Shadow Slave

Sunny stumbled and looked at his companions in utter shock.

Nephis and Cassie were each holding a large, round, glistening fruit. The skin of these fruits was smooth and black as onyx, while the succulent insides were red as ruby. Their hands, chins and lips were smeared with red juice, making it look as though they were feasting on blood.

The air was filled with an alluring, sweet aroma.

Sunny recoiled...

But his stomach involuntarily growled, reminding him how hungry he was.

Nephis looked at Sunny and offered him a relaxed smile.

"Hey."

He stared at her, lost for words. Finally, after a few seconds had passed, Sunny collected himself and screamed:

"What do you mean "hey"?! What the hell are you doing?!"

His voice was loud, full of disbelief and anger.

Both Neph and Cassie turned to face him. They were visibly confused.

"Why are you shouting?"

Sunny gaped at them, feeling like he had lost his mind. Why were they so nonchalant about this? What was going on here?!

Trying to find some sense in the situation, he took a cautious step forward and looked at Nephis. Did she… wait… what was he thinking about?

He was so hungry. It was hard to concentrate on anything except for food…

Shaking off the unexpected memory lapse, Sunny remembered what he was about to say and pressed:

"Why did you change your mind?"

Changing Star frowned.

"Changed my mind? About what?"

He clenched his teeth, thinking that she was trying to fool him.

"About the fruits! I thought we had agreed to avoid eating them!"

Nephis blinked, a confused expression appearing on her face.

"Did we? ...Why?"

Sunny opened his mouth to answer, but then froze.

Actually, why did they make that agreement?

can't quite

a reason, but his memory was

Now, however… huh… did he imagine the whole thing? There really was no reason not to eat the alluring fruits. Especially when

wait… that's not

"Are you alright, Sunny?"

Nephis, who was looking at him with concern. Suddenly, Sunny felt lost and confused.

What agreement?

there with a frown on his

this is embarrassing. Did I completely space out while she was talking to

his rescue. She always knew how to make the situation less

because we started eating

her and noticed the big, delicious fruit in her hands. His stomach

'So hungry…'

"Uh… I guess?"

ground, where another fruit was placed on the pile of fallen

Neph brought three of

'How nice of her…'

fruit, looked at it, and took

succulent, juicy fruit was probably the most delicious thing he had ever tasted. It was both nourishing and refreshing, with rich texture and soft, lingering aftertaste. The ruby flesh practically melted on his tongue, making his whole body

'Wow!'

felt disturbed for some reason. Something was very wrong about the whole situation… but

frowned and tried to understand the source of this anxious feeling. It was hard to think

Tree? Since when... wait, don't

finally able to pinpoint the source of the strangeness. It was his shadow. When he reached out to pick up the fruit, the shadow did not copy his movements, as though reluctant to touch

it was motionless, refusing to mimic him

it

took one more bite and looked at the shadow,

If it didn't like the

suddenly feeling a sense of dread

something… something wrong with

why is it so hard to

wrong with the fruit? Why would

this why I screamed at Nephis? She

precipice of remembering something very important. He felt as though he just needed to pull on the

terrible was going to

then, Sunny

unexpected happened, something that

the problem with the

at that moment, the Spell was talking into

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

'Wh—what?'

blinked, then looked at the delicious fruit in his hands. The Spell announced the increase in his power right after Sunny swallowed

his head

Star, too, was staring at her fruit with a strange expression on her face. Feeling his gaze, she looked

Sunny licked his lips.

"Did you…"