Mecchen House - Chapter 1

Chapter 1 – Arrival at Mecchen House

I pulled Jamie out from under Nathan. He didn’t fight… much. The color in his face was only now beginning to return.

“My arm hurts…” was all he could manage in a monotone.

The pieces started to come together for him.

“You only hurt if you’re awake…”

One plus one would then equal…

“I was gonna get in front of a bus. I would’ve died…”

I didn’t know if Jamie’s life was passing before his eyes, but I knew that he would be passing out soon enough again if I didn’t intervene.

“Jamie, I know this is tough for you. I barely understand it myself. But we need you with us. We need you now.” Barely understanding was a fair overstatement. I could feel myself trembling. As long as I’d known Jamie, he’d always been crawling into his own little caves to hide, from conflict, from pain, with the easiest way out. I could see in his eyes he just wanted to make it all go away. The bus was just a means to that. Of course, he hadn’t realized it was a bus that would genuinely hurt if it struck him. Maybe.

So far as I could tell, this was some sort of anime-styled world. That didn’t mean it had the same rules as real life. Would someone struck by a moving vehicle bounce around like a pinball and have their wounds magically healed by a giant band-aid? Or would it be more realistic? I didn’t want to put it to the test.

I was willing to give Jamie a few minutes to adjust, but a stream of ants, like a line of small black marks, started exploring him. He dusted himself off and looked at me.

He said ‘okay’ about ten times before finally figuring out what he wanted to say, “Let’s put aside I’m tired. That I’m still not sure about Muscle-Man over here. That I’m also panicked about what the hell is going on and not a single thing makes sense. Let’s also set aside what I just did. With all that aside, okay, I’m with you. I’ll…” He bit his lip. “...I will try my best in spite of logic, good sense, terror, and whatever else.”

I could tell by his eyes he was still pretty spooked and disturbed by the bus incident. The bus driver was still hammering away at the engine. A waif-like, blond boy in a sailor suit walked past. He had shimmering, brown eyes. He had silky blue shorts on that just extended mid-thigh. His almost-white hair stood out like a set of dog ears. He had a little red choker on. If I wasn’t more familiar with ‘cute boys’ from Carolyn, then I would be hard-pressed to call it a boy. Jamie gave me a pained look and added, “So long as you come up with a way to get us out of this place.”

I told Jamie and Nathan about the slip of paper in my hand. I gestured to this so-called “Mecchen House.” Both listened intently. Jamie buried his eyes in his hands. “How does this help with getting us home?” I could sense a groan in his words.

“Well, it’s clearly intentional. Someone wants us to go to this ‘Mecchen House.’ If we go there then we might have a chance at figuring out what’s going on.” I didn’t even feel convincing to myself, but I knew with all the wandering we’d done, I didn’t want to head back into that pathway and not know where we might end up next. I could tell by Jamie’s eyes that he wasn’t looking forward to the climb to “Mecchen House.” Nathan had been quiet for a while. His eyes still seemed moist. He stated, “I’m going to do my best to get us all home. Even if I have to carry everyone to this place. We have to go forward. We’ll find a way. I know it.”

Jamie seemed ready to say something haughty in response. I could just smell the words growing in his mouth. “Didn’t going forward get us in this situation in the first place?” But the words died there, and he swallowed them with a gulp. “Sure. Seems like a lead, at least. We can complain to them.” He picked himself up and dusted off his pants. A brown cloud ‘poofed’ and settled around him. His colorful eyes narrowed. “I’ll never get used to this place.”

-----

We took the uphill path. It felt like the path we would’ve taken back to the apartment, had we been in that world. It became even more disconcerting when it curved near a gas station. It looked like the one near our apartment too, but then most gas stations looked alike to me.

We passed a demure girl going downhill on our side of the road. She had her lips pursed tight and her head down. It was hard to see her face, but her cheeks were bright and full. She had on a pair of cute jeans. The textures on them were appealing. Her top was a soft, red color. She pinched the material gently. Her hair was a shimmering dark brown and looked like someone had taken care in drawing it. She glanced up and met my eyes.

