Michael had a difficult and low-paying job. First of all, he wasn't even paid.
Michael's job was something like the work of a guardian angel. Not of a specific person though, but of the whole world.
His job was to see that the fate of the world was on the right track.
Michael liked to refer to his job as "caretaker". It hadn't been long since he had been a caretaker, in fact, this was his first day on the job.
Since Michael was a beginner, he was only in charge of one world. Being his first world, Michael was very attentive to any glitches that might appear. He wanted to have a perfect record on this assignment. Michael had been one of the top students in his class, and he wanted those results to translate to his work.
So he remained attentive and vigilant, barely daring to blink as he watched the course of the world develop.
But no matter how attentive and vigilant he remained. The first glitch appeared without delay and completely derailed the fate of the world.
Michael didn't know how it happened, he only blinked and the next second a major player of destiny was dead.
Michael looked intently at the purple-haired boy lying face down in the snow. No matter how hard he looked, the corpse remained a corpse.
Michael took a deep breath and repeated a mantra in his mind. It didn't matter, in cases like these he just had to patch it up.
Michael opened his record book and searched for a similar soul that would fit the body. The search was as quick as possible and within minutes, a new soul had slipped into the body. Michael breathed a sigh of relief as the boy stood up and looked around in confusion.
The problem was solved.
The problem was not solved.
Michael furiously searched inside his record book and selected a soul. The soul went inside the corpse and the familiar scene of the confused awakening repeated again.
This was the fifth time it had happened.
In a month.
He didn't know what the heck was going on, but all the souls he selected were stupidly reckless. They climbed up buildings like monkeys even though their arms had the strength of a twig, they dared to confront a gang even though the other side had a gun. One of them tried skydiving and forgot to pull the leash.
Michael didn't know how these souls had gotten into trouble in such a short time, but it was already getting on his nerves.
For a moment, he thought about asking his superiors for help, but dismissed that idea easily.
This was his first world. And he would make sure everything was perfect on his own.
Michael just had to endure a little longer.
His eyes sharpened, as he watched the new soul trying to orient themselves now that they had appeared in an unfamiliar place.
They were now walking towards the hospital. Well... apparently this soul was wiser than the others.
The fifth soul only lasted a week.
When Michael had to replace the thirtieth soul, he began to despair.
It hadn't even been a year. He was sure he had broken some kind of record with the number of times he had had to do replacements in such a short time.
In his desperation to not be the worst caregiver ever, Michael began an investigation.
In his hand he held Skull's open file, no last name, although he would later use the stage name De Mort. Michael read every detail in the file of the person who was supposed to be a major player of destiny.
Reckless, imprudent and oblivious to his surroundings. Those were some of the characteristics that Skull had.
There was a lot more data in the record, about what his life was supposed to be like, and over time, Michael came to understand why all the souls he chose seemed to have a suicidal streak.
The souls he chose to replace Skull de Mort's place had to be similar to the original soul or else the body would not accept them. A similarity in souls meant a similarity in the individual's way of thinking and personality.
Michael read tiredly through the biography of this player of destiny. Michael was sure that the reason this person had lasted so long was because of the strong presence of flames that had granted him accelerated healing. But the flaw caused the flames to not awaken at the right time, which inevitably caused his death.
Michael does not know why this happened. Theoretically, all the souls he sent including the original one should have been active since his arrival in this world. The more he investigated the problem, the more Michael managed to learn the reason for the problem.
The body was not yet adapted to the presence of flames. The connection of the consciousness and the body that would cause the flames to activate was not fully developed. And, therefore, this whole mess happened.
This could not go on like this. Michael gritted his teeth and clenched the record book as a plan formed in his mind.
The connection problem could be fixed over time, as long as the soul stayed inside the body longer, it would inevitably form that necessary channel.
In that case, Michael just had to get a soul that didn't want to bother a criminal because they thought it would be funny.
And he believed he already had a solution to this problem.
