The Devil's Office

1: Meeting Lucifer

          "Anato Fuda." a man's voice called out. She wondered who was calling out for her. It wasn't that she wanted to ignore it, but she felt like she needed to ignore it. Her body was light-weighted as if she was floating in mid air swaying endlessly. "Anato Fuda." the man called out again. She began to feel irritated by it, but chooses to ignore it again. All the sudden, her vision began appearing. Her eyes awoken by the bright walls, she realised a man in suit stood by her. "Anato Fuda." The man said, it was him who called out to her. It was then she looked around, in an empty room with only her and the bed she's leaning on. "Anato Fuda." The man said again. "What." She answered with a glare. "Follow me." He said and walked out of the room. In confusion, she stood up and followed him. As soon as she was outside, a narrow hall pointing straight towards a single door was the man in suit heading. Her legs followed and eventually arrive in front of the single door. "Please go in, the devil would like a word with you." The man said as he held his hand towards the door. She hesitated at first upon hearing the word 'Devil', she was imagining this situation happening in her dream and believing it so. She held the doorknob and went inside. From then, she was in an office. There were many books properly stacked in a tall shelf at the corners of the room, the books have ancient and boring titles where you'll yawn at the beginning of the chapter. At the center was a desk and the Devil sitting while busily working on something. The Devil is a human. Anato wasn't surprise, but she surely thought the Devil would look demonic and somewhat evil looking. Anato walked towards the Devil. "Ex--" "--Please have a seat. " The Devil said as he pointed the chair beside her. She obeyed and sat quietly, as if her mind was controlled. She was weirded out for a second but moved along with it. "Anato Fuda." He said, still writing on the papers. How did they even know me? Anato thought. "Because you are dead." He said. She immediately froze after hearing, she was speechless and started to contemplate whether she's dreaming or not. "For your information, this is not a dream. You are dead, for real." He said, but this time turning down the pen in his hand and crossing his fingers as he stares at her. She kept quiet, she doesn't know what to do. "I know it may came as a shock for you, since you're a soul. But good souls don't remember the bad, so I can't blame if you're still believing that you're dreaming in your bed." He said. "It's not a bad idea thinking this is a dream." He said. Then his expression changed all the sudden. "You know what, consider this situation as your dream." He said. She was more confused than ever, the words his blabbering can't be process in her mind. He then stood up and started roaming around the office. Anato's eyes followed his movement. "Considering this world as your dream is also a good way to initiate the cleanse process more conveniently and could keep the conversation running smooth. The aftermath wouldn't matter much because the souls would eventually forget that they're pretending to dream. Yes, this is a huge discovery." he said and stopped walking. "Am I correct? Do you think this is an advantage for me? And of course, also for you. " he asked. Anato who was still confused, just nodded to his question. "Great, I'm glad you agree. I too, see this as an advantage for the future system." He said and went back to his chair. "Anyway, as was said. Yes, you're dreaming. " he smiled while crossing his fingers. Anato still have no clue how to respond to him, she nodded again. The atmosphere turned awkward as silence came blowing around the room, especially between the exchanging stares Anato was doing towards the Devil. He smiles as if he was waiting for her to talk. All the sudden, he stood up and began pacing back and forward. "It seems like the conversation didn't worked well if I waited for questions from the receiver. Right, since I'm the initiator. I should be keeping the conversation going." he said and sat down again. Anato was weirded out by his attitude. If this is a dream, why must my brain thought the Devil would be this odd. She thought, as she stares at the floor. "I-i apologize." the Devil said, stuttering in awkward. She look up to see him nervously intertwining his fingers. Why is he acting like this all the sudden? Being all confident and to suddenly becoming an awkward teenage boy. "S-sorry again, I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable." he said while blinking rapidly. Wait, why is he apologizing like he's doing something wrong? I didn't said anything, it's like he's actually hearing me talking. "Yes, I do.. Actually." He spoke. "W-what?" She ask in stutter as well. He sighed lightly while closing his eyes. "We should start over again." He smiled. "I'm the Devil, with the name Lucifer. One of the seven demons. The eldest and mightiest of them all." He spoke with pride. "As you can see--" "--Urm, may I ask something?" She said, cutting him off. Lucifer was slightly shock with the sudden charge. "Yes." He said. "Am I dead?" She asked in a monotonous voice. "Yes, you're dead." He said. "Am I going to hell?" She asked again. "No, you're not." He said. "So what am I doing here?" She asked. "You're a broken soul. Broken souls come to my office to get themselves cleanse so they could proceed to heaven with no regret." He said. "How do I know if I'm a broken soul?" She asked. "You woke up here. It's automated." He said. "What is a broken soul?" She asked. "Broken souls are souls who experienced life extremely hard and died in a harsh way." He said. "How do I know if I don't remember?" She asked. "That's why you are here, to rediscover your past. You need to know your sins in order for you to attain your penance and repent." He said. She quiet down, wondering how she died. "Now, shall we start the orientation?" He smiled.

          "Let's begin." He said as he held the pen in his hand. "Do you know your name?" He asked. "Yes, Anato Fuda." I said. "Do you know your age?" He asked. "Yes, it's--" "--It's--" She didn't remember. It felt as if she knew it all the time, but couldn't recall it from her memory. "I see that you can't remember that much." He said and puts down the pen. "Looks like we have a problem here." He smiled. "What's happens if I don't remember anything but only my name?" She asked with slight worry in her face. "It's not the first time this event happen, but it is rare." He said. "Let's have a walk." He stood up and walk towards the door to the right. Anato followed. As they entered the room, they were in a beautiful garden. Anato stopped to look around, there were flowers that she never seen before. Flowers that gave out the feeling of warmth, it wasn't like normal flowers you would like to collect. It's as if you want it to live and bloom. "Beautiful isn't it?" He said and looked at her. She nodded and followed him. "You see, souls who aren't able to remember has to go through this long process of rediscovery." He said. "And how does it go?" She asked. " I'm afraid the correct question is how long does it take." He said. "Well first and foremost, we don't know how many sins you've commit. How major or minor the scale is, it takes a long time to discover. But you are sent here, so it means that you've died a harsh way and suffered an extremely hard life." He said. "How is the process?" She asked. "Well, I'll help you go through your life once again. We detect big moments from it and help you remember your biggest sin, along with the other sins." He said. "My biggest sin. What if I don't remember?" She asked. "That's the reason you came here. Broken souls usually forget a lot, but it's not severe as yours." He said. They continued strolling. "I wish there was a faster solution to this." He said. Anato kept quiet, in that moment she got an idea. "What if, there's a trigger point?" She asked. "Definition?" He asked. "Urm, I mean somewhere between my memory can trigger me to remember my whole life. Maybe, how I died? " She explained. "That might be possible. We can try it out, but if you have to jump to your death. We need some helping hand." He said. "There are others?" She asked. "Yes, my brother. Belphegor." He said.