An oppressive silence swallowed the room whole. Two blue cards were laid bare on the table in between Yukio and I. Their glow faintly illuminated the room with a luster only marginally brighter than the two warmly lit floor lamps. Neither I nor Yukio wanted to speak first - we were just as astonished as the other, although for what were likely entirely different reasons.
Yukio slowly got out of his seat and finally broke the silence. “Forgive my manners, Genjo. Would you like a glass of water?” He walked over to a tall water dispenser that stood next to his bed and started pouring it into a small paper cup.
“I would, thank you.” As I spoke, I noticed just how dry my mouth had become.
He nodded, set the paper cup on my side of the table, and poured another for himself. Yukio sat down as we sipped on our water. “Ah, much better. Now… I believe there’s much more for us to talk about than the room contracts.” He looked down at the cards again. “Do you happen to recall how you received that card, Genjo?”
I told Yukio everything.
“Wait, it can’t…” Yukio rolled his chair over to one of the desks, rapidly sifting through a stack of folders and notebooks. “...no, it can’t be…”
“...wait, you know about the shadow things?” I quickly chugged the rest of my cup of water. “You don’t mean -”
“‘-this has happened before?’… that’s what you were about to say, wasn’t it?” Yukio opened one of the notebooks. “I barely believed it myself.” Once he had flipped to a certain page, he spun it around and handed it to me. The page read as follows:
‘Today, something strange happened to me. Scratch that - ‘strange’ doesn’t even begin to describe it. We decided on a whim to add another stop to our trip: an old theme park that had closed decades ago. The sea level had gone down enough for us to actually walk through it, and we didn’t know if we’d ever get another chance to see something like this again, so we took an exit off the highway and snuck inside.’
I looked up from the notebook. “Mr. Ichioka, if it’s not too much to ask, what was this trip that you were on?”
“It was summer vacation. My two friends from class and I took a trip all across the country that year.” Yukio sighed. “We were young. None of us really thought about the potential dangers or consequences of sneaking into an abandoned theme park like that.” He looked like he was lost in thought for a moment, probably thinking about the rest of the trip. I kept reading, though some of the words started to become a bit harder to make out through the shaky handwriting.
‘At first, nothing particularly interesting occurred while we explored. Since [illegible] was still recovering from [illegible], he offered to take some [illegible] of [illegible] and I on top of one of the roller coaster tracks. After we climbed down, we gathered around him to look at the photos. In the background [illegible] noticed some weird blur in the same spot of each picture. We checked the lens for any smudges, but it was perfectly clean. [illegible] looked back up at the roller coaster track, dropped the [illegible] she had found in an old gift shop, and yelled at us to run.’
I took another break. “I really hate having to ask so many questions, but -”
“Feel free to ignore those bits.” He took a sip of water as he lounged back in his chair. “Remembering the events as I wrote them was… nerve wracking, to put it lightly. Made it practically impossible to write neatly.”
“...I’m sorry you had to go through that, Mr. Ichioka.” He gave me a silent nod of appreciation, and my eyes drifted back down to the notebook.
‘When I looked back up, I saw a [illegible]. Before I knew it, [illegible] and I had all run in completely separate directions. [illegible] until I found [illegible] the remains of an old [illegible]. The [illegible] surrounded me, backing me into a corner. They all looked weirdly humanoid. Laughter echoed from [illegible]. I felt like I was going to die. When the [illegible] all had me completely trapped, I closed my eyes, praying that [illegible] would get it over with quickly.
But nothing happened. When I opened my eyes, a blinding light filled the entire room. The phantoms were completely frozen, so I ran for my life out of the ride. I found my colleagues standing outside near the van. They were worried sick that something had happened to me. We all jumped back into the van and sped off. None of us really talked about it all that much for the rest of the trip.
I still don’t really know what those things were. A part of me doesn’t want to know. Maybe if we don’t talk about it, we can all just forget.
Day 11: Today we saw the World’s Largest Cedar Bucket. Easily one of the highlights of the trip so far -’’
Yukio quickly closed the notebook. “Well, there you have it.” He placed the notebook back on top of the pile of books and folders. “I thought it was the most absurd thing in the entire universe when it happened.” Yukio looked down at the cards, and then back at me. “...which is why it’s all the more surprising how much our experiences differ from each other.”
He was right. Nearly every detail about our experiences was almost exactly the same until the moment that the lights appeared. Something seemed off, and I could tell that Yukio and I were both determined to figure out what.
I called Ryu and asked him to come over from across the hall. He nonchalantly walked into Yukio’s room without a care in the world. “Alright, let’s just get this roommate contract crap over with.” Ryu pulled up a chair and sat down next to me. Thankfully, Yukio saved me the trouble and broke the news to Ryu that this wasn’t about the contract. We spent several minutes catching Ryu up to speed on Yukio’s story. Luckily, he caught on fairly quickly. “Damn, and here I was, thinking we were special. Never thought that Teach of all people beat us to the punch.”
Yukio’s expression made it difficult to tell if he appreciated or despised the new nickname. “I found my card inside of my wallet the night of the day I saw those creatures, and Genjo’s card appeared similarly the other night. Ryu, would you happen to also possess a card like the ones on the table?”
“No can do, Teach.” Ryu shrugged. “Haven’t carried a wallet in years. Didn’t wanna risk losing it out on the ocean, and it became a force of habit.” He tapped the front pocket on his button-up shirt. “Everything I need stays in this pocket right here.” Ryu closed his eyes, smiled, and reached into the pocket, pulling out all of his items one by one, setting them on the table. “Credit card. Cash. Student ID. And last, but certainly not least…” He pulled the last card out of his pocket. “Library card.”
