The Three Deaths

第4話

The Three Deaths Chapter 4

"I bet it's a long story. You just suddenly disappeared seven years ago. We thought you were dead," Ren says, still shocked at seeing Zina standing before her.

"Well... Technically, I was dead. It was only for three days, though." Zina says nervously. She knows it will be quite a shock to her family to find out that she's part of the living undead.

"What? What the fuck are you talking about, Zina? Is this some sort of joke?" Ren asks, incredulous. She just stares at Zina with a worried and quizzical look. Ren knows Zina was always a bit of a jokester, but this is too much.

"Let's sit, and I'll explain what I can," Zina says, walking towards the couch.

"Okay," Ren says with a bit of hesitation. She sits in one corner of the couch, allowing room for Zina to sit down next to her.

"Okay, so after mom died..."

Zina tells Ren her story; about how her depression got so severe that she jumped in front of a truck in order to kill herself. After waiting a few minutes for Ren to come to terms with what she just heard, she told her what happened next. She told Ren how her rich father, Grant Shipman, brought her back from the dead; and how she has been working for him at Shipman Enterprises in America ever since then.

However, Zina does not tell her how her father rules half the known universe or about her incessant craving for brains. She also doesn't tell her about how she has traveled throughout space and time or that she's best friends with a vampire clone. Zina also feels it prudent not to mention that she's part of a notorious hit squad. She feels it might be too much for Ren to process, and she might freak out.

"Why didn't you visit us or call us at least?" Ren asks. She's trying to wrap her head around the insane story that Zina just told her. In the end, all she can think about is why Zina decided to leave the family in the dark about her situation.

"I felt ashamed. You know how low my self-esteem is," Zina tells her. She can't look Ren in the eyes. Even though she can no longer blush, she knows Ren would still be able to see that she's embarrassed.

"That's true..." Ren says, looking at her feet. She wants to be mad at Zina but knows she can't. She stares at her feet as she works through her mixed feelings about what she just heard.

"Well, anyway, it's good to see you again," Ren says. She decides the best course of action is just to put it aside and enjoy her reunion with her cousin.

"T-Thanks," Zina says, hugging her little cousin. She feels a heavy weight being lifted off her chest. She was worried it was going to end terribly.

"Now, with that out of the way, may I ask why you are in my house watching TV?" Zina asks Ren.

"Oh, that? I've been coming here for years. For some reason, the power was never turned off, and the taxes were always paid." Ren begins to clean up all the spilled popcorn she dropped when Zina surprised her.

"Mom and I come here to keep the place clean, thinking you'll come back one day. Which you have! Anyway, when I want to be alone, I come here and watch TV." Ren says with a smile as she sits back on the couch next to Zina.

"I'm pretty sure my dad is the one who is keeping the power on," Zina says.

"Yeah, that makes sense. Mom did some research and found out that the payments were coming from the United States," Ren tells her.

"It's one of the few things that gave us hope that you were still alive somewhere." Zina could see tears begin to well up in the corner of Ren's eyes. She felt horrible for not reaching out to them earlier. She could only wonder how her disappearance affected them.

"I'm sorry I let you all down," Zina says, holding back tears of her own. She reaches out and wraps Ren in a warm embrace.

"It's alright. I understand why you didn't reach out earlier. At least you're here for mom's funeral. Wait? Can you bring her back to life?!" Ren asks excitedly.

"No, I'm sorry. She died of cancer; my death was a little different," Zina says somberly. She could see the hope drain from Ren's eyes.

"Also, I think it's been too long since her death. They worked on my body right away. It's just impossible to bring Aunt Akia back to life." Zina explains. She feels it's better to rip the bandaid right off instead of giving Ren false hope to hold onto.

"Oh, I see. That fucking sucks." Ren says, defeated. She can't let it get to her, so she just quickly slaps her cheeks and changes the topic.

"Oh, by the way, the Tokyo Manga Show is tomorrow. I was supposed to go with my friend Hana, but she got sick. Will you go with me?" Ren knew how much of an otaku Zina has always been; she knew that even death wouldn't change that.

"Fuck yeah!" Zina says, jumping up off the couch excitedly. "The funeral is the day after, isn't it?"

