Chapter 11 - Secrets at Mecchen House (cont.)

Nathan offered to join me, as did Ms. Ishida. I opted to go on my own. As I climbed the stairs, the fragrance I’d always noticed before seemed muted.

Absent as well was a feeling of the air flowing, which seemed especially intimate lately. I’d noticed it a few times, only for it to become background noise, like my clown-style locks. It felt like a fellow traveler who opted to leave me alone on the rest of my journey.

I told myself not to read anything superstitious into it. After all, if this were a horror anime, there’d be fewer cute moments leading up to this. That was a small comfort when my hand touched the door to Ami’s room and found it cold.

I slid the door open carefully. It was dark inside. I walked slowly amongst small items scattered over the floor. I used the glow from the hallway to see around.

The room looked darker than it should with the lights off since it wasn’t night yet. Ami was in the far corner.

I could see her form traced in deep shadow. She whimpered half-words to herself. Her hair looked like a long, gray shroud. She held her legs like grabbing onto a safety blanket. I could barely see her features. For a moment, I wasn’t sure if she was breathing. I asked her, “Ami, are you okay?”

She didn’t seem to notice me. I listened. I could barely hear her words. They sounded like air escaping a cave. I understood them when she repeated them a second time.

“You’re worthless.”

“Excuse me?”

“Just give up. It will all be over. You won’t exist. All the pain will be gone.”

I tried to touch Ami’s shoulders, but it was like touching something inhuman and distant. “It’s not real, Ami. Snap out of it. It’s just a nightmare.”

Actually, I had nothing to back that up, but I hoped it would help. I was disturbed because I wasn’t sure if the voice I heard was coming from Ami’s mouth. I could feel something nearby, and it set my every sense on edge.

Something slid past me on its way to Ami. I hacked.

It smelled like ancient dust. I’d always sought to keep my room as free from dust as possible. Organization never worried me so much as that smell. It touched something outside my memory. I nearly found myself growling at the darkness.

Ami spoke again with raspy words, “You were never meant to exist. You were born flawed and horrible. You should never have lived.”

I hissed at the sounds and said, “Stop it! Right now! Whatever you are, let her go!”

Ami’s head lolled back. “You are not a person. You will never be a person. No one will ever care about you.”

“I CARE!”

My words nearly rattled the room. Half-seen, strange phrases entered my mind like ciphers and spells. I muttered them in opposition to Ami’s own efforts. Soon, all was silence, and Ami groaned. She moved around carefully and said, “Wha? What happened to the light? Did I fall asleep?”

I trudged over to where I remembered one of the lamps being. Even without it on, the room seemed brighter now. I turned the bulb to the brightest setting. Ami shielded her eyes and peered around with confused curiosity.

It took her a moment to finally say, “Oh! I was looking for your books. I’m so sorry. I’m not quite sure what happened. Did I hit my head?”

She worked her way over to a mirror. She didn’t have a mark on her except for a touch of an artist’s blush to the sides of her cheeks. She turned, took a deep breath, and smiled at me. It was like the night I first met her, her face was effervescent again. Her form was charged with light and bright energy as though her body soaked up the illumination like a plant.

“Thank you for coming and helping me. I’m still not sure what happened. But everything seems alright. I wasn’t out long, was I?”

I shook my head. “Katsumi was just impatient.”

“Heh. Is she ever any other way? Oh well, I know right where the books are. Here, let me get them.” I held onto a moment of concern that the books had vanished with the strange events I’d just been a part of, but she bent over and came back with all of the books from earlier. We split them half and half and walked out the door. I lingered in the hallway a moment.

Ami looked back after me with a smile. “Was there anything else?”

For a moment, I sniffed the air. I thought it smelled stagnant. I’d smelled the same thing when we left our apartment. But there was also that same smell behind it like cooking. That had to be from the fragrance filtering over from the steps. But this was more immediate, more real. That was like a far-off storm in the air.

I turned from the room, smiled back at Ami, and said, “No. That’s it.”

-----

I kept turning over what happened in my mind. Granted, though I’d felt endangered before in this place, it had been confined to threats of an automobile nature.

