Chapter 19 - The Black and White of Mecchen (cont.)
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For once, no visions or dreams reached me. When I blinked my eyes open, the strange girl was crouched over me and watching. She moved back when I sat up. She nearly fell off the bed. I rubbed my face.
She crawled back and mimicked the rub. I stood, and she shakily stretched her legs up to stand. She was quite a bit shorter than me, over a foot.
I pressed my teeth against my lower lip as I watched the dress draped across her. I still felt ill in my stomach over the color of the material. I clenched my fists. I could imagine myself pushing her into the wall, yelling ‘What have you done to Ami?’ at the top of my lungs, and liberating the dress from her body
But I just picked up my glasses, looked at her unsteady stance, sighed, and told her, “Let’s go downstairs and figure this out.”
She leaned with an ear, attentive. I walked to the door. She watched me and hop/tumbled when I made the door slide open. I could only wonder how it appeared for her. She studied me fearfully over the far edge of the bed.
I gestured my hand through the door. Her gaze widened. I felt like I was performing a magic trick for a small, bewildered child. I approached her carefully and held out my hand. She held a hand out to match, and I seized it in my fingers. She squirmed out of my grasp and retreated behind the bed again.
I rubbed my forehead, and she put a hand to hers. I tried exiting the room and standing in the hallway. It was empty in both directions. The girls were probably all downstairs eating by now. My beckoning for the thing to come out only led to more mimicry.
I shook my head. I could just as easily bring the others up here as take her downstairs. I walked down the hall.
I heard a pattering of feet. I turned and saw the edges of a pair of muddy-red eyes peer around the wall at me. I walked back to the door. She’d dashed away by the time I got back. I rested my head against the wall. Force sounded like a fair option at this point.
Fortunately, a second option appeared in the form of a prancing Tara coming up the stairs in her school uniform. She waved to me and yelled, “Oh my gosh! Kelly-kun! I saw Jamie-kun and Nathan-kun downstairs! Kelly-kun apologized sooo cutely. I said it was no worries at all! And they’re so pretty! You’re so pretty too! How are you?”
She crossed the hall space in record time and settled in front of me with a smile. She blinked a little and peered through the open door on one bent leg with the other high above. She made a little ‘hmm’ and declared, “Her room looks lots better… What was she mad about anyways?” She bent again. The strange girl’s head came out of hiding.
Tara zeroed in on her and waved. “Hiiii! Who is your friend, Kelly-kun?” The girl shrunk behind the bed. Tara blinked at me.
I took a deep breath and stated, “I’m not so good. Something happened with Ami. This girl just suddenly appeared, and I have no idea who she is.” The girl watched me.
Tara looked a lot calmer than I felt. She crouched over the new girl and smiled at her. “My name is Yokota Tara, what’s your name?” The girl inched away, pulling the blanket with her. She wrapped it around her head, covering her face. She only dug deeper when Tara tried to get closer.
Tara put a hand to her mouth and wondered aloud, “Hmm… What Would Yumeko Do…?”
[https://i.imgur.com/sv7t1wF.png]
[Tara in a pretty dress, courtesy of HandofMidaz]
She snapped her fingers and bolted out the door. The girl tugged the cover, which Jamie had tucked in so suggestively, over her head and crawled underneath. I walked closer and felt around for her. She wriggled away as soon as I got close. I tried to pull the blanket off, but she just seemed to fasten a tighter hold on it. I groaned.
I still felt tired, even after that nap. The dark feelings were gone from Ami’s room, replaced by nervousness from that pink dress and this weird girl. Still, I didn’t feel like spending much longer in here.
I let go of the blanket and announced, “Listen. I don’t care what I have to do, but I am not leaving you. Either you can come quietly with me, so we can figure all this out, or I can pick you up and take you out of here with me. The choice is yours.” My words resonated in my head like an echo from far off.
The blanket shifted, and a bit of red eye peered out. It trembled and wavered. It festered with fear and confusion. It seemed to hate me like the most potent love through a negative filter.
But she shed the blanket and crawled in front of me. She looked away. I reached for her hand. She didn’t fight my grasp, but the look she gave made all of Katsumi’s sour glances appear kind. I stood and motioned for her to stand. She wobbled but stayed on her feet.
I walked slowly. She shuffled her bare feet against the floor but was able to keep up. Her dark-bloody glare bore into my wrist.
When we made it to the hallway, a concerned Ms. Ishida stood with Tara smiling nearby. The small hand left my grasp without any struggle. The girl clambered over me like a feral child, whipping her limbs one over another with little regard for how to walk. She dashed behind Ms. Ishida and used her apron and leg like a shield.
Ms. Ishida reached a hand down to touch her black hair. The girl looked up and pulled the apron tighter. She glared at me with a hint of satisfaction.
With a kind, perplexed smile, Ms. Ishida responded, “Dinner is almost ready. Will your… friend be joining us?”
The girl buried her whole face in the cloth. I bowed my head and remarked, “I think so. I’m sorry. It’s hard to understand...”
She brushed the girl’s hair lightly. “You’ve been a long ways, and it sounds like you’ve been through a lot. Maybe, after you have something to eat, it’ll be easier.”
I nodded and asked, “Could you find something… else… for her to wear?”
She brushed the young girl’s cheek. “I know just the thing for her… and I assume the dress is important in some way.”
