he was seated in the guest chair in front of the desk, almost as if he'd teleported into it. He thought that that wasn't the strangest thing, though. What was strange was the fact that even though he was sitting right in front of the man, for the life of him Yaz couldn't make out any of his features whatsoever. The being in front of him chuckled dryly as it raised the coffee mug to its lips before it was set down in the exact spot it had been in previously, although this time the text on the mug was now facing him. "You honestly have no idea how amusing that thought was."

Printed with perfection onto the mug were the words, "AFTERLIFE DEPARTMENT'S #1 ANGEL".