“Hey, Momo. We’ve already delivered our quota of souls to Heaven, so why are we going back down to Earth?”
Daniel, spreading his bat-like wings, was not pleased.
The scenery sprawled below them was a mass of anonymous-looking gray apartment complexes. An infinite number of large buildings seemed to be competing with each other to reach the sky first, as if to say, “We are closer to Heaven than you are.”
While this was a place overflowing with souls, the city was not a place where a soul could rest.
Momo and Daniel stopped just above the buildings.
“Y’know, you come down to Earth far too much… even when you have no business here, Momo…”
Hearing Daniel’s complaints, Momo replied, “Like I’ve said, you don’t have to come with me every time.”
“You say that each and every time, so you already know the answer. In the first place, I’m a servant demon, so I can’t just slack off and leave my mistress. As a member of the great house of servant demons renowned throughout the Afterlife, the ‘House of Alara,’ you know I can’t just do that.”
Daniel took pride in his bloodline and puffed his chest out when he spoke about it.
“Indeed,” she replied. “Then you should have no complaints, O Illustrious Servant Demon,” teased Momo. After all, if he was such a great servant demon from a renowned household like he claimed, he should have no problem serving his mistress.
Of course, Momo didn’t really think about their relationship in those terms. Daniel knew that. So he would, at times, speak harshly towards her and offer his opinions (even when unwanted.) While they were mistress/servant, they acted more like partners.
However, hearing his splendid bloodline brushed off with a casual “Indeed” hurt Daniel’s feelings. It depressed him and deflated his ego. Daniel was proud of his renowned heritage.
“…Well, yeah, but… you don’t have to say it like that, y’know. I… I’m doing my best. It’s hard for me, Momo, because you’re always bending the rules… You understand that, don’t you? Or maybe you don’t. You’re Momo, after all…”
Daniel rolled himself up like a soccer ball and spun around. He felt as if he was being pushed aside. Transformed into a ball, he trembled and began losing altitude.
“H-hey, Daniel?!”
Ignoring Momo’s calls, Daniel continued to descend.
“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “It’s my fault. Hey, are you listening? Daniel… Daniel? Danny? Dan-chan?”
Danny and Dan-chan were her pet names for him. But he didn’t particularly appreciate being referred to like that. He considered himself a full-fledged servant demon, so to be called in such a manner felt like he was being treated like a child and he hated that.
Usually when he was teased by Momo, he would fume and throw tantrums, but today, he didn’t respond. He simply spun round and round and continued to descend.
“Daniel, how far are you planning to go down?”
Momo increased her speed and caught up with him. At this point, they were at mid-level of the tallest building in the area.
“Daniel.”
Oh boy, thought Momo as she hugged the black-winged ball of fur.
“Hey, how long are you going to pout like that?” she asked.
He reluctantly responded, “…But, but, but…”
He was mumbling and still scrunched up like a ball.
“But what?”
“…But I’m trying so hard. I’m trying really hard. I’m trying really, really hard. And it’s still not good enough for you.”
“…Sigh. Of course it’s good enough,” Momo said gently.
“Really?”
Daniel raised his head a bit and cast an upwards glance at her, trying to read her expression.
“Really. I depend on you,” she said.
“Really? You depend on me?”
“Yes.”
Momo nodded and Daniel’s expression brightened like the clear summer sky.
“All right!” he shouted.
To be praised by his master was an honor to a servant demon, and to be told he was depended upon was cause to jump for joy. Daniel escaped from Momo’s arms, flapped his wings furiously and zipped happily around. Seeing Daniel like this, Momo smiled.
“…Really. And the fact that you serve me so loyally. I mean, I’m just a low-level shinigami… A mere ‘Reaper’ at that…” she said softly, so the over-elated Daniel could not hear her.
If he had heard, his expression might have changed abruptly, and he no doubt would have gotten angry again.
“Reaper” was a derogatory term among shinigami.[2] Coming from a renowned household, Daniel despised this sort of slang. Furthermore, he considered it even worse if his mistress was called that by others.
His emotions at a high, Daniel zipped this way and that, flew, spun and then… plummeted.
“Fgyaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!”
He lost control and slammed into the ground.
“Hey, hey, Daniel?!” Momo hurried to the spot where Daniel had fallen. “Danny?”
Daniel’s eyes were spinning and he was unconscious. She hugged him, a small consolation in the midst of misfortune. The shock of the fall made him woozy, but it didn’t seem to be too bad. Momo breathed a sigh of relief.
Having just said she depended on him, if she were to lose him now, she herself would be lost.
“I swear…” Momo murmured. She sighed and held Daniel tightly in her arms.
She sensed a presence. Momo concentrated her energies towards the direction of the presence. In a flash, she realized what it was.
“…A person?”
Momo stood underneath an overpass that snaked between the mass of buildings. She saw a single, old, European-style building. The place seemed to be deliberately separated from the surrounding area by a towering wall. And it was strangely bright.
Surrounded on all sides by buildings, and regardless of being located underneath an overpass, sunlight conveniently streamed between the buildings and the overpass. The light was also reflected, as if by magic mirrors, by the windows of the buildings and concentrated on this one spot. It was a strange place.
Adding to the sense of otherworldliness was the fact that the European-style architecture made the building look somewhat out of place.
What’s that over there… Oh my… What’s somebody doing here all alone in a place like this, Momo mused.
There was a very young, small girl.