BREAKING THE FANTASY

Written by Gwendolyn Frost.

When Luz and Amity reunited with their friends at the arcade, they burned some time there before Luz invited them all to celebrate for Amity's success at the library by eating at a restaurant called 'Michiru.' They had to take the bus in order to get there since it was located far from their neighborhood. As a matter of fact, the witches were in awe when they arrived in this part of town.

"It's just like the night market, but fancier!" Gus exclaimed as he and Hunter glued their faces to the glass of one store where there were shoes on display.

"Guys… don't fall behind, we're almost there!" Luz raised her voice once she realized she was missing a few friends a block away.

"Sorry!" Gus and Hunter shouted in unison with a soft laugh as they caught up to them.

"Wait… are those books?" Amity stopped midway and just like Gus and Hunter, she was lured in by one of the stores in their way.

Luz smiled nervously and chuckled softly. "Hm… do you really want to step in? We could check it out some other time." She said while fidgeting with her fingers.

Amity looked at Luz and could tell that her girlfriend seemed a bit anxious about something. By now, she was used to Luz's little quirks and she knew that once she has a plan it's hard to divert from it. "Yeah, that'll be nice." Amity said with a nod. Without saying another word, the pink haired witch joined the group once more led by Luz.

By this time, Luz felt a little guilty, after all… her friends have never been here before. They've been hiding in her home for quite some time, of course they all want to see what the Human Realm can offer. As much as she empathized with their situation, granted that she was once a fish in a brand new boiling ocean… something in her made her feel… powerless.

More than anything, Luz wanted to come back to the Boiling Isles. And seeing her friends… seemingly accepting her home so easily… felt a little wrong. She wondered, if they really want to go back to their own?

Those thoughts were quickly wiped off her head once that she heard her girlfriend speak the word:

"Sushi."

"Huh?" Luz snapped out of her trance, lifting her eyes up to look at Amity who was pointing at the sign they walked past.

"Wasn't the food you told me about was sushi? We just walked past it." Amity explained before Luz turned around to see the large restaurant and their huge sign that said:

'Michiru: Sushi & Ramen.'

"Oh, right! We're here!" Luz said while rubbing the back of her neck with a huge blush on her face.

"Cool. It's the food we've seen in anime." Hunter said with a grin.

Luz bursted out of laughter with a nod. "Yeah… anime comes from Japan and this is Japanese food. I thought it'd be nice to eat something far different from greasy food like pizza. This is a special occasion after all."

"Hm…" Amity nibbled on her lower lip. "Are you sure you want to eat here?" The pink haired witch had different worries in her mind than Luz's, mainly the fact that by looking at the large establishment, the parking lot filled with luxurious cars and by looking at the way the staff were dressed from through the large windows… she was able to deduce by common sense this could be an expensive meal.

"Yeah, of course!" Luz exclaimed, other than Amity, she could see the same exact worried expression on Willow's face while the guys were still rambling about anime behind them.

"This place looks expensive." Willow said, saying what Amity wasn't daring to.

"Oh! Don't worry about money! I got enough savings for this!" Luz said in a reassuring way.

The two witches gave each other a quick look before nodding.

"Ok… if you're sure." Amity said, quietly promising herself that once she gets to work in that Daycare Center she'll be able to make up for it.

Not long after, the group was walking into the fancy restaurant before they ran into one of the staff in the entrance. The lady had long dark purple hair, with some locks covering the right side of her face and the rest was arranged in a ponytail over the top which made it look as if it was hand posed over her head. She wore the restaurant's uniform which consisted of a clean white shirt with a black bow-tie, black skirt and heeled shoes to match. She didn't look older than 20, perhaps some college student working her shift after classes, and the expression on her face was rather unfriendly-like, as if she either had been enduring a bad day or she was simply tired of working there.

Once the waitress noticed their presence when they walked up to her, she asked in a rather sharp tone. "Yes?"

"Oh… table for five please?" Luz asked with an oblivious wide smile on her face while her friends all could feel the woman's cutting glare.

