Chapter 20 - Hitomi & Akiko (cont.)

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I stretched my back once we were in the hall. I used my free hand to crack my spine. My feet were throbbing, and my body felt pained. Akiko mimicked me with her slick hand put behind her back.

I tightened a hand and reminded myself that, despite appearances, this young girl was actually responsible for what happened to Ami.

Still, I couldn’t even go as far as Jamie did with Hitomi and squeeze her shoulders.

She watched me and leaned in to sniff her hand again.

“Smell weird, huh?” I asked.

She straightened up and watched me. She didn’t say anything.

I didn’t expect an answer. After a moment, I said, “Come on. Let’s see how Keiko is doing.”

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Miki was splayed across the floor, leaning against her bed with some comfortable clothes on in place of her uniform. Keiko was nearby with her legs folded. She looked happy.

I felt a tinge of guilt to intrude with my questions and confusions.

Miki encouraged me over and stood up. “Hiya! What’s up?” She looked at both of us.

Akiko seemed almost bewildered by Miki and quite unwilling to get close to her. I held her back from retreating to the furthest corner.

Miki’s room looked the same as before, simple and focused.

She had family photos and assorted, sports-related decorations on the walls and dresser. The floor was clear and largely-unused with plenty of room to stretch out.

Before my dream question, I had to ask, “Where do you keep your stuff?”

She snickered. “I like to keep my space clear so I can move around and do whatever I like. There’re a few hidden closets in that wall where I keep some stuff, and the rest is either in my dresser over there or back at home.”

I saw a photo of Kazu on the wall and told her, “I met your brother, Kazu.”

Miki gave a luminous grin. “Really?”

“Yup!”

Keiko leaned forward from the floor to listen and gave Akiko a friendly wave. Akiko ducked behind me. Keiko sat on her hands.

[https://i.imgur.com/LtSBsAG.png]

[Keiko]

Miki stretched her legs across a wide-open patch of floor. “We’re so proud of him. Was he holding up alright?”

“When we saw him, yes. He was quite nice. He gave us a free train card.”

Miki looked content. “That’s my brother.”

I lacked a transitional question, so I used a cough and asked, “Umm… are you heading to bed soon?”

Miki shifted her head around and fluffed her short, triangle-shaped brown hair with a hand. She didn’t seem bothered by the way I asked and answered, “Soon, though I’m not really sleepy. I need to go over Ms. Ishida’s typhoon-preparedness checklist. I remember most of them though. Make sure of supplies, generator fueled and out of storage, tape and wind covers for some windows. It could get serious tomorrow, but I hope not. I am worried about my great-aunt.”

It wasn’t quite the opening I was hoping for, so I just put out my question, “What sort of strange dreams do you have?”

Miki blinked when I asked that and said a delayed, “Oh!” as though she’d missed her line in a play. She gave a grin and rubbed at her hair. “Strange dreams? I can’t really recall any.”

I rephrased my question, “What do you dream about?” That was probably the question to ask in the first place. What if the clues I needed lay in the more mundane dreams of others? I couldn't dwell on missed questions. I’d gotten a lot of little details from each girl so far. And I shouldn’t forget Carolyn’s dream from earlier. That had to mean something.

Miki gave her left foot a few taps, which attracted Akiko’s attention, and replied, “Fun stuff. Goofing around. Playing. I run. I jump real high. I roll over the grass like a little kid again. I lie in the sunlight and feel warm. I feel friendship and glee. I wake from these dreams, reminded to take in the joys of life and let the harsh times pass with wisdom instead of anguish from the experience.”

I wondered idly why Miki and Tara didn’t hang out more often. At least, they seemed to get along with one another.

I had to ask.

Miki leaned against her dresser with her arms folded. “I like playing with Tara and having fun with her, when I can. But we’ve had such different schedules so far. I’d love to invite her to my family get-together in a couple of days… along with… Ami. That was my original plan, at least.”

Miki gave the faint trace of a frown and asked softly, “Are ya sure about what you said about Ami and it’s not just something I could call her brother about?… and then Hitomi and… her?” She gave Akiko a careful, curious look.

