In a Daze

by Jin (Shizen no Teki-P)

  This did sound familiar to me. I could think of a few examples—the picture I drew during that class in elementary school, for one.

  “In other words, you could take that, like, ‘drawing eyes’ skill and apply it to the outside world. Whether you’re consciously aware of it or not, it gets set off and people react to it. Kido’s skill can completely neutralize that, so you’re gonna be just fine. You know, this may have been all Kido’s mistake, but, like, maybe you were destined to be here all along, huh?”

  Kido buried her face in her magazine, still embarrassed over the mix-up.

  “A mistake? What do you mean, mistake?”

  Marie looked toward Kano, a distressed expression on her face. He responded with another defiant smirk, like the one he gave her earlier.

  Kano must really enjoy tormenting this poor girl, deep down.

  “Well, like, look at her. I know she just spent the past little while bullying you, but really Kido’s just a—”

  “R-right! Right!! We all ready to go?! And don’t worry about it, Marie. It’s nothing.”

  With that, Kido tossed her magazine on the sofa and briskly stood up.

  “Ready to…go?”

  “Y-yeah. Just over to the phone store.”

  Kano seemed to suddenly tense up as he briskly answered Marie’s question.

  Kido, adjacent to him, must have been intimidating Kano with her presence, imploring him not to tell her.

  It was an interesting glimpse into who positioned themselves where on the social totem pole around here.

  “…Are we going by the park?”

  “That park? Yeah, I guess so. Why?”

  “Okay. I’ll come along too. I…I want to bury something.”

  Kano gave Marie a blank stare as she stood up and went toward the kitchen.

  Kido and I wore the same face, not expecting this reaction.

  “Bury…? Did Marie have a pet or something?”

  “God, if she’d lost a pet we’d have bigger problems than burying it. Anyway, she doesn’t have one.”

  “Yeah. I doubt Marie could pay to feed it, for one. For two, she would’ve had to be, like, hiding it from us this whole time.”

  “So why is she…?”

  As we discussed Marie’s announcement in hushed tones, a clinking sound came from the kitchen. She was placing the pieces of the cups she broke while making tea earlier into a cloth bag.

  “Oh…”

  It was at that point that I remembered. Marie had taken the effort to bring out her favorite teacups for me. She had taken the effort, and it led to them breaking when she tripped.

  Handling the shards of animal-print ceramic, Marie’s face gradually returned to the state it was before she started bawling the first time.

  “Huh. That’s what she means?”

  “Well, she really liked them, you know.”

  The clinking continued as she carefully transferred the pieces, one by one, from a plastic convenience-store bag into the festively patterned cloth sack.

  This wasn’t just a chore to her. It seemed like she was putting every effort possible into this, making sure it was an unforgettable moment.

  “Um, can I ask a question, boss?”

  “Mm? What?”

  “Would it be all right if we didn’t go to the nearest phone shop? Like, maybe if we went to a bigger department store with a phone section?”

  Kido looked confused for a moment, but soon relaxed her gaze, apparently sensing my motives.

  “Fine by me. We can go anyplace you like.”

  “G-great! Thank you so much!”

  Kano flashed me a smile—a sincere one this time, I felt.

  “Yeah, I’m all for it too. Marie’s never been to a department store, either. I bet she’d really like it. And with you around, Kido, she’ll be just fine, yeah?”

  “Assuming Marie’s up for it, anyway. Here, could you invite her for me?”

  I headed for the kitchen, half-pushed by Kido.

  By the time I arrived, Marie had already taken care of most of the large pieces. She stood there, wondering how to handle the tinier pebbles.

  The littler pieces were undoubtedly too sharp for her to pick up by hand.

  “Need some help there, Marie?”

  Hearing a voice next to her, Marie turned, a bit startled.

  “Huh…?”

  “You’ll hurt your fingers if you touch the smaller pieces. I can hold the bag, so how about you just pour them inside?”

  “O-okay…”

  After she consented to my offer, Marie handed me the attractively patterned cloth bag she was carrying.

  The glass pieces inside weighed about the same as four cups.

  She must have decided to bury the regular broken cups alongside her favorites.

  I opened the bag wide while Marie emptied the remaining contents of the plastic bag into the sack.

