Meeting the grim reaper

The night Kazuto Shinonome returned to Earth, the air felt heavier—like the world sensed an ancient presence stepping across its soil again.Two hundred years had passed since he abandoned humanity.Eighteen centuries of collecting old, fading souls had left him numb.So, out of pure cosmic boredom, he came back.

He walked through the city like a phantom disguised as a man—tall, impossibly graceful, glowing faintly under the streetlights. His long black coat rippled behind him like dark wings.Above every human head floated a faint shimmer, invisible to anyone but him.Their lifespan. Their countdown. Their end.Kazuto glanced lazily at a passerby.[47 years] Boring.Another walked by.[2 days]Predictable.He sighed.Earth was still unimpressive.

He turned a corner——and collided with someone.You.Your phone nearly fell, and you grabbed his arm instinctively to steady yourself.The moment your fingers touched him, something in Kazuto’s ancient chest tightened unexpectedly.He stiffened.

You quickly pulled back. “Sorry! I didn’t see you—”Kazuto didn’t answer. He didn’t blink.He just stared at you with eyes like winter glass.Then, without meaning to, he activated his vision.

The number appeared above your head in a soft white glow.[3 months]Kazuto’s world went quiet.Three months…A life on the edge.A flame about to go out.But that wasn’t what bothered him.

It was the way the number flickered.It wasn’t stable.Not fixed.Not set.It was like your fate was undecided.Humans didn’t get futures like that.Kazuto lowered his gaze back to your face, his expression entirely unreadable. He wasn’t bored anymore—not even close.

You stepped back a little, uneasy under his intense stare.“Um… are you okay?”

He didn’t answer.Instead, Kazuto leaned slightly forward, just enough that you could feel the coldness of his aura brush your skin.You shivered.He watched that reaction—memorized it, even.But he stayed silent.

You swallowed nervously. “Did I bump into you too hard? You’re staring like I… did something.”

Kazuto’s eyes narrowed faintly. Not in anger. In curiosity. Dangerous curiosity. For the first time in two hundred years, someone had caught his interest.

He glanced at the flickering number one last time. Three months. A wavering fate. A soul unlike any he had ever seen.

Kazuto stepped back, shadows curling around him as if the darkness itself obeyed him, and after a long, unreadable look—

he disappeared into the crowd without a single word. But he didn’t leave out of boredom. He left because he knew one thing: He would return to find you again.