"Alright everybody, from now on you will all listen to what I am about to say, because it will help your survival in another world. You are all people who died, and now you are given the opportunity to have another chance at life. If you do your job well, at your next chance of reincarnation you will be able to choose where and under what conditions to be reborn."
Michael paced around the classroom like a military man training his soldiers. In front of him were a hundred candidates chosen from the record book. Michael had not been able to select more because it would inevitably draw the attention of those at the top. But a hundred was already a good number and with his teaching, Michael was sure he wouldn't even need ten of them.
The gaze of the candidates looked at him carefully. They all had purple gazes and identical faces. They had all been changed to the appearance of the mission target to make it easier to fit in. It also caused, though, the candidates to start playing with each other.
Michael graciously ignored the small crowd that had formed in the back as the candidates began to play that they were ninjas and had performed the shadow clone jutsu. The supposed clones, were fighting over who would be the next ninja.
"Now everyone to your seats, we will begin the first lesson."
The candidates ran to their seats and looked at him with curiosity.
"The first lesson we will learn is called, the value of life and why it is important to cherish it."
Michael smiled at the graduation of his students, in front of him were seventy remaining candidates, the other candidates had interrupted their studies when inevitably a soul died for doing something stupid and the candidates volunteered to replace the previous soul.
Michael had at first been concerned when the trained candidates died as easily as the previous ones, but he understood that these candidates had not completed their training, most of them were still not past the first lesson, and with the cognition that there was reincarnation after death, that made these candidates more debauched than the ones he was currently sending.
Michael smiled at the graduate with the highest grade in the class.
Actually, this graduate was going to be the seventieth soul to act as a replacement. Just in time because soul number seventy-one had died while performing a handstand on his moving motorcycle.
Michael felt proud when candidate number seventy, called an ambulance instead of taking a selfie like the previous ones. It seemed that his teachings had not been in vain.
Maybe he didn't even need the other candidates and candidate number seventy would live to the end.
For the first time since the death of Skull de Mort, Michael breathed easily.
Candidate number seventy lived a record time of four months.
Michael sat back in his chair with the decadence of a drunk, and although he was not drunk, he wished he was.
Michael looked intently at the remaining ten candidates and felt a migraine forming.
"What is the matter with all of you? Seriously, could you at least stay alive for a year!"
The candidates at least had the decency to look embarrassed.
Michael took a slow breath; a cold finger stroked the veins in his forehead. It wasn't the fault of the candidates in front of him, those who had failed long ago had already been sent into the reincarnation cycle.
Michael had been naive, at first the trained candidates had seemed cautious, but it only took a few weeks or months before they would release their true nature again and return to their crazy stunts. Michael had already lost faith.
The remaining candidates were the worst of the class, the last ten had passed as well as the previous ones, but they were neither as serious nor as studious as the previous ones.
These last ten, were the last ones left and Michael knew that, if he asked for more candidates, they would send a superior who would inevitably fail his assignment and demote Michael's position. That could not happen.
Michael put his hands together and remained silent.
He decided he had to approach things differently.
"Listen, I know that, for you, this mission is like a game where you come into someone else's life and you can do whatever you want. But this mission is important. Without Skull de Mort, an important part of the fate of this world would inevitably collapse. I ask you, please try to be more responsible, if not for yourselves, at least for the other people in that world."
The candidates looked at each other. And they seemed to be having a mental discussion by the way their eyes moved pointing in his direction.
Michael remained silent waiting for the candidates' response. He knew that his unusually serious tone had alarmed them, as never before had Michael asked them for help in this way. Before Michael had always confronted them as a superior, only asking for their help because it was the easiest answer. But now, Michael had aggravated his tone to scare these unruly little candidates.
When the candidates looked at him determined and somewhat nervous, Michael thought that this time he would get the results he wanted.
Because who would have guessed, his candidates were all softies.
Just as Michael expected, the results he got were different. This time for the better.
His candidates managed to survive several months including years. And this time they died only because of unavoidable accidents they encountered. It seemed that even if the candidates didn't look for trouble, trouble found them. But they tried, and Michael took that into account.
