San Francisco, after the gray reaper had left, began to awaken to a peaceful morning as though the previous night’s turmoil had been a lie.

Golden sunlight filtered through the shadows cast by the collapsed buildings.

The massive black reaper that had been enveloping the reporter gradually lost its form.

Like a giant puzzle disassembling, its colossal body crumbled into pieces.

And those pieces broke apart into countless black reapers, spilling onto the ground.

The reporter, now free from the black reaper’s shell, returned to her human form and stood amidst the ruins of the city.

Around her, black reapers stared up at her.

The reporter, looking at the black reapers surrounding her, instinctively realized one simple fact.

They’re about to leave.

She could feel it in their eyes.

After staring up at her for a while, one of the black reapers slowly stepped out of the group, its face filled with a look of regret.

Pat pat.

With the soft sound of small animal footsteps, it hurried toward her and jumped into her arms.

Like it was saying a final goodbye, the black reaper nuzzled its face against the reporter’s cheek.

The black reaper then hopped down, turned, and began walking toward the path the gray reaper had taken.

Take care!

Just before crossing the path, the black reaper turned around, waving its hand at the reporter.

"Goodbye!"

Although the reporter felt a little sad, she waved back with a smile.

Pat pat.

The reporter watched the black reaper as it crossed the path, feeling a tinge of regret.

Was this the beginning?

Suddenly, all the surrounding black reapers rushed toward her at once.

And one by one, like marking their territory, the black reapers rubbed their cheeks against hers.

Take care!

Stay healthy!

I’ll come visit sometimes!

Hehe.

And one by one, they crossed the path.

Though they seemed to be reluctant, the black reapers gave cheerful farewell gestures, as if they were sure they would meet again.

"They’re gone."

Once so many black reapers had vanished, the surroundings felt emptier.

Beep—!

At that moment, a clear sound rang out from the reporter’s shoulder.

It’s okay!

We’re here.

Black reapers suddenly popped up from within the reporter’s body.

These were the black reapers that had replaced damaged vital parts, like her heart.

"Right, you’re here."

The reporter gathered the black reapers in her arms.

The same black reapers who had been with her since she woke up in the landfill.

The life-savers who had kept her alive when she should have died from a gunshot wound.

The reporter gently patted the heads of the black reapers and smiled softly.

The black reapers enjoyed her touch and smiled with satisfaction.

Sighing, the reporter stretched her legs out on the flat cement ground and muttered quietly.

"So, what should I eat now? My job is gone, the building is completely destroyed, and the city is a complete mess."

The black reapers tilted their heads in confusion.

It’s okay!

We’re here!

Hearing their whispers, the reporter thought for a moment, then smiled and nodded in agreement.

"Well... that’s true. With you all here, there’s nothing we can’t do, right?"

The reporter looked up at the blue sky and recalled the incident.

At first, it had been a simple investigation into corruption, but now it was an event that had spiraled far beyond her control.

Really, this was on a scale that humans just can’t handle.

The reporter turned her head and looked at the black reapers.

The black reapers were sluggishly moving and trying to copy the reporter’s pose.

The black reapers, whom people only think of as cute and harmless, had secrets that the world didn’t know about.

The dream shown by the black reapers didn’t look ordinary at all.

What kind of experiences had these beings gone through to end up in front of us?

Perhaps that was why the black reapers occasionally exhibited actions that seemed to carry a trace of sorrow.

I hope one day I can uncover the black reapers’ past...

As the reporter was lost in such thoughts, the sound of propellers and vehicle engines began to reach her ears from a distance.

It was the sound of vehicles and helicopters from the Object Association and broadcasting stations, coming to investigate the situation in San Francisco.

Before I knew it, people have already come here. If they spot me, it’s going to be such a hassle.

The reporter muttered quietly as she looked up at the sky from the shadows.

"Let’s go!"

At that moment, the black reapers enveloped the reporter’s body, transforming her into the shape of a black reaper.

Now a black reaper the size of a human, the reporter slipped away from the scene, avoiding the gaze of the approaching people.

Thus, the adventure of the black reapers and the red-haired reporter came to an end, and daily life began again.

Mini Reaper Garden, Golden Reaper Grand Assembly Hall.

I was visiting the assembly hall to watch the golden reapers in their rare moments of sorrow.

Since the number of black reapers had greatly increased, the sorrow of the golden reapers was bound to have grown as well.

Hehe.

The golden reapers, though numerous, were always too busy playing, so their attendance at the assembly was extremely low.

In contrast, the black reapers, strangely, had a remarkably high attendance rate at the assembly.

It was a surprising sight considering that the personalities of the black reapers were similar to the golden reapers.

The black reapers were like the more reserved versions of the golden reapers.

But the Golden Reaper Assembly was turning out differently than I expected.

[The snack for the Golden Reaper Assembly has been chosen: Sehee Institute's Soft Cookies!]

