Rising Shards

I didn’t have a strategy in mind as I approached the devils, though perhaps I should have. I was mostly just fed up with my younger sister’s behavior. By the time I reached their row, Lilith had a hand around the tail of Sai, the devil with deep purple hair.

”Is this thing for real?” Lilith asked.

”Yep,” Sai said, sounding like they didn’t want to spend another second in Lilith’s presence.

”Lilith, leave them alone,” I hissed.

Sai started to say ”It’s fine,” then they saw my stern expression.

Lilith was more than used to my glare, and didn’t back off until I took another step forward. She let go of Sai and scooted further down the aisle, moving past the Althea sisters to stand by Esther.

”It’s weird, I don’t remember a lot before I got here, but I know I didn’t have a tail,” Sai said. ”So every new thing with the tail is...strange.”

”I would imagine so,” I said. ”And my apologies for my sister. Lilith is...annoying.”

”You got her to stop, that’s the important thing,” Sai said.

”I get it,” Myles said. ”I got a younger sister that’s a total brat, too.”

”Wow.” Ash said.

”Lillia, you’re the annoying one,” Lilith said.

”Wonderful comeback,” I said. ”You need to work on your timing as well, it would have been better if you said that immediately after I said you’re annoying.”

Lilith tried to get the other devils to let her hold their tails. Charmaine managed to convince her that patting her horns once was better.

”Whoa,” Lilith said. ”So like...what’s the deal with them? I’ve seen Cani with tails and junk, but...I dunno, it’s different.”

”We had to drink this special juice that made us all devil-y,” Esther said. ”If we didn’t have it, we would probably get sent back to the void.”

”By who?” Lilith asked.

”Not by a person, we’d just get zapped back because of incompatibility with the dimension or whatever,” Charmaine said. ”Also, it makes us super super strong.”

”Huh...” Lilith said.

”They are genuinely very strong,” I said. ”They defeated me, they would probably fling you all the way to the ceiling.”

Lilith looked up, likely imagining herself getting chucked to the very high rafters.

”Kay, I’m gonna go back now,” Lilith said. As she zipped past, she quickly said, ”SorryIgrabbedyourtailpleasedon’tthrowme!”

With Lilith gone, I didn’t exactly have a reason to stay chatting with the devils. And yet, I stayed for a moment longer.

”Are you all enjoying the show?” I asked. ”This one is a favorite of mine.”

Myles, Ash, Esther, and Charmaine had already started other conversations in the brief window after Lilith fleeing, so Sai was the only one who heard me. They yawned.

”That boring?” I asked.

”No, I’m just sleepy,” Sai said. They shrugged. ”It was alright. The painted backgrounds were really gorgeous, that kind of took all my attention.”

”Weren’t they, though?” I said. ”I haven’t seen this performed with such a nice display.”

”Right!” Sai said. ”Story wise...I need to see it again to understand it, I think.”

”It is a dense production as well, rewatches could show how rich the tapestry they wove truly is. They have a copy of a filmed version in the library, though it doesn’t quite capture the experience of seeing it live.”

Sai nodded. ”I may check that out.”

This was small talk I was sure everyone involved would forget almost immediately after I left. When the announcement came through that the intermission was ending, I almost just walked away without saying anything. But I found myself waving to the devils.

”We’ll talk later,” I said.

That came out more like a command than I intended, but I did enjoy that brief chat. I hoped it’d help with Zeta’s mission to befriend the devils even a little bit. I kept glancing their way during the second act, finding the silhouette of all of their horns a pleasant sight.

The play’s brilliant final moments were wonderfully performed by this run’s cast, as the protagonist is left completely alone.

”Yes...finally...finally, I’ll finish...”

Once more, she mixed brewing concoctions, but this time she cackled wildly, completely untethered from her sanity with triumphant confidence.

She didn’t notice a set of mystical gates rising behind her. Nor did she do much as they opened, smoke billowing from them. Shadowed figures reached out to her, but the audience never gets to learn who or what they are.

