[ "The Grim Reaper is typing..." starts and stops repeatedly. He doesnt want to upset her, considering the nature of her "death"- though he's not sure why he cares. That was the whole problem! He's ferried thousands of souls with more gruesome deaths with no issue.]
It Is Not For Anything Nefarious.
...
I Need To Know If There Is Something Particular About You That Is Interrupting My Duties.
[ Oh my God, even when she mutes her whole phone the notifications still get though, she even turned the volume all the way down and it's still pinging— a call notification?! Seriously? She can hang up, right? ... Of course not, there's no way to reject the call. Figures. No way is she actually answering this thing, though.
She lets it ring out for a good twenty seconds before the anxiety of an unanswered phone call finally gets to her and she snatches her phone back up. She fumbles with it for a second — no way is she accepting this call while letting whoever's on the other end see her — before covering the front camera with her thumb and finally picking up, chattering away at high speed before he can speak. ]
Yes, hello, I'm here! No, I'm not interested in whatever you're selling, thank you very much! Unsubscribe, cancel membership, bye bye, see you later!
[ the video shows a young man of similar age to Ai sitting in what looks like a PC gamer chair with a very goth looking bedroom behind him. Not a call center for sure. He's leaned forward with anticipation, about to speak before she goes off]
Wha- wait, I told you this wasn't an ad-
... what happened to the camera? Is it broken...?
[annnnd there he goes fiddling with his camera, giving a close up of his hands instead of anything useful]
[ . . . Huh. That's really not what she was expecting to see and yet at the same time, it's kind of exactly what she was expecting to see??? ... He's a little old to be this deep in a chuunibyou phase, though... ]
It's working just fine. Haven't you ever heard you're supposed to cover your camera if you think someone weird's watching you on the internet?
[ 'like you' — she doesn't say but really, does she need to. ]
I understand it pretty well. You hacked my phone and put this spyware thingy on it so you can watch me. That's weird.
[ Weird enough that she absolutely shouldn't be riling this guy up. She knows full well that egging him on can only end in disaster — if she's obsessed enough to put in this much effort, who knows what else he'll do?
And he's on her personal phone, too. Her skin itches at the thought of what he might have dug out of it while he was installing this thing. ]
I know this probably won't work, but... if I tell you honestly that I'm freaked out and ask you to back off a little bit, will you do it?
[he opens his mouth, about to deny her... but that same disquiet he felt the day she "died" comes back, and he shuts it again, thinking.]
I... apologize. It wasn't my intent to scare you.
[he looks aside, chewing on his lip with nerves.]
Maybe... I can find another solution.
[he could just go there now and finish the task. Or make a formal request for a replacement- he'd punished, but was unlikely to be Terminated for the failure if he reported it now. Months late.
[ ... this is strange. Normally from a fan this obsessed, any sort of pushback would be enough to rile him up. She expects a snarl of annoyance, possessive, entitled anger... and instead, there's nothing. In fact... something about his expression makes her feel a little bad.
Her lips part, like she means to say something but before any words can come out— ]
— Huh? Hold on a—
[ — he's gone.
Ai stares down at her phone. Her instinct is to try and delete this weird app again but something stalls her. She doesn't know what it is. Something about the guilt on his face, the gap between the sort of determination that would make you hack someone's phone to keep an eye on them — and the sort of consideration to back off the moment you realize they're scared.
She doesn't get it all all. But if she asks...
After a few moments, she starts typing. ]
So if you're not selling anything What exactly are these 'duties' you're talking about?
[ For a split second, her whole body goes cold. She tastes bitter rust and bile in her mouth, a rotting, sucking pain splits her abdomen open and her hands, her clothes, the hallway is wet and reeking with blood.
Oh. No, that hasn't happened at all. She's sitting on the sofa in her new apartment, bent double with her hands pressed so hard into her stomach that it hurts. She realizes she hasn't taken a breath in a few seconds and takes a moment to remember what the rhythm of breathing is.
