The Three Deaths

第5話

Zina noticed her pajamas soaked in sweat; she must have had one hell of a nightmare. She clumsily stumbles over to her closet and opens it.

"Damn, not a spec of dust anywhere," Zina says out loud, looking at the rows of clothes. It seems that Ren and her mom did their best to keep the house clean for her return. Zina felt a bit sad; she never told her aunt how much she appreciated all the work she put into maintaining her home. She knew she should have tried to reach out to them sooner, but her low self-esteem didn't allow her. She knew if she dwelled on the past for too long, it would only make her more depressed. She needed to get ready for her aunt's funeral; she didn't have time for her own issues right now.

Zina brushes away her dark thoughts and focuses on getting dressed; she grabs the sleeve of a random shirt. She knows it would probably not be a good idea to show up to her aunt's funeral wearing a random anime t-shirt. She picks a somewhat formal, classy dress shirt, brings it up to her nose, and sniffs. It smells like flowers and laundry detergent. It seems that somebody has been making sure her clothes were washed and clean, another thing she would never be able to thank her aunt for.

"Have Ren and Aunt Akia been cleaning my clothes?" Zina asks as she picks a matching skirt to go along with the shirt.

Zina throws off her grimy, sweat-soaked pajamas and puts on the skirt. She is about to put on her shirt when the doorbell rings.

"Who the hell could that be at this hour?" Zina asks herself. She quickly slips on her shirt and smooths out the wrinkles as she heads to the staircase.

"Hold up!" Zina yells as she buttons up her shirt. She'll have to find shoes and pantyhose to go with her outfit after she attends to whoever is at the door.

Zina quickly walks downstairs to greet her unexpected guest. When she opens the door, standing there was her tall and imposing sister Bao.

"Good morning," Bao says.

She is dressed in her best black and white formal wear. If Zina didn't know any better, she would assume she was ready to attend a funeral... Wait.

"What the hell are you doing here, Bao?" Zina asks her. She didn't expect to see her until their mission.

"Dad says I should go to the funeral with you to learn how to mimic sadness and despair," Bao replies. Zina is used to her sister's emotionless tone and demeanor, but even she could detect a bit of annoyance in her tone as she said that.

"Yeah, mimicking is about all you can do," Zina says as she turns around, a bit annoyed at the situation. It would be a bit awkward to have her sister show up to her late aunt's funeral after the commotion she caused yesterday. Zina knew that there was nothing she could do about it, though. She just shrugged her shoulders and accepted the predicament her dad put her in.

"Do you want something to eat?" Zina beckons for Bao to come in and heads toward the kitchen.

"Sure," Bao says. "Aisha is parking the car. We should wait for her first."

"What?! Aisha's here too?!" Zina is now fully annoyed. She can understand why her dad would want Bao here to try and learn how to act more human, but Aisha? There was no point for the spoiled princess to be here. Aika was Zina's aunt from her mother's side; there was no reason for her half-sisters to be here for her funeral. She could tell that Grant had something else planned, but all she could focus on at the moment was the annoying start to her day.

Before she can say anything else, the little 5-foot-6-inch Aisha runs up the walkway to the house, wearing a traditional Japanese sailor schoolgirl uniform. Zina is left wordless for a few seconds, which is an accomplishment for a Japanese person. For a country that has used panties vending machines, showing up to a funeral dressed like a JK, high-school, student is too much, even for them.

"Hey, Zina! Cool house. It looks like it's straight out of an anime," Aisha says gleefully as she inspects the house.

Zina comes back to her senses almost immediately. The princess always gets what she wants; there is no point in arguing or trying to dissuade her. She will just have to deal with whatever fallout might arise as it happens. For now, she was hungry, and it seemed more prudent to satiate her hunger than to get into another argument with her sister.

"Thanks. I was just asking Bao if she wanted something to eat. Are you hungry?" Zina asks.

"Definitely. I haven't eaten anything since last night," Aisha says as she runs into the house.

"Well, come in then. Take off your shoes first!" Zina screams after her sister. It was already too late; she had tracked dirt and mud into her house. She'll just have to clean that later.

"Shit. That's real?" Aisha asks. She goes back to the foyer to take her shoes off.

"Is what real?" Zina replies, confused.

