Another for "first times."

The first soul Tsuzuki took was that of a young woman who wanted to stay with her ailing father. She cried, and she pleaded, and he would have let her linger, but his partner was adamant. Their business was death, she said, not mercy.

The young woman cursed him in the end. He thought it was no more than he deserved. His partner tried to convince him otherwise, but if it was not their business to give mercy, how could they expect it? When he asked her, she had no answer.

His business is still death. His question, still unanswered.

~END~