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

there was a reason, but his memory was completely

there was, at least up until a few moments ago. Now, however… huh… did he imagine the whole thing? There really was no reason not

that's

"Are you alright, Sunny?"

with concern. Suddenly, Sunny felt lost and confused. What were they talking about? Something… something about some sort of

What agreement?

he just stood there with a frown on his face

this is embarrassing. Did I completely space

his rescue. She always knew how to

you angry because we started

her and noticed the big, delicious fruit

'So hungry…'

"Uh… I guess?"

ground, where another fruit was placed on the pile of fallen leaves. Her teeth

brought three of them,

'How nice of her…'

at it, and took a bite without

was filled with delightful, cool sweetness. The 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,

'Wow!'

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 about anything except for how heavenly the

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

able to pinpoint the source of the strangeness. It was his shadow. When he reached out to

motionless, refusing

it

more bite and looked at the shadow, lost in

temper, but it rarely did something without a reason. If it didn't like the fruit, there had to be something

frowned, suddenly feeling a sense of

something wrong with

why is it so hard

something wrong with the fruit? Why would

screamed at Nephis? She broke an agreement… what was

important. He felt as though he just needed to pull on the thread, and

was going to happen if

then, Sunny got

happened, something that

forgot all about the problem with the Soul Tree's

the Spell was talking

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

'Wh—what?'

delicious fruit in his hands. The Spell announced the increase

his head

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

Sunny licked his lips.

"Did you…"