F-Rank Puppeteer!! But I'll be Queen, and I'm not a narcissist!!!!!

Chapter 332: A Proposal

"You look pretty beat up, Shizuka," Evelyn says, even though this is her fault. After she left, my father beat me terribly. I’m covered in bruises and have a black eye that I managed to cover with a bandage so no one would see.

"It’s your fault!! Y-You’re the reason this happened!!" I’m cornered in the college bathroom, seething with hatred for her. If she hadn’t been in my room, this wouldn’t have happened.

"Typical of a ’victim’ of the world, blaming everything around you. You know, I didn’t do anything. Your father is a piece of shit, and the blame is his, not mine," she says, sitting on top of the bathroom stall support.

"..."

"Why are you looking away so much?" she asks as I can’t bring myself to look up at her.

’W-Why the hell isn’t she wearing panties...’ I bite my lips in shame and disgust. Even though I hate her, something about seeing her from down here is exciting and causes strange sensations I don’t understand.

"J-Just go away, I-I’m trying to eat lunch." The bathroom is the only place I have to eat lunch without being bullied. If they see me talking to her, I’ll be in trouble again.

"...My clothing is something spiritual. It’s not exactly my choice," she says as if she knew exactly what I was thinking.

"I-If you know I can see, th-then why are you up there?"

"...Because whether it’s fear, despair, or lust, if you choose to serve me, I don’t care. Besides, something about your desire is... delicious." She licks her lips as if my pain is something she enjoys.

"Y-You’re a freak!!"

"...I understand why you’d say that, but I don’t mean it metaphorically, Shizuka. I mean it literally. Your despair has a flavor to me. I can taste your emotions, and even your desire is something that has a taste for me."

"But don’t worry, part of what you’re feeling is my fault. I’m a nymph, which is a spiritual being that instills desire in the observer. You’ve been living close to me, so obviously you’d be drawn in eventually," she says as if reciting scientific facts.

"Wh-What are nymphs?" I don’t know what that is.

"You don’t know?... I see. It seems that in this world, mythologically, they don’t exist. Well, it doesn’t matter. Just know that I’m a being of desire, a monstrous and destructive being of desire."

"But you’re lucky. I don’t like killing. If I were like other nymphs, you’d already be dead. But luckily for you, I already have the girl I love, and I’m not interested in luring other girls into a honey trap."

"And yes, I’m not wearing panties. I had noticed already. Apparently, my spiritual representation as a nymph is a girl without panties, maybe because it symbolizes how corrupt I am on the inside. Since I still have my dress on, it’s because my heart belongs only to Esther." She says things I don’t want to know, so I just try to finish my meal quickly without looking up.

"...You know, my heart belongs to Esther, but it’s just that... if you wanted to enjoy my image, I wouldn’t mind." She says something that makes me look up.

"What?"

"Shizuka, when you accept my help and come with me, the person who will be your guardian, your master, and your newest friend is a puppet that has my appearance. So I don’t care if you masturbate using my image. Go ahead." When she says that, I’m horrified.

"W-Why do you think I would do that!!?" I say quickly. I would never do that.

"Why wouldn’t you? I’m beautiful, don’t you think? And I really don’t care. Desires are totally normal in the end, aren’t they? Besides, it’s just you and me here. Why not try?"

"S-Stop!! Stop, stop!! Stop trying to corrupt my mind! I’m not going to listen to you, you demon—"

"Be quiet, someone’s coming into the bathroom." She silences me by placing a finger in front of her lips as she speaks.

"...Tsk..." I’m not a pervert. Why would I do that kind of thing thinking about the devil? I will never, ever, ever accept that! Even if she is beautiful.

"..."

"You’re too afraid of your desires, Shizuka. A shame, but hey, let’s not look at the negative side of things—"

"Seriously, why are you doing this?!" I whisper, angry at her insistence.

"Shizuka, look up. Look at me now," she says in a tone that makes me look, shivering. She moves her hand, gripping the iron support bar of the bathroom stall, and then squeezes. Immediately, the bar is crushed absurdly, making me shrink back.