She picks her phone up from the floor. When did she drop it? Good thing the screen didn't crack. Everything's fine. ]
seriously? well then it's up to me to educate you.
grim reapers have a duty to ferry the souls of mortals to the afterlife. your soul was scheduled but something caused your assigned reaper to fail their task. i'm trying to figure out why.
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[ ... she has a horrible feeling she doesn't want to ask this question, and yet: ]
Observing what, exactly?
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It Is Not For Anything Nefarious.
...
I Need To Know If There Is Something Particular About You That Is Interrupting My Duties.
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...
So this whatever you're observing
is me?
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And Yes.
1/2
Ai closes the app. ]
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1/?
No way she actually-]
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I'm The Grim Reaper You Can't Escape Me That Easily!
...
Answer Me!
Hello?
Did It Not Install Correctly?
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...
okay it says it's connected why aren't you answering
test test
Answer Me!!
...
did you die??? you're not allowed to do that yet!!
...
maybe i should call?
yes, i'll call you won't ignore that, right?
End
Answer?]
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She lets it ring out for a good twenty seconds before the anxiety of an unanswered phone call finally gets to her and she snatches her phone back up. She fumbles with it for a second — no way is she accepting this call while letting whoever's on the other end see her — before covering the front camera with her thumb and finally picking up, chattering away at high speed before he can speak. ]
Yes, hello, I'm here! No, I'm not interested in whatever you're selling, thank you very much! Unsubscribe, cancel membership, bye bye, see you later!
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Wha- wait, I told you this wasn't an ad-
... what happened to the camera? Is it broken...?
[annnnd there he goes fiddling with his camera, giving a close up of his hands instead of anything useful]
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It's working just fine. Haven't you ever heard you're supposed to cover your camera if you think someone weird's watching you on the internet?
[ 'like you' — she doesn't say but really, does she need to. ]
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Is that so...? Well, that's not an issue since I am not weird.
[he sits back in his seat, resting his face on his wrist like a lounging king on his throne]
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[ she's having to actively suppress the Mom Urge to bark at him to sit up straight like Miyako does with her... ]
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Just because it's something you don't understand doesn't make it 'weird', Mortal.
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[ Weird enough that she absolutely shouldn't be riling this guy up. She knows full well that egging him on can only end in disaster — if she's obsessed enough to put in this much effort, who knows what else he'll do?
And he's on her personal phone, too. Her skin itches at the thought of what he might have dug out of it while he was installing this thing. ]
I know this probably won't work, but... if I tell you honestly that I'm freaked out and ask you to back off a little bit, will you do it?
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I... apologize. It wasn't my intent to scare you.
[he looks aside, chewing on his lip with nerves.]
Maybe... I can find another solution.
[he could just go there now and finish the task. Or make a formal request for a replacement- he'd punished, but was unlikely to be Terminated for the failure if he reported it now. Months late.
Damn it.]
... have a good day, Hoshino Ai.
[and the call ends]
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Her lips part, like she means to say something but before any words can come out— ]
— Huh? Hold on a—
[ — he's gone.
Ai stares down at her phone. Her instinct is to try and delete this weird app again but something stalls her. She doesn't know what it is. Something about the guilt on his face, the gap between the sort of determination that would make you hack someone's phone to keep an eye on them — and the sort of consideration to back off the moment you realize they're scared.
She doesn't get it all all. But if she asks...
After a few moments, she starts typing. ]
So if you're not selling anything
What exactly are these 'duties' you're talking about?
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He sighs, switching to his phone and flopping back on his bed, using Asrael as a pillow]
i'm a grim reaper. i'm sure you have some idea why i'm here.
1/2
Oh. No, that hasn't happened at all. She's sitting on the sofa in her new apartment, bent double with her hands pressed so hard into her stomach that it hurts. She realizes she hasn't taken a breath in a few seconds and takes a moment to remember what the rhythm of breathing is.
She picks her phone up from the floor. When did she drop it? Good thing the screen didn't crack. Everything's fine. ]
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grim reapers have a duty to ferry the souls of mortals to the afterlife. your soul was scheduled but something caused your assigned reaper to fail their task. i'm trying to figure out why.
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But then— ]
SOUL#55891 started an Audio Call. Answer?
>Yes
>Yes
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