Witch's Pranks

A faceless face appeared before the middle-aged man, frightening him so badly that his legs went weak and he collapsed onto the ground. His eyes bulged wide as his legs trembled uncontrollably.

"Y-you... you..."

The middle-aged man pointed at the girl with a trembling finger, unable to say a single word.

"Pfft! Hahahaha!"

Suddenly, the twin-tailed girl with no facial features grabbed a corner of her face with one hand and tore it backward. The faceless skin came off, revealing her true appearance.

The middle-aged man stared blankly. It was a normal face with delicate features, wide almond-shaped eyes, and a beauty mark like a teardrop at each outer corner of her eyes, making her look exceptionally alluring.

Pinching the fake face in her fingers, the girl spread her arms and said cheerfully:

"Ta-da! Prank successful!"

The twin-tailed girl's silver-bell laughter reached the middle-aged man's ears. Once he came to his senses, his face immediately flushed red. He scrambled to his feet and pointed angrily at her.

"You little brat! Playing ghost in the middle of the night—aren't you afraid someone will kidnap you?"

The girl was not angry at all. Instead, she leaned closer and whispered:

"Then, Mister, are you going to kidnap me?"

"Get lost!"

The middle-aged man angrily packed up his briefcase and prepared to head home, unwilling to get tangled up with the girl any further.

"But I don't have a home. I'm telling the truth."

The twin-tailed girl's voice came from behind him. Her previously lighthearted voice had suddenly become low and heavy.

The middle-aged man paused for a moment. Without turning around, he continued walking forward.

Before long, he slowly came to a stop.

Unknowingly, the girl had followed behind him, always keeping a certain distance, looking cautious and timid.

The middle-aged man remained silent and turned around.

He looked directly at the girl some distance away and beckoned to her.

Seeing that, the girl walked over.

Once she approached, the middle-aged man steadied his emotions before asking:

"Why are you following me?"

"I..."

The girl held both hands close to her chest, lowering her eyes as she said:

"I came here from another province after fighting with my family and running away from home. When I got here, my phone and luggage were stolen, so I was crying by the roadside."

After hearing her story, the middle-aged man did not know whether she was telling the truth. But seeing her pitiful expression, which did not seem fake, he decided to continue.

"Then why did you scare me earlier?"

"Because... I wanted to make a deeper impression on you."

The girl explained earnestly.

Haha, it definitely left an impression. I almost pissed myself.

The middle-aged man's mouth twitched. He could not understand how young people thought these days.

He looked at the girl before him and fell silent for a long time. Finally, he took a deep breath.

"Then come with me. You can stay at my place for the night."

"Really? Mister, you're so nice!"

The twin-tailed girl threw both hands into the air and shouted excitedly.

Watching her cheerful appearance, the middle-aged man unconsciously curled his lips into a faint smile, feeling as though his corpse had warmed up a little.

The girl followed the man into an old apartment building. Under the dim corridor lights, the two went upstairs.

When they reached the fourth floor and stopped before Room 404, the middle-aged man took out his keys and opened the door. The girl followed him inside.

It was a simply furnished studio apartment. A five-foot-wide bed stood beside the entrance, a basic computer desk sat at the foot of the bed, and a small sofa was placed in the open space opposite the desk. A few more steps inside led to the kitchen and bathroom.

"The room's pretty small, so just make do and sleep here."

The middle-aged man pointed at his bed and spoke to the girl without looking back.

The girl looked around and sniffed. The room was a little messy, but there was no strange odor.

She glanced at the middle-aged man's back, then narrowed her eyes and said in a slightly teasing tone, "Mister, there's only one bed. If I sleep there, where will you sleep?"

Without giving it much thought, the middle-aged man pointed at the small sofa.

"Isn't there a sofa?"

"But Mister, don't you have work tomorrow? If you sleep on the sofa, won't you be sleep-deprived?"

The girl blinked as though she were worried about him.

The middle-aged man froze at that and turned to look at her.

Meeting his probing gaze, the girl clasped both hands behind her back, leaned forward, and softly said:

"You gave me a place to stay, but I have no way to repay you. How about..."