"Did you bring your parents with you?" The waitress asked in a rather hostile way.

"Hm, no. It's just us." Luz said while keeping a friendly look on her face despite the evident disapproval of the waitress.

"Well, I'm afraid that our establishment is only for paying customers. I'll have to ask you to leave, please." The waitress said in the most calm and relaxed tone she could muster even though what she was saying was rude.

Unbeknownst to her, the manager was standing a few feet from them giving her a sharp look. The lady seemed in her thirties, wearing a similar uniform with the exception of a full-on tie rather than a bow-tie like the rest of the waitresses welcoming other clients in the doorway.

"What?!" Luz finalled snapped and frowned out of frustration for such a rude answer. "I can pay! I got money, see?!" Luz exclaimed as she took out a small wallet out of one of the pockets on her jacket showing a set of dollar bills inside.

This was the moment that the manager intervened, her heels practically stomping on the floor with each step before the ignited anger in her face was instantly replaced with a friendly and apologetic look on her face when she addressed Luz and her friends. "Hi, sorry. Would you excuse us? We will be back to serve you in a moment."

And with that, the manager tugged from the waitress' arm to take her away from the crowd to scold her for her behavior.

Luz and the rest were left blinking in confusion before Willow broke the awkward moment with a joke. "Someone's getting fired. Is it just me or does she look a bit like Kikimura?"

Hunter's eyes widened and let out his laughter when he took a closer look at that waitress. "You are right! She does look like a human Kikimura!"

Luz turned to look at them with a nervous chuckle. "Sorry guys…"

"You're not the one who should apologize." Amity said. "She is."

"Well, I mean… of course. But… I don't want you guys to get the wrong impression about our world because of this." Luz said while putting her wallet back in her pocket.

"We're not." Willow said with a smile. "Don't worry about it."

"Yeah, so far we've met a lot of kind faces." Amity said with a bright smile. "Like Miss Grimm who gave a literal stranger a chance to get a job."

"Hehe, yeah. That was so nice of her, wasn't it?" Luz asked while rubbing the back of her neck with a soft laugh.

"We've met a lot of nice people in the arcade too, right guys?" Willow said to which Hunter and Gus nodded in agreement.

"That's good to hear." Luz said with a soft chuckle before she heard footsteps behind her which made her turn around to face both the manager and the waitress once more.

Even though the waitress' expression was just as unfriendly as before, she apologized and started over as if nothing had happened. "Sorry for my poor judgment. Arasshaimase, welcome to Michiru - table for five?"

"Uh… yeah." Luz said.

"This way, please." The waitress said while leading the way into the restaurant, the poor manager added a second whispered apology to Luz and her friends.

"Terribly sorry for this, would you accept a dessert, on the house?"

"Oh, really?! Thanks!" Luz exclaimed with a huge grin.

THE LOOKING GLASS

Chapter 11: Watched

The gang was sitting on their table as they were handed the menus by the unfriendly waitress, still showing a mask of indifference even after being scolded by her boss.

While the woman held a notepad and a pen, Luz and her friends were still deciding what to order.

"So, what speaks to you, guys?" Luz asked with a big smile on her face while looking over her menu.

Both Hunter and Gus were gleefully browsing their menus and pointing at certain foods to each other with excitement in their faces while Amity and Willow were mostly looking… at those high prices.

"Hm." Amity smiled nervously at her girlfriend before setting her menu down. "Well, honestly, I don't even know any of this food. So why don't you order something for me?"

"Ditto." Willow said while placing her menu down as well. "I think I'm just going to trust your gut."

Hunter looked over his own menu and with a wide grin on his face he was about to say something before Willow kicked him on the shin. "Hey Luz, I think I'll have a… oww! Why?!" Hunter exclaimed as he looked at the two glaring witches -Willow and Amity- before smiling nervously. "Yeah… on second thought, you can order something for me too, Luz."