"It is," Ren says.

"How's your dad holding up?" Zina asks Ren. She knows it would be immature of her not to ask about her dad's well-being. She's excited about the event tomorrow, but she should at least be considerate of Ren.

"Not that well. He's taken mom's death pretty hard," Ren says morosely.

"Yeah, he really did love your mom. Come on, let's go see him," Zina gets up and drags Ren to her feet.

"Okay," Ren says.

Zina and Ren walk three blocks to Ren's home. Zina really missed the quiet and rural feel of the suburban streets of Japan. She took a moment to take it all in again. She might have traveled the world and the stars, but she never felt so at home as she did right now.

"I see your dad is still into gardening," Zina says as she spots the vast amount of plants scattered all around their manicured lawn.

"Yep," Ren says, giggling. "He's gotten even more into it since mom's death."

As the girls cross the yard towards the front door, Zina notices that not all the plants are local to Japan. Her uncle must have spent a pretty yen in order to make his lawn look this stunning.

"Dad, I'm home; I brought someone with me!" Ren yells as the two take their shoes off. Zina slips on a pair of guest house slippers she found.

A tall Japanese man in his mid-40s looks around the corner. "Who did you..." He abruptly stops as soon as he sees Zina.

"Hey, Uncle Haruto. It's been a while," Zina says, waving to the man. She knows it's going to be awkward enough as it is, so she tries to keep it casual and hopes they can just scoot past the fact that she's been gone for years.

"Zina?!" Haruto exclaims as he runs over and puts his hand on Zina's face. "Is it really you?" He's worried that this is all a mirage conjured by his depressed addled mind brought about by the death of his wife.

"It is." Zina struggles to respond as her uncle pinches her cheeks to ensure she's real.

"ZINA!!" Haruto yells as he embraces her, crying. "We thought you were dead! It's so good to see you! We were so worried." Zina could tell that his emotional embrace was a mixture of seeing her again and his mental dam finally breaking from the weight of all the sadness building up inside him.

"It's good to see you too," Zina says, hugging him back. She thought it was best to just let him let it all out. It's been a rough few days for her uncle; he should have some happiness in his life.

Haruto pulls back and composes himself. He wipes away the tears with his apron and puts his hands on Zina's shoulders, "Come inside. Tell me where you've been."

Zina, Haruto, and Ren make their way to the couch in the living room, and Zina explains her situation to her uncle. She, of course, keeps in mind to hold back a few details, like with Ren.

"Wow, what a story. I never thought I'd see an otaku like you moving to America and working in an office. The biggest shock is the fact that you have friends," Haruto says jokingly. His jovial laughter reminds Zina of simpler times when her aunt was still alive and the summers they spent together eating watermelon and watching fireworks from their backyard.

"Yeah, yeah, make fun of the otaku," Zina says, smiling at her uncle. She's happy that she can help her uncle forget his somber mood, if only for a few minutes.

"You know, Akia always thought you'd come back. Looks like she was right, huh?" Haruto says as he listlessly stares at his drink.

"Yep," Zina says. She takes a sip of her green tea as she struggles to find a way to change the conversation.

Before she could come up with something, her uncle speaks up again, "How long are you staying?"

"Probably a couple of days only; I still have some work to take care of," Zina responds.

"That's good. It will be nice to have you here for a few days," Haruto flashes her a forced smile.

"Do you still have the restaurant?" Zina asks, changing the subject.

"Yeah, but I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to hold onto it. The Yakuza have moved into the neighborhood and are shaking down businesses like mine." Zina sees his grip tighten around his cup; she can tell he's furious about it. She feels for her uncle, having all these terrible situations piling up on his plate.

"I'll call my sister Bao tonight and see if she can do something about it," Zina tries to reassure her uncle.

"You have a sister?" Haruto is snapped back to reality by this unforeseen revelation.

"Yeah, quite a few of them, in fact. My dad said I had an insane amount of sisters but no brothers; at least not in this universe, he said, whatever that means. Bao is one of my fellow coworkers, though. We work together at my father's company. She's from China, actually. My father is a bit of a whore." Zina takes care to leave out the part about Bao being a homicidal maniac. He probably doesn't need to know about that.