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Tara looked to me. “I’ll take care of it! I’ll make sure it’s put away safe and sound! Promise!” I felt a moment of concern, but one look at Tara’s eyes set my mind at ease. They looked so calm, despite the exuberance of her face and body.
Ms. Ishida led the girl down the stairs with Tara darting behind and around. She soon quit zipping about and walked beside me. She pressed her head against my shoulder without losing her balance or upsetting mine and noted, “I missed you lots and lots today, Kelly-kun! Oh! What happened to your glasses?”
I looked down at my hand. I was certain I’d picked them up, but I wasn’t holding them. I excused myself and rushed back to the room.
I found them with the blanket the strange girl had hidden in. I tried to set the bedsheets right. I pulled them this way and that. I fidgeted. My cheek felt hot. I rubbed my eyes. I couldn’t fix the bed like it was before.
I sat on the edge, seeing the best I could do by myself, and thought of the pink dress the girl wore.
An irrepressible feeling licked its way through me. I knew intuitively why the dress bothered me and why Ami wasn’t here. I had no evidence to support my feeling but still, I knew it was so.
The dress was all that was left of Ami.
As for the girl wearing it, I had another feeling. That dark thing was black with red eyes. The new girl had black hair and reddish eyes.
I felt a flame of regret that I didn’t throw the girl against the wall when I had the chance. It was soon snuffed out by rational doubt in my own feelings. I curled it around the other theories I’d put together and twisted it back and forth like picking at an open wound. I winced, rose, and set my concerns aside for now. I slipped my glasses in a pocket.
I’d go back to doing what I did best.
I would observe and seek understanding.
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What I observed as I made my way down the hall was a cluster of fawning girls. They seemed to speak all at once. Sumi was absent from the group, Reiko as well. Mami was on the periphery with Katsumi. I tensed up. All the rest were here? No. Nana wasn't.
I could hear Miki and Tara around Ms. Ishida and Mami. Jamie and Keiko were also missing. I approached cautiously, remembering the promises and threats I’d been given since all this started.
Katsumi caught me first.
She cast an easy glance behind her and slunk over. She had on her uniform now.
She asked, “So, did she come from where you three came from or what?”
I blinked.
“The quiet, black-haired girl“, Katsumi elaborated.
I bowed my head a little, which she took as affirmation.
Katsumi looked back with arms folded. “She’s cute. I like the outfit Ms. Ishida put her in. It suits her, and it’s nothing a weird obsessive would fixate over. You have to be ruthlessly-protective of girls that age.”
Her finger swayed to illustrate her point. She brought it back to me.
“Just because I’m not piling you under cute dresses, at the moment, doesn’t mean I’ve given up. I’m just hungry. By the way, you’ll want plenty of water. Sumi is preparing dinner.”
I gave her another little bow and asked, “Do you know where my friends are?”
“Kimi is hiding from Sumi. But she doesn’t have to worry. Sumi won’t bother her ‘till after dinner. Then she’ll probably make up for lost time. Keiko left a few minutes ago to take care of the groceries you all should’ve taken care of for Ms. Ishida MUCH earlier.”
I waited for her to ask the big question. But, if it was on her mind, she didn’t speak it.
She did ask, “Didya get back alright?”
“We did, but there was some delay on the train earlier because of...wind.”
She snorted and made a ‘fft’ sound with her mouth. “Well, yeah. I heard there would be some wind. There’s a typhoon to the south.”
That was news to me.
“Isn’t that… serious?”
“The TV says it’ll miss us by a lot. The only side-effect is some increased wind, especially near the seaward shore.” She stretched and yawned in a strange, arching motion.
She seemed ready to pose another question, but the group had taken notice of me. Miki clambered over. She smiled, poked out a bit of tongue at Katsumi, and gave a quick pant from her dash.
“I hope Katsumi is treating you nicely. What’s up? Your friend is so cute.” And of course, she posed the question everyone seemed to have…
“Where’d she come from?” And she softly added the big question I feared, “And where’s Ami? I heard there was a fight. Did she storm off or just lock herself in her room this time?”
Katsumi didn’t show much interest in Miki’s question. She drifted back to the cluster of girls, lingering without showing much interest in rejoining them. Mami looked over her shoulder, and something crackled in her hands, but she didn’t approach me.
Tara burst free from the group with the pink dress embraced snugly in her arms. She stopped right in front of me with it. I was tempted to point at the clothing as an answer.
Tara offered the dress to me and I took it hesitantly. It was still warm. And, holding it before me, I realized it would be a perfect fit. The idea of wearing this dress sent a chill through me. I passed it back to Tara and instructed her, “As you said, put this somewhere safe and sound. Please protect… it.”
She smiled, accepted the dress, and rushed away.
Miki scratched at her neck. “Umm… uh. I don’t understand.”
“I could explain, but I don’t think I understand myself. Ms. Ishida recommended I get something to eat and then try to figure it all out. I promise, I’ll try to help everyone understand too.”
Miki smiled. “No problem! Anything I can do to help in the meantime?”
“Could you help me find Jamie?”
Miki appeared eager. “Sure thing, I think I saw her… if she or he doesn’t mind that pronoun…”
I corrected, “Jamie’s sticking with ‘he’ for now.”
“His choice. No worries. Well, I last saw him in a corner of the kitchen. We were setting the table for dinner when Ms. Ishida came over with that young girl in an oversized dress. Mami was first to notice, but the kid doesn’t seem to like her. She squirmed a bunch and hid behind Ms. Ishida…”