Within The Soul

Mori Calliope knocked on the door, expecting an eager and excited pheonix to open the door. At any second, the door would just burst open and she would be engulfed within a death-gripping hug from an immortal phoenix.

But none of that came.

"She's not usually this slow..." She knocked on the door again, only to wait a few more minutes of nothing happening. She looked down to her phone to see if she had gotten a message from her, but as of now, nothing.

To be fair, she hadn't heard from the phoenix for a while in fact. Ever since that battle between the two of them, she hadn't received a call or message from her.

"She's... not angry at me, right?" Mori couldn't help be feel a tug in her heart for some reason. The thought of the kind and loveable phoenix hating her... didn't sit well.

"Why wont you just give up on this?!" Kiara Takanashi's sword had collided with the reaper's scythe with worry painted on her face.

"Why shouldn't I?! It is my duty as a Reaper to reap the souls that die, Kusotori! What makes this any different than anyone else?!" The blade from Kiara had glistened before the entire blade was engulfed in fire.

As a Reaper, such things wouldn't be harmful to them. As they are more than immune to the cold, temperature-like weapons wouldn't be a threat to a Reaper.

Unless you're inhabiting within the body of an actual human.

"Tch!" With a click of her tongue, she pushed the phoenix back before slashing downwards at the phoenix, only for her to dodge out of the way.

Some of the street had been split into two.

Kiara didn't know how long they had been fighting. The thing about the two is that they seemed to have a surplus of stamina and they didn't look tired at any sort.

"Why can't you just let Haru have his second chance? He's been through too much to ha-"

"It doesn't matter to me how they die. Why should I care? The only thing that is" She responded coldly, to which the phoenix widened her eyes.

"How... cold of you, Calli." The figure of death could only laugh a bit.

"I'm supposed to be death itself. I'm supposed to be cold." Kiara had lowered her sword.

"Calli... is this what you really want? To go after a human's life whenever you have the chance?" This was a question that seemd to plague the phoenix for a long time. The silence between the two was enough to have Kiara sweat a bit.

"...Why does it matter to you? More importantly, why do you keep protecting the life of this one human? If anything, I would've thought that it was love at first sight for you." On a nearby car, she leaned against it with her scythe at her side.

"...He's a special one, Calli. I'm sure you know as much as I do." Kiara clenched her free fist, knowingly how this conversation would go.

"No, I don't know, Kusotori. I don't understand why you go out of your way to save this human. You had gone thousand of years going through life and death, seen the people who I had helped pass on, and suddenly, you decide to protect specifically Haru?" Kiara couldn't help scratch her head dramatically.

"No! You know that even if he is immortal, it isn't right robbing the life of someone innocent! He is the only one to obtain immortality, so why not-"

"Now it makes sense. I finally see what this is all about." Casually standing straight with her scythe over her shoulder, she walked forward a bit.

"You're hate being the only one immortal, don't you?" The pheonix's fist clenched as much as her teeth started to grind.

"You're wrong! You wouldn't understand, Calli, so enough of this! Let me-"

"I won't stop until he's moved on, Kusotori. I don't care how determined you are, I won't-" As she had let her guard down, flames were instantly in front of her.

"Get out of my way, Calli!" As the pheonix had swung her sword to release a wave of fire, she took this opportunity to move along with her fire, making it as a sort of smoke screen.

"Hopefully, you weren't thinking of using this as a path!" Kiara dodged the incoming blade that was swung in the corner of her left eye, making her step back a bit.

"Ha!" As the blade had gone by, the phoenix aggressively let out her war cry as she sent another wave in the direction of where the scythe came from. Only for-

"Ahhhh!" She had been sent backwards, kneeling down as she focused less on the pain she was feeling.

"It's not like you to get so angry all of a sudden. Are you seriously that desperate on saving him?" Calli had walked out of the flames without a scratch on her. Her ability to enable her body's protection of flames was surely frightening.

She could only stare down at the kneeling phoenix who was now missing her arm.

"...Then what about me? Are you saying that everything that we've been through meant nothing?" Stopping with her scythe at her neck, Calli only stared at her before opening her mouth.

"If you're so focused on your job, then why did you give up on me?" The phoenix had stood up and spoke before the reaper. "Why am I still living, Calli? If anything, what makes, Haru so special to you for you to want to kill him so much?"

"..." The Reaper couldn't say anything. The phoenix had made a point that she couldn't rebuttal. Her mouth opened, but no voice came out.

But before she could even do anything or say anything to the phoenix, the phoenix's body with engulfed in flames before soaring into the sky.

She had left alone a confused reaper to think to herself.

"I don't know the answer to that question. Either way, I tried to reap her soul a long time ago. She's still living and I still haven't found a way to reap her soul. Perhaps this cat and mouse chase isn't worth it..." Before any more thoughts plagued her mind, the sound of the door opening in front of her had surprised her.

Let alone surprised with the pink-haired girl that she never saw before in front of her.

"Nyahello? Who are you?" The pink-haired girl that wore a loose sweater in front of her appeared nervous all of a sudden.

"Um... who are-"

"Kuro-san, don't walk away when I'm speaking to you!" The Reaper heard a woman's voice in the back.

"I'm already doing it! I already told you that I'll make it up to him, so let it go!" And she heard another voice in the back.

"U-um... is Kiara here?" She asked the pink-haired girl in front of her.

"Kiara-chan? Well, I'm afraid to tell you that she isn't here. She hadn't told us where she was going, but only wanted someone else to watch over the house while she was away." Calli couldn't help but find the disappearance of the pheonix to be odd.

