Chapter 18-3: Fragments and Mec chen House
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Chapter 18 – Fragments and Mec chen House (cont.)

Jamie bought me an all-day train pass then sat at the other end of the bench from me. She fussed with her hair so she wasn’t sitting on it, then crossed her legs, folded her arms over her chest, and stared straight ahead.

I tucked my train pass away and stood to walk around before the next train arrived. The platform was busy. It felt like noon. I glanced through the vending machines at one end for an interesting snack or a cool drink, but everything seemed too expensive.

I looked back. Jamie was standing and rubbing her elbows. Other people were sitting on the bench now. I walked back over to her side and asked, “You okay?”

She muttered, “You abandoned me…” Jamie’s leg shook as though it were on unstable ground. The wind burst through like a sudden interjection.

I glanced around a moment but reassured her, “I just figured you wanted to be alone, what with everything.”

She looked conflicted, but answered back resolutely, “There’s a difference between being given space and being left all alone.”

I posed an open-ended, “Oh?”

She nodded and lingered at arm’s length from me. “Girls linger in groups and despite…” She lowered her voice a little. “Despite what I may want, we appear as girls to everyone else. Do you see any girls by themselves around here?”

A quick look at the platform revealed only clusters of women. I remembered seeing girls by themselves. But, at least around here, it seemed groups were the norm.

Jamie continued, “Surely because of safety in numbers from morons like that brain-dead quartet we met… or worse. Besides, I have far too much to be suspicious of in this world. And you… umm… you’re familiar…my friend. You know…”

I answered with a nod.

She added harshly, “But don’t think I’m gonna let you hold my hand! I didn’t before. I won’t now.”

I thought back and pointed out, “You held my arm once.”

“Wha… no. No, I didn’t…” Her tone wasn’t very confident.

I reminded her, “When Katsumi told her story about hiding in a bed from girls that want to make you one of them, you clutched my arm.”

It took her a moment before she relented with a quick, “Ah…” but qualified it with, “That was just an arm, and it was nothing anyway. Holding a hand is different.”

“Is that so…?”

“Well… yeah.” She folded her arms in protection of her chest again. “I mean just for the sake of keeping up appearances, it wouldn’t be necessary.” Still, she seemed to be glancing at my hand every so often. I stretched it out a little.

“I’m sure. But I wouldn’t object if you wanted to. Just for a second. After all, you brought it up in the first place…”

Jamie huffed, “Just to reject it. And no way. I don’t need my hand held by anyone, nor will I ever need it.” She turned away to look down the tracks and that was that.

We lingered there till the train pulled into the station. Jamie was first onboard when the doors opened.

I sat first. Jamie didn’t sit nearby on the bench. She sat a ways down, then she seemed to realize the area would soon fill up. She darted next to me then leaned away, arms still insulating her chest. She slumped with her legs drooped out on the floor, barely bent. Her back was slouched, and she looked quite uncomfortable.

I pressed my knees together and let my feet form a pyramid with the floor. It was a relatively-comfortable position now. I rested my hands across the slick surface of my pants and leaned forward. Jamie tossed some hair out of her way and freed a lock trapped by the seat. The train car filled. Jamie had to pull her legs closer as people were standing around in the middle of the car and holding onto handrails.

The air was close. Neither of us ever had much luck in crowds. Fortunately, the masses thinned with the next stop, and we were able to stretch out again. Jamie added a buffer of seats between us. I turned my attention to the landscape passing by.

The cherry blossoms were everywhere in this part of town. They adorned the hills and dips like candied plumes. They were impressive in the morning light but even more so in the glow of the full day. As I watched them vanish and reappear amongst the buildings, I felt a sense of solemn melancholy.

Then a stretch of apartments covered them up, and I saw no more the rest of the way to our stop.

-----

Jamie was first out of the train car as well. I followed closely behind. I took the steps down two at a time to keep pace, but I paused, when we came to a familiar area, to stop and look around carefully.

The air seemed still. I looked beyond the hotels and small parks. I focused on the traditional building. No one was there. I stayed a moment then darted ahead to catch up to Jamie. I saw no one out of the corner of my eye who looked even vaguely familiar.