From the stage, the voice of the Blue Idol Reaper announced the voting results.

This is unbelievable...

The golden reapers’ favorite soft cookies were selected.

Hooray!

Hehe.

The golden reapers began eating the cookies with the happiest expressions.

By the way, it seems the number of black reapers has decreased a bit?

There had been an increase in black reapers in the Mini Reaper Garden, but now the numbers seemed to be shrinking?

It was strange.

Had the golden reapers dipped some of the black reapers in order to win the vote?

As I slowly counted the black reapers, my eyes met with one of the golden reapers, who was eating a cookie.

This golden reaper had almost finished the large cookie.

When it saw me, it tilted its head and then split the remaining small piece of the cookie in half.

One half went into its mouth, and the other half it offered to me.

Mom, eat too!

The golden reaper’s will was full of joy.

When eating hard cookies, it never shared, but now that it was eating soft cookies, it was generous.

Isn’t this the classic "sharing when it's food you don’t like"?

Well, if it were me, I wouldn’t share it, whether it tasted good or not.

It’s too small for me to eat.

I sent my will as I gently tied the golden reaper’s hair in front to cover its eyes, rejecting the tiny piece of cookie it offered.

Ugh!

The golden reaper struggled to free its hair, trapped by the space manipulation.

I guess I should find the black reapers.

I stood up and began walking around the Mini Reaper Garden in search of the black reapers.

After wandering around for a while, I finally spotted a gathering of black reapers in the far corner of the Marshmallow Plains.

There were so many black reapers gathered there, it seemed like every single one in the Mini Reaper Garden was there!

Ah!

Nooo!

The black reapers were engaging in a sparring match, and despite being the same kind of reaper, the battles often had one-sided outcomes.

But weren’t all the black reapers supposed to have similar fighting skills?

The black reapers’ fighting abilities had always felt like they had trained together for a long time.

But now, the newly added black reapers seemed to have superior fighting skills.

Interesting...

I’m no expert in physical combat, so it looked like they were both fighting well, but every time, the newly added black reapers were the ones winning!

Ugh!

At that moment, a black reaper was knocked out and rolled over, crashing right in front of me.

I began to tickle its belly, lying there on the ground.

"Why is there such a difference in skill?"

The black reaper, seemingly ticklish, tried to push my fingers away but gave up and melted like slime.

The melted black reaper stuck to my hand like a glove.

Then, it responded to my question.

I fought for much longer!

I fought against the enemy of humanity!

With that, the black reaper’s yellow glowing eyes sparkled on top of my hand.

It wasn’t easy to understand, but the explanation was simple.

The ones in the Immutable Sphere must have been desk jobs, with little fighting experience!

Even the desk job black reapers fought better than the golden reapers—what had the giant black ones been doing?

I thought to myself, glancing toward the Immutable Sphere, which I could see in the distance within the Mini Reaper Garden.

In a small room in the gap of time, a yellow detective was sitting, holding his head in his hands, lost in deep thought.

"It’s ruined. Completely ruined."

Now fully immersed in the realm of superpowers, the detective’s intuition was sending him strong warnings.

No longer just a feeling, he could see the gains and losses, the crisis and breakthroughs, expressed in every color.

The small research lab the detective was staying in had already turned red, signaling danger.

He muttered as he stared at the now-silent Watson.

"I thought I could stop Watson and get here…"

Just as he had sensed, upon arriving at the research lab, the light in Watson's lamp had gone out.

However, recently, a small ember had started to glow at the center of Watson.

Now, this place was no longer safe.

"…"

From that moment, the detective began his strange preparations.

In the research lab's auditorium, lightning made of firewood shot toward the ceiling.

"I'm calling the gray reaper and sending out power. To the sky, kaboom!"

Mommaaaaaaaaa!!!

The detective had taken the Golden Horn Reaper and was making it go through strange training.

His juniors found it odd, but since the detective had always done strange things, they just went along with it.

This suspicious training was something even his juniors couldn’t avoid.

Junior 1 was trained to swing a hammer quickly and precisely.

And Junior 3, who didn’t know how to fight at all, was taught how to shoot a pistol, as if the detective was preparing for something to chase him.

When asked what was going on, the detective simply said, "The owner of the lamp is coming."

The owner of the lamp?

Junior 2, with longer horns and a tennis ball attached to the end, looked at the detective with a serious expression.

"Is this really okay?"

Worried, Junior 2 asked, and the person watching the detective’s eccentric behavior replied.

"That man, even though he seems strange, is in contact with the Object realm, so this must mean something."

The person who answered was a man who had once been the director of the central research lab.

He was wearing a mental contamination prevention helmet and observing the detective, jotting down something in a notebook.

It’s okay!

At that moment, the Golden Horn Reaper patted Junior 2’s worried face.