Chapter 3: ACT 1 – Beginning (Part 3)

Jackie sat on the cushion next to Sumire just as the sliding door of the tatami room slid open, revealing another girl with cat ears. Unalike Katherine, she was exceptionally short, quite possibly still a child, and she only had one purple cat tail. Her green maid dress covered the full length of her legs as it trailed behind her on the tatami floor. She was carrying a tray with four steaming cups of hot liquid balanced upon it.

“I brought hot chocolate,” the girl beamed, walking over to the couch. “Drink up!”

“Thank you, Kitty!” Sumire smiled, rubbing the girl’s purple hair and taking one of the cups. “Please,” she looked over to Jackie, “Feel free to take a cup.”

Jackie eyed the cups with suspicion, before slowly lifting one off the tray.

“This is really hot cocoa?” she asked. “You haven’t poisoned these mugs or something?”

“We’re not savages,” Katherine said, taking a cup and holding it to her mouth. “See?” she asked, taking a sip from the cup. “Katherine is fine!”

“I see,” Jackie sighed, “sorry for asking. And thanks for the hot cocoa.”

“Don’t sweat it!” Kitty said, taking the last cup and throwing the tray behind her back before taking a seat on the floor next to the couch, pulling up her dress slightly and crossing her legs.

“Now then,” Sumire began, “if everyone’s comfortable, allow me to regale you all with a story of two beings… or not two beings…

 

It all began in the settlement of Old King, where Phantasia’s human population lives free from the danger and conflicts of witches and demons. …Or at least, they used-to. But that was before the appearance of an evil witch known only as 'Lady Kuro' who sent her familiars to wreak havoc in the small hamlet. Nobody knows who Kuro is or what she wants. Every time that one of her familiars has been slain, their corpse would shatter to reveal a human cadaver. That is to say... All of her minions are kinkind, witches and demons whose powers far exceed those of the average witch or demon. Kinkind can only be summoned by individuals from the human realm who possess lots of imagination and potential.”

 

“So this ‘Kuro’ is a human, then?” Jackie asked.

Sumire took a sip of hot chocolate from her cup, and sighed, “That is highly unlikely,” she stated, “witches who also happen to be human beings are practically unheard of!”

Jackie’s eyes widened as she stared at Sumire.

“You’re not human?” Jackie asked the witch.

“Not anymore…” Sumire muttered, “anyway, there will be plenty of time for questions after I’ve finished telling my story. Now, where was I…?

 

By the time I caught wind of the situation in Old King Hamlet, with demons and witches attacking humans before being defeated and turning into human corpses, there had been numerous repeat incidents…”

 

Suddenly a phone started to ring. Sumire sighed and reached into her dress, pulling a cellphone from out of her cleavage.

“Sorry, I have to take this,” she apologized before lifting the phone up to her ear, “I’ll be back in five minutes.” she said opening up another purple portal and hopping inside before disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Jackie looked over to Katherine and Kitty, “What was that about?”

“Katherine assumes that Miss Sumire received a phone call from Mister Chekhov.” Katherine replied.

Speak of the devil, another vortex opened up and Sumire’s head popped out.

“I’m going to be a while,” she said, “here, read up on kinkind by yourself in the meantime, Jackie!”

Another vortex opened up above Jackie’s head, dispensing the girl’s borrowed copy of Two Beings, Or Not Two Beings as well as her eyeglasses. The heavy tome smacked Jackie in the face as it dropped from the purple portal.

“OW!” Jackie grunted in pain.

“Sorry!” Sumire chuckled, as she ducked back into the portal as it disappeared.

Jackie looked at book. It was quite a long book. Very long, in fact. She sighed as she picked up her glasses and looked back to Katherine and Kitty.

“Can either of you give me a quicker explanation about these ‘kinkind’ things?” Jackie asked, putting her glasses back on.

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Meanwhile, a familiar purple vortex opened up outside a small guard station. A man in a police uniform talking through his cell phone looked over at the portal, hanging-up and putting his phone is his pocket. The cop was Vladimir Chekhov, a powerful witch who had recently been relocated to Phantasia’s border control force against his will. Watching the border had been Sumire’s idea, and there wasn’t much that Vladimir could do to protest. He knew that he wasn’t as powerful as Sumire, socially or magically. Her victory in the Witch Games proved that. If he refused any of her requests, the other demons would likely think less of the police force. She was basically a minor celebrity, and he a mere copper. Sumire hopped out from her vortex with open arms.

“Vlad,” she smiled, “Why were you calling me? You wanna hang out or something?”

Sumire wrapped her arms around Vladimir, as he desperately tried to push her off his body, doing his best to avoid accidentally touching her in a way that could be considered inappropriate or violent.

“Get your hands off me!” the cop barked. “And stop calling me Vlad! My name is Vladimir!”

Sumire disengaged her hug, and put her hands behind her back cheerily as Vladimir adjusted his policeman’s cap.

“Well, enough small-talk,” Sumire began, “have any humans crossed the border recently?”

Vladimir scowled as he pointed down at a line in the dirt. The border between the human realm and Phantasia.

“Tell me, Miss Shakepseare,” the officer said, “What do you see?”

Sumire paused and raised her index finger to the side of her lip quizzically, “The border?”

“And do you see anything… unusual about the border?”

“No?” Sumire unsurely replied.

“Exactly,” Vladimir shouted, “there are no footprints on the human realm’s side of the border!”

Sumire leaned over to examine the borderline. Vladimir cringed and looked off in another direction, as Sumire unknowingly flashed her purple and black striped underpants at him. As her face crossed over the border, her long blonde hair slowly shortened and blackened, as her witch’s hat faded away and a pair of violet glasses materialized above her nose. She licked the ground beneath her chin, before lifting her head back across to Phantasia’s side of the line. Sumire’s head quickly returned to the way it was before.

“That’s strange…” Sumire pondered, “How are the kinkind’s summoners entering Phantasia without crossing the border? There’s no other way for someone from the human realm to get here, is there?”

“There is another…” Vladimir pontificated, looking back over at Sumire and leaning in close to the witch’s face, “Maybe you teleported them here?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Sumire laughed, pushing Vladimir over, before pinning the border control officer to the ground under one of her feet, “Are you implying I’m on Kuro’s side?” she leered.

Vladimir once again saw up the woman’s dress, blushing and shutting his eyes as quickly as he could.

“N-No, Miss Shakespeare,” he stammered, “I was just thinking aloud.”

Sumire put her hands together and smiled.

“Well don’t think that again, then!” she said, lifting her boot off Vladimir’s body, as he stood up and dusted himself off. “Although, speaking of spiriting away someone from the human realm…”

Sumire pointed into the air, as a vortex opened up in the direction she was pointing. Jackie was suddenly transported above the tiny guard station as the human fell out of the vortex and down to the ground below, screaming. Jackie hit the ground with a thud, followed by several utterances of “ow” and a few counts of “bollocks” screamed at the top of her voice.

“What was that all about?!” she demanded.

“Sorry,” Sumire sweated, offering a hand to Jackie and pulling her up off the ground, “Vlad this is Jackie. I brought her here from the human realm!”

Vladimir gritted his teeth, “Excuse me?”

“You know that saying ‘fight fire with fire’?” Sumire asked Vladimir. “Well Jackie here is going to summon our very own kinkind.”

Jackie’s grip on the witch’s hand tightened.

...

“You want me to summon one of those things?!”

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