The Three Deaths

第2話

The Three Deaths Chapter 2

The darkness engulfed her; it was heavy and thick. Black as ink. Everything around her felt murky and ominous, yet it somehow felt safe as well. Zina had grown accustomed to the darkness; it served to soothe her tired and aching bones. A side effect of dying is that you quickly get used to living in darkness. Zina knew that people had it all wrong. Just because darkness could hide any matter of baddies; that doesn't mean that's always the case. In an environment where anything can sneak up on you, Zina knew that nothing ever did. Zina found great peace and tranquility in the comfort of the murky darkness. Nothing could bother her here; nothing could hurt her.

Zina was suddenly snapped from her reverie by a voice ringing out through the vast emptiness.

"Are you okay?" the girl's voice asked.

"I think so," said Zina. She was startled by the unknown voice. She quickly regained her composure, though, and started assessing her situation. "Where am I?"

"The Void," is all the voice said.

"The Void?" Zina asks. It was different from when she died; it didn't feel the same.

"The place in between Life and Death. Some people call it Purgatory. It goes by many different names." The girl's voice rang out and seemed to fill the void left by the darkness. It was both comforting and timid, as well as demanding and daunting.

"And who are you?" Zina asks, trying to mask the trembling fear in her voice.

"Don't you know? I'm God. I'm kind of new at this, so sorry if I mess up. I was just voted in five hundred years ago," the voice echoed out across the vast darkness.

"The Afterlife is a democracy? Go figure." Zina says, slightly mockingly. Even in the face of God, she couldn't hide her sarcasm.

"Basically, yeah," she responded. If she noticed the sarcasm in her tone, she didn't show it.

"Cool. Hey, while I have you here, who the fuck was the guy who cucked Joseph and knocked up Mary?" Zina couldn't miss the opportunity to try and answer a question that had been nagging her for ages.

"Yeah, that was Earl. He was impeached shortly after that," the girl's voice said. Zina could note a hint of shame in her voice.

"Wait. Jesus' dad is some dude named Earl?" Zina asks incredulously.

"Yep. He's a meth dealer now. Mostly sells to demons," the deity's voice explained.

"Oh my God," Zina says to herself.

"Yes?" The voice asks.

"Sorry, I was just using your name in vain," Zina replies.

"Ah, no problem. I don't really mind that. Some of the old-guard really hated it, though," the young deity told her.

"So, what's your real name?" Zina had lost her fear, and her curiosity had fully taken over.

"I can't tell you that because... How can I say this? Let's just go with I can't. Also, remember that time is not fluid," she says with a snicker.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Zina asks, completely confused.

"Don't worry about it. Oh, by the way, keep an eye on Valentina," she tells her. Zina couldn't see where the omniscient voice was coming from, but she knew that the person behind it was grinning.

"Why? What do you know that you're not telling me?" Zina asks. She started to worry, wondering what her friend could be capable of.

"She's not what she seems; I mean, she is a great friend and will never betray you, but remember not to play with fire," the voice boomed out all around her.

"Why are you speaking this way? Just tell me!" Zina yells. She was not happy about being jerked around like this.

"I'm sorry. I can't. She has to learn slowly. I'm just giving you a hint," the voice says.

"Okay. I don't like it, but I'll take it," Zina says. She was annoyed but knew that battling with God wouldn't end well for her.

"It's not really gonna matter. You're gonna forget all of this in a little while. You will dream it over and over again, but when you wake up, you'll just remember having a terrifying nightmare," the voice told Zina.

"Well, that sucks," Zina replies.

"Yeah, being brought back from the dead really fucks with you mentally," the voice tells Zina. Zina could make out a hint of sympathy and sadness in her voice as she said this.

"Wait, am I going back to Earth?" Zina asks. She still had so many questions she wanted to ask. Even if she would not remember any of this afterward, she needed to know.

"Yep. In about five... Four... Three... Two... Bye!"

"AAGGGGHHHHH!!!" Zina yells as she shoots up in her bed. Covered in sweat, she looks at the clock next to her bed. It read 7:07 AM.

"I guess it's time to get up," she tells herself. Her mind was foggy as she tried to recall what woke her in such a fright.