"The whole thing about taking your shoes off," Aisha says. She slips on a pair of house slippers that Zina has set out for guests. "I thought that shit was made up, to make you Japanese folks look crazy."

"What? Why would you think that? No, it's real," Zina says. She places Aisha's dirty shoes on the rack located next to the entrance.

"How do you deal with all the foot odor?" Aisha asks. Zina knows that her sister has been sheltered ever since she was born, so she tries not to get offended by her stupid questions.

"We wash our feet, of course," Zina says. She can't help but roll her eyes at such a stupid query. If this were your typical zombie movie, her eyes would fall right out of her sockets right about now.

"Well, if the place starts smelling bad, don't blame me," Aisha says defiantly. Zina wanted to quip back about how her feet smell only of the finest flowers exported from all over the world and how her farts smell like cupcakes and bubblegum. She bit her tongue instead; she knew Aisha didn't like it when you brought up her spoiled upbringing.

"Just keep those house slippers on, please? It's my house, so my rules," Zina says, annoyed.

"Fine," Aisha grumbles.

Aisha and Bao follow Zina into the kitchen. Aisha a little more slowly as she stops to inspect everything and comments on how she saw it in an anime before.

"Do you even have food here?" Aisha asks Zina.

"I'm guessing yes. My cousin, Ren, has been using this house as a home away from home. I'm sure she has something lying around. If not, I picked up some snacks last night," Zina says as she rummages through the kitchen.

"Let's see, what have we here?" Zina says as she rifles through her cabinets.

"Looks like all we have for breakfast is... God damn it!" Zina exclaims.

"What? No food?" Aisha asks, worried she would have to go hungry.

"No. Sugar Smackers." Zina sighs.

"Ohhh. I love Sugar Smackers!" Aisha extols. "I didn't know you had them here in Japan, though." Aisha is jumping around giddily as she looks for a bowl for her morning fix.

"It seems dad has made them world-famous," Bao explains to Aisha. She grabs a bowl for her cereal, doing it more gracefully, though.

"Oh. Dad's such an evil genius!" Aisha says to Bao.

Zina is ready to resign herself to the fact that they'll have to eat the cereal equivalent of cocaine for breakfast. She walks over to the refrigerator and opens it, hoping against hope that she'll find something else.

"Damn! Not enough eggs," Zina thinks. She notices that they are almost out of milk as well.

"Let's just go out and get some breakfast instead," Zina says, turning around to face Aisha and Bao.

"Can we go to McDoggles and get a Sausage, Egg, and Cheese biscuit?" Aisha asks.

"I would like one of those as well," Bao says.

"I guess that will do. There's one down the street," Zina places the box of Sugar Smackers on the counter.

They make their way back to the foyer, and Zina cleans the dirty floor with a rag she grabbed from the kitchen.

"Do they even have Sausage, Egg, and Cheese biscuits at Japanese McDoggles?" Aisha asks as she puts her shoes on.

"The breakfast menu is almost the same as back home," Zina says as she puts on her shoes.

Bao and Aisha are playing with the neighborhood cats as Zina goes to grab her keys and lock up.

"My car is just around the corner," Aisha exclaims, pointing down the street.

"We're walking," Zina tells her.

"Aww, I wanted to drive!" Aisha pouts. It never ceases to amaze Zina how spoiled her sister could be.

"We can use the exercise," Bao says.

"Fine. Whatever. Lead the way, Zina," Aisha begrudgingly concedes.

Zina, Bao, and Aisha walk the three blocks to McDoggles. It was a nice, sunny Japanese morning. Kids were running around with their nets, chasing after bugs. Zina missed the serene calmness that came with living in Japan. One of the reasons she was able to adapt so easily to living in rural America was how much it reminded her of back home.

After a few minutes, they arrived at their destination. The restaurant was mostly empty this time of the morning. There were a few families here and there. For the most part, Japanese families preferred more traditional Japanese restaurants for breakfast or higher-class Denny-equivalent fast-food American restaurants.

The trio gets in line to order their food. It's a short wait, and about three minutes later, they make it to the front.

"Hello, welcome to McDoggles. What can I get for you today?" The server asks in Japanese. Aisha is about to open her mouth and surely say something stupid and racist, so Zina raises her hand to stop her and orders for them.

