Chapter 22: discussion

Winter turned into spring and before I knew it, it was April. My birthday was coming up soon, something I was looking forwards to. Time flew faster than I could blink. After all, it does fly when you're having fun. And I was having the time of my life. It had been a year and a half since I first walked through the doors of the Shinigami School, and eight months since William and I started dating.

Currently, everyone in the management team including myself sat in the conference room in the library. Recently, there had been an outbreak of demon activity near the borders of the shinigami world. We were starting to worry that the protective barriers might not hold. We could deal with the shadow demons; I had proved that myself when I fought an army of them singlehandedly and won. What worried us was their numbers, and if there were greater demons in that army. It took at least one grim reaper to get rid of one greater demon. Without a death scythe, grim reapers basically stood no chance against a greater demon. We were debating on how to act.

"I say send a team of grim reapers out the barriers to get rid of all the demons."

"You can't be serious. We'll need at least three times as many shinigami as we have at the moment to fight those things."

"Leah's right. If we leave the world to fight, the rest of the shinigami realm will be left unguarded. Who knows what they want from us?"

"Perhaps it's not just the demons." William said. "Someone might be controlling them. Many demons are too bloodthirsty and useless to make plans of their own and arrange themselves as they've done here."

"That's a thought" Cheryl agreed. "But who would it be? The demon king?"

"No. We've worked in cooperation with Hell for a very long time now. The demon king and demon queen have our trust. They are… more or less civilized… unlike the rest of their kind. I'm positive they wouldn't allow this."

"You're saying it's another grim reaper?" I asked.

"Chances are that's the case."

"So what next? Do we interrogate every grim reaper? It could be any one of us!" Cheryl said. I looked at her, my eyes narrowing. Yes. It could be any one of us. Including you, Cheryl Black. I sat back and thought for a minute.

"That isn't important at the moment. Our most imminent threat is the demon army waiting for us. The best we can do at the moment is to strengthen the enchantments around our world, and perhaps lay a few spell traps." I said. Cheryl's cell phone rang.

"Hello?" Her face fell slightly, and with every passing second got even sadder.

"I understand. Thank you." Her voice was wobbly as she hung up. She addressed everyone. "I'm very sorry, everyone. I'll have to leave the managerial class. I'm retiring from my position as a grim reaper. Very urgent family problems…"

She picked up her bag and ran out of the room.

There was a little bit of talk, but in the end, we resumed to our conversation. We decided to go along with my idea for now. After all, there was little we could do. We would contact the demon king and demon queen and let them know what was going on.

William and I walked out of the grim reaper library.

"What's on your mind?" He asked.

"It was kind of sudden how Cheryl just ran out on us like that. Family problems… I guess I understand, but…"

"You never liked her, did you?"

"No." I admitted. "Something was always odd to me about her. There are just small things, very little details that I've been noticing, and I don't like them one bit."

"Are you talking about your final exam?"

"That and other situations like it."

"We'll talk about it tomorrow. In the meantime, would you care to be ready at seven?"

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

"I told you I hate surprises"

"You only have a few hours to wait. I'm sure it won't be too much torture."

I sighed and said goodbye. At home, I told Grell about everything that happened, including the fact that Cheryl left.

"Family problems?" Grell wondered. "I didn't think she'd have a family. Probably a husband, lucky woman… perhaps a child or two…"

"Why did you say she has no family?"

"Well, her parents died several hundred years ago. She has no one left."

"Hmm…" I'd have to go look up whether or not she was married.

"Do you have a date with Will again today?"

"Yes I do."

"Ooh, how exciting. Have you kissed yet?"

"What? No! It's not like that yet."

"Come on, Lee-lee, you're such a prude. How long have you been dating now?"

"Eight months…"

"That's almost a whole year! Think about it. What do normal human couples do?"

"I wouldn't know, Grell. I have only ever seen, let alone talked to a human a few times in my entire life. I've got no intentions to start going into the human world more often than I have to."

"Fine, what about death god couples?"

"I dunno…"

"They hug, they kiss, they hold hands, sometimes more than that… how many times have you and Will done any of those things?"

"We hold hands… sometimes… we hug… sometimes..."

"My point exactly, darling! Your relationship is barely making any progress!"

"He's just as much of a prude as I am!"

"So what?"

"What's the point of this conversation?" I asked as I took my glasses off and put them in my pocket. I was trying not to blush. If William kissed me that would be so nice… but it was far too embarrassing to think about.

"Your relationship needs a bit more spice, that's all."

"Spice by whose definition?" I muttered. Knowing Grell, I wouldn't be ready for his 'spicy' standard for a couple hundred years. "Anyway, I've got to go get ready…"

"Just think about it. You'll be a lot happier."

"Uh huh…"