After Retirement, I Became the Guardian of a Troubled Youth

[Complete!] [New novel this year: After Passing the Civil Service Exam, I Was Reassigned to Meteor City.] Ueno Hikaru is a Grim Reaper who specializes in harvesting children's souls. When he was a Grim Reaper, he picked up five kids, became their big brother, and promised them a whole bunch of things. A Grim Reaper's promises don't count, of course, so he disappeared without a shred of guilt. After quitting, Ueno Hikaru found a nice place called Beika and planned to enjoy a leisurely life on his own. But then the kids he'd once picked up suddenly showed up to "collect on his promises." Ueno Hikaru: I don't remember. I never loved you. I don't want to-- Before he could finish, the kids started playing up how miserable their lives were. Ranpo had been forced to shoulder the entire organization at fourteen, working year-round without a day off. Chuuya had been exploited by his boss since he was fifteen, made to work around the clock and unable to go home. Dazai had been tricked into working for free for two years as soon as he came of age. Kyouya was ostracized by his coworkers and left to handle all the work alone. Ueno Hikaru turned to the last one. Kaito: ...I was bullied by everyone at school. They made fun of me every day, and even the teachers looked down on me. Ueno Hikaru's heart softened, and he let the five poor kids stay at his place. Then he regretted it. Later, he learned that all their stories about how "miserable" they'd been were lies. Ueno Hikaru: I don't want to stay in this family anymore. (Heartbroken.jpg) But the kids were far too good at this once they grew up. Lost on the way, Ranpo held out a drink he'd been talking about for ages. "The great Ranpo-sama ran three whole blocks to get this. You have to drink every last drop!" Chuuya came back from a business trip with the cat he'd lost in his arms. "If you lose him again, I'm not looking for him next time." Kyouya took him to a Japanese-style villa in Namimori. "If you don't want to live in a crowd, I'll always keep this place for you." The Moonlight Magician Kaito took him soaring through the sky. "Tonight's flying show is for one person only. Hm? It's not because I was checking out the place. Happy birthday, you idiot big brother." Dazai sidled up to him and quietly took credit. "I knew you didn't want to go back, so I got rid of the former boss you hated." * OOC, with lots of headcanons. * A story about family affection - Next novel: a female-led, no-romance Hunter x Hunter fanfic, After Passing the Civil Service Exam, I Was Reassigned to Meteor City Mingli finally passed the civil service exam after five years of trying. On her first day reporting for duty, before she even got to see her desk, her supervisor casually seconded her to some remote, nameless place called Meteor City. She asked an online acquaintance she'd met while studying, who had experience living in Meteor City. The acquaintance replied: The people are simple and honest, life is prosperous. You're welcome to come. Mingli felt reassured, grabbed her bag and all her civil service exam knowledge, and set off. But on her first day at work, a shady taxi driver swindled her out of half her savings. When she arrived in Meteor City, she hadn't even recovered from the sight of trash as far as the eye could see before all her luggage was stolen. The man who was supposed to be her supervisor had already died under some garbage mountain, and the office building had been taken over by a vicious gang. Mingli was promoted the moment she joined, becoming Meteor City's first Party secretary. Her supervisor, far away across the ocean, left her with one instruction: Build Meteor City into a model city within two years. This is the organization's test for you. After two years, you can come back... Someone sliced her phone in half. Mingli: ...Forget building Meteor City in two years. Will I even survive two days? ++ Please add my no-romance upcoming novel, I Own a Nonhuman Apartment, to your collection~++ In the age of spiritual qi revival, everyone awakens a special ability on the day they come of age. People like Qi Ran, one-in-a-million ability-less people, are regarded as useless. Ability-less people don't deserve to have jobs. Qi Ran was worrying about finding work after graduating from college when a letter arrived from his parents, who had been missing for four years. They left him an apartment building. Qi Ran: Well, there's my job. But that apartment building was in the middle of nowhere, and on the verge of collapse. A gust of wind blew a sign reading "No Humans Allowed" right onto his head. Qi Ran: ... The dilapidated apartment building gave Qi Ran a host of special abilities and a System. He gained the abilities of every nonhuman who had ever lived there. The System kept track of every nonhuman looking for a place to live. -- A fox spirit who fell into demonic cultivation to save his people was cast out by his clan. Qi Ran found him by the river, purged his demonic energy, and invited him to the apartment. The fox spirit swept his nine tails across the ground, and from then on, the flowers in front of the apartment never wilted. A soul forced to bear the entire village's wicked desires was imprisoned for a century and became an evil spirit. Qi Ran broke the chains binding him, lifted the karmic burden he had endured, and invited him to the apartment. The evil spirit signed a contract, using the merit earned through a century of karmic debt to protect the apartment from natural disasters. An out-of-control abyssal dragon wreaked havoc on the world of man. Qi Ran accepted the Empire's commission to slay it. He walked up slowly and patted the dragon's head. "Good boy. Come home with me." The dragon, which had been ravaging the world, instantly became docile. Later, the ramshackle house from the beginning became a sanctuary for nonhumans around the world. Theme: Home is always there to lean on.