Zina has little time to worry about her nightmare as the morning light falls on her body. She quickly jumps out of bed and heads toward her bathroom. She rushes past the countless anime wall scrolls that adorn her hallway. She reaches her bathroom and flings the door open. She is immediately greeted by the sight of a traditional tsunami drawing adoring her bathroom wall.

She runs into the bathroom and drops her pantsuit bottoms as she sits down to urinate. Her fancy tech-heavy Japanese toilet and bidet combo whirs to life in a mechanical hiss as it greets her good morning in Japanese. It's connected to her home WiFi, of course, so it also reads out her notifications and appointments for the day; in Japanese, obviously. Zina's mind is elsewhere as she empties her bladder. The shock of her nightmare is still racing through her veins, and she can feel her heart pounding in her cold, dead chest. She doesn't remember exactly what the nightmare was about, but she knows that it terrified her.

She's bathed in a cold sweat from tossing and turning all night. She can feel her dress shirt clinging to her, and it's starting to make her uncomfortable. Zina knows that no matter how hard she tries, she won't remember any pertinent details about her nightmare. She decides that the best course of action is to start the day off right.

Zina peels off her shirt and tosses it into the dirty hamper next to her. She foregoes the bidet, no matter how much the automatic toilet tells her to use it. Instead, she groggily makes her way toward her shower and pulls back her 'My Bride is a Mermaid' anime-inspired shower curtains.

"God, I hate this time of year," she says as she turns the water on. The shower comes to life as the warm waters of her showerhead pelt her head and wash away her sweat and fears. She lets the water roll down her body as she stands there with her hands against the wall for support. She watches as the water circles the drain at her feet and wash away the worries of the night before.

Zina reaches out and grabs the special soap her father Grant had specifically made for her. He manufactured it to not only leave her smelling like roses and not as if she were pushing up daisies, but it also kept her skin from falling off. She quietly hums 'Renai Circulation' as she showers and tries to scrub herself clean to the beat of the song. After going through the song a few times, she finally decides she's clean enough and steps out onto her Naruto shower mat; she enjoyed stepping on Sakura's face after a shower. She grabbed her Spy X Family Anya-adorned towel off the tower rack and dries herself.

Once she feels sufficiently dry enough, she wraps the towel around her hair and walks back to her bedroom, naked. She heads toward her dresser, which is decorated with more anime stickers than any sane person should ever have. She pulls open her underwear drawer and picks out a matching set of bra and panties. She decides on her special 'One Punch Man' underwear for the day; Saitama's face would adorn both her breasts and crotch for the day.

"This will do perfectly," she says to herself, smiling.

She slips her weeb underwear on and admires herself in her bedroom mirror for a second. After checking herself out for much longer than she should, she finally decides to get dressed and heads downstairs for breakfast. Zina's kitchen is somewhat normal: compared to the rest of her house. It is the only room not covered in anime memorabilia. It is painted a bright yellow with blue trim all around. It has that Southern Comfort feel to it, your typical Americana-styled kitchen. The only thing missing to make it a true cliché is to have an apple pie cooling on the windowsill.

Zina chuckles to herself at that thought and walks toward her refrigerator. Unable to fully hide how much of an otaku she is, she noticed her small collection of anime kitchen magnets as she got her breakfast ready. Zina pulled out a two-liter of Coke-A-Cola and a blue Tupperware container containing some leftovers.

She makes her way across the room to retrieve a frying pan from the cupboard. She places it on her electric stove and turns it on as she reaches for some olive oil. She coats the frying pan with a generous amount of oil, and empties the contents of the Tupperware container into it. She then reaches for the two-liter bottle of Coke and proceeds to chug the entire bottle in less than fifteen seconds.

"Ahhhh. So fucking good," Zina happily says to herself. She tries to hold a small burp back but is unsuccessful. Before she could excuse herself to absolutely nobody, she is stunned by a sudden sound.

DING DONG, the doorbell rang.

"Who the hell could that be before 8 AM?" Zina thinks to herself. She wasn't expecting any company this early in the morning.

Completely forgetting that she is not wearing anything but her underwear, she walks to the front door and looks out. Valentina is standing out there wearing a pink shirt and bleached-blue jean shorts.