Jamie panted, her chest rising and falling quickly against the shield of her arms. She leaned against a building wall for a moment. She watched me. My heart was quick, but I wasn’t panting like her.

Jamie took a deep breath and her knees drooped.

We didn’t have far to go. Jamie rubbed an eye and remarked, “This shouldn’t take long.”

“It might take even less time if I knew what you were looking for.”

She took another deep breath, this one slower and easier. “Civic records. Who lived where and when. If they don’t have them then they should be able to tell us where we can find them.”

“That’s all?”

“Pretty much. If what I saw can be backed up by evidence then I’ll tell you what happened to me. As much as I can figure out."

She stood upright. “Alright. Let’s do this…”

-----

The library was much busier today. The information desk was surrounded by people. Girls, to be exact. I couldn’t tell if they were all together, but the two with green hair stuck out. The green-haired one further back appeared annoyed. She had a set of folders under one arm and wore a navy skirt suit with golden buttons. She looked young. Her hair was thick on her shoulders, with a cowlick-like projection at the top of her head. She gave us a pleasant look as we settled in behind her in line. She tapped a heel against the carpet. Jamie copied her impatience. I brushed my pants with my hands.

The other green-head had hair slightly-darker than hers. Her hands hung low at her side, bending to her front. They moved gently as she adjusted her headband. Her hair was about the same length as mine. She had on a lovely blue dress, lighter in color than the cowlick green-head’s outfit. It looked like a school uniform with a little yellow bow at her collar and a buttoned band just below her chest, but she had no insignia identifying her school. She stepped lightly. I turned to Jamie.

Jamie had her legs spread out, leaning on one more than the other, and peered right at the desk ahead as her goal. I felt doubt about Carolyn’s little ditty illuminating all the more feminine traits Jamie displayed. If they were there then she was good at holding them back.

Other than the lime-colored heads, I noticed a trio of girls with bluish hair, none of them with quite the same tone as Reiko, although some were close in length. One near us in line actually appeared rather like Miki. Her hair was a darker brown but short. She had on a burgundy, suit-like top with a pleated skirt. It had that same sort of picnic-table print as one of Mami’s skirts. Despite my dislike for the design, I felt a flash of curiosity about how I would look in it.

Jamie was looking right at me when I turned to face her, as though she could tell what I was thinking from my face. I flashed a smile and turned back to the short-haired girl in burgundy. She had what looked like a manga under her arm. The cover characters were two girls holding each other close. One of them even resembled Sumi. I shivered. Sumi would know the full details of what happened to us eventually.

I sent Jamie a sympathetic glance. With a figure like hers, I suspected Sumi would go straight for her like a predator for a kill. Jamie misread my look, crossed her arms closer, and glared back. I heaved a sigh as the line moved ahead by one.

A girl left with a paper in her hands. Another girl settled in behind us. We had girls all around us now. I expected to feel anxious. But the girl behind us reminded me of Ami. But Ami's hair was lighter, almost faded. This girl’s hair was a deep, vivid technicolor pink. Her outfit reminded me of the Gothic Lolita style. But even more than making me think of Ami, I looked at her wide, blue eyes and I thought about how I looked now. Sure, my hair was shorter and darker, and I’d never worn anything so feminine in my life, but her colors reminded me of the form I now occupied.

I didn’t know if Jamie would make any such connection. I didn’t see anyone around who looked anything like Jamie with her cloak of pale, blond hair. And none of these girls had quite her figure. Jamie tightened her glare on me.

The line slipped ahead again. Jamie took rough steps, as though she were trying to assert some form of masculinity. With her hands clutching her chest, ‘things’ didn’t move much, but she didn’t look very happy. But then she hadn’t looked very happy since waking up in Carolyn’s barbershop. I was getting used to it.

That made the smiles on the blue-haired girls all the more refreshing. They built their own little cluster like the girl groups Jamie had noted. Jamie contrasted their mood with a grumble. It sounded like a comment meant for me, but I wasn’t paying attention. My eyes lingered on the girl behind us instead. Her purse matched the alternating white-and-black lace of her outfit. I hoped with all my heart that Ami was having a good day, despite everything.

