Illustrated by tmt
<aside> ☠️ “You have seven days until you die.”
After saying this phrase, I have always enjoyed seeing the human’s reaction.
Weeping… despair… screaming... rage... denial... terror...
I love these reactions because it brings color to my boring daily routine of collecting souls.
My next target is a terminally ill boy at the hospital. I tell him the same phrase I’ve spoken a million times.
He looks at me for a moment, and then I’m the one who’s stunned.
He isn’t crying, or showing any trace of sadness or fear. His face is calm and he is gently smiling at me.
“Thank you for coming,” he says.
Why? Why are you smiling like that?
I threaten him that I will come to collect his soul, but he’s still smiling.
“You’re so kind coming all this way for me.” He closes his eyes and begins to nap.
After our first meeting, I visit him every day to make him feel despair. But with each visit, he just grows happier. I think he’s weird, but I don’t want to give up.
Today, I try to break the empty vase beside his bed to make him sad. But at that moment, I feel strange and hold it in my hands. Suddenly, his smile fades.
I see his face, and realize one thing. I came here for six days, but I’ve never seen a visitor once.
“You will take my soul tomorrow, right?” He’s smiling again, but weakly because the disease has progressed. I look at him, and nod silently.
Day 7
I step inside his room, and walk slowly to his bed. His condition is awful now, and it looks like it hurts him just to breathe. He opens his eyes, and looks at me with the same smile.
“You really came… thank you.”
I clench my fist and ask him why he thanks me. “I come to take your soul and give you death!”
He gives another smile… the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen.
“Because it’s the first time someone is doing something for me… and at the end, I have someone here with me.”
I say nothing for a long time, then place my hand on his chest. He closes his eyes, and his mouth slowly opens. I pull his soul out with a trembling hand, and see that it has taken the form of a broken heart.
Suddenly, I feel hot, black tears springing from my eyes. This is the first time I realize that even a God of Death like me can cry.
At this moment, I understand why humans are so sad when death comes…
</aside>