Zina smiles at her and opens the door.

"Hey... You do know that you're in your underwear, right?" Valentina says, pointing at Zina's lower half.

"Ah, shit! Just... Just get in here before anybody else sees," Zina says, covering herself with her left hand and pulling Val in with her right.

After closing the door, she looks at Valentina and asks, "What the hell are you doing here so early in the day?"

"Well, it's that time of the year for you; I wanted to make sure you were okay," Val tells her. Zina could see the worry in her friend's eyes. It made her feel bad. She didn't want her problems to be her friend's problems as well.

"You could have just called," Zina says to her. She appreciated everything Valentina did for her, but she didn't want to bother her too much.

"You know me. I'm just nosy," Val says, smiling at Zina.

"Whatever. You want some scrabble?" Zina asks. She might have forgotten to put on her clothes, but she didn't forget her manners.

"You're never gonna make me eat that shit, you sick fuck. I'd rather eat the brains," Val says disgustedly. She never understood how her friend could put that garbage into her body: dead or not.

"Hey, scrabble is great! It's the best fucking food in the world. Okay... Maybe not as good as rice, but it's definitely a close second!" Zina says gleefully. The thing she missed the most about living in Japan was all the great rice dishes.

"Oh, please don't go on one of your rice rants," Val groans, turning her head away, annoyed. She knows that if Zina gets started on one of her famous rice rants, it is almost impossible to stop her.

"Rice is the food of the Gods!" Zina yells. She does not understand how people can not see how great rice is.

"You Japanese worship rice too much; it's weird. News flash, the rest of the world thinks you're crazy." Val tells her delusional friend.

"Shut up. Rice is the shit!" Zina exclaims. She loved Valentina but couldn't allow her to continue insulting the best food in the universe.

"I'm sorry to say, but chocolate is the real food of the Gods," Val says smugly.

"Whatever. We'll find you something to eat," Zina says. She walks back toward the kitchen with Val following closely behind her.

"Don't worry about it; I already ate. Sugar Smackers, of course. I could go for a snack, though." Zina wonders, if Valentina wasn't undead, would she have died because of diabetes by now?

Zina decides to make a quick omelet for Val and finishes frying her scrabble. She then grabs two sakura flower-adorned plates from her cupboard to plate their food. They both decide to take their meal in the living room. They make their way to the Sailor Moon couch and sit down.

"I will admit, your omelets are fucking great, Zina!" Val says with a mouthful of egg. She makes sure not to spill any on Zina's couch; she knows how much her crazy friend loves her anime memorabilia.

"Yeah, you can thank dad for that one. He taught me how to cook a lot of shit once I was somewhat back to normal," Zina explains.

"Yeah, dad is a huge supporter of assimilation," Val says while shoving more eggs into her mouth. "What are we watching?"

"Oh, hold up. This is just Jerry Springer. Let me turn on HiDive." Zina grabs the controller and points it at the TV.

"Okay, so what have I not watched yet?" Zina rhetorically asks as she goes through the menu of the anime streaming service.

"Oh, season two of Peter Gill is out! This show is so fucked up! I love it," Zina says joyfully.

"What's it about?" Val asks as she continues to shovel food into her mouth.

"Well, the first season was about this guy who was the top fighter in the world and consonantly cheated on his fiance. It's funny as hell, though. I'm sure you'll love it," Zina says. She enjoys sharing her love of anime with her friends. In her mind, the perfect world would be one full of weebs.

"Oh, okay. Sounds good, let's watch," Val replies.

After three hours of watching Peter Gill...

"We should head to the beach soon," Val says to Zina.

"Yeah, you're probably right. Let's turn this off. We'll watch the rest later," Zina says as she turns off the TV. Zina grabs Valentina's plate and heads toward the kitchen.

"You do realize you are still in your underwear?" Val tells her oblivious friend.

"God damn it! Why didn't you tell me earlier?!" Zina screams at Val. She's masking her embarrassment with rage. Zina could see that Valentina was throwing to hold back her laughter.

"You've had way too much head trauma, Zina. Go get dressed, you simpleton." Val grins as Zina saunters toward her bedroom.

