Chapter 3: The end Is it the beginning?

Unable to open my eyes, my eyelids felt heavy as if they had sand on them. Plunged into complete darkness, my ears little by little began to recognize the subtle sounds around me, while in my body the feeling of lividity was fading, giving way to a comforting warmth.

- "Girl, wake up already. You need to eat some soup so that your body stops being cold. Gosh, when I found you you looked like a corpse with all that blood soaking your shirt. "What were you supposed to be doing in that place?" – The harsh voice of a man spoke to me calmly, while with his hand he lightly shook my shoulder trying to make me wake up.

When I opened my eyes and looked around, I was no longer in the middle of the waste dump. But now she was surrounded by stacks of old newspapers inside a small house made of cardboard.

After defeating the Kuchisake , an enemy from the shadows had crossed me from side to side, killing me on the spot. Or at least that's what I thought, since at that moment in front of my eyes the bowl of hot soup that the homeless man offered me did not seem to be a welcome meal in the underworld.

- "Where we are?"

- "Sorry girl, I brought you to my house without asking you first. I was as usual collecting some garbage for recycling at the landfill, when I saw a strange glow flowing from the middle of the land. When I got there, I found you lying face down on the ground and I was very surprised to see you all bloody."

- "Excuse me, was there anyone else there when you found me?"

- "Sorry girl, there really was no one else besides you and me. Except for the crows that usually fly around among the garbage hunting for rats" – Leaving the bowl of soup in my hands, that man returned to his small pot and took some food for himself, opening a small paper bag from which he took out two pieces of stale bread to treat me.

Thanking for being alive, I said a brief prayer, joining my hands in front of the plate of food, and prepared to test the good will of the homeless man. When I took the first bite, I noticed something strange happening to my taste buds.

Certainly the aroma of the spices and cream mixed in the broth overflowing with potatoes seemed pleasant to my nose. But on my tongue, what was supposed to be an intense flavor was barely perceptible.

- "What's wrong little one? Isn't the soup to your liking?"

- "No sir, that's not it. It's very good, I just think my tongue is a little strange"

- "Don't worry, it may be that the temperature of the broth is very strong and has burned your tongue. It happens to me very often, but give it a few minutes and you will feel better." – On that wrinkled face with graying eyebrows, the man's expression seemed calm as if he were talking to a family member.

As the minutes passed while we talked, I learned that his name was Takahiro; a man who had had a good life and a family that adored him, until the economic recession hit in the 90's and with it he had lost everything. After being ruined, that family that seemed to love him completely turned its back on him.

A few months after his company closed, his wife asked him for a divorce, taking his daughter with her.

Listening to him tell me his story, I couldn't help but remember the situation my mother's family went through when they had to face the Watanabe. Making the expression on my face change to one of anger, drawing the attention of the old man.

- " Yoshino -san, I'm sorry to bother you by telling you about this old man's bitter experiences. "You are still too young for an old geezer like me to discourage you about the future."

- "Isn't that Takahiro-san! It's just that, listening to it, it made me remember a little of what I've experienced" - Squeezing the bowl of soup in my hands, I lowered my face to hide my desire to cry, feeling how Takahiro's hand rested on my head giving me a few pats to comfort me like a child.

- " Haruka -san Do you have a place to return to? The rain is about to start and I fear that this little cardboard house may be uncomfortable for you due to the coldness of the night."

- "Yes, in fact, I think I should go now. I thank you for all your kindness…" – I suddenly began to feel dizzy, making everything spin around me, making me collapse on the cardboard floor.

Unable to stand up, Takahiro approached me, holding my shoulders while he had a panicked expression on his face. Even though I saw how his lips moved, in my ears I could only hear a hum like the static on televisions when the transmission signal has been lost.

- "Critical condition warning! The magical core in the host organism is unstable; "vital signs will begin to collapse in 30 seconds, the host is required to authorize the gluttony mechanism" - That mysterious system voice echoed in my head like the loud sound of an explosion, while I felt how each of my blood vessels were throbbing rampantly. making the veins in my skin begin to show.

Panicked, I accepted the option that system offered me and at that moment I felt like a thin thread in my mind was completely broken.

- " Yoshino -san, please resist! I'll go get help, just stay lying down and breathe deeply" – When Takahiro got up to go for an ambulance, my hand instinctively reached for his wrist, pulling him hard until his body fell on top of mine.

