Chapter 9 – Reunions and a Recipe at Mecchen House
My eyes had always been vaguely gray-colored. But now they looked more like Jamie’s eyes used to. The contrast of red and blue was striking. I kept touching my hair ‘till I felt Nathan’s hand on my shoulder. The feeling of a breath at my neck was gone, but it was covered by a full set of locks now.
Nathan marveled at my hair and asked a quick, “Are you okay?”
I brushed at it, trying to keep the front locks away from my lenses. They defied all attempts at being brushed. At least what hung down was transparent enough that it didn’t block my vision. I rubbed my eyes. They felt the same as always.
I responded to Nathan, “Like I could really go for a haircut.”
Jamie, who I’d thought was asleep, said, “Me even worse. I’d even try a buzz-cut if it held all this at bay.” His hands raked at his locks with thinly-veiled malice. He sighed and said, “It’s settled. We’re going to a barbershop.”
“And Mecchen?” I tried what Jamie did and held the hair back for a moment. If only it was a few inches longer, I’d be able to manipulate it easier.
Jamie simply said, “After.” He fidgeted with his pants. They didn’t appear any looser than before, but it sure seemed like they were giving him trouble. Mine felt about the same, useless pockets and all.
Nathan touched his head and asked, “Is my hair…?”
I shook my head and made my hair situation even worse. I told Nathan, “It still looks like it did in that store window a bit ago.”
Jamie scooted over and looked at me. He said, “You got my eyes, and you got off easy with hair. That’s so not fair.” I told him, “My hair refuses to do what I want it to do. It’s long but not long enough. I’d rather have your hair, all things considered.”
He narrowed his eyes. “At least you still look boyish.”
I reminded him of all the long-haired bishounen Carolyn liked. He shrugged and said, “That’s a small comfort in the face of what’s happening. I know now what that ‘girl’ meant when she said she wanted to tear her hair off.” He gripped at the roots but had the same result as when I had breast-forms on my chest. Crumpled over, he groaned and said, “Haircut as soon as possible. I want this gone.”
There was nothing more I could think of saying.
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The rest of the trip went quietly. We each seemed so absorbed in our little contemplations that we nearly missed our stop. Jamie fussed compulsively with his hair. Nathan gazed down at his hands. And I took in the scenery, yet again, trying to find artifacts I’d missed the first time on the ride.
I recognized a corporate ad off to the side when we stopped. I realized the station name a moment later. We were barely able to push our way through the closing door before the train sped off to its next location.
My eyes remained on the ad. Had I seen it the last time? Yes, it looked familiar. My eyes stayed on it. It had a black background with the Earth in the middle. Something similar to a magatama with a big, black eye curled over half of the Earth. Blue stars flanked the sides. On top and at the bottom, were a series of faded kanji characters.
[https://i.imgur.com/BAyxdCx.png]
It looked like the poster had been up for a long time. I was more concerned that I couldn’t read what it said. The ad next to it was a colorful sand timer with candy pieces falling into a waiting mouth. Was that the ad from TV? I couldn’t tell. But I could read it. Nyako Candies. It was the same with the rest of the ads. I told Jamie to wait up. He was on the first step of the path to the street.
I asked a businessman nearby for help. He had a feathered, black ponytail and a dark greater-than-sign mark of a nose. He flashed a bit of white and pink and told me, “Well, it’s Chinese for one. That’s probably why you can’t understand it. I can only read limited Chinese myself. But, fortunately, I recognize the ad. It’s a promotional for the Nuhaizi Corporation. They’ve been defunct for several months now. Hope that helps.”
[https://i.imgur.com/WJ1xmfD.png]
I thanked him and gave the poster one last look. I tried to uncover some sort of meaning from it. It looked mysterious. It felt significant. But its iconography defied my memories, and its mysteries eluded my senses. I kept looking ‘till Nathan’s hand steered me over to the steps and an impatient Jamie, who was fussing even more with his hair.
The intersections were just as busy as earlier. A set of scattered clouds passed overhead. They’d been twisted by a high-altitude wind into long, fluid brush marks. Jamie seemed driven in a particular direction, so I followed close, trusting he knew what he was doing.
A quick breeze teased at us and slipped my hair over my eyes. When I cleared it away, we were standing in front of an all-glass storefront with purple walls and a never-ending pattern of mirrors reflecting on one another. Jamie seemed to miss the sign on the front, off to the side. It read, “Cute Boys Hair Care.”
Inside, it looked like the typical shop for cutting hair. We found just one person inside, and he had longer hair than Jamie. He was about as tall as me with light-brown eyes surrounded by dark, thick lashes like heavy eyeshadow, visible from the side. He was brushing the floor. He wore a poofy, one-piece outfit that perfectly-matched his hair.
I couldn’t help but think of chocolate, soft-serve ice cream when I looked at the elongated curls which flowed through his hair. Perhaps it was about time to have lunch.