"Can we get three Sausage, Egg, and Cheese biscuit meals," Zina tells the attendant. "One with a large chocolate milkshake, one with a large black coffee, and one with a soda."

"I'm sorry. The milkshake machine isn't working right now," The server responds as they bow apologetically. Zina can't help but stifle a chuckle as she sees that all the McDoogles are the same all over the world, right down to the always faulty machinery.

"Shall I gut them all?" Bao asks in English. She reaches into her jacket. Zina knows her sister is always packing and would not hesitate to follow through with her threat.

"No! That's all right, Bao," Zina says. She doesn't want her sister to cause another senseless massacre.

"How about a frappe?" Zina asks in Japanese.

"O-Okay. C-Cream or no cream?" The server asks, nervously. They can't take their eyes off Bao. They might not understand English, but bloodlust is the same in any language.

"Cream, please," Zina says.

"T-That will be 3,300 yen," the server says. The server keeps a close eye on Bao, ready to duck under the counter if she so much as flinches.

Zina grabs her wallet and pays the nervous server. She's scared they're going to drop the money with all the shaking they're doing. She's just happy she paid them in paper money and not coins. Aisha, meanwhile, is busy gawking at the locals.

After ordering, Zina finds an empty table for them to wait for their meals. A few minutes later, the shaky server tentatively and slowly brings them their meals. The trio enjoy their highly-caloric fast food breakfast mostly in silence. Zina finishes her meal and decides it's about time to address the elephant in the room.

"Okay, so why are you wearing a schoolgirl outfit, Aisha?" Zina asks.

"That's a dumb question," Aisha replies as she polishes off her drink.

"That's not a dumb question. That is a very reasonable question," Zina says, holding back her anger.

"I wanted to fit in here in Japan, of course," Aisha says matter-of-factly.

"What? Seriously? You actually think all girls wear schoolgirl outfits all the time?" Zina asks, dumbfounded.

"Well, that's what your anime keeps telling me. It looks like they were all lying to me, though," Aisha says as she puts down her empty soda.

"Damn it, Aisha. For a genius war tactician, you are really dumb sometimes," Zina says, eating the last of her hash brown.

"Hey, maybe your stupid anime should be more realistic then!" Aisha angrily says.

"They're cartoons, Aisha. They're not documentaries," Zina explains to the princess.

"Whatever," Aisha responds.

"Well, we better hurry. We don't want to be late for the funeral," Zina says as she picks up her dirty tray.

"She is correct. Dad always says, 'Better to be early than ever be late.'" Bao follows her sister's example and picks up her dirty tray as well.

"See. Bao gets it," Zina says. They throw away their trash and place their empty trays in the appropriate container. Zina could almost hear the wait staff breathe a sigh of relief as they leave the restaurant.

At the funeral, the trio sits quietly in the back row. Zina knows that even though she's family, they still look out of place. She finds it more prudent to sit in the back and let the others mourn. She looks around the funeral parlor and sees everybody mourning. There are lots of flowers, as well as portraits of her aunt, all over the room. As is traditional for most Japanese funerals, her aunt is presented in an open casket. Zina can't work up the courage to get closer and pay her final respects just yet; she can't even look at the casket without getting sad. She looks to her left instead and sees a woman with purple hair and glasses wearing a pantsuit. She walks over to them and sits down next to the group.

"What are you doing here, Abere?" Zina whispers to her.

"Well, this is technically my country. I figured, if one of my citizens died and she's related to a friend, it would be expected of me to stop by," Abere says.

"That's nice of you. Is the pink-haired little twerp also here?" Zina asks.

"Niki's not here. Don't worry," Abere responds.

"How's your boyfriend doing?" Zina asks. She doesn't want to talk about her aunt, or her feelings.

"He's doing well," Abere says.

"I'm still surprised an over 2,000-year-old demon would be interested in my aunt's funeral," Zina tells her. Having her sisters show up out of nowhere in the morning was one thing, but having Abere also show up is another thing entirely. Zina was sure there was something bigger at play here. What could her dad be planning?

"Hey, Abere," Aisha says as she returns to the group after paying her respect to someone she never even knew.

"Hey, Aisha," Abere replies.

"Why are you really here, Abere?" Zina decides to ask.

