Someone had changed the flowers in the vase near the window.

As his end came nearer and nearer, Kaito would start noticing small details like the flowers - things he would ignore before. Everything became important because anything might be the last thing he remembered - he would take nothing but memories on the other side, or so he was told.

Yet he wasn't scared. Not really. He had lived a good life, and he had kept his head clear until the end - not like others, that would go insane as they gained age. Men rarely got to choose the way they died, yet Kaito was lucky enough to do so peacefully, in his bed, surrounded by his family. His sons had come back to see him one last time, and he had even gotten to see his granddaughter, that was two now. He knew that his family would live on without him and this reassured him.

He was so weak that there wasn't much for him to do than sit and rest, and sometimes he would think back to his life. He would remember his wife, the only woman he had loved - until she, after having given him three sons, had run away with another man. He used to be angry at her for leaving, even if he had always known, deep down, that she had married him out of obligation and had never been happy with him. But time had brought him peace and the joy of seeing his children grow into strong adults. He had never taken a second woman, content with remaining single and not wanting to risk a second heartbreak.

His former wife wasn't the only person he would recall. Sometimes his mind was like a clear sky that allowed him to see the distant mountains on the horizon, and he would remember events in his life as if they had occurred yesterday. On those occasions, the face of the man he killed came to him, in dreams or in daydreams.

He quickly chased thoughts of the duke. That had all happened such a long time ago, and he had never regretted killing him. He had rid the land of great evil, and yet he had told no living soul save for his wife, that recalled it all. Yet he couldn't deny that when he looked back at the entirety of his existence, that one event gave it an odd flavor, as if a piece of someone else's life had slipped into his, like pages from one book in the middle of the story of another. He wouldn't linger on the memory, but he would linger on the feeling, trying to piece it together, to explain it, before giving up.

He died quietly, one night when everyone was asleep. By the time they found him in the morning, he was cold.


He felt his soul rise up in the air. Above him was light, pure and beautiful; he felt at peace as he watched it approach him. He was leaving his family and friends behind, yet he was not sad, only melancholic. He wished them a happy life.

His senses, one by one, came back to him. First, it was his sight, and then his hearing; he was standing in a crowd, but they were all surrounded by white mist as if standing behind a veil; whispers crept in the air around him, indistinguishable from one another, like a faraway melody. He was standing in the Hall of Judgment, he knew that without having to be told, and soon he would be seeing his Judge know what would become of him. He waited quietly.

"Hey," called a man, approaching him.

The stranger was young, maybe in his twenties, strong as an ox and just as wide as one too. He wore the strangest clothes, white and slightly transparent, and Kaito was trying to understand what sort of person might wear that when he noticed that all those that stood around him were dressed the same, and so was he. All were equal in death after all.

"What's your story?" asked the man. He didn't seem like he was among the guardians of this place, just a fellow human looking for a chat.

Kaito shrugged. "Oh, nothing too amazing. I was among the nobility, but never did anything of any importance."

The man chuckled. "Oh, nobility. That's funny. I mean, if I would have met you alive and alone, I would have threatened you with a knife to have you hand over your purse. It's not like you were lacking any money to share."

Kaito scoffed. "That would still be unbelievably rude. Were you a crook?"

"No need to look at me like that." The man rose his hands in defense. "I was what you would call a 'crook', I guess. But I wasn't going to muggle you now. I just thought that it was funny to point it out. Death change a lot of things." He shrugged. He looked like he was going to walk away but suddenly recalled something. "Hey, you're a noble, so you studied a bit all the stuff about paradise, right?"

"I was a noble, not a priest," pointed out Kaito.

"But did you?"

"I might have. Why do you ask?" Kaito wasn't sure that he liked the man. He never had had to deal with maurauders, as his land had been peaceful and blessed, but that did not mean that he wanted to sympathize with one.

"Well, I was wondering. I might have, you know, killed a man or two. You know, it's the accidents of the job." The man gave Kaito an apologetic smile. "It happens. I thought that I would have the time to pray for forgiveness later. Do you think that I still can right now?"

Kaito's eyes widened in horror as he slowly backed away. This man was a murderer.

"No need to look at me like that," said the former bandit. "I was just looking for an opinion, not judgment."

Kaito shook his head slowly. "You would need a lifetime."

"What, shit?" The man was going to add something, but he paused suddenly and turned his head the other way as if he had been called. "Oh, no, it's time for me. I don't want... sir, please, help me."

Even if Kaito would have wanted, he would have been unable to do so: the man was fading from view right in front of his eyes, becoming more and more transparent as he spoke.

"I don't want to go to hell, it was all an accident." The former crook's voice was becoming more and more distant. "It was all an accident..."

He was gone.

Kaito shuddered. He had instantly disliked this man, yet he couldn't help but feel pity for him. There was no doubt in his mind on where he would spend the rest of his eternity. At that moment, the former nobleman thought about how lucky he was that he had lived a sinless life.

Putting the memory of him away, he wandered for a while among the crowd of unknown faces. He was surprised to see that they all looked young - there wasn't anyone that looked over thirty - before he realized that his hands no longer had its bulging veins and knobby knuckles. They had all been brought back to the same age and dressed the same. He thought it to be amusing. Time passed, yet he had no measure to estimate how much time had passed exactly - it might have been days and he would have still been unable to tell. There were always people, no matter how far he walked, yet he spoke to no-one as he waited for his moment.

When he felt the call, he knew without a doubt that this was what he had been waiting for. It came to him in the same way that he was there to wait: he just knew it, yet that knowledge felt as if it had been gently placed in his mind. He didn't struggle or cry out like the bandit had done and simply let himself be carried away. It felt as if he was falling asleep.