The girl before me looked so innocent and vibrant. She felt like Ami when she introduced herself at the vote. With this girl, I felt no dark shadow trailing after. Had I just been blind then? Was I still blind? Anime faces always felt so true. But could such faces easily hide a festering pain beneath a bright visage? The girl started to notice my attention and watched me curiously. I gave a little smile and turned away before she suspected anything strange.

The blue-haired girls had formed their own island, still connected to the line but branching off to the side. Jamie leaned forward on a foot, seemingly-hopeful this was due cause for line cuts. But neither the yuri-manga girl nor the pair of green-haired girls seemed to budge.

I inspected the blue trio. They seemed quite joyful. One had sapphire locks a shade brighter than Nathan’s hair but with the same length and structure. Yet her playful little chuckles and flashes of a wry, stubborn grin evoked feelings of the one standing next to me. Her clothes were a touch more feminine than Jamie would choose but clearly still picked for comfort.

On one side of her stood a girl with her hands clutched, almost in silent prayer. Her hair was the color of pale sky, almost silvery. Her clothes were robe-like and her presence reassuring. Naturally, I could imagine Nathan’s visage in place of hers.

On the other side was a short-haired, attentive-looking girl with blue locks which fell between the two others in coloration. Sure, she had no glasses on, but she seemed in every way the astute watcher, absorbing from those around her.

But I hesitated to declare these three a mirror to me and… my friends. To take an incidental fragment of their natures and label them as thus would diminish them as… people. Although, I still had a whisper in my thoughts of our discussion about who was truly real in this place. I turned back to Jamie.

She seemed different. She stood nearer to me, and she looked smaller. Her arms, still insulating her chest, reached up to her face with her hands spread over her cheeks. I had to do something.

Not sure what she would be helped by, I gave her a bump on the shoulder. Soft touching soft. She didn’t look at me, but she stood a little straighter.

The line advanced by one. The trio were at the info desk now, peering around towers of books. It wasn’t till they left with slips of paper and a book that I was able to see the girl at the desk. Actually, there were two girls.

The one seated had hair that reminded me of Shioriko's, but she wasn’t her. The other girl sat cross-legged on the floor, sifting through papers and card catalogs. Her hair was long, layered, and black with crimson-brown highlights. It shimmered in the natural light filtering from above and rested in a silken wave at the middle of her back. Her eyes were half-closed as she worked. She bent down several times, sinking below and surfacing from the ocean of books.

Before long, we were at the front, just us and the pink-haired girl. The librarian with the brown ponytail didn’t sigh or look tired. She just watched us expectantly, her eyes begging for our questions.

Jamie took a big step forward and asked, “We’re looking for civic records, who lived at a location and when. Where can we find that?”

I had another question, “Where is Shioriko?” The librarian seemed unsure as to which question to address first. She wore a yellow top with the sleeves rolled up to the elbow and new-looking blue jeans. She scooted closer in her chair.

“Are you two friends of Shioriko?”

We both gave her a nod.

She swiveled around and talked to the black-haired girl, “Yo, Mei-chan?”

She answered back with a ‘hmm?’ through her closed mouth.

“Is Shioriko working today?”

She shook her head and set one of the card catalogs aside. “Nah, it’s her day off. But she sometimes hangs around here on her days off.”

The librarian swiveled back to us. “There you go. Just look around. If she’s not here…”

She gave a frown, a little shrug, and continued, “Now government records I can help you with. There are city directories listed by street, address, and date. Most of them go by local census information, others are information from the prefectural records. Mei-chan?”

The other librarian sat up. She had a lovely figure. Her eyes were still half-closed. She yawned before asking, “What now, ‘Rin?”

“You just put away a bunch of the public records books, right? Can you show these two where to find them?”

‘Mei-chan’ nodded and put what she was working on to one side. She led us away from the info desk, through row upon row of books. I fixed my eyes on random volumes as we passed. When we first arrived in this place, words seemed written in a variety of Japanese characters with a translation overlay. Now, the overlay was gone and they were just words I could understand. It was seamless, and I could only wonder what it meant.