She never texted her where she went.

And who exactly is supposed to be watching over the house when there are three people within it?

"I'm sorry, but could you tell who is supposed to be watching over her house?" She had her suspicion on who it was, but she needed clarification.

"Hm? It's Haru-kun. He might know a bit of where Kiara-chan went, but... he's been resting for a while now."

"Resting? Did something happen?" It had only been a day since they met, so it was surprising to hear that he had injured himself so quickly.

"O-oh, um... I wouldn't know the specifics. He was brought in a couple of minutes ago while being unconscious and he still hasn't woken up yet." Her stammer was quickly caught on.

"Do you mind if I see him?" As for the reason? She didn't know. If she could know some more answers... to something in her heart that bothered her, then maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

But how could you converse with someone casually when the person you're going to ask is your target for death?

"See him? What's... What is your relation to him." It seems like this person was looking out for the poor soul. And whoever else was inside also had kept their eye on him.

"I'm... I'm here to talk." The phoenix, this person, the detective, and two other people were watching out for him. It wouldn't be a surprise to the reaper if they were affiliated with the supernatural world.

But still, he was able to befriend so many people while being on his journey.

"...I don't trust you exactly. But if you say that you're here to talk, then I suppose you can wait a bit to see if he wakes up. Please, come in." Allowing her to come in, she walked inside to see which room he was in.

"Please don't worry about the other two you heard. Follow me." After following through pink-haired girl up the stairs, she was lead into a room that had two guests bed.

"Well, well, funny to see the reaper herself come to greet us. Are you here to reap our souls?" The Reaper heard a familiar voice coming from one of the beds

"Wait, Amelia-chan, what did you just say?!" The pink-haired girl was shocked to hear who Calli was, but she decided to ignore her shock.

"Detective. So, mind telling me what happened? And for the record, no, I'm not here for your soul." Based on the wrapping around her head, something told her that it wasn't good.

"Hah. This must a funny joke huh? Oh well, it's not like we can run away or fight back. We went to Haru's school because my device picked up that something bad was going down there and... we met a necromancer." Calli's face grimaced when she heard that title. An enemy that annoyed reapers for so many years.

"And instead do running away, you decide to fight back? You're smart detective. However, the decision of staying around was easily one of the worst-"

"I don't need you to tell me how terrible my decisions are. I choose the best in the situation that makes the damages less. If we left, then a army of skeletons were going to be unleashed into the public, killing hundreds." As she had been sitting up a bit, Amelia had laid back down on the comfy bed.

"...And what about him?" He looked perfectly fine, but for some reason, she felt something off about him.

And strangely enough, it took Amelia some time to respond.

"...Kurokami Fubuki had saved our asses. But while doing so, one of her attacks had managed to flung at us and... Haru took the hit, killing him. She said that her black fire was capable of killing anything it touches."

"Well, it makes sense as to how he looks fine." Calli joked. However, Amelia didn't seem to be one for jokes as she was seen staring at the ceiling with dull eyes.

"I'll be sleeping now." Turning her head away from everyone, she tucked herself into the bed. As she stared at the sleeping form of Haru, she brought out her scythe.

"W-wait! What are you-"

"I'm not going to kill him." She had cut the pink-haired girl off as she raised the tip of the blade at Haru's head.

And quick enough, she suddenly found herself in a lightened room. Pure white was all she could see.

"You didn't kill me, Calli-san." Turning around, she saw Haru standing there without clothes, but his entire body was covered in a white light.

"..." Without saying anything, she scouted the room, looking around to find anything, she was able to see a dark flame. And upon walking to it, she summoned her scythe again and sliced it in two.

"Tell me, Haru, are willing to die right now? Are you willing to-"

"Calli-san, thank you for your help. While I don't know the reason as to why you saved me from this... paralyzed state, but I truly appreciate it. It seems like my thought about you being a serious person without a heart is slowly disappearing. Well, you're friends with Kiara-san, so it makes sense you have a kind heart." Calli had turned around to see a smiling Haru in front of her.

Compared to their first meeting, he stood in front of her with a dull and lifeless expression. Who would've thought he could grow in such short amount of time.

"...Looks like you've changed a lot, Haru." She smiled while closing her eyes.

"I learned a bit more than necessary. But I can say that I'm happy to hear about it because I changed for the better... I think. But..." Suddenly, her cheeks had been cupped. Looking down at the smiling immortal/human, she could only stare in shock.

"If I could change, then that means you can as well, Calli-san. I don't know how long you've been doing your job, but I hope that you can still find something more from out of it." Walking away a bit, Haru stared into the white.

"Something from it? What exactly do you mean?" Her question made his head turn around a bit, allowing her to see his abnormaly brightened eyes.

"Friendship, love, and so many things! Even someone such as yourself can find something more in life than just your job, Calli-san. You just gotta try a bit more harder."

"You're saying that death itself could find love? How ridiculous is-"

"A human somehow became immortal, Calli-san. So many things can happen. But... try to hang out a bit more with us, okay? I'm sure Kiara-san would love to have you around more." Calli could only stare at her own hands before clenching them.

"I'll... think about it. I want to talk to someone about this first." She was ready to leave the white space now.

"That's great, Calli-san. Just like now, I'll be waiting for you." That had caused Calli to turn around with a confused look.

"What-"

"Although, 'Haru' isn't my actual name, you can call me-"

And just like that, she was brought out.