As if I were a wild beast, my senses had been refined to the point that the aroma of his body and the temperature of his skin made me salivate. My gaze focused on the veins in his neck, so pulsating that the subtlety of his heartbeat was evident to my eyes.

- " Yoshino -san?" – Without being aware of what was about to happen, Takahiro had an expression of anguish in his eyes, while I saw my deformed face reflected in his pupils like that of a corpse that was decomposing.

Holding him tightly by the back of his neck, I brought Takahiro's neck to my mouth, giving him a strong bite on the throat. Peeling off part of his skin while blood began to gush violently, splashing the cardboard walls. Struggling desperately to free himself from my grasp, the old man's body convulsed violently, kicking as he threw punches at my face.

A few seconds after I tore his carotid artery, the old man lost the little strength he had due to the impulse of adrenaline, and his corpse fell lying next to me. Continuing my bestial maelstrom, I tore off his shirt and began to open his thorax with my hands, plunging my face into his viscera, chattering my teeth against his warm spleen and liver, while the fluids slid down my throat, seeming to me like a delicacy.

With the rain falling from a downpour outside, the sound of the water completely silenced the barbarism that was being committed inside the small cardboard house, while the rest of the homeless people were sleeping without realizing what was happening.

The moment I regained my sanity, my conscience made me fall to the ground while I tried to wipe the blood from my face with the sleeves of my blouse. Only making that viscous, almost dry substance more muddy against my skin, while my tears did not stop flowing as I saw Takahiro-san's face with the expression in his eyes lost in the void.

I had killed a man; It had not only killed him, but had also almost devoured him completely like a hungry beast dominated by its most primitive instincts. Faced with the weight of that terrible revelation, I panicked and ran out of the small cardboard house, leaving the corpse of my benefactor abandoned.

The cold rain that fell so heavily on me, I couldn't feel it completely. That heavy curtain of water did not allow me to see clearly what was in front of me, causing me to fall on more than one occasion while my bare feet got wet with the cold water of the pavement.

I didn't know how I got to my apartment, I honestly didn't pay attention to my surroundings as I ran desperately like a scared animal in the middle of the rain. Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, when I turned on the light I could clearly see all the blood that was even covering part of my hair.

Desperate to get rid of all that dirt, I undressed, tore my clothes and got into the shower, letting the water run all over my body while I scrubbed hard until my skin hurt.

With my mind collapsed from everything I had done, I sat on the floor of the shower crying in a fetal position, letting the water run, leaving those thin crimson threads on the floor tile that went down the drain.

For a week after that night, I didn't leave my apartment. On my cell phone, missed calls from Akiko -san and the school counselor accumulated, saturating the phone's memory; while I could only tremble in my bed, covering myself with the blanket and the curtains of the closed windows.

The first three nights of my confinement, I couldn't sleep at all. When I closed my eyes in exhaustion, the vivid memory of Takahiro's inert face made me wake up trembling, causing me to grab my arms in panic.

The days following my panic attacks, my mind spent the night in the midst of auditory hallucinations, confusing them with messages from that sinister system that seemed to enslave me with every second.

Added to that, from the moment I died at the hands of that mysterious enemy, Luxfera disappeared without leaving any trace and on my cell phone the contract that I had signed disappeared without leaving any trace.

Had it all been a dream? I repeated that question in my mind, trying to call Luxfera out loud at times without getting a response; leading me to think that my mother's death had upset my mind, leaving me crazy.

On the seventh day of my confinement, when night fell I felt my stomach growl due to hunger. Barely surviving by drinking tap water, the food I had in the refrigerator was gone and only the empty refrigerator shelves remained.

Gathering some courage, I dressed to go outside to look for something to eat at the convenience store; putting on a hoodie and a mask, trying not to be recognized on the street in case someone had seen me the night I murdered the homeless man.

Because I had stopped paying attention to the hours of the day, when I opened the door to my apartment the sky was completely dark. On my cell phone the clock showed eleven at night and the sky was completely clear.

With my hands stuffed in the pockets of my sweatshirt, I walked with my face down the street, hiding my illness with a slight clearing of my throat when someone passed by me. Fortunately, people were somewhat wary of getting sick, after a strong infectious outbreak that occurred last year, helping me not to pay attention to my face.

At that time of night Akiko -san was not in the store, so she was not afraid of being recognized by her, but there was still the boy who covered the night shift. Even though he had only been working for a few weeks, that boy had a good memory and it was easy for him to recognize the faces of regular customers.

