Like Her Mother
When she enters her room and shuts the door, Kanon points a gun right at her face. Her heart stills in her chest, feeling as if a hand had surged through her body and clutched it, prepared to wrench it out. Jessica's fingers grip the doorknob, but Kanon orders her to remain still, that she had her chance to run away.
This isn't what Kanon promised her. This is nothing like what Kanon and Shannon had told them all at the very beginning.
Jessica waits. Her brow furrows, and she keeps her lips clamped shut, preventing herself from any needless questions or insults. She would have screamed at Kanon and demanded what he was doing, but the shiny metal of the gun reflecting back in her mind makes her tongue still.
"You've arrived on time. Good," Kanon says, keeping the gun raised to her head.
"Kanon-kun," she whispers, breathless and feels sweat trickling down her cheeks, "what are you doing? Is this part of the plan? M-maybe you forgot to tell me about it?"
Kanon does not reply. He moves to the side of her desk, revealing her telephone. Two slips of paper are nearby. He collects one of them and offers it to her.
"This...this isn't right," she manages to say as Kanon approaches her. "This isn't at all what you said would be happening. Y-you and Shannon-chan said-!"
"Ojou-sama," Kanon interjects, eyes made of cold steel, "read it."
Ice coats his words and chills her blood. Jessica reaches out for the paper, words buzzing in her head, desperate to be free, but she cannot speak. She feels hiccups bubbling in her chest and reverberating against her cheeks.
The moment she saw the gun, she knew she had been tricked. Her entire family had all been deceived. When Shannon came to them all with her idea promising to share the riches and gold left by her late grandfather, she and her family eagerly went along with her plan. They just had to obey the scenario she and Kanon conjured, which involved pretending to believe that the Golden Witch and Grandfather were still alive and ensure Battler eventually accepted it as well. She never questioned Kanon, trusting that he would never steer her in the wrong direction.
After all, she loves him. She wants nothing but the best for him, and he had promised they would be together after their plan. He said honeyed phrases that tickled her heart. He even said that he was no longer furniture because he loved her.
As she reaches for the paper, her mother flashes in her head. She remembers her father's voice confirming her death, and blood covers her eyes. Her knees, knobby and brittle, slam together, and the gasp ripping from her throat makes her lungs collapse as if she has no oxygen left in her body.
Kanon says nothing. He continues to hold out the paper.
Sweat dampens her brow, and her lips shake. Her hands twitch. The room is too stuffy. She tries to breathe, but her inhaler is lost somewhere in the shadows of her room.
"My-my mother-Kanon-kun, what did-Kanon-kun-you didn't-oh, please, no, Kanon-kun!"
Her voice spews out fragments of sentences as the realization finally crashes down, propelled by gravity and the twisted truth. Eva-oba-san and Hideyoshi-oji-san, Rosa-oba-san, Rudolf-oji-san,Genji-san, and finally, her mother all appear in her mind like lightning strikes. They are smiling at her, and then, they are collapsed on the floor with brain matter and blood spilling out of their skulls. Standing over them is Kanon with his smoking gun, and when Jessica blinks, he settles it between her eyes.
"The letter, Ojou-sama," he orders with a faint sigh. "You have to read it, and answer it carefully with the poise of the late master."
"Answer me!" she roars, her belly aching and her heart pounding against her ribcage. "What did you do? What did you and Shannon-chan do to Mom? When Dad said she was dead, did you-?"
"We followed the epitaph as we said we would," Kanon explains, every word diligent and proper, "and we carried out the ceremony. All of you chose to not try and solve the epitaph, so we followed Beatrice-sama's orders."
Jessica wails and clutches her head. Her fingers streak through her tresses of blonde hair, digging them out of her tight ponytail and letting them fall down the sides of her face. Her eyes burn with tears, and even when the world blurs with saltwater, she can see the gun so clearly. She thinks her mother had been gawking at it as well in the dining room, eyes wide and mouth open just like her.
She has so many apologizes she wants to say to her mother. She wants to apologize for never living up to her expectations, for trying to go against the strict code of ladylike elegance of the Ushiromiya family. Jessica promises to no one that she will become an excellent bride and serve her husband well just like her mother did, but she'll never have that chance when she's trapped in the same position as Natsuhi.
