After retirement I became a guardian of troubled youth

It was a slender, well-knit hand wrapped in a pure black glove.

"Ah-"

A clear purple flame leaped from the tip of the index finger of that hand, devouring the note floating above it.

The flames vanished, and ashes drifted into the darkness.

[Ding dong~ The task has been entered successfully. ]

"Edogawa Ranpo..."

The owner of the hand pronounced the name with a sigh.

The sound of "da da da" footsteps echoed in the space, gradually drifting away.

……

Straight-falling black hair, deep and indifferent black eyes, most of her face covered by the collar of the windbreaker, her straight legs wrapped in pure black fabric, and her black leather boots slightly raised.

This young man from head to toe is called Ueno Hikaru.

is a grim reaper.

He was sitting in a speeding car at this time, with his legs dangling and his chin resting on his side, staring curiously at him and looking at his task object this time.

A boy of 11 or 2 years old.

It's called Edogawa Ranpo.

Ueno's mission this time is to harvest Edogawa Ranpo's soul back to the Underworld after his death.

The boy would die in a car accident shortly thereafter along with his parents.

Hikaru Ueno is here waiting for that moment to come.

But now, things are going a bit wrong.

Because this boy named Edogawa Ranpo has been staring at him since he appeared.

And now she is reaching out and poking at him, as if testing whether he is a living thing.

Then after a few fruitless pokes, he rolled over and tried to unzip his windbreaker and poke him in the face.

Hikaru Ueno: "..."

A certain kid was probably full of curiosity about this "new thing" about him, so he treated him as a doll, and wanted to try to see where he could poke it to trigger special action effects.

But Mr. Death never responded to him.

As a result, the children became even more aggressive.

Hikaru Ueno silently looked away from the window and focused on the boy.

Edogawa Ranpo, who was almost sticking to his body, blinked, one hand had already touched his neckline, and he didn't feel that there was anything wrong with his behavior.

Hikaru Ueno grabbed his restless hand and pushed him back into the seat.

"Hello." A few seconds later, a restless kid came over again and tried to talk to him.

Hikaru Ueno: "..."

Mr. Reaper, who fears all the dead and living things in the underworld and avoids them like snakes and scorpions, is very distressed now.

He has been in the industry for a hundred years and has never encountered such a situation.

Mister Death has never encountered such an irrational and daring spirit.

After the child knew that he was the god of death, not only was he not afraid, but he even leaned over again and again, trying to pull his clothes off to see his face.

When Edogawa Ranpo tried to pull his clothes again, Ueno Hikaru finally couldn't help but said again: "Don't make trouble."

The child paused, looked regretfully at the half of his face that was exposed outside, and sat back with a muffled "Oh", the toes of his little leather shoes knocked against the back of the front seat.

His parents sitting in the front seat couldn't perceive Hikari Ueno's presence, so in the eyes of those two people, the scene should be that their child has been doing some inexplicable behavior.

Judging by what Hikari Ueno had encountered, the parents should have been surprised by their child's behavior, and then questioned and stopped him.

But I don't know why, this family is very unconventional.

Edogawa Ranpo's parents were sweet and sweet in front while driving, completely ignoring the children behind.

Hikari Ueno was confused.

Besides, this kid named Edogawa Ranpo shouldn't have seen him.

If he hadn't shown up on purpose, no one else would be able to see him except for the creatures in the pure soul state.

But not long ago, he had only been here for five seconds.

The child who had been lying by the window looking out suddenly sat up straight, kicked his calf lightly, and asked, "Who are you?"

Hikaru Ueno's eyes, which had been half closed, widened a little in surprise.

He glanced at the boy.

"grim Reaper."

The boy touched his chin: "Oh."

After a while, he lightly kicked Yeguang's calf again, and asked, "Are you here to take me away?"

Hikaru Ueno nodded and moved to the side.

After a while, the child stopped kicking him and poked his waist with his fingertips instead.

He asked persistently, "Did you find the wrong person?"

Hikaru Ueno's body tensed instantly, and he gave him a warning look.

Normally, such a gaze, coupled with the cold aura around him, is enough to scare a child into tears.

But Ranpo Edogawa even laughed.

"Are you ticklish?"

He asked in a low voice, rubbed his hands to this side, and stretched out his hand to poke Ye Guang again.

Hikaru Ueno didn't make a sound, and blocked the child's restless fingers halfway.

The child pressed his fingertips against his palm and pushed forward.

Hikaru Ueno: "..."

He said bluntly: "There will be no mistakes." This was in response to his question about Hikari Ueno.

Edogawa twitched his lips: "But when I celebrated my birthday last year, I blew out the candle once."

Hikaru Ueno: "..."

He didn't understand at all what blowing out the candle had to do with dying.

"That's no use."

Edogawa Ranpo puffed up his cheeks and repeated: "The candle blew out in one go!"

