What will you do if you are face to face with death?

Will you run, hide, or fight but for him this is not even a choice this is his escape route.

This is the story of him who is pulled into a rather regrettable situation.

"Goodbye" they said.

That was the farewell cue that he got when all of his classmates moved in different directions. Some of them directly headed to the station while some went to their part-time job. But for him he couldn't make any detour anymore as he just needed to cross this road and he will be home.

Unfamiliar faces, children, adults, tall, short, old and young. Everyone of them patiently waits on the side, waiting for the traffic light to go green. Though everyday many faces pass through his sight, the bustling city seems to not change.

They are all the same people who are tired, wanting to go home and rushing to chase the last train, and yet they are not the same person because their actions are repetitive and same as everyday as all others. All of this never changing actions makes the city as stagnant as water in the street.

"... "

As stagnant as it is, something peculiar caught his attention.

It was the figure of a person standing in the center of the road. Upon seeing that his mind was suddenly riddled with the questions of "Is that person crazy", "Does she want to die", "What is her problem". At first he thought that these questions could describe what was the person doing there, but these questions would just contrast what he is seeing right now.

She wore a uniform lace with black lines along the sleeve and through her collar, she stood in the center without a care in the world. She stared towards the horizon of the road like watching the sun on the beach.

She is more like a decent person who just suddenly pops on the road rather than a crazy woman, but this observation wouldn't match her at all.

She wore a white clean uniform laced with black lines along the collar and in the ends of the sleeve. Her demeanor may seem like a mad person but her appearance looks like a normal high school student like him.

"She just really looks like a normal girl," he muttered.

He gazes around but no one is batting an eye on the girl, everyone is fixated on their phones and even the ones that are completely vacant are looking pass through her, as if she is just an apparition.

"Am I the only one who could only see her?" he asked himself.

He once again gazes around and just like before there is a new response. All of them are acting like nothing is happening.

"... " he stared down at her.

Truth to be told what should happen, happened.

A dashing car came straight in her direction. Normally, a person would dutifully and swiftly move to his side, but this girl. She openly lay her arms embracing her upcoming doom. The scene seems to come out straight out of the movie as she is like a heroine in a beach movie, enjoying the sand without a care in the world. Still even with clear accidents that could happen in front of the eyes of the people, they remain unbothered.

"You've gotta be kidding me"

Those are the only words that can come out in his mouth, seeing the adversary of people.

-but

It can also be said that what he is seeing is just an illusion, the girl standing in the road, the people who are bothered and zooming cars. It can be all just a hallucination caused by his tiredness or to speak his mind craving for excitement in his mundane life.

But still…

Even though there is a possibility that this can just be a hallucination and mirage, his heart still feels like it was being stabbed by a million needles, pinning every part of it.

I don't know why but I feel angry at what I'm seeing right now.

He glared at the girl.

"This is stupid" he said as he moves forward.

He puts all what he called strength in his feeble legs and starts running, but as expected for someone who would not take his PE class seriously and avoid exercising. A simple dash like this puts his muscle to a difficult test.

Every move, every step he took felt like his muscle would tear apart.

This hurts! It hurts!

But…

I cannot stop moving

Faster…

Move…

Move faster…

He wants to save her but it was not a heroic instinct that moves him forward, it was something else. He felt angry at her, so in order to relieve himself of his own anger, he needed to save her. For the last time he put all his remaining strength he could muster. He dashed forward faster than before.

And he arrived but also the car.

In this dilemma where you could only save one, you have two options. It is either to push forward and continue or stop your feet and save yourself. However, this is not even a form of dilemma for him. From the very start he intends to save this girl. He would save both of them.

Breaking what his paper muscle could, he dashed faster, faster than what his feeble body and legs could do.

In a blink of an eye, he embraced the girl and pushed their body to the side.

"..."

There is nothing that he could say, everything seems to stop in a moment. The car, them and the people, there moving so slow in his eyes.

Is this what they say when you are about to die, the world will stop and only you could move and see everything. If that is what is happening right now…

Then..

I'm going to reject it.

"I will live!" he shouted.

Is what he did could be called a heroic act? The bystanders would of course say, Yes. They witnessed how a single boy put his life to save a girl. But for him, what he did is just a foolish act after all he did it all because he is angry. He just acts out of instinct and more importantly a hero would not save someone just because of their anger.