"I am not a simpleton!" Zina yells back at Val as she makes her way to her dresser.

"Just go get dressed. Remember to put your swimsuit on. You don't want to go topless, do you?" Val can no longer hold back her laughter as she chides her friend.

"Shut up! That was your fault!" Zina huffs as she storms up the stairs.

"Just go get dressed already." Val sighs. She loves Zina, but sometimes she feels that she's more trouble than she's worth.

"Fine," Zina growls as she reaches the top of the landing. Before she heads to her room, she turns around and yells down to Valentina, "Will you wash the dishes?"

"Yeah, sure." Val gets up and heads toward the kitchen sink.

"Thanks," Zina responds as she slams her bedroom door shut.

After Zina finally gets dressed, the couple leaves the house and climb into Baby, ready to enjoy their vacation. Zina spends a few minutes talking to her car and annoying Valentina before she finally turns the ignition and pulls out of the driveway. Their destination, Benton Beach on the edge of Lake Erie, is an hour-and-a-half drive through mostly empty highways. Valentina turns on the radio to help pass the time and is blasted by a peppy high-energy anime theme song. After a few seconds of some random idol belting out mushy cliché lyrics in Japanese, Valentina has enough and shuts off the radio. She instead looks out the window watching the landscape race by her as they make their way to the beach. She feels her eyes getting heavy as she can faintly make out Zina going on one of her famous rice rants.

When Valentina finally wakes up, she can see the sun high over their heads and blasting down on them. She turns to look at the dashboard clock and realizes it's already past noon. As she rubs the sleep from her eyes, she looks out the window and sees the lake in front of them. It seems she woke up just in time; Zina is pulling into an empty parking spot.

"I'm surprised the campground still has so many empty openings," Val says as she gets out of the car. She stands next to the car as she looks out over one of the biggest lakes in the world.

Lake Erie is one of the five Great Lakes in the Midwestern United States. It is almost 10,000 square miles or a little over 16,000 square kilometers. It is the second smallest of the five Great Lakes. Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, and Lake Ontario make up the other four. Lake Erie, at its deepest, is 599ft or 173m deep. In the winter, it can completely freeze over. It is one of the most popular vacation spots all year round for any of the local inhabitants.

Benton Beach is in the Magee Marsh Wildlife Area in the southwestern area of Lake Erie. It is located southeast of Toledo, Ohio. It is almost always packed to the brim with tourists and vacationing locals, except for today.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure dad had something to do with that," Zina says, stretching her tired legs and looking over the endless expanse of water.

"You're probably right," Val says to her. "Come on. Get the towels out of the trunk."

Zina pops open the trunk so they can retrieve their supplies. She grabs a couple of towels and a beach umbrella. She tells Valentina to take the beach chairs and sunscreen. They make their way to the beach to pick out a good spot. They soon find the perfect location and set up their towels and beach chairs; they then make their way back to the car to get the cooler. They drag the cooler back to their towels and finally settle in and enjoy their day.

"Okay, time to test out the new sunscreen," Val exclaims to Zina.

"Fine. But I'm not touching your ass," Zina says. She grabs the bottle from her friend's hand and plops out a sizable dab of sunscreen on hers.

"Why would you say that? We're both wearing shorts," Val says. "Plus, we've done worse than that." Zina notices the small mischievous grin on her pale friend's face.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Zina says. "Okay. Applying Advanced Sunscreen!"

Zina proceeds to rub the sunscreen on Val. She starts on her shoulders and works her way toward her back. Her nimble fingers make sure to coat Val's entire back. As she applies the sunscreen, her mind wanders back to what her friend mentioned. Zina and Val have had plenty of physical interactions in the past. Zina would be lying if she said she didn't enjoy them. She gets too excited as her mind wanders and decides to focus on the task at hand.

"I still don't understand why he made it taste and smell like chocolate," Zina says as she licks the sunscreen off her fingers.

"Dad's a pervert; what did you expect? He probably wants us to do naughty things while we're here. That or it's probably some repurposed sex lube," Val snickers at the thought. She noticed Zina grinding herself on her leg as she applied the sunscreen.

"Or it could be both," Zina says as she puts more sunscreen on her finger and eats it.

