Magical Girl with Demonic Time Magic-Chapter 114: Obscure Fruit

"...What do you want from me, Hexael?" I ask Hexael, who showed up at my house out of nowhere. Today is January 1st, and I really didn’t want to start the day by seeing him.

I was going to prepare my meal to go to school later, but him being here is genuinely annoying since he’s standing in front of my bedroom door, blocking my way out.

My Christmas was really happy; I managed to spend it with Ayane, and it was wonderful. But now he’s here to ruin my day. I’m sure he’s going to do something I won’t like.

"Hahaha, you’re still so mean to me. I came to collect on my contract, obviously. You’re lucky I was benevolent and let you enjoy your happiness." He mentions the contract, leaving me surprised.

"If it’s about me committing evils, know that..."

"No, no, I’m not talking about the first contract. I’m talking about the other contract, the one where I help you defend Ayane... You broke that agreement, and now you must pay the price."

"...Lies... It’s impossible for me to have broken that agreement." I say, doubtful, thinking about where I could have gone wrong.

"Ahh, you’re clever, Setsuna, but I’m cleverer at the moment. Obviously, you didn’t notice since it wasn’t obvious, but do you remember the condition that would make you lose?"

"...If I interfered with Ayane’s decisions, I would lose..."

"Yes, exactly that. And guess what? Ayane was put in danger by her own actions, meaning it was her decision that brought her harm... So naturally, saving her from her own decisions is a breach of contract."

"No... You... You wouldn’t do this..." I say in disbelief.

"...YOU WORTHLESS WORM, THIS IS LITERALLY A USELESS CONTRACT!" I point my gun at him. This worm tricked me with a contract that’s fucking useless.

If I can only know that Ayane will be in danger but can’t save her, then this contract is garbage.

"Going to shoot? You know we’ve been through this before. You know this doesn’t hurt me," he says with a huge grin.

"..." I consider pulling the trigger, but doing that would just dirty my house with blood without doing anything to him.

"You’ve gotten more explosive, haven’t you? Noticing the changes? You’ve been very different since our contract started, huh? This is fun."

"..."

"What do you want from me?" I ask, dropping the gun, which dissolves. I put my hands to my temples. I never thought he’d make a contract that I broke within the first seconds; this was so unfair.

"I just want you to eat something," he says as I look at him and see a completely black apple next to him, a fruit with a truly bizarre, sinister appearance.

"...Just that?" All he wants is for me to eat a fruit; it seems suspicious in so many different ways.

"Yes, just that. Just eat this fruit here, and I’ll consider this contract paid. That’s the favor I want you to fulfill for me." He says, hopping onto a chair as I stare at the apple.

"...What is this?" I ask, feeling something bad emanating from this apple. It doesn’t seem like just a fruit; in fact, it doesn’t even look edible.

"It’s a fruit."

"That’s obvious, Hexael. Stop dodging the question." Him saying it’s a fruit is ridiculous when I’m already looking at it.

"Well, I don’t know," he says, claiming he doesn’t know, even though he’s the one who gave me this suspicious fruit.

"...You really are a demon." I can’t help it. I made a contract and don’t know what happens if I disobey, but I know it won’t be good, so I have to eat this no matter what it is.

"Obviously. But I’m not joking, Setsuna. I have no idea what this fruit is. But doesn’t it remind you of something? Know that the creator of this fruit made it thinking exactly of you."

’Made for me?’ I look at the fruit again, more carefully. It’s completely black, as if it’s absorbing all the light in the room.

’It reminds me... of that liquid obsession I release...’ I pick up the fruit in my hand. It’s strangely heavy for something its size, and the sensation of touching it is bizarre.

It’s a mix of viscosity and elasticity, like touching melted rubber mixed with chewing gum.

Crrunch 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

I bite into the fruit, and the taste is different from what I expected because it actually has no taste at all. I chew, and it just seems like an apple, despite the fruit’s somewhat disgusting texture.

"Are you satisfied? I ate this ugly fruit... You..." I collapse to my knees, clutching my throat. My throat feels like it’s on fire, generating a horrible pain.

"Setsuna, I will still help you protect Ayane, although I think you won’t need my help anymore. You’re going to get really strong now, like, 10,000% more?" He says, stopping in front of me.

My heart beats wildly, as if it’s going to leap out of my chest, and I can’t breathe. I try to touch Hexael but collapse on the floor. I see blood trickling from my nose as my body convulses on the ground.

"Calm down, just relax. You’re not going to die... You’ll just learn to be what I expect you to be..." He comes even closer, near my face. He has a disturbing smile as my vision turns red from the blood streaming from my eyes.

"Grhhmm." I try to speak, but all that comes out of my mouth is blood. I think about summoning my weapon to kill myself and go back in time, but for some reason, my weapon won’t reappear.

I spit out the blood in my mouth and see it’s mixed with a viscous black slime that starts dissolving the floor.

"Don’t waste your time. You won’t be able to die for now. Just stop resisting and sleep, Setsuna."

"It’ll only stop when you fall asleep." He touches my head, pressing it against the floor. I can’t move, no matter how much strength I use. My wings emerge as I try to beat them, but they soon stop and fall to the floor, completely limp.

"Y-Yyou b-bashhtard." I curse him as a bastard, but my voice comes out completely erratic. I don’t even know if he can understand what I said.

"You’re tough; that’s good. You should wake up in a few days... probably, I think. Don’t worry about school; I’ll use magic to make it look like you were on leave for some things..."

"..." I feel everything start to go dark as my wings lose all their strength. The last thing I see is Hexael watching me with a smile.

"Sleep well, Setsuna. And I hope you enjoy the memories you’re about to see. They will reveal almost all the secrets you so desperately want to know."