"[cold]If you don't get a lover within 48 hours, you will die." 　The moment I heard those words, I genuinely thought I was going to die. Though honestly, my heart might stop before the Grim Reaper even got to me. 　Thursday night, just past 10 PM. 　Room 201 of Corpo Crescent Moon was quiet, as always. 　32 years old, 6 tatami mats, one kitchen. Rent: 38,000 yen a month. The walls were thin enough that I could hear my neighbor's alarm clock. A 12-minute walk from Minase Bunri University. 5 minutes to the nearest convenience store, "Daily Max." That was basically my entire world—Sakaki Rintarou's world. 　Black short hair, deep brown eyes, 175 centimeters. Average build. A casual hoodie and jeans that had basically become my uniform. Not many friends. Just classes and part-time work, day after day. 　That night, I was eating a convenience store bento, like always. 　Fried chicken bento, 498 yen. Microwaved. My phone sat on the table next to a textbook and some report materials I hadn't even opened. The fluorescent light flickered a little, but I'd been ignoring it for weeks. 　My phone buzzed. 　It was Sasaki. "You coming to a mixer tomorrow night?" 　Sasaki lived in room 102 on the first floor of the same apartment. Same year as me in the sociology department. Had three gaming consoles. Weirdly social for some reason. Honestly, he was the only person at university I could actually talk to. 　I stopped eating and stared at the screen. 　I started typing "maybe next time." My fingers froze there. 　——Maybe next time. 　How many times had I typed that? 　It's not like I hated him. I just wasn't good with crowds. Wasn't good talking to strangers. Especially girls—I had no idea what to even say to them. In high school, I liked someone once, but I couldn't even talk to her, let alone confess. Then we got separated in the class shuffle and that was that. 　Someone like me could never do romance, I muttered to myself. 　I closed the bento lid. My appetite was gone anyway. 　I typed "maybe next time" and hit send. 　Crack. 　The lights went out. 　Total darkness. 　"Huh?" I made a sound. Did the fluorescent finally die? But my phone screen was still on. Not a blackout then. 　I tried to stand up. 　The wall lit up. 　No—not lit up. Someone came through it. 　A person walked through the wall. "——!" 　I couldn't even scream. 　A woman came out of the wall. She was wearing something like a black robe. Her hair was jet-black, straight, long—with just one red streak running through it. About 165 centimeters tall. Her face was beautiful, like a model or actress. But her expression was completely blank. 　Completely gone. 　Her eyes were silver-gray, staring straight at me. No emotion in them at all. Like a doll. Like a mannequin. Not scary exactly, but something strange about those eyes. 　The woman pulled a small stopwatch from inside her robe. 　And she said it. "[cold]If you don't get a lover within 48 hours, you will die." 　I fell off the bed. Literally hit the floor. My back hurt. "[scared]W-what—what the hell!? Who are you!?" "I'm Kanon. Your assigned administrator." "[scared]A-administrator...?" 　The woman—Kanon—looked down at me sitting on the floor and continued flatly. "Lower-rank administrator, Veilside Management Bureau. Assigned to Minase City. I've been dispatched as your handler, Sakaki Rintarou." 　Veilside. Never heard of it. "[scared]...Is this cosplay? Some kind of shoot?" "No." "[scared]Then why did you come through the—" 　Kanon turned around and walked back toward the wall. 　She just... walked into it. Disappeared through it. 　A few seconds later, she came back. Walked through the wall again. "That's all." 　I just sat there with my mouth open for a while. 　The lights came back on. Like the blackout never happened, the room was bright again. 　Kanon stood in the middle of my room, fiddling with the stopwatch. "[serious]...Are you a Grim Reaper?" "Technically, I'm a Veilside administrator. But in human terms, 'Grim Reaper' is close enough." "[serious]I need you to explain why a Grim Reaper is in my room. Properly." 　Kanon paused for a moment. Then she started talking. "Humans generate energy called Emora through emotional stimulation." "Emora...?" "Emotional energy. It comes from all feelings—joy, anger, sorrow, happiness. However, Emora derived from romantic love is the most concentrated, with roughly 8 times the output of normal emotions." 　Kanon walked slowly toward me. 　She held her hand toward my chest. Not touching. Just pointing her fingers. 　I could see something faintly from her fingertips. 　Light? No, not light exactly... more like smoke. Nearly transparent. Colorless. It seemed to be drifting from my body. "This is your Emora. See how it's nearly colorless?" "[surprised]...It's coming from my body?" "Normal humans have color. People with active romantic lives glow red or orange. Your Emora is almost completely transparent right now." 　