I did my best to tell her what I could, “I’m not too sure of much. But the feelings inside me say it must be right. I’m sorry if that doesn’t help, but it’s really all I can do.” In retrospect, I probably should’ve said something like that to Ms. Ishida.

I realized and filed away that no one else had even mentioned about looking or calling for Ami.

And I added, “I only ask one thing. Please don’t ever forget the names, Miyakami Nana and Murakami Ami.”

Miki bowed. “Oh gosh, I could never forget Ami. And I wish I could remember this ‘Nana’ girl ya talk about. You say she had all the traits that I associate with Hitomi?”

“So far as I can tell.” Despite my words to never forget Nana, I felt I had to remind even myself about her. I told myself I should probably check her room after I spoke to the only resident I hadn’t asked about dreams: Katsumi.

I bowed back to Miki and said, “Thanks for answering my questions. I need to go talk to Katsumi and deal with a few things upstairs. I might talk to Hitomi again as well.”

Keiko sat up. “May I please go with you? I… have a few things I’d like to ask Hitomi as well, especially now.”

After that ‘vision’, I was sure she’d have a lot to talk about.

Miki brushed her arms. “I should head off too. No problems about the questions, Kelly, and thanks for a good time, Keiko! I wish we could spend more time together soon.”

I felt a jab of melancholy to see Miki and Keiko part.

Keiko found herself on the other side of me from Akiko as we made our way up the stairs.

I lingered on the landing to look down the hall. Hitomi came out of Tara’s room.

I burst down the hall with Akiko and Keiko barely managing to keep pace. I faced Hitomi with my arms pointed to the floor. She held the pink dress cradled in Nana’s hands.

“Put that back…” I told her.

She laid it across Nana’s arms. “It’s the same one, you know. The same one Keiko saw.” She met Keiko’s green eyes. Keiko blushed.

“That is not an ‘it’. ‘She’ is Ami.”

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Hitomi shifted the pink dress in those arms. I could barely imagine what Hitomi may have done to her while I was away.

“The dress had been around a long, long time when I found it, for you. I remember poking my fingers so many times. It was tedious work and it hurt a lot, but it was for my sister. I couldn’t make a new dress, but I poured myself into making it special, for you.”

My hands felt warm again. “That dress is a person. Her name… is Ami. Don’t you dare touch her.”

She laid the dress across an arm. “You think I’m the one who did this? I’m not the reason she’s a dress again. You are.”

I snatched the dress from her arm and, though I clutched the fabric tight, made sure not to crease the material.

“You’re lying!” I shot, my teeth flared. I relaxed my mouth. I shook my head and caressed a bit of the cloth.

“I was too late to save her.” They were tough words to speak. They brought back Ami’s hollowed eyes and pained pleas.

Hitomi blew a breath from Nana’s nostrils. “Ami is still here. Along with the creature which deserves no name. Not the outcome I expected.”

The look Hitomi gave Akiko sent her burrowing ever-deeper into my clothes for protection. I kept the dress on the opposite side from her.

I tightened my mouth. “What did you expect to happen?”

Hitomi lowered Nana’s shoulders.

“Well, I didn’t expect to draw such a ravenous and daring one of those. I guess my recipe was too tempting.”

She dodged my question and I felt especially irritated that she would compare Ami to food.

“But you did draw… one of these.”

Keiko looked at each of us with a furrowed brow and worried eyes.

“Yes, despite all my precautions, one made it through out of everything I’ve been keeping out.”

I made a mental note of the implication of other dangers.

“So… just what did you expect me to do about something like that?”

She smiled. “I knew my sister wouldn’t lose. At the very least, you would drive it away.”

“Really?”

Hitomi leaned against the wall. “Well, you aren’t Toki, but I knew you would be successful. I worked it into my plan, hoping that fighting it would help to stir your memories.”

Toki seemed ever more interesting with each tidbit Hitomi gave me.

“And if I failed?”