"Well, your father says Bao here made some very not nice folks angry," Abere tells her.

"This is my country, and I don't want a war to break out in Tokyo. Why did you kill them anyway, Bao?" Abere turns to the quiet and somber one of the group.

"One of them grabbed my ass," Bao replies.

"Sexual harassment is a big problem here in Japan. Anyway, your father thinks you may need some help taking care of this problem. Plus, I have my own reasons for wanting to help," Abere informs them.

"Such as?" Zina asks.

"They stole something from my sister, Akia. Yes, I know she has the same name as your late aunt. Anyway, we strike tonight." Abere says.

"I thought we had three more days?" Zina asks. It was supposed to be her vacation. It seems that the life of a hitman doesn't afford you very much relaxation.

"We did. The situation has changed. They're planning to sell what they stole. The sale is going down tomorrow, and we can't let it fall into the wrong hands," Abere says. Zina hoped she would have a few more days to spend with her family here in Japan. She knew that once they finished their mission they would probably have to make a quick getaway.

"Anyway, I better go inform your uncle that the funeral is being paid for by the Emperor," Abere gets up and says her goodbyes to the group.

"You have a good heart, Abere. You're a good person, even if you are the daughter of the devil," Zina chuckles.

"Dad gets a bad rap," Abere puts on her glasses as she gets up and walks to the front of the room. She introduces herself to Zina's uncle. Zina just watches from afar; Uncle Haruto seems shocked. Zina only wishes she could do more for her family here.

Later on, after the wake, Uncle Haruto walks up to Zina and asks, "Do you know that purple-haired girl?"

"Yeah, that's Abere. She's a friend of my dad," Zina explains.

"She spoke Japanese so fluently. Usually, foreigners can't do that. Where's she from?" He asks.

"Greece originally, I think," Zina tells him.

"She said the Emperor paid for the funeral. How does she know the Emperor?" He asks, perplexed.

"She does a lot of business here in Japan, so it must be a business connection," Zina tells him. She feels her uncle has had enough excitement these past few days to last him a lifetime. It would be mean of her to tell him that he just met the true Emperor and ruler of Japan.

"That makes sense. Anyway, thank you so much for coming, Zina. Your Aunt would have been overjoyed to see you again; we really appreciate it," He gives his niece a warm and affectionate hug.

"No problem. I wouldn't miss it," Zina says, returning his embrace.

"Oh, hello. Thank you for coming," Uncle Haruto says to Bao and Aisha as they walk up.

Zina can tell her uncle is still feeling a bit perturbed after learning about Bao. He's trying to avoid eye contact with her and instead focuses on Aisha.

"Hello. Our condolence for your loss," Bao replies.

"Hey," Aisha says, in her usual spunky attitude.

"You two speak Japanese too? Did Zina teach you?" He asks the girls.

"Nah. Our dad has a thing called..." Zina kicks Aisha in the shin to shut her up.

"I mean, our dad taught us." Aisha shoots Zina an angry glare but bites her tongue.

"Well, you speak it well," Haruto says.

"Thank you," Bao responds.

"Sorry, uncle, but we've got to run. I was hoping to stay the evening with you guys here, but something else came up. I'll probably see you tomorrow," Zina says to him.

"Just make sure to say goodbye this time. That's all I ask," Haruto tells her. Zina could see the sadness and grief on her uncle's face. She will do her best to give them a proper goodbye this time.

"I will," Zina tells her grieving uncle.

Later that night, The Three Deaths meet up with Abere outside the warehouse. They are all wearing their nanosuits and are ready to breach the warehouse and begin the mission. Bao and Abere have M4 automatic rifles with extra ammo clips attached to their waists. Zina has her trusty katana with her because, as she has proven time after time, she is more of a pacifist. The irony of it isn't lost on Zina; she just prefers to incapacitate her targets instead of killing them. Sadly, her sister finishes the job for her. Aisha, the tactical leader and princess of the group has her laptop. She assists from the sidelines and provides the group with any information that might be crucial for the mission. Zina wonders if Aisha is just afraid of getting her hands dirty.

Before she has much time to ponder on it, Aisha begins to relay the information to the girls.

"Okay, from what I can tell, it's just a basic warehouse; there don't seem to be any traps or surprises lying around." Zina might joke around with Aisha, but when it's go-time she always brings her best.

