Staring into the eternal sunset, Ai sat cross-legged on the tatami floor, flicking a little red marble amongst a few others. The red matched the colour of her crimson red orbs, if not a slight bit lighter. She had been waiting; waiting all day for the familiar beep of her computer to signify that an impending request was waiting for her.
Yet here she sat, her pale complexion not revealing anything. But inside, it was…
Killing her.
Despite being physically dead already. Her mind supposedly should have died along with her body 400 years ago, but it didn't. Her heart stopped beating long ago, but for some unknown reason, she could feel. Her emotionless façade never betrayed a single emotion, yet her mentality bled.
Sighing a little, she wrapped her arms around her knees and tucked her chin on top.
"What's wrong, Ai?"
No, not even her own loving grandmother knew how she felt. She kept her feelings well-hidden. Even when the God Of Hell ordered her to close her heart, she didn't fully fulfil his commands. She sewed up her broken heart, and unbeknownst to her, she left a tiny opening forgotten. As time passed, that tiny opening gradually expanded in size, and even now, it was still growing.
"Nothing…Grandma."
She turned her body around, so that it was now facing the direction of the computer. Still no request. She resorted her gaze further to the side, to where her three straw dolls usually sat. No, they weren't there. Wanyuudo, Ren, and Hone Onna were out on the porch, talking quietly amongst themselves.
"What do you think?"
Hone Onna. Beautiful and graceful, she would have been able to be a perfect human were it not for the fact that she was a human-like woman made out of bones.
"About what?"
Ren. A tall, handsome, ideal model. Yet he was, like Hone Onna, inhuman.
"She means; don't you think Ojou is getting a little tired?"
Wanyuudo. An old man, trained thoroughly in martial arts. He could pass off as a seemingly frail elderly person, yet, like the other two, he was part of the supernatural.
"Hmm, maybe she is. After all, she's been watching and carrying out the cycle for 400 years. It's no wonder she's tired of watching endless grudges unfold."
All this time, they thought Ai couldn't hear them; they thought Ai was too deep in her own thoughts to eavesdrop on them. They were wrong, however.
If Ai was tired, she wouldn't show it.
Her work came before her feelings; she bled inside, cried inside, yet still her duty was first priority. When Yuzuki Mikage had been on the brink of being sent to hell, it was Ai who saved her. For that sacrifice, it was Ai's punishment to forever endure the duty of Hell Girl.
But the truth was, she wasn't tired. She didn't feel tired. Despite the load of requests piling up nowadays, she enjoyed her duty; pain and all. Watching humans and their weak hearts, Ai wouldn't admit it, but it entertained her to watch them struggle with their grudges. After all, how much more mundane could it be when you had a job that required ferrying souls to Hell?
Ai understood the pain of betrayal well. She knew what it was like to love and to be loved back. After all this time, Ai still loved Sentarou. He was her cousin, yet her only friend, the only one who loved her, apart from her parents. He never looked down upon her. He never thought she was a mononoke. He loved Ai for Ai.
Even after all this time, she still didn't understand why he had to shovel the first pile of soil on her, why he was the first one to bury her. For that, she couldn't forgive him. He was the cause of all her misery, all her parents' misery too.
If she hated him, then why did she cry inside every time she thought of him?
"Ai, you have a request."
Wordlessly, she got up from the floor, and walked towards the computer.
"Hai…obaachan."