"Give me a second; I'll call her right now," Zina says as she stands up and walks out of the room. She'd prefer to take this call in private, so they don't accidentally hear something they shouldn't hear.

"She looks so different, doesn't she?" Haruto turns to his daughter, Ren.

"She does," Ren says as she drinks her tea. "I think she looks better, though. Those eyes look so cool!" Being an otaku like her cousin, it's easy for Ren to come to terms with her change.

"They frighten me a bit," Haruto responds.

"Ah, you're just jealous, dad," Ren says, smiling at her dad.

After a few minutes, Zina walks back into the room, smiling. "Let Bao do her thing, and those Yakuza shouldn't be a problem anymore." Zina feels that this should help to lighten his mood.

Zina sits down on the couch and continues to drink her tea.

"What is she gonna do?" Haruto asks nervously. He's worried that Zina has fallen in with the wrong crowd.

"Hopefully, just talk. She's got a thing for talking to violent people; she can be very persuasive. Of course, sometimes talking doesn't always work. We'll see what happens. Don't worry; she'll handle it," Zina reassures her uncle.

After catching up with her family for about three hours, Zina stands up and prepares to leave.

"Well, I should probably get back home now. It's starting to get late." She sets her empty tea cup on the coffee table and starts to say her goodbyes.

"Come by the restaurant tomorrow for breakfast before you two leave for your convention," her uncle gets up to give her a goodbye hug.

"Will do," Zina says, returning his embrace.

After saying her goodbyes, Zina decides to take the scenic route home and enjoy the pleasant Japanese night. She heads to the local convenience store to get a few late-night snacks and drinks. After loading up on supplies, she spends a few minutes playing with the local cats at the neighborhood park. Zina then spends a couple minutes swinging on the swing set and staring at the sky, admiring the fresh air and starry night. She soon starts to get a bit cold and decides to finally go home. Zina enters her house and heads directly toward her kitchen to put away her snacks. Feeling the weight of the day on her shoulders, she decides to go upstairs to her bedroom and get some sleep.

Zina is abruptly woken up at the crack of dawn to the sounds of police cars and ambulances racing by her house. Angry and groggy, she turns to stare at her alarm clock to realize it's only 6.

"Wow, that's probably the 12th ambulance to go by today. There must be a bad accident on the Ken-o-do," Zina thinks to herself as she rubs the sleep from her eyes and makes her way to her bathroom for a nice warm bath.

After getting dressed, she leaves her house and heads to her uncle's restaurant only a few blocks away. On her way, she walks past a small, unassuming office building with, what looks like to Zina, every police car and ambulance in Tokyo parked outside of it.

"I wonder what's happening there?" She asks herself as she walks by.

She walks another few blocks to her uncle's restaurant. She could see that her uncle's depression didn't stop him from ensuring his place of business was clean and well-kept.

"Oh, hey, Zina," Haruto says with trepidation at seeing her. "Can I talk to you in the back?" He hastily grabs her by the arm and leads her toward the backroom before she even has time to respond.

"Sure, uncle," Zina answers as she's rushed away from prying eyes.

Zina quickly follows her uncle into the kitchen and then into his office. He slams the door behind him and asks her to sit down.

"What the hell did you do?!" Haruto asks, terrified. Zina could see the fear in his eyes and his hands shaking.

"What do you mean? I didn't do anything," Zina is confused. She doesn't understand what her uncle could possibly be referring to.

"49 Yakuza were found dead this morning. Everyone in the building was dead; no one survived. A witness claims he saw a tall, beautiful woman in black kill the guards at the front door; he then saw her walk into the building, and all he could hear after was screaming. The witness was so terrified by the screams he fainted! What the hell is Shipman Enterprises?! What the hell do you do for a living, Zina?!" He screams at her in terror. Zina could see her uncle almost vibrating after letting all of that out. Zina could see that the morning's events had shaken her uncle to his core. She knew she needed to approach this the right way.

Zina lets out a deep sigh and says, "The less you know, the better. Just, keep this to yourself, please," Zina pleads with her uncle.

