Death and curse

"Miss Sayuri, we need your presence in the realm of the dead." A specter appears to me with a letter.

'Tsk... that damn demon causing trouble again.' I think a week should be more than enough.

"Okay, tell them I'm going." I take the phone from my pocket to make a call. After my boyfriend answers, I say,

"Hey, honey, I called to let you know I'll have to go on a trip, so I won't be home, but I should be back in a week. Kisses."

My phone soon starts to malfunction, and I quickly turn it off.

"Haa... human technology is so fragile." All the phones I have end up breaking shortly after use, even though I take good care of them, especially during calls, which prevents me from talking for long.

I throw the phone in the trash, keeping only the SIM card to put in a new one.

"I hope I can resolve this quickly." I soon enter a gate I created and go to my office in the realm of the dead.

"So, I hope this is not a waste of time," I say to my assistant.

"Of course not, Miss Sayuri... however... the problem has already been resolved..." He speaks nervously as he hands me a paper.

'A contract... why do demons have to be so rebellious?' These wretched beings continue to make contracts with humans, even though it is forbidden. It's not like they need humans, doing this just for fun is absurd.

"Tell him that his contract will be revoked, or he will be sentenced to permanent elimination." Technically, they are not alive, so the maximum punishment here in the realm of the dead is permanent elimination.

"Isn't that a bit harsh, Miss Sayuri?" My assistant says as he looks at some records.

"No, I have limited time. They made me come here, which wasted time I didn't need to spend." Living in the human world while doing my work consumes a lot of time, leaving me little time for my boyfriend.

'I think I'll take 2 days off... it's not like this realm would crumble because I decided to rest a bit.'

"I'm returning to Earth." I say to my assistant as I open a gate. I initially came to Earth out of curiosity, wanting to see and experience human life. However, I ended up falling in love with a mortal. He was nothing special, just a simple and ordinary man, but I fell in love for no reason or purpose. Love is truly a strange thing.

I never thought I would know love and that it would be because of a mortal, but I like what I have with him. He makes me happy, although we don't spend much time together since I'm very busy.

[Life] even made some jokes related to the fact that I helped my boyfriend to rise in life, but I wanted the one I love to have a perfect life before finally dying.

Of course, I know he has a limited time, and when he dies, I will personally guide his soul and even offer him a position in my realm, nothing too big, after all, I won't take away the work of others, but he will have many opportunities to grow and maybe even become one of my heralds.

"I think he'll like the surprise... I'll buy something for him." Now that I'm in the human world, I'll go to a store to buy something he might like. I'm sure he'll be very happy when I arrive unexpectedly, telling him that my trip was rescheduled.

'This is more difficult than it seems...' Thanks to my help, he is rich, so it's hard to give him something he doesn't already have.

'[Life] said that what matters is the intention... maybe something handmade?' I'll go to a store I know, where customers can create their own perfume, making each one unique.

I quickly arrive at the store and enter excitedly to surprise my boyfriend.

"Good afternoon, miss, what would you like?" A salesperson appears to help me.

'3 days of life... what a pity.' She will die in 3 days in a car accident, a true tragedy. Human life is so fragile. My boyfriend doesn't have a counter because I take care of him, but all other humans have one.

"Good afternoon... I want to make a perfume for my boyfriend." I say politely, and she soon guides me to a counter. Of course, the process is not entirely manual. I choose what I want, and then I put it in a machine to grind it.

After being ground, it is mixed with a 50% alcohol liquid and then mixed in another machine whose name I don't know. So, after 1 hour, my perfume is ready.

I spray a little on my hand and smell it.

'Sea roses... I managed to make it... I think he'll like it.' This fragrance is from a Sea Rose, a flower I've seen in one of the worlds I've visited personally. The flower itself is a transparent rose found in the sea.

That's why I know this scent doesn't exist naturally in this world.

Soon, the perfume is transferred to a new container, a small glass bottle. I put it in a box and pay for it, then go to my boyfriend's mansion.

I don't normally use cars because they tend to break down very quickly. Most of the technologies I come into direct contact with end up breaking pretty quickly, as they are not something natural generated by life but something artificial made by humans.

I soon arrive at the mansion, it took longer than expected, and it's already night. I press the intercom button.

"Good evening, may I have your name and what you need?" I hear the butler's voice through the intercom.

"Good evening, I'm Sayuri Shi, I came to see my boyfriend." The gate soon opens, and the butler hurries to greet me.

'2 years of life... cardiac arrest.' He still has some time, and given that he's over 57 years old, this type of death makes sense to a certain extent.

'He seems a bit nervous...' I'm not omniscient or omnipresent like humans generally think. First, I'm not really in all places, I can only be in locations where deaths occur, and it's usually my heralds who go and collect the souls. Second, I can't really see everything or know what everyone is thinking. I can only see their life spans and causes of death so that I can come and get them someday. It's kind of funny how humans have a grandiose view of simple things.

I find human technology much more complex than death, life, and the gods in general.

I soon follow the butler into the mansion.

