[Welcome, Soul Reaper Yuki!]
Yuki gasped for air. Her eyes flew open in a panic as her body jerked upwards. She trembled frantically, eyes darting around as she scanned her surroundings.
"I'm... Where am I?" Her questions were met with silence. Yuki quickly checked her arms and legs, patting them down to confirm they were there, whole and solid. She felt the sensation of her limbs returning to her.
"M— my hand! My leg!" she cried, her body buckling as panic overwhelmed her. She stayed in a fetal position, her whole body trembling with fear.
She remained on that bed for hours before finally letting herself get out of it. She scanned the room, finally seeing the space she was currently in. It was a typical bedroom, about ten square meters. There was a single bed that she'd just been on, a wardrobe, and a mirror hanging on a wall. What was weird was that everything in the room was white.
"Wait, a mirror!" she shouted, walking over to the mirror excitedly.
"I... Did I look like this?" she gasped, in awe of the reflection in front of her. The woman in the mirror was beautiful, with long, curly auburn hair that framed an oval face of immaculate features. She was wearing a bland, black suit, typically seen on office workers.
"It's better than being naked, at least," Yuki thought to herself, trying to smooth out the creases on her suit. She stared at her hands again, unable to shake the feeling of alienation.
Yuki had lost most of her memory. The only thing she remembered was bleeding out in the snow, and then waking up in the middle of a vast desert. What was worse was that she couldn't recall even the slightest memory from before that. It wasn't that she didn't remember, but more so—
"Like it's been deleted." Yuki sighed. She didn't know why, but she had a feeling that the damn desert had something to do with it.
Now, she was in a random room that she didn't recognize. Her eyes scanned the room again, carefully taking in all the details. Her gaze fell onto the door sitting in the corner of the room.
Yuki got up, slowly stepping closer to the door. As her hand gripped the handle, she suddenly hesitated. "What if it's the desert again?" she asked herself. "I guess I won't find out until I open the door."
The metal handle twisted, a click sounded, and the door swung open. Yuki quickly took a curious peek outside.
Outside the room was a corridor. Rows of doors similar to hers lined the walls of a hallway that stretched endlessly. Dread was just about to fill her when she saw someone step out of one of the other doors.
Yuki quickly tried to hide herself, but her auburn hair stood out too much against the white hallway. The guy instantly saw her.
"Shit, he's coming here!" Yuki hissed, before going back inside and locking the door.
"Ah... She closed the door." The man rubbed his head. "I was just about to ask what exactly this place is..."
———
Yuki spent her time pacing around the room. "What do I do... Should I just confront him?" she thought, but quickly shut down the idea. "Too risky. I can't just trust anyone in here."
She closed her eyes to think, but then suddenly remembered something she had forgotten. She opened her eyes again and looked at the semi-transparent box in front of her.
[Welcome, Soul Reaper Yuki!]
"It changed..." Yuki continued to observe the box. "What's a soul reaper, though? And what did it call me before, lost soul or something?" Yuki tried to think.
"Wait, but if it's changed, that means—" She quickly pressed on the system box. Surprisingly, it worked; something had changed. "Woah!"
[Welcome to The Death Realm, Yuki! Here are a couple of guides to help you through your first day as a Reaper!]
the system box displayed. Yuki read the line intently. The alien writing was carved neatly on the surface, and what was even more alien was her ability to read it perfectly.
"The Death Realm? Oh..."
"So I did die, huh?" She recalled the moment she was bleeding out on the snowy pavement. That was her last memory before waking up in the damn desert; she had no memory before that. Remembering the desert instantly gave her goosebumps. "I do not want to end up in that place again."
Yuki clicked on the system box again.
[Let's get you started! Complete these beginner quests to begin your journey!
Quest: Eternal Acquaintance
Make 2 friends!
Friends made: 0/2
Accept quest?]
"Friends? As in... other Soul Reapers?" Yuki read the quest menu intently. "Is there no... reward? I thought systems like this should give you a reward or something."
Suddenly, a knock at the door diverted her attention from the system box. She stared at the door for a long moment.
"Ah... The guy from before..." Yuki wanted to ignore the stranger, but seeing the quest...
Yuki contemplated her choices before clicking "accept".
"Argh! There's no choice but to follow this thing's instructions anyway." Yuki groaned before getting up from the bed.
She quickly opened the door, seeing the man from before standing there. He had short, curly hair framing his square face. His suit was the same plain black one that she wore.
"Yes?" Yuki asked first.
"Hi, my name's Azam. Wanna be friends?" the man said with a smile. Yuki just stared at him. "Oh— sorry, I guess it's too sudden. But you're new as well, right? You must've gotten the quest..."
"I did," she answered shortly. Azam's smile didn't falter.
"That's great! Then we can—"
"Now, wait a minute. Why would I be friends with you?" Yuki cut him off. She stared at him intently.
"Oh— hmmm..." Azam closed his eyes and began to think. "I guess because the system says so?"
Yuki just sighed. "So you don't want to be my friend; you just want to complete the mission," Yuki retorted.
"Ah, wait. No, no, no. I don't mean it like that," Azam said hurriedly, his face flustered. He gathered his thoughts for a moment before continuing. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that the system has already given us incentives to be friends, but I myself don't have any reason to befriend you? But I do it anyway because I want to," Azam explained.
"That's not convincing, honestly..." Yuki said. Azam just laughed.
"Yeah, I guess it is."
"You know what, I don't care. There's nothing for us to do here anyway except the quests." Yuki said. Suddenly, a system box appeared in front of her.
[Add Soul Reaper Azam to your friend list?]
"Yes," she said with a defeated tone.
Azam's face lit up as he saw the message box appear just as Yuki accepted the request.
"Yes! Now we just gotta find one more person!" Azam said excitedly, but quickly realized something. "Ah, sorry, but I was just excited that I made a friend."
"Yeah, yeah, I don't care. Let's just go and find this next person," Yuki said, continuing to walk and ignoring the young man.
"Ah, but do you know where we should be going?" Azam asked suddenly. Yuki stopped, scratching her head as she studied the long hallway.
"Sigh. Me and a long walk. Thankfully, I don't think I'll crumble to dust again."