Want to be human, but cube-like

But Xiangzi still gently shook his head.

"Excuse me, where is the restroom?"

She clearly remembered what Alex had said before, that she kept her clothes in the bathroom.

"Hmm...it's right next door."

Alex, feeling slightly disappointed, stopped insisting.

"If you want to leave, just keep going down the stairs to the bottom floor, and you'll find the burger joint."

After saying that, she left the room.

Alex, preoccupied with finding a nice decorative item for the front desk, seemed oblivious to something.

What Toyokawa Shoko cannot accept is her current act of taking in and protecting her, which is like charity, and is an act that could potentially endanger others after being targeted by a monster.

If she hired him under the pretext of a hamburger shop employee position, allowing Xiangzi to stay temporarily, she might increase her chances of success by a little.

But clearly, Alex will not get what she wants.

After all, she had never considered paying the other party a salary.

…………

PS: Is 1.8 meters still too tall? Actually, in the original game, Steve and Alex were the same height, 1.85 meters, but I felt it was too tall, so I cut it a little.

Would it be better to change it to 1.7 meters? Or should we just leave it as is?

Let's change it to 1.73 meters. That height should be just right. Since there aren't many chapters yet, it's easy to change it now, but it will be much more troublesome to change it later.

Volume 1: Chapter 8 Miracles Also Come at a Price

"Click."

With a slight movement of the handle, the door closed, and the hinges clicked shut.

The room returned to silence.

Toyokawa Shoko's tense body gradually relaxed.

She stared at the closed door until she heard another door close outside, then she stood up.

Barefoot, she walked to the window. Outside the clear glass window was a pitch-black night, the darkness casting a somber shadow on the girl's face.

"...Kuei?"

She spoke softly.

"are u there?"

For a long time, there was no other movement in the quiet room.

With her eyes lowered, Xiangzi recalled an encounter not long ago that she had always mistakenly believed to be an illusion, a figment of her imagination.

This was not the time when he met Alex.

Rather, it was much earlier than that.

……

"Would you like to make a contract with me and become a magical girl?"

I've forgotten which afternoon it was.

A strange creature that looked exactly like a kitten appeared in front of her.

It has pure white fur, crimson eyes, a fluffy tail that is larger than its body, long fur hanging down to the ground from its ears, and golden rings on the fur on both sides.

It's the kind of image that little girls would see and exclaim how cute it is and then hug.

But it began to speak human language.

No, it should be said that it somehow made its voice heard in other people's minds.

After all, we didn't see its mouth move at all.

It's like a mascot that appears in an animated film.

It calls itself "Khubi".

"In exchange, I can grant you one wish."

Even the words they spoke sounded like something out of an animated film.

The innocent little girl would surely be overjoyed and eager to agree.

But Toyokawa Shoko is no longer the naive and weak girl she once was.

"desire?"

Oh, she remembered. It was probably an afternoon when she had just finished a part-time job and was preparing to look for her next one.

It was raining.

The rain wasn't heavy; even if you ran out like that, it would only make your hair and shoulders a little wet.

But she didn't have the luxury of doing so.

After all, she might have to present herself in a clean and decisive manner to the person who would be paying her.

And so, Xiangzi, who was trapped in front of the convenience store, made eye contact with this strange white creature that she had intended to ignore.

"Can I have any wish?"

These are the delusions and fantasies that are born from the remaining weakness in one's own heart.

"Your wish can come true, no matter what it is."

Like an unreasonable deus ex machina, everything can be solved with just a slight request.

"Can it rekindle the fighting spirit of someone who has given up on themselves?"

"sure."

It's as if you're casually negating a person's will.

"Can you acquire wealth that you can never spend in a lifetime?"

"sure."

It's as if they want to trample on all the efforts everyone has made so far and laugh at them.

"Can even the dead be resurrected?"

"sure."

Like a miracle that comes without cost.

It's utterly ridiculous.

"So, what's the price?"

She lowered her head and gazed at the ripples that kept appearing on the ground.