Scattered locks of the same sort curled to the front from around his shoulders like octopus legs. Crunchy, sauteed octopus legs with a hint of wine and breadcrumbs. I hit myself lightly on the side of the head.
Jamie seemed hesitant about the barber/salonist. But he went up to him and asked, “Can you cut hair?”
He brushed his hair back and looked at the three of us. He seemed ready to speak when he paused and inspected us again. I noticed a flash of recognition in his light-brown eyes. His hand darted out. Jamie rose on his toes. I backed up and Nathan shrunk down.
After a moment of befuddled murmuring, the barber/salonist said, “Oh my gosh! You guys! What are you doing here?” Then he hugged Jamie tight and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He giggled. “I recognized Nathan first. Then the two of you, despite those goofy wigs. I never thought I’d see you three again!”
I was thoroughly perplexed, but it was beginning to become a regular feeling for me. Jamie squirmed out of his hug and asked, flustered, “Who are you?”
The barber/salonist chuckled and stretched up, gesturing to himself. “Carolyn Tomas.”
It took me a second to put the name to the face. Nathan’s eyes were huge. “Carolyn?!”
Jamie leaned close. “What? Carolyn? Our Carolyn?”
All I could say was, “Carolyn, born in Brookville?”
The pretty boy put his arms on his hips and winked. “Exactly! At least I think. My memory has some fuzzy parts though.” Sounded familiar.
Naturally, we needed some sort of proof.
He stroked his soft chin. “Okay. Jamie’s full name is Jamie Quinn Harrison. And he loathes both of his names equally.”
That was pretty specific. I needed something for myself. “What’s the first anime program we watched as part of our get-togethers? Also, what’s the day of the week we had those get-togethers?” I figured the last part was a freebie.
“Blue Maiden Crisis: Ultimate, a poor-quality version of the OAV. The tape kept jamming every two minutes and the sound was badly-synced. It was like a total Godzilla movie dubbing. We always watched those shows… Usually about three episodes or some movie-length program… on Saturdays?”
The fine details she knew were incredible. She kept going with the recollections of that first evening. She just had no clue what day of the week we always met.
Nathan posed his own question. “What did I show you how to do during your first visit to my family’s gym?”
‘Carolyn’ laughed and smiled. “Blood choke sleeper hold for self-defense. I used it on Jamie first. I told you it wasn’t fatal, Jamie. As long as you don’t hold it for too long a time.”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
That one got to Jamie, especially since the pretty boy threw him a look which I’d seen Carolyn use before.
The pretty boy frowned though. “I’m sorry to say, I can’t recall the name of the gym. Arg! I feel so dumb! Sorry, Nathan.” He waved his hands politely and said, “No worries, Carolyn.”
Jamie narrowed his eyes. “Humph. He may be ready to call you her but I’m not. Okay. Tell me about our first date. Which ‘base’ did we get to?”
He gave Jamie a sly look. “What base do you call coming to my house and helping me try on clothes? One of them was even a goofy parka. I gotta admit. It was a cute week. It was like having a new girlfriend, only she had a thing for me.”
Jamie grumbled. “Fine. You know some stuff, but Carolyn usually told her business to friends. I wouldn’t be surprised if news got to another universe.”
The pretty boy rolled his eyes. “Now you’re just being difficult. Listen. I can’t tell you that I’m the same person you knew. I don’t know if I’m the same person. Looking at it physically, it’s pretty clear I’ve changed quite a bit in this place. And I have ALL the parts you’d expect of this form.” Jamie covered his ears tightly. The pretty boy shook his head. “You haven’t changed much when dealing with certain things. What’s up with the wig?”
We did our best to cautiously fill in all the details for him. The forested path. The anime transition. The house of girls. The librarian. The changes. The concerns. He stopped us at this point.
“Okay. I think I have the important stuff. Sounds like that Shiori girl experienced the same thing I did. I have this sudden shift in my memory as well. One night I’m in my bed sleeping and the next, I’m a boy to everyone, and I have my own salon in this anime world. I feel like there’s this dark swath in my memory, but I can’t prove it or anything. Maybe I changed over time like you three are?”
He seemed to be chewing on it when Jamie tossed his hands up. “So, can you cut my hair or not? We want to figure things out so we can get out of here before we’re unavoidably trapped in this world as toons or, even worse, girls.”
He blew a long raspberry at Jamie and said, “That’s what you get for what you said to me about your ‘immunity’ from menstrual cramps. You gotta know someone is always listening. Some Higher Power. I’m sure They are. Look what happened to me. I get to be the coolest bishie I can imagine. Just look at this hair! These eyes! This awesome, firm little butt! And the whole package!”
Jamie covered his ears and hummed too. I was beginning to wonder about this pretty boy. Could he really be Carolyn? I moved closer and tried to touch his face. He guided my hand to it with a smile.