"Keep it to myself? I'm not telling anyone! You are now the most terrifying person I know," her uncle says. He knows he should be happy that Zina has resolved his issue, but he's still having a hard time calming his nerves.

Zina could see it in her uncle's eyes; he struggled to keep his emotions in check. She was worried that this would affect their relationship. She didn't want it to go down this way, but as is usually the case in her line of work, problems end in bloodshed.

"Does this mean you don't love me anymore?" Zina asks hesitantly. She's scared to hear his response. She doesn't know what she would do if he were to hate her.

"Of course not! Nothing has changed in how I feel about you. Zina, you have to believe me; I love you very much. You just scare the shit out of me," Haruto responds, unable to stifle a giggle.

Zina breathes a sigh of relief, "To tell you the truth, I'm a pacifist. I don't kill."

"I didn't know my sister would go on a rampage. I'm sorry," Zina prostrates herself into a dogeza position as she bows in forgiveness.

"Please forgive me." She exclaims as she stares at her uncle's shoes.

"It's all right. Stop bowing. It wasn't your fault, not really, at least." She tugs at Zina's shoulders and tries to get her back on her feet.

"Now, let's get you some breakfast. Do you want an omurice?" He asks as she stands up. All he wants to do is forget this crazy event and move on with his life.

"Only if you make them as good as you used to," Zina says with a smile.

"I've actually improved in making them," Haruto winks at Zina.

"I do not believe you. You can't improve on perfection, uncle," Zina huffs and crosses her arms. She pretends to be angry at his suggestion and looks away.

"Quit your pouting. Go out and sit down; I'll show you," Haruto rolls up his sleeves and pushes her out of his office and into the dining area.

"Will do," Zina says as she skips out and heads to look for an empty seat.

The restaurant is quite busy for this early in the day, and Zina thinks it might have something to do with all the police activity. She knows that people cannot help but buzz around a disaster to try and see what's going on; that's why drivers slow down to gawk at an accident on the highway. She finally finds an empty seat and sits down in anticipation for her uncle's amazing omurice, or omelet rice for non-weebs. Seven minutes later, her uncle comes out with a plate of one of her favorite foods. It probably has a lot to do with her love of rice.

"Looks great, uncle," Zina says, looking down at the glorious omelet rice on her plate. She noticed that her uncle had written "Good morning" on her dish with ketchup.

"Dig in," Haruto says. Zina could tell he was proud of his creation.

"Itadakimasu!" Zina yells as she begins to eat.

"Oh, soooo gooood!" Zina thinks to herself. She is so enamored by the wonderful taste of her omurice that she doesn't notice the beautiful six-foot-tall Chinese woman enter the restaurant. Everyone stops what they're doing and stares at her; everyone except Zina, who is too busy enjoying her omurice. The woman walks over to Zina and stands in front of her. After a few minutes of standing there in silence, she decides to clear her throat to draw Zina's attention to her.

Zina finally looks up from her plate and notices the person standing in front of her.

"God damn it," she says in English. "What do you want, Bao?" All she wanted to do was enjoy her omurice and head to the manga convention.

Bao looks down at Zina and says, "You didn't answer your phone."

"Ah, shit! I left it at home," Zina facepalms. Her sleep was interrupted by all the police cars racing to deal with Bao's late-night adventure; she had completely forgotten to grab her phone.

"Here or in Ohio?" Bao asks in her usual monotone voice.

"Here, of course. What can I help you with?" Zina asks as she continues to stuff her face with omurice.

"I kind of pissed off some people here in Japan; dad wants you and I to fix it. Do you have your nanosuit with you?" Bao says calmly. She's either unaware that everybody in the restaurant is staring at her or does not care about it.

"Yeah, it's at my house," Zina says as she finishes her meal.

"Good. I'll come and get you in four days then," Bao says. She turns and gets ready to leave.

"Wait. Why did you kill all of them?" Zina asks as she pushes her empty plate away.

"I was gonna ask them nicely, but the guards outside sexually harassed me. I took offense to it. What else was I supposed to do?" Bao says matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, you probably shouldn't ride the trains here then," Zina says as she stares at her empty plate. She now wishes she ate it more slowly and took her time enjoying each bite. There's nothing quite like starting your day with a hearty serving of omurice; fuck cereal, this was the best breakfast food.