Ryu’s “library card” appeared more familiar than expected. The card gave off a faint, solid blue glow and bore a crescent moon design on the back. “Hey, Ryu…” I struggled to think of the best way to break the news to him. “...you sure you didn’t leave your library card at home?”
He scoffed. “Heh, of course not! I’m holding onto it right now, aren’t I -” Ryu opened his eyes and finally looked at the card. He completely froze as it fell out of his hand and clattered against the table. “...I think I might owe the library back home a replacement fee.”
All three cards were spread out across the table. Each of the cards had unique symbols on their backs; Ryu’s card - as seen earlier - had a crescent moon. Mine had a five-pointed star. And Yukio’s - an ankh. I grabbed my card to get a closer look at it. “Mr. Ichioka, do you know what these cards actually do?”
Yukio delicately picked up his own card. “Not exactly. I have my hypotheses, but nothing concrete yet.” He opened another notebook and began drawing the star and moon next to his sketch of the ankh. “I hoped that seeing all three cards simultaneously would help me narrow their purpose down, but these new symbols just make it more confusing.”
Ryu snatched his card back from Yukio. “You guys are hopeless.” Ryu held out his right arm with his palm flat, just like he had before when he first summoned Midas. The blue flame ignited in his hand. “If we didn’t get these cards until we first encountered the… uh…” He stopped and glanced at Yukio. “...what did you call them, again?”
“Phantoms. At least, that’s the name I came up with on that day.” Yukio couldn’t help but lose his focus on his sketching when Ryu’s hand lit on fire.
“Right. Well, if the cards showed up after the phantoms, they must have something to do with the way that we defended ourselves against them.” Ryu tossed his card back onto the table and tried to ignite the flame again, but failed. “Heh. Maybe my hunches aren’t so bad after all.” Picking the card back up, he successfully lit the blue flame once again.
Yukio’s eyes similarly lit up with excitement. “Fascinating…” He frantically started writing notes into the book, and reading aloud as he wrote. “The cards act as a direct link between the spirit and the wielder. Without it, the individual cannot summon the facade…”
Ryu cocked an eyebrow. “They can’t summon the what now?”
“Oh,” Yukio said as he took a break from writing. “My apologies, that’s just the term I thought most fitting for what you two called ‘Petrov’ and ‘Midas’. I figured that I’d take a few pages out of the works of Carl Jung.” Yukio brushed some dust off the top of a book and started to open it. “Are either of you familiar?”
My eyes stayed focused on my own card. “Somewhat. You’re talking about the whole ‘shadow’ and ‘persona’ thing, right? Pretty fundamental psychology stuff, I think. There’s tons of anime and manga about it.” I didn’t have the heart to tell Ryu or Yukio that I’ve seen and read all of those anime and manga.
“Correct. I won’t waste time going over the basics then.” Yukio’s eyes began to scan the textbook. “I interpret these spirits that you boys possess to be extensions of the self. In simpler terms, they’re a ‘you’ that isn’t ‘you.’ They represent your true selves, but in a manner that is idealized. Flashy, heroic, powerful - but still true to who you are at your core.”
Ryu leaned forward in his chair. “Quite a leap in logic right there.”
Yukio spun around in his chair to face Ryu. “Then I suppose you’re about to tell me that you haven’t heard the story of King Midas? It’s a tale as old as time.”
“Of course I have.” Ryu twirled his pen in his hand. “He turned everything he touched into gold, but then he accidentally turned his own daughter into gold.”
“My point exactly, Ryu.” Yukio’s train of thought had officially left the station. “After losing his only daughter by his own actions, the King became fearful, feeling that his very own wish had turned him into a danger to everyone and everything around him.” He presented Ryu and I with a sheet of paper in his notes, connecting Midas with the drawing of the moon. “Anyone familiar with tarot will know that the Moon represents fear and anxiety. This, in tandem with the ancient myth, leads me to believe that Ryu’s facade is an embodiment of feelings that reside in his subconscious.”
Ryu leaned back into his chair. “Mhm. Alright, I’ll believe it.”
I placed my card back down on the table in front of Yukio. “Wow, that was impressive. What about mine?”
“Haha, of course, Genjo.” Yukio flipped through a few more books. “The star… it embodies faith, renewal and hope - especially in regards to the future. But when reversed, it can mean the opposite of those qualities.”
Ryu let out a quick laugh. “Aw, come on, why does Genjo’s sound way better than mine? I’m starting to feel like I got ripped off.”
Yukio sighed. “Well, Ryu, this is just my best interpretation. For all we know, I could be completely wrong. Besides, I personally don’t see the Moon as a bad thing. Complication doesn’t necessarily mean failure.”
Ryu paused for a moment. “Ugh, guess you have a point.”
I patted Ryu on the shoulder. “Aw, chin up, Ryu. You’re not being fair to yourself if you think that one of us is better than the other.”
“Whatever.” Ryu stuck out his pen, pointing it at Yukio. “By the way, Teach, you got one of these ‘facades’ too?”
Yukio chuckled. “Actually, no. In fact, I didn’t even know they existed until Genjo told me about yours, so this is all very new to me.”
“Hm? But… you got one of those cards, don’t ya?”
“Yes… but it seems that I’m different, somehow.” Yukio examined his card. “No voice spoke to me when I first encountered the phantoms, but I still have the card. As far as I’m aware, it doesn’t actually do anything.” He flipped it over to show us the symbol again. “Even this marking - the ankh isn’t a tarot symbol. At least, it’s not one that I’ve ever heard of.”
