Death and Life

"Yui Asahina...Miss Yui, your sister Ms. Sayuri has come to see you." One of my employees says after seeing a signed paper for me, it seems to have been sent by my sister, she usually always sends me a paper to let me know she's coming.

"My sister? How unusual...let her in." I tidy up some things on my desk so it doesn't look like I was procrastinating for no reason, soon my sister enters.

"..." I notice that she is crying and seems very sad.

"Sister...do you need anything?" I try to be direct because I know Sayuri usually prefers me to be direct.

She comes to me and hugs me while crying.

"Hick m-my boyfriend b-betrayed me" She speaks through sobs as she hugs me.

'I guess when mortals speak, seek advice in life was not quite it...' I may be [Life] but what could I say to her? Her boyfriend was a human, it's not that hard to believe this would happen.

"Shh, calm down, sister, you can cry, it's okay, I'm here." I say as I hug her, I've never seen my sister so sad, I have no idea what to do.

"Hick w-why did he do this, I love him so much."

'Love?...didn't love more love?...' I see she won't let go of this love anytime soon, she says in a tearful tone while her tears stain my dress.

"Sister, he's a human, it's human nature to make foolish mistakes, you don't need to cry over spilled milk, you're a strong and powerful woman, I'm sure you'll find...someone better." She's the direct type, so I think she prefers me to say things this way.

She looks up at me, making me look at her tearful face.

"B-But I love him...hick...I don't want anyone else." The tears stream down her face, she seems much worse off than I thought.

'She really loved him...maybe I should make that human's life bad?' I hate seeing my sister so sad.

I hug her tighter.

"Sister, what did you do?" I wonder what she did, I can't even imagine.

"I-I...hick...cursed him, and turned him into a girl so he could understand women's feelings...hick...I also made it so he would keep switching worlds every time he died, and in each world someone will fall in love with him and that person will be responsible for his death."

"..."

'WOW...' That's heavy, very heavy indeed, I know what he did was wrong, but doing this to him seems a bit cruel, it even made me give up the idea of making his life worse, with this curse his life will be terrible even if no one does anything.

"Sister, are you sure about this? Are you sure this choice was right? He's a human, they make mistakes all the time, I'm not saying you should forgive him...but this curse..."

"WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON?" She screams at me through her tears.

"..."

"Haaa...on your side, sister." I sigh and respond that I'm obviously on her side, I just think she went overboard with this punishment.

"Sister, how long does this curse last?" I wonder how much suffering this human will endure.

"...Forever...I never want to see him again, so I'll never take his life." She speaks in a serious tone.

'I feel sorry for this human...' I who am [Life] have already accompanied the journey of many, I know how many foolish things humans do, betraying their partners isn't even close to being the worst they can do.

That's why I think yes, he deserves punishment, but I think this punishment is not appropriate, it's like executing someone for stealing a piece of bread to survive, it's still wrong and should be punished, but not with such a severe punishment.

Unfortunately, I can't do anything for this human other than wish him luck, maybe someday my sister will decide to remove this curse.

"Hick y-you're not going to say anything?" She says tearfully, I give her a kiss on the forehead.

"I don't fully agree with what you did...but your boyfriend was very wrong." Betrayal is a serious thing, he shouldn't have done that.

"Did you do anything else?" I ask compassionately.

"!!!"

"...Y-Yes...b-because I love him so much...to make him never disappear...a-and...hick...I left my mark on his soul..."

'That...complicates things for him...' first complication now his soul is indestructible, there's nothing stronger than death, so no one can permanently destroy his soul, but this means that as long as her curse exists, he can't even be permanently eliminated.

Second complication, tarot readers, psychics, and people in general who can see the soul will see this mark, which will cause these people to not even want to be near him, this will cause him to lose the help of many useful people.

For example, a tarot reader or psychic could tell him what he should be careful of to avoid dying, but with his soul marked by death, most won't even want him to approach.

Because they won't know for sure what the mark means, they'll judge that he's cursed by something bad, which isn't entirely a lie since he has a terrible curse.

And the third and worst complication, if any goddess or god who has fallen in love with him in some way sees this mark, they will be very cautious, making his life difficult in these worlds.

'So much suffering...I think this is really sad...' This person's future is gloomy, very gloomy.

It's sad to see that so many lives will be affected by this one mistake.

Of course, I won't try to convince my sister to remove the curse, that would be stupid, because my sister is quite...complicated, in the end she would only distance herself from me if I tried to keep convincing her.

"Listen, sister" I hold her tear-stained, soft cheeks

"Do you want to stay here with me for a while?" She shakes her head, she seems to have calmed down a little, but the hurt in her eyes is visible.

'I hate seeing her so sad...I wish I could do something to cheer her up...' My sister is too complex, few things really make her happy.

It was a total surprise when she said she had fallen in love, I was shocked, I thought she would never love anything romantically.

Love is really confusing.

I get up, taking my sister with me since we're hugging.

"I'll take you to my room" I'll pamper her a little bit, once in a while it's not bad, I start to move with a little difficulty, taking her to my room.

"N-No...hick...I don't want to go to that ugly garden..."

"..."

'Tsk' This is what I get for trying to cheer others up, I get insults about my beautiful room.

"Okay, sister, I'll take you to one of the guest rooms, is that alright?" She nods her head, even though I didn't like the insult, I still need to cheer her up.

I soon take her to a room and leave her on the bed.

"Sister, I'll go get you something, okay?" She nods her head as she lies down on the bed.

'I think I'm doing it...' I leave the room, which has a relatively simple design, and soon I go to the kitchen to prepare something.

'I think I'll make a sweet...' I quickly prepare a batch of sweets, they have a shape like a flattened sphere, each one has a different color and flavor.

They are very soft and fluffy.

'I think she'll like it...' I go back to the room and when I reach the door I hear a sound.

"Ahhh" I hear the sound of glass breaking, a heartbreaking scream came from the room, I give up on entering, I think she needs some time alone.

I sit next to the door as I hear tearful screams and things breaking, she's really very sad, much more than I thought.

First love is so complicated, and Sayuri has a very explosive personality when she's upset.

I bite one of the little sweets as I wait for her to calm down, after a few good minutes the room only has the sound of sobbing, I get up from the floor and open the door, entering the intact room.

"Sorry for the delay, sister, I had a little accident in the kitchen." I hand her the tray that's missing 3 little sweets, while telling a little white lie, I doubt she would like me to talk about her brief outburst.

"O-Okay...hick..." She takes a sweet and bites it while crying, I've never seen her cry before.

I guess that's what makes everything harder, she's never cried before, she's always been active and a bit too energetic, though she's been sad before, she's never cried.

She really loved that human a lot, since as my sister she's never cried, I've even wondered if when I disappear she would cry, but I never expected to actually see her cry over something.

It's not that she lacks empathy, but as she is [Death], it's rare for anything to truly be sad for her.

She starts eating and we spend some time with me talking to her gently, trying to cheer her up at least a little bit.

'Maybe in 20,000 years I'll succeed?' A long and tedious attempt to cheer her up, she's hardly going to stop crying anytime soon, she loves that human too much to forget him.

Even if she doesn't show it, I doubt she'll ever forget this human, they both will have a difficult "life", my sister will suffer from love while that human will also technically suffer from love.

"Sister, do you want to take a nap? Don't worry, I'll take care of your work..." I can't do her work directly, but I can at least give orders to her heralds to fulfill her duties.

"Y-Yes..." She nods her head, soon I change her position from sitting on the bed to lying on the bed.

"I'll tell you many interesting stories I've seen during my journey in the human world..." I start telling her stories, I'll at least help as I can until my sister feels a little better.