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…