"I wouldn't be surprised," Val says, sitting up.

At this point, Zina is eating the sunscreen straight out of the tube. Val flirted with the thought that maybe the sunscreen was actually an aphrodisiac before chastising her voracious friend.

"Damn it, Zina! Stop it!" Val grabs the tube of 'sunscreen' out of Zina's hand. She screws the cap back on and tosses it into the cooler.

"What? It's nice and yummy," Zina mumbles with a mouthful of sunscreen. Val wonders if their dad made it white, on purpose, for situations like this.

"I know it's good, but people are starting to stare," Val tries to hide her embarrassment as onlookers walk by, gawking at the awkward couple.

Zina looks up and sees at least ten people staring at her in abject horror and total shock.

"Oh," she says, embarrassed as 'sunscreen' slowly drips out of her mouth.

After spending some quality time at the beach, the sun starts to dip below the horizon. The girls pack up their things and make their way to the campground. They arrive just as the sun fully sets, and they set about setting up their tent before darkness fully surrounds them. Just as they are about to light their campfire, they are startled by a flash of lights coming from the woods, first red, then blue.

"Ah, shit," Zina says.

"Damn it," Val responds.

"Twenty bucks says it's Kiki," Val says with a small sigh.

"Nah, I bet it's Xixi," Zina responds with a sigh of her own.

There's some rustling in the woods as a cute girl with light blue hair walks out. She is wearing a leather bodysuit adorned with eight shiny and sharp knives. She makes her way toward the girls who have finished setting up their campfire. They are now in the process of roasting some marshmallows.

"I'll pay you when we get back home, okay?" Zina says dejectedly to Val.

"That's fine with me," Val says as she eats her marshmallow off the stick.

"Hey, Kiki. Want a marshmallow?" Zina says, pointing her marshmallow-laden stick toward her.

"Why the hell don't you ever answer your phone, Zina!?" Kiki yells at Zina. Even in her anger, she reaches out and plucks the stick from her hand. She stares at the burnt white object at the end of it.

"Oh, shit," Zina says, looking frantically around. "I think I left it in the car, sorry." Zina's cheeks flush red in embarrassment.

"You're such a simpleton," Val says, smiling at Zina as she roasts a brand new marshmallow.

"Shut up!" Zina yells back at Val.

"What do you need, Kiki?" Zina asks.

"My mom needs Bao and you on the ship tomorrow," Kiki continues to stare at the marshmallow, curious as to what its purpose could be.

"Aww. We were going to go fishing tomorrow," Zina says. She knows there's no point in arguing with her. Her vacation was already ruined. "What time?" She asks with a sigh.

"Around 9 PM, your time," Kiki hesitantly pokes at the marshmallow, worried that it might explode at her touch.

"Oh, cool," Zina says joyfully. "We can still go fishing!" She grabs a stick and a marshmallow, seeing as Kiki has absconded with hers.

"Want to join us, Kiki?" Val asks, in between bites of marshmallow.

"What are you girls even doing here?" Kiki asks curiously.

"Camping and roasting marshmallows, can't you tell?" Zina says as she leans back on her chair and enjoys the night breeze.

"What are these, by the way?" Kiki asks as she points at the marshmallow.

Kiki is an alien-human hybrid from the Alpha Centauri Galaxy. Her mother, Queen Cobo, is Grant's lover, and they have two twin daughters together, Kiki and Xixi. Kiki looks human, but her twin sister, Xixi, has ancient alien DNA that makes her look alien. Kiki could easily fit in perfectly here on Earth. She has short light blue hair, but apart from that, she has typical human qualities. In fact, if you were to slap some hippie clothes on her, she'd fit in perfectly at an all-white BLM rally. Just like her sister, Kiki is extremely cute.

"That is a marshmallow," Zina says to her confused friend. "Eat it."

"It's not something disgusting like when you tricked me into eating a bug, is it?" Kiki is hesitant to eat the marshmallow. Zina and Val had tricked her once before, and she swore to never fall for it again.

"No. Here I'll eat it if you want," Zina says as she reaches for the marshmallow.

"You did the same thing with the bug!" Kiki says suspiciously.

"Zina! What the hell?!" Val yells at Zina.