"There seem to be thirty goons, all armed with knives. It shouldn't be a problem. It's a simple mission, in and out without any worries." Zina just watches as Aisha's eyes dance across her laptop's screen, quickly analyzing all the information at lightning-fast speed.

"Honestly, Bao could probably do this on her own," Aisha quips.

"Abere could probably do it by herself, too," Zina retorts.

"Oh, she definitely could," Aisha giggles.

"Okay, meeting over. Let's go commit some genocide," Bao says with an eerily creepy smile.

"As usual, I'll go first. I am the tank," Zina says with a sigh.

"Okay, if you insist. You know I can absorb bullets, too, right?" Abere reminds the zombie girl.

"Do you want to do it?" Zina asks.

"I vote Abere takes point. She'll at least kill these fucks," Aisha says.

"I vote Abere," Bao adds.

"Go ahead then. See if I care. I'll just stay out here with Aisha," Zina says, wrapping her arms around little Aisha.

"Hey! Stop that," Aisha attempts to push her away, but Zina's grip is surprisingly strong; that or Aisha is just physically weak.

"Shall we go?" Abere asks Bao.

"Of course," Bao responds.

Abere and Bao leave Zina and Aisha arguing and head toward the front of the warehouse.

As Bao and Abere walk away, Zina turns to Aisha and offers her sister a bet.

"I bet you $100 it will take them at least ten minutes to kill them all," Zina grins at Aisha.

"You're on! But let's make this more interesting; instead of $100, it should be 1,000 yen," Aisha stupidly grins back at her sister. Zina stifles her giggle. It's obvious her sister doesn't know the USD to Yen exchange rate.

"Fine, if you insist," Zina offers her sister her hand; so they can seal the deal with a handshake.

Aisha is smiling triumphantly as if she just scored a huge victory. Zina turns her attention back to the warehouse as the action is about to begin.

Not bothering with stealth or subtlety, they walk right up to the front door and just shoot the two goons guarding it. They then simply open the door to the warehouse and walk in. For the next six minutes and thirty-seven seconds, all Aisha and Zina could hear from the outside was gunfire and men screaming for their lives. Bao and Abere were both professionals; they would leave no survivors, nobody to tell what happened there.

"Okay, we're done. You can come in now, you two," Bao says over the communicator.

"Here's the 1,000 yen I owe ya," Zina says, handing Aisha the money. "Just so you know, it's less than ten bucks US." Zina runs away, laughing.

"What? I thought it was a lot of money! That's bullshit! You tricked me," Aisha is annoyed at having been duped. She runs after her sister in anger.

"You can buy a manga with it, at least," Zina says as she walks into the warehouse.

"I guess you're right. It ain't all that bad," Aisha resigns herself to defeat.

As soon as the girls enter the warehouse, they are greeted with dead bodies strewn about everywhere.

Aisha and Zina follow the trail of dead bodies to a small office. Zina counts the bodies as she goes. When they finally reach the office, she has a tally of around seventy dead men.

"Looks like you miscalculated, Aisha," Zina says to the princess as they walk into the office.

"It's not my fault. When they're bunched up together, it can make two people seem like one. Technology isn't perfect, you know," Aisha tells her sister.

The first thing they notice as they walk in is Abere opening the door to a small wall safe.

"I knew they had it!" Abere yells. "Grant is going to be so happy about this." She reaches into the safe to pilfer its contents.

Zina gets closer to the demon to catch a glimpse of what this was all about. As she approaches her, she notices her pull out an anime figurine of herself.

"What the hell?" Bao asks. Zina knows that's the closest thing to an emotional outburst anybody can get out of her sister.

"It's a prototype of the figurine we're gonna use as merchandise for my 'Demon at a Crossroads' manga. The Yakuza stole it and were planning on selling it on the black market," Abere explains to the girls.

"Those bastards! Is nothing sacred anymore?! I'm a pacifist, and even I believe these fuckers deserved to die for this," Zina's otaku nature leaks out as she rants and raves about the audacity of those dastardly yakuza.

"It's just a PVC figure! I would understand if it were gold, but damn! Really? All of this bloodshed, for that?" Aisha yells and throws her hands in the air in frustration.

