Shinigami High School

“S-Sato-san... will you let me be your girlfriend?”

Those words were all it took to end my life.

Suki Kaneko; I’d known the girl for long time. Well, “known” is a bit of a stretch, honestly, “aware of” was more accurate. She was a fellow classmate for all three years of my high school career, by chance, and we went to the same middle school, but we had never actually spoken at length. I’d never really gotten much interaction from girls of any variety, but Kaneko had always seemed to be one of the extremely shy types. So, her sudden confession was quite a shock, I had no idea she had feelings for me.

Kaneko was shorter than me by quite a bit and very thin with the sole exception of her bust which was quite large. She had straight black hair that was long, center parted, and loose. Most of the time it covered her face completely, only hints of it were visible through the curtain.

Her appearance and general distant demeanor had earned her plenty of unfortunate nicknames among her fellow classmates. One of them being “Sadako-chan”, apparently for her resemblance to a certain horror-movie monster, and for those who were far less creative but no less cruel “stick-with-tits". I’d always hated hearing people call her those names; I didn’t think it was very nice. She was kind of cute, honestly. Admittedly, I didn’t have very high standards when it came to the opposite sex, but I also didn’t think it was fair to have high standards for stuff like that.

In the end, the surprise of her confession was enough to kill me, it seemed. Here I was, standing next to my collapsed body on the roof of the old school building. Kaneko was beside me on the ground, and it looked like she was about to begin trying CPR. I got the distinct feeling that the gesture would be useless. If I was already so far gone that my spirit was literally hanging around outside my body, I’d say there was no turning back. Not to mention the presence of a certain iconic robed figure wearing a silver skull mask and carrying a wicked-looking scythe standing in front of me.

“I guess it doesn’t take a genius to figure out who you are and why you’re here.” I sighed.

The robed figure nodded, a pair of violet lights, which must have been his eyes, gleaming, “Indeed. I am here to guide you to the afterlife. But there is time to talk if you need it.” He had exactly the voice I’d always imagined the grim reaper to have. Deep, menacing, imposing, and intimidating, yet somehow calm, patient, and a tad melancholic.

The scene in front of me was very sad, Kaneko was leaning over me, her hands pressed against my chest, her face contorted in an expression of shock and sorrow which I could discern even through the wall of her hair, and tiny droplets of water were trickling from her face down onto my body. What’s worse, the scene was playing in slow-motion for some reason.

“Poor Kaneko-san, this is going to traumatize her pretty bad. I guess it’s obvious in hindsight, but she really liked me. And what happens when she finally works up the courage to confess? I keel over like a total loser.”

nodded, and I oddly got a feeling of solidarity from him. It? Them? Her? I couldn’t really tell through the tattered robes. The voice sounded pretty manly, so I was going to go with that.

“And what about my dad? Mom died ten years ago, and now his only son dies too. I don’t even want to imagine what he’ll do.”

The ominous robed figure stared at me for a moment, those eerie violet lights seeming as though they were piercing and scanning my very soul. It sent a shiver down my spine.

“So, what happened?” I asked, mostly to break the silence. “How did I die?”

“Random chance,” the reaper replied, “nothing more. You had a heart attack. You had a rare deformity since your birth, any time your heart-rate increased you could have gone into cardiac arrest, it just so happened to be now.”

“Aw man,” I sighed and squatted down in despair. It really was just my luck. All I’d ever wanted was a cute girlfriend, and just when that was about to happen, I up and died. I would have accepted her offer in a heartbeat. Wow, that turn of phrase felt a little off-color, given the circumstances, didn’t it? “So, what happens now?”

“Ordinarily, this is when I would guide you to the afterlife, where judgement awaits. However, you are quite special. As it is my job to bear witness to the deaths of every mortal and take them from this world and into the next, I have met countless different people, and had conversations with nearly every one of them that was willing to talk.”

I nodded, unsure of where he was going with this. I sort of hoped he would hurry, the slow-motion scene playing out in front of me was extremely depressing. Poor Kaneko was trying her best to pump my chest, as pointless a gesture as it may have been.

“It may surprise you to know that very few people’s immediate thoughts upon their are how it will affect those around them. Rarer still are those who do not beg for their lives after the fact.”

Oh, I supposed now that he mentioned it, it hadn’t even crossed my mind yet how much of a bummer it was that I only lived to be eighteen and then kicked the bucket. I had my whole life ahead of me, I hadn’t even graduated high school, and I died a virgin. Besides, how lame was it that I died from getting confessed to? The part about not begging I understood well enough, though; I wasn’t the kind of guy to do that sort of thing.

“Well, that is pretty interesting, but what difference does it make?”

“All of it. It has granted you an opportunity. Watch.” He pointed a black-gloved finger toward Kaneko.

At first, I didn’t really see what he was trying to get me to see, then I noticed it. The girl had a steadily building black aura around her. In a display that I could only describe as “horrific”, the aura began to separate from her body in a writhing, inky, black mass that immediately splattered on the ground next to her.

