Chapter 13: invitation

I woke up to see the stars overhead. I was in someone's arms.

"Ah, you're awake."

We were back in the shinigami world. It was night time, and the stars shone brightly. I looked into William's eyes. His eyes were more green than yellow. They were a nice color, not a weird almost completely yellow color like mine. I was completely awake now.

"William… what happened? Where is everyone? Is Ronald okay?"

"He's fine. Everyone's at the library waiting for you. Ronald is fine for now. You did an amazing job. I don't think I've ever seen anyone take on that many demons at a time and survive through it."

"Did I pass the test?" I wondered.

"That should be the least of your worries at the moment, but yes you did pass. You're now a grim reaper."

"That's good to hear."

"From now on, you and Ronald will be my two direct subordinates. You're never going in the human world again without anyone else there. I can't believe she would have been so stupid as to not tell you how to get back. If we'd known there were demons in the human world, we would have postponed your exam."

After today's incident, I NEVER wanted to go back into the human world again, but if William was there it wouldn't be so bad. I tried not to blush as he carried me all the way to the library.

"You can put me down. I can walk" I said. He put me down. I stumbled and nearly fell.

"Are you sure about that?" He asked.

"Oh shut up…" I said. I let him carry me again into an empty chair.

"Wait here." He said. Like I had any way to disobey his orders. I couldn't move even if I wanted to. Pretty soon, the doors opened again and practically everyone I knew from the grim reaper school came in.

Grell wouldn't let go of me. I guessed I had scared him a second time. I'd better not make a habit out of it. Everyone looked relieved to see both of us back safely. Miss Black smiled at me, but it was more of an 'interesting…I wonder why you're not dead' smile than an 'I'm so glad you're okay' smile. It made me suspicious of her. Had she dropped Ronald in the wrong place on purpose in an attempt to separate us permanently? And she was the one who had neglected to tell us how to get back and left us trapped for bloodthirsty demons to find us.

After a talk we could go home. I would begin permanently working as a true grim reaper every day starting tomorrow.

"Jeez…" I complained as Grell helped me walk home. I stared at the huge pile of documents in my hands. "I'm supposed to sort through all of this by tomorrow?"

"Welcome to being a grim reaper, honey."

"Ehh… I guess it can't be so bad… See you tomorrow." I said as I closed the door. I limped up the stairs and put the pile of documents on my desk. I sat down and began leafing through all of them. A letter that was neatly folded into three pieces fell out of the pile on the floor. I cursed and with difficulty picked it up from the ground. I unfolded it. I read it once, twice and then three times. I still couldn't make sense of it. I walked down the stairs.

"Grell!" I called through the window. He walked into his kitchen. I held out the letter for him to see. "What is this?"

He took it and read it over.

"Oh, this is a social gathering for grim reapers and shinigami. Remember I invited you to go with me that one year?"

"Oh yeah… and I said no every year, right?"

"I don't understand why you hate balls so much." Grell said before adjusting his glasses and reading further. "It's next week at the Valleycastle road in the green city at ten."

"Throw it in the garbage." I said. "I'm not going."

"Uh, uh, uh!" Grell said, wagging a finger at me and holding the invitation away from me before I could snatch it and rip it in half. "You're not getting away from this one so easily. Because you're a grim reaper now, you have to go. You wouldn't want to look bad in front of everyone else, right?"

"Tch…" I looked away. I desperately tried to find an excuse. Any excuse that would allow me not to go. "I don't have any dresses." I said.

"We'll go buy you one before then."

"I don't know how to dance…" I tried again. This was a lie, I did know how to dance, but I'd never danced before. I remembered my mom had taught me. Grell must have thought that I forgot.

"I'll teach you. It's not so hard."

"I don't have anyone to go with…"

"I'll be your escort"

"Crap… there really is no way out of this, is there?"

"Nope!" Grell smiled as he put the invitation out of sight. "Maybe you'll meet your perfect man there. You can't turn down a glorious opportunity like this?"

An opportunity to look like an idiot in a dress especially in front of William? I had a thing against dresses and skirts in general. The frillier and more expensive looking, the worse. Dresses and skirts weren't comfortable. I hated wearing them. I couldn't run in them. My mom had tried to force me into a dress when I was five. Let me tell you now, it ended with me grounded for a month. At least I didn't have to wear the dress.

I had never voluntarily worn any dress in my life. Gosh, this was going to be such a change. Sadly, it wouldn't be a good change. I'd feel like a laughing stock even if every other woman was wearing a dress.

"Well, you have something to look forwards to now!"

I groaned. More like not look forwards to…