Looking at the ankh on Yukio’s card, I came to a realization. “Not directly, it isn’t. But what if it’s only part of a tarot card?”
Yukio smiled. “Maybe you’re right about that.” He opened a small purple book labeled ‘Beginner’s Guide to Fortune Telling’. Yukio stopped on one page, laughed, and slid the book over to me and Ryu - it read ‘The Emperor’.
“The Emperor? I’m not too familiar with that one,” I asked as I helped myself to another cup of water.
“I don’t blame you, Genjo, it’s a bit of a departure from the other two. It mainly embodies authority, whether it be a father figure or boss - or even a teacher.” Yukio sounded really excited about that last one. “You can feel held back by authority, or you may even be that authority that holds somebody else back.”
Ryu put his hands behind his head. “Ain’t that something, Teach? Just take a look at what you’re doing right now.” He started to flip his card through his fingers like he does with his pen. “In a way, Genjo and I are your teachers right now with this phantom business.”
“Haha, you have a point, Ryu.” Yukio looked down at his watch. “Oh, I’m sorry, you two. I’ve been holding you up for far too long, especially considering that classes start tomorrow.” He wrote his number down on a scrap of paper and handed it to Ryu. “Message me if you two need anything at all, and…” He silently looked at a wall for a few seconds. “...try to stay away from those phantoms if you can help it, alright?”
“Will do, Teach.” Ryu placed the scrap of paper into his pocket. “This nap has been calling my name for a while now.”
After Ryu and I left Yukio’s room, he went straight back to our dorm, and I headed straight outside to go run my errands since I had almost forgotten about them entirely during our conversation. I remembered reading somewhere that there was a downtown square within walking distance from campus. I opened my phone and turned on walking directions just to make sure I went the right way, slid my headphones on, and began walking east towards downtown - I learned my lesson yesterday not to go anywhere without a map.
The downtown square was incredibly well designed - all of the streets were walkable, so there was no need to worry about dealing with any cars. I passed plenty of clothing stores, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and even a record shop. Once I found the bookstore, I quickly ran over to secure my place in line. Thankfully, I only had to wait behind about four people. I left the store with a few books - specifically General Chemistry, Foundations of Biology, Intermediate Calculus and Basics of Archaeology. I’d rather not admit how expensive some of those books were.
Spending all of that money on books, even if my parents were willing to cover the costs, reminded me that I should probably focus on getting a job ASAP. I was already downtown, so I thought to check to see if there were any student job openings. Turns out, there were plenty available. The first business with a help wanted sign in the window was a vintage diner. It looked cool, but Dad warned me about the American tipping system, so I’d rather not work in a restaurant. Next-door was a fancy designer clothing store but, given my fashion sense, I doubt I’d get hired.
After almost a full walk around the whole square, I had started to rank my options in my head. Unfortunately, my best bet seemed to be doing shelf stocking at a toy store. Eventually, I stopped at a bench to sit down and think harder about where I wanted to apply, until the answer practically slapped me in the face. In front of me, I saw a sign for ‘Vampire Vinyl’. I can’t believe I forgot about the record store - it sounded like a dream job. I stood up from my bench and walked over as fast as I could with all the books in my backpack weighing me down.
The entrance to Vampire Vinyl was on the second floor of the building, sitting atop a shop that sold workout supplements. In order to reach the store, you had to walk a few steps into the alley between it and the bookstore, and then take the metal stairs up to the entrance. When I walked inside, I was greeted by a shop that, given the name, seemed oddly cozy. The speakers were connected to a turntable that played an old new-wave album from the 1980’s that still sounded pretty fresh. There were different shelves stocked with countless vinyl records, cassette tapes, CDs, and all sorts of posters and merch.
I saw a girl crouched down by one of the shelves, stocking it with a bunch of brand new CDs that were still in their plastic wrapping. Maybe she could tell me how to apply? As I approached the girl, she took out her earbuds and looked up at me. After a second of silence, she said, “Power pop is in Aisle 5,” before going straight back to work.
“Oh, sorry, I’m not here to buy anything.”
She stood up. “Well, that’s the point of stores, so I’d recommend changing that.” The girl was fairly short - barely above 5 feet tall from what I could tell. Her light brown hair was tied up in a braided ponytail on the left side of her head.
“I’m actually here to ask if you guys have any openings.” I let my headphones rest around my neck. “I’d love to work here, if you guys are willing to have me.”
The girl walked behind the counter. “Most people these days apply online, you know.” As she dug through a drawer, she had to push her square-frame glasses to keep them from falling off her face. “But for emergencies, I guess we have these.” She handed me a paper application. “Knock yourself out.”
I graciously took the paper application from her. “Thank you so much! I’ll have it done in a flash.” I sat down in a chair and started filling out as many lines of the application as I could.
“Woah, you weren’t kidding about wanting to work here.” She waited until I had finished ticking all the boxes before taking the paper back. “If you’re that serious, I’ll put in a good word for you with the owner.” The girl looked down at the sheet of paper. “Sazama, is it?”
I stood up from my chair. “Yeah. And yours?”
“Yamane. Nami Yamane.” Nami set the application on the counter. “I was completely serious about power pop in Aisle 5, by the way.”
I started to walk towards the aisle she mentioned. “How could you tell I was into power pop, Yamane?”
Nami laughed. “I’ve developed an eye for those things since I started working here.” She looked me up and down. “The ‘hoodie during spring’ and ‘looks like they enjoy life to a certain degree’ combo kinda tipped me off.” Her voice sounded less stern now, with a hint of soft-spokenness that made her sound almost as awkward as mine when I walked in earlier. Almost.
