Chapter 76: Shopping Showdown (3)

A clean white ceiling.

That was the first thing Mukarramma saw upon opening her eyes, followed by the comfortable and cozy feeling of the bed she had found herself in.

Uh...I guess that wasn't a dream. She thought groggily, recalling yesterday's events with better clarity after a good rest. How Mukarramma had arrived in Unmei, how during her visit she got tailed by some random guys who thought she was easy prey, how she ended up in a fight against a girl with a gun, a masked man, a cowboy, a magical girl, their talking dog, and finally, an actual crazy person who kept talking to themselves, the latter setting itself on fire before burning her arm to ash.

And, somehow, that still wasn't the weirdest part of Mukarramma's day. When she was about to perish due to her wounds, Judai saved her and brought her to a hotel for extremely vague reasons when Mukarramma stopped to think about it. He said that he needed me, possibly to help fight someone if I was to assume from his answer when I threatened him...but that barely answers anything, I mean, he needs me to kill WHO exactly? Why would he desire my help if he could kill whoever that person was? Unless said individual they wanted dead was too strong for him to take it down on his own, or at least, strong enough where victory wasn't guaranteed even with all the advantages he had being a darkspawn?

Although Mukarramma wasn't one to go out of her way to kill humans if she could be helped (With most who died by her hand due to an unfortunate accident she didn't see it coming), she also wouldn't lose sleep from killing one, unintentionally or not, she was still a darkspawn after all. The cursed doll darkspawn also wouldn't try to fight an opponent she couldn't win against if she had the choice.

Mukarramma had yet to see how Judai fought, but she felt safe to assume her savior had at least all the innate traits a darkspawn would have. Said traits which would normally allow Judai to kill any regular human on the planet without having to spend much if any energy to accomplish such a feat. Meaning, it would only leave-

Mukarramma's thought was interrupted by the sound of the room's door creaking gently. When she instinctively turned her attention to it, Judai, carrying a tray filled with small portions of steamed rice, fried egg on toast, miso soup, pickled vegetables, and green tea, welcomed her eyes. "Oh, you're awake, good," Judai said upon noticing Mukarramma's eyes staring intently at him.

Mukarramma tried to raise her left arm, but after she felt a sharp pain, she raised her right arm instead to point at the tray, which proved way harder than it normally should. "What's...all that?" Mukarramma asked weakly, barely raising her upper body to a sitting position.

"Breakfast," Judai looked down at the tray. "I didn't know what you would want, so I picked a little of everything until there was no more room on the tray."

Mukarramma tilted her head curiously at Judai. "I see...thank you." She finally thanked the teenage boy who had his face covered with a medical mask and black goggles, who placed the tray on her lap. The doll darkspawn was still unsure about her savior's deal, the medical mask and black goggles that covered most of his face didn't help her come to a definitive conclusion.

Frustrated at the lack of any satisfying answer, Mukarramma tried to forget about it by grabbing the toast and fried egg before shoving it inside her mouth in one go, forgoing any manners she had learned throughout the years.

When Mukarramma was halfway done with her breakfast, her curiosity got the better of her. "Ok, could you clarify some stuff for me?" she asked, admitting defeat in trying to comprehend Judai's actions.

"What would that be?" Judai asked with a blank expression.

"I mean, you saving me, taking me to a fancy hotel, and now bringing me a tray of food, just...what's your game?" Mukarramma asked.

Judai sighed. "I already told you, I—"

Mukarramma cut him off. "Yeah, I know, you need my help, but like...why me specifically? And also, not that I'm ungrateful...but why are you so convinced I'll want to help you?"

Judai nodded in understanding. "I see...For your first question, it's because you were the first one to show up."

Mukarramma tilted her head at Judai. "...Seriously?"

Judai calmly nodded. "Yes, you were indeed the first and only stray darkspawn in this city that I've found. As for your second question...I'm not."

Mukarramma blinked a few times at Judai before tilting her head farther than a normal person could hope. "What?"

Judai looked down on the floor as he elaborated. "Although your help is necessary, I won't force you to help me...in the end, it's your choice if you want to help me or not."

"And if I were to refuse?" Mukarramma cautiously asked.

The calmer darkspawn between the two shrugged casually. "Then I would do my best to make sure you would be healthy enough to be on your own and let you go on your way."

"You're going to let me go? Just like that?" the doll darkspawn asked in disbelief and justified suspicion.

Judai dryly nodded. "Yep. However, be warned that I won't save you again if you get into trouble for whatever reason."

"That's fair...and I assume there's something in it for me?" Mukarramma asked. Surely he wouldn't be so naive to expect I would help out of gratitude alone.

Judai nodded. "Of course. If you do decide to help me, I'm more than willing to give you what you want as long as it's within my power. A roof above your head, protection, and even a way to never starve again."

Mukarramma's eyes widened briefly before frowning at Judai. "Come again?"

The darkspawn regressor raised his arm to Mukarramma as if offering a handshake, and soon enough, dark sparks of ominous energy surged from his hand. Just when Mukarramma was about to question what he was doing, Judai explained, "This is what's called a contract. If we were to agree to the conditions settled, I would passively share my dark energy with you for as long as I live or until the contract is broken, on top of also healing your current injuries with the sudden burst of energy. I was advised to take advantage of your weakened state and offer you one...but I decided against it."

The cursed living doll frowned suspiciously at Judai. "Care to share your reasoning?" Mukarramma chuckled dryly. "Surely, it wasn't out of the goodness of your heart, right? If such a thing were possible for us darkspawns."