"Yeah…" Gus looked back at Luz with the same frightened look on his face. "I don't want to get kicked on the shin, I mean! What he said!"

Luz looked at them with worried eyes before smiling lightly. "Guys, seriously. You can order anything you want. Don't worry about it."

Amity gave the waitress a quick look as she was still standing close to them holding her notepad with a blank stare on her eyes as if she was pretending she wasn't there listening to their argument. Shortly after, she leaned over to whisper to Luz. "I know and we appreciate that you're offering to pay for us but we would prefer not to take advantage of your kindness. Why don't you order what you usually have? That way… we can get to experience this food from your point of view. After all, this is the first time we've ever had sushi…"

Luz looked at her friends who were giving her reassuring smiles and sighed in defeat. "Yeah, I get it. Hehe… thanks." Luz then looked at the menu before she started giving the waitress their order. The purple haired girl simply wrote everything in her notepad and left, leaving Luz with her friends to talk to while they waited for their food.

"It's a shame that Vee couldn't come since she had plans with Masha today." Luz said as she engaged in conversation with her friends.

"Yeah, hopefully she's having a good time too." Amity said before Gus brought a topic to the table.

"So, Amity. How did that thing at the library go?"

"Uh…" Amity was caught by surprise while a huge blush began to overrun her face. "Good."

"She aced it." Luz said with the widest grin ever. "She was so nervous about the two girls judging her but she blew their minds."

"I heard that from Leni earlier at the arcade before you guys arrived." Willow said. "Good job."

"Oh, right!" Luz exclaimed. "You made friends with another human already and you didn't say a thing!"

"I don't tell you everything." Willow laughed.

The conversation leaned towards Willow for a little bit, in classic Luz fashion, she asked her green haired friend all about this new friend of hers. Learning that they bonded due to watching a gaming tournament in the arcade before they head to play some games for themselves.

Later on, they were back to talk about the incredible work that Amity did at the library. Most of it was through Luz's point of view, proudly sharing all the details while her pink haired girlfriend was answering questions with a huge blush on her face afterwards. And by then, 10 minutes had flown away…

The restaurant was filled mostly with people above the 20 age range, so while it was a bit crowded at the time, every group of people sitting at their table was mostly keeping their volume down in which no other group -including Luz's- disturbed one another. The room was filled with low chit-chatting, with the occasional laugh or excitement from some unexpected news.

However… that all changed shortly after, when a face that Luz had seen before showed up at the restaurant. It was the same man from the Greenhouse Foundation Shelter. That same man that looks like one of Adegast's puppets. Once more, a flashback of that familiar looking face coming out from that fountain resurfaced when brushing that semi-long blue hair of his.

Not only was the guy being just as loud as he was when she and Amity saw him at the Shelter, but also the chit-chatting in the wide room increased in volume.

"Heeey, how are you all doing? Huh?!" The man's voice raised amongst the people that were already crowded around him. Mostly people around his own age range that is 20 to 25.

"It's you, it's really you?!" A young man exclaimed with excitement.

"Can I take a selfie with you?!" A young woman practically screamed at his face which caused him to back down a bit.

"Would you want to collab one of these days?!" A naive sounding voice asked next.

"Easy, easy! There's enough Bret for everyone!" The large muscular guy said with a grin as he darted his eyes at his cameraman and gave him a nod while the man positioned himself in the right angle so that he would get the best shots of Bret interacting with his 'fans.' "You all remember to vote this next week, right?" The guy asked while pointing at his DA campaign pin placed on his tight-looking shirt.

"Ugh… it's that guy again." Amity said while covering the sides of her hair where her ears were hidden under her long pink hair.

"It still weirds me out how much he looks like that puppet…" Luz said while shivering a bit.

"What's so special about him, tho?" Willow asked before a surprised-looking Hunter raised his voice at her.

"Are you joking?! Have you never heard of him?!" Hunter seemed to be a bit as excited as the people gathered around the tall muscular man with semi-long blue hair. "That's Bret Blanche! The famous Utuber?! Seriously?!"

