Chapter Text
Chapter 1
A dark silhouette on a wooden oar loomed above the scene.
It reeked of burnt wood, kerosene and charred flesh.
On the ground, still fuming, a small, battered body lay like a bag of trash.
Ayame hovered closer to it, not bothering to move aside as one of the firefighters passed through her. She liked to be punctual.
Koenma had sent her with curt and clear directions: The explosion will be fatal. She’ll die within minutes. After we’re done with the protocol here, route her to heaven.
The paramedics loaded the body on the stretcher and into the ambulance. In transit, the heartbeat stopped. They began performing chest compressions.
Ayame still hadn’t seen a trace of her soul.
She rose into the cold night sky and hurried back to Reikai.
“What do you mean, her soul didn't come out.”
Koenma rummaged through the pile of files on his desk.
“I don’t understand either, Koenma-sama…” Ayame mumbled.
“Here she is!” He snatched the paper from the pile and held it in both hands, wrinkling it with his sweaty fingers. “The death date is today, yes.”
Koenma reached for a pen that wasn't on his desk. Then he opened the wrong drawer. Closed it. Opened the correct one.
He circled the date on the paper.
There were now one too many people alive in Ningenkai.
“Go keep a watch on her for now,” he ordered. “We do get the occasional miscalculated hour. If her soul doesn't leave the body before midnight, let me know. Only then can we be fully sure.”
Ayame dipped her head. ”Yes, Koenma-sama.”
When she arrived at the ER, she saw doctors and nurses clustered around the unconscious child. One of them cracked a rib as he continued chest compressions. Another adjusted a cord at the head of the bed.
“Suction.”
“Tube in.”
Monitor alarms blared.
”We have a pulse!”
The exclamation tore through the chaos and quieted the noise for just a fraction of a second before the room surged back into motion.
“We're transferring to the PICU—”
“Pediatric burn team paged?”
“Coming through!”
The nurses made way on the corridors and rolled the bed into the elevator.
”Excellent work, Ōkawa-sensei! If you hadn’t shown up tonight, we would have lost her for sure.”
The grim reaper pursed her lips together.
Koenma needed to hear about it.
The ruler of Reikai kept his eyes trained on the clock on the opposite wall. Less than a minute to midnight.
He tapped his finger on the hardwood desk. Then straightened a stack of papers that didn't need straightening. He flipped the file in question over, then put it back on the pile. He already knew it by heart.
A red oni passed his desk, lifting the stack of completed files while already balancing another in its place.
“Wait—not that one,” Koenma said, pulling the file free before it could be carried off.
Seven minutes past midnight.
“Jorge!” he called, voice thin.
“Yes, Koenma-sama?” The blue oni poked his head in from the back door of the office to check on his boss.
“Matcha. Make it extra strong,” he barked out.
“Noted!”
He was sipping his tea ten minutes later. Ayame still wasn’t back. Just when he was about to go and check for himself, the main door opened to reveal the grim reaper.
“Koenma-sama…”
Her boss leaned in. “Yes?”
“The child was reanimated. Her heart resumed beating, and they are stabilizing her in the ICU.
She is alive, Koenma-sama.”