Kanon clears his throat, and Jessica glares, fire burning in her eyes and fists clenching at her sides. He continues to hold out the paper, and Jessica wrenches it free from his grasp. Tears land on the paper as she unravels it, and reading its contents, Jessica's eyes widen.
"It's a test of love," Kanon says, never lowering the gun as he speaks. "You must choose one and disavow the other two." Jessica glowers at him, and he senses her question, adding, "The one you choose will definitely die, but the others will go free."
"How can you even make this fair when you killed my mother? You've already killed her, haven't you?" Jessica shrieks, beginning to crumple the paper but freezes when she glances at the barrel of the gun. She notices Kanon's finger twitch around the trigger, and she swallows, turning her gaze back to the paper.
"Make the choice that best suits you, Ojou-sama," Kanon says. "You see, your answer will prove if you are prepared to be the next head of the Ushiromiya family."
Jessica keeps her gaze on the paper, trying to avoid the gun's oppressive presence. She wipes her eyes with the back of her palm, smearing tears against her cheeks and hand. She remains quiet, the tension in her legs begging her to abandon everything and run. Her mind begs her to flee as her heart begins sinking into her stomach.
Jessica almost chuckles. She's so stupid, she thinks. She never imagined being betrayed by the one she loves.
She gazes at Kanon and scrutinizes his features. His squinted eyes never leave her. His bangs cover parts of his face. His uniform is prim and proper. Truly, Kanon is a model servant of the esteemed Ushiromiya family.
Specks of blood coat his shoes, and she wonders if the blood belongs to her mother. If he did, then, he had stomped on her corpse, cursing Natsuhi's name for her strictness and adherence to the social order. She wonders if Shannon did the same.
"Your answer, Ojou-sama," Kanon commands, and the gentleness in his voice makes her sigh.
"Why is your name here?" she asks, the paper crinkling against her fingers and irritating her ears.
Kanon glances at the paper. "This is the name of the person you love."
"You wrote this, right? Why?" Jessica gestures at the gun. "Would you shoot yourself if I picked you?"
"If you can't choose, I can end this peacefully," Kanon says, and Jessica smirks, paleness touching her cheeks.
Of course he wouldn't die. He has no reason to kill himself when he has power over her. The test itself is a trick, she realizes, and she withholds her sigh.
Any answer is inherently wrong. Everyone has been deceived. This is all for the sake of Kanon's ego, and she wonders how naive she could have been to follow along. Keeping the rousea secret from Battler and pretending to believe Grandfather was alive should have been red flags, but she idly believed. She feels like she had been playing hopscotch right into the mouth of a demon.
"Kill me," she says, her expression blank and neutral, and Kanon's eyes widen.
He gasps. "Ojou-sama-!"
She moves past Kanon, who never lets her be without the barrel of the gun aimed at her head. Jessica sits on her bed, caressing the clean sheets. She smells lavender mingle with the faintest hint of copper.
"This test doesn't have a correct answer. What I want to know is how you obtained your answer as the next head of the family," Kanon murmurs, and Jessica raises her head, somberness touching her features.
For a moment, she sees Kanon waver. The way his lips tremble as he speaks sends shivers down her spine, but in an instant, again, he is merciless and hovers over her. She digs her fingernails into her sweaty palms.
This is all a formality. Every answer ends in her death.
"If I let you die, I'll become nothing but a decrypt old woman regretting my love for you," she says, and she watches Kanon's eyes water. "If I picked my family, I could never forgive myself, and maybe, neither would you. I would never do anything as the head to actively hurt my family."
She spits out her words, and Kanon steels himself. She is calling him out, dragging him to the center of the stage to be denounced as the culprit. Jessica clutches her knees, and her eyes narrow onto him.
"I told you that I wanted you to live your life to the fullest. I never imagined it would involve killing my family," she says, a grim smirk playing on her face. "That's why, I want you to kill me and leave the rest of my family alone. This way, you can end your vengeance with me and live your life to the fullest without harming anyone else."
Kanon's voice cracks as he cries out, "Ojou-sama, that's not it! You don't understand!"
"I do understand!" Jessica bellows, surging to her feet. With the gun aimed at her chest, she stomps forward until the barrel presses against her. "What I understand is that Kanon-kun is a murderer! I love him, and yet, he killed my mom! I gave myself, heart, body, and soul to Kanon-kun, and he betrayed me!"
Kanon quivers for a brief moment, but then, he is back to steel. He says nothing, but she can see him chewing on the insides of his mouth. He nudges her back with the gun, and he waits.