Hikaru Ueno: "...?"

"My wish will come true."

"...that's not in my business."

The child poked him again angrily.

Ueno Hikaru: "...don't make trouble."

His tone was a little more aggressive than before.

Edogawa Ranpo seemed to be frightened by him, shrank back a bit, sat back and remained silent.

Then after a while, he started poking around again—just like he started.

A couple of pokes here and a couple of pokes there.

Then after Hikaru Ueno's second "don't make trouble", he settled down for a short period of time.

After this short period of time, a child who was restless turned over and found a bag of chocolates from behind.

He looked at the chocolate and at Hikari Ueno.

Look at the chocolate again, and look at Hikari Ueno.

Then continue to look at the chocolate and take a look at Ueno Hikari.

After the fourth time, the child seemed to have finally made up his mind, broke off a small piece with a heartbroken face, and handed it to Ueno Hikaru.

"Are you going to eat?"

Hikaru Ueno hid back for a while, glanced at the chocolate, and didn't make a sound.

The scenery outside the car window keeps receding, and the time is getting closer and closer to the death time announced by "Eye of the Underworld".

The Eye of the Underworld is a place where tasks are assigned to all gods of death. It is located in the center of the Underworld, and it looks like a fountain.

Edogawa Ranpo asked: "Aren't you going to eat?"

The small black thing flickered before his eyes.

Child temptation: "This is called chocolate, it's delicious."

Hikaru Ueno avoided his eyes and pursed his lips: "...I know."

Life in the Underworld is still very rich, and there are also delicious and fun things in the world.

Although Ueno Hikaru, who lived in a cave and devoted himself to making villains out of various materials, was incompatible with the current world of Huangquan.

But he still has some concepts about these things.

Edogawa withdrew his hand randomly, staring at the piece of chocolate and getting entangled.

He didn't understand how anyone wouldn't like chocolate!

Even the Grim Reaper shouldn't dislike eating chocolate!

The child angrily took a bite of the chocolate in the other hand, and turned his head to stare at Death.

Then he found that the other party was resting with his eyes closed, not paying attention to him at all.

Ranbu: ...Hmph.

He straightened up suddenly, pulled off Ueno Hikaru's collar, and pushed the piece of chocolate to the young man's lips involuntarily.

If you don't like chocolate, you must have never tasted it before.

The god of death is poor.

Luanbu thought silently in his heart.

"Open your mouth." He pressed the chocolate in his hand and opened his mouth wide, "Ah——"

Ueno glanced at him coldly.

Mr. Death's thin lips are almost bloodless, and the contrast with the pure dark chocolate is very sharp.

Luanbu puffed up his cheeks: "Open your mouth~"

Hikaru Ueno stared at him silently for a few seconds, then slowly opened his mouth.

next moment.

"Chi-boom!!!"

The chocolate grazed his lips and hit the window, and the boy's body was thrown backwards suddenly.

There was a jumble of roars and screams.

……

Hikaru Ueno stood on the side of the road and watched the tragic car accident in front of him, he was stunned for a moment, and lowered his head in confusion.

When he left the car just now, it seemed that he unconsciously...

Grabbed the child's arm and brought him out as well.

Edogawa Ranpo was dragged by him, watching the ambulance take everyone away.

After a long silence, Edogawa Ranpo poked his waist.

"Hey."

Hikaru Ueno: "?"

Edogawa Ranpo's expression became a little indescribable, and there was also a little bit of secret happiness and rejoicing: "I don't seem to be able to die."

Hikaru Ueno: "..."

The always indifferent expression became somewhat awkward: "Sorry, it was my mistake."

Ranbu: "Then what do we do now?"

Hikaru Ueno was silent for a while, then said, "Follow the rules."

Luanbu tilted his head: "?"

Hikaru Ueno waved his hand out of thin air, and a thick hardcover book with a crimson cover half as high as Luanbu floated in front of the two of them.

Luanbu looked at this incomparably huge book and was stunned.

He squatted down, looked at the giant book from bottom to top, poked the spine of the book, and asked, "What is this?"

Ueno turned to the first page expressionlessly: ""Death Practice Principles", which contains methods for dealing with all emergencies."

Luanbu was stunned for a few seconds, then suddenly rushed forward, and his whole body was pressed against the book.

Ueno looked at him puzzled.

Luanbu looked pained: "Aren't you going to look through them one by one?"

Hikaru Ueno nodded: "It won't be long."

Luanbu didn't believe it: "Then how long will it take you to flip through one by one?"

Hikaru Ueno thought for a while and said, "A few days."

A few days is really a drop in the ocean for the god of death who has an infinitely long lifespan.

"A few days?! Then don't I always want to stand here and wait with you like this!"

Luanbu stared wide-eyed: "...Impossible!"

He still wants to eat small biscuits, small cakes, and chocolate...

