Grimoire - Vol 1. Revelation of Rakshas

35 - Let's Strike A Deal

"Are you okay there?" Reizumi's voice pulled me out of my thoughts, "You looked like you were trying to think of an answer for a question you didn't wanna know the answer for..."

Okay, seriously, can she read my mind?! Because that was just way too accurate...

Let me try, 'Reizumi is the queen of morons who likes to bring pain to people.'

"...or you just realised that you need to pee really bad, in which case, you're gross."

"That's not what I was thinking about!"

Yeah, she can't read my thoughts...unless, she can indeed hear them and is just pretending that she can't.

"Can you read my thoughts?" I asked her. Might as well be direct.

"...so you were thinking about the pee. Gross!"

"No, I really wasn't!"

Why did I think that this would work? No way was she going to be truthful about it.

Maybe I'm the moron here.

Though, that was never up for a debate.

The scene of the mother-son pair being sent to the afterlife did make me wonder about one thing—

"Did you do the same thing to Ritu? The little girl from yesterday?" I mean, the last I saw her was being rescued by these douches in black. And considering I didn't see her today morning, well, I'm atleast moderately smart enough to connect some dots.

"Yes, we did. Ryou, specifically. He explained everything to her and she agreed," Reizumi said and offered me a small smile, "She was worried about you though. It took a lot of talking and proof to convince her that you weren't dead and will be fine under our care."

Heh, that's good. I mean, it felt good to be reaffirmed that someone cared about me. Although I'd prefer to not be nearly dead for that to happen.

Still, I was glad that she was safe now instead of being some Rakshas' soul food.

No pun intended...or intended, now that I think about it.

You know what though, I would certainly miss our morning conversations. I live for simple pleasures.

"And were you telling the truth?" I asked Reizumi who walked towards the dead corpse of the Rakshas, unsure if I was risking some sort of fury by questioning her motives. "About going to some paradise and stuff?" I clarified, just in case.

"...Somewhat," she said under her low breath. "Afterlife isn't how you humans imagine it to be, not completely."

"So wait, you told a lie?" I tried to say that in a non-accusatory manner. Because, yeah, morally, telling a lie like that would be wrong but I could see why saying a lie would make sense in this certain situation. She probably didn't want the pair to panic too much.

"I did tell the truth about us Grimmers existing to serve the dead souls and make sure they were happy," she shrugged, "And I was telling the truth about them receiving a roof over their head and not feeling hungry ever again."

"So what's the lie then?" Had I missed something else in the offer?

"The lie was that they would live like that, and together, for eternity. They won't. Once they go through the whole process, they will after a long time be prepared for the process of rebirth. And at that moment, they will be parted from each other."

"Hmm, well, that does sound rough..." I said, trying to read between the lines. Maybe there was something else to it because while she's a scary lady and all, she does seem to take her job seriously. So I doubt she'd be okay with this sort of thing unless there's some kind of remedy for that. "But I'm guessing that won't really be an issue, right? I mean, I assume you guys do something about it. Like, I don't know...erase their memories of their current, or I guess previous, life once they're reborn," I asked with hope, for which she simply nodded in affirmation.