Mysteries and other strangeness had been harmless so far. If there were dark forces afoot then that presented more concerns to me than just finding a way home. If Nina was as adept in mystical matters as Katsumi claimed, then I had to find a way to talk to her. Ami didn’t remember any of the stranger events, and I didn’t want to bring her undue stress. I’d have to talk to Nina about all this when Ami was out of the room.

We walked down the steps. I noticed the air was back at my neck. The smell which evoked baked cookies was in full force as well. I turned around. Nana was behind us with a mountainous load of laundry in her arms. She said nothing as we let her pass.

We showed the books in our arms to everyone in the kitchen. Katsumi and Jamie eyed them hungrily. Once they were safely set aside, the front door slid open and we were joined by Reiko and Sumi.

Reiko’s eyes lingered on Jamie while Sumi’s lingered on the three of us. With a faint but growing smile, Sumi put a finger to her mouth-line.

Reiko posed the first questions, “Katsumi? I will be in my room later if you wish to study for tomorrow’s test. Ms. Ishida? May I serve myself and eat in my room? If you wish for me eat communally, I will.”

Ms. Ishida bowed to her and said, “It’s your choice, as always.”

“I choose the serenity of my room.”

Jamie folded his arms and said, “I fixed your ceiling.”

“Why did you fix my ceiling?” Her question had the sound of a terse accusation.

“Because I’m staying in the room above you.” Jamie was almost done with his food. I tried to eat a little more despite Jamie and Reiko eyeballing one another.

“I see. For tonight?”

Jamie shrugged and said, “‘Till further notice.”

“If you wake me during the night, I will make sure that long hair and a high voice will be the least of your concerns.” She said nothing more but served food for herself in a bowl and walked towards her room.

She walked by Sumi, who gently touched her shoulder with a few fingers and held on a moment. Their eyes didn’t meet. Sumi just looked after her ‘till she was gone. Sumi finally posed, “I assume ‘candy lips’ is the one responsible, right?” She smiled at Katsumi as Katsumi slurped a last long bit of noodle.

Katsumi and I spoke at the same time to answer her, but I finished, “Katsumi didn’t do it. We don’t know who did… or rather who is.”

She smiled and made a soft sound. She slipped her legs carefully forward like a tiger assessing potential prey. “I love the voices. Like three keys on a piano. And they make my fingers feel anxious to play. And the hair… like fire. Crackling red. Warm yellow. And deep, complex blue. Well, that hair is more like the sea.  I’m surprised… and a little disappointed our dear caramel fudge cutie hasn’t tried another round of bows.”

Katsumi huffed. “I was preoccupied with other things. Right now, I’m watching them for changes, and there are these books I could learn from. I could do a whole lot more than just bows and dress-up, I figure.”

“Very nice, you’re thinking bigger. Someone has already done this one’s face though..." She referred to Nathan and noted, "It’s not bad, but I thought you had more of an exotic allure before. Still, a decent start, all in all. It does go well with your eyes."

I figured that he hadn’t wiped off all the makeup which Tara had put on him. But one look at him and I knew something else had happened. Nathan’s skin coloration had changed.

It had gone from the tone of a sandy olive to a pale, pink peach. It really brought out the subtle presence of red in his cheeks. As Nathan felt around, Jamie frowned and looked down at himself. Jamie didn’t find any changes but Nathan did when he looked at his arms. They flowed with pretty, vanilla bands which caught the glow of the overhead lamp. The pale, peach tone deepened around the underside of his arm. His body shape was no more changed than a moment ago but the shift in his skin color changed his whole presence.

Sumi carried two school bags. She took a compact out of one and passed it to Nathan. “Here you go. Take a look at that pretty face.”

Nathan slowly opened the compact. Then it took him a moment to open his eyes as well. With how wide his eyes grew, I was surprised he could see anything more than them in the mirror. His features still retained boyish traits but they were a shadow of his prior, manly features. I knew Jamie and myself were even worse off there.