“What the hell!?” I exclaimed, stumbling backward onto my ass.

The mass began taking a vaguely humanoid shape, and one that was slightly reminiscent of Kaneko herself. It began to rise up, like it was trying to stand. It grew limbs which dripped like molten tar, and a pair of haunting blue lights moved up its body to where the eyes should be. It then made a gurgling, howling sound of sorrow that cut to my very core.

“What is that!?” I asked.

“It is a phantom. Do not worry, this one is harmless. Right now, we both stand in the spirit realm, those in your world can’t see or interact with this one, and that creature only exists here. Whenever someone from your world is besieged with intense emotions, particularly negative ones, it spawns a phantom like this one.”

“So, Kaneko-san mourning for me created it?” I asked. The slimy black thing was already shambling away, toward the chain-link fence around the perimeter of the rooftop.

“It was born from a unique cocktail of complex emotions—that girl has a number of psychological issues plaguing her—but chief among them is your , yes. It is what has set her over the edge of deepest despair.”

“Are phantoms bad?” I asked.

“Not inherently. Some are, but most are harmless. Those rare few, however, can learn to pass through into your world.”

“That sounds bad.” I said, watching the sorrowful and pitiful thing bang against the fence pointlessly. It almost seemed like it was reaching for the setting sun.

“It has long since been part of my job to destroy phantoms that threaten to cross into your world. However, I am just one being.”

He went on to explain that as human population continued to grow over time, the number of these phantoms also grew. And while there was a time when was able to deal with all of these phantoms and lead all the souls of the dead to their afterlives, there was definitely not enough time for the reaper of souls to do it by himself anymore. This was even with the fact that time in this spirit realm seemed to pass more quickly than in my world, ten times more quickly to be exact. To solve this problem, he decided to recruit mortals to delegate some of his duties to.

“Okay, that makes sense,” I said, nodding, “but what does that have to do with me?”

“I recruit these individuals, which I have called Shinigami in Japan, by granting those who have recently died the opportunity to be revived. In other words, Haru Sato, I am extending this offer to you. If you agree to become one of my Shinigami and dedicate yourself to destroying phantoms that threaten to enter your world, I shall revive you and give you a second chance at life.”

“Whoa,” I blinked. That was quite the offer. “I don’t know if I’d be any good at that job,” I admitted, “I’ve never even been in a schoolyard fight before. Are the phantoms easy to kill?”

“Some are,” said, “but the ones that need destroying often aren’t. Not to worry, you would not be alone in this endeavor. Your school already has a number of Shinigami among its student-body, they’ll be able to teach and help you. Also, I won’t be simply throwing you into the darkness without a light. I shall give you a number of supernatural gifts and tools to aid you and allow you to defeat the phantoms.”

Okay, it was good to know he wasn’t hanging me completely out to dry here. I had too much to live for, and too many people to protect. I also needed to lose my virginity, damn it. I turned to look at Kaneko again, realizing there was something else too. The sight of her crying was truly harrowing and heartbreaking. I would go to my grave with shame in my very soul if I left her crying like that.

“I’ll do it,” I said, nodding.

“It will not be easy, but if you rely on your fellow Shinigami, and take their training very seriously, you will succeed. They will tell you all that you need to know. Eventually, if you continue to work diligently, I may offer you the chance to retire and continue to live the rest of your life without having to work as a Shinigami.”

That did sound like a pretty good deal. I nodded to reaffirm my agreement.

“Very well, Haru Sato. It will be done. The other Shinigami of the academy will find you when the time has come. For now, be safe. When you awaken, I recommend going along with whatever your classmate wants to do. Do not worry, you will have a new, fully functioning heart, and this event will have no long-standing health-repercussions.”

With that, my eyes opened. The soft lavender color of the twilight sky filled my vision, along with a curtain of black hair to my right. I gasped and a rush of cool, springtime air filled my lungs. My own sharp intake of breath caused the same reaction in the crying girl.

“S-Sato-san!?” She exclaimed, drawing her hands up to her mouth in shock.

I coughed and then smiled, “Hey, sorry about that.”

“I... but... your heart wasn’t beating...” she said, quietly. “I was so scared... I... I didn’t mean to...” tears were building up in her eyes again.

I sat up and rested my hand on her shoulder, “Hey, it’s all right. I’m fine, you just... you just surprised me, is all. I’m not used to getting attention from the fairer sex, much less a confession.”

“Are... are you really okay?” she asked, staring at me like she couldn’t believe I was alive. I could sympathize with her.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I feel great, in fact. How about you, are you all right?”

She nodded, dazedly.

“Oh, and before I forget. My answer is yes, I’ll happily be your boyfriend.”

She gawked at me, her barely visible black eyes blinking behind her long jet-black hair, then she practically tackled me, wrapping her arms around and squeezing me in a tight hug. Her breasts were squashed against my chest in a delightful sensation. I returned the gesture, wrapping my own arm around her.

That settled it. I had been given a second chance at life, and I wouldn’t waste it this time.