"No. It wasn't. It's because what I want, no, need, is not a servant or a slave, but a partner. Someone on equal terms who I know will have my back just as much as they know I'll have theirs. Although," Judai looked away from Mukarramma, "I suppose there's a second reason."

"That being...?" Mukarramma raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

Judai sighed. "I know how it feels...being forced into a contract just to survive." He frowned slightly. "Even if the contract benefits you by the end, it wouldn't stop you from feeling like a tool with no urgency by not having the choice in the first place. That's something I hope I won't ever be forced to subject anyone to if I can help it."

The darkspawn bugman turned back to face Mukarramma, his expression seamlessly returning to its passiveness. "So yeah, would that be enough of an answer to satisfy you?"

Mukarramma bit her lip. "Hmm...I suppose it'll do for now. I still need time to think this through, but...I wouldn't mind if you enlightened me about those conditions you were planning for me—"

"Us." Judai interrupted. "We both will follow these conditions."

Mukarramma blinked a few times before slowly nodding. "Right, us. What are those conditions?"

Judai raised a hand to his chin. "Hmm...If I had to start with the most obvious, it would be that we are a team. In a fight, you will try your best to cover me, just like I will try my best to cover you. If I want to stay in a fight, you're not allowed to run away, the same applies the other way around if, for some reason, I desire to leave a fight but you don't. Running away will only be permissible if we both agree to it."

"Even if the battle is unwinnable?" Mukarramma frowned at Judai.

"If it's one that I or you can't back down from or want to escape but although the other party wants to isn't able to for some reason...yes, we will fight together or die together as I will make sure this contract will link our magical existences to each other," Judai explained matter-of-factly as if he wasn't bothered by the thought of dying from someone holding them back.

The darkspawn human-sized doll slowly nodded, unsettled by Judai's attitude to it all. "I see...what are the other conditions?"

"Not going out of our way to bother regular civilians, innocents, or simply anyone who isn't actively in our way." Judai calmly stated.

"Can I still talk with them?" Mukarramma asked the obvious question.

Judai nodded. "Of course, talking and every other non-violent and non-malicious action towards them is fine. Harming, using your magic on them in a harmful way, killing them, or any other action that would get you arrested? No."

"Ok, leave the normals alone, what else?" Mukarramma asked before taking a bite out of her piece of bread and egg.

Judai looked down at the ground, his expression pensive as if considering what to say. "There's someone who I want dead, someone who I'll need your help to get to them. When the time comes, I want to be the one to kill them, no ifs or buts, understood?"

Mukarramma nodded uneasily in response. "Okay...who is it exactly you want to kill? To just give me an idea who we would be dealing with, if I were to accept this contract, of course!"

For a moment, Mukarramma swore she saw Judai tense up a bit in front of her...before relaxing with a deep breath. "Kettei Yoshino, that's her name."

"Anything else?" Mukarramma asked, taking a sip from her tea.

"She's friends with the magical girl in white, the one you blinded," Judai answered.

Mukarramma almost choked on her tea. She had her assumption that the reason Judai needed her help was that magical girls were involved...but she didn't expect to be revealed so calmly. Seriously, if I were human I would've died from a heart attack just now! The darkspawn doll thought before putting down the tea and addressing her savior. "And you think we can take them down?" She frowned. "Especially now that there's one more we will have to worry about? Do you even have a plan?" She asked while not so subtly pointing at the same arm that recently got burned by Rea.

"Ideally, we won't need to worry about defeating either magical girl. Since the only target is Kettei Yoshino, the best course of action would be to distract or separate everyone else to leave her vulnerable."

Mukarramma bit her lip. "That's...something I guess. Are there any more surprises I should know?" She asked before taking a final bite of her bread and egg.

After a moment of silence, Judai shook his head. "No. That should cover everything our contract would entail."

Mukarramma nodded. "I see..." She sighed before laying her head on the pillow. Do I really want to do this? Trust a complete stranger with my life while said stranger trusts his life with mine? As she considered the offer, she had an epiphany. Maybe...this could help me find it! That was the final push needed for her to decide. "Sure, let's do it."

Judai stared at her, processing the words spoken. "You're sure?" He finally asked. "As I said, the offer is up until you fully recover. There's no need to rush."

"To be honest?" Mukarramma sighed. "Accepting this offer could easily be one of the poorest life decisions I have ever made, but..." As Mukarramma trails off, her mind goes back to when she lay on the ground in her last moments before Judai saved her. How by the end of it all, she would die alone, with no one to mourn or care enough to be by her side as the end quickly approached. If there was one thing she was sure of, it was that she didn't want to go through that ever again.

The cursed wooden doll finally continued. "It certainly beats going out there before sooner or later I die alone in a ditch. Hell, I probably be content if when I died, someone would be there for me..." Mukarramma chuckled to herself. "Man, that magical bitch's fire magic must have also melted my brain if I'm thinking like this."

"I see..." Judai turned away from Mukarramma. "So that's why you smiled..." He muttered to himself. Mukarramma just barely heard it.

"What was that?" Mukarramma raised her head from the pillow before tilting her head at Judai in confusion.

Judai shook his head. "Sorry, I just got an answer to a question I didn't know I needed." He turned to face Mukarramma. "Very well," He raised his hand for the cursed doll to shake. Dark sparks surging from it. "If you're truly sure of joining me in this path, shake my hand!"

The darkspawn in recovery stared at Judai before turning her attention to the offered hand which waited for her to shake. She took a deep breath before reciprocating the gesture by shaking it back.

Mukarramma hoped she wouldn't come to regret it.