The hands that brought about the main character’s end, dragging her into the smoke, but the lack of information on them only fueled fan speculation.

I usually enjoyed this ending, the delicious tragedy caused by the protagonist’s own hubris, but something about her lonely end hit Ko feelings. I didn’t want to end up that lonely. But with my luck in dating being nonexistent, I saw it as a very real possibility that I would be met with a similar fate.

”Quite the enjoyable program,” my father said as we left the theater.

”Indeed, and a satisfactory way to spend the day to boot,” my mother added.

”I hope it helped at least a little bit with your emotional state,” my father said.

”Yes, I...” I didn’t exactly feel better. The ending made me feel worse if anything. ”It...had an effect on me.”

”It’s OK if you don’t feel better right away,” Lyla said. ”Don’t rush yourself into thinking you’re better, just feel what you must.”

”I...will try,” I said.

Lilith elbowed Oka. ”Did you see Lillia flirting with those devil people?”

”Say whaaaat?” Oka said in maybe a bit more dramatic of a tone than she needed to. ”I didn’t!”

”Yeah, she was all like, ’oooh your devil horns are so cool, kiss me!’” Lillith snickered.

”I said nothing of the sort,” I said. I tried to grab Lilith, but she dodged me, jogging a full lap around the family van to evade me.

”Why didn’t you go down there and flirt with them, too?” Lilith asked.

”Because I have a girlfriend already?” Oka said.

”And you didn’t break up with her in solidarity with Lillia? Some friend you are!” Lilith said.

”I think that would probably make her feel worse,” Oka said.

”It would,” I said. ”Lilith, perhaps one day you’ll learn how to communicate without infuriating someone.”

”I sincerely hope that day comes soon,” my mother said.

Back at school, I hoped Zeta had made some progress as well on the request I’d given her.

We found her standing by herself in a hallway that lead to many of the recreation spaces on campus.

”How’d it go?” I asked.

I thought Oka had picked up a teleportation power at some point with how quickly she moved from my side to clamp onto Zeta.

”It was...eep!” Zeta started.

Oka picked up Zeta and hauled her on her shoulder like she was a burlap sack.

”It...I don’t know if I learned a lot,” Zeta said. ”I was waiting for Kalei and Marmalade, but Michi and Tay got bored. I think they maybe left a different way?”

Zeta explained what she’d investigated while Oka impressively managed to keep her on her shoulder the whole time, slowly rotating her like she was tied up by a string. Zeta didn’t learn much, if anything, about Kalei’s situation, but I appreciated the effort.

”Was Roxana there?” I asked, regretting it the moment the words slipped past my lips.

”Yeah...” Zeta said.

”I don’t need to know how she was with Ko, I’m sure I’ll see it soon enough,” I said.

”I hope the play was a good distraction, at least?” Zeta said.

”It was a great show!” Oka said. ”I tried picturing Stella as Acorn, the person playing her was good, but I bet Stella was even better!”

”I think she has video of it somewhere at the apartment, maybe we could watch sometime?” Zeta said. ”Also, are you gonna put me down? Aren’t you tired?”

”Nah, I’ve been doing lots of training!” Oka said, patting Zeta’s back. ”I bet you I can carry Zeta all the way to the apartment, five bucks!”

”I’ll take that bet,” I said.

”You mean the dorms, right?” Zeta said.

”Wait, yeah!” Oka said. ”Hold on, Lillia, I think I can take her pretty far, but Zeta’s apartment is like miles away!”

”I’ll expect my five dollars in the form of candy, please,” I said.

”Fine,” Oka said. ”I’m still gonna carry Zeta to her room.”

I didn’t know where I was headed, and very little felt right in my life. A pit in my stomach formed every time I even remotely thought about Ko. Time with friends and family did help greatly though, even if I felt like the protagonist of the play, with shadowy hands of my emotions dragging me into an abyss.