"Isn't it the same guy that traveled across the Asian continent upsetting the locals by being a complete nuisance to everybody?" Gus asked with a raised eyebrow.

Hunter's expression changed and a blush started to spread across his face. "Maybe… I mean yeah… he's not perfect. But… I liked the content, I like the idea of traveling across the Human Realm."

"Wait… you do?" Luz asked with genuine surprise.

"Yeah, your world is pretty neat." Hunter said with his tooth-gapped grin while rubbing the back of his neck.

"I have to agree on that." Gus said with a large smile over his face. "I've learned a lot of human culture in Gravesfield, but who would have thought that this world would be this huge."

"Well, I wouldn't say I'd like to travel all over the Human Realm." Amity joined the conversation. "But it'd be pretty exciting to meet the author of The Good Witch Azura, someday." She said with a glee in her voice.

Willow chuckled softly. "Y'know what I'd like to see for myself? A bonsai tree. I heard they're pretty challenging to take care of but I'd like to have one."

Her friends began to delve into a conversation in which Luz felt unable to participate. She felt very anxious hearing them, there was even a visible frown on her face. Before that final day in the Boiling Isles, the Day of Unity - she always dreamt of bringing her friends to meet the Human Realm. Introducing them to its food, its people, its lands… this used to be what she wanted. But now… all she ever thinks is finding a way back to Eda. And when hearing her friends, their happiness, their conformity… all she ever felt was that they have long forgotten about going back home.

"Hm… guys?" Luz looked up and while her friends all looked back at her to hear what she wanted to say… she was interrupted before she was able to get any word out by the waitress placing the food down on their table.

"Sorry for the delay! Here's your food!" The young girl said with a huge grin over her face as she placed the plates down. "And your drinks!" She said while setting down the glasses filled with either soda, water or tea. "I really hope you enjoy it! Is there anything else I can do for you?" The waitress asked as she looked down at Luz specifically with both of her eyes, which the right one was no longer hidden by her hair.

"Uh, thanks!" Luz said with a nervous smile on her face as she felt that waitress' face leaning closer towards her in a rather uncomfortable way now sporting a big smile that was contrasting with her earlier rudeness.

"Alright! Don't you hesitate in calling me over for anything. And I mean, anything! Enjoy!" The waitress gleefully said as she paced her way out of sight… at least as far enough for her not to listen to Luz and her friends.

"That was… strange, right?" Amity said while giving the girl a glare. "What's she scheming?"

"She must be doing it so that I tip her." Luz said with a soft nervous laugh.

"Willow, you're capable of detecting if she poisoned our food, right?" Hunter asked while narrowing his eyes towards the food.

"Yeah, it's safe for consumption." Willow said without even a second thought.

"Oh, great! I'm starving!" Hunter sighed with a large grin on his face as he was about to grab one of the sushis displayed before them until he felt the stare of both Willow and Gus paying close attention to him. "What?"

"Nothing." Willow and Gus said while not removing their eyes from Hunter.

"I can't eat this, can I?" Hunter exclaimed.

"You can, you just have to eat one bite." Willow said with an innocent-looking smile.

"Before us, if possible." Gus nodded.

"Oh no, you're not using me like a guinea pig!" Hunter exclaimed before Luz bursted into laughter.

"Guys, calm down, she did not poison our food. If she has done so, the health department will shut down this place immediately. Here… I'll eat one first." Luz said as she used her chopsticks to reach for one sushi before she ate it without even using soy sauce. "See?" She asked while munching down and gulped it soon after before whispering. "I just hope she didn't spat on them…"

"What was that?" Hunter asked.

"Nothing, nothing! She didn't do anything, c'mon I've been waiting all night for this. I want to record your reactions…" Luz said while taking out her phone.

After watching Luz eat one of those sushis, Willow was the first brave enough to eat one. To everyone's surprise, she was able to use the chopsticks perfectly, while both Hunter and Gus were struggling to even hold them, let alone grab sushi with them. As Willow munched on her food, the two guys beside her were both watching her with awe.