Before I looked through the CDs on the shelf, I tried to see if I could profile her too. Dark green sundress, braided hair, emerald earrings… “Shot in the dark - rap rock?”
“Heh. Lucky guess.” Nami checked her phone to make sure I hadn’t somehow seen the screen when she wasn’t looking. “Have you found an album you like yet?”
I flipped through the shelves of CDs, eventually stopping on one that had caught my eye. “Speak of the rap rock devil, and it shall appear.”
Nami took the CD out of my hand and scanned it. “That’s the most basic one and you know it. Do you need a bag for that?”
I handed her a few bills and grabbed the CD so she wouldn’t have to bag it up. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just thought the airplane on the cover looked cool.”
“Mhm. Sure.” Nami looked down at the bills. “Sazama… you haven’t converted any of your cash since you arrived in the states, have you?” She was holding a pair of 1000 yen bills.
I felt my ears get red from embarrassment. “Oh, my bad.” I started to hand the CD back to her. “I’ll come back after I find an ATM or something, I promise I’ll -”
Nami stopped my hand. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll do it on the way home from work.”
“Are you sure you won’t get in trouble for that?”
“I’m sure.” Nami smiled. “Now scram, ya big idiot. We’ll probably give you a call about the job in a couple days.”
I put the CD in my backpack with my textbooks. “Alright, I’ll get out of your hair now. Even if y’all don’t give me the job, you still won a customer.”
Nami walked back to the shelf she was stocking when I arrived. “Wow, you finally learned how shops work. I’m not trying to give away our secrets or anything, but we do like employees who can learn and adapt.”
I waved to Nami as I left the store. Neither of us could hear if the other had said goodbye through the loud clanging of the bell as the door opened. When I stepped out, I expected to be greeted by the sun and the fresh air of the great outdoors, before quickly remembering that the shop was in an alley. I turned to the right and began walking down the stairs, feeling the cool breeze blowing against my face.
Once I reached the bottom of the stairs, I began making my way back towards campus, but was stopped by an odd feeling that I had left something in Vampire Vinyl. When I turned around to walk back up the stairs, I tried to take a glance down the alley. It was pitch black - almost none of the remaining sunlight reached it. A crippling chill went down my spine just from looking at it, so I decided whatever I might’ve left upstairs could wait. I turned back around and swiftly walked back to my dorm.
When I opened the door, I was surprised to see that Ryu was no longer napping. “Good morning, Ryu.” I set my bag down on my chair as I started unpacking my textbooks. “Anything exciting happen while I was gone?”
Ryu was too busy tying a knot on an incredibly thick rope to look up from it. “Oh, only the most exciting things. I hung out with this girl earlier, but as it turns out, she has a shellfish allergy.” He tugged the rope tightly to secure the knot. “I don’t think I have to explain why that’s not gonna work.”
I stole a marker from his desk and started labeling notebooks for tomorrow’s classes. “Ryu, I was kidding about the fish smell, you know that, right?” I packed the notebooks and textbooks that I expected to need tomorrow into my backpack. “It’s not like you’re gonna kill her just by being around her.”
“That’s exactly the reason, Genjo.” He slung the rope around his shoulder and began tying another. “If I’m gonna take a girl out on the water, I can’t risk her having an allergic reaction. I’d be an asshole if I did that.”
“Can’t argue with that.” I zipped up my bag and set it next to my MP3 player, which I had connected to my computer to copy over my new CD. “I hope you can find the girl of your dreams out there on the water, Prince Eric.”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“That’s a new one.” Ryu hung the finished ropes on the rack where he would hang his clothes. Well, there are some clothes on it - over a dozen copies of the exact same white buttoned shirt. “Sometimes I wonder if I’m just destined to be by myself, you know?”
“Aw, shut up, dude.” I hopped into bed and turned my lamp on. “You’ve probably never had a girl straight up tell you that she takes notes about you.” I downed my sleeping pills with a tall glass of water. “Especially when she shows you the notes and tells you that you’re the most confusing person she’s ever met in her life.”
Ryu turned off the ceiling light and walked over to climb in his own bed. “Ouch. Sounds like you’ve gotten over it, at least.”
“That was yesterday, Ryu.”
“Ouch.” Ryu took his own pills and laid down. “How the hell did I not hear about that?”
“Because you called it flirting.” I took out my phone to scroll through our old text messages.
[Text Message: Chika Dokuro]
“You excited for school?”
“I’m kinda nervous tbh”
“I’m feeling great, actually!”
“I’ve been waiting for this all year”
“Lucky, idk if I’ll fit in”
“Well if you need a friend”
“You can always text me”
“Haha I probably will then”
“Sorry, I have to go for a bit”
“But I’d love to hang out when we get there!”
“I’ll talk to u later, Genjo :)”
Genjo. Why did reading my own name feel so weird? Genjo… I miss when she still called me that.
“Well it sounds like you’re better off without her.” Ryu could barely speak without yawning in between every few words. “You don’t need a girl, or anyone for that matter, who can’t appreciate you for you.”
I barely listened to Ryu as I kept scrolling.
“You seem like a really cool guy, actually”
“Music, science, acting”
“Is there anything you CAN’T do?”
Why did she think I was so good at everything? It’s not like I tried to make her think that. She mentioned my confidence the other day… maybe this is why.
I was hit in the head with a crumpled paper ball. “This is Earth to Genjo.” He got up and walked over to my bed. “Listen, whatever issue she had with you, I don’t see it. If she can’t understand you, let that be her problem, not yours.”