'Strange... whose car is that? Has my boyfriend received a visit?'

"Butler... where is Akiyo?" I ask the butler with doubts. If my boyfriend is in his office, then it's a business visit, and if he's at the dining table or in the living room, it's a casual visit.

"... In his room, miss..." He speaks somewhat nervously.

'This is strange...' I feel a bad premonition. I take a deep breath and go to his room.

'Let's not be paranoid... it's nothing serious... I'll go into the room, give him the gift, and see him happy...' My instincts are always right. I soon reach the door to his room.

'That sound...' I hear moans, but I don't want to believe it. I open the door with a forced smile, and the scene I see shatters my heart.

I see him with another woman. The pain of betrayal is much worse than the pain I felt when I had my heart pierced by a spear in the past.

I drop the gift I bought for him, the sound of the glass shattering easily audible. I had taken it out of the box when I arrived because I wanted to deliver it outside the packaging after making a personalized drawing on the bottle.

"... Oh... honey, what are you doing home so early?" He asks, seeming nervous.

"Honey?" The naked woman on the bed asks, as if she doesn't understand the situation.

"Akiyo, who is she?" The woman asks with clear confusion on her face.

'So she doesn't know...'

"Well... she's my..." Akiyo speaks and hesitates for a moment. Seeing him hesitate to say that I'm his girlfriend hurts me even more.

"He's my boyfriend," I say with barely contained anger.

"Boyfriend? Akiyo, you have a girlfriend? But you told me you were single..." The naked woman speaks, but soon seems to have realized something.

"S-Sorry, but I think this isn't for me, I'll leave so you two can have some privacy... sorry," The woman grabs her clothes, gets dressed, and speaks as she leaves. Before leaving, when she passes by me, she apologizes.

As soon as that girl leaves, I explode in anger and hurt.

"WERE YOU CHEATING ON ME ALL THIS TIME? AFTER EVERYTHING I'VE DONE FOR YOU!" It hurts so much. I've never felt anything so painful.

"..." He remains silent, his silence only making things worse. He doesn't even try to deny it.

"Is this how you repay all the care I've had for you? I've always been by your side. When you were just a humble worker, I helped you. I funded your businesses and supported you in all your difficult moments out of love... and you betray me?" I've done so much for him.

I did so much for him just so we could be happy together.

"After getting this good life with my help, you replace me with the first woman you see? You didn't even think about us... my trip was rescheduled... I wanted to surprise you, and this is what I find..." I say with hurt in my voice.

I funded everything he needed with human money, not using my powers, just so he could achieve things on his own with his own efforts.

"You know what, yes, I'm cheating on you... I've been doing it for a long time, okay? That's the truth you wanted to hear," He confirms, which only hurts my heart even more. I feel like I'm going to cry.

"Wasn't I enough? Weren't you happy? Don't you love me?" I ask with hurt. Wasn't I enough for him?

"Yes, that's it. I don't love you, okay? I only stayed with you for your support. But now... now I don't need you anymore, we're done," Seeing him say this enrages me more than anything.

"...So... you only used my love... for your own benefit," All my hurt turns into rage.

"Well... putting it that way makes it sound kind of bad... but that's it..." He speaks as if what he did wasn't terrible.

"Haaa... haaa" I begin to release my power on Earth.

My clothes change from the human dress to the outfit I normally wear to reap lives, and my faithful scythe, something I know won't betray me, appears, although he still can't see the scythe.

Now I'm wearing a long black dress with a hood.

"S-Sayuri, wh-what are you cof!... cof!" He begins to cough, seeming to be suffering.

"I loved you... but if you only used my love, I'll make you bitterly regret it... I curse you, Akiyo. I'll make you experience a love that you can never control," I'll make him pay dearly for breaking my heart.

"I'll make you experience a dangerous and deadly love from which you can never escape, until you die... and even after your death, you'll return to life in a new world and a new life," He who used my love for his own benefit will now experience a love that he can never use.

"I'll create for you a life in every world that exists. You'll have partial memories and a name that symbolizes your curse, as well as acquiring part of the aspect of a new personality in each world," This is a lot of kindness on my part, since I won't just leave him without anything... at least in most worlds.

"You'll pay dearly for the sin of using my love for you for your own gains. I never want to see you again. Your soul will not be allowed to enter my domains. You'll be trapped forever in a cycle of deaths where, in each world, the person who loves you will be responsible for your death, whether directly or indirectly," I don't want to see him in front of me anymore.

"I hope you have a lot of fun, Akiyo, and that luck is on your side, because you'll need it."

My scythe is now visible to him.

"I, Sayuri Shi, the physical manifestation of the concept of death, have cursed the mortal Akiyo Oshima. He will spend eternity experiencing the most obsessive and cruel of love feelings, and even at his end, I will not come to collect his soul, for I never want to see him again."

"Goodbye, love, and may you find happiness," I say with a sad and hurt smile, and I soon swing my scythe, beheading him, thus marking me as the first to love him and be responsible for his death.