"How are you even doing this?!" Gus asked.

"Yeah, this is much harder than what anime makes it look like." Hunter exclaimed.

After gulping her sushi, Willow shrugged. "Good eye and hand coordination."

"You said the exact same thing about video games!" Hunter exclaimed once more.

"Bruh, we've been living in the same house for months now. I'm the only one that wakes up every morning to water all the plants in the house. I'm even the only one that helps Mrs Noceda with gardening the front and the backyard. Before that, I have done this everyday of my life back home. I work with my hands on a daily basis." Willow said in frustration.

"How is gardening similar to using chopsticks?" Gus asked just as frustrated while dropping sushi on the side of the plate.

"Ugh…" Willow groaned. "Have you ever held scissors? It's the same thing except you're supposed to hold chopsticks from the underside."

"It's not working!" Hunter complained.

"Just use a damn fork!" Willow groaned once more.

"It's not the same." Gus said in disappointment.

Luz was softly laughing behind her phone while recording before her attention was caught by Amity struggling to hold her own chopsticks too. "Yeah… I think… I'm just going to use the fork." The pink haired witch said with a light blush on her cheeks.

"No worries, there's no shame in using the fork. It took me a while to use the chopsticks correctly." Luz said with a grin. But before Amity was able to reach for the sushi with her fork, Luz stopped her. "Wait!"

"Uh… why? Is it really poisoned?" Amity asked with panic in her eyes.

"No silly." Luz laughed softly. "You need to dip them in soy sauce first. Like this…"

The group watched Luz pour some of the soy sauce on a small dipping dish before she started to soak her sushi in the dark liquid. This time she savored the food rather than gulp it down quickly to show them it wasn't poisoned.

"Now you try." Luz said with a smile before holding her phone up to Amity so that she would be able to capture the moment.

Amity blushed a little bit as not only was Luz recording, but also their friends were all watching her intently as she used her fork to dip her sushi down on that generous amount of soy sauce that Luz poured for them. Shortly after, she brought the sushi to her mouth and began to munch on it before a delighted look drew itself on her face. "Oh wow… this dipping sauce tastes so good! It's very different from the ones we ate with fries the week before."

"Right?!" Luz gleefully laughed before she moved onto capturing the rest of her friends' reaction towards eating sushi.

The rest of the night went swiftly, Luz was able to record other things like Willow taking some more effort to teach the guys to use the chopsticks and when Gus challenged Hunter to eat wasabi.

By the end of the evening, the group enjoyed some sweet treats as dessert that were offered free of charge by the manager.

"Is that all?! Are you sure you wouldn't like to order anything else?" The energetic voice of the now reformed waitress asked Luz… uncomfortably leaning so close to her face.

"No, no. That'd be all. Thank you. Would you bring me the check, please?" Luz said nervously.

"Of course!" The waitress exclaimed while skipping her way out of sight before Amity looked at Luz with a soft chuckle.

"I think you should just tip her a dollar or something…"

"Nope." Luz said with a grin. "I'm not going to sink to her level."

Once the waitress was back, Luz paid the whole thing while adding a 15% tip. "Oh wow! That's so generous of you!"

"You're welcome." Luz said with a smile, holding no grudges towards the girl who was rude to her just an hour ago. She got up from her seat with her friends following behind and Amity whispered to Luz with a soft chuckle.

"That was very mature of you. I'm proud."

"Aww… shucks!" Luz rubbed the back of her neck while the waitress waved towards them as they were exiting the building.

"Thank you fu-for your patronage!" The waitress exclaimed while the group swiftly disappeared from sight, heading back home.

Luz and her friends arrived back home at around 8 pm. The group reunited with Vee who was already home helping Camila with the dishes after they both had dinner moments ago. Luz was the one who caught up to speed Camila about Amity's success at the library, which made her very excited for Amity's new job.