“It is my problem, Ryu.” I quickly locked my phone so he couldn’t read any of the messages. “She said it herself - I couldn’t be the person that she expected me to be.”
Ryu leaned against the fridge that sat between our beds. “Alright, I’ll play along for a bit. Let’s say you fucked up. You’re gonna do that sometimes, Genjo. Lord knows I have.” He leaned in closer, like he was trying to get me to focus harder on his words. “But who cares whose problem it was? What’s done is done. We either learn, or we yearn - the choice is yours. You’re better off without this girl in your life.”
I set my phone down on top of the fridge. “I guess.” I laid down and closed my eyes. “Thanks, Ryu.”
“Anytime.” He got back into bed. “Remember, no matter what anyone else says, I still think you’re pretty cool.”
After Ryu fell asleep, I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling for a bit to lose myself in my own thoughts. I know Ryu has a point, but why did it have to happen like this? Why am I still hung up about it? Why do I give so much of a shit about what this girl thinks of me? It’s not like this is the first time I’ve ever felt like this. So why now? What if everyone else I meet here ends exactly the same way? My phone vibrated a few times, but I wasn’t in the mood to look at it. As I fell asleep, I felt a pit in my stomach. Once again, I was worried sick about the first day of school.
I didn’t miss this feeling one bit.
~
At the sound of my alarm, I hopped out of bed and immediately took a cold shower to wake myself up. Unsurprisingly, I regretted it instantly. I stepped out of the shower, put on some clothes, and then stopped to look in the mirror for a bit, endlessly arguing with myself over my hair.
‘Comb it up.’
‘No, leave it down.’
‘Genjo, new year, new you. Do it.’
‘Hell no.’
I was interrupted by the sound of Ryu climbing out of bed and walking over to me. “Do you mind not standing in front of the mirror? It's gonna be hard for me to get back in the habit of flossing if you just stay put there forever.” I quietly took a large step back to let Ryu use the sink. “New year, new me, right?” Damn, I didn’t know that he'd been reading my mind this morning.
I gently brushed my left hand through my bangs, grabbed my MP3 player and left the dorm with zero hairs hanging in front of my eyes.
The air was much warmer than the previous few days. Yesterday’s breeze had taken a day off, letting the heat assault my skin with ease. For once, my forehead didn’t feel like it was being baked alive. It was a nice feeling - one that kept me in a pleasant mood as I walked towards Fujiwara Hall. A mix of dread and excitement twirled in my head as I played the new album I bought at Vampire yesterday, which was packed to the brim with songs that I couldn’t possibly listen to without a smile on my face. All of the lyrics about hating teachers - and any authority figure for that matter - were a great way to prepare myself for the first class of the day. After all, it’s like Taisuke always says; “A little bit of angst a day keeps the burnout away.”
I expected my first class of the week to be one of my science or math courses. I mean, that would be obvious, right? Wrong. Instead, the school requires that we take at least one fine arts course, for some reason. Since I thought at the time that taking any music classes might’ve brought up bad memories, I chose to take Theatre instead. Sure, it’s an odd choice, but what else was there? …Okay, so maybe I could’ve taken an art class. Who knows, maybe I would embarrass myself in front of an entire room of professional artists only a couple of times…
Fujiwara Hall was fairly nice on the inside. Most of the renovations that had been completed over time were noticeable, but I think it adds a bit of charm to the place. A lot of rooms were blocked off, for what I could only assume was construction - and I mean lots of rooms were barricaded, and none of the windows were transparent enough to see through them anymore. I walked past about ten of them until I reached my classroom at the back of the hallway.
The theatre classroom was split in two halves - one for the rows of desks, and the other was completely open space. Most of the desks were already taken, so I just sat in the first open seat I saw. Not many people were talking to each other. Isn’t theatre supposed to be for outgoing people? Although, if I think about which category I fall under, I suppose that’s not as true as you’d expect.
After a few minutes, a tall, middle aged woman who didn’t look very professor-like walked up to the chalkboard. She was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, which I imagine are a pipe dream for any professor who has to wear professional clothes everyday. “Hi, everyone! I hope you all are having as good of a morning as possible. I’m so sorry that this class is so early… I didn’t get to choose the timeslot, so I’ll try to not take it too personally if any of you fall asleep in class.” She wrote her name on the chalkboard - ‘Jennifer Clayton’. “I’m Professor Clayton, but I don’t mind if you guys call me Jennifer! I really don’t like being so formal - theatre is all about expression, so why force ourselves to be so uptight, you know?”
I knew I would like this class already. Professor Clayton was electric and full of energy, even while she was reading through the syllabus for the course. She somehow managed to make a theatre class with both a midterm and a final project sound easy and fun. “Now, I completely understand that some of you are more advanced than others. No need to worry, you won’t all be judged at the same level. I want my class to be just as fun for the newbies as it is for our actual actors and actresses!” That surprised me quite a bit. Most of my nerves calmed down once I knew I wouldn’t be graded at the same level of someone who’s been doing this their whole life… which begs the question, how many people in this class are actual professionals?
“That’s it for the syllabus, so everyone can go ahead and wake up the student sitting in the desk next to you if necessary.” Professor Clayton laughed to herself as she closed her laptop, trying not to look at anyone in particular. “If no one has any questions, you’re all free to go for the day. See y’all on Wednesday!”
I started to reach down for my bag from below my seat before I felt something lightly hit the right side of my head. The projectile in question - a small, yellow triangular hair clip - fell to the ground in front of my feet, so I picked it up, sat upright in my desk again and turned to my right to hand it back to the person who threw it.
