Chapter 10 - New Voices at Mecchen House (cont.)
He tried to give Tara a dirty look, but he couldn’t turn to shine it on her. Instead, I received the full brunt of it.
Tara fiddled with the karaoke machine, sung softly into the microphone, and laughed. She gestured for Jamie to come over. He stood and took the microphone from her. He watched the screen and softly said the words on it ---
> “Today, today, my heart will sing. I will be reborn as a new girl. Reborn into a new world, reborn into the true world. I spread my arms wide, to the endless day. Look at me. A touch, for ever and ever. Today, today, we will dance in the true world. Forever and ever, you’ll see. I’ll be. Your sister.”
The tune was upbeat. A soft piano solo followed. Jamie sang well. That voice sounded cute no matter what. Jamie tried to pass the microphone back to Tara. She frowned. “But that’s just the first part.”
Jamie slumped and continued.
> “We will be wrapped in happiness. Like a warm, sweet blanket of snow. And your hand will reach out to me and touch our destiny.”
Despite his grumpy face, Jamie held onto the last note a little and sung on.
> “A touch, for ever and ever. Today, today, we will dance in the true world. Forever and ever, you’ll see. I’ll be. Your sister.”
The song slowed a little, and Jamie slowed in his singing as well.
> “Don’t fret for tomorrow. Our meeting wasn’t chance. Your distant eyes. A quiet glance. And a touch, for ever and ever…”
He went through the whole refrain again, even more spirited this time.
> “Your voice fades in the cold wind. And the sunset comes too soon. It hurts that you’re not near. But I am always a part of you.”
The refrain came again, and this time Jamie let a small smile slip across his lips.
I had to admit...I enjoyed the song. It felt a lot like Tara did. The piano played for quite a while. Jamie looked impatient to sing again. Finally, the words came back on the screen.
> “Flower petals drift in the shadow of a far off moon. They carry my dreams with them. I walk alone on a distant shore, and I still feel a touch, for ever and ever…”
Jamie started swaying around a little. He seemed utterly unconcerned that the two of us were watching.
He launched into what seemed like the last stanza in full singer-mode. He really put himself into the song.
> “I may not be strong. I still am searching. But my heart always finds you. I will grant your deepest wish, with a touch, for ever and ever…”
Part of my mind analyzed that there was probably one more stanza left, but the rest of me held onto what I knew was a beautiful moment. Jamie seemed lost in it as well as he finished.
> “And we will lead each other, arm in arm. I won’t be afraid. My heart will glow for you. At your touch, I awake from a dream. Today, today, my heart will sing. I will be reborn as a new girl. Reborn into a new world, reborn into the true world. I spread my arms wide, to the endless day. Look at me. A touch, for ever and ever. Today, today, we will dance in the true world. Forever and ever, you’ll see. I’ll be. Your sister.”
Jamie finished the song with a flourish of dancing and a high note. Tara was ecstatic, and Nathan and I both gave Jamie a well-deserved round of applause. I hesitated for a moment for Ami’s sake but then let go with clapping. There was no pounding on the walls, so I figured it wasn’t a problem. She was probably listening to music on her headphones now or something.
Tara shook Jamie around. He wore a constant touch of red to his cheeks. She giggled and raised his arm high. “For victory! Yay! That was so awesome! You sang it so well! I loved it! Aww! I should’ve recorded it!” She made an exaggerated frown and waved a CD around. “It’s the opening song to Pretty Yumeko Hime Galaxy, first season. I have all the seasons. It was playing them end to beginning. That one is called ‘Today and Forever’, originally sung by Nabenaka Kayo.”
She went on about the artist and then proceeded to talk about the other two opening themes and all the endings. And all the official soundtracks…and remixes.
She held them out like playing cards and passed them to each of us. For a moment, I wondered if she was gloating, but then she asked me if I’d like to have that CD. I realized she just wanted to share her love of it.
I decided to accept the CD because of what happened last night with her offer of food to Jamie. She beamed when I accepted and offered to loan me a CD player as well. They had their own specifically organized place in the room.
I was gonna put the CD in my ubiquitous bag of clothes and whatnot when I realized it wasn’t with me any longer. Nor were the other bags. Nathan peered around and said, “I think we left them… downstairs…” It sounded like he wanted to add a question mark to that statement. Jamie still looked to be awash in the afterglow of his song. I figured this was as good a time as any to set things right.
I told him, “I’m sorry. I got heated and I said things that weren’t right. You have your reasons for what you want to do. I just can’t let you take the books. So, I had Ami put them away somewhere safe.”
Jamie seemed perplexed at first. I felt sorry for having to bring it up. He seemed to take it fairly well. He looked at me and asked, “Oh? You put them somewhere? Good for you. Guess that settles it. I’m leaving. There’s no reason to stay here. Not a bad way to finish. This place has proven itself no safer from changes than any other place. Considering all that, I’d rather deal with this somewhere else.”
He’d dropped the pretense of trying to make his voice sound deeper. I searched for an idea, something which would hold him here. Then, I wondered why I was trying so hard. He was just my roommate. We were something like friends, but it wasn’t as though I’d known him as long as Nathan. How could I ever presume to ask him to stay, when I didn’t even know the full nature of Nathan?
Air tickled at my neck under the drape of my thick, red hair. I brushed at it to buy myself a moment to ponder my answer. In the end, I really had no real answer. I could only offer, “Listen. We’re just three here. We have strength in numbers. If we start breaking up… then who knows what could happen to us. We may even begin to forget who we are for who we seem to be becoming.”
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“Strength in numbers. Yeah. Three against nine here. I admit, for the first time in a long time, the idea of being alone does worry me, but what are we supposed to do?”
Tara’s hand darted out with her microphone again. “Ending song?”