"I have a car," Bao states.

"Nice. Try not to kill anyone else while you're here, okay?" Zina chides her sister. She knows it doesn't matter what she says to her; if somebody pisses her off, there's nothing to stop her from killing them.

"I will try, but it will be hard," Bao says nonchalantly. "I will be going back to my hotel room now. I will see you in four days." She turns and offers a small bow to Zina's uncle before exiting the restaurant.

"Got it," Zina says.

Bao walks out of the restaurant just as Ren walks in. Ren stares in amazement at Bao as she walks in but quickly puts that aside and starts looking around the crowded restaurant for Zina. The other patrons were still frozen in fear but were now confused as they saw Ren walk in. She is wearing her Eris Grayrat cosplay from the anime 'Mushoku Tensei.'

"Oh, man. I miss cosplaying," Zina thinks to herself. It's been about two years since her last cosplay at Anime Crossroads in Indianapolis, IN. She went as Miss Kuroitsu from the anime 'Miss Kuroitsu From the Monster Development Department.' It was one of her favorite new anime of the year.

Haruto quickly walks over to Zina before Ren notices and asks in Japanese, "Was that her?"

"Yep, that was my sister Bao," Zina responds gleefully.

"She's so beautiful. I'm surprised she's not a model; I guess murder pays better?" He quips.

"Yeah, she is easy on the eyes," Zina giggles.

"When did you learn English? You speak it well. I thought you failed that class in high school?" Her uncle asks her.

"I did. Let's just say, my father, Grant, has some amazing ways of learning." Zina grins at him.

"Well, either way, I'm glad you learned it. Your mom would be proud," Haruto says, giving Zina a fatherly smile.

"Thanks," Zina says.

Ren finally spots Zina and her dad and runs over.

"What do you think?" Ren asks as she strikes a pose for them. She makes sure to accentuate all the best features of her cosplay.

"It looks great. You're a worthy apprentice," Zina says to her.

"I will become the master one day!" Ren bellows, unaware of the weird tension in the air.

"I'm sure you will," Zina says, equally oblivious.

"Oh, by the way, uncle, great job on improving the omurice," Zina says to Haruto.

A single tear rolls down Uncle Haruto's cheek. "Thank you so much. You have no idea how that makes me feel." Zina knows how seriously Japanese chefs take their craft; she knows she should offer him praise.

"Are you ready to go?" Ren asks Zina.

"Sure, let me just settle the bill. How much do I owe you, uncle? I only have a credit card and American dollars," Zina says as she fishes her wallet out of her pocket.

"Put that away; your money is no good here. The meal is on me, don't worry about it. Why didn't you get any money converted to yen when you arrived?" Haruto asks Zina.

"You really don't want to know," Zina says to her uncle as she gets up.

"By the way, is Mizuho Bank still open? I think I still have an account open with them. I can transfer some money and get some cash." Zina is momentarily left wondering how much interest she could have accumulated in her time away.

"Yeah, we're gonna walk by it on our way to the Big Sight Center," Ren tells her.

"Awesome! Let's go. Thanks again for breakfast, uncle." Zina gives her uncle a quick hug and follows Ren out of the restaurant.

"No problem, Zina. You two enjoy yourselves!" He screams after them as they rush out of the restaurant and toward their destination.

Zina and Ren make their way to the bank first. She's surprised to learn that her account is still open and has no problem getting some walking-around cash. Most people in Japan still use paper money instead of relying on debit or credit cards.

They walk the two miles to the Tokyo Big Sight, one of the biggest convention centers in Asia. They spend the time talking about their favorite new anime and manga. They have very similar tastes, so it's easy for them to recommend new series to each other.

When they arrive at the convention center, they notice that there are thousands of people there already. After a few pics outside the convention center with all the people cosplaying, Zina and Ren go inside the hall. As soon as they set foot inside, they are assaulted with the unmistakable stench of body odor.

"Fucking otakus!" Ren struggles to hold her breakfast back.