“Isn’t it cool? I love the colors. This whole world is such a work of art and everyone in it is so pretty. It’s like a dream I keep wondering if I’ll wake from. Or maybe the other place was the dream. I dunno. I just know I’ll take it as long as I can.”
I had to ask ‘Carolyn’, “What do you think happened? I mean there are people here who seem to be new here. And we’re here. And so much else. I just can’t wrap my head around it.”
He twirled a pair of shears in his hand. “Near as I can figure out, there are three answers. One, something happened to pull people who love anime into a world where it exists incarnate. It goes with my ‘Higher Power’ feeling.” Interesting thought, but Jamie wasn’t an anime fan.
He continued, “Two, something in this world harvested us for its own purposes. It selected particular people who may have been connected to each other. Unfortunately, we don’t know how many people were affected. It seems there are only certain people who have knowledge that anything happened. Maybe nothing happened to them. But I would love to meet your librarian friend, for sure.”
He concluded with, “Finally, I thought up this one possibility. It’s not very encouraging. But let’s suppose our world suddenly died or collapsed and everyone in it was tossed into the nearest available one. Sure, it sounds rather like Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy or something, but it’s a theory. It doesn’t explain some things and none of them really explain what happened to you. I suppose if someone is harvesting people then they’d do whatever they like with the three of you. But then, who knows if you three really are who you think you are? Whoever harvested us could’ve implanted you with false memories. And me too. Nothing is true and it’s all mice in a maze for their own amusement.”
It was a suitably-depressing theory from Carolyn, like many she’d pitched after watching cryptic animes. It really bothered Jamie, who blurted out, “You see why I didn’t stay with you now? Don’t you understand? This isn’t some show! This isn’t something that someone somewhere wrote! My life is not open to literary analysis. Something serious happened. Our lives are gone! Doesn’t that upset you? Doesn’t that make you want to do something? How long have you been here doing nothing but cutting people’s hair and cuddling, effeminate-boy-to-effeminate-boy?”
‘Carolyn’ sighed and said, “I remember now why we didn’t stay together. Will there ever be a conclusion you come to which you can actually support? But yeah, I understand quite well now. I miss so many things, my fishies especially, but it has been months.
“You gotta move on after a while and make a life where you end up. But then you’ve always gone for security and safety, haven’t you? You want everything set back exactly the way it was. Well, sorry, sometimes life takes a baseball bat to things and leaves you without any glue. It doesn’t help much if you take to throwing those pieces around in anger. You just get more pieces. There was a long time when I just froze up. I walked around as distant as a ghost, too afraid to do anything. And, for your information, there are a nice number of cute boys who like me.”
Jamie waved at him and he grabbed his hand. ‘Carolyn’ gave him a kiss on the top of it. “And I can guarantee plenty will like you, no matter how you end up.” Jamie jerked his hand out of ‘Carolyn’s grasp. “I assure you they’ll get a knee to the groin if they try anything.”
He leaned forward and told Jamie, “Don’t knock it ‘till you try it.”
“I’m not gay! I will never be connected, now or ever, with a man in any intimate sense.” ‘Carolyn’ clapped his hands together. “And therein lies your fatal flaw.”
“What the heck are you talking about?”
‘Carolyn’ shrugged. “You’ll figure it out later.” He moved over to Nathan. “Wow! I never figured I’d be as close to your height as this. How do you feel?”
Nathan stroked his arms while clutching them. “I wish I could do more to help.”
‘Carolyn’ snorted. “I hope not to help him.” He tilted his head in Jamie’s direction, sending up a wave of long locks. “He’d just spit on whatever hand you offer. You’re one of the coolest people I know. I just wish you felt as strong as I know you are. And Kelly. HAVE YOU SEEN THE SHOWS THEY HAVE HERE!? Oh my gosh! And TV is just like watching them all the time! Heaven! Except for the weird shows. Ick.”
We were clearly on the same wavelength. My last bit of doubt drifted away. It was possible he wasn’t Carolyn, but he felt so much like her that I was willing to suspend my disbelief. Meeting Shiori first helped. One question lingered in my mind though. “I know. But it made me think this place was normal and plain. I sure was wrong there. Just one thing. What do you call yourself now?”
“Ummm… Carolyn. It works as a boy’s name too. I had the name Masa Saitou or Saitou Masa. I still get mixed up. I don’t mind sounding like a foreigner though. I use the name Tomasu Carolyn. Had to add a ‘u’. It’s no biggie. I get to do what I love, and I get to be a great-looking boy while I do it. My dream has always been to own a salon. And, in this world, my parents actually support me in it! But enough of that. You wanted those not-actually-wigs trimmed a little, right? I’ll see what I can do. I’m guessing Jamie wants cutsies first, right?”