Chapter 19 - The Black and White of Mecchen (cont.)

Mami moved aside. I could see the black-haired girl. She looked different in clothes that actually fit her. She looked like any other young girl. Her hair flowed long like many of the girls of Mecchen but was now tied back with a red, satin bow. It revealed more of her features. Her ears were striking.

They were small, close to her head, but the top ended in a rising curve. Her arms were so tiny. Her dress was a soft shade of crimson which accented her eyes. Narrow straps clung to her shoulder and looped around her neck. Flickers of white lace decorated the neck, hem, and a band running up and down the middle. A pleated section wrapped around her legs. Her arms lingered close to her mouth.

Miki paused a moment but soon continued her little tale. “…Sumi didn’t say much about her. She seemed torn between her cooking and glances at Jamie, which really freaked him out. The kid seems nervous around me, Jamie, and even Tara. Despite her clinging to Ms. Ishida, she seemed calm when Reiko came over. Weird, huh?”

I gave Miki a nod and walked over to the group of three.

The dark-haired girl watched as I approached. She wavered one way, then the other, as though ready to bolt if I should threaten her. I stopped and regarded her. She didn’t seem to have any plan for that action, so she just stood there and gazed back at me.

Thus, the stalemate remained ‘till Ms. Ishida gave her a rub on the shoulder and she turned away to look at her. Mami asked, with a high, honeyed tone, “Do you have a name, sweetie?”

She took some time to regard Mami.

I smiled at Ms. Ishida and joined Miki in my search for Jamie. The kitchen flowed with clatters and sizzles. Sumi zipped left and right over a series of pots, pans, and woks. Reiko was off to the side, plating the food. Sumi moved so swiftly it seemed as though she had three times as many arms. I didn’t linger too close to either of them.

Miki tapped my shoulder and pointed out, “There he is.”

Jamie was in a far corner of the table with a blanket swaddling his head and body. He looked a bit too bundled up.

Miki pointed again, at me. “Wait. What happened to your glasses?”

I fished my glasses from my pocket, showed them, and then put them away. I figured I could say I had contacts on. How big would contacts have to be for an anime girl? But that would be useless, even for a white lie.

I told her instead, “It seems I suddenly don’t need them right now.”

“Really?”

“Apparently.”

She smiled and gave me a firm pat on the shoulder. “That’s awesome!” That seemed to be the end of that line of discussion. I gave Jamie a tired look and he gave me a weird one in return.

He asked, “What the heck did you do in there?” He looked all around me and glanced in the direction of the crowd.

I knew Jamie wouldn’t accept a mere, “It’s complicated.” So, I added, “I’ll explain after dinner.”

He sighed and brought the blanket closer.

Miki picked a chair nearby and remarked, “I heard you two went out, and Nathan stayed around and helped Ms. Ishida. I saw her before she left. She has the absolute perfect figure for athletics! I bet she’s great in the water… and… uh… well, I offer my help to either of you, if you want it.”

Jamie fidgeted under the blanket. “Unless you have a most effective set of ace bandages, I don’t think you can help me much.”

Miki leaned over. “Are you in pain?”

Jamie pulled the blanket over his face. “Not pain so much as, despite the fact I have a great bra on, I feel too much like a girl. It’s all spilling over, and I can’t push it back in. I don’t know how to trade it off or get rid of it.”

Miki set her hands in her lap. “For what it’s worth, I would give you mine. Trade or I wind up totally flat. A trade would be tougher, but I’d take it in stride. I’d give you whatever you needed. And that goes for both of ya.”

Jamie gave her the same weird look he’d given me. “Why?”

Miki smiled. “Because that’s just who I am. And, besides, you two are my friends. It’s cool.” She giggled and her grin grew.

Jamie shrugged. “Well, unless you know something I don’t, that’s not possible. It’s just a useless hypothetical. So, frankly, it’s not worth much.”

Miki nodded. “Sorry ‘bout that.”

Jamie dipped the hood back and added, “...But thanks.”

“No problem at all.” Miki stared off with a smile.

A frowning Mami entered the kitchen.

She straightened the curled embers of her hair and sat nearby. I felt a weird prickle at her proximity. It wasn’t unpleasant. But with everything that had been happening lately, I wasn’t interested in more weirdness.

Mami cleared her throat, composed herself, and asked me, “So, is she your little sister or something?”

I told her about the same I’d offered the others.

“I’m not entirely sure. She just appeared. We’re going to try and figure it out after dinner.”

Mami turned and leaned on her arm with a sigh. “Did you talk to Ami?”

Another question I didn’t really have an answer to either. Jamie kept his eyes on me.

“I talked to her. I can surely say that. But, a lot of weird stuff happened, and I can’t say much for sure anymore.”

Mami sniffed and proclaimed, “That’s the second-lousiest answer I’ve heard all day, but I’ll let it slide because my speech club wrung all the persuasiveness out of me.”

I nodded and noted, “We saw you in action.”

This brought Mami straight up in her chair. “When? How?”

“You heard we went out, right? Didn’t Katsumi tell you we went to Azako High?”

Mami shook her head. “I didn’t talk to Katsumi yet. I kinda...ticked her off at lunch.” Miki hadn’t talked to her either but said, “She looked mellower than usual when I saw her on the train back from class, so I didn’t want to disturb her if she’d had a good day.”

What a difference getting to put us in kimonos made, I guessed.

I mentioned to Miki, “We saw you run too. You were incredible.”

Miki scratched behind her head. “Oh! That… it was just another practice. Really. The coach said I had some record times. It was a windy day. So, I blame that.”