Sitting in the desk to my right was a girl in a vintage-looking black dress. Her peach-colored hair was cut short with her bangs swept across her forehead. Two long strands of hair that ran down along the sides of her face accented an otherwise standard flipped bob cut. Behind the tendrils on the sides, I could see small, rose shaped stud earrings. And bringing it all together: A sole tiny, unkempt hair that stuck up on the very top. Everything about the way that she was dressed was unlike anyone else I had ever seen walking through town or campus - I’m shocked I didn’t see her when I walked into the classroom.
“Hey, sleepyhead, class is over.” The girl’s voice was bright and cheerful, and was even more enhanced by the warm smile on her face. “Don’t think I didn’t see you dozing off earlier.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said as I grabbed my bag and slung it around my shoulder. “I’ll have you know that I’ve never felt more alert in my life.”
The girl smirked as her eyes narrowed slightly. “Mhm. Sure you are. Pardon my mistake, sir.” As she went on, her voice grew exaggeratedly posh. “You must understand, these old eyes of mine are on their very last legs, so please don’t entertain such ridiculous delusions. The next time that you appear to be dead on one’s feet, I shall simply leave you be. Or…” She leaned towards me from her desk and snatched the yellow hair clip out of my hand, her voice returning to normal. “You can just admit it already, dummy.”
I smiled and ran my left hand through my hair to just make sure it hadn’t gotten messy without me knowing. “Fine, maybe I drifted off a bit near the end. You want a medal?”
“Nope!” The girl stood up and sat on top of her desk to face mine. “I was just messing around, you actually seemed perfectly fine. Just felt like talking.”
“Pretty unorthodox way of introducing yourself.” I lightly rubbed the spot on my head where her hair clip had made contact. “I’m Genjo Sazama. You?”
The girl stuck the hair clip back on the left side of her head. “Aiko Matsuura. Just a perfectly normal girl, at your service.” Aiko stood up and took a bow as if she were in front of a massive crowd. “Nothing out of the ordinary about me, no siree! The most boring girl on the block!” Her exaggerated grin and wink at the end was the perfect finishing touch to an already over-the-top introduction - like the vintage fashion alone wasn’t already a dead giveaway that she’d be anything but boring.
Aiko’s expression turned curious as her eyes followed the cord that ran from around my neck and into my jacket pocket. “Haven’t met a person in years who still uses wired headphones. Do you still use an old phone?”
“Not a phone, actually.” I took my MP3 player out of my pocket and showed it to Aiko. “It was a birthday gift from my best friend back home. He found it in a pawn shop for surprisingly cheap and figured I would like it.” I carefully handed it to her. “Haven’t gone a day without it in eight years.”
Her bright blue eyes lit up. “I love that! Old technology isn’t as obsolete as a lot of people think it is.” Aiko held tight onto the MP3 player so she wouldn’t drop it. She asked if she could take a look through the music library, to which I obliged. As she delicately scrolled through, it wasn’t long before her eyes illuminated. “Wow, you have lots of classics on here. Not surprising that someone would listen to old music on old hardware.”
Aiko handed my MP3 player back and I returned it to my jacket pocket. “You know, it sounds to me like you might be slightly interested in old things.”
“Oh, you don’t say? What could’ve possibly made you think that?” Aiko did a quick spin to show off her dress. Aside from a few buttons and a red bow on the front near her shoulder, it was completely black from head to toe. The sleeves were made of a slightly less opaque but equally black fabric. “Found this one at a retro clothing shop here in town a few days ago. I was really surprised at how good of a condition it’s in!” She was right - I couldn’t help but admire the lack of tears, holes or stains that should’ve accumulated over the years. “I wanted a new - okay, scratch that - another outfit for the first day, and what better place to find old American dresses than straight from the source?” The passion in her already energetic voice was palpable - she really loved vintage things. Strangely, her expression immediately turned somber. “Sorry… I get carried away when I talk about these things. Didn’t mean to keep you from leaving. I’ll -”
“It’s okay, you didn’t bother me at all. I actually think it’s pretty impressive how much you have to say about it.” It also helped that the dress was just genuinely beautifully designed. “There aren’t many people that I’ve met who care this much about anything.”
Aiko’s face turned a few shades closer to her hair. “Oh, uh, thanks.” She twirled one of the long strands of hair around her finger. “I just meant that I figured you had a class after this, and I was scared I was keeping you from that.”
Wait, I didn’t have a class immediately after Theatre, did I? I took out my phone to look at my calendar - ‘Intermediate Calculus - Watkins Hall, 9:30’. …Of course. “Funny story about that, actually.”
She put her hand against her hip as she rolled her eyes. “You have a class after this, don't you?”
I grabbed my mechanical pencil off my desk and shoved it into my pocket. “Something like that.”
Aiko laughed quietly to herself. “Just get there safely, alright?”
“Of course.” Facing her, I waved to Aiko as I ran out of the room. “I’ll see you next class!”
I promptly collided with somebody as soon as I rounded the corner towards the exit. We quickly exchanged a quick “Sorry!” and kept moving. Knowing my history with bumping into people lately, that totally could’ve been way worse. But it wasn’t long before I stopped and realized that, in the fraction of a second that I saw the person, I think I recognized them - more specifically, I recognized the back of their head. When I turned around to look around the corner for them, they were nowhere to be found. I didn’t have a lot of time to waste before class, so I just kept walking to class. Can my life here please just be normal for one day?