Somehow, that sounded sad. "There's a minimum threshold called the Lifeline. When Emora falls below it, lifespan decreases rapidly. You're currently well below that threshold. That's why the Countdown Protocol activated." "[serious]Countdown Protocol." "If your Emora doesn't recover within 48 hours, your lifespan will be collected." "[scared]...Collected means I die, right!?" "Yes." 　One word. Just one word. "Yes" and that was it. "[scared]Wait, hold on! 48 hours is too short!" "It's regulation." "[scared]I don't care about regulation! Why me!? I was just living normally!" "Because you were living normally. Specifically, your Emora generation in romantic contexts has been near zero for an extended period. This level of emotional depletion occurs only dozens of times per year globally." 　Apparently I was rare on a worldwide scale for being this bad at romance. That kind of hurt. 　But I didn't have time to feel sorry for myself. "[serious]So if I get a lover, that's it? I won't die?" "If the romantic feelings are genuine, your Emora will recover. Once it exceeds the Lifeline, collection will be suspended." "[serious]...In 48 hours." "In 48 hours." 　I held my head in my hands for a while. 　Twenty years of not being able to genuinely like anyone, and now I had to get a lover in 48 hours. 　Impossible. Absolutely impossible. But dying was worse. 　Before I knew it, I was running. Down the stairs, pounding on room 102's door. Actually, I was banging on it. 　The door opened. 　Sasaki was in pajamas, holding a bag of potato chips. Not very tall, round face, always had that goofy expression. "[surprised]Rintarou? What's up, man? It's late." "[scared]Please." "Huh?" 　I dropped to my knees right there in the doorway. 　I prostrated myself. "[scared]Set up a mixer for tomorrow. Please." 　Silence. 　A long silence. Then Sasaki spoke. "[laughing]...Dude, this is the first time I've ever heard you ask to talk to girls." "[scared]This isn't funny! Please! I'm serious!" "[laughing]Alright, alright, get up. I was actually about to call some girls from my circle anyway. Some Minase Bunri students should be free tomorrow night." "[scared]Really?" "[laughing]If you're gonna prostrate yourself, I'll do anything. How about Bellgreen? The family restaurant south of the station?" "[scared]Anywhere's fine! Thank you!" "[laughing]But seriously, this is sudden. Something happen?" "[serious]...Just some stuff. I'll explain later." 　Sasaki tilted his head but didn't push further. "Got it. I'll set it up for 7 PM." "[serious]Thanks. Really." 　On my way back upstairs, I stopped halfway to catch my breath. 　Through the small window at the end of the hallway, I could see Minase City at night. The lights near the station glowed faintly. A quiet regional city of 180,000 people. I never thought a Grim Reaper would show up here. 　I opened the door to room 201. 　Kanon was there. 　Sitting seiza in the corner by the wall. Posture perfectly straight, hands resting on her knees. Those silver-gray eyes looked at me. 　A stopwatch in her hands. 　Red numbers glowing. 　47:58:03. "[surprised]You're staying!?" "Continuous 24-hour monitoring of the target's Emora is regulation." "[serious]...More Veilside regulation?" "Yes." 　I sighed. Long day. And it wasn't over yet. 　I collapsed onto the bed, burying my face in the pillow. 　Sleeping while a Grim Reaper watches you. Impossible. 　But when I closed my eyes, exhaustion caught up with me. My consciousness started to fade. 　Kanon didn't move. Made no sound. Just... there. 　The red numbers on the stopwatch ticked quietly downward. 　Kanon observed Rintarou's body while maintaining her seiza position. 　Lifesite—an ability all Grim Reapers possessed from birth. The ability to perceive a target's remaining lifespan and internal Emora. To Kanon, Rintarou's body appeared as a translucent silhouette. 　His Emora was nearly transparent. 　Colorless. Without radiance. She'd never seen someone this depleted before. Normally, even the minimum showed at least a faint yellow or orange, but Rintarou's was like a thin film of water—about to vanish. 　（Emotional depletion. Standard procedure.） 　Kanon had no emotions. That was a requirement for administrators. Veilside Management Code, Article 7: Emotional interference with assigned humans is prohibited. Violation results in "emotional contamination" classification, memory erasure, and confinement. 　No emotions. Just duty. 　Kanon narrowed her gaze. 　She looked deeper into the Emora. Beyond the thin transparent membrane. 　——For just a moment. 　Something flashed. 　Not transparent. Colored light. Close to white, but not white. A color she'd never seen before. It flickered for just an instant, then vanished. 　Kanon's eyebrows drew together slightly. 　She looked again. Nothing. The light was gone. What was that? 　It didn't match any standard anomaly readings. The Emora depletion was confirmed. The procedure remained unchanged. 　But. 　（What was that light?） 　Kanon said nothing. She checked the stopwatch. 　47:51:44. 　Rintarou was asleep, face buried in his pillow. His breathing was steady and even. He was exhausted. 　Kanon maintained her seiza, watching his sleeping face. 　——Just an assignment target. Nothing more. 　The red numbers ticked quietly downward.