Another exhausting day for the Shinigami William T. Spears had come to an end. Harvesting souls was never an easy task, and it was made all the more difficult when done alone, without any assistance.

Eventually, William returned to the shared room he and Grell Sutcliff called home. Grell, his colleague and fellow Grim Reaper, was often the source of William’s migraines—her loud, flamboyant personality making things far more chaotic than they needed to be.

It struck William as unusual that Grell hadn’t jumped on him the moment he entered the house, but he quickly dismissed the thought, continuing with his usual nighttime routine.

When he entered their bedroom, William found Grell lying in bed, her cheeks flushed, eyes closed, and most of her body covered by the bedsheets. She looked unwell—sick, in fact.

"Sutcliff?" he called out.