Later on, they hung out in the basement like they always did at this time. They watched some movies and when they started to feel tired, the girls excused themselves and began to head back to Luz's room to rest for the night.

However… Luz was having trouble sleeping. She was waking up every so often, feeling uneasy. Everytime she closed her eyes, her senses sharpened and every little noise would wake her up. From a cricket outside, the sounds of steps from the guys walking out of the basement to use the bathroom… the sound of the sink when they would pour themselves a glass of water, etc.

But worse of all… was the sensation of being watched.

Luz occasionally moves her head to her left to look at the sleeping basilisk to her side. But Vee's eyes were closed each time. She looked over to the right and up to hear if Amity and or Willow were awake on the top side of the bunk bed. But that wasn't it, either.

With the need to clear her thoughts, she moved to get up from the bed and began to head towards the bathroom to do her needs. Once that was over and she flushed, she washed her hands, her face and sighed as she stared towards her reflection…

The memory of The Looking Glass a few days ago began to be brought back in a short flashback which put her under a trance of self-reflection.

'I can't give up yet.' She thought. 'There has to be another way to Eda. There's that other shack that Amity saw in her visions. Maybe… maybe that's where the door that the spirit she spoke to was referring to.'

With both of her hands glued to the sink, she rambled in her thoughts while her eyes were fixed inadvertently to her own reflection.

'Also… the Onlookers were specifically looking for a portal. They spoke about the Looking Glass as a portal… that cursed mirror that we found can't be what they were seeking for. Unless… it is… is it possible that there's another world behind the mirror…'

That's when it clicked. Luz found herself facing her own reflection, their eyes staring into each other which started making Luz uneasy once more. She blinked once, twice, more and more… her heart beat kept increasing swiftly and those goosebumps on her arms began to spread across her body before she shook her head and stormed her way out of the bathroom before… she would catch her own reflection doing something it's not supposed to.

Now, with her throat dry, she moved to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water like Hunter had done moments before she got up from her bed. The empty glass was still placed on a table nearby, her eyes now were able to see that her mother didn't close the curtains on the sliding door leading to the backyard. Leaving the moonlight to seep inside the living room through the see-through glass door.

Shortly after drinking some water, she placed both glasses on the sink before she paced over to the glass door to close the curtains before… she saw it.

The deer.

She stopped mid-way while she was closing the curtains only to see the unmistakable shape of a animal hiding in the dark corner under the tree in her backyard. It was definitely a deer. The very same deer that she had seen twice before. The goosebumps were back with a vengeance as they both stared into each other.

Luz didn't want to show how scared she was, so she began to gesture to the deer to go away.

But then… everything worsened.

The deer began to take back steps towards the darkest corner of her backyard and the shape began to contort, the deer almost looked like it was shedding its skin and a different shape replaced it in the dark. A humanoid-like shape with eyes glowing like reflecting mirrors. To Luz's horror… the shape began to reply to her by instead gesturing her with its long insect-like fingers to come out by continuously closing and retracting them.

Luz instantly shut the curtains and began to step back until she was glued to the wall on the other side of the room as that shape was moving, expanding… contorting once more and by then… it was unrecognizable. Were there four limbs… or eight? Was there… one head? Or two? Was it long locks of fur on its back… or was it a huge fin? She was unable to make sense of what she was looking at, which was slowly approaching the thin glass door while that huge haunting silhouette moved closer and closer, all while the unnerving sounds of bone cracking, muscle twisting, gargling and the heavy breathing of this creature echoed through the room…

'Fu fu fu fu…'

It stopped… and for a short torturing minute it remained there without moving until what appeared to be a limb lifted one of those long insect-like fingers to…

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap… crack!

The sound of a tiny crack on the glass door filled Luz's ears as she clenched on her teeth while holding the need to scream. It was then… that it spoke to her. But unlike Amity's visions where it was using the voices of those it stole… this time… it may have been speaking in its own voice. Distorted… unnatural… otherworldly. Letters or even words would sometimes just… get lost in its speech, as if its throat was unable to speak fully clear.