Everything turned dark, he could not hear nor feel anything. The last thing he could remember is how his blood pumped throughout his body and how the adrenaline rushed through his veins and through his system.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

What is that sound?

"Chanting? " he asked.

Of all the things he could hear from the moment he gained back his hearing it was an ominous sound. Disturbed he opened his eyes.

Multiple flashes of lights welcome him. The unbothered people gathered around them forming a circle. It was sudden development for these people to act like this but it can also to him, a boy who would dash forward just because of his own emotion.

For real? If you could people do this earlier then I wouldn't need to run and put my life in line. If only someone other than me does this I'm sure that he will successfully do this without putting his life on line.

He let out a hard sigh and looked up into the reddish sky, but then he remembered the reason that he is lying in this cold concrete ground. Moving his sight back to his chest he found the girl he had just saved or in his case the one he was angry at. Thankfully she is alright and without any injuries but something is right.

As he puts his sight in her she is already staring back at him.

If you look at the abyss, the abyss looks back at you. Those are the exact words that came to my mind when our eyes met. Never in my life have I experienced this and I don't know I will be able to forget this ever again.

her eyes feel like the deep sea as if it was slowly dragging you in its depths. Slowly squeezing your throat cutting all escape. All he can feel at that moment is fear and madness.

And all over again everything turns dark.

What is happening? Where am I?

This feeling is what they feel when you are flying.

This is quite bizarre but I think this is not entirely bad. I can enjoy this for eternity.

However, the gods wouldn't allow everything to just end like that. In a spur moment even faster than a blink of eye, his body as it was floating is suddenly pulled forward. Then in that moment, his body was stripped, from bottom to top, from his skin into his bone. The excruciating pain becomes more and more painful. He was screaming but there was no sound, he tried to resist everything but his body wouldn't move.

This is the end… I don't think I can last anymore…

if it would even last for another second his mind would surely vanish.

All of his pain has suddenly stopped. He finds himself just standing not far from the crowd, watching his own cold corpse.

"I'm dead," he said.

He looks at his body and back to his arms. Transparent as a bubble he can see through his body, but in this case it is more appropriate to say his soul.

"I'm dead… " he said again

If I'm dead then that means I'm already in the afterlife earlier. If that's the case , what could be the reason that I am here again? Does this mean that I'm hanging between life and death?

"why?" he asks.

Sudden chill struck his back and his transparent skin began to have goosebumps. If you're alive this could be just a normal reaction for your body if put in this kind of situation but he is already dead. His mind, which is already confused just from him being in here, is dragged into more confusion as to why his body is acting like it was alive.

what is happening to this astral body, is this supposed to happen when you are already soul. No, that can be.

I have a hunch but that could be just another…

At that moment, a deafening sound reached his ears.

Two metal scratching at each other echoed inside his head. The view becomes distorted, crack like a mirror, then back to normal. What appears next is the most obvious thing that a dead person should think.

Small slender figure, skin as white as snow, and gigantic scythe at her small hands. It was no doubt that it was coming for him and was the source of all of it.

"For a human who is already in afterlife but brought back to living place using torture, you're pretty calm. " she casually said.

Just like what the legends spoke, a figure ladened in black coat will come for you on your death. Though many civilizations had a different iteration of it, the role of it will never change. It was the guide and reaper of souls, the death. Though this time that death came for him is very contrary to what a normal human being would imagine. If he will say it this death is cute.

"no, no, no, you're clearly mistaken. I'm very scared right now and panicking." he said while shaking his both hands "It's just that the situation is not sinking into me right now" he added.

"oh well" she shrugged. "Although it's obvious and I should know, I will still introduce myself. I'm dead, the reaper of souls."

To not become rude he introduced himself.

"Then I'll te- "

Before he even started introducing his name, death cut him off.

"No need to introduce yourself, Kaito. I already know your name. "

It was to be expected since she is someone who is near the existence they called God, but Kaito is still shocked.

"As you know you are already dead and I am here not to guide you to the afterlife because you've already been in there. You see I'm here for another business" she said

It was surprising that the death was a cute girl, but Kaito is now more confused as to why the death with the job to guide souls is not here for his shoulder but for another business.

