Prologue
1.
I board the bus as it hurriedly pulls into the bus stop.
As the bus starts moving, I check the files saved on my phone.
College students during exam week are busy to an absurd degree.
"Phew."
I catch my breath for a moment and go over my schedule again.
Ever since I missed an exam in my first year because I arrived late, I’ve made a habit of going to school at dawn on exam days and claiming a spot in the library.
It’s still early morning, and the sun has only just risen. I yawn and pull a piece of chocolate out of my bag. I’ll get some sugar in me, and once I get to school, I can have a cup of coffee—
CRASH!!
Just as I’m about to, the bus slams into the guardrail and tumbles down the ravine.
2.
Everything in front of me is pitch-black. I can’t hear a thing, and I can barely move my right arm. I can’t feel anything below my waist.
Something keeps welling up in my mouth. From the trickling sensation, I can tell it’s a liquid.
I don’t think I’m going to make it.
Shit. I never thought I’d die in a bus accident…
< Hello, dying creature. >
Between my ragged breaths, I hear something that sounds like it’s calling to me. I try to lift my head, then stop. I remember I can’t see anyway.
< I can make sure you survive. >
I also remember what I was forced to learn from the Bible at my Christian school.
< Let’s make a contract. >
The devil always tempts you with a honeyed voice, they say.
< Make a contract with me and become a magical girl! >
Shit.
If I want to survive, I might as well do something like that.
3.
Blinking, I open my eyes to see a white ceiling.
I slowly raise both hands. I can clearly hear the soft rustle of my clothes, too.
I’m alive.
"Phew…"
Though the voice I hear is different from before,
though the hands before my eyes are slender and delicate,
At any rate, I’m alive.
Thank goodness.
Maybe it’s because I came so close to death. An overwhelming sense of relief washes over me.
I close my eyes for a moment in relief, then open them to see a sheet of paper fluttering down from midair.
< The contract has been fulfilled! Congratulations!
From now on, you are the magical girl Lapis Lazuli!
You have no other name from now on! >
…Could I use a different name?
That’s what I think, but my original name really is gone from my memory.
Even so, a gemstone name that long is a bit much...
< Contract terms: Become a magical girl and defeat the Demon King.
Deadline: None.
Upon success: Return to the moment you woke up on the day of the accident. >
It’s great that there’s no time limit. But wait, there really is a Demon King…?
Should I have realized that when they said I could become a magical girl?
< - Long pants are forbidden (including undershorts)
- Skirts must always be above the knees!
- No yuri sex
- If seduced by a man, you go into heat
- If conquered by a man, you’ll be sexually corrupted into a woman.
- Magical girls cannot get pregnant. >
Shit. You’ve got to be kidding me.
I clench my hand without thinking, crumpling the paper.
What the hell are these stupid-ass clauses? Weren’t I supposed to defeat the Demon King?
< Hoping you’ll be corrupted into a woman.
P.S-This contract may be amended only if 'Party A' obtains the consent of 'Party B'.>
What a shitty contract. If I hadn’t been on the verge of dying, I would’ve read it…!
I should’ve read the contract before stamping it…