1 Prologue

I was always curious to know what happened when someone died. Was it reincarnation? Dream-fulfillment life in heaven? An eternity of paying for sins in hell? I would also love to know how people were judged. In the post-death legends of Egypt there was a scale that used the individual's heart to know if it was good or bad compared to the weight of a feather. In Judeo-Christian theories there was the so-called book of life and people would be judged for their actions through it. The Vikings, on the other hand, believed that dying with honor in battle would lead them to whatever Valhalla was. There were also theories that there was no afterlife and the end was just that. End. But then again, I sincerely hoped that wasn't the case.

Anyway now I know what the afterlife is like, after all I am dead. There was a rather peculiar horror movie about a spirit woman who read messages from the dead that were written on a man's skin. Ghosts simply used their bodies to literally rip a message into the dermis. I remember that in the end the boy decided to die and he appeared in an eternal line where the ghosts who had hurt him walked straight ahead. In his place I would have tried to tear apart the bastards who hurt me.

So death is an eternal line. I had nothing against lines. But honestly I didn't think that after a boring life I would have to go through my death the same way. Damn it. It didn't help that a movie I hated coincidentally turned out to be the answer to my doubts about what came after life. It also didn't help that the dead continued to use the poor man's skin to send messages to the living even when he died, nor did it help that the woman reading the messages skinned his corpse to continue reading.

Honestly, what do the dead have to say?

"Hey alive, I'm here. Standing in that queue. I saw a lady walking in front of me and nothing else."

Another thing was, "Why the hell did I stand in line?"

Yes it didn't make sense. I could feel something was urging me to keep moving forward. Something told me I couldn't stop or leave. It was weird and unpleasant now that I think about it. All the dead around me seem oblivious and his eyes were empty as if he had lost his sense he is himself at some point. Would I look like this after walking for a while?

Only over my dead body!

I started to move slowly in a different way than I apparently should. Instead of stepping forward, I guided my foot slightly to the left. Yes, I should have noticed. Why the hell didn't I notice I've only been looking forward to it since I died? Was it another effect of this place? What would happen in the end then? I hoped I didn't know.

Time passed slowly as I adjusted my steps little by little away from the line. In an unbearable time I finally felt my body free and looked around.

Holy crap!

There was only darkness around me. Small points of light in the distance could be perceived but my body or soul whatever I currently was was being attracted to these points of light in the same way that it was attracted to the line but this time I had a really restrictive feeling... It was as if the bright spots were a chance for escape.

Now that I thought about it, looking at the line and the ends... I couldn't see the end. Damn it. But if I had to guess these souls would head towards one of those lights, but I was sure it wouldn't be just that. The minds of these souls were already basically useless if I have to say. They all looked the same. Not in appearance, as they looked like faded versions of themselves when alive. But they were identical in nature.

Damn it. I need to get away quickly. Maybe there isn't a queue inspector who's been warned about me. I started running towards one of the distant lights without looking back. I wouldn't waste my time seeing dead robots just to satisfy my curiosity. I could feel a certain tension in the air. It was an alert. Looks like my senses were going on a rampage.

Urgency started to seep into me and I started to run even faster. I didn't look at anything but the point of light closest to me. No way was I going to be a soul without a conscience. Was this line the version of Grandma Meng's potion of Chinese beliefs? Or the water of the river Styx for the Greeks... now that he thought about it, in all religions there was this thing about wanting to erase people's memories.

Memoirs.

So that was it.

If I hadn't quickly got out of line I would have lost my memories. It is said that memories make the individual who he is. Damn, I was so fucking lucky then. Even though the sense of urgency has not gone away, it has steadily diminished. Of course I didn't relax and increased my speed even more. I'm not such an idiot that I forget the feeling that occurred to me so suddenly. Hasdiminished, isn't it? Who guarantees it's not a decoy to make me waste time and catch me back in line? There are no idiots here, my dear. I was the son of a Yakusa chief after all.

Yes, son of a Yakusa chief. I figured I would be punished after death considering how bloody my hand was. Even though the blood is not innocent but still I have killed many human beings. But it looks like having my memories taken from me was a worse punishment huh? Or maybe my punishment is being reborn with bad karma?

I imagine I would have been a future poor in the slum of some third world country wondering why I suffered so much.

This isn't for me though. I finally reached the point of light and threw myself at it without thinking twice.

I hope a good life is waiting for me.

Somewhere inside an ordinary building with ordinary office people was a young man who looked like an ordinary office assistant running towards one of the management offices.

- Sir, we have a case 2773...

The man in the room looked bored and just stared at the breathless assistant. In fact, he couldn't wait to get out and go home. It had been a while since he'd had snu snu with his wife, and besides, there was no reason why a 2773 case was being reported to him.

- It is not uncommon for souls to depart from their ways, Toni, relax and send the Shinigami.

- They were activated sir but... The soul fled towards one of the outer universes sir. She has already crossed.

Fury finally broke out in the man's face. I had been in this job for millions of years and there has never been a similar case. Souls from an inner universe were too weak to survive in an outer universe but they were eternal. They had their memories erased and sent to the reincarnation cycle forever. This configuration maintained order in this universe. This... troublesome.

- What do we do sir...?

- Do you know the identity of the soul?

- Yes but...

- Erase her existence. – The man said evilly. – May she cease to exist for those who knew him.

- But... But... But...

- No buts. If that soul reaches a high level of power wherever it is and dies there its soul will be sent back to our system. We cannot allow an outside influence to enter this world. Enough of all the resonances that allowed our humans to catch glimpses of their worlds, we can't have such a big problem on our backs. Not even the father would be able to handle it.

- But if she has nowhere to go after death...

- If she does not have her existence linked to our universe, she will be part of any universe that she has gone as long as she has time to live in it and acclimate. – the man sighed. – It will be the responsibility of the deities of that universe to deal with this soul. I hope she's safe, after all, Dad won't like knowing one of his kids is in so much danger.

At that moment both the assistant and the man in management felt a shiver in their bodies. The Creator must know this, but none of them wanted to be the one to break the news.

May it be, for better or for worse, that you succeed little brother.