"Hey, I'm an otaku; I take offense to that!" Zina responds. Zina struggled with her self-esteem and her distinctive smell after being revived. Being dead brings a strong aroma with it; it took Grant a few days and lots of money to develop a good perfume for Zina. She still has a bit of a thing about her smell.

"You at least have a job. All these guys are leaching off their parents," Ren says.

"I don't think all of them, or even the vast majority of them do that. That's an unfair stereotype. Don't be judgmental, Ren," Zina scolds her cousin.

"You've been living in America for too long, Zina. You've become too 'woke,'" Ren pokes fun at her.

"You're probably right," Zina says as she shudders. She would rather kill herself again than be confused as an SJW loser.

"Come on. I'm meeting up with some friends by the bathrooms," Ren leads Zina towards the restrooms.

"Okay," Zina follows behind her. Her eyes dart around the huge hall at all the cosplayers and booths set up everywhere.

Outside the bathrooms, Zina notices two girls in cosplay chatting; they wave at Ren as soon as they spot her. They are cosplaying as Syphie and Roxy from Mushoku Tensei.

"God damn it. It is cute as hell!" Zina says to herself. She wishes she had been able to cosplay as well, but she arrived suddenly and had no time to prepare a proper cosplay.

"Hey, Yua and Sara!" Ren runs over to her friends, and they share a hug.

"Sensei!" The one dressed up as Roxy screams as the two run over.

"Hey. You both look great," Ren tells the duo.

"Who's this?" The one dressed as Syphie asks.

"This is my cousin, Shipman-chan. You can call her Zina, though." Ren introduces them.

"The one that went missing? Awesome! I'm Kiyama-chan, but you can call me Yua. Yoroshiko Onegaishimasu." The one dressed as Roxy says as she introduces herself to Zina. She follows proper Japanese conventions and uses the traditional phrase when introducing herself, even if she asks Zina to refer to her by her first name. Usually, in Japanese culture, it is considered rude to refer to someone by their first name.

"Oh, a first-name basis? So informal," Zina says as she bows to Yua and returns the greeting.

"You don't mind, do you?" Yua asks.

"Don't worry; she doesn't. She's been spending the past seven years in America. They all use their first name there," Ren reassures her friend.

"Cool. My name is Takao-chan, but you can call me Sara. Yoroshiko Onegaishimasu." The one dressed as Syphie says with a bow.

"Nice to meet you both," Zina says, returning the bow and greeting.

"So, where in America do you live? New York? Los Angeles? Miami?" Sara asks excitedly. Even with all her cosplay, Zina could tell she was a bit of a gyaru. That must mean she's probably obsessed with American culture.

"Carboner, Ohio, actually," Zina tells her.

"Where's that?" Yua asks.

"It's in the middle of nowhere. You'd be surprised, but most of the United States is basically empty. It's a huge country with nothing really in the middle of it," Zina says.

"Really?" Sara asks. Zina could tell that she just ruined her illusion of America.

"Yep. It took me five full days to drive across it. You two have no idea just how huge it is," Zina tells them.

"Wow! Five days? I didn't realize it was that big." Sara says with surprise.

"Yep," Zina answers.

"You have a car? That's so cool." Yua states.

"Yeah, a 1967 Chevrolet Impala. Her name is Baby." Zina says, smiling.

"You named it? Nice," Sara responds.

"Of course, Baby is a piece of mechanical artwork! You have to give something like that a name," Zina knows that she can be her full otaku-self with these people. They are all at a manga convention, after all.

"So cool," Sara says.

"Come on. Let's go buy some manga!" Ren can't hold back her excitement and just wants to explore the giant hall and all the booths.

"Hell yeah!" Sara says, pumping her fists into the air.

"Let's go!" Yua yells.

After walking around for five hours and buying way too much manga, Yua says, "I can't believe Hiromu Arakawa was here!"

"I know! Right? She wasn't even on the schedule," Ren gleefully exclaims.

"You girls sure got lucky," Zina says.

"She seems really cool. I wish we got time to chat with her more," Sara says as she keeps looking around for more hidden treasure.