And Mom and Dad are still in the hospital.

He closed the book with a snap, sat cross-legged on the book, knocked on the cover solemnly, and said earnestly: "Listen to me, rules are dead, but people are alive."

Hikaru Ueno: "I'm not human."

Luanbu: "?"

Hikaru Ueno: "You should be dead too."

Luanbu: "??"

Ueno Hikaru took him down from the book and turned to the first page again.

Ranbu: "..."

The kid is about to cry.

"Don't look, don't look! Listen to me!"

Ueno looked at him.

"It stands to reason that you should take my soul after I die. Right?"

Hikaru Ueno nodded.

"But now I'm not dead."

Hikaru Ueno nodded.

"So you don't have to take my soul away."

Ueno shook his head.

Luanbu: "..." Hey, Luanbu doesn't want to die.

Luanbu held back tears: "Come on, let's stroke again."

Hikaru Ueno shook his head and firmly refused: "No need."

Luanbu: "?!"

Ueno Hikaru hesitated for a moment, and explained: "If there is a catalog, you don't need to look through each item, it will take a few minutes."

Luanbu was stunned, angry and put his hips on his hips, and said: "...then you didn't say it earlier!"

Hikaru Ueno: "You didn't ask."

Luanbu was silent for a while, and chose to turn this matter over: "Okay, okay, hurry up and turn over."

"but……"

Ueno looked at him.

"It's okay..." The child lowered his head mournfully, staring at the pebbles on the ground, resting his chin and wondering what he was thinking.

The pages of the book were flipped under the manipulation of Ueno Hikaru.

After a few minutes, the "squeak" stopped.

Luanbu, who was squatting on the side of the road, looked up at him, and there was a little star-like expectation in Cui Se's eyes: "Have you found it?"

Hikaru Ueno nodded, grabbed out of thin air with his right hand, and a silver sickle fell into his palm: "I will forcibly harvest your soul."

"I knew it!" Luanbu curled his lips, jumped up from the ground and took a few steps back, shouting again and again, "Wait, wait, no!!!"

Ueno Hikari stopped approaching him: "?"

"This incident was originally your mistake, shouldn't you give me some compensation?"

Hikaru Ueno thought for a while, and felt that what he said made sense, so he nodded and asked, "What do you want?"

"You can't take me away so quickly. First, grant me one wish!" The child paused, and mumbled softly, "I blew out all the candles at once."

"What wish?"

"This, I have to think about this later."

Ranbu's eyes wandered for a long time, and suddenly thought of something, he settled down again, and looked up at Hikari Ueno.

"In short, why don't you stay with me in the world for a while, let me think about it slowly, it won't be long."

"Aren't you also curious about the world?"

Hikaru Ueno was slightly startled, and couldn't help but look at the child twice more.

Luanbu laughed, a little proud: "Is it strange how I would know? ——Obviously."

"You live in the world with me, and I will teach you if you fulfill my wish."

"I'm not very interested in this."

"But you are interested in the human world!" Ranbu narrowed his eyes like a kitten and smiled, "And, you are also interested in me, right? I even gave you chocolate!"

"I won't give it to anyone else."

Ueno pursed his lips, a little hesitant.

Shaking his index finger in disorder, he continued: "Besides, you actually hate your current job too?"

"Why don't you consider skipping work and try it, model Death?"

The cold liquid suddenly fell on the face, and then poured down in an instant.

Luanbu raised his hands to cover his head in a panic, urging him: "Hey, are you willing or not?"

Hikaru Ueno looked at the child who became wet all over in an instant.The child raised his eyes to look at him, and the emerald eyes also became wet.

For some reason, he spoke softly, fulfilling the child's wish: "Okay."

He paused, and then said, "But after fulfilling your wish—"

Luanbu patted himself, and said generously, "Then I'll be at your disposal."

"Don't worry, you will take me away when the time comes, and I will cooperate 100%."

The kid blinked slyly, apparently he already had a corresponding countermeasure in his heart.

But Hikaru Ueno didn't notice his small thoughts, so he just nodded slightly: "Yes."

The sickle in his hand disappeared, and the silver sickle turned into star fragments all over the sky, melting into the pouring rain.

Hikaru Ueno asked under the surprised eyes of the children: "What are you going to do now?"

The kid Luanbu came back to his senses, tilted his head and thought about it.

"The first thing to experience in life - just go to eat."

The child touched his stomach which started to growl.

"Do you have any money? Treat me to dinner!"

Ueno Hikaru thought for a while, then nodded seriously: "I have a lot of salary."

After all, he is a model death.

"Okay!" Luanbu took his hand and pointed to the eaves on one side,

"Let's go there to hide from the rain first, and then when the rain stops, you take me to have a big meal!~"

Hikaru Ueno reminded: "Remember your wish."

Luanbu's excited expression disappeared, and he responded with a long voice: "... oh——"