Late afternoon, Yellow Reaper's hideout.

The Ashen Girl spoke with a worried expression.

“You know, something really strange has been happening to me lately.”

Yellow Reaper, who was in a corner crafting a doll, turned at her words.

"Yesterday, I ate a candy that my brother gave me, but it was so sour that I spat it out—and it turned into a writhing pile of cockroaches. It was horrifying, but after a moment, it looked like just a regular candy again."

"And this morning, when I went to school, the building looked like it was in ruins. I was so startled that I rubbed my eyes, and when I looked again, it was back to ‘normal.’”

She shared a few more strange incidents.

They were hallucinations, brief visions that lasted less than a second, like a film overlaying her sight.

“Am I going crazy? Or is it some kind of mental corruption from an object?”

Yellow Reaper, hearing her words, closed his eyes tightly and shook his head vehemently, expressing fierce disagreement.

It was as if he was saying, ‘You’re not going mad!’

“Thank you. For some reason, I feel like I can’t tell anyone else about this. It feels like everything would collapse the moment I say it aloud.”

The Ashen Girl knew the rumor that Mini Reapers couldn’t fully understand human speech, but somehow, Yellow Reaper seemed to understand.

“Still, I’m scared. These hallucinations keep happening more often.”

The Ashen Girl, pale, hugged her knees tightly and bowed her head.

Seeing her anxiety, Yellow Reaper seemed at a loss.

It was as if he didn’t know how to comfort her or even how to approach her.

Then, Yellow Reaper noticed a doll costume in the corner, put it on, and turned to face her.

Dressed as a Golden Reaper, with a wide, silly smile, he rushed toward the Ashen Girl.

Thud!

Perhaps he was too eager, because he tripped over her feet and rolled to the floor.

Watching him, the Ashen Girl let out a small giggle.

The doll costume had button eyes, giving it an odd appearance.

And for the usually shy Yellow Reaper to dress in such a ridiculous costume and try so hard to comfort her—it was endearing.

The Ashen Girl picked up Yellow Reaper in his costume, poking him with her finger.

“Can you even see anything in that? It’s got button eyes!”

She said this, a soft chuckle escaping her lips.

But Yellow Reaper looked at her, shocked, his mouth opening wide.

‘The doll costume isn’t working!’

Yellow Reaper kept switching into various doll costumes, playing with the Ashen Girl as her mood gradually lifted.

The Blue Reaper who used magic, the Red Reaper who breathed fire, the Violet Reaper who controlled shadows.

Yellow Reaper showed off all sorts of Reaper doll costumes.

Time passed, the sun sinking closer to the horizon.

“I’ll be going now. See you tomorrow.”

The Ashen Girl turned her back to the setting sun and waved goodbye to Yellow Reaper.

At that moment, Yellow Reaper handed her a doll he had been crafting.

A small doll with button eyes, ashen hair, and a tattered school uniform.

It was a doll of the Ashen Girl herself, no bigger than the palm of her hand.

“Wow, did you make this for me? Thank you.”

The Ashen Girl smiled brightly as she took the doll.

“It’s really well made. Our school uniform is pretty, but it’s so complex and flashy—and this is exactly the same!”

As she hugged the doll close, Yellow Reaper watched her walk away until she was out of sight.

In the courtyard of the Sehee Research Institute, lush grass grew, and tiny animals roamed around.

A miniature Jurassic creature landed inside a fenced area made of marshmallow walls. Tiny tyrannosaurs bustled within.

Plump tyrannosaurs. Feathered tyrannosaurs. Four-legged tyrannosaurs. Lip-covered tyrannosaurs. Red-scaled, heat-radiating tyrannosaurs.

It was a mini dinosaur zoo, crafted by Green Reaper to create the “true tyrannosaurus” he desired.

If none of these were the real deal, he’d ask Yellow Reaper to make a true tyrannosaurus costume.

With over thirty kinds of tyrannosaurs, thankfully, the one I wanted was among them.

But Green Reaper didn’t seem to favor the genuine tyrannosaurus.

“Meh…”

‘Not special enough…’

I tugged at Green Reaper’s leafy hair as he muttered nonsense.