"Holy shit!" Zina yells as she comes across a new manga titled "Demon at a Crossroads," sitting front and center in a booth.

"I can't believe he actually published it." She couldn't believe her eyes and had to pick up the copy to ensure it was real.

The three girls exchange confused looks as they stare at the manga Zina is now flipping through.

"What is this? Is this some manga that is popular in America?" Yua quizzically stares at the cover and searches through her memory to see if she had heard of it before.

"I should have figured," Zina continues to ignore the trio as she scans the book all over and spots the "Shipman Manga Publishing" logo in the lower right corner. "He has always had a soft spot for her; of course, he would publish this." The trio continues to stare dumbfounded at her. Ren picks up another copy of the manga and looks at the synopsis.

"This looks cool. A manga about the life of a 2,300-year-old demon? Abere is a funny name, though," Ren says.

"Yes, yes, it is," Zina says, smiling. She knows Abere would have lost her shit if she had just heard what her cousin said about her name.

"Shipman Manga Publishing? Wait a second... Isn't your last name Shipman?" Sara asks Zina.

"Yep, my dad's company published it," Zina says. She's a bit embarrassed about it, but at this point, she shouldn't be surprised by anything her dad does.

"Your dad owns a manga company? Awesome! Why didn't you tell us?" Ren is surprised at the news.

"To be honest, I didn't know until now. He owns lots of companies; I'm not sure how many exactly," Zina picks her word wisely. While it's true that this caught her by surprise as well, she does know that her dad basically owns half the known universe, but they don't need to know that.

"Really? That's so cool!" Sara quickly purchases a copy of the manga.

"Yep. He's quite rich," Zina says.

"Does he spoil you like a princess?" Ren says, never missing a chance to poke fun at Zina.

"Nah. The princess is actually my sister Aisha. She's the spoiled brat. I've got to work for everything I have," Zina says with a bit of jealousy. Ren could see that she was holding back but that it deeply affected her, even if she won't admit it to herself.

"You know, there's a Tic-Tok star called Princess Aisha. My older sister is obsessed with her makeup tips," Sara chimes in.

"That would be my sister. Her name is Aisha Shipman; dad spoils her rotten," Zina says with some sharpness in her tone.

"Your sister is Princess Aisha?! No fucking way!" Sara can't contain her emotion and produces a high-pitched squeal that causes the crowd to stare at the group.

"Yep," Zina says, trying to hide her face.

"I didn't know Princess Aisha was your sister," Ren says to Zina. Ren realizes that there is a lot she doesn't know about her cousin; she only hopes that she can catch up more with her before she jets off again.

"What can I say; I've got a lot of sisters," Zina forces a peal of wry laughter.

"Any brothers?" Yua asks.

"Not that I've ever heard of. Who knows with Grant, though," Zina shrugs as she says.

"We should probably get home soon," Sara says to Ren.

"Yeah. We've been here for over six hours already," Yua says.

"It was nice to meet you, Zina," Sara flashes a smile at Zina and offers another bow.

"It was nice to meet you two also," Zina tells Ren's friends as she returns the bow.

Yua and Sara run off after exchanging a few hugs and goodbyes. Zina and Ren leave the convention center as well. They head to Zina's house and then go their separate ways. Zina drops her bags off in her room, proceeds to slouch on the couch, and orders some pizza. After a few hours of watching random Japanese variety shows and polishing off her pizza, she decides it's time to get some rest.

As soon as her head hits the pillow, she is quickly surrounded by darkness. She succumbs to the soothing feeling of the emptiness and the cold dark shroud of the vast blackness.

"I think she should be fine now," A female voice states.

"She's not gonna go crazy anymore?" A man's voice asks.

"I'll protect you if she does, dad," The energetic, youthful tones of a girl's voice follows.

"Thank you, Valentina. Go ahead and wake her up now," The man's voice rings.

"You got it," The female voice responds.

Zina slowly opens her heavy eyes. It feels like there's a huge weight on them, and it's a struggle to keep them open for long. After a few seconds of wrestling with her eyelids, she notices she's in a lab. A tall man in his early 40s with jet-black hair is standing in front of her, wearing a lab coat. Next to him is a teenage girl with pink hair and a blueish-green woman with similarly blue hair. The strange blue woman is wearing what looks like black body armor.

