Courting Death

Target: Sophie Bright

Time of Death: 16:38

Reaper Assigned: Raven Grim

City-X, unmatched in beauty, unmatched in talent, unmatched in just about everything. City-X was the world's first place in everything but losing. From wealth to knowledge, entertainment to peace, City-X had it all. But who cares about City-X?

City-Y, unmatched in beauty, unmatched in talent, unmatched in just about everything. City-Y was the world's last place in everything but losing. From wealth to knowledge, entertainment to peace, City-Y had almost none.

Sophie Bright was a resident of City-Y. She was. Until she died.

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Raven Grim looked up from the fifty-three-page long document in his hands. In front of him stood two Junior Reapers, signified by their blue robes: one tall, and one short. The tall Reaper was akin to a mountain, the steady feeling he gave off was almost admirable if not for the stain slowly growing around the mid-section of his robes. The short Reaper, however, found it hard to stay still, his eyes looked towards his nose and his nose escaped towards his chin, all while his hands couldn't decide where to rest.

"Who wrote this?" Raven asked, his neutral tone giving way to none of his emotions. The shorter of the two stilled, almost as if his previous movements had never happened. Then he resumed.

"Replying to Sir Grim!" the Reaper who piss- No, the mountain-like Reaper bit his lip and steeled his nerves before he, just like a mountain unphased by the passing years, reported the truth of the matter, "It was Madam Grim."

According to Section 16c Subsection 4 of the Fair-Reaping Act, all Titled Reapers, during working hours, as well as the various other occasions listed in Subsection 7, must have active their Skeleton Illusion at all times. However, if this were not the case, then, at this moment in time, the two Junior Reapers would have noticed Raven's rapidly twitching brow.

"And which Madam Grim are you referring to, exactly?" only the slow enunciation of his words betraying the irritation Raven felt.

The short Reaper yelped, his hand movements becoming even more erratic, while his body began to visibly shiver. Shortly after, a nasty smell spread throughout their surroundings and the short Reaper stilled once more. Then he resumed.

The mountain-like Reaper glanced towards his partner, and, upon noticing his movements, stood taller, as if the pathetic display beside him had boosted his own confidence. He was only a Junior Reaper wearing blue robes, above him were the purple-robed Senior Reapers, the brown-robed Heaven Reapers, the red-robed Hell Reapers, and, finally, the black-robed Titled Reapers! But now something magical was happening, something that had never happened in the history of Reaper Academy; this Junior Mountain- No, this Junior Reaper was skipping a rank! Being directly promoted from Junior Reaper to Heaven Reaper! From Blue Robe to Brown Ro- Wait, that's not it.

With his boosted confidence, the Mountain replied with obvious delight, "Yes, sir! It was Madam Lilith, your Elder Sister, sir!"

Suddenly, the ground beneath the three shook, and the air cooled just as fast as Raven's gaze hardened, "Lilith... is it?"

The shorty, in an unexpected moment of enlightenment, finally decided on where to put his hands. He first stopped his movements, took a disdain-filled look at his pig-like teammate and then covered his face before weeping silently, not daring to make a sound. Though, if one looked closely, they'd see a coincidental gap between his fingers, right around his left eye.

A short moment later, the dumb- No, the Mountain realized his mistake and paled. "S-sir, I d-didn't mean... I... di-" he stuttered.

After a while of staring, Raven let out an exasperated sigh. "Fine. It doesn't matter. Since we've received a task, we have to do it to our utmost, regardless of if the target is a measly human or not. I'll deal with my sister when we get back."

Raven shot a glance towards the shorty before throwing the remaining 52 pages of the report at him. "Burn the rest of this nonsense."

"Yes, sir!" the shorty shouted. Raven gave him one more look, noticing the lack of redness around his eyes, and snorted.

"There's nothing to this, so no point in either of you coming along. In the meantime, since one cries and the other's incontinent, go spend some time with the Hell Squad, I'm sure they'll enjoy your company."

Both Junior Reapers had their eyes widen at the mention of the Hell Squad, but before they could beg for mercy, Raven had already disappeared.

Earth

Country-A

City-Y

"Someone! Call an ambulance!"

"What ambulance?! This is City-Y! Where would we get an ambulance?!"

"Then call a Doctor!"

"We only have vets in City-Y!"

At a certain crossroad within City-Y, two citizens ran around and shouted in mock anguish. Nearby lay a senior high school student, at first glance she looked fine, but a closer inspection would expose her of not breathing. She had already died.

"... Nobody is coming, what do we do now?"

"Erm... Well, we've already shouted for help, so I suppose we go?"

"Oh! Good idea, my love! Okay, let's hurry before we're late to the party!"

"Yes, dear."

The two, woman and man, quickly returned to their red Superu and drove off.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the young hit-and-run couple, a ghost, with a remarkable similarity to the recently deceased girl, sat off to the side.

"Hey, it's already been several minutes, isn't this after-death service a little too bad?" she muttered to nobody but herself.