Pausing briefly in front of the door of the store, I gathered my courage and entered, heading directly to the back aisle where the prepared foods were; taking one of the baskets, filling it to the top with the containers without paying attention to what kind of food I was filling it with.

- "It's 6,700 yen in total. Do you want me to put everything together in one bag?" – Nodding silently to avoid being recognized, I put the money on the counter and took the bag quickly leaving the premises. Starting to run until I reached my apartment again, locking the door and throwing the food containers on the table to open them quickly.

Sinking my hands into the food, I brought the tips of my fingers filled with food to my mouth, trying to swallow the morsels frantically due to the hunger I was feeling at that moment.

Just as I had with the soup I ate that terrible night, my tongue felt numb to the taste sensations of the food. Feeling the pieces of food as if they were tasteless pieces of cardboard, my stomach soon began to have severe spasms, forcing me to run to the toilet to vomit up everything I had eaten.

- "What the hell is happening to me?" – Feeling cramps in my legs as I leaned with my arms on the toilet seat, I tried to pull the lever to let the water flow. But at that moment, a hand grabbed my hair and pulled me across the carpet to the floor of my room.

- "Long time no see Haru-chan. I am surprised to see you in this pathetic state, it is not like you" – Although my ears could recognize that familiar voice, the silhouette before my eyes was not that of a plump cat with fluffy paws. Instead, a feline-looking woman sat on my chest, placing her hands on my cheeks while her gaze stared into my eyes with great expectation.

- " Luxfera ? Is it you?"

"Bingo! A thousand points for good Haruka -chan."

- "Where the hell have you been, you damn lying cat? And what kind of appearance is this?" – With a pretentious smile, Luxfera caressed my face, passing her fingers through my hair. Slightly shaking his feline ears that contrasted with his humanoid face that still had the features of his cat form.

- "Come on, don't be angry Haru-chan, that moment that bastard pierced your chest I ran out to chase him to finish him off. But unfortunately I was not able to reach it and when I came back for you you were no longer where I had left you."

- "Who was it supposed to be that killed me?"

- "I can't tell you, it's not time yet girl . What I can reveal to you is that in addition to that guy there are others like him, so it will be dangerous for you to transform into a magical girl until you can stabilize your combat power."

- "Hang on a minute! "How are there more guys like him?" – Experiencing the same sensation prior to the attack that I committed against Takahiro, my head began to hurt, making me writhe on the ground while Luxfera grabbed me tightly by the wrists.

- " Stupid ! Have you not eaten fresh meat all these days?"

- "Fresh meat?"

- "Damn! It's my fault for not explaining it to you sooner, let me help you a little." – Extending his right hand against the air as if crossing a gap in an alternate space, Luxfera pulled out of that -

Without giving it time to let go, Luxfera tore off the animal's head with its jaws, spitting it against the wall. At the same time I let the warm blood of that living being flow over my lips, making me drink every drop of that reddish liquid that tasted as delicious as a delicacy to my palate.

- "Slow slow. Take it easy my little magical girl. This is a small gift from me to you who have been so good." – Dropping the carcass of that animal near my face, Luxfera let me go, letting my instincts flow wildly. Placing myself over the carcass of the animal, tearing every part of the meat, while growling like a hunting dog.

- "What is happening to me?" – Regaining my senses again, I fearfully dragged myself away from Luxfera while the astral entity approached me slowly walking until it squatted down.

- "Nothing bad is happening Haru-chan. You have only completed the requirements to become a full-fledged magical girl."

- "Requirements? What the hell are you talking about?"

- "Are you serious girl? When you accepted the contract I thought you had read all the clauses that were written in it. Especially the section on tanatos , a very important one if you allow me to say so"

- " Tanatos ? Do you mean the god of death?"

- "Indeed! I knew you were a very smart girl, my little Haruka -chan. Most people think that magical girls are beings whose powers come from stupid things like feelings of love and friendship. You know, that kind of nonsense that they write in shoujo mangas .

But the harsh reality is that the source of magic as such can only come from the barrier of the ephemeral. You know, on the other side." -Feeling my heart beating fast, I looked at my hands and on the back of my right hand I had a symbol with an inscription in archaic language.

- "On your right hand is engraved the seal of the contract that you signed with me, your faithful friend Luxfera . So I will be happy to be working with you from here in the future, my dear undead magical girl" – Bringing her face close to mine, Luxfera leaned her forehead and smiled once again with a sinister air. At the same time he took my right hand and placed a kiss on the symbol of the contract to which he had condemned me.