Thankfully, Watkins Hall was fairly close to Fujiwara, since it was built along the border between the two northern quadrants. I found the classroom for my calculus course near the entrance, and I was lucky enough for Hiro and Ryu to save a seat right next to them. Hiro sat in the center, while Ryu and I sat to his left and right respectively.
Hiro already had an entire sheet in his notebook filled out with limits and derivatives. “Genjo, you alright? You look like you just saw a ghost.” He reached into his bag and handed me a bar of granola. “Eat this. You look kinda pale.”
I snapped back into focus. When did I zone out? “Oh, thanks, Hiro.” I took the granola bar and took a bite, holding my other hand below it to catch the pile of crumbs that fell off. It made me feel better already… I really should start eating breakfast. “I think I just gotta recharge my social battery, that’s all.”
“At only 9:30?” Hiro took a sip from his water bottle, which I could see had a filter attached to the straw. “That’s pretty early, even for you. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yep.” I scarfed down the rest of the granola. “Nothing to worry about. I just have low blood sugar.” (I did not, in fact, have low blood sugar.)
Hiro slid a second granola bar across the top of the elongated desk that spanned the width of the classroom. “Well, you can have as many of these as you want. I’ll always have a few.”
“Thanks a bunch, Hiro.” In order to keep up the lie, I went ahead and ate the second bar. I took another look at his notes. “Hard at work already, I see.”
“You know it!” Hiro started flipping through almost a dozen sheets of paper, all of which were covered in practice problems. “They’re probably going to jump straight into integrals, so I figured I needed a refresher.”
Ryu leaned over. “They’re starting with what?”
Hiro kept showing me more of his practice problems. “Don’t worry about it.”
“I’m serious, Hiro.” Ryu snatched the notebook from Hiro and started reading through it. “You know I haven’t taken a single class on this stuff. I can’t believe they put me in Intermediate Calc so early. You two are gonna have to help me out here.”
“No problem, man.” I shoved the empty granola bar wrappers into my pocket. “Honestly, I’m surprised they didn’t put you in Beginner Calculus.”
“They didn’t put me in that class because it doesn’t exist. Apparently, nobody else needed it, so they just lumped me in with you guys.” Ryu’s head defeatedly sunk into the desk. “I think this academy hates me.”
The next 75 minutes consisted of an unbearably boring lecture about the rate at which water flows out of a pitcher, during which Ryu nearly fell asleep at his desk. Hiro, on the other hand, was absolutely thrilled. At the end of the class, the three of us packed up our bags and started booking it out of the classroom as quickly as we could. Ryu let out a sigh that he had been holding in all class period. “Welp, I’m failing this shit.” The large crowd of students that were sitting in the rows in the front made the line out the door move at a snail’s pace. “Ugh, do people not know how to walk?” Ryu tried to push his way between a few people before Hiro and I grabbed him by the arm and stopped him. I looked ahead towards the door to see the people standing in front of us, and caught a brief glimpse of a tuft of white hair before they passed through the door. I didn’t catch a glimpse of their face. This can’t be a coincidence, can it?
Not long after, the three of us were sitting with Eiichi around a table of food at Nakanishi-Bennett. Most of our lunch chatter consisted of “how shitty were your classes this morning?” and “any cute chicks sit next to you today?”. Eiichi’s answers to those questions were “not very” and “about four of them”. I mostly kept quiet. I couldn’t stop thinking about the weird encounters that I’ve been having lately. They all just made me feel so… uneasy.
Eiichi slowly bowled an orange towards me from across the table and into my hand. “Hey Genjo, get some vitamins in you. You look like you’ve seen a ghost or something.”
I peeled the rind off the orange and ate it slice by slice in silence. The delightful tang of each drop of juice provided momentary relief from the wave of confusion that had washed over me. It didn’t last long though - the drops in the bucket were ultimately inconsequential.
Another orange rolled into my side of the table. This time, it came from Hiro. “We’re not joking, dude. You’ve been pale basically all morning.” He even handed me an unopened bottle of green tea. “Drink this up. You’ll feel better in no time.”
I untwisted the cap on the bottle and took a gulp of the bottled tea. Ugh. I forgot how shitty the bottled stuff is. “Thanks, but I -”
“Don’t worry about paying me back.” Hiro popped a small carrot into his mouth. “Just wanna make sure you start feeling better. I haven’t been sick in a while, but tea really helps me when I am.”
“Sick…” Is that what he calls it? I reluctantly took another sip, wishing it was from a freshly brewed pot instead. “Okay. But I promise, I really am fine though -”
The sound of Ryu’s spoon scraping the bottom of his soup bowl pierced through the conversation. “Go back and get some rest, bro. I won’t bother you at all.” He spun the spoon around the bowl slowly. “I’ll… find something else to do.”
Hiro chuckled under his breath. “Of course you will.” He slammed his notebook down, shaking the entire table and nearly spilling Ryu’s soup in the process. “I know that somebody needs to catch up on their calculus…”
Ryu closed his eyes and sighed. “Ugh, why do I ever say anything anymore?”
Hiro and Ryu both stood up and left for the computer lab to go study, leaving Eiichi and I alone sitting across from each other. Eiichi leaned forward and squinted. “Something’s bothering you. Tell me.”
I looked up from my plate which, aside from the orange peels, had barely been disturbed. “No, I -”
“Nuh-uh, not happening.” He leaned closer. “You’re gonna tell me what’s up. You wouldn’t be acting like this if it wasn’t serious.”
My eyes drifting back down to my plate, I bit into the last slice of orange left. “I’m just… thinking about somebody. Not all that important.”