Her eyes were brown like chocolate. She had a cute mouth-line which curled a bit on her face. She looked vaguely-indignant at my presence. She turned to look at the gas-station. I was tempted to say something to her but held my tongue. I knew it wasn’t a good idea to make an enemy of an anime girl, or else face the consequences.

At least the ones in this world seemed harmless. The watchers from before were cute too. I glanced over my shoulder at the brunette. I wondered how she’d look in a skirt. I blushed brightly and got a quizzical look from Jamie.

The path turned left onto a series of stone steps. The stone looked like someone had been painstakingly using a brush on them all day. I felt cautious to step on them, lest I smudge the art. But this work, like the one across my body, had no chance of being smudged.

Nathan blew his nose with a bit of tissue he had in his pocket, then rubbed it. He looked better, more composed. Jamie forced his mouth line in an upside-down V and folded his arms. “Steps? Why do we have to go up steps? This just means we have to go down them when they toss us out.”

“They aren’t gonna toss us out.” Yet, I mentally added after responding to Jamie.

We trudged up the steps. I led. Jamie and Nathan kept behind me. Jamie watched the vegetation along the path with the same sour look. Nathan looked too and seemed cautiously captivated by the flurry of colors. I should have been looking ahead instead of at them because I nearly tripped with my next step. I would’ve gone tumbling all the way back down to the street. Usually just a ‘flesh wound’ for your typical anime protagonist, but it was not something I wanted to test out in this new reality.

At the top of the steps, we could finally see this ‘Mecchen House.’ I was impressed.

It was three stories tall with an ornate wooden overhang at the front. The ledge sloped low on the first story, like a red, pleated skirt encircling the building. Above that, the ledge on the second story jutted out straight, like commanding arms holding back the advancing trees. Above the second story, a final ledge curled upwards like the bottom of a crown. A single, triangular point at the top was painted blue like the sky beyond it, such that it appeared almost transparent. The covering all around the structure was tinted blue as well with sections of gold and green. They were pleasant colors, soothing and disarming. The front projection, though, gave the impression of a duet of stacked heads sneering back at me. I noticed a pair of balconies off the side of the second and third stories. The second was larger than the third.

Nathan looked it over and scratched the side of his head. “We have no choice really, huh?”

Jamie let his arms fall. “Huh. We really have no choice?”

I didn’t say anything. I just advanced on the door. It was a large, glass shoji door with a latch. Fortunately, it was unlocked. I slid the heavy door carefully and peered in. There were shoes on the wood floor, a table with books and a small, potted plant as well as a lovely painting (‘Or is it a painting of a painting?’ I wondered.) of a bamboo forest on the wall. I leaned in. Everything was quiet. I stepped inside. Jamie and Nathan were right behind me. I recalled entryways from anime shows. If I remembered right…

“We need to leave our shoes in this area.” Jamie poked a finger in his ear. “What’s that? Why? I don’t want to leave my shoes behind. I paid more than a hundred bucks for them.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “You got them for twelve bucks at the Goodwill.”

Jamie smooshed his face-line up. “I’m frugal. You sure it’s safe to leave them here?” Nathan bent over and undid his laces. He looked at me and asked, “Where should I put them?”

I had no clue myself, but I figured an empty spot would do fine. Nathan sat on the upper ledge and carefully undid them, pointing the shoes towards the front door. He stepped lightly onto the upper area. Jamie plopped down on the ledge, yanked off his shoes, and set them haphazardly on the floor. Nathan glared but said nothing.

I was impressed that he was so aware of Japanese tradition. I knew he watched the anime I had on sometimes, but I figured he was just idly peeking in.

I followed Nathan’s example for shoes and set them towards the door.

The floor was nice, polished wood. There were paintings on the walls on either side. They were all in black-and-white. The nearest was actually a framed photograph with a calm young woman standing on a beach with a tall, muscular, and handsome young man. He looked very happy to be with her. There were a few more of these painting photographs. One of them seemed to depict the construction of this building. The man and woman were in it as well. They were holding hands. A child sat to the side, playing amongst some rocks. Her face was turned away, but she had long, grey hair. I assumed she was the young woman’s daughter.

Then, turning left, I looked over a living room with two couches and a footstool set in the middle with a number of bookshelves. They were turned towards a really nice television.

