"I wish I could always offer our clients drinks," Nona said as she poured herself a glass, "but things can get hectic around here."
Sashiro took his glass and sipped, careful to make sure there was nothing suspicious in it. "So, you're the leader of this undead organization?"
"We're Arbiters. We were never alive, so we certainly can't be undead."
"If you've never lived, then how can you know to properly judge us mortals?"
"It's our duty. Complex stuff, you know."
"..."
They sat at Decim's bar as he and the black haired woman played cards at the table beside Mayu, who was peacefully napping.
"That was awfully nice of you," Nona added when she caught him staring at the trio, "willing to die for a young girl, your target."
"I hadn't known she was my target until you let me have my memories. Now," he put his glass down and gave her a steady look, "time for my questions."
"Of course. Anything for the man who could see through us and have the guts to attack an Arbiter. Mind you, anything about our origins and other personal affairs are off limits."
"Alright, question number one. Why use some pathetic game to decide people's morals when you can easily read their memories and see their actions?"
"Our Arbiters have no human emotions, Sashiro. It's easier to judge somebody when you can see first-hand in front of you how they act."
"But who gave you the idea for the games?"
"Personal affairs. Off limits."
This is going to be a hassle.
"Fine. Question number two."
He pointed to the black haired woman, who was currently smiling and giggling as Decim chose the wrong card. "Why is she here? She says she's like us."
"Some people are easier to judge than others."
"Uh-huh."
"...She came here with her memories of dying. That's not how it works, so, we're keeping her until Decim can properly judge her."
"She seems nice enough."
"Nice and good are two very different things, Sashiro."
Nona emptied her glass and smirked. "My turn to ask the questions – why do you kill?"
"...Because if I stop, I'll be a murderer."
"That' a strange way to think. You're a murderer every time to take a life."
"No, I'm an assassin, a...janitor, if you will. That is-"
"Until you stop, and the law catches up with you." She played with her braid. "It's strange, bizarre, really, but makes just enough sense for me not to further question it."
"Why did you lie, Nona?"
"Lie? Me?"
He glanced at Mayu. "You were never going to send her to the Void. She hasn't done anything like I have, she's..."
"She's...?"
"...Innocent. Compared to most people."
"Mayu is easy enough to read, even without memories," Nona replied, slurring her words, "but even so, children can have their dark sides, too. Announcing that she was going to be in the Void was a test on both of you. How would you both react to the news? She took it pretty well, but you..."
"Nearly killed an Arbiter."
"Can't break the habit, huh? Even in death."
"I still have my emotions down here, Nona."
"Such as your anger towards your latest and last client."
"...And myself."
"Oh?"
He sighed and rubbed his finger around the glass' edge. "I never wanted to harm a child. It wasn't right, even by assassin standards-well, Kinto's assassin standards. I did, though, and look where I am now – dead."
"Kinto was a different kind of assassin," Nona answered the silence that followed, "but an assassin no less."
"...You're going to have us judged now?"
"You've already been judged...it's time to leave, Sashiro."
Nona snapped her fingers, and Decim, bowing from his chair, cradled Mayu in his arms and led the group back to the elevators. "If you would?"
The black haired woman pressed a button, and the left elevator opened up, where Decim gently placed Mayu down in against the wall. Stepping out he pressed the button, and the doors began to close.
I don't even get to say goodbye...what am I thinking? She wouldn't want to say goodbye, anyway...this is how life and death works...at least she won't have to deal with that man ever again.
The doors closed, and Sashiro noticed a white faced mask above it.
...Reincarnation...
"What will you choose?"
"What?" He glanced down at Nona. "You...want me to choose?"
"Yes. Make a choice, here and now – will you be reincarnated, or sent to the Void?"
He stared long and hard at her, then at the elevators.
"...You tease. No matter what choice I make, you guys have the final say, any ways."
"You really are smart."
He stepped into the right elevator as the doors opened, and turned to face them.
Decim, Nona, the black haired woman...all this time, they've been the ones judging us? I never believed in this sort of afterlife, but...
"Have my actions spoken for me?"
Decim nodded. "Yes. What you've done and said today have made it easy to judge your character."
As the doors slid closed, Sashiro smirked and gazed into Decim's emotionless eyes once more.
"...Don't judge based on those."
Ding.
He felt the elevator begin to move.
He was a beginner. I should have guessed. If he really was an expert at judging, then he would have known that, no matter how "nice" I am now, no matter what life I live in – I'm still, and always will be, a kill-
He felt his breath stop, and watched in the last few seconds of his life as his skin disintegrated away, revealing nothing but the arms, legs, body –
of a puppet.
"The Void. Good work, Decim."
Decim gazed up at the red mask above Sashiro's door. "...Are you sure, Nona? He was nice."
"Nice and good are different."
"Yes, but in the end, he was good."
The black haired woman turned to both of them. "He could have been a good person if his parents hadn't been killed."
Nona wagged her finger. "He was willing to kill, and he knew that entering the elevator. He could have very well killed again. He was destined for the Void the minute he attacked the killer – now, whose up for some cards?"
END