"...H-How?" How did she do that?! Ghosts shouldn’t be able to interact so casually with the world like that!! I’ve never seen one do that!!

"If I wanted to kill you, I would kill you. If I wanted to force you to do something, I would force you. I’m genuinely trying to help you, to give you a better life. If the price of a better life is eternal servitude, is refusing it when your life is already garbage really a wise decision?"

"Look," she begins to lift the hem of her skirt, showing a mark on her belly, a strange drawing that somehow seems obscene.

"This mark is directly on my soul. It’s proof that I’m a slave to my ’goddess,’ someone I must obey. And do you think I’m happy? She’s someone quite tough, but now that she has total control over me, she has no reason to be cruel to me."

"I’m bound to her partly by choice, partly forced by circumstance. You’re the same. I’m giving you a better chance than the one I had, so is refusing really worth it?"

"Do you think living eating hidden in a bathroom like a rat is better than a life of eating real meals beside a guardian who will take care of you and be your friend? Do you think being beaten by a drunk father and hearing words of contempt from your mother is worse than living a stable life, with power and wealth, in exchange for serving me?"

"..."

"I know you have the courage to kill, Shizuka. You’ve already crossed the line of morality. Your diary makes that clear. So I know that even though you’ve never killed, you’d be a good soldier for me."

"What’s holding you back isn’t morality, it’s fear. You think you can achieve a better life through your own effort, but spoiler alert, you won’t. But you’re refusing to accept it."

"Do you think it’s fair for your parents to live well after selling you to a brothel? Do you think it’s fair for the people who bully you to graduate and become someone in life when you were dragged through the mud without that chance?" She says things that make me bite my lips.

"..."

"You’re not going to say anything? I know it’s a complicated choice, and I won’t rush you into it. You don’t trust me, and I wouldn’t trust a proposal like this either."

"But understand one thing, you have a choice, Shizuka. And just the fact that you can choose between two bad options already puts you above what I got, since I didn’t even have a choice about what I had to do." She says painful things.

"...Y-You... you’re not being fair to me..."

"Right, I’m not fair. After all, I’m not God. As you yourself said, I’m the ’Devil.’ I’m a demon offering a good deal in exchange for a cost that I want."

"It’s pure supply and demand, but Shizuka, as your life gets worse, two things can happen. I can reduce the benefits I’m offering, or I can deduce that you’re useless and leave."

"And the moment I leave, I’m sure you’ll regret not having accepted me, because guess what? No one cares about you. Your parents, your classmates, the police, the world, and God, no one cares about your pathetic life."

"No one but me, who saw value in you and wants that value for myself while it’s useful. This spark I’m seeking is fading, and my time is valuable and limited."

"...You... you’re so mean." I start to cry, trying to wipe the tears with my hands, but there are too many tears, so they start dripping onto my skirt and food tray.

"Yes, I’m mean... I’m a ruthless, narcissistic, toxic Demon Queen. So this is the only way I know how to be. If you can’t handle it, I don’t care."

"But tell me, haven’t you ever dreamed of this? A better life while the people who hurt you pay the price? Every dream has a cost. Growing in life takes effort. Becoming beautiful takes dedication. Getting money takes cunning."

"Nothing is free. So if you want my help, your soul is the currency that pays for all the benefits you’ll gain without effort, dedication, or cunning."

"H-How can I know if I’ll get wh-what I want? A-And how can I know i-if I really want that!? I-It’s not fair or b-balanced to c-condemn my soul for something I don’t even know is what I want!!" I say, trying to stop crying but failing.

"...Then start by testing it. Let’s make an exchange. You masturbate here in the bathroom right now. Feel what it’s like to have pleasure. And if you do it, I will kill one of the girls who bullies you. Tomorrow, you’ll have the news that she was found dead. No witnesses, no evidence, just a dead body."

"And if you do well, I’ll make sure her death is slow and painful. But understand, that death will be your fault. I’m being the blade that will move when you give your ’blood,’ symbolically speaking."

"..."

"It’s a small deal, no expensive price, and one you can feel you’ll regret. It’s a lot less costly than giving your soul for eternity, isn’t it?"

"...I-I... I-I’ll accept... th-this deal..."