Chapter Text
Mori pants as she dashes forward, the ever present black smoke proving her title as reaper following her every step of the way.
This damn bird..
She was the acting Grim Reaper, on duty. Death-sensei's vacation days had been starting to pile up as of late, so Mori really had no choice but to take it upon herself to do the work.
For the most part, it was easy. She was quickly able to get caught up on almost all the reaping that had gotten piled up in her superior's inbox. It didn't take much but the swaying of her giant scythe to claim the souls of the passed. Human souls are incredibly easy to harvest.
Of course, most of the souls she had collected were those of humans. There's just an insane amount of those compared to supernatural beings. Thus, why her job was actually far from being done. There weren't many out there to be fair, but immortal souls proved to be an issue.
And of them all, a simple bird was the most troublesome.
Her name was Takanashi Kiara. To be specific, she was a phoenix. Phoenixes are defined as legendary mythological creatures who can rise from their very own ashes, and thus have the ability to revive themselves forever.
By their first meeting, Mori had done enough research to grasp the idea of what she'd be facing. They can die, but their ressurection is limitless. Which pretty much left the reaper powerless. That was like, her one thing she can do.
Well, that wasn't entirely true. She had other powers, of course, but nothing that would really do much against the phoenix.
They first met on a bridge. It was one of those huge big city ones. Usually filled with cars, but at that time of night the motor traffic was scarce to say the least. The phoenix was sitting on the very edge of the railing, dangling her toes far above the vast body of water.
What the hell is this chick doing!?
It looked sort of like one of those suicide scenes in movies. Though the reaper knew it couldn't be more of an opposite. She positioned herself atop one of the bridge's suspension poles– which she found kind of ironic considering she wasn't the bird here, but casted away such a lame dad joke before it became more than a fleeting thought.
Like an assassin, the reaper launched herself downwards, the momentum of gravity only strengthening the force of her power– of her scythe.
*SLASH*
*THUD*
Silence. The spot she had spotted the bird before was now empty. Just as she was beginning to wonder if reaping actually did work on immortal beings however, there was a low sizzling. Followed by a large *POP* and a high pitched chuckle.
“Ta-da~!” Once the smoke and flames cleared, Mori could now see her.
Takanashi Kiara, the legendary phoenix.
She didn't know if she should be applauding the performance or annoyed at her survival, so she just sat there staring. The girl was so… bright. Not just her flames. She seemed so upbeat considering she was just killed two seconds ago.
“Hey, you're not the usual guy! Takanashi Kiara, the pleasure's mine!”
What the hell is up with this chick?!?
“Uh yeah, no. I'm Mori, filling in for Death-sensei during his vacation.”
“Ahhh, I see I see! Memento Mori, huh..” Kiara seemed interested by the name.
“That saying doesn't work if you can't die, yknow.” Mori retorted.
“No, no, not about that. I mean I've heard of you, with that name. The Grim Reaper’s first apprentice, Mori Calliope.” She practical had stars in her eyes.
“You a fan or something?”
“..."
“...”
Kiara burst out laughing, “That's your reaction to that!? You really are something else, Calli!”
“Calli?”
“Yeah. Like as in Calliope. It's a nickname, see?”
“I got that part. I was just confused why you're saying my name so casually when I just tried to kill you a few minutes ago.”
Kiara nodded in understanding, “Ah, that. I mean, I'm sure you know I'm a phoenix by now, yeah? I can't di–”
Mori tested out a quick slash with her scythe. Before Kiara's ashes could even reach the ground, she was already all fired up and risen from those very ashes.
“You're fast.”
“Your scythe is just as quick, no?”
Mori grinned, accepting the challenge offered to her.
“Touché, kusotori."