  “They must have been really important to you.”

  “Y-yeah…Mom gave them to me.”

  I hesitated for a moment. Judging by how Kano and Kido fretted over her future, I assumed that Marie’s parents were not a part of her life.

  I had no way of telling if that was temporary or they were never coming back, but for now, at least, there were no family members close to her.

  —I felt my chest tighten a bit at a memory I couldn’t forget, one I recalled despite myself.

  “Oh…”

  “But it’s okay. I’ll make sure I don’t forget, so…”

  I was concerned she would start crying again, but when I looked, Marie had a gentle smile on her face instead.

  The sight was enough to make me tear up a little instead.

  But Marie didn’t cry. She wouldn’t let herself make a sad face right now.

  “Well, that’s great, that’s great. Listen, would you like to go shopping with me afterward?”

  I decided to plunge forward with the idea I had earlier.

  “Shopping…? For the phone?”

  “No, not that…If you’d like, I was thinking we could all go shopping for a new set of teacups.”

  The moment I said it, Marie looked right up at my face.

  “A-a new set?! I can help choose, too…?”

  “Of course! Wouldn’t it be lots of fun if we could all drink tea with our matching cups?”

  Marie’s face turned bright with excitement, apparently delighted with the proposal.

  “…Okay!”

  “Really?! Wonderful. It’ll be a great day out!”

  “Uh-huh…! But how far are we going…?”

  “Well, today we’re going to the department store! It’s like a whole bunch of different shops in one! If you come along, I bet it’ll be a ton of fun!”

  “The department store…?!”

  Marie’s face shone with excitement and imagination.

  I had no idea this would make her so happy…!

  I had thought this was the unluckiest day of my life, but weirdly enough, it was starting to get pretty fun.

  A real shopping trip…The idea made my pulse quicken, too.

  “I, I’m gonna go get ready…!”

  Placing the cloth bag carefully on the kitchen counter, Marie scampered off to her room.

  Watching her bound across the hideout warmed my heart, making a smile organically curl across my lips.

  Oh…but look out, I don’t want you falling again…

  “Oh, did Kisaragi invite you along?”

  “Y-yeah…I’m gonna go get ready!”

  Marie’s expression was one of pure anticipation as Kano spoke to her.

  —Until Kano just had to keep talking.

  “Well, great! Oh, man, are you gonna go out in those socks?! Pff…khhh…!”

  Kano suddenly struggled to stifle his laughter, as if suddenly remembering some hilarious joke.

  Socks…?

  Did he mean Marie’s “weird socks” they were talking about a while ago?

  But that made no sense. Marie was barefoot in th
e kitchen.

  As I thought it over, the stifled chuckling awkwardly stopped midway.

  In fact, Kano himself stopped moving at all. It was as if time stopped for him alone.

  A concerned “now he’s done it” expression crossed Kido’s face.

  “K-Kano…? Is something wrong…?”

  As I approached him, I noticed the change in Marie first.

  She was a completely different girl from before, emitting cosmic waves of pure rage as her face tilted downward.

  The long hair that flowed off her shoulders stood edge to edge, wriggling like a living creature. The eyes I saw through her hair were completely different from the light pink ones I knew…They were red, pure red.

  “Aghh!!”

  I shouted, surprised at this sudden transformation.

  This obedient little girl I was just speaking with had a look of pure murder on her face, her hair writhing in midair.

  “Ughh…You idiot…”

  Kido rapped Kano on the head. Kano remained standing, completely unresponsive.

  His expression remained firmly unchanged, like a store mannequin.

  “W-what’s this about…?”

  “Oh, uh, Marie’s ‘locking eyes’ can turn anyone who looks at her into stone.”

  “S-stone?!”

  Kido knocked on Kano’s head a few more times as she explained. The sight was so surreal that I had trouble comprehending her.

  Turning people into stone was something on a wholly different dimension from being about to “draw” people’s eyes.

  This was something closer to magic.

  Marie continued to stare at Kano, her breathing taut and rapid.

  “What kind of…I mean, is Kano all right?!”

  I hated to say it, but Kano, his face still straining in unbearable laughter, was a ridiculous sight to see.

  “Nah. If he’s like this, it’s already too late. He’s staying like this the rest of his