Death's Count (Yami no Matsuei)

[1]

The Count encountered Ruka Tsuzuki during the depth of winter outside of their realm.

Her arrival brought a wave of cherry blossoms to descend inside of his domain when she entered through those large decorated doors. Upon seeing her petite figure, he noted her fascinated stare on account of the endless amount of candles filling the area of the main room. He remained put and watched her. When she turned her face to the side, his eyes widened at the beauty of her delicate features. Sure, he witnessed plenty of beautiful people during his life and afterlife, but something about her caught his attention.

As the candlelight illuminated her face, he noticed the contemplation while inspecting the candles. When he saw her light brown eyes, dimmed of previous naïveté and innocence, he found himself fascinated.

He wondered upon the reason for her disenchantment to the world. Her lack of ignorance and sheltering didn't surprise him. Many guardians entered their position through a shattered view of their past life. Some even went so far as to use their position for revenge, nothing out of the ordinary for those who died from a third party. Ones with regrets, simply wanted answers to their questions and stick around long enough to gain a clear understanding of themselves.

Seeing these candles, an indicator of a living soul, made guardians pause when entering his domain. Maybe a soul caught their attention through that nagging feeling of familiarity. Well, the ones who never saw these soul candles paused and stared.

The exact reason for this young woman to not acknowledge his presence.

He felt no offense. This reaction happened far too often for him to have any sort of negative reaction.

A familiar face burst in, energy blazing, a smile stretching beyond normal capacity. He recognized the guardian, Jiro, who greeted him with a loud voice which echoed throughout the vast room. The young woman didn't flinch or turn in recognition of her partner. An apparent accustomed to such a loud voice. Sharing a quick exchange of words, the Count's eyes returned the young lady behind Jiro, whose attention remained stuck on the candles.

Noting a lack of input from Ruka, Jiro turned to check on his partner. To his astonishment, Ruka's attention didn't stray from the candles in a display of impoliteness. "Ruka-chan! Hello!"

Ruka jumped at the sound of her name. Turning to her right, she noticed the new person, well a mask floating in the air and a pair of pure white gloves. The Chief warned her about the Count's eccentric mannerisms, and to ignore the floating items to not seem rude. Obvious differences aside, she made a fool of herself in front of a prominent person in the bureau.

The Count noticed those lovely eyes widen in shock at being caught in distraction, she scrambled to bow to him. "I apologize for my rudeness, my name is Ruka Tsuzuki, Jiro-san's partner."

In the background, Jiro snickered in amusement while the Count nodded. "It's no issue. I tend to glance at the candles while deep in thought myself." He walked toward Ruka Tsuzuki, whose eyes trailed along areas where his body went invisible due to his mask. "Lovely, aren't they?"

Still reeling from her previous bout of rudeness, Ruka clasped her hands behind her back. She kept her eyes on his mask. "Yes." A brief moment of silence passed. "What happens to the extinguished candles?"

"Excuse me?"

Ruka checked the candles around her immediate area. She noted no unlit candles in between the bundles. "I assume that they light up again upon reincarnation. Although, there are those who enter eternal slumber, get a job in the Judgement Bureau, or...linger in the world of the living. Do you keep these candles in a different room?"