Notes

There was still a phantom noise in his ears from the gunshot.

Eyes closed, bound in rope, mouth taped shut, he could only focus on the sensations: the burns, the bruises, the remnants of being choked (he was thrashing, growling - he couldn't breathe-). The gunshot rang loud in the dark forest, but it rang even louder in his mind. Funnily enough, Teivel had never learned to use a gun. He may have shot a few people, fiddling around with it until something happened, but it was never his specialty. But even if he never did learn to use a gun, he knew how loud they could be. The orphanage wasn't in a safe neighborhood, with how underfunded it was, he sometimes wondered if there were any safe orphanages. They pretended like it was fireworks from a local festival instead of a cold-blooded murder. Sometimes they even tell new children that it is fireworks, though that never lasts long. Guns are supposed to be rare in Japan, anyways.
Still, even without the pain, the silent beat before the gun was fired, he knew that he was dead. The moment that he was brought to the clearing, he knew that he was going to die. Oh, Teivel thought, as he saw Sal's murderous face. He's going to kill someone. And, well. Teivel's the perfect option. No one's going to care for a serial killer, right? Teivel certainly wouldn't.

There was almost a smile on his face as he thought of his death. Will Sal enjoy it? Will he be happy to see Teivel's brain spill out on the forest floor?

Without even knowing Sal's true talent, Teivel knew that Sal wasn't normal. So clean, so perfect. Sal had done this before. Teivel, of all people, knew that Ultimates didn't mean shit. He should know, being scouted for the Ultimate Puzzle Solver. He almost didn't want to go. But he's glad he did. No other innocents had to be forced into this killing game.
In the afterlife, his eyes were still closed. Yet there were key differences that he could notice immediately. He wasn't gagged nor bound in rope. He could breath. And while the phantom pain lingered, there weren't any wounds. Standing in the middle of who-knows-where, Teivel could only think, "Ah, has King Yama finally come to punish me for my sins?"

When Teivel's eyes opened, there was only a dead stare, just like his corpse. They dully surveyed the surroundings, as if it was merely drying paint on a wall instead of a paradise.

...He shouldn't be here.

He's killed so many, for no reason. His parents, his classmates, his seniors... Somewhere in his mind, he could still remember police and detectives frantically searching for a killer, looking unsettled by five year-old him's nonplussed demeanor, and - what were supposed to be - placating reassurances. That was when he started to try to act normal, he thinks.

He has half a mind to smile, the warm, friendly kind like when he was alive, but it's only an idle thought. The smile will slip on just as easily as before, and what use is that? He's already dead. Dead and gone forever, and there's no need to smile once there's no use for comforting. Besides, if he's right, everyone will already know he's a serial killer by now. First the camp, then the world - if they make it out. Not that it matters to him anymore.

Well, Teivel thinks, as he finds a good place to wait. He can't be the only one here forever. Maybe they'll enjoy a punching bag.