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?

I can't

was a reason, but his memory was completely blank. There definitely was an

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

that's

"Are you alright, Sunny?"

who was looking at him with concern. Suddenly, Sunny felt lost and confused. What were they talking about?

What agreement?

just stood there with a frown on his

is embarrassing. Did I completely space

came to his rescue. She always

you angry because we

big, delicious fruit in her hands.

'So hungry…'

"Uh… I guess?"

another fruit was placed on the pile of fallen leaves.

brought three

'How nice of her…'

fruit, looked at it, and took a bite without

mouth 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, making his whole body tingle. It was pure joy in

'Wow!'

reason. Something was very wrong about the whole situation… but

hard to think about anything except for how heavenly the

Since when... wait, don't get

pinpoint the source of the strangeness. It was his shadow. When he reached out to pick up the fruit, the shadow did not copy

now it was motionless, refusing to mimic him eating

it with this

more bite and looked at the shadow, lost

shadow had an eccentric temper, but it rarely did something without a reason. If it didn't like the fruit,

frowned, suddenly feeling a sense of dread grip

something wrong

is it so hard

something wrong with

is this why I screamed at Nephis? She

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

was going to happen

Sunny

something that required

he somehow forgot all about the problem with the

the Spell was talking

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

'Wh—what?'

fruit in his hands. The Spell announced the increase

raised his head and looked at

at her fruit with a strange expression on her face. Feeling his

Sunny licked his lips.

"Did you…"