Death Parade OS

She woke up in an unknown sofa at a place she did not recognize. Her body felt numb and her her head was dizzy. Slowly she stood up and walked along the corridor that was in front of her and took a sharp turn to the left. Everything was covered in fabric that had beautiful rich colours of violet and scarlet with patterns of a sunny orange. 

The curve of the corridor had one wall made of glass behind which was an empty cage-like place which looked like it was made for amphibians. The woman wondered where she was, she had never in her whole life been here. Was she kidnapped? Dreaming? Or even lying in a coma?

She walked along the corridor, further and further. The walls did not change, the same ominous light from the lamps hanging from the ceiling. The woman was starting to get a bad feeling about the whole thing, even though the place seemed extremely luxurious, it had a weird aftertaste to it, as if you couldn't fully trust this place, as if it was a fleeting thing that could vanish within seconds.

On her way through the corridor she tried to remember how she got here or what she was even doing here but her memories stayed completely locked. 

At last the corridor ended and in front of her was a huge room, no a bar, with the bartender standing behind the counter, cleaning a glass. He was tall and had short snow-white hair with a part of it falling over his left eye, cut away in the lower half of the back of his head. His skin was pale and looked like porcelain, the visible eye was in a pure icy blue, a colour she never imagined to see in anyones eyes in her whole life.

But still...those eyes...they somehow looked so familiar...How could she recognize eyes in a colour she had never seen before? It was impossible.

For the split of a second the man looked startled and shocked but the expression was gone, just as fast as it came. He spoke, his voice deep and clear, rich like molten dark chocolate.

"Welcome to Quindecim, my name is Decim, please have a seat."

She sat down on one of the barstools and looked around. In front of her were many bottles in different colours, behind them were gemstones, she couldn't define if glass or real, which reflected the cold purple glow of Quindecim. Other than the corridor, there were glass chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.

"Before we start, may I ask you a question? Do you remember how you came here or anything that happened before you came?", Decim asked, his face showing no emotion. "No", the woman answered, "I do not recall anything, not even my own name. Still...what am I doing here? Where am I?"

Decim ignored her questions and calmly started talking again. "You will now play a game of life and death. Please press the button to start the roulette" He was talking about life and death like it meant nothing, similar to people talking about the weather. A huge, screen-like device appeared in front of her, parted into nine, same-sized squares. There was a picture of a wide grinning girl in a red winter jacket with a scarf printed on it, ice-skating over a frozen lake. 

The picture looked like it was out of a children's book. Somehow, even this picture looked familiar, just like Decim's eyes. Hell, this whole place looked eerily familiar and she swore, she'd never been here before!

"When I lose, I die, what happens when I win? And why do I have to play at all? I can leave this building through any exit", she bravely asked him, even when she felt scared. 

"You will be led out of here without experiencing any harm. Don't look for exits, you won't find any" The answer came automatically.

The weird thing was, she just believed him without a second thought. She trusted him that he wasn't lying. Maybe I could try, she thought, I mean, how hard could such a game be? It is better to try and die than be stuck here forever, in a bar without exits and a place to sleep...

Slowly she pressed the button and the roulette was set in motion. Every square blinked until the light came to a halt in the middle of the screen. It turned and read 'Twister'. Decim pulled out a circle with colors and hands and feet on it and placed it on the counter before the dark violet curtains to her left opened up and revealed a gigantic Twister-Board for them to play.

The woman carefully walked to the board with Decim following her. The place behind the curtains was huge and the woman heard someone play the piano somewhere. By looking around, she noticed something next to the bar: It was a grey puppet, sitting on a chair. It had sleek black hair with one white strand and was wearing a short skirt and a magenta t-shirt with a small leather jacket on top.

The puppet triggered a memory, something she forgot a long time ago...

A smile, as warm and welcoming as home. He never smiled like this, it was the first time he ever really smiled. And that smile...it made her heart ache, not wanting to leave this place, not wanting to leave him, but she knew that she had to move on. This was not a place for her. But someday...someday she would return here. To the place that somehow became home in the past time. And to him, who she fell in love with, in a way, that never happened in her life. Out of happiness and sadness at the same time, she smiled brightly one last time, before the elevator doors closed and she was sent into her next life.

"Are you alright? You seemed very distant right now." Decim looked worried, what somehow did not suit his face. It looked different and for a moment she felt like falling. "No, no everything's fine, I was just lost in thought", she answered fast, not wanting him to know about the memory fragment she just found in her head. He did not look like he believed her but he still nodded and didn't speak of it again.

The woman, still thinking about the memory, tripped over her feet and fell but was catched by glittering spider webs and put onto her feet again. "Thanks", she murmured, blushing. Decim did not answer but could not hide a smile.

That smile...

It was the smile of the man from her memory. And then everything came back again.

Nona, Decim, the trials, Clavis, Ginti, the married couple, the elevators, memento mori, her trial, the last time she saw Decim, his smile before she was reincarnated, her new life as Yukiko Agawa, the reason why she never really fell in love with anyone or at least did not forge the same kind of bond she had with Decim. She never really forgot him, even though he was damned to forget.

She whispered, her voice hoarse, "Decim?". It wasn't really a question but all her surprise and shock were in that little word. Her eyes felt wet and soon after tears streamed down her face. She fell on her knees, her legs not being able to carry her anymore, and buried her face in her hands.

Decim just wondered what was wrong with the woman. Her behavior changed within the last minute and he did not know why. Still...seeing her cry made something ache in his heart and all he wanted to do was to see her smile again. The pain was growing and he had absolutely no idea what he could do to help her.

Out of non-existent other options he kneeled in front of her. Awkwardly, he put his arms around her and hugged her as well as he could. He had never hugged anyone before and this was completely new to him but it seemed to help, so he held her even tighter, one arm on the height of her waist, the other one at her shoulders.

His hand adjusted a bit and his index finger grazed the skin on her neck. Immediately he felt the sensation, as if he was being hit by a van. Every little moment, every memory of Chiyuki came back and he also started crying. Chiyuki, realizing that he as well had remembered, held him the way he had held her and gave as much support as she could.

After a while of them consoling each other, they stood up and looked into the eyes of the other, piercing ice-blue meeting warm, pinkish wine-red. Both of them knew that Chiyuki had to return to the mortal world, her being reborn was out of question, but none of them wanted to leave the other behind.

Decim slowly pulled her to the elevators, while the door opened. He put a hand on her cheek and gave her a gentle kiss before pushing her out of the room. She had no chance to say anything; the elevator doors closed, sending her to be reborn once again.

Hi!

This is my first story and it's really bad, so I'm sorry. I hope you still enjoyed it and I will see you next time :) If you could give me feedback, I would be really happy!

Love, tanakahideodesu