I looked at both of them and asked, “Because of the typhoon, right?”

Jamie leaned into my line of sight.

Miki leaned her head over. “I heard about some weather to the south but nothing I'd be worried about. Mom mentioned the other night she was going to phone one of my great-aunts because she lives near the storm-path. I do know it’s supposed to be a wind-storm. Not much precipitation.”

Jamie rubbed his forehead.

Mami took a notepad out of who-knows-where and asked Jamie, “So, how does it feel? I mean changing genders and everything with that.”

Jamie glared. “Why? Are you going to sell a tell-all book about me?”

Mami set the pad down. “No, I’m just asking because… umm… just because.”

“I’d rather not talk about it…” Jamie pulled his blanket cocoon closer.

Mami tapped her pencil on the pad.

“Please?”

“If you pay me…”

“How much would be good?”

“I was joking.”

Mami’s hands rested flat on the table. “I’m being serious.”

Jamie sat up. “I know. You want to sell the information to Katsumi, so she can get her jollies from it.”

Mami looked crestfallen, but I’d seen her acting at least once before. I slipped in a question, “What was the deal with you and Sumi talking about some transaction earlier?”

She appeared perplexed ‘till I laid out the details of the conversation I’d caught before my second encounter with the dark thing in Ami’s room.

She said a small, “Oh…” and added, “It was just business between friends. You know those figures Sumi has in her room? I found a few collector’s editions of characters she liked. I try to keep it quiet because…”

She glanced at Sumi, but Sumi still looked preoccupied with a few final dishes. Mami spoke softly. “She has some interests, and getting those models cost me a lot… in embarrassment mostly.”

I could only guess what might be that embarrassing. Sumi passed a dish to Reiko and a look to us.

“The meal is… almost ready.” Her eyes lingered on Jamie, who further cloaked his body at the sound of Sumi’s words. I switched to a far chair so we would have at least Miki and Mami insulating us.

Mami tried to pick up her conversation with Jamie. “I’m sorry. If you’d like, I can return all your money from the vote-buying the other night.”

I thought she was going to have us win it back. This was sure a change in mood.

Jamie didn’t lift his covered head. He remarked, “It would be nice to get it back… What do you really want anyway?”

“I just want to hear about your experience.”

“Before, you were going to sell photos of our changes to Katsumi. What’s the deal this time?”

Mami dipped her head. “Fine. You want to hear a financial reason? Alright. I’m selling the information to someone. There! Isn’t that exactly what you’d expect of me?”

Miki frowned, and Jamie slipped the hood from his head. His blond hair had taken on a crinkle. He asked, softly, “This is really for you?”

Mami nodded.

“Why?”

She sighed. “Never mind. If you don’t want to, I can’t force you.”

It sounded odd to hear Mami say that, but then she surprised me when we talked in her room last night.

Miki offered a hand on Mami’s shoulder. She crackled the pad in her hands and spoke so softly we all had to lean in to catch her words.

“I have a lot of wishes I don’t bother telling most people. Near the top is the chance to become someone else; what it would feel like, how other people would see me, and what impression I could make. I’ve wished it all my life, but especially since I moved in.

“I had trouble when I came to Mecchen House. I could barely pay the first month’s rent. I would snap at everyone because that was the way you survived at my house. I earned a reputation.

“I was always fearful of money and whether I could pay for my next month of rent. But I’ve scraped by. Over the summer I hope to have a regular job as an intern at a local business.

“I soon found as I stayed at Mecchen that everyone thought of me as the money-grubbing one. I accepted it. I even played it off to my benefit. But it can feel so claustrophobic to be trapped in a simple, two-dimensional expression of who I am. So many feelings burn inside me, waiting to escape. I love cuteness. I’m obsessed with the beauty of dance. I wanted to join the dance club, but I feared how I presented myself would collapse if I did that.

“Drat… they’re gonna set the table…” Mami pulled in her half-breathed ‘confession’ as the plates filled the table and others began to congregate

Sumi gave a long lean over Mami to pass her chopsticks. She held her lean as she gave a set to me and Jamie. Miki’s attention stayed on Mami even as she received her own set. Mami shook her head plaintively as Miki opened her mouth.

Miki swallowed her words and responded, “I know we haven’t talked about this much, but I’m faithful to the promise we made.”

Mami’s eyes flicked in our direction. “It’s a promise I hope will be kept at least… twice more.”

I gave her a nod as a response. The prickly feeling had gotten better since moving but it was still there.

Jamie sighed and looked at me without expressing any words. I could tell the gist of what he wanted me to know. He’d made clear his feelings on my own omissions of late.

Jamie looked to Mami and said, “Fine. Your issues. And… alright. You have some particular interest in it. I’ll go ahead and vent about how lousy this whole change has been for me. Although, you do have two other choices.”

Mami offered the light glow of a smile. “I understand. I’d ask Kelly here or Nathan when he gets back, but you’re my first choice. You feel the most… genuine about it. That’s what I want.”

“Whatever. I agree to it. Let’s just do it after dinner.”

As the others arrived at the table, the empty seats soon became oppressively apparent, at least to me. There were three open until the strange girl crept to the chair and Ms. Ishida encouraged her to sit.

She nearly slid out twice, grasping the back tightly for support.

All I could think was how much I was holding back from everyone, especially now that I knew Mami put up a persona. And I suspected…felt…feared… Ami was now a dress. And I figured this girl was actually a scary, evil monster. And I worried that everyone in this House was just put here for reasons that only ‘Hitomi’ knew, if she truly existed outside a few strange visions, dreams, and Nana answers.