Chapter 320: The First Good Night She Ever Said, and the First Good Night She Ever Heard

She closed her eyes, trying to drive the distracting thoughts from her mind.

Just then, the sounds of that sleazy bitch next door entertaining clients rang out again, accompanied by the rocking bed and the women’s frantic cries.

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The soundproofing here couldn’t block those blush-inducing noises at all, leaving Vivi even more restless. She could only scrub faster and harder.

But when she scrubbed certain places, she still couldn’t help pausing for a moment, her tail lashing irritably back and forth.

—Usually, when the noise from next door stressed her out, she could at least find some way to relieve it on her own… But how the hell was she supposed to do that now, with someone sharing her five senses? How was she supposed to get off!

………

A little while later.

Vivi came out of the bathroom, hooked her large, round-framed glasses over with her tail, and put them on. Then she looked at the school uniform draped over the battered dryer.

Her eyesight was perfectly fine. The glasses were simply her only way to connect with the outside world.

A notification promptly popped up on the lenses.

【Warning: Insufficient balance.】

She reached out and felt the fabric of her uniform. Sure enough, it was still damp.

“Tsk.”

Vivi pursed her lips, wincing at the expense. But seeing that her balance had skyrocketed, she operated the system panel, paid ten credit points for electricity, and tossed the uniform into the dryer to run it again.

After all, wearing a uniform was one of Fourth Middle School’s rules.

Graduation season was just around the corner. The last thing she wanted was to cause trouble over her clothes at a time like this.

While the dryer ran, Vivi picked up an old hair dryer she’d scavenged from a trash heap, its casing chipped and peeling, and started drying her hair.

Looking at the clean white-haired girl in the mirror, she instinctively examined herself.

She was a little thin from long-term malnutrition, with every rib clearly visible, but her underlying features weren’t actually that bad.

Her skin was fair and smooth, and her features were undeniably pretty. Her white hair was in good condition, too, and magical girl training had given her legs just the right amount of muscle… She even had visible abs.

“……”

As if remembering something, Vivi unconsciously lifted her chest with one hand.

—And even though she ate so little, there was still a bit of weight there…

If she had money someday, she could afford high-grade nutrition fluids and magic potions. Once her level improved, she’d surely keep developing…

Would her own treasure chest get as big as that woman’s, too?

And who knew if that woman had just changed her size herself!

Hmph. Once she became a magical girl, her looks and figure would be second to no one!

After drying her hair, the white-haired girl went back to the bedroom, changed into a relatively clean set of pajamas, and sprawled out on the hard bed, arms and legs spread wide.

She stared blankly at the ceiling for a while, then suddenly realized…

She still didn’t know the name of the girl living inside the sphere.

Vivi looked at the metal sphere sitting by her bedside, still spotless after the entire night, and couldn’t help reaching out to touch the orange-yellow gem.

“Hey, what’s your name? Do you remember?”

“Teresa.”

“Teresa…”

The white-haired girl repeated the somewhat unfamiliar name several times, then replied, “I’m Vivi. I don’t care who gave me that name, it’s mine. If it’s hard to say, just call me ‘hey’ or ‘V.’”

Then she took a deep breath. “You made a contract with me because you want something from me, right?”

—Of course, she’d heard of contracts.

Ordinary people like her could never meet a legitimate contract beast. The only chance was during the final stage of the magical girl exam.

But even from the bits and pieces she’d heard through online rumors, contracts were serious business.

They said demons lured desperate people into making contracts with them, demanded sacrifices, and eventually devoured them, skin and bones. And plenty of illegal contract beasts were shady in their own right.

After all, even a three-year-old in Neon City knew there was no such thing as a profitable deal for nothing, let alone Vivi, who’d scraped by at the bottom for so long.

These beings offered things that seemed wonderful only to get even more in return.

And given the incredible abilities the other party had shown… Vivi couldn’t even imagine that someone like her, a stray dog from the bottom, was actually worth choosing.

So what was she really after?

There was no such thing as a free lunch in this world. The price of fate’s gifts had already been secretly marked behind the scenes.

But…

Whatever the case, what was done was done.

On the way back, Vivi had already steeled herself.

That metal sphere before her was probably the only chance she’d ever have to turn her life around.

As long as she could become a magical girl and climb out of this pit, she was willing to trade anything else she had to the other party, except her life.

In the darkness, Vivi waited tensely for a reply, her heart pounding.

And yet…

The next moment, all she heard was a light, casual remark:

“Oh. Let me use your glasses for the night. I want to look something up online.”

“……?”

Vivi froze, all the words she’d been working up to say getting stuck in her throat.

That was it? Her glasses?

Oh, right… She’d said she had amnesia.

She didn’t know anything because of her amnesia, so she was just figuring things out as she went. She hadn’t even thought it through? Damn it, whether it was true or not, that sounded infuriatingly reasonable…

Vivi took off her glasses and set them beside the sphere, suddenly feeling completely drained.

Once she finally relaxed, the fatigue and sleepiness she’d been accumulating for so long surged over her like a tide.

She’d already been losing sleep over her debts lately, and today, in a danger-filled junkyard, she’d pushed herself to the absolute limit.

She was exhausted enough to want to die.

“Use them if you want…”

Looking at the beautiful orange-yellow gem, Vivi’s eyelids grew heavier and heavier.

But just before she finally fell asleep, she suddenly remembered a word she’d only ever seen in online short dramas, and had never had the chance to say to anyone.

Her lips parted and closed once. In a seemingly casual, natural mumble, she said, “Good night.”

Lin Guang calmly replied, “Good night.”

“……”

It was the first time in Vivi’s life that anyone had ever said those words to her.

It gave her a feeling she couldn’t quite describe.

Before long, the only sounds left in the dim room were the girl’s steady, lingering breaths and the rapid flicker of light across the lenses of her large, round-framed glasses.

————————

Beep beep beep.

The morning alarm went off right on time.

“Mmm…”

The white-haired girl sleepily reached out and patted around on the bedside table. She couldn’t find her glasses, but her hand brushed against something smooth and metallic.

“…!!”

She suddenly jolted awake and opened her eyes, seeing the metal sphere.

After a brief daze, an indescribable wave of emotion welled up inside her.

—So everything that happened yesterday hadn’t been a dream after all!!