So far, I’d marveled at this world and concentrated on the skill that had to have gone into each view. Looking at this room though, I felt less of an artistic sense than just feelings of it as a place to relax. I rubbed my eyes and we ventured onward.

Past it was a small room with a black, desktop computer. Small, but functional. Past that was a bedroom area. I just took a glance, but it didn’t look much different from my own room. Girls on posters and a fair number of figurines. There was another bedroom across the hall. It was locked. At the end of the hall was a set of wooden steps. They smelled nice, like chestnuts.  We couldn’t find anyone to talk to.

We trudged down the hall the other way. Neither Nathan nor Jamie had much to say. Jamie had given a note of disgust when we came to the steps, but that was it.

There were a few more rooms. First, a laundry room. Then, a bath, and past that was a fair-sized kitchen. It was here we finally found someone. Not surprisingly, she was living-anime as well, and she was cutting a series of carrots on a carving board. She wiped her hands carefully. Each motion seemed calmly focused. I wasn’t sure whether to approach her, since she seemed so dedicated to her work. Ultimately, my indecision was rendered moot.

“I won’t have enough for guests, but I can make you something if you like, no trouble.” She looked over her shoulder at us with a smile that reminded me of my mother. Her eyes curled into the same, friendly black dashes I’d encountered a few times in this world. It was beginning to seem a little less disconcerting. In fact, it felt comforting. I’d always found anime faces a lot easier to read than human ones.

Nathan bowed his head solemnly and seemed to make himself smaller. “We’re so very sorry to intrude, ma’am. But it’s a matter of the utmost importance. We wouldn’t have come in if… If… it was any different.”

Jamie grabbed a chair and leaned on the table in front of him. “Whatcha cooking?” His wide, anime eyes seemed to droop a little and then dart back open.

The anime woman turned again while wiping her cutting board and said, “You may sit where you like. Stay awhile. Tell me what’s wrong, and I’ll see if I can help you. Oh, and I’m making curry rice.” Like an echo at the end of her words, I noticed a foreign tone. It sounded like the speech patterns of a Japanese speaker. But it was flawless English. Wasn’t it? None of us had used anything but English, and yet there was something different about the words said. Even what Nathan had said had a softer intonation. And what Jamie had said, especially so.

It was as though a female, Japanese voice actress was trying to do his voice in English. Quite well, I might add. But there was something subtly different about it. Both of their voices had changed. They still sounded like their voices should sound yet as though they’d been altered since we’d conversed on the path. It was like subtle amounts of helium had begun to permeate the atmosphere and creep into their lungs. I had to test my voice.

“Thank you for not kicking us out… Umm…” My voice was even weirder. Had it been like that a moment ago? It sounded so pubescent, like a younger boy. I tried to deepen it a little at the ‘umm’ but it sounded unnatural. I coughed a few times and then tried my best to ignore my voice and explain. “We received this paper, and we have no clue what’s going on. We’re really confused.”

I left out the whole ‘oh and the world suddenly turned anime’ part, for now. She turned off the rice steamer on the counter and looked at the piece of paper I was holding out. She wiped her hands on her apron and held it for a better look.

She had beautiful hair, like shimmering gold. It caught the sun through the window behind her in brilliant, almost-white streaks of paint. Her eyes were reddish-brown, massive orbs that took up almost all the white of her eyes. Her nose looked like a cute backslash from this angle. Her hair arched at the front of her face like angel-wings, and curled towards her neck like perfectly-cooked strands of noodles. She seemed so young, not much older than me, but her presence was just like my mother’s.



Her eyes squinted ever so faintly at the text, creating a lovely set of black creases above her eyes. She read silently, then looked at the three of us in turn while saying, “I placed this ad not too long ago in a local publication. Are you three here to rent a room? Oh my. I didn’t expect this at all. You must forgive me. I’m a bit flustered. I never expected men to come asking about the rooms. But… 'Any may rent'… As it says. How did you find it? The ad is supposed to run next week in a teen girl’s magazine that’s only available through subscription.”

She did indeed seem a little flustered, and so did Nathan. Jamie seemed to be taking a nap. So, I fielded her questions, “Well, the thing is… We’re not entirely sure how we found it either. Something happened and I just discovered I had it. Umm. It’s been a weird day for us. We seem to have… lost our way back to our apartment. And we’re trying to figure out a way home. This slip of paper was our only clue to finding a way back to where we live.”

