Kuroyuki: Through the Eyes of the Shinigami

Extra: 5.5 - Dark Justice

A giant bell rang, the ground shook and light enveloped the room—a new Impaler was born.

The newborn came in the form of a young girl with straight, black, long hair. The light slowly faded and the young lass opened her eyes. A new pair of black eyes opened up to this new world. And thus her lifetime began.

"I wonder what happened to her during her previous life?" One Impaler, who wore a mask, said to another as he covered the new lass' bare body with a blanket.

"Must be something very traumatic for her not to remember." His companion said as he tucked his long blonde bangs behind his ear.

"Well, only few of us can remember our past. It's not like it's really worth remembering in the first place. Few are chosen to be reincarnated as Impalers."  The masked one said.

"Child, can you speak? Do you remember who you are?" Asked the blonde one, but he only got a blank stare from the girl. “Hmm.. I guess not. Well then,” the Impaler sat in front of her, “I am Kai and I will be your mentor for the time being.” Kai extended his hand, suggesting a shake as approval. But once again, he only got a long awkward stare.

“What should we name her, Kai?” The other one broke the silence. Kai looked closely at the girl scanning her whole body for something distinguishable.

“This is hard. How about…” he stared a little more until he got an idea, “How about Kuroha? Black and all.” He suggested. The girl’s eyes widened upon hearing her new name.

“K… Ku… ro...ha? Mm… I l-l-like… it.” The girl spoke as though she was still trying to learn her words. She looked again at Kai and his companion. Kuroha. To their surprise, she smiled at them as sweet as an angel.

Not long after her rebirth,  she learned to be cheerful and friendly, and became well-known for her keen sense of smell and sharp memory. She followed all of the rules and regulations of that world, regarding the schedules, the people from the other side and the territories. Under Kai’s care, she learned about the Mid Horizon, the Human world and the void. She was also given lessons about reaping souls and bringing them back to the void.

For her first actual assignment, she was tasked to reap the soul of a young boy who was scheduled to die after a week. They didn't tell her the cause of death so she became curious and observed the boy to see what was wrong. To her surprise, the young boy was healthy, lively and full of optimism. He proudly claimed his dream of being a doctor someday. She had fun watching over him-- to the point that she was almost acting as his guardian angel everytime he had trouble. She almost wanted to withdraw from the assignment-- but she couldn’t do that.

The day came and Kuroha was trying to prepare herself, conditioning her mind that it's her job and that she needs to do it. She wondered about what was wrong. Maybe something went wrong? Maybe they made a mistake? Although she tried to work out her thoughts, she shrugged it off instead and continued to spy on the boy.

"It's your time soon anyway. It'd be convenient if I'm already here." She thought.

Night fell and everyone went to sleep. Then it happened--a burglar broke into their house carrying a butcher knife and massacred the boy’s family. Kuroha wasn’t able to move. Her hands trembled at the sight of this horrible murder. The burglar smelled different; he smelled rotten. He was holding the father’s head as he entered the boy’s room. Inside Kuroha’s mind flashed similar looking images. Blood, amputated human body parts, people screaming begging for their lives and a girl who was hiding under the table, fearing for her life. It was her memories.

Why is he the one that's going to die?

He did not do anything wrong

Why can't this man die instead?