I took the hand of the man and he helped me got up from my position. I dusted off the back and front of my pants.
The man turned around and walked. He stopped for a bit and slightly rotated his neck just enough to look at me. "Please, follow me."
He continued to walk. I gulped. I was pretty nervous because I don't know what I'm getting myself into. I proceeded to follow him. We walked in a large hallway that has orange lighting.
The walls were even orange. There was no furniture, but the area has been decorated by poppies, growing in the ground for some reason. We reached the end of the hallway, where there is a door.
"I welcome you..." He proceeds to open the door. He got in. I followed. "To Hotel Asphodel!" He said it like some sort of showman.
I look around. This looks like the main lobby. The place is pleasingly aesthetic. The place was in every shade of purple. The floor is light purple with patterns that resemble flowers. The walls were plain purple, decorated with paintings and wall lights. In every path that leads to a hallway. there are white pillars on each side. There were no plants, but poppies and asphodels were growing on the ground in a couple of areas in the hotel. In the center, there is a curved couch and a couple of stools, and a coffee table in the middle of it. At the very end of the hotel is the reception area, and on the side of it are curved stairs.
From a distance, I heard a bell rang. The direction was coming from the reception hall. I look over there to see that it was the man who is calling me.
"Hey! Over hereee!" He yelled as his arm is extended in the air, waving for me. He seems cheerful that as he smiles, his eyes are closed.
I smiled awkwardly and scratched my head. When I first saw him, he was pretty intimidating and scary, and now, he seems pretty cheerful and possibly goofy. I began to walk towards his direction. I didn't even notice it, but there are tons of ghosts roaming around here. I expect them to be sad and miserable, but some of them are happy and enjoying. There are a couple of ghosts talking to each other and laughing. Ironic that the ghosts bring life to this place. Ghosts around me began to whisper to each other as they looked at me. They were probably shocked to see a human like me in this building.
I stopped in front of the reception area and the man was there, his elbow resting against the surface of the wooden reception desk, his cheek resting on his hand.
"Soooo, the place is pretty right?" He said playfully. Yeah, he's pretty different from what I imagined him to be.
"Yeah," I responded as I awkwardly smiled.
"Built this place myself. Well, not really. My four loyal shinigamis helped me make this place prettier."
Shinigamis?
I began to recall what I saw earlier. A yellow, corpse-like creature that stood outside the campus. Was he a shinigami?
"Shinigamis?" I asked.
"Yes, shinigami!" He got out of his position and stood straight, placing his hands on his hips. "You know them, right?"
"Of course! They are like the grim reapers of Japanese folklore, though they are not as intense as the grim reaper. They must ensure that the people who die in their appointed time are escorted to the afterlife."
"Hmmm, impressive." He said as he placed his index finger and thumb on his chin. "You're pretty smart."
I rubbed the back of my head. "Hehehehe, not really. I'm taking a course in Literature, and that's common knowledge for me now.
"Though, I think I saw a shinigami earlier while I was at the campus."
"Ahh, that must be Natsu!"
"Hmm, Natsu?"
"Don't worry, I just asked him to look for you. You'll meet him later."
"Eh? Why did you ask him to look for me?"
"Duh!" He goofily exclaimed. "Because of last night." Why would that one event make him look for me? Did I see something that I was not supposed to saw?
"Oh! Silly me, I haven't even introduced myself!"
He cleared his voice. "I'm Thanatos."
I knew it! He's Thanatos! But by the looks of it, he seems modernized. Last night, he was wearing an all-black suit. Now, he's wearing a gray buttoned-up vest and under it is a plain white long-sleeved polo with a matching gray tie.
"But please, don't mistake me for Thanatos, the Greek god of nonviolent death. I'm only similar to him."
Oh, I really thought that it was him. Everything that happened points toward it being him.
"Then why are you called Thanatos?"
"Well, it's kind of a long story....."