She handed the paper back to me with a concerned look. Despite this, she was able to fry a couple of slices of beef in a pan without being distracted. “Do you have an address for your apartment?”

I took a deep breath. “3287 Rock Lane.”

She whirled around and nearly lost the balance on her pan. “Why, that’s here! Same city?”

I had a gut feeling about that and also what she would say when I told her the town we lived in, “Brookville.” She blinked. “Do you mean Ogawa? Here? But this is the same place. That’s not possible. Who are you?”

I had a feeling that what I’d said in English had somehow translated into a Japanese variant. Or something. My head was beginning to hurt, and I just wanted to get home and finish my project on time. I figured this was the right point to come out and tell her what I was thinking.

“My name is Kelly Forester, and these are my roommates, Nathan Gravina, and Jamie Harrison. I don’t know what Ogawa means, but we… seem to have arrived in a different world. Where we come from there is a dark green, three-story apartment complex where this place stands. We walked the same path back from our trip.”

Okay, so I still hadn’t really come to the point yet, but she seemed like a nice person, and I didn’t want to make her toss us out as crazy people ‘till we’d been given a chance. Nathan seemed to be calming down. The cooking woman shuffled her pan on the burner. The meat had begun to crackle and pop. She added onions. She turned and sat in the chair closest to her on the opposite side of the counter from us. The meat in the pan continued to crackle.

“I’m not sure I understand what you mean, but I’ve heard a lot of stories about mystical happenings, so I have an open mind. But please, since you’ve introduced yourself to me, it’s only polite to reciprocate. My name is Ishida Aneko, and I’m basically the manager of Mecchen House. The house mother, so to speak.

“That’s why I was so surprised that the three of you showed up with that ad. This house is rented to girls. There are eight girls renting rooms at the moment. Most of them left to go shopping in the downtown shopping arcade. I think Ami is listening to music upstairs, and I know Nana and Katsumi are around. So, you say you come from a different world? Spirit world? Heaven world? God world? Other…?” Another word seemed to be on a tip of her tongue, but she restrained it with a smile. She bowed her head. “I deeply beg your pardon. But you’ve kindled my imagination.”

Nathan seemed warmed by her presence. “It’s quite alright, m’lady. Umm. We’re not from any of those places. I think. But yet, it’s very different from here… Could you explain, Kelly?”

Jamie huffed out through his folded arms on the table. “We’re from the Real World.”

This Aneko lady blinked a bit at Jamie. “The… Real… World? But this is the real world. This is reality.” Jamie shrugged a bit, rubbed his eyes, and sat up. “Well, our world is a little different. Everything isn’t drawn there. This is just an anime world. We’re not from an anime world.”

Aneko stood, stirred the meat in the pan a little, and added carrots and potatoes to the mix. “So, let me see if I follow. You used to live in an apartment, on this exact site. In another realm, which isn’t, as you say, ‘drawn’ like… anime? Only this world isn’t drawn, it’s flesh and blood. I’ve lived in it all my life. Anime is anime. It’s reminiscent of the world around us. It represents highlighted aspects. But this world is different. Furthermore, none of you look in any way different than anyone else I know. So, you’ll forgive me if your claims are a bit difficult for me to grasp. I’m not much of a philosopher. My apologies, as well, that I can’t really do much to help.” Her hair fluttered around her as she worked furiously to make sure the meat didn’t overcook. Jamie sniffed the air and looked intrigued. Nathan held his hands in his lap.

I bowed my head respectfully when she turned to look at us. I had no clue if I was screwing up Japanese procedures in conversation. I’d neglected all forms of honorifics, which could well be a bad thing, since I seemed to recall that implied a close friendship or even family connotation. I was sure we all seemed like foreigners.

But then it occurred to me we really had no idea if this was Japan, some variant of it filtered through an anime lens, or something else entirely. Nevertheless, I tested my knowledge of honorifics, “I am deeply, sincerely sorry my lady Ishida, for our intrusion. We’ll leave as soon as possible.”