We turned left and wove our way through a series of desks. ‘Mei-chan’ stopped and looked right. She turned to us and said, “There’s Shioriko… actually. She’s at the desk with all the most recent published civic records.” ‘Mei-chan’ gestured, and there Shioriko sat.

She had on something brown today, but her presence was unmistakable. Her lavender, bulging purse sat near her. She turned and spotted us, holding an oversized book in her right hand.

She waved. ‘Mei-chan’ gave a little wave back and said, “She can help you with anything else.” She bowed once to us and departed.

Shioriko smiled, but it was clear from her halfhearted, “Hi…” that she didn’t recognize us. I gave our names like I did with Carolyn but with an added note of, “We’re the ones you talked with about being a boy once.” I suspected that would not be something she would mention on a regular basis.

That’s all it took. She gasped, letting her book dash to the floor. She moved to pick it up, stumbling over herself.

“My god…”

She looked at me. It seemed she was comparing me from yesterday to me now. She looked at Jamie and uttered a wide-mouthed, “Wow!” Jamie brought her arms into a cross over her chest. It only served to make her looked bigger there than she actually was.

Shioriko asked the obvious question next, “Is it… you know… complete?”

We both gave her a nod. She took a step back and said another, “Wow…” Jamie cleared her throat and noted, “Could we please sit? We’ve been walking for a ways.”

Shioriko nodded and bowed.

We took a pair of chairs from a nearby, empty table and brought them to sit on either side of Shiori. She seemed pleased to see us. She pushed some books aside to give us table space.

Shiori looked back and forth between us. “So, what’s going on? I mean… besides the obvious, of course. Are all three of you out again today? Learn anything interesting?”

“Nathan stayed back at Mecchen House. It’s just the two of us…” And, before I forgot, I asked, “Can I have your information? We gave you ours last time, but we didn’t get yours.”

Shiori looked embarrassed. Bright red saturated her little pencil-mark nose. She bowed her head several times. “You’re right. I completely forgot. I was gonna call and make sure you had it, but a lot of things came up last night. I almost didn’t go out today, but I’m glad I did. Here you go…” She wrote quickly on a piece of printer wastepaper. I slipped it away safely.

I knew answering Shioriko’s questions would take a long time, so I tried my best to be brief, “Things have become serious. We came here because we need city records to confirm or deny something… of importance to our situation. We learned a few things but nothing conclusive. Can you help us? I promise we’ll explain everything soon.”

She seemed ready with a dozen other questions, but she saved them and gave us a smile. “Alright. Let’s see. You need city records…”

Jamie answered for me, “Who lived a particular location at a particular time. And I guess whether they had any pets as well.”

I thought back to the strange cat Jamie mentioned.

She stood, arms behind her, and gazed at the shelves above the desk. She slid her finger along the spines of the heavy tomes. Her finger stopped, tapped one in particular, and pulled it out with a grunt.

“This is the reference guide. The actual records are in the back in Archives. You can look up any location and see its entire history at a glance. Address?”

“2305 Hongen.”

Shioriko tapped the book a little and flipped around. “You know, the address labeling is really different here…”

Jamie shrugged. “Someone accepted 3287 Rock Lane as a legitimate address. And that someone was you…”

Shioriko kept flipping. “Right. But certain areas of Ogawa are different. So, I assume it’s in this prefecture… right?”

Jamie shrugged again. I felt for Shiori. That didn’t sound like a lot to go on.

I questioned Jamie. “Is the address near the water?”

“Well… it seemed closer than Mecchen House, but none of the landscape looked quite familiar.”

Shioriko scratched her ponytail. “Umm, wait… have you been to this place before?”

“Kinda… but not really,” said Jamie, staring at the sun-lit windows in the ceiling. She fluttered her shirt a bit. Shiori flipped through the reference book. She kept repeating the “Hongen” name Jamie gave as she searched. She skipped to the beginning. She skipped to the end. She moved to the middle and finally declared, “I have an idea…”

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