“Not buying it.” Eiichi moved his hands to rest underneath his head. “This person did something to you, and I wanna help you get over it.”
“...fine.” I took a small fragment of the orange peel and started picking at it. “...Dokuro.”
Eiichi’s eyes widened. “Who?”
“Just this girl I’ve been seeing around a lot.” I choked down the rest of Hiro’s tea. “I’m surprised Ryu hasn’t told you about her yet.”
“Why would he? Ryu’s not the kind of guy to just spill your tea like that.” Eiichi proceeded to knock over the empty green tea bottle in a failed attempt to lighten the mood.
I caught Eiichi up to speed on the situation regarding Chika.
He didn’t waste a single second thinking before his response. “She can fuck off, then.”
I was taken aback by his answer. “Woah, dude. It’s not that serious.”
“But I am.” His grip on his fork visibly tightened. “If someone hurts my friend, they mean nothing to me. If it were up to me, I’d…” After a few seconds, he calmed down. “...my point is, she doesn’t deserve any of your brain space anymore. So why give it to her?”
“...You’re right.” I was genuinely shocked at how little hesitation Eiichi had. I appreciate his enthusiasm, but wow, that was an oddly swift conclusion. Especially considering that I was lying about what was really bothering me. “I’m gonna go out for a walk. I need to clear my head.”
“Whatever works, I’m all for it.” Eiichi put a hand on my right shoulder. “Take care of yourself, alright? Don’t worry, I’m not gonna tell Hiro anything.”
I felt the color return to my face. “Thanks. You’ve been a big help.”
Eiichi smiled. “Anytime, brother. Anytime…”
Having friends like this is nice… especially in moments like these. “By the way, Eiichi…
“...can you take that stupid fucking prop hand off of me?”
~
I took a walk back downtown to try and let myself destress. The sun was still blazing hot and it showed no signs of stopping. I figured that maybe I could check out more of the shops, or even pop back into Vampire Vinyl and ask about the job opening. Picking the most cheerful and uplifting song that I could, I mindlessly strolled across campus.
Every once in a while, I saw things that sought to suppress that mindless bliss - Crumpled newspapers getting blown by the wind, tree branches that bloomed with light, colorless flowers, and students who were wearing white, wireless earbuds - They all made me feel uneasy.
Once I had reached the side of the downtown square where the record shop was located, I took a couple of steps up the metal stairs to the entrance. Abruptly, the wind picked up, and the jump in speed nearly made me lose my balance for a brief moment. In the middle of the chaos, I felt the empty wrappers in my jacket pocket fall, watching them get swept by the wind into the alley. Shit, why didn’t I throw those away during lunch? I didn’t want to just leave them there, but the alley looked just as dim and unsettling as before.
I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and began walking into the darkness. My eyes took some time to get adjusted, but I eventually felt comfortable enough with my vision to proceed forward. The alleyway was covered in old trash and dirt, like it hadn’t been swept or cleaned in months. I got startled by a pigeon that flew out from the trash piles as I pressed onward. I sincerely hope that’s the only species of animal back here.
After I had made it further into the alley, I had to stop to let my eyes adjust to the darkness once again. But what I saw before me in the darkness nearly gave me a heart attack.
The boy with the white hair was standing in the back of the alley.
I couldn’t see his face, but I knew for a fact that it was him from the hairstyle. He was facing the opposite wall, completely still. After a few seconds, he walked deeper into the alley. I decided to slowly follow after him, hiding behind a large brick wall that jutted out from the building on our right. Once the sound of the boy’s footsteps stopped, I heard three loud, metal clanging sounds, followed by a door slowly creaking open. I attempted to lean my head around the wall to watch, but by the time I looked, the boy was nowhere in sight. How the hell does this guy always completely vanish?
I stepped out from behind the wall and slowly to the back of the alley. What if this gets me jumped? Or even killed? Why the hell am I even doing this?? Despite all of my thoughts telling me how abysmally awful of an idea this was, I pressed onward anyway. The air got colder as the wind blew harder. At the end of the alley was a single door - it was made out of dark oak wood and had a large metal knocker in the center, which was shaped like the head of a goblin. The swinging part at the bottom of the knocker was designed to look like its bottom jaw - tongue, teeth and all. I slowly opened the door and peeked inside…
The room was empty in every sense of the word. No people, no furniture, not even any wallpaper. This didn’t make any sense… Where did the white-haired boy go? I closed the door and suddenly, I remembered the sounds. I grabbed the knocker and struck the door exactly three times. My hands trembling, I barely managed to grab the door handle and open it once again.
The door now revealed a vintage looking tavern.
Oil lamps burned away, giving a strangely comfortable feeling to such an unreal place. Barrels of alcohol lined the walls. The tables looked very kept, and they were spread out enough for me to imagine having a pleasant conversation here. There were no items out of place - all of the glasses were hanging to dry, no dishes were left on the tables, and even the floor was clean. The fireplace roared from the other side of the tavern, even though I couldn’t see anyone who could be here to tend the fire.
I heard a faint whistling sound from upstairs, so I walked up the stairs to the upper floor of the tavern, which felt even cozier than the first floor. The whistling came from behind a bar counter. When I approached, I saw a figure in a black and white suit cleaning some dishes without a care in the world. Funnily enough, the busboy donned an incredibly recognizable shade of white hair.
I knocked on the counter of the bar. The boy looked up, revealing his unexpectedly soft face to me for the very first time. His bangs were messy, covering his eyebrows and even the top of his eyes, which were sharp, yet not judgmental. Freckles lined his cheeks, running all the way down to a cunning smirk.
“Took you long enough.”