“Ai Natsuki, as a punishment for stepping on the head of the King of the Underworld, you have fallen into the underworld. You may now explain your sins from the mortal world.”

The King of the Underworld, seated with the aurora at his back, spoke.

──Ai Natsuki, aged sixteen. Her death was far too early.

“I… I died? This must be a lie…”

With this, everything ended, and Natsuki collapsed in the underworld court.

(Had I finished paying this month’s debts? I haven’t delivered the ghost’s letter yet… I was supposed to go to the harem to meet with my older sister… No…)

──There’s no need to think about those plans anymore.

After seeing the scene of the underworld, Natsuki easily accepted the reality that she was in the land of the dead. However, upon hearing that she had died, her mind went blank.

She hadn’t planned to die yet. She was in good health, and she had believed that her everyday life would continue on the next day, which is why she had been worrying about how to live.

Natsuki simply stared blankly at the god trying to take her life.

The King of the Underworld wore a crown adorned with stars and a golden coronet, with a hairpin shaking slightly. His long white robes shimmered. From his long, glossy black hair gathered at the top of his head, it was clear that it reached his back. His shoulder armor, made of deep indigo with golden filigree, shimmered under his white drapery, and five-colored tassels dangled from his belt. At a glance, his luxurious appearance overwhelmed anyone.

It might be disrespectful to the god, but Natsuki thought he looked like the embodiment of a magpie. Even in the cold where frost fell and the river froze, a magpie would quietly stand still, as if blending into the frozen air. His presence had the solemn beauty of nature itself.

The King of the Underworld held in his right hand a record book, which seemed to list the fate of all humans. Occasionally, he flipped through its pages, his gaze dropping down to the entries.

“Even if you ask me to explain my sins… stepping on the King of the Underworld’s head, isn’t there some kind of mistake?”

Natsuki’s trembling voice tried to plead her innocence, but then, a memory resurfaced.

(No, could it be… when I tripped over the threshold…)

She felt like she had bumped into someone, but she was sure she had tripped. It is an ancient saying that if you fall in an empty space, it means you stepped on a god’s head. The god worshipped at the Tai Miao shrine was the King of the Underworld. It seemed that by tripping there, it was said that she had stepped on his head.

“Sins are sins. The punishment is for me to decide. You were just a waste of space, opening a letter writing shop in a corner of the city. You lived in vain, so now go to hell and serve your punishment.”

“Living in vain…?”

(This god is so arrogant and self-centered…)

Filled with anger, Natsuki lost her words. No matter how much of a god he was, such a manner of speaking seemed too much.

“Please wait… my letter-writing shop was a proper business… ah!”

As she protested, a ghost behind her shoved Natsuki, causing her to tumble onto the white sand.

“I was first! There’s no sin in my actions. I’m going to become an official serving the City God!”

“Mercy… King of the Underworld, mercy. What’s wrong with being a thief… It’s the one who created a country where we can’t eat that’s to blame…”

No matter how much Natsuki tried to say something, other ghosts kept interrupting her.

(Why are so many ghosts gathered here?)

She glanced at the officials, who were piling up bamboo slips on one side. The ghosts were appealing one after another to have their sins lessened, and the officials were writing down their statements on the slips, stacking them on the table. Yet, the number of deceased in the court wasn’t decreasing. It seemed that the King of the Underworld hadn’t yet made progress in writing down the final judgments in the record book.

Natsuki, too, had been scolded for neglecting her own writing, but it was clear that the King of the Underworld had been letting the work pile up. Though he remained calm, Natsuki couldn’t ignore it.

“Excuse me, King of the Underworld. It seems the transcription of your bamboo slips has not progressed… If you require someone to write, Ai Natsuki can assist. As you know, I run a letter-writing shop, and I believe I could be of help to you.”

With hands respectfully clasped together, Natsuki made her offer.