She frowned back at me after she’d poured water in the pan. I was tempted to use Japanese, but I got the feeling at certain points that I might have said the same thing in Japanese. It was confusing. Not that Japanese is simple, from what I’d read. There were male and female ‘I’s and I wasn’t entirely clear which I’d used. Had I used a title like ‘san’? Was I supposed to? Did it correct itself with the subtlety of my tone? My head was beginning to hurt.

Aneko giggled and blushed after a few seconds of frowning. She went over to the rice cooker and served out rice onto four plates. “Oh my goodness! Do I really seem that old? I just finished college not too long ago. Thank you for your respect. But I’m not really much for all that. I get that from my mother. Respect is for Novelists and Queens.

“You three seem nice. You remind me of some of the girls here. Mr. Sleepy Harrison over there especially reminds me of myself long ago. And Mr. Gravina, you seem really sweet as well. Miki would love to challenge you to a race. And Mr. Forester, you especially remind me of Katsumi. I think you two would get along well.”

I had to admit, I was more than a little unsettled to be compared by her to a girl I hadn’t even met yet. So far as her self-comparison to Jamie, I didn’t see the connection. Jamie’s head was fully up and scanning. I could see a touch of red mixed into his cheeks, like red dye into hand lotion. From afar, I could hear stomping on the floor. I tensed up. Even Nathan hadn’t made footfalls like that.

Ms. Aneko seemed unconcerned. She added a thick, dark sauce to the meat in the pan. She turned to us. I cautiously turned to my left, towards the stomping. I could hear faint grumbling as well now.

A girl emerged from around the corner with her head down and her eyes closed. Her foot stomped one last time before settling. It shook my chair a little.

Her face was a full, pink oval, child-like, yet still womanly. She had on a badly-wrinkled, white sports shirt with a pink collar and cuffs. She wore navy gym shorts which hugged her spindly form. With a tilted look, I couldn’t tell if she had a girlish chest or if it was merely an incidental ruffle in her clothes. Still, I was pretty sure it was female. I think. She looked girlish. The long reddish-purple hair on her head seemed to be a dead giveaway. But I’d been fooled by plenty of bishounen in the past.

Her hair flowed in long side-burns that touched her shoulders. The rest of it curled in an ornately-tied, lavender bow past her behind. Her legs were long and exposed, but cute. Her feet were sock-less and bare with glimmering-pink nails. Her feet slapping on the wood would go a ways to explaining her noisy entrance. She had an adorably-tiny mark of a nose.

She stretched her neck and opened her eyes. She didn’t seem to notice us. “Is lunch ready yet, Ms. Ishida?” She began scratching at a particularly long lock of her hair, which in turn fussed up the whole thing. Not that it was perfect to begin with.

Ms. Ishida, as I found myself thinking of her as well, smirked and stirred the pan. “Shortly, Katsumi-chan. It’s almost done. Then I’ll be making something for our guests.”

I blinked at the girl in front of me. This was the girl that Ms. Ishida thought of when she looked at me? I did not see the resemblance.

Katsumi stretched her neck. “I’m finally done with my homework for the weekend. Calculus is such a pain. You mind if I watch something on TV, Ms. Ishida? Oh, and did you say guests? Where?”

The sauce in the pan had melted. Ms. Ishida shook her head, nodded, and then looked over her shoulder at us. Katsumi followed her gaze, and our eyes met. She had incredible green eyes like shimmering, emerald buttons.



Nothing happened at first. We just looked at each other. I raised a level hand as a courtesy. Nathan shyly waved a little himself. Jamie did a quick flip of his palm, which seemed more like he was pointing than saying hello.

These gestures were met with blinks by Katsumi. At first. She then arched up on one foot and cried out, “EEEK!!,” as though a trio of mice had suddenly crawled in front of her. The gesture looked ridiculous. She darted behind the table and just showed suspicious eyes and a patch of her bright hair.

She hissed, “Ms. Ishida! What are THEY doing here… These… BOYS?! How dare they be in the presence of this maiden sanctuary!”

Ms. Ishida reached over to pat Katsumi on the head. The motion made her flail around in shock and then tumble to the floor and out of sight with a ‘whomp!’ “Now Katsumi. Do be nice. They’re just here asking for information.”

I couldn’t help but feel a little irritated by Katsumi’s tone. I very much doubted this was the first time boys had ever been in this place.