"Yes, but it's one-of-a-kind! It took twelve hours of grueling work for our top artists to complete," Abere says.

"Did you get it?" Grant's voice crackles over the communicator.

"Yeah, we got it," Abere says in response.

"Good. That figure is perfect. We'll have to mass produce it quickly. The book tour starts next week," Grant explains.

"Where are you, dad?" Zina asks.

"I'm in Kuwait," Grant responds.

"Are you with mom?" Aisha asks.

"I'm going to see her tomorrow," Grant tells her.

"Whatever. If we're done here, I'm going back to my house and passing out," Zina starts to walk away.

While she agrees with Abere that the figurine was a one-of-a-kind treasure, she's still not sure all the bloodshed was worth it. It all seemed a bit like a waste of time to her, and she even ended up losing 1,000 yen to Aisha. She quickly makes her way through the piles of dead bodies and steps outside. She then teleports herself back to her house.

She emerges in her bedroom and makes a beeline straight to her bathtub. She stomps her way to the bathroom and turns on the faucet. Once it's full enough, she makes sure the stopper is set and prepares to get in. She orders her nanosuit off; it wriggles off her delicate lithe body. She stands there naked for a few seconds. She looks at herself in the mirror.

"What has my life come to?" Zina says in her native language. There is nobody around to answer, nor does she expect any answer. It wasn't the life Zina imagined for herself. The worst thing is, she can't even remember what she even wanted to do with her life. Did she want to go to college? Had she planned on getting married and having a family? What were her goals? Her aspirations? Zina couldn't remember any of that after the accident. Her whole life after being revived has revolved around serving her dad. She was able to meet her sisters, but there's always been that thought gnawing at the back of her mind. If she hadn't killed herself, what would she be doing now?

The steam from her bathtub starts to fog up the mirror. Zina wipes it away and stares at herself for a few more seconds. Disgusted at what she sees, she decides to forget about it and just soak her tired bones. She slips into the bathtub and leans back, relaxing. She submerges her head underwater and closes her eyes. She lies motionless in the water, emptying her mind of all her worries. She lets the soothing sounds of nothingness fill her ears as all her worries just start to slip away. After a few minutes of drowning without dying, she slides back up and rests her head against the bathtub. Zina places a washcloth over her eyes and then swings her arm over the edge of the tub to relax. For the next ten minutes, she forgets about everything and everyone and just rests her body. Just as she's about to fall asleep, she senses an almost indiscernible presence.

"Are you gonna just stand there all evening and stare, Valentina?" Zina directs her voice at the doorway. She removes the washcloth from her eyes and turns to stare at her friend.

Valentina is indeed standing at the doorway of her bathroom in her pantsuit.

"I mean, I know yours aren't gigantic or anything, but they're still mesmerizing. It's hard for me to look away; they have a hypnotic pull to them. Also, when the hell are mine gonna get even close to that size?" Val asks as she begins to take off her pantsuit.

"They'll get bigger one of these days. You just need to hit puberty first," Zina says with a mischievous grin. She lies back down in the tub and places the washcloth over her eyes again.

Val is now completely naked and slides into the bathtub with Zina.

"Man, you Japanese have way bigger bathtubs than we do in America. This thing can easily fit both of us and probably one more person," Val says as she relaxes with her friend.

"What can I say? We really like our baths," Zina says, taking the washcloth off her face and looking at Val. She knows that's all the solitary relaxation she'll be getting this evening.

"Hey, can we go to one of those hot springs?" Val asks excitedly.

"Do you really want to go?" Zina stares at her friend.

"Yeah! You can't come to Japan and not visit an onsen! I want to ride a bullet train, too," Val clearly already has her mind made up.

"Fine. How about tomorrow?" Zina asks.

"Awesome," Val says as she sinks into the bathtub.

"You've got a nice house here, by the way. Was it your mom's house?" Val asks her.

"Yep," Zina curtly replies.

"Nice," Val says as she places her own washcloth over her eyes.

After spending another ten minutes soaking in the tub and making small talk, the best friends finally get out. The two of them dry themselves off and head to bed. They have big plans for tomorrow; they know they should be well-rested.

They get up early the following morning, have a quick breakfast, and make their way to the train station. Shortly after, the pair are riding the Shinkansen Bullet Train heading north to Kusatsu, Japan.