"Hum ns used to buil their homes like f rtresses, hund ds of years ago. Fu fu fu fu… at some poin you all lo t yo r sense of danger. F ding it uch mor frighten g to die in a fire rat er than so thing or someon brea ing in…"

Luz's heart beat was so fast and hard that it almost hurt. But she didn't move an inch as it kept speaking.

"Bu d n't worry… I don want to invade yo r home. I just want you to com out. Bu I see… that ther's still a sens of s rvival in you. Fu fu fu fu…"

There was no word or sound coming out of Luz… but she was able to tell that it knew… she was still there.

"I saw y u… fu fu fu fu. The day yo wa ked into that cab n in the woods and ou never came ba k. Fu fu fu fu… hat day I wa wa ting fu-for Eda. Fu fu fu fu…"

When Luz heard Eda's name, she emboldened herself. The curiosity was quickly filling her mind but she fought the need to ask that thing something, but she didn't have to wait for long… til' it replied to her unspoken question.

"It's b cause of me that sh would oft n sen her familiar to do her bidding. Well… mayb I sh uldn't tak all th credit. Th re's ther thin s she w s watchf l of when she would thre d into your w rld… fu fu fu fu. Like the woodsm n, the cor ses… the wall crawl r… the whispering lady, among oth r t ings. Fu fu fu fu…"

The Shape on the other side began to contort once more, but unlike it did moments ago when it was shaped like the deer, it seems it did not shed anything, it was merely compressing into a smaller scale. The unnerving sounds of bone and muscles rearranging itselves filled Luz's ears until it gave form to a shape… that looks like Eda. With both awe and horror, Luz was able to spot every detail of that silhouette that was shaped like Eda the Owl Lady. With her long spiky hair and long nails. But most surprising of all… was when the Shape spoke… using Eda's voice.

"It's been so long since I last fu-fought Eda, but I still remember her voice. Unfortunately, I underestimate her. If only I knew she was cursed… things may have gone a bit different. But that raw animalistic emotions of her… in that fu-form… she was majestic. She got the best of me and I had to retreat. But I patiently waited for her return… but she was very good at sneaking her way into this Realm. She eluded me for so long… until she stopped coming. But you did…"

Luz was fixed on that Shape, the shape of Eda - her mentor, her friend… her found-family. She was both angry at this Shape for taking the form of someone who means so much to her, but also… because she was upset at the fact she hasn't been able to get back to her.

"If only you kids had not been meddling in that farm, I may have never taken an interest in you. But once I did… you… you especially, I haven't felt such strong emotions in someone since Eda. And you even enhance the emotions of those around you. You are perf…"

"Take it off!" Luz exclaimed while glaring at the Shape behind those curtains.

"That's right… that's it…" The Shape began to contort once more, except the neck of what looks like Eda expanded. "FU FU FU FU…!" It did so for a bit longer until it rearranged itself and the neck compressed back to normal until the voice that was coming out of it was now… her own. "Oh hi, I'm Luz! Pleased to meet you. No… that's not it. Maybe add a little more innocence and naivety. But I can work with this…"

"What do you want?! Why are you doing all this?!" Luz exclaimed as she found some bravery deep within her as she took a few steps forward.

"You." The Shape began to contort and the bone-cracking and muscle twisting began once more. It compressed even more until it was now in the shape… of Luz. "I want you. You and I… we can do so many great things together… hehehe…"

Luz clenched her teeth in pure anger as she bolted towards the sliding door and swiftly pushed those curtains aside to face the Shape but by the time those curtains were open The Shape was gone… the silhouette was gone and whatever that was outside in her backyard was gone too…

End of the chapter.

Note about tipping: I've heard that in Japan tipping is frowned upon, correct me if I'm wrong. I'm assuming that in the US you can tip just like in Mexico, but Luz tipping the waitress served a narrative purpose. That's all, thanks for reading!