Katsumi burst up in a feral leap. She darted a finger out at us with a whipping arm-motion. The air cracked like from a sonic boom. I raised an eyebrow. Nathan retreated in his chair and nearly fell off. Jamie rubbed his nose in mild boredom.

Her face screwed up in a scowl. “BE WARNED!! If any of you dare seek admission to this maiden realm, then I will bring flames of terror upon you all. You’ll scream and squirm and wish you were dead. Then I’ll make you the cutest little girl trio the world has ever seen. Forever!”

She cracked her knuckles. “I’m gonna go watch TV. But I will also be watching each of you with predatory instinct. I’ll be tracing your every movement. There is no hiding from me. One toe out of line, and you’ll be wearing dresses for the rest of your days!” Her hair moved to punctuate her speech.

She seemed a little melodramatic. Nathan was trembling though. “I… am… so, so sorry. I deeply and humbly apologize for our intrusion. I am not worthy to exist in such a sanctuary. I promise it won’t happen again.” Nathan carefully got up from the chair, bowing his head to Katsumi.

I’d rarely seen Nathan like this. He usually seemed so confident and in control. Ever since the path, it was like that had all been deflated. He was moving towards the door. She moved to block him.

Her eyes narrowed and his lowered. She chewed on her lower lip a little before saying, “Well. So are you making fun of me or what?”

Nathan blanched, “I wouldn’t, madam. I am so deeply sorry for intruding. Sincerely sorry.”

Katsumi clutched her chin and posed. “Truly?” Nathan nodded vigorously.

“Interesting…” A smile grew on her face. Ms. Ishida coughed once. “The meals are ready.” She offered one to Katsumi, who bolted over like a flash of reddish-purple.

“Thank you so much, Ms. Ishida!” She smiled brightly, clutching her plate tightly. “I’m gonna go eat in front of the TV. Make sure these two don’t interrupt me! But you… come with me…” With Godzilla-like stomps, she dragged Nathan with her. The image of a slight anime girl dragging such a muscular figure of a man forced me to suppress a snicker. Nathan looked back with fear in his eyes. I bowed my head to him in apology.

Aneko set two dishes in front of us. Steam, like white columns, curled up from them. “Would you two please take these to the second and third floors? One goes to Nana, and the other to Ami. Nana is the room on the end with the gray door on the third floor, and Ami is the pink door, last on the left.” Jamie let out a deep, long breath and looked over at me, expectantly. I pushed one of them closer to him. He held firm and pushed it back towards me.

I settled it with, “I want to thank you so much for listening to us, Ms. Ishida. Furthermore, I want to thank you deeply for your hospitality and support of us despite our many peculiarities. We mean you no harm.”

Aneko chuckled. “Oh my, I never had any worry about you. After all, while I may look unassuming, I’m actually the second-best fighter in the house. And Katsumi has the ability to disable people, if she has to or wants to, without much difficulty. By the way, I must apologize for her. She has her quirks, but is actually really sweet. She’s cute with tea ceremonies too.”

I got a mental image of an oni rising over the edge of the table, howling and brandishing a giant, iron club with cups of tea on it. Again, I was utterly mystified that I could have anything in common with such a person. I just hoped Nathan was okay. Why on Earth did she grab him, when Jamie was the one who’d be much more useful to boot around? Jamie let out a wide yawn. “What will you make us to eat?”

“Well. I have some udon I can warm up if you’re okay with that. But first… Could you both please take those dishes upstairs? I promise it’ll be done when you get back.”

The promise of food seemed to be enough to stir Jamie from his seat, although in a languid manner. He swished around calmly and grabbed the plate. “No problem.”

I clasped the other plate and smiled at Ms. Ishida. She bowed her head. We walked past Katsumi showing a white boat of teeth in her mouth. It had a small, gray crack in one side which distinguished her upper and lower… well, ‘fangs’ was probably the right word. Her eyes were in black arches and her eyebrows were like mirrored checkmarks. She was seated on the couch with Nathan right next to her. She had him bowing his head. Nathan looked antsy. The curry rice was on the footstool.

She was braiding Nathan’s hair as best she could. She had a pile of pink bows. “This is merely the first stage of your punishment! Soon, no one will ever think you were a boy!”

