"We live in the era of this world where technology runs rampant, tall building and cemented roads covered the areas the was once a lush of green grass and tall trees. But still, there are those "remnants" of the past that are still lurking beyond the darkness and corners of every lively cities, away from the reach of human beings."
[SHIBUYA STATION, TOKYO, JAPAN, 12 A.M]
"The cold chant of wind blows alongside the light of the full moon."
"People's noise act as a hymn to complete the rhythm of my song"
"Yet one judged your blasphemy against my divine harp"
"So I will grant you a fitting punishment -- an endless nap"
"Hymn of the silent night"
A little boy who dressed to be a musician sitting on the bench of the station begins to play his harp, a solemn yet elegant music echoed throughout the station, until I felt this feeling I am most familiar with -- the sensation of Death.
Out of nowhere, white smokes suddenly appeared, and people who touched it suddenly falls asleep. They panicked, because they don't probably have an idea on what's happening. As for the boy, I knew it, he's a spirit, and people's noise here probably disturbed him.
I act as if I don't see him and approach his back, and I quickly draw my knife and stabbed him on the neck. His body dissipates without a trace, leaving the harp that he played. Those people who collapsed, they are probably cursed, so I don't have a choice but to break the harp that causing it.
The harp that he played, is called a spirit manifestation. It is something that the spirits used to manifest their power, and humans can see it once they lost physical contact on the spirits. Without manifestations, they are just a regular spirits, which are called spectres, they are usually harmless and I just leave them alone. Spirit curse are the effects of using manifestation's power, and it can be reversed if I destroyed the manifestation.
Though it is such a shame to break it, I can sell it on high price after all. I run a small business of mine and I open it every night wherever I want, and sell these manifestations I acquire. My customers are both spirits and humans, and the price is anyone, even the homeless can afford…. their very own life force.
I am an ancient spirit, and I existed alongside the creation of the world. Spirits aren't immortal, and I supposed to be died a long time ago. But I discovered that if I devour the life force of other living things, my life will be prolonged. Of course I didn't killed any people, that will make me a demon. Spirits who constantly kill humans will be transformed into evil spirits and soon will turn into demons.
As soon as I felt that the end of my life is nearly approaching, I decided to start this business of mine, about 500 years ago. I hunt many evil spirits and demons, then get their manifestation, and sell it on humans and spectres.
Of course I really tell them the price of these manifestations I sell, some of them are such cowards that many of them started running as soon as they heared what the price is. But there are some, especially humans, whose greed is indeed remarkable that they would even sell their soul in exchange for power.
But yes, every business has its flaws. I soon realized that not all customers who get the manifestations used it right. Some humans abused its powers and started to hurt others, and some spirits who used it raised violence to other spirits and humans. Well of course I killed them and recollected my products, and yes, even my human customers, I end their lives.. They're not considered humans if they touched a manifestation so I won't turn into demon. It's pretty convenient because I can bring back the things I sold and absorb the life force of these foolish customers of mine for free.
I devoured human's life force enough to finally have my own physical body. But I realized that fewer people come outside at night. It is because about the rumors and legends about me entitled "The shop of a reaper that appears in the night" I really did a great job making a folklore.
Yet many years have passed, and Science and technology dominated the old customs and traditions. Many people already forgotten about me. For them, I'm just a fictional story that was only made to serve as a thing to scare the kids.
Well at least, I can continue to have human customers once again. Their life force are more potent than spirits and spectres after all. But now, I grew attached to humans, to the point that I even avoided transacting with them. I only appear in front of humans that I considered "demons" and sell them my products. I will just kill them if they did something stupid.
I used different tactics and techniques to adapt in the society. I even learned some skills that are commonly used by humans, like cleaning, laundry and some forms of entertainment like anime, Manga and games. And now, I even go to school. My appearance is like a normal guy in his teens so this won't be a problem.
I also decided to exchange my product for money… I realized its importance in this era. There's no forest in the cities so I can't have my own food for free. I also decided to rent an apartment near my school in Yokohama. I chose to stay in Tokyo because there are so much people here so I won't run out of potential customers. The apartment on where I stay is not that big, but at least I can live there comfortably. The apartment building where I live consists of 4 floors with 4 rooms each. My room is situated on the upper floor, because from there, you can see the beautiful view of Yokohama. Neighbors here are pretty nice. They gave me food sometimes because I can't cook.
Yes, I'm enjoying my life now, masking my real self as a human. Yet I didn't forget what my goal is even a second -- to live as long as I can.
Why do I want to live? What is my purpose in life? What is my goal?
I live for my promise and for my very own desire… to wait for the rebirth of my "Queen". As long as my mission won't be fulfilled, I cannot die no matter what.