''What is your business then? " he asks.

"I need you to become my partner" she said "hmm, that's not right become my assistant"

"What?!"

Hearing some weird words and absurd things for her, Kaito asks again.

"Can you repeat what you said? " he politely asked.

"I said you'll be myn assistant. Are you deaf? " she said "no, that can't be but you are already dead" she muttered while evading her gaze.

I was not hallucinating or hearing things, did the death ask me to become her assistant. What kind of carnival attraction is this? Never in my life have I heard this kind of absurd thing.

For some this offer can be the one in a million chance and they will instantly agree but for Kaito he is already shaking his head.

He gathered his courage and boldly said "What if I refuse" .

If she refuses me then I will run and if she catches me then I will hide. If she finds me, I will run and if there is no escape anymore then I will fight her, even if the results are clear from the start. I will still fight.

Her cheeks puff, death tried to stop her laughing but what just Kaito said hit her hard. She can't stop laughing hysterically at him.

Yuuto cannot believe what he is seeing right now the death is laughing at him and she even is holding her stomach.

Just what she thought when I said that I will refuse, did she think that I am just joking.

she raised her palm and said "wait, give me a second" she inhaled and stopped laughing "you make me laugh".

Yuuto could only show an exasperated face from what he saw.

"but…"

Everything turned dark and the only figure he could see was death. She looked at him with a mischievous grin.

"You could refuse an order from me"

He takes a step back "I though this is just a proposal"

"no, my words are absolute command for you. Remember, Yuuto I am the death and right now you are just soul"

"..."

"You have no choice, everything is being placed right now and that includes you and me. "

"I- I cannot accept this… " he murmured "I cannot accept this! "

Still refusing the order, he shouted at her but instead of getting angry death let out a small grin.

"You will accept this and you cannot refuse anymore" she said

In an instant her gigantic scythe is already in his neck, ready to cut him down at any given moment.

Normally, as a spirit this scythe would of course not harm him, but this scythe is owned by death, the reaper of soul. He would surely die for a second time now.

"If I cut you down now, your soul will cease to exist forever. But for you Kaito I will give an exception. I will put you in an endless turtore and when you're min dis in shatter I will heal you back and torture you again. "

She looked him dead in the eyes. It was cold and mocking eyes, without saying a word Kaito knew that this death is not joking and surely would do what she said.

"Choose Kaito. Suffer an endless death and torture or become my assistant and have a chance to pass on."

"…"

"That is more I like it" she smirks at him.

Even without asking, death surely knows what Kaito will choose. Hearing the choice he had given, his body could just shiver from both of it. But he knows himself that he hates being in pain as everyone else and the one option without much pain is being her assistant. It kind of hurt him but this pain is just temporary. Compare to this to endless torture this is just like an ant bite.

She clap her hands

"Now that you accept being assistant, I'm going to bring back-"

"Wait" he cut her off "What do you mean bring by back? I though I'm going to become your assistant"

she puts her piano hands in her small mouth and lets out a small chuckle.

"You'll be my assistant but not when you are a soul. I need you alive"

She said and looked at him like it was the most obvious thing to think of.

Death I know that you are a powerful being but do not lump me with other people. Normally, a human would not even think that they can become death's assistant while dead and more importantly if you bring me back I don't know what will happen after I wake in my own body.

Yuuto could only give her an annoyed face from her words,

"let's give you then a miracle, Kaito"

She flicked her finger and then Kaito began to fade.

At first he had the impression that death will be someone who will be as serious or someone who could talk properly, but just like they said what is in your mind will not always go in reality. Meeting this girl made all of his impressions shatter.

Before fading away, he looked at her straight into eyes and said.

"You're cute" he stop for moment "but I hate you to every bone"

It was the most frank thing he could say to her. For him who is brought to life, pulled in an unbeneficial partnership and even threatened to end his life. No human could not angry at what happen,

"at least you won't forget about me" she let a small mischievous smile at him.

Once again death, no this girl manages to overturn Kaito's word to her own benefit.

This girl is really a cheeky brat

This is the start of his rather painful story about who became the assistant of death. Brought back to life he became someone entirely different from him before.

Fading into nothingness, Kaito was finally transported back to his body. Death turns her back and says under her breath.

"Let's start this complicated battleground."