Chapter 6: A Demon

“Haah—Huff... Haa-Haa... Holy cow! That woman is horrifying!” I was lying on the floor of my living room, catching my breath. I feel like my lungs are about to explode.

Irene whom I met earlier at the park has no plans of letting me go, so I devised an excuse of the good ol’ nature calls. Irene accepted that excuse and she did release me from her clutches. However, she followed me all the way to the restroom, waiting patiently outside.

When I saw that, I immediately climbed into a narrow window in the restroom stall. After escaping to that window, I run all the way home despite my tiredness. Why did I escape? Who wouldn’t escape from someone who doesn’t want to let you go, and saying about taking care of me and absurdly scary statements about killing my parents? I have a functioning brain, for the love of God. I ain’t going nowhere near that woman ever again. Pretty boys like me are prone to those types of women, better to be sure than say regret it later.

Nah-uh, this pretty boy would rather do the ravaging than to get ravaged by some sexy woman.

Now that I think about it... It ain’t that bad.

Lying on the floor, my stomach started making some grumbling noises. I haven’t eaten my breakfast yet. Furthermore, I can’t lift up my body and my legs gave out.

How could I even get to the kitchen?

The answer is by dragging myself to the kitchen. However, when I’m almost about to reach the kitchen, the doorbell rang, which infuriated me.

“Come on! I’m almost there!”

Thus, I forced myself to stand up with wiggly legs that are unable to support my body. This flimsy, weak body really needs to buff a little. Or else, I won’t last for weeks if I exercised daily. Finally reaching the door, I opened the door slowly. It’s Stephanie standing behind the door, all dressed up in her casual clothes.

Noticing my poor condition, her eyes widened, and she became anxious, raising her voice. “What the hell happened to you!?”

“I just went outside to take some fresh air—”

“Oh, my god!”

Then I started falling forward, but Stephanie immediately caught me. Her eyebrows are knitted together while supporting me. My arms are around her shoulders. She immediately entered my house and put me on the sofa. After putting me down, I saw she’s carrying a little bag again.

“Thanks.”

“How the hell did you end up like this?”

“I want to be healthy, so I tried jogging. I didn’t expect that my body is this weak at all.”

“You don’t say... What do you expect? You don’t go out of your house. Every time we see you, you only bought junk foods. You’re weaker than an infant. And, you really did expect that your body is healthy?”

“I know, I know, you don’t need to throw it on my face. That’s why I wanted to change for the better.”

Stephanie placed the little bag that she’s carrying on the table and sat on the side of the sofa.

“That’s so unexpected. In a day, your personality and attitude completely changed. Spouting about maturity, but I can’t even see what part of you got matured.”

“Oh, please. Don’t talk like you’re older than me.”

“I am older than you!”

“You are?!”

“I am. You don’t know it because the only conversation we have is cursing at each other.”

“Ah. That makes a lot of sense now.”

“So what change your mind, on why you suddenly want to be healthy and not be a douchebag like you always used to be.”

Staring at the ceiling, I said. “I just want to live my fullest without any regrets. Mulling over my depression won’t take me anywhere, that’s why I want to live a life where I can die without any regrets. I finally got a scholarship at the Atlus Magic Academy. I still have 5 years of free time before that and I wanted least look healthy, not be treated as a living skeleton.”

“Ohh... I take back what I said earlier. You really did mature. Anyway, Mom asked you to eat dinner with us. And, she said that you need to stop eating those cup noodles from now on and just come eat with us.”

“She’s still saying that?”

“Of course.”

Stephanie’s mom would always go here and say those words to me weekly whenever she has free time. Despite my rude behavior, she didn’t mind and continued being kind to Claude. She’s a loving mother and caring person which made me remind of my own mother back from my world.

“Oh, please tell her I’m thankful for it. I’ll accept it. Thank you, Stephanie.”

Stephanie shivered in disgust. “Eeek! Feels too weird when you’re thanking me.”

“...”

After saying that, Stephanie stood up and rolled up her sleeves. “All right, where do you keep those cup noodles of yours?”

“It’s there right beside the refrigerator, the huge shelf there. Why did you ask?”

“Nothing, how’s your body?”

“I can’t move a single limb or even lift myself up. Why do you keep asking me?”

“Oh~ Nothing~ I’ll just dispose of it since you’re changing your lifestyle, right? You’ll be eating healthy stuff from now on, right? Those cup noodles of yours are useless now, right? I’ll take care of it for you since you can’t move, good neighbors help each other.” Stephanie’s evil grin got imprinted on my mind. Her eyes are not joking at all.

She’ll throw away my precious cup noodles!

“Nooo! I’ve got nothing else than my cup noodles! Please don’t throw it! It’s such a waste to throw it!” I yelled pleadingly, as I can’t even lift my upper body anymore. At the back of my mind, Stephanie was only doing this to get her revenge on the times I cruelly threw the little bag on her.

However, her eyes show that she’s determined on accomplishing her wicked goal of making me suffer. Stephanie continued disposing of my cup noodles, putting them in a black trash bag. Moreover, she’s deliberately making me watch all of this as she puts my poor babies in the bag slowly while having this irritating smirk on her face. That continued for a while. Of course, my response was my pleading request to her.

“No! My Chicken curry-flavored! I haven’t taken a taste of that yet! You cruel, sadistic, demon incarnated woman! How dare you do this to me!”

I’m not really fond of cup noodles, but I can’t help myself because they’re the only food I have and I’m broke. The only thing I can do right now is to watch all my food go to waste because of this demonic woman, right before my eyes.

After throwing all the food I have, Stephanie rubs her hands, then wiping out her sweats on her forehead. She practically carried the whole 2 bags full of cup noodles all by herself and threw them in the garbage dump on my front porch. I, on the other hand, gazing at the ceiling, thinking about my life choices and about prostituting myself to at least have some source of income.

I wonder if Irene could be my Sugar Mommy...

If I knew this would happen to me, I would have gone with Irene earlier...

You know, what’s more, cruel about disposing of my food? Stephanie went home, leaving me in here on my own accord. Before leaving me, she left these words to me.

“Don’t forget, lunch mom will be waiting or you won’t get to eat anything, poor you,” saying it, with her signature condescending smile.

Little B*tch

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After leaving me, I took a quick shower and ate the food that Stephanie’s mom made. Then I wandered around the garage once again, doing some simple exercise. While exercising, I started mulling over my thoughts about the storyline.

I’m an inferior person because I’m manaless, therefore my chances of acquiring a guardian would be flat zero. I’m hopeless in terms of fighting. That’s one of the biggest reasons Claude got exiled from his family because he’s inferior. One of the reasons, he started researching the world of the celestials and unveiling the secrets was because of his hatred towards them. He blamed them for why he’s suffering now.

I think Claude is not only a side character but a villain from just his personality...

Nevertheless, 5 years from now, the story will start with Shin searching for the apartment that his uncle bought for him. After that, he got a faith encounter with one of the first heroines to introduce in the game, Adelle Fabien. She’s the main heroine of the story, one of the greatest swordsmen in the world she’s called the sword princess. If I remember, her guardian was a pegasus. The name was Bellerophon. Its power was divine empowerment and enhanced physical abilities.

And the girl that I’m targeting. I know my chances are low, but it’s not bad to least try it. But before that, I need some information about unlocking one’s mana inside a person’s body.

Xeoz