Momo was again clad in a flimsy, white, one-piece dress and red shoes, totally oblivious to the winter chill. She held the large sickle in her hand, and the black cat hovered at her side.
Her red lips parted as she spoke. “You can go ahead and die, but we have no schedule for you yet. So I can’t take your soul to Heaven. Unscheduled souls are rarely welcome. They get left in holding for a while, and sometimes, they’re forgotten. You might end up drifting about in limbo for all eternity. In other words, you won’t get to where you want to go.”
“Hey, you get that, punk?” Daniel said haughtily. “Stop making trouble for us!”
“…What…?”
“Hm? What is it, punk?” the cat asked.
“Shut up, you!” Daiki barked suddenly.
Surprised by the loudness of Daiki’s voice, Daniel skittered behind Momo, his fur standing on end.
“You show up all of a sudden, talking all this nonsense at me.” Daiki came down from the windowsill and back into the room. He approached Momo angrily.
“Don’t mess with my reality! Don’t walk into my soul, stepping all over it with your dirty shoes!”
“……” Momo just stood there quietly.
Daiki’s tirade continued. “You’re nothing but a dream! There’s no way you’re real! So I’m not afraid of you! I’m not afraid!”
“I see… So what you’re saying is, you are afraid.”
The words took Daiki by surprise, and his composure began to falter.
“Is it me you’re afraid of?” Momo asked. “Or… dying?”
“I’m not afraid to die! And I’m not afraid of you either! Compared to the pain of living, dying is nothing…”
This time, Momo spoke with a controlled, steady voice. “Then hurry up and die.”
Strange that such power and intimidation could reside within such an innocent-looking child’s gaze. Daniel, still cowering behind his mistress, collapsed with surprise.
But what was even more surprising to Daiki was that when he turned around, he noticed the sad, almost pained expression on the girl’s face. Her beauty, enough to take one’s breath away, had now been marred by a heretofore unseen expression of emotion, of pain. Her eyes remained fixed on Daiki. He couldn’t fathom why she would look at him so sadly.
“Dying is better than living, eh? Is that what you think?” Momo shook her head emphatically. Her voice tore through the air like pounding raindrops. “Don’t be a fool. That’s not possible. While taking so many lives, I’ve listened to the words of those who yearned to live. I’ve had to ignore their tears and hopeless smiles.”
The sound of Momo’s voice brought Daniel’s composure back to form.
“Momo, don’t make that face. You’ll make me sad too. You don’t need to get hurt over this guy…”
Momo gave Daniel a reassuring look and hugged him close to her breast. Then she faced Daiki again.
“But I want to die,” the boy said.
“You die, and then what?”
“Then I’ll become light,” he explained. “A light that will shine forever.”
“You can’t.”
“I can too!” he said adamantly. “Artists who died without ever hearing a single word of praise for their paintings while they lived… Their works are now worth an insane, astronomical sum. That’s right. They achieved illumination! Only after they died did they shine brightly! They left a message that would remain for all eternity. So I’ll die too, and I’ll shine!”
“You’re wrong about that,” Momo disagreed.
“What’s wrong?!”
Momo continued to look at Daiki. Her sad eyes quickly changed into something more pitying.
“People cannot shine by dying. The only reason they appear to shine is because they struggled so hard to live, and if they survived, they shone. Simply put, death is not the same as survival. What about you? Are you trying your best at living?”
Daiki was unable to answer. The words cut deep.
The emotions he thought he had lost resurfaced. The heart buried within the cold piece of machinery he had built around himself began to throb with pain.
“One year ago,” Momo recounted, “I came here to claim the boy with whom you identify yourself. When he took his own life, the boy said, ‘This is what I choose.’ But he seemed to be in such pain. So lonely. Of course, it is a very sad thing… when people wish to die, yet at the same time they yearn to live.”
The words spilled from her lips and fell upon Daniel’s head, whom she still held close to her.
“Momo…” Daniel said, wistfully.
Daiki wanted to say so many things to her. Why are you so sad? Why do you look at me with such sad eyes? Please don’t look at me with such pity!
Instead, he shouted, “You have no right to look at me that way!”
Then he ran.
He ran past Momo and stumbled down the stairs.
The girl and the cat were left alone in the room.
“Momo, why do you bother with this guy?” Daniel asked.
“No real reason…”
“For a shinigami,” Daniel stated, “you think too much about humans.”
“Not really…”
“What is it that you’re trying to do here?” he asked.
“Nothing much…”
“Oh, please…” Daniel was quickly getting exasperated. “Don’t bother with him… But I guess that’s impossible. You are such a meddler, Momo.”
“…So you do understand after all.”
Momo held Daniel in front of her face, and he deftly stroked her cheek with his tail.
“You act tough, but you’re such a crybaby. If you keep getting involved with humans like this, the director will have a big fit, and you know it. What’s the use in extending his life anyway? It sure as hell won’t be my problem, ya understand?”
“Hoooh boy,” the girl said, as she sighed.