さらしあそび
The Hana to Yume
Tobina, Touya
A grim reaper decides to spend time with his next victim, Ren Ohba, for a few days before she is scheduled to die. Ren, the student council president at her school, speaks harshly to her subordinates for the sake of performing her job efficiently. The grim reaper, however, can read her mind and knows that, in her head, Ren secretly has many kind things to say. After a first encounter, he possesses Ren and forces her to vocalize her inner thoughts, so that others will know how much their student council president actually cares for them before it is too late. When she realizes that she is not in control of her own speech, he leaves her body and formally reintroduces himself. Since he has no name to go with his title, Ren calls him Ai. Ren threatens him with a weapon for violating her privacy, but rather than flinch away, Ai welcomes her to try killing him. He reveals that not only is his job boring, but it also reinforces his loneliness; after all, no one is happy to receive a visit from a grim reaper. Out of compassion, Ren promises to always stay by Ai's side and be the person he can talk to, though she does not understand that his presence means her death is imminent. [Written by MAL Rewrite] Includes the one-shot "0.3 Byou Lunch (0.3秒Lunch)" originally published on Dec 15, 2007.
