Chapter 13: ACT 2 – Confrontation (Part 2)

“You…” Jackie began, staring at the other woman’s convenience store uniform, “you’re the cashier from my local Ye Olde Corner Shoppe!”

The woman stared blankly back at Jackie. “…Are y’ the customer who was lookin’ for Excali-” the woman paused. “Um… ‘Arthur’, was it?”

“Yes,” Jackie blurted out, “have you seen him?!”

The cashier hung her head down in shame.

“Guess not?” Jackie thought.

“Where are we?” she asked, after a brief moment of silence.

“Sumire Shakespeare didn’t tell you about the Unconscious Zone?” the woman asked.

“N-No?” Jackie asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Listen, Love…” the cashier said with a grim tone, “I made a mistake. I shouldn’t’ve trusted that Kuro…”

Jackie’s eyes widened, “You know Kuro?!”

“Cuz of that… my kinkind’s putting lives in danger…”

Jackie raised an eyebrow. “Rusalka?” she asked, “Rusalka’s your kinkind?”

The cashier nodded.

“Well, just…” Jackie stammered, “just call her off! Stop summoning her!”

“Y’ think I haven’t tried, Love?!” the woman snapped, causing Jackie to wince. “Rusalka’s too powerful for me to control!”

The cashier turned her head to her left. Jackie turned her head to her right to see what the other woman was looking at. A rectangle, floating in the middle of the darkness, almost like the screen in a movie theater. On the rectangle, the two humans could see Luna and Rusalka fighting in real-time.

Rusalka’s summoner looked back at Jackie. “It seems your kinkind isn’t under your control either,” the cashier sighed. “After all, why else would you be in the Unconscious Zone?”

Jackie watched the screen intently. She wasn’t sure whether what she was seeing was real. Was it a film? Or was it what one might call an “out of body experience”? Jackie watched as Kabuki ran over to Luna and Rusalka and punched the water sprite in the face. Rusalka turned away from Luna to stare at the Cyclops.

 

“Pfft,” the sprite scoffed, “is that the best you can do?” she asked, raising one hand to her mouth and yawning, while once again blasting Kabuki away with a geyser of hydrogen dioxide from her other hand.

Luna lowered her head and smiled wickedly. “Rusalka should know better than to turn her back on an opponent,” she thought, tightly clenching her magical blade’s red hilt and raising the sword above her shoulder before leaping forward, imitating what Excalibur had done the night before. Jackie watched on in horror from the Unconscious Zone.

 

“Wait, what am I doing?!” the Englishwoman exclaimed. “No! Stop! Luna, that’s the checkout operator from Ye Olde-”

Jackie was interrupted by the screams of the woman next to her. Jackie swiftly turned her head away from the screen to see what the problem was. She turned pure white with horror as blood gushed from the cashier’s abdomen. Rusalka’s summoner looked over at Jackie.

“This wasn’t…” she coughed, “wasn’t your fault…”

 

Rusalka’s body, now sliced in two like the Teketeke of Japanese folklore, fell to the forest floor.

The water sprite looked up at the tengu who was looming over her. “Hah,” Rusalka scoffed, “You think you’ve won? I was merely playing the part of a distraction, as Lady Kuro asked.”

Luna rolled her eyes.

“She and Excalibur are probably executing their part in the plan, as we speak…”

Luna looked down at the helpless water sprite with an expression of disgust. “Pathetic,” the tengu scowled, as Rusalka lifelessly shut her eyes for the final time.

With a flash, the sprite’s entire body broke apart to reveal the corpse of the cashier from Jackie’s local Ye Olde Corner Shoppe.

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Luna blankly stared at the body as her sword vanished from her palms.

“Luna,” Noh called out, running over to the tengu and wrapping his arms around her, “you saved me again!”

“Yeah, I know,” Luna responded, “I’m awesome! … I can’t take all the credit, though… If it wasn’t for Kabuki over there…” Luna pointed to the one-eyed demon who was lying face-down and soaking wet on the ground. “Maybe if he didn’t distract her with his uselessness, I might’ve MAYBE taken a few seconds longer to take her down!”

“Urgh,” Kabuki grunted, pushing his drenched body off the ground, “who are you calling useless, you murderer?”

“Kabuki!” Noh scolded, “Luna just saved our lives! You should be grateful!”

“Yeah, if you like Noh so much, why don’t YOU save him, next time?” Luna held out her palms, stuck out her tongue and shrugged.

“Grr!” Kabuki growled, running up to Luna. “Who do you think you are?!” he roared, punching Luna in the face and knocking her over with all of his might.

“Stop fighting!” the half-naked werewolf pleaded, placing his hands on the Cyclops’s shoulders and pulling him away from Luna.

“Ow…” the tengu groaned as her body started to flicker and Jackie’s thoughts returned. As Luna’s form faded away, the two male demons stared wide-eyed at the human girl lying at their feet.

“L-Luna?” Noh gasped.

Jackie pushed herself up and rubbed her head. “Noh, listen, I can-”

“Jackie?!” Kabuki yelled, “What the Hell is the meaning of this?!”

“Kabuki, Noh, please I can explain…” Jackie pleaded.

Kabuki rolled his eye. “Luna’s your kinkind, right?” he snarled.

“Y-You know about kinkinds?” Jackie asked.

“Please,” Noh blurted out, “will either of you tell me what’s going on?!” He looked Jackie in the eyes. “Are you really Luna Wolfe?”

“W-Well,” Jackie stuttered, “y-yes, I am, but…”

“You were using your kinkind to lead Noh on, weren’t you?!” Kabuki growled, shoving Jackie away.

“N-No! Of course not! I don’t even like him in that way!”

Noh frowned.

“L-Look, Noh, I’m sorry…” Jackie sighed.

“But we went on a date…” the werewolf sobbed, “we made out… We slept together! Was that a lie too?”

Kabuki turned bright red with embarrassment and rage, before turning to Jackie and slapping her in the face. “You told me you were a lesbian, you lying piece of fucking--”

“I am though!” Jackie moaned. “Please, just hear me out!”

Noh folded his arms, tears welling up on his bottom eyelids. “I think you two should leave now,” he said, pointing to the forest’s exit.

“But… the party’s just getting started?” Kabuki said.

Noh’s expression didn’t change.

“Don’t even think about coming back to my house,” Kabuki leered at Jackie, before running off in the direction of Old King Hamlet.

“Noh…” Jackie said, “I’m really sorry.”

The human hung her head in shame before walking off in the same direction as Kabuki. Telling Noh and Kabuki the truth didn’t go as she hoped it would. “Maybe Kat was right,” Jackie thought, “if I can’t even save their feelings, how am I going to save all of Phantasia?”

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