A lifeless doll that sits silently as guests pour in from each elevator door. Dust settles on the doll; on her hair, on her suit, and on her frame. Decim, the bartender often does his part to clean her up. After all, she is the only one he can remember. She is the one who started all this, the one who made him feel emotions. As an arbiter it is his duty to judge those who come in, and whether or not to send them to reincarnation or the void. This has been a task that has been going on for seven years now, and it has been two since Chiyuki arrived through those same doors many have arrived through. The difference between others and this particular woman was that she recalled her death upon arrival. That made the basis for a different situation to happen.
Today was just like any other, or so it seemed. Decim was supposed to receive a child and a rapist through those door, but at the last minute Nona had decided it to hand them to Ginti. It had been the longest since Decim had had a day off. Since the departure of Chiyuki, he had been working nonstop. Feeling complex emotions and judging the deceased through a series of games, he made sure to smile every step. It was the only thing that kept his memory of that woman alive.
When the news came that he had the day off, he decided to cook a meal for himself. He had made a grand meal; it was a brisk dipped in pomegranate sauce, and a side of mashed potatoes and vegetables. Decim served the meal in two plates, and sat behind his bar. Taking a biteful, he looked up at the plate across from his and smiled. "I hope you enjoy the meal. I made it just the way you like it, Chiyuki-sama." It was as if she had never left, and she didn't. He didn't accept it, although he acted as he did when the woman left.
After she had gone through the elevator towards reincarnation, he had gone behind his bar and had gathered up his supplies. Decim went behind the bar towards where he kept his mannequin supplies, and began his work. In the matter of minutes he was done rebuilding Chiyuki. She was alive again, in this form, and he had control over it. When he finished admiring the woman before him, he took her hands and held her close. "Shall we dance the waltz?", he asked. It seemed that with complex feelings, came high levels of entropy.
Stepping out of the mannequin room, he made his way onto the center of the bar, right in front of the piano. The mannequin sitting at the piano began to play Gymnopedie no.1, and soon Decim began to dance with the mannequin he had built. As they spun around elegantly in circles, he looked at her and found himself crying. How was he going to heal this wound? Before he had been but a vessel with only a selective consciousness. Now he was a being full of emotions, desires, and a need to live. In these moments, as he spun himself and Chiyuki about, he wondered if this was a blessing or a gateway to an eternal hell. He figured that the best person to ask was the woman in front of him.
"Is this…..really the way it was suppose to be?", he said, stopping soon after the question came. He looked at the mannequin's expressionless face and heard her answer. 'So', he thought, 'It was suppose to be this way after all.' As soon as his thought process ended, he dropped the doll and fell on his knees. He was crying once more. It had to be like this, but the emotions in him began to pour doubt. There must have been…...no. He stopped himself before he thought any further. To think that was is much too human, so he decided to pick up both himself and Chiyuki and go back to his bar. This was his duty after all.
Two years later and here he was, eating with Chiyuki a brisket coated in pomegranate. As Decim finished his food, he took the plates with him and placed them away. There was nothing else to do today, so he prepared himself to head on home. During the first year of his solitude, he had left the Chiyuki mannequin in the bar, and had gone directly home. Now he would take her home, and pretend to live a normal human life with her. That was what he did today as well; take her home in a suitcase, and take her out in his home. It had seemed he was playing matrimony, and it was something he was okay with.
At his home, he took off his clothing and took off the clothing of the mannequin. With a blush on his face, he took them both upstairs into the bathroom and placed a bath. When it was set and done, he got in with Chiyuki, and sat her on his lap. Moments like these where he was all alone and quiet, he would hug the mannequin and cry on her shoulder. Her sorrow and pain was one that was still with him, and despite the many sorrows and pains he had seen in the years, hers was one he would never let go.
As the bathroom steamed up with heat, he washed away his tears and the filth on both their bodies. "Chiyuki-sama, would you like me to wash your hair next?", he said, with his hands between her legs. He made sure to clean every inch of her, despite the fact that the mannequin only accumulated dust. To Decim, this mannequin was more alive than anything he had seen.
"So…..this is what you've become, Decim-san. I did not imagine you would have these sort of feelings. Even after all these years….I still cannot understand what would prompt this. I suppose that's normal for your types, hmm?", said Nona, sitting on a high chair. No matter how secretive Decim was, she could see her boy's every moments with ease. Behind her sat a shadow of a person with light crimson eyes. With a tenacious smile, Nona turned her eyes back to the screen, watching as a hopeless Decim played at husband to a lifeless doll.