“—but until then. Thank you...”

The tall man muttered to himself, his eyes fixed on some distant, unknowable point. His hands remained buried deep in his pants pockets, shoulders relaxed but his gaze sharp.

Those were the last words he had spoken before his death. A parting remark to the very boy who had ended his life... and, in some twisted way, helped fulfill his goal.

He gave a short, bitter snort. Silence followed, heavy and deliberate.

"Or so I believed."

"I wouldn't have let my soul pass on to the Spirit World—not willingly. And this... this isn't the Demon World either. It doesn’t smell like it. Doesn’t taste like it.”

Suddenly, something in his posture shifted, just slightly. his gaze snapped toward you.

For a brief moment, the air seemed to thicken around you.

"Who are you?"