"Kill me," Jessica commands, and she slips her hands into her skirt pockets, sliding her brass knuckles on and revealing them to Kanon, "or I'll do what I must to protect what little family I have left from you."
She waits for his answer. An eternity passes when it has only been a few seconds. Left in the darkness of her room with pale moonlight shining in through her window are the two in love. Their eyes clash, and so do their spirits, engaged in warfare unlike no other.
Jessica wonders if George is experiencing the same sensation. She thinks about Shannon, pondering if she is giving the same condemnation to George. If she can stand her ground against Kanon, then perhaps, George can overcome Shannon's willpower.
"George-sama is dead," Kanon says as if reading her mind, and Jessica's heart cracks, pieces of it sliding down her bloodstream. He slams the butt of the gun against her stomach, and Jessica falls, her legs clattering against her bed.
Gravity curses her, making her body feel like lead when she tries sitting up. She groans, her fingers clutching the pretty, pink sheer rug set by her bed that her father had gotten for her on one of his European trips. Jessica tries to look at Kanon, but all she can see is ebony metal.
"The other note," Kanon orders, "is what you will read to Battler-sama over the phone. You will read everything I have written down without question."
Malice is in his voice and stabs her. Jessica shudders, the air suddenly so oppressive and noxious. She needs her inhaler, but Kanon won't give her any grace. He points at the telephone, commanding her once more.
She stands. With what little strength remaining in her body, Jessica gets to her feet and leers at Kanon. She tries to ignore the gun, and she takes two steps towards the telephone. Raising her right hand, Jessica takes in a breath.
She pivots. Her left fist shoots out straight for Kanon's head, and he fires.
The scream ripping from the back of her throat echoes throughout the mansion, and somewhere, she can hear the cackling of the Golden Witch. She falls onto her bed, memories flashing in her head of how she chatted with Shannon and Manon about love and the simplicity of ignorant boys and the foolishness of daydreaming girls.
Jessica wails even though she is not injured. Tears stream down her face, and she can no longer see Kanon. Her ears buzz and feel like they are endlessly exploding like landmines keep going off around her. The hole in the wall behind her seems to stretch, becoming one with the inky darkness.
Kanon quakes, saying, "Forgive me, Ojou-sama."
"No! No!" Her beleaguered cries reach the heavens, and she falls back to her knees. "Stop this, Kanon-kun! Please!"
It's futile. It's hopeless. She is going to die at the hands of her beloved, and then, he's going to kill her family. Her father, her cousins, and everyone else will die at his hands. She can't protect them, and her heart shatters into nothingness.
Kanon's voice brings her back as he says, "The phone, Ojou-sama. You must call Battler-sama now. We're wasting time."
She crawls like a baby to the phone. Each labored breath feels like a gift from God. Jessica trembles as she reaches the receiver, She inches the other note towards her with trembling fingers. Her gasping and panting breaths sound as if she has run a mile, and Kanon places the gun against her skull.
"Call him," he orders, and Jessica wonders how he will mask the truth of her final moments.
Her fingers twitch as she misdials. Kanon's irritation must have boiled over as he smacks her shoulder with the gun, ordering her to hurry. Jessica whimpers, dry-heaving and gagging as she calls.
She hopes Battler never answers, but alas, he does.
Just as Kanon wants, Jessica plays her part. She reads the note with ease as if she had recited it all beforehand. Kanon's lies spill out of her mouth as Battler begs her to stay alive. His words sound so funny to her. It's impossible to fight back when it's her beloved trying to kill her.
She has no idea what it is that she's saying. It seems that Kanon and Shannon want to place the blame on the Golden Witch, and she wants to burst out laughing. Covering the truth of her family's murder with magic sounds like a novel she would read in her past time and then forget about in a few years.
The note is coming to a close, and so is her time. She wishes Battler well, telling him to believe in the witch and to not mistake anything as human. Demons are real, and she knows that very well. The one standing behind her is the truest devil.
She hangs up. Battler's desperate voice lingers in her head, and she thinks Maria laughed in the background.
"Thank you, Ojou-sama," Kanon says, and Jessica does not look at him, "for loving me."
"Burn in he-"
She is cut off by the sound of a gun blowing a hole through her head, spilling her brain matter and blood against her wall, table, and bed. Before she dies, Jessica thinks she looks just like her mother.