"What? It was hilarious. I made Bao laugh. You know how rare that is," Zina giggles as she remembers that day.

"Okay, if it made Bao laugh, then it's okay," Val relents. "Here. I'll eat one." She quickly devours the marshmallow she just finished roasting.

Val then reaches into the bag full of marshmallows and pulls out two more, one in each hand. She eats another one of them and hands the other one to Kiki.

"See. They're good," Val says through a mouthful of marshmallow.

"Okay," Kiki says as she reluctantly takes the marshmallow out of Val's hand and hesitantly puts it in her mouth.

Her eyes widen in surprise as the sugary taste hits her taste buds.

"Oh my God!" She says, shocked by the taste. "This is really good!" She reaches for another marshmallow to roast.

"Right?" Zina says.

"Come on, sit down with us," Val says, patting the log they are sitting on.

The three girls spend the night talking and roasting marshmallows. After the marshmallows have finally run dry, they groggily make their way to the tent. They settle in for a good night's rest, with their bellies full of marshmallows and hearts full of joy.

Val's 5 A.M. alarm wakes them from their deep slumber. She rubs the sleep from her eyes and reaches over to her phone to shut it off.

"Why do we have to wake up so early?" Kiki asks. She gets up from her sleeping bag, her hair is a mess, and her eyes are closed. She doesn't want to meet the glare of the sun just yet.

"You've got to get out early to catch the fish," Zina says to her. Zina seems to be in a chipper mood despite it being so early in the morning.

"Why do THEY wake up so early?" Kiki asks grumpily.

"I don't know. They just do," Zina responds. She's getting her gear ready to go fishing.

"Fish are stupid," Kiki says. She tries to curl up into bed again, but her friends drag her back out.

"I'm not gonna argue with that," Zina says as she drags her by the leg out of the tent.

"Yeah, fish are pretty stupid." Val says.

Kiki decides it's not worth trying to get some more sleep, so she begrudgingly gets up to face the day. She's wearing shorts and a t-shirt that Zina had let her borrow the night before. Surprisingly, Zina and her are the same size, so they fit her perfectly. She peels off her impromptu pajamas and puts on her bodysuit again.

"Come on, we've got to go get some breakfast in us first," Zina says to her angry friend.

"Halos Pancake House?" Val asks the pair.

"Fuck yeah!" Zina replies ecstatically.

They finish packing up their gear and put it in the trunk of Baby. Once they have finished packing everything up, they get in and drive to Halos.

The girls spend the short trip talking about the weather and how obsessed Zina is with rice. They soon pull up to an antiquated, weathered, wooden shack with the words "Halos Pancake House" emblazoned on top of it. They park Baby and make their way into the restaurant to enjoy their breakfast.

The only other people up this early are the local fishermen getting ready to face the day and the waves.

"Ugh, he's here," Zina says, disappointed. "Let's just sit down." Zina and her friends make their way to an empty stall.

"Maybe he won't see us," Val says, trying to avoid eye contact.

A tall crusty old man in his late 50's wearing a Kid Rock shirt and Budweiser baseball cap stands up and walks over to the girls.

"Zina. Val. How are you gals doing?" The lecherous old man says, smiling at Zina.

"Hey, Ben. Going fishing?" Zina tries to remain civil.

"Hell yeah. The walleye are biting like hell this week." Ben says with a chuckle.

"Awesome," Zina says, trying not to sound too curt.

"I am going to beat you this time! You're State Record will not stand! I am gonna catch one that's way over your 16.24 lbs!" Ben exclaims.

Three months ago on a fishing trip, Zina made an enemy out of Ben Jensen when she beat his State Walleye Record. He has vowed revenge ever since.

"Sure. Sure you will, Ben. I believe in you," Zina says to him mockingly. "Now, will you let us sit down and eat in peace?"

"Fine. Enjoy your meal, girls," Ben says as he stomps away.

"Thank you," Zina says, gritting her teeth.

As soon as Ben is far enough away, they all breathe a sigh of relief and reach for their menus.

"Hey, girls," a spunky woman says as she walks up.

"Hey, Barbra," Zina replies warmly.

"Hey, Barb," Val says with a smile.

