The Death Association, a strange organization that has existed for several millennia now, ever since the Death itself stopped doing its job, leaving human life without fatality, without end — at least until it passed part of its powers to someone else before disappearing. Someone who took on the role of the death in its absence — the founder of the Death Association.
Over time, he shared his power with other people, and together they formed an organization that exists for one sole purpose, to tear the souls of the dead and keep the cycle of life going for eternity…
?-1: "Hey, are you planning to keep daydreaming much longer?"
?-2: "I'm thinking, Hake, I'm thinking..."
Hake: "I don't give a damn if you're thinking, I think you're forgetting something important — if you don't do your job, do I need to remind you of the consequences?"
?-2: "I hate this job, I have no desire to do it."
Hake: "And yet, whether you like it or not, you'll have to do it, because whether you accept it or not, you are one of us, Yagura!"
Yagura: "I know that all too well..."
Hake: "Then stop wasting my time! Go do your job. That's the last warning I'm giving you. Next time, I'll make sure to annihilate your soul!"
Hake was about to leave.
Yagura: "Hake, do you remember who you were before?"
Hake: "Before what?"
Yagura: "Before being dragged into this crazy organization."
Hake: "Why would it matter whether I remember or not?"
Yagura: "From what I've heard, before becoming Reapers, we were humans — poor humans, just like them down there. But I don't remember that life. The only thing I remember is my name, Yagura... There's also this katana I carry, which gives me the feeling it means something important to me, but besides that, I remember nothing..."
Hake: "You're overthinking it. Whoever we were before doesn't matter. Today, we are members of the Death Association, and we exist solely to tear the souls of the dead. Forget everything else, and do your job!"
Hake left quickly, leaving Yagura alone on the rooftop overlooking the city.
Yagura: "Forget the only things I remember? I doubt I can... I have this strange feeling I'm missing something important, but how could I know what it is, when I don't even know who I am... No matter. I can't keep avoiding my duty forever..."
Hake and Yagura are respectively the ninth and tenth members of the Death Association. Hake is 1m90 tall, with orange hair and black eyes. He wears a long red fur coat, open at the front showing his chest, and black-and-white camouflage pants with black boots, giving him a bandit look. His belt carries two black revolvers and a tightly strapped blue notebook.
Yagura is 1m85 tall, with green hair and pale pink eyes. He wears a green scarf around his neck. Underneath, he has only a gray mesh-like shirt. He has a green jacket tied by the sleeves around his waist, gray pants, and dark green shoes. On his back is a katana, its black sheath adorned with a beautiful green dragon design flowing from the guard to the bottom.
Yagura would often sit on rooftops or lie beneath a tree in the middle of a forest, thinking deeply, searching within himself for the slightest clue that could lead him to his past — in vain. Only one name had surfaced, and it might not even be his... But at least the time spent thinking wasn't spent taking people's souls...
Yagura: "Someone is going to die soon... It's close. I'll have to go."
Each Reaper (member of the Death Association) has special abilities to perform their task efficiently. They can appear in multiple places in the world at once to collect several souls simultaneously. Also, to know when a soul needs to be retrieved, they can sense someone's death ten minutes before it happens.
Yagura began approaching the place of the future incident — a road near a high school.
Yagura: "Looks like it'll be a car accident this time."
Not only could they sense a death in advance, but they also knew the circumstances around it.
Yagura: "Once again, I'll have to do this..."
On the sidewalk, a young girl was walking calmly, unaware of what was about to happen.
Yagura: "Poor humans, chasing their passions without knowing when death will strike."
Yagura stood in the middle of the pedestrian crossing. Cars passed through him, unable to see or hear him. A Reaper is invisible and intangible to the living world.
The girl crossed the road.
"Watch out!"
A car speeding too fast was heading straight for the girl. The screams of nearby pedestrians weren't enough to stop the tragedy.
"Oh my God!", "Call an ambulance!", "Hurry!"
The car had struck her directly. The impact was so strong she died instantly.
While everyone rushed to try to save her, Yagura calmly stepped forward, his eyes empty, to fulfill his role.
Yagura: "My job, huh..."
Yagura placed his hand on the girl's body. It passed through and grabbed her soul. A soul is located at the heart, completely intangible for living beings — only a Reaper can see and touch it.
Yagura: "Goodbye, young girl. My work ends here."
He pulled the soul from her body, preparing to let it vanish into the afterlife — a world, or maybe just a concept — no one, not even the Reapers, truly knows what happens to a soul once it's taken. Perhaps The Death knows?
But as Yagura drew out the soul, something monstrous and beyond comprehension occurred. A chill ran down his spine.
Yagura: "What... what is this?"
Still holding the girl's soul, he looked up at the sky — and saw something that terrified him more than anything ever had. Even if he couldn't remember his past, he was certain of one thing:
Yagura: "That's... that's... impossible!"
He couldn't speak anymore. Fear paralyzed him head to toe. What he was witnessing defied all understanding — space-time itself was cracking open! That sight, that sensation — it was indescribable. An infinite pressure poured out from the rift. Anyone caught in that pressure would be crushed, or at best, driven insane.
Yagura: "Why is this happening? None of this makes sense! Is it because I took this soul? But why would this soul be so important that space-time itself would tear apart?!"
In a desperate moment, Yagura committed the worst crime a Reaper could — but at the time, it felt like the only possible choice.
Yagura: "If that's how it is, you leave me no choice!"
Yagura broke the most sacred rule of the Death Association — he reinserted the soul into the girl's body! This single act, unnoticed by the world, would become the trigger of a chain of events more unpredictable than anything imagined.
Yagura: "Is... is it over?"
Instantly, space-time closed the rift, as if nothing had ever happened.
Still in shock, Yagura couldn't make sense of anything. He now had to face the Death Association's judgment for his crime — but what mattered most to him now... was discovering who that girl really was.
Yagura: "Whatever you are, I won't leave without finding out!"