The wall behind Hitomi rattled a little and she said, calmly, “One way or another, I knew I would have my sister back.” That left me unnerved.

“What about Akiko?” She looked up at me when I spoke that name.

Hitomi’s purple eyes blasted on Akiko. She tried to crawl into my clothes, but I kept her out of them till she settled down.

Hitomi composed herself after a moment of glaring and said, “I told you what I feel about that thing. You know what I want you to do. And that thing isn’t worthy of names, even if they’re just limited, human words.”

Keiko took a step forward and addressed Hitomi, “Why is it so bad to give her a name? She seems like a nice girl.”

After bowing her head, Hitomi looked to Keiko, who stepped back and bowed in return.

“So caring… even of such a thing…” She took a deep breath. “She’s still too much like those things, even in a physical form. I can smell it on her. And, no matter how she seems, she would still eat your spirit ‘till there was nothing left but endless darkness and suffering.”

She looked me in the eyes. “You saved Ami from that.”

“But saved her for what? What about her family? What about the people here who care about her?”

Hitomi took a deep breath and stepped away from the wall. “I think I’ll leave it at that. Patience on the rest, my beloved sisters.”

I blocked Hitomi’s way. I felt hot in my cheek. “Where are you going?”

Hitomi reached up to cup my cheek. A smile crossed the face she’d taken from Nana. I leaned back without turning away. Her hand brushed my cheek once and she said, “To deal with some more minor, technical matters. Don’t worry. I won’t go far.”

She glanced upwards.

I took the hint. “You’re going to be in Nana’s room…”

She nodded.

“Why?”

“I just told you.”

I emphasized my words with my free hand. “But explain it to me.”

She gazed at my hand and offered a faint smile. “I will. Sooner than you expect.”

I slapped my leg with my hand. “Stop it! I’ve had enough of this cryptic nonsense.”

Hitomi’s smile faded. “I’m truly sorry it has to be this way, but I’ve risked too much. And… that’s all I can say. Take care, my sisters.”

I felt tempted to block Hitomi’s way, but I figured it would be as effective as Jamie grabbing at her blouse. I clutched the dress closer to myself. As she was about to pass Keiko on the far side from Akiko, Keiko stammered out a few words to her, “W-wait! …can I …come with you? Please. I know… I know you’ve said you can’t say much…” She swallowed. “…but maybe I could just go with you and… help?”

She stopped there, though it seemed she wanted to say something else.

Hitomi recovered a trace of her smile. She gave a little shrug and said, “Sure. You could help with moving a few things.”

Keiko’s green eyes sparkled. “That would be great… I think.” She looked to me with a guilty blush.

Hitomi was responsible for all this, that much I knew. The particulars she was giving out as small breadcrumbs. My methods and Jamie’s methods didn’t work. Perhaps Keiko would have better luck.

I shrugged and waved.

Akiko mimed my wave a moment later.

When they were gone, I took the dress back to Tara’s room. I wondered why Hitomi had Ami with her to begin with. Where was she planning to take the dress? Perhaps I’d managed to disrupt something by her. I guessed that was a good thing.

I set the dress on Tara’s bed.

Akiko looked around the room as though it were a foreign landscape. I smoothed out the dress on the bed. She still felt quite warm. I gave a little caress across the material with my hand.

I took a step back from the bed. I blinked. I didn’t feel Akiko clinging at my side. I looked to my left. She stood a few feet away from me. Her dark-crimson eyes were looking all over the room. She leaned forward, sniffed, then straightened up.

Akiko dashed back to my side, burying her head into me. She gave a little grunt and held tight. She was aimed at the corner facing the front. I looked all over that wall. All I saw was a bookshelf. I wondered if it looked like it was set closer to the wall than when I’d seen it before, but I just couldn’t tell.

I squeezed Akiko’s little hand. “Come on. Let’s go see my friend, Katsumi.”

Akiko didn’t need much more encouragement. She pulled me out the door. I lingered in the doorway before sliding it closed.

Nothing seemed out of place.