"Who's this?" Barbra asks, pointing at Kiki.

"This is our sister, Kiki. She's from out of town," Val says to her.

"You ain't one of them Antifa fucks are ya?" Barbra asks, chewing her gum loudly.

"I don't know what that even is," Kiki says, perplexed.

"If you don't know who they are, then you're okay with me. The blue hair worried me for a second. Just so you know, they're fucking Commies. I wish they'd all die," Barbra chews her gum even louder as she continues with her diatribe.

"You'd like our sister Bao," Val says to Barbra. "She's got your same state of mind."

"How many sisters do y'all got?" Barbra asks while pointing her pencil at Val.

"A lot. I'm really not sure about the number, though," Val replies. There's no point to lay out their entire family tree for her.

"Your daddy is a whore," Barbra says in a motherly tone.

"You are 100% right on that," Zina laughs.

"Caffeine Milkshake for you, Zina?" Barbra asks.

"Yep," Zina says.

"And a cappuccino for you, Val?" She quickly jots down Zina's order as she turns to Val.

"You got it," Val responds.

"What about you, sweetie?" Barbra turns her attention to Kiki.

"Me? Umm..." Kiki takes a look at the menu.

"Get her a large orange juice," Val responds for her.

"Okay," Barb says. "Be right back." She struts away to the counter to get their drinks.

"What's orange juice?" Kiki asks Val.

"It's a drink. Trust me; you'll like it. You really need to spend more time here on Earth." Val tells Kiki.

"I've been too busy. Mom's got me in charge of a battalion of star ships. Even on my days off, I'm running errands for her. It's exhausting." Kiki sighs as she stares at the menu.

"Yeah, you definitely need this day trip. You're really gonna like fishing. Japan, where I'm from, fishing and rice are life." Zina never misses an opportunity to bring up her roots.

"Don't you bring up rice again, Zina!" Val glares at her and hopes she doesn't go into another one of her rants.

"Fine," Zina says, huffing.

"I like rice. Fried rice is really good," Kiki says.

"Ahahahaha!" Zina laughs.

"Wait? You've had fried rice but not orange juice? Where did you have fried rice?" Val asks Kiki. She's always amazed at the life Kiki has had here on Earth.

"Dad taught mom how to make it years ago. It's a universal holiday now. Everyone eats it." Kiki says with pride.

"I'm never gonna let you forget this, Valentina," Zina says smugly.

"Shut up, Zina," Val responds.

After five minutes of Kiki and Zina talking about the greatness of rice, Barbra finally arrives with their drinks.

"Thank God," Val says with a sigh of relief.

Barbra hands each of them their drinks.

"You gals ready to order?" Barbra asks as she pulls out her pencil and notepad.

"Yep. Three short stacks all around," Zina says.

"Okay. Coming right up." She strolls back toward the kitchen to place their order.

Kiki stares at her orange juice.

"I've never tried anything orange. It seems strange," Kiki says.

"Trust me, you'll like it," Zina tells her.

"Okay." Kiki brings the drink up to her nose to smell it first.

"It's got a good smell, at least," she says.

"Just try it. Trust us." Val tells her.

Kiki puts the glass up to her lips and takes a sip. Her eyes widen again. She chugs the entire glass in seconds.

After finishing breakfast, the three girls make their way to the dock. Val and Zina focus on prepping the boat while Kiki scurries towards the bathroom to relieve herself from the fourteen glasses of orange juices she drank.

"Maybe we shouldn't be introducing her to all these sweets," Val tells Zina as she dumps the ice into the cooler.

"Ah, she'll be fine. Can aliens even get diabetes?" Zina asks as she makes sure they have all their gear.

"Well, she is half human, so I'd say there's a chance?" Val says, a bit worried.

Kiki makes her way to the boat after emptying her bladder.

"Wow. I've never had to piss that bad in my life," Kiki says.

"Yeah, orange juice goes right through you," Val giggles.

"You ready, Kiki?" Zina asks.

"Yep," she replies. She sits on the boat as she watches the duo finish the preparations.

The girls take the 18-foot outboard to Zina's favorite fishing spot. A place just outside Sandusky Bay. It takes them about twenty minutes to get there.