“Eek!”

Turning away from Green Reaper and his tyrannosaurus project, I noticed a gathering of Mini Reapers around a red candy I’d brought.

Just then, a Golden Reaper jumped down from a beloved human’s hand with a confident expression.

‘A challenger!’

‘How brave!’

As the Golden Reaper moved to eat the candy, the Mini Reapers clapped in awe.

However, contrary to his boldness, the Golden Reaper’s challenge ended quickly.

Squeal!

The Golden Reaper barely licked the sour candy before grimacing and scurrying back to the beloved human’s hand.

Back in their hand, the Golden Reaper lay there as if gravely injured, sticking out his little tongue, which the human playfully poked.

That candy really was incredibly sour.

I considered buying a bunch before they were potentially taken off the market—to use for pranks.

As I entertained thoughts for the future, I spotted the culprits who started the challenge.

The White Maw and Black Reaper.

An unusual pair, they held the red candy close, continuously licking it.

As soon as they licked it, their faces scrunched up, only to return to normal and lick again.

Seeing their scrunched faces, it seemed the candy was unbearably sour for them too, yet they kept at it, which was curious.

I’d never eat something like that….

The Ashen Girl was plagued by a persistent sense of unease.

‘Something feels wrong.’

Whether she was walking at school, on the street, or lying in bed, the feeling wouldn’t leave.

She felt something was definitely wrong, but she couldn’t figure out what.

Even the doll Yellow Reaper had given her felt odd.

The only thing that didn’t feel strange was Yellow Reaper himself.

Eating in the school cafeteria, she saw the rice grains writhing like insects.

…

As usual, she closed her eyes tightly, and when she opened them, it was just ordinary rice.

But her appetite had vanished, and she threw it all away.

Walking down the hallway, she saw floor tiles vanishing one by one, like broken teeth.

She ran quickly into her classroom, but the hallway looked normal.

Nothing seemed unusual, yet the positions of those missing tiles lingered vividly in her mind.

Gripping the pocket holding the doll Yellow Reaper gave her, she muttered to herself.

‘I’m okay. I’ll be okay.’

On a school holiday.

Hoping to meet Yellow Reaper, she went outside, only to see everyone dressed in strange clothes.

Worn and tattered, as if they couldn’t even be used as rags.

Clutching the doll Yellow Reaper had given her, she closed her eyes tightly.

But when she opened them, the doll itself was dressed in ragged clothes.

Shocked, she threw the doll away.

And as soon as she did, everything returned to ‘normal.’

She picked up the doll and apologized.

‘I’m sorry.’

Dinner time.

When she opened the door to call her brother, he lay on the bed.

He looked like a corpse.

It seemed as if he wasn’t breathing.

But when she looked again, he was lying as he usually did.

‘Am I losing my mind?’

The Ashen Girl missed Yellow Reaper deeply.

The Ashen Girl walked toward school, her face pale.

‘I’m okay. I’m okay.’

Gripping the small doll in her pocket, she chanted as if casting a spell.

When someone called her, she forced a smile and turned around.

But what she saw was not a friend—it was an object.

“Ah!”

A creature made from twisted wires, covered with white clay to resemble a human.

‘Why is this only happening to me?!’

On the verge of tears, she shut her eyes tightly.

But when she opened them, nothing had changed.

There was an object here.

An object there.

Objects were all around her.

The creature made a grating noise as if trying to speak, but she couldn’t understand it.

Growing paler, she dropped her bag and began to run.

She ran so hard that she felt like she might die, but eventually, the exhaustion vanished.

Looking down at her hand, she saw a white, stone-like hand.

One leg no longer worked properly, dragging as she walked.

So, she stopped.

The Ashen Girl stared down at herself.

The uniform she had loved was now worn and tattered.

As she moved her fingers, white stone dust flaked off.

She tried to speak, but no sound came out.

‘Ha, haha.’

She had thought that everything except herself was strange…

But at this moment, only one fear remained in her heart.

‘I was an object.’

‘What if Yellow Reaper doesn’t like me anymore?’