As she spoke, she leaned close to his ear and breathed out:

"How about you sleep on the bed?"

The man's eyes immediately widened in surprise.

"You..."

Seeing his reaction, the girl's eyes narrowed with smug delight.

However, in the next moment, the man said in pleasant surprise:

"You want to switch with me, right? Fine, since you're being so considerate, I'll sleep on the bed and you can sleep on the sofa."

"...?"

The girl's expression froze, and her body stiffened in place.

In the end, when she saw the man begin making the bed and toss the blanket onto the sofa, she stomped her foot in dissatisfaction.

What the man did not know was that a miniature camera on the girl's chest faithfully recorded everything before it.

[Guno's Livestream Room]

[Dammit, I wanted to see the man and the girl... hehehe!]

[Is the rest pay-per-view?]

[Where are the moderators? Isn't this blatant sexual innuendo? Why hasn't the stream been banned?]

[This is a dark web livestream. Where did this little lamb come from?]

[Waaah, my wife, you're not really planning to sleep with this man, are you?]

...

After that, whenever the man returned home late at night, the unfamiliar twin-tailed girl would get up to welcome him and have a meal ready for him. This continued for several days.

As they spent time together, the man gradually grew accustomed to her presence. Even the resentment brought on by daily overtime faded considerably whenever he saw the lively, caring girl.

He could not help thinking how wonderful it would be if such days could continue.

"Bzzzz—vrrrrr."

The sound of a chainsaw echoed throughout the room.

The man lay in a pool of blood, his eyes trembling as he looked at the girl standing before him with a chainsaw raised in both hands, though he had no idea where she had gotten it.

Why?

Why did the girl before him suddenly want to kill him? Had all her previous tenderness been an act?

Before his death, the middle-aged man's face was filled with confusion.

Coldness. Too much blood loss. His vision darkened.

Despair.

"Mmm~ The taste of despair. So pure, so delicious."

The twin-tailed girl held the chainsaw in one hand. Her nose twitched as she took a deep breath, and a satisfied smile appeared on her pretty, blood-spattered face.

"Stepping out from endless loneliness, relying on another lonely soul, only to be personally pushed into hell by that very soul just before reaching the reassuring paradise ahead."

"This kind of despair is the most intoxicating!"

Guno the Witch, her black twin tails hanging down, spread her arms and lifted her head toward the low ceiling, wearing an utterly twisted grin.

After laughing wildly for a while, she suddenly seemed to remember something and lowered her head to look at the fallen man.

"Oh, right. I can't let him actually die."

As she spoke, she took a black lump of flesh from her bosom.

She skipped over to the middle-aged man, crouched down, and placed the flesh lump on his chest.

As if guided by something, the Abyssal Core on his chest unfurled several black flesh tendrils from the lump. They pierced straight into the middle-aged man's chest and burrowed deep into his gradually ceasing heart.

"Thump."

Moments later, a heartbeat suddenly sounded. The completely motionless middle-aged man's body jolted against the floor.

Then the middle-aged man abruptly opened his eyes. They were as black as ink, and a pained roar came from his mouth.

"As expected, an overworked office-worker uncle with such heavy resentment produces excellent monster matter after falling into despair."

Staring at the middle-aged man's constantly changing body, the Witch smiled in satisfaction once more.

At that moment, she suddenly recalled his behavior over the past few days. She had given him all sorts of hints more than once, yet he had never crossed the line even once.

She shook her head and narrowed her eyes at the man, who had completely transformed into a Monster.

"Kindness... how laughable."

"This is what you should look like!"

The miniature camera on the girl's chest faithfully recorded all of this...

Guno the Witch sat atop an apartment building, checking her earnings from the past few days.

On Harvest Day, her total earnings had exceeded five hundred thousand.

"Hehehe~"

Looking at the proceeds, she happily hummed an unknown tune. At her side followed a Monster whose entire body was pitch-black.

As she scrolled through her phone, the girl happened to see performance announcements released by various rising-star Magical Girls while browsing the Rising-Star Warm-Up Competition.