"Catch me some fish, you little shad!!" Zina yells as she casts her line out.

"Using fish to catch fish? Very war-like, I approve." Kiki says as she tries to cast her line the same way Zina did.

"It very much is," Val says, reclining in her seat. "Remember, Zina is from Japan, and they are very war-like people." She adds another coat of sunblock to her fair skin.

"Fuck you, Val. We technically haven't been to war since World War 2. We're pretty peaceful now." Zina yells back at her friend as she keeps her eyes locked on her bobber.

"It took... You know what? That's too mean." Val bites her tongue.

"You were gonna mention the bomb, weren't you?!" Zina bellows.

"I'm not gonna respond to that," Val says.

"Yeah, you better not." Zina finally turns to glare at Val.

"Your little floaty thing just went under the water." Kiki points to the little ripples forming where her bobber used to be.

"Oh, shit!" Zina yells, pulling back on her rod.

After a short fight, Zina reels in a four-inch yellow perch.

"First one of the day!" Zina exclaims with joy.

She takes the fish off the hook and throws it back.

"Are you not gonna eat it?" Kiki asks, confused.

"Nah. I always throw them back. I just fish for sport, not food." Zina says as she casts her line again.

"Ah, I see." Kiki says.

"Can you swim in this water?" Kiki asks her sisters.

"Yeah, sure. Go ahead if you want to take a dip. Just swim in the back, so you don't scare away the fish." Zina tells her as she keeps her eyes on her line.

"That's the first really good idea that has come up on this boat." Val stands up and heads toward the back of the boat.

"Yeeeeaahhhhh!" She yells as she cannonballs into the water.

"GOD DAMN, IT'S COLD!!" Val yells as she pops her head out of the water.

"What did you expect? It's September in Lake Erie, idiot." Zina laughs as she makes sure not to avert her gaze from the bobber in front of the boat.

"Fuck it. I'm staying in. Come on in, Kiki." Val tries to encourage her sister to join her.

"Okay," Kiki says as she jumps in.

"It isn't too bad," Kiki says.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot your species has a higher body temperature than humans do." Val says, shivering. "Zina wouldn't feel shit if she jumped in here. Her body temperature is higher than normal, too." She's getting used to the temperature but is still shaking a bit from the cold.

"Damn straight. All thanks to that artificial alien blood your mom's husband created." Zina yells back at them.

"Jerry is a cuck," Kiki says with a grin.

"The biggest in the universe," Val says to Kiki, her teeth chattering as she grins.

After spending the day fishing and swimming, the girls head back to Zina's house.

As they walk into the house, Val turns to Zina and says, "Well, I had a lot of fun today. I better head home now."

"All right. Give me a hug first, though." Zina spreads her arms open to embrace her.

Zina and Val share a deep and warm embrace.

"Give me a call when you get home, okay?" Zina tells her.

"Will do," Val says.

Zina and Val finally let go of each other.

"Well, I'll see you all later. Nice to see you again, Kiki." Val says, waving goodbye to her as she walks out the door.

"You too," Kiki says as the door closes.

Zina looks at Kiki and says, "Let's head out to the shed."

Zina locks up her house, and the two head to the shed out in her backyard.

She keeps her trusted tractor and yard tools in it. Being Japanese means that she must also ensure to keep her yard well tended.

"You ready?" Zina asks.

"Just do it," Kiki replies.

Zina puts her finger behind her right ear and presses down.

"Where to?" A woman's voice crackles in her head.

"The USS Jerry is a Cuck, please," Zina replies.

"Permission granted," the woman's robotic voice responds.

A summoning circle begins to light up around them. The same red flame fireflies surround them, and the punch to the guts hits. Blackness engulfs them...

"God, I fucking hate that," Zina says as she stands up groggily.

"You're a little early," A tall blueish-green woman with dark blue hair wearing the same nanosuit as Zina is there to greet them.

"Early bird gets the worm, Queen Cobo," Zina says as she walks up to her. She takes a look out the window. She stares out into the endless expanse of space. She takes a moment of silence as she stares out the bridge of the starship USS Jerry is a Cuck.

"That it does. That it does." Queen Cobo turns to her with a smile.