"Zina, are you with us? Can you hear us?" The man asks her. She has no clue where she is or even who she is. It takes her a few seconds for her mind to catch up to her body, and she groggily answers.

"Yeah. Wait? Am I speaking English?" Zina is confused. She has no idea how she got here or if this is all just a dream.

"Yep," The man tells her.

"There's one thing we got right, at least," He turns his attention to the tall blueish-green woman. Zina looks around the clinically white room and tries to figure out what is happening. She's trying to get her bearings, but she has no clue where she is, and her mind is muddled and ringing out in pain.

Zina finally looks down at her arms and just now notices she is restrained to a table. Her heart rate starts to accelerate as she starts to freak out. Why is she tied up? Who are all these people? What is going on?

"Why am I tied up?" Zina uses her remaining energy and tries to struggle out of her constraints. To no avail; even if she wasn't feeling groggy and disoriented, she knows she wouldn't be able to break free of her restraints.

"The last time we brought you back, you were a little violent. That's why she's here," He responds with confidence as he points to the teenage girl with pink hair standing next to him.

"Hi," The girl says, waving at her. Zina didn't know why, but there was something off about her; it instilled even more fear into her. She was trapped, but even then, she tried to push herself away from her. She still had no clue what was happening, and her head felt like it was about to explode.

"First off, I want to say, 'Welcome back to the land of the living.' I'm your father, Grant Shipman," Grant says as he smiles at her. Zina looks around the room, looking for hidden cameras capturing this all. Was this some kind of sick joke? What the fuck was going on. It couldn't be true; she didn't know her father. She couldn't remember anything about him. All she could remember was the glare of the truck's light and the sound of its horn as it rammed into her.

Zina stops struggling and just stays completely still, "That's right, I killed myself."

Zina thinks back to the last few moments of her life. She jumped in front of a truck to end her miserable existence. It was supposed to be the end; she was supposed to be gone. Why was she here? Why was her father standing in front of her?

"Did I get isekai-ed?" Zina asks, dumbfounded.

"You could say that. We are technically in another world. The technology we needed to bring you back wasn't available on Earth," Grant explains to her, smiling.

"Cool. I see. I'm dreaming, right?" Zina says. None of the religions on Earth prepared her for this outcome. They talked about a flash of white light and standing before the pearl gates. None of them mentioned you waking up tied up in an alien world with crazy people hovering over your body, ready to probe all your orifices with their weird machines. Then again, Zina thought, if they had, nobody would be religious.

"I'm really in a hospital bed in Tokyo. Right? This is just the drugs messing with my brain. Some asshole must have saved me! I wanted to kill myself; I didn't want this!" She tries to rationalize it all to herself.

"No, I'm sorry to say, you're not dreaming. You really did die, but I saved you. Now, you are on another planet," Grant does a grand flourish with his arms as he allows Zina to observer her surroundings. The room is full of a bunch of strange instruments that she has never seen before. She must admit, there's an uncanny valley look to it all. It seems normal in spots, but the rest is all alien to her. He must be telling the truth.

"Well shit," Zina comes to terms with her fate. For all intents and purposes, she is now a zombie.

"Before we get started, eat this hamburger," Grant asks the alien to bring the tray closer. He takes the plate off of it and presents it to Zina. It looked like an unassuming hamburger, and Zina could feel the hunger rising deep within her. She should have been warier about it, but at that time, all she could think about was satiating her immense hunger.

"Oh, hamburger," is all Zina can say. As soon as they remove her straps, she lunges at the hamburger and begins to devour it with an extreme ferocity and cannibalistic nature; all she could think about was gobbling it all down. In her state of extreme hunger, she didn't notice how strange she was acting; even if she had, what would she have done differently?

Zina's alarm rouses her from her nightmare. She wakes up in a cold sweat and a bit disoriented. She eventually notices she is in her childhood bedroom. She looks over at her phone and sees that it is 6 A.M.

"Well, I might as well get ready for the funeral," Zina thinks as she gets up for what will turn out to be another eventful day.

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