He gave her a look which was softer than I was used to seeing from him. “Thanks, but I really should be going. There are a lot of people here who don’t want me here.”
Tara’s eyes went wide. “Oh no! We have to convince them that you’re okay! Who are these rapscallions?”
That was quite a word to hear from her lips. Jamie blinked a bit and said, “Well. There’s Reiko for one.”
Tara clutched her chin and said, after a moment, “I don’t think she hates you though. She’s like… well, she’s not got a lot of friends. Sumi’s the biggest. They spend a lot of alone time together. It’s a shame. I wish they’d play with the rest of us more.”
I clenched down on my lips to fight the temptation to say anything.
Tara walked lightly around the room. “She even called me ‘annoying’ when she first showed up. But I know it’s all pretend. She’s helped me a bunch. I’ve also seen her clean up Ami’s room. Also due to annoyance, she says. She only really likes Ms. Ishida, but it’s totally impossible to not like her!”
I could say the same about Tara, but it seemed like Reiko was at least a partial example of not liking Tara. Jamie chewed on his lip a little. “Okay, Katsumi then.”
“It’s 'cause you’re not a girl.” I figured Katsumi was more my worry than Jamie’s, and he seemed to concede this. He worked through all the girls. Ami was crossed off, she cared for us. Ms. Ishida was a given. Mami was in her own class. Sumi was supposedly harmless.
I had to refute that a little.
Nana was Nana. Miki was always kind. And Tara pointed out she was with us. “I just like to play. I like to have fun. It’d be nice to be a magical girl and change people into other things and do all sorts of spells. I’d change you back if you got upset from being girls and stuff. I just want you all to be happy. I’d love to see what you’d look like as a kitty too!” She smiled at Jamie.
Jamie gave her a smile back and, after a silent moment, said, “Fine. There’s plenty of reasons to stay for now. But if the changes accelerate then I’m getting out of here. I will not be turned into a girl for the rest of my days. It’s bad enough to have this hair and these disconcerting eyes. A voice like this isn’t too far removed from the chipping-away changes so far. It even does well for singing. I never had that great of a voice for singing, so I’ll try it out for a while. But I want my old one back in the end. And my old hair. It was such a pain that Carolyn couldn’t cut it.”
Tara blinked and chirped in with a question about that name. Jamie found a seat and began to explain further, as we had with Ami. I stood and looked upward. I’d kept Jamie from leaving. It was time to deal with the other mess I’d managed to make. Nathan offered to join me at first. I shook my head. “I need to deal with Katsumi alone. It’s my doing.”
Tara offered to give me something to protect myself. I raised an eyebrow. She chuckled. “Probably not necessary. It only happened once. Tell me more about the library girl…can she make magical weapons out of paper…?”
She sat next to Jamie. Nathan decided he should go get our bags. I handed him the CD player and CD to put away safely in my bag. I followed after him and continued up the steps first, figuring that Katsumi may have returned to her room by now. No one responded to the knocks. I gave a quick look around.
I noticed a silver glow coming from Nana’s room. With all those running computers in there, I was surprised it was only a glow.
I passed Nathan going back up with the bags and found Katsumi downstairs. That new girl, Nina, was still near, cowering in her presence. She gave me a look not all that dissimilar from the sorts of looks Katsumi gave me though. They stood around the empty room with Katsumi gesturing wildly. I saw some water, rice, and salt off to the side. She froze when she saw me and huffed. “Come to beg for me to finally take the last bit of manhood from you? Come to ask for real hair instead of that ridiculous wig?”
I felt a spasm in my throat. I could feel my heart beat closer to the surface. Two out of three so far, that had to mean I was next. But so soon? Was my voice, as it once was, gone? When I opened my lips would a small, gentle sound emerge? Would I always feel somehow smaller and weaker when talking? Or did I have a voice like Miki? Would I sound like a strong girl or a little one? There was only one way to know.
I formed the words in my head, then let them slip from my lips. The first sound startled me, not because of how strange it felt, but how familiar.
If Nathan got the cute girl voice and Jamie the annoyed girl, I found myself sounding like my favorite heroine from a recent show I’d watched. The voice was even, calm, and sweet. At first. Then it kinda drifted into Nathan territory. I coughed once and began again.
“Like it or not, something is happening to us. We are turning into girls. You may not want to believe it but listen to my voice. I am not making this up. I am not trying to tease you. I am not trying to exacerbate whatever issues you have. I am just telling you honestly what is going on.”
By the end of that, I had a decent impression for what words would feel and sound like coming out of my mouth. It was disconcerting, like an anime girl projecting over me, trying to say my words in place of me and succeeding every time. But also it felt like I had the ability to hear a cute girl any time I wanted to, like a voice actress I had at my beck and call.
Sure, I kinda sounded softer since coming to Mecchen House, but this was beyond anything that could conceivably emerge from my lips before. I wanted to say more for the sake of hearing the rich and multi-layered bits of sound within my head, but I could think of nothing else to say. I seemed to have Nina’s attention. She looked at me with a great deal of curiosity.
Katsumi listened as well. I expected her to come up with another way of explaining away the sound I’d just created. She made no motion to explain it. After a moment, she said, “You just sounded like a girl.” Her head was lowered.
I gave her a nod and explained, “All three of us have had our voices changed since you left. Did you imagine our voices changing or anything like that?”
She looked up. She shook her head a little, then paused. “I often imagine people around me who are not ma... female becoming female. I told you about that. I didn’t think of voices. I have thought of changing the three of you. But I didn’t think of your voices changing. Not since yesterday. Do you really think I could be responsible for this?”
I honestly had no idea at this point. I told her as much. She looked down at her hands. She rubbed her neck with something between a guilty and befuddled look. “Heh…I never figured… anything I did would actually work.”