If that was her goal, then she sure had her work cut out for her. Nathan, without a doubt, had the full body of a man, but not always. I’d known him for twenty years. We met in preschool.

It was such a windy day. The welcome sign fell down each time they tried to put it up. At the time, I thought it was the funniest thing I’d ever seen. I couldn’t help but giggle and wait for it to fall down again. But then again, it’s easy to please a three-year-old. I was seated next to Nathan on the first day.

We exchanged ‘hi’s but didn’t talk much at first. But once we started talking, it was the perfect connection. We’d re-enact scenes from movies on the playground. Or we’d work together on some imaginary Cause. Video games as well. Nathan wanted to be the white mage. I could never decide on a part, so I’d wind up playing a variety of roles.

As we grew up, the media changed but we’d always wind up role-playing. I only remembered a few of our role-plays but one thing that always struck me was Nathan didn’t seem bothered by playing any role: Male, female, non-human...no problem. The last RP we did was him as Dr. Arroway from Contact, and me as some other person from the movie.

Nathan got so deep into the performance that I didn’t hear his voice anymore. I felt the same feeling I got from watching the movie. I saw him tear up. I told him he should be an “actress.”

It was an honest slip of the tongue, but it embarrassed him. We didn’t talk again for a while. He began to take much more of an interest in his father’s gym. Nathan, once the slim figure of a teenager, spread out into an absolutely-ripped man in college. Still, he didn’t show off. He didn’t toss his body around. Far from it. He seemed to use more care with his body now than when he was thin. I always figured it was his own way of being proud of his work.

Looking down at Nathan crouched there, I couldn’t help but wonder how he felt. He looked over at me. His eyes swam in a spiraling hurricane of trepidation, but as I looked at the center, I felt a sense of peace. I didn’t have much time to muse on this look because Jamie tugged me along. “Come on. I want food.”

Katsumi seemed wholly wrapped-up in her braiding work and didn’t even bother to look at us. I had to admire how well she’d been able to braid with his hair; it was shorter than mine. I hustled out of the area before those ponderings made me an appealing target for braiding as well.

After a Jamie-huff, we walked up the flight of stairs to the second floor. It didn’t take me by surprise that Jamie was gonna deal with the meal on this floor and I would have to head to the next one. The trip was nice though, because I was again enveloped in the fragrance of chestnuts.

I could see the gray door at the end of the hall. It was a mottled gob of ink. I padded across the floor, and I knocked carefully on the door. After all, I didn’t want to become yet another cliché of the geeky boy who barges into a girl’s room while she’s changing and runs into the obligatory panty shot. Then yelling and much beating. No fun.

I received no reply, so I called into the room, “I’m bringing food in! If anyone is indecent, please tell me! I’ll give whatever time you need to get dressed!”

Of course, it could be this Nana person was either deaf or mute. But then that was the kind of thing which I suspected Aneko would’ve told me before I left. Gulping a bit, I decided I just had to enter the room. I slid open the door.

Towering behemoths of technology rose like Monoliths set against one another. I wondered if it was some giant’s misplaced domino set. Buried at the center, I found a single table but no one waiting for me.

The room hummed with the activity of motorized fans. I worked my way around. Such a series of tall computers I would’ve expected in some major scientific institute in the '70s or '80s, not in an anime-styled room with too little space to support such an arrangement. If everyone stood up, there would be enough room for three to four people, if they didn’t mind being stiffly cuddled by electronics. Thick, snake-like cords wormed their way across the floor so that it was hard to see what was underneath. A diffuse, dim light leaked into the room from behind a computer system. Pushing aside a bundle of cords, I set the food on the table.

Looking around for some human inhabitant past the dense forest of technology, I called again. “I brought food! It’s on the table.” I fully expected my words to be swallowed up by the artificial hum.

I listened for a moment and heard a soft rapping on the far closet. I slunk between the computers. Someone was definitely hitting on the door. I carefully slid it open.

I nearly leapt out of my skin. A girl with deep, blue eyes looked back at me. She was wedged into a tiny space, surrounded by a series of electronic systems. A gap that seemed barely big enough for her existed between a keyboard console and a cooling unit. A bundle of colored-straw cords hung like a crown above her head. She edged her way out of the gap and stood before me. She was small; about four inches below Katsumi’s height, but with more of a chest to her.