The crowd around him faded and then he was standing in front of the Judge in a place full of mist.

It was impossible to tell if he or she was a man or a woman, for they had ample clothes draping their body and a face that was beautiful yet androgynous. Their eyes were hidden by a cloth but they saluted Kaito's arrival with the smallest of nods.

"I have been waiting for you, Kaito Shion," they said. "I have looked at your life and seen what there was to see. Are you ready for your verdict?"

Kaito thought about the marauder he had met earlier, how he had been taken in front of his very eyes while he cried out for help. "Do I have a choice?"

The Judge smiled kindly. "Well, if you want, we can chat. No one is in a hurry around here. But you won't be leaving until I delivered my sentence upon you."

"We might as well get over it. What will it be?"

"Very well. Allow me to go over the formalities." They took a deep breath, before continuing. "Kaito Shion, you are now standing at the crossroad between world. Should you have conducted yourself justly and faced all your trials with success, you will be able to join the heavens and live a life of felicity or serve among the angels. But if you have wavered and failed from your path, I will have to condemn you to damnation and suffering in the pits of hell - such is the law of this world. Do you accept judgment?"

"I do," replied Kaito.

There was a brief silence before they announced: "The Judge has looked upon you and found you guilty of murder. You are to go to hell to repent."

"Murder?" cried Kaito. "But I've never-"

"Do you deny that you have plunged a poisonous blade into the chest of Gakupo Venomania?" The Judge's voice was enormous now, strong enough to make the ground shake. "That you have left him to bleed out to the floor as you fled?"

"I have, but it was in the name of justice-"

"Don't you dare let that word cross your lips!" they cried, pointing a finger at Kaito's mouth. It closed on its own, forced by an invisible power to do so. "I have looked into your heart, and I have seen your true intentions. You killed him out of jealousy, you wanted the woman you loved for yourself - you claimed her by taking her away from another, and for that, you took his life. Never did you feel shame for what you did - there are bandits that regret their murders more than you have, Kaito Shion. This doesn't change your sentence, but it does take away your right to try and riddle me - I have no patience for those that think they can buy me with pretty words."

The pressure on him grew stronger: now it pushed down on his shoulders and forced him to kneel. He was terrified. Never would he have thought that he was going to be sent to hell, he was but an ordinary man that had done his best with what he had. How could he be sent to damnation?

"The hellhound, guardian of the Hellish Peace, will take you to the pit with the other murderers," said the Judge, their voice back to normal. "Farewell, Kaito Shion."

There was a growl. The human raised his head and saw the hellhound that had come to him, a creature the size of a small cow with a fiery spine and a jaw that opened with two axis - one vertical and one horizontal, with four eyes right on their muzzle. They moved on all four, but their front paws were hands and the sound that came from behind the rows of jagged teeth sounded awfully like the laugh of an intelligent creature. Hellhounds were well named: they were indeed a hellish sight.

Kaito wanted to scream, but his lips were still sealed and he was unable to get away. The monster circled around the Judge, who gave them a scratch behind the ear, before crawling closer to their prey. They licked their lips with their forked tongue.

This was the end.

"Dear Judge, most dear master Guardian, please hold up for a moment while I plead his case," suddenly said a male voice.

The hellhound froze and looked at someone that stood behind Kaito; that someone passed the latter slowly, almost theatrically. He oozed of deus ex machina and everything in his calm demeanor showed that he knew it.

The man was important, or at least he was very rich. He wore expensive leather shoes with high heels, that increased his already dazzling height and perfectly fitting pants that accentuated the curve of his calves. All that came above was hidden by a luxurious coat of a quality Kaito himself had rarely seen. It was impeccably cut in what seemed to be soft cream leather and was doubled with white fur, so fluffy that one might sink an entire hand in it. The design looked like the one of a cape, but it was attached on the front with ivory buttons and with slits on the side for the arms to pass. Its hood was drawn up, hiding the face at all time.

"You, here," said the Judge, surprised. "Out of all the people that might have come for him..."

"Indeed. I believe that, in case such as that, I may make a claim on the damned. Is that correct?"

"This has happened in courts other than mine," said the Judge, "but I believe that you are correct. May I know what you wish to do with him?"

"I'm in the age and situation where it is most suitable for me to chose a pupil, and this man struck my fancy. Do I need any more reasons?"

"I would object that you certainly have other motives, but it is not my role to stand in your way here," replied the Judge. "I trust that you have studied the necessary conditions for your tutorship to be recognized as valid?"

"Of course." The newcomer laughed as if he had been told a joke.

The hellhound growled at the stranger as they looked from him to Kaito continuously. They didn't seem to happy that their prey was being taken from them.

"I am sorry, master Guardian, for the inconvenience," said the man in the coat. "But you see, I have been waiting for this opportunity for a lifetime."

"What is happening?" Suddenly said Kaito, unable to remain silent any longer - and noticing that the hold on his mouth had creased. "Am I going to hell?"

"You are, but you won't be thrown in a pit of fire," said the Judge. "You are now in the care of this man instead, for as long as he sees fit. You may rise, Kaito Shion."

The human got on his two feet. All he understood was that he had somehow been graced, and that was all that mattered. He approached the stranger.

"Thank you, sir," he said.

The man in the coat turned to him and gave him a cruel smile. Kaito stopped in his tracks as the full horror of his situation dawned upon him.

"Don't thank me yet," said the duke of Venomania. "Your punishment has only begun."