The first raindrops fall, striking the ground and breaking into fragments that splash up repeatedly, only to be shattered one by one by the next, in a continuous cycle, like a reincarnation.

The reason why Toyokawa Shoko is in her current situation may be partly due to the injustice of fate, and perhaps also partly due to the mistakes of her parents.

But more than anything, it's the stubbornness of a young girl.

It was her dignity, her unwillingness to abandon her father so heartlessly.

If Toyokawa Shoko didn't care about her father's feelings at all, she could have let him just stay alone in that cramped rented room, drowning his sorrows in alcohol, rotting away until he was forgotten by everything.

If she were willing to set aside her pride, she could easily ask her former companions, her past 'community of fate,' for alms, or seek help from her childhood sweetheart, her 'other half.'

He even went back to his family to apologize and plead for his father.

Go and become Toyokawa Shoko, no longer Toyokawa Shoko.

Why stoop to fantasizing and chasing after a baseless and unbelievable wish or miracle?

She knew all too well that there were no miracles in this world that came without a price.

That's something that only exists in children's fantasies, fictional stories, and adults' lies.

So, what about this strange creature in front of us who calls himself Cupid?

Is it a fantasy, a story, or a lie?

"After becoming a magical girl, you have to fight against witches, which are monsters that can harm ordinary people."

It sounds like a child's fantasy.

How appealing is it to have an absolutely achievable wish and the chance to become a hero and save the world?

Naturally, now that I have nothing left, the only thing that can be plotted against is this body.

It's an obvious attempt.

"I reject."

She closed her eyes, ignoring Cupid's incessant chatter in her mind.

"The rain has finally stopped..."

Another voice came from beside him, which made Xiangzi open his eyes.

It was a female employee at the convenience store, putting the signboard that had been taken down to prevent it from getting wet in the rain back outside.

The pattering rain gradually subsided, and sparse sunlight broke free from behind the dark clouds, casting its rays onto the ground and refracting the puddles of all sizes into a kaleidoscope of colors.

Turning my head, I saw that the strange white creature had vanished.

"So, it really was an illusion?"

……

In the restroom, looking at himself in the mirror, Xiangzi pulled his wandering thoughts back.

It was an experience that was practically like a hallucination.

Even now, when Xiangzi thinks back on it, he still believes that it was just something he imagined because he still had a weak heart.

But today, she actually encountered the monster that Kyubey described as capable of harming ordinary people.

Witch.

Or was she really a witch?

If what Alex said is true, then she defeated the monster simply by being an ordinary person.

and……

Xiangzi touched the mark on her lower abdomen again, gazing at the witch's kiss that looked like a tattoo.

How did Alex, this strange girl, know that this thing is called Witch's Kiss?

She wasn't aware of the connection between all of this; she simply compared what Alex had said about the witch's kiss with what Kyubey had said, as well as everything she had seen in the alley, and naturally made a guess in her mind.

But no matter what, Xiangzi understood that she shouldn't stay here any longer. Even if Alex did have the ability to deal with monsters, the fact that she knew nothing about magical girls meant that she was just an ordinary person.

Regardless of the effects of this witch's kiss, as long as I stay here, there is a possibility of bringing others into danger.

Toyokawa Shoko could not accept this.

After quickly changing back into his own clothes, Xiangzi walked to the stairs and headed straight down.

She remembered Alex saying that if you went down to the bottom floor, you could leave the burger shop.

But what's with this wooden door in front of us?

Looking at the slightly dim stairwell, Xiangzi hesitated for a moment before looking up at the floors above.

She went down four floors, and then there were no more stairs. This floor should be the ground floor. She hadn't paid much attention before, and Xiangzi couldn't remember how many floors the hamburger shop was now.

Let's open the door and take a look first. If it's a mistake, then we can go back.

"So dirty..."

Avoiding the spider webs overhead, Xiangzi carefully pushed open the wooden door.

"……Eh?"

But the scene that came into view made her eyes widen in surprise.