Her hair was about the same length as Katsumi's, but whereas Katsumi’s hair flowed like a river through the shoals, this girl’s hair was like a cloak of gray feathers stretched past her hips. They gave the impression of her being even smaller than standing beside her felt. She had long side-burns too, with arching front locks on her head.

At least whoever rendered the art in this world seemed to be consistent with their quality and character designs. Although while Aneko and Katsumi had a clear black mark at the top of their eyes, this girl’s eyes were surrounded on three sides by such a mark. I idly wondered if it was because she was wearing some sort of eyeliner or if she just had tired eyes. If they were tired eyes, then they were about the prettiest tired eyes I’d ever seen.

She wore a glossy purple outfit with a matching, pleated skirt that ended mid-thigh. She also had on a pair of purple socks. She sure seemed to like the color, but I had to admit it went well with her hair.

I bowed my head to her. “Excuse me, but are you Nana?”

She nodded once, quite subtly.

Okay, then she was Nana. Good to know. “I brought you food.”

I gestured to the table. She looked at it, and then back at me. Then she said her first words to me. “Interesting.” Well, word, if you want to be exact, but she also said, a moment later, “Aneko made?”

I nodded back to her. “Yup, it’s for you. I’m Kelly, by the way. I’m just a guest, but I’m helping Aneko a little bit. I’m with two friends, Nathan and Jamie.”

Nana listened to me intently. At least, I think it was intently. Her face was so very still that it was entirely possible she was bored instead.

“You offer up resources.” That was definitely one way of putting it.

“Well, she needed some help. She has been quite kind to us and is going to cook something for us before we leave.”

“Shouldn’t instantly split, take essential reaction…” She sighed a little. I was quite sincerely perplexed. Had she just grabbed a bunch of words out of the dictionary for conversation?

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about…”

“Home is this, only molded into.” Was she trying to be obtuse? I think I got the gist of what she was saying though.

“But this isn’t our home. We live somewhere else…”

She moved closer to me. “The home is shelter.” She had a point there. This place was someplace where we could stay sheltered till we figured this out.

“Isn’t so?” She blinked quickly. No, she was right there. And it was a lovely shelter at that.

“Alternatives less lovely.” Wait a sec… She hadn’t been reading my mind, had she? I wasn’t sure what to make of all this. And also considering what Aneko had said on the nature of reality, I was beginning to wonder about this world.

“Find out reality.” Okay, that was just weird. I tried thinking about pole-vaulting, happy, giggling demons hoarding push-pins.

“Yet our unity resides.” I had a feeling that had nothing to do with what I was thinking, so my worry this girl could read my mind lessened a little.

Then I asked quite simply, “So, what do we do?”

“Stay, and knowledge enlarges.” She sure had an odd way of phrasing things. It either just had to be her way of talking, or some quirk in the Japanese-to-English translation which seemed to have occurred perfectly in my head up till now.  

She let out a long breath. “I will eat now.” That seemed to make much more sense. I bowed to her and turned to leave.

I heard her whisper, “Blue emerald. Crimson azure. Amber chestnut.” My eyes scrunched up and I rubbed them. I think I’d rather deal with Katsumi now.

Despite my confusion and general chagrin, I looked back at Nana as she sat before her meal. She was sure a weird one, but she fit her anime archetype well: the strange, quiet girl. I’d seen them many times before. Still, I felt a familiarity looking at Nana that didn’t stem from my knowledge of the cliché she seemed to represent.

I shut the door behind me and walked back down the chestnut-scented steps. I thought about the cliché of the quiet, weird girl in anime. They always have a secret that is eventually revealed. Did that mean Nana had a secret too? What could it be? Some deep trauma in her past? A special power? But if she followed that cliché, then what to make of the other girls?

Was Katsumi the bitchy girl who is actually soft on the inside? Or the girl who is mean to the hero or heroes because she secretly likes them and wants to get their attention? Clearly, Aneko seemed to fit the balanced, motherly older character who always smiles and takes care of everything with effortless ease.

I shook my head. All this wasn’t really an anime…

Was it?...