Under a crimson canopy of sky, a white luxury yacht sped forward through the spray. Upon the vessel, the black-haired, red-eyed girl, Enma Ai, sat perfectly upright. Though her face maintained its usual stoic expression, the emotions churning within her were the most intense she had felt since being buried alive by her fellow villagers centuries ago. The cause was the girl sitting before her, sipping cola from a goblet.
Faced with this heavenly girl, Enma Ai’s heart was in turmoil beneath her calm exterior. Within the past few hours, the three-eyed spider she could never defy had been easily captured, and the shackles that had bound her for years were shattered. The manifestation of deities and the Underworld, along with the concentration of such monumental events, had left her in a daze for quite some time. Hearing Miketsu’s inquiry now, a trace of confusion flickered across her features.
"I... I do not know what my plans are. I have never done anything other than being the Hell Girl..." Enma Ai spoke slowly. Immediately after her death, she had been forced by the three-eyed spider to become the Hell Girl, a role she had filled for several hundred years. Now that she was suddenly unemployed, she felt adrift. Although she had never enjoyed the work, its absence left her momentarily lost.
"You don't know your future direction? That is indeed a problem," Miketsu said, taking a sip of her cola. After a moment of thought, she continued, "If you have no lingering attachments, you could choose to undergo reincarnation. Let this life become the past and start anew. I could ensure you are reborn into a sufficiently favorable environment."
Miketsu offered the suggestion sincerely. In her view, Enma Ai’s life had been tragic, followed by an agonizingly long period of forced labor after death. It seemed better to simply reincarnate and start over. Enma Ai paused, pondering for a long while before speaking again.
"A new life... it is tempting. However, I cannot bear to leave Wanyudo, Hone Onna, and the others," she said with a faint, soft smile.
"Attachments formed after death? Heh... it seems you have a good relationship with those yokai followers of yours. In that case, I shall recommend a job suited for you. Of course, whether you accept it or not is entirely up to you."
"A job... suited for me?" Enma Ai tilted her head curiously at Miketsu’s words.
Meanwhile, in the human realm, it was night.
Thick black clouds obscured the moon, and a cold, lingering rain fell, pattering against the ground. The neon lights of the streets reflected in the misty air as muffled thunder rolled across the heavens, lightning snaking through the dark clouds. On the streets of Tokyo, people hurried along with umbrellas, stepping across the sodden pavement.
By a riverbank, a young man named Matsugami, dressed in casual clothes and possessing handsome features, walked slowly along the water under his umbrella. A conspicuous smile played on his lips; he seemed to be in an exceptionally good mood. The thought that another person in this world now shared his fate—destined to inevitably fall into Hell in the future—filled him with immense pleasure. Recalling Eguchi's expression of utter despair and agony from earlier that day, a sense of unspeakable satisfaction flooded his heart.
"Heh, it really does feel good to have someone accompanying me to Hell. I should work faster to gather more companions. Now, who should be the next target?" Matsugami whispered with a light chuckle. Just as he was considering how to entice his next victim into using the Hell Correspondence, something caught his eye.
Not far ahead, beneath a roadside tree, a gray stray cat was taking shelter from the rain. The moment he saw the cat, Matsugami’s expression softened. He pulled two biscuits from his bag, crushed them into crumbs in his palm, and then knelt down, extending his hand.
"Come here, little one."
He spoke with a gentle smile. The small gray cat stood up from beneath the tree and slowly, step by step, approached him. It began to lick the biscuit crumbs from his hand. Seeing this, Matsugami continued to speak in a warm tone.
"Poor thing. You must be cold and hungry staying out here. Come... eat more."
His gentle demeanor caused the kitten to lower its guard, focusing entirely on the crumbs in his hand. At that moment, Matsugami’s eyes narrowed. His soft voice grew cold and then vanished instantly.
"Meow!?" With a startled shriek, the gray kitten was snatched up by Matsugami as his expression turned vicious. He gripped the cat and threw it with all his might toward the middle of the busy road. Mid-scream, the cat landed among the rushing traffic. A car immediately bore down on it, but the cat reacted with incredible speed, leaping and dodging. Surpassing its natural limits, it evaded several sets of tires and successfully jumped to the other side of the road, quickly vanishing into the crowd.
After a moment of annoyance at its escape, Matsugami raised his umbrella and continued forward. Right then, the sky suddenly flashed brilliant white. A bolt of pale lightning, like a jagged claw, tore down from the heavens and completely engulfed him.
Boom! With a thunderous explosion, only the skeleton of Matsugami’s umbrella remained. His entire body was charred black, and the scent of roasted meat wafted through the air. Amidst the screams of bystanders, the blackened, stunned Matsugami lost his balance. He tumbled over the railing and plummeted into the freezing river.
At the Tribunal of Right and Wrong—a judicial institution established by the Underworld to judge souls brought from the human realm—the highest presiding official of each court was a Yama. Deep within the Kano-yo, inside a towering structure, lay a vast and open hall. Massive stone pillars supported a high ceiling, and between them was a floor paved with freezing giant stones. Burly ghost soldiers clad in armor stood in ranks on either side of the hall, while rows of ethereal blue ghost fires hung neatly in mid-air, illuminating the entire space.
At the end of the hall stood a massive judgment platform nearly ten meters high. This elevated platform descended in steps from the sides toward the center. Flanking the highest central seat were numerous side seats, occupied by judges in long robes with ghostly clerks standing behind them.
At this moment, the tribunal was on the verge of opening its session. Once it began, the judges here would process the souls waiting in line like an assembly line. For now, the proceedings had yet to start. The ghost soldiers and judges waited in silence because the central seat at the very top of the judgment platform remained empty.
During this wait, two ghostly clerks standing in a far corner began to whisper to one another.
"Hey, hasn't the new Lady Yama arrived yet?" a ghostly clerk who looked like a young man asked curiously, peering toward the open entrance of the tribunal. Beside him, a middle-aged ghostly clerk shot him a glare and replied bluntly.
"What's the rush? It's not time for the session to start yet. Are you that eager to start working early?"
"I just want to see what this new Lady Yama looks like. I heard she’s quite mysterious, and no one has..."
"She’s here!"
Just as the two clerks were talking, heavy footsteps suddenly echoed from outside the door. Upon hearing the sound, the ghosts immediately stood at attention, silenced, and turned their gaze toward the entrance.
There, a squad of even more towering ghost soldiers marched across the threshold. Escorted by these guards, a girl with black hair and red eyes, dressed in a black kariginu robe and wearing a heavy crown—the new Yama—stepped into the Tribunal of Right and Wrong.
Rate on N.U.