These candidates got the desired prize of being able to choose where they would be reincarnated, after their deaths.
And Michael got a pleasant surprise, the fourth candidate managed to get his flames before he died, if not for the wounds being too severe, this candidate could have gone on for longer.
Michael saw the third candidate, he and the other two had nervous looks on their faces. They knew from Michael's words that the time they had to stay alive for fate not to fall apart was far from enough. And with how easily the other candidates died they didn't know if they would manage to live long enough.
"Don't worry" Michael said to the third candidate "It should be easier from now on. Be careful as I taught you in the lessons and you should be fine."
The third candidate nodded, though he still looked nervous.
"You know, you're not as much of an idiot as you appeared to be."
Michael raised an eyebrow
"Did you think I was an idiot?"
The third candidate laughed nervously "Well yeah, you kept giving orders and yelling at us. I honestly think the others died on purpose just to annoy you"
Michael felt a vein form at his temple.
"Not that you are, though, an idiot I mean" The third candidate quickly clarified "You're just under a lot of pressure, like us."
The third candidate smiled "You're a good guy Michael."
Michael didn't respond even when the third one left to enter the new world. Michael didn't think he was a good guy, if he was a good guy, he wouldn't use human lives to fix a simple glitch, as if they were mere tools or toys.
In the end, Michael was just a guy who didn't want to be scolded by his superiors.
The other candidates sat down next to him.
The first one spoke up. "Can we see third's life?"
Michael shouldn't show them, that was against the rules.
"Okay, but just a little bit."
The two candidates dragged their chairs over and sat down next to Michael. The life of the third unfolded in front of the screen.
The third candidate lived a long life.
And Michael and the two candidates watched his life as faithful spectators.
They laughed when the third went to get the number three tattooed on his back and had to convince the tattoo artist that the long line of numbers on his back did not mean he was a serial killer.
They watched with interest as the third developed his artistic career.
And they tensed up when he finally went to that destined meeting.
They saw many important events in third's life.
And third managed to do things that previous candidate had avoided, like developing emotional bonds with the people of that world, and striving harder than ever to survive in that crazy world of mafia and magical flames.
They didn't see all the events that happened, they gave privacy to the third in events that seemed too intimate and important. But they saw enough, to know that the third lived a crazy and full life.
The third continued to live, even when the curse was broken and his presence in the world was no longer needed.
The third managed to live until ten years after the curse was broken.
Dying, when a mission ended up going wrong and accompanied by the presence of two of his former arcobaleno companions.
Michael watched the screen, observing the corpse of the third one, both the two former arcobaleno and him expected the third to wake up.
But Michael knew that third, was already back in the reincarnation cycle. Choosing to reincarnate on an underwater world.
Michael looked at the last candidates. They were the ones who had been by his side the longest.
"It's no longer necessary, but you can still go if you want to. You could live unrestricted any way you want."
"Nah man. It would be disrespectful to the third" Said the second. The first nodded in agreement.
"So you guys want to reincarnate now? You guys are also free to choose where to reincarnate."
The second and the first looked at each other.
"Can we reincarnate in the same world as third?"
Michael shrugged. "Sure."
"Then send us now, we're bored with this place!"
Michael smiled. "As you want...I wish you a good life."
With a snap, the second and first disappeared. Michael was already manipulating things so that those three could be reunited.
Michael turned to the screen. Where the former arcobalenos seemed to realize that third was not going to get up. Michael turned off the screen.
Skull's life, Third's life, was over.
Michael's plan had gone splendidly. But he was not happy.
He absentmindedly looked at the seal that said mission completed. He had gotten it some time ago, but had delayed getting a new mission until now.
Michael slid his finger across the mission screen. The silence in the room was more present than ever. He never imagined he would miss the idiots who liked to run around the room like headless chickens.
The cool glow of the tablet illuminated Michael's bored face.
His finger paused as he saw the task in a familiar world. An underwater world.
Michael clicked without thinking and smiled when his task request was accepted.
It looked like he would still be seeing those idiots for a while longer.