Nathan managed a tiny, “Is that me? …My family would never recognize me…”

That seemed to catch in Nathan’s thoughts. He never made a big deal of his heritage but I knew his mother had lovely, brown skin. I frowned. I knew what was bothering him. He traced his brow with his fingers. I wished I knew what I could say to him. No one else knew everything I did. Ms. Ishida offered a sympathetic smile and a pat on the shoulder. Sumi drew close and asked, “Stunned?”

Nathan passed the compact back to Sumi and said, like a secret escaping his lips, “Thank you.”

Sumi brushed his shoulder and returned the compact to the bag. Nina seemed the most curious about these developments. Her eyes darted over everything. Mami seemed bored and in a hurry, with one leg turned slightly for an easy exit from the table as she twirled the last of her soba noodles. Katsumi looked amused. Or maybe just glad Sumi’s attention was on someone other than her.

Jamie looked similarly-relieved, though curious. Tara watched between animated bites. Ami seemed just as stunned as Nathan about this development. Her eyes turned to Katsumi, who just glared back.

Ami posed, “You’re sure this is not your doing?”

“No. But if it is my doing then I have no control. I’d make a lot more happen faster if I had control over it, and it would happen all over. And it would happen when I’m looking, so I can take lots of pictures.”

“And just what purpose would that serve?”

Katsumi shrugged and answered, “I like it.”

Ami gave an exasperated sigh. She turned her attention to Nathan and offered, “Hang in there. We have the books. I know we’ll find a way to reverse it. I won’t let a single boy suffer the trauma of being forced to be a girl against his will.”

Katsumi pushed away from the table with a groan. Ami caught that and said, “Even you must admit that causing people to suffer as something they are not is horrible.”

She gave no answer to Ami’s statement, she just cleaned her dishes. Sumi continued rubbing Nathan’s shoulder and said, “I think you look very nice. But what you had meant something important to you. I can understand that. My hair used to be as long as yours is now. I miss it, as I miss a lot of things. There’s no real comfort I can offer you. All I can say is what you love endures through you.”

She then disengaged from Nathan and served a bowl for herself. She smiled coyly at Katsumi (who shrunk a little in response), and walked in the same direction as Reiko did.

Nathan turned to look at her. Then he looked at me. I smiled back but felt disappointment that couldn’t offer anything more than she had. Katsumi cleared her throat and gestured to the books. “Well, are we gonna get to it?”

-----

After supper, we gathered on the couch with the books in a pile. Ms. Ishida still had some clearing of rooms to deal with, the third-story room especially. She insisted upon doing it alone. 

Even then, we still had eight potential readers for five books. Nina just lingered in the room and found her own book on the bookshelf. Ami and Tara shared a book, and Nathan was still lost in the features of his arms. I found a place near Nathan to sit.

Mami was coerced into reading by Katsumi and took to it with a particular interest which seemed over and above the threat of blackmail. The keenest readers were Jamie and Katsumi, who regarded each other with level eyes before launching into their books like competing climbers up a mountain.

I asked Ami if she was alright, and she gave me an exuberant, anime-girl smile matched only by Tara’s smile a split-second later. After I’d returned the favor, I turned my attention to Nathan. I brushed a lock of his hair aside.

He turned and looked at me. I could sense the face was still Nathan’s. It had changed much, but not so much as to be a stranger’s face. Those immense, green-ish eyes seemed to plead for something.

I said, in a personal voice, “Your mother would understand. You don’t have to bear her face to honor her.” I nearly added ‘Keiko’ to that, but as earnestly as I wanted to use that name with Nathan, it was still difficult.

I focused on ‘Keiko’. It didn’t matter to me if the others listened. ‘Keiko’ sighed a deep sigh and said, “How do I honor her? My muscles are fading. Soon, I won’t even be able give a fun challenge to Miki. I’ll just be able to disappoint everyone. Even you. I’m sorry. I haven’t been an encouragement for you lately. I’ve only been a quiet tag-along through all of this.”

Nina smacked her book choice with her hand, winced at the pain, then proclaimed, “Oh yeah? That’s what you say? Then that’s all you’ll be. You know what? If you’re turning into a girl then you will have your mother’s face. A girl’s face. You’ll be her daughter. Eh, but whatever. If you wanna mope and loathe yourself, no loss for me.” She flipped open her book.