Chapter 9: Little Sparrow’s Malice & The Looming Storm

The soul of any creature is completely blank at the very beginning, only gradually aligning with the physical body in appearance and structure as the host body grows.

It is precisely because they are identical that the soul of the deceased can still retain memories and consciousness… If strictly speaking, perhaps this shouldn’t be called death?

It should probably be called living in a different form.

Even so, the attitude of the Underworld toward the souls of the deceased remains stern, forcefully harvesting and extraditing them without delay, ignoring their wishes to bleach them back to their original blank slate before casting them into reincarnation.

Is it because the Shinigami, or the management of the Underworld, are cold-blooded?

Perhaps there is a bit of that… but more importantly, there are necessary reasons for doing so.

Furthermore, if it truly were just living in a different form, what would be the necessity of a physical body, and why should life hold reverence for death?

Lamenting her partner’s naivety, Little Sparrow—who held a mindset that this had nothing to do with her—followed behind the boy, watching him talk with a face full of smiles to the invisible shadow about his experiences today.

[Poor child, although she is still your mother, she is no longer a living being.]

To prevent any unnecessary trouble, Fini maintained a considerable altitude to observe the target below.

Although the bone sparrow species had poor flying capabilities as birds, just gliding and hopping around at high places was still very easy.

You ask where that novice Shinigami next to her went?

That kid claimed he was hungry and that watching continuously was too boring, so he dumped the surveillance mission directly on her and disappeared into thin air.

Well, in this regard, he certainly had the demeanor of young people…

[Dump the trouble you brought upon yourself onto me to monitor… what an abstract kid…]

During the surveillance process, however, Little Sparrow noticed that the dark shadow behind the boy would look up from time to time… if that pitch-black mass could truly be called a head.

It seemed to be observing her?

Living creatures of the mortal realm generally could not see Underworld creatures like herself, but if it was just a soul, that would be a different story; it would be weirder if it couldn’t see her.

Therefore, Fini didn’t take it to heart, keeping such a distance partly out of fear that the other party might suddenly get triggered and attack her…

Because she was just a little bird, lacking any ability to fight back against attacks from evil spirits~

The seemingly warm scene below looked more like the calm before a storm in Little Sparrow’s eyes… lingering spirits could never possibly remain docile.

This cruel world had never lacked tragedies.

—Divider—

Under the surveillance of the human and the sparrow, the boy’s daily life remained shrouded in an atmosphere where people around him kept him at a respectful distance.

Today might be different, however, because the gazes of the surrounding people carried an extra degree of resentment compared to usual.

“What’s the situation, Little Fini? I just ran off to buy some food, what happened here? The atmosphere around that kid isn’t right?”

[So you actually know how to read the room?]

After being slightly surprised, facing her partner’s question, Fini merely shrugged her wings… It wasn’t that she didn’t know what had happened, but rather that language was barrier, making her unable to open her mouth to explain.

Soon enough, Di discovered a clue: two or three students seemed to have their hands constantly covering a piece of skin on their bodies, as if they were injured and covering their wounds?

“It couldn’t be that after being continuously ostracized and subjected to cold violence, the kid snapped and couldn’t help taking action under the provocation, right?”

[If it were really just that, it would be great, but unfortunately, it’s far worse than that~]

Little Sparrow felt like laughing; with her nasty personality, she couldn’t wait to see what kind of expression would appear on her naive partner’s face after he saw what had just occurred.

No, he would be able to see it in a moment…

[And this was created by your own neglect, so you can’t blame anyone else~]

What kind of emotion would you have, kid? Regret? Shock? Or anger? Hehehe, since becoming partners with this kid, this seemed to be the amusement she looked forward to the most?

“What’s wrong with you?”

Although one couldn’t read what expression could possibly be on a bone sparrow’s face, through their direct telepathic connection as partners, Di still sensed the emotional shift from the small figure beside him.

Furthermore, it was laced with malice? Malice directed at him?

If it were a normal person, having an existence beside them emanating malice toward them—especially one’s own work partner—the proper next step would be keeping a distance, to put it politely.

Unfortunately, Di was a quintessential problem youth; Little Sparrow’s move not only failed to arouse any feeling of alienation in him, but instead sparked his curiosity…

Di chose Fini as his partner precisely because of her uniqueness and his curiosity about her—a bone sparrow in the middle of a flock of spirit ravens was like a sika deer living among a pride of lions, who wouldn’t be curious?

Similarly, this was also the reason why Little Sparrow accepted Di as her partner; unlike others who came for her capability of guaranteed passing of the internship assessment, Di’s stupidity of coming purely out of curiosity about her made Little Sparrow feel there would be plenty of fun.

“So Little Fini, you just…”

Before the words could fully leave his mouth, Little Sparrow’s skeletal wing poked lightly at Di’s waist, and understanding immediately, he looked over at the situation inside the classroom over there.

At that very same moment, even across a great distance, Di could also feel the atmosphere inside that classroom… It should be said that the temperature had dropped by several degrees? Making people instinctively feel a chill in their hearts.

Two students sitting side-by-side were trembling, looking as though they were on the verge of tears, as if perceiving that something terrifying was nearby…

No, not just nearby? While everyone around had a frightened look, that terrified manner of theirs was far too prominent compared to the others.

“It’s like they’re certain they’ve been targeted…”

Di was puzzled, because he didn’t see anything abnormal inside the classroom.

Even across a considerable distance, he believed his eyes weren’t mistaken.

Even that spirit beside the boy hadn’t appeared in the classroom, had it?

On ordinary days, that black shadow seemed to reside inside the boy’s body, never coming out unless there was a specific situation.

Moreover, it was high noon right now, the time when suppression on mortal lingering spirits was strongest; as long as one’s mind was remotely normal… no, even relying purely on a spirit’s instinct, it wouldn’t pop out at a time like this to seek discomfort, right?

Yet even the teacher writing on the blackboard had a visibly trembling hand holding the chalk… It wasn’t strange for children to be scared due to keen perceptions, but for an adult to be unable to keep their composure, wasn’t that a bit much?

[So… even with things like this, you’re still not going over?]

The abnormal atmosphere was already visible to the naked eye; Little Sparrow glanced at Di beside her, finding that although the kid had a solemn face, he still looked like he had no intention of moving.

Just how did the Shinigami Academy teach their students these days… How could there be a graduate with such major issues?

Thus, Fini raised her small wing, and then with lightning speed, poked her skeletal wing into the soft flesh of the person beside her without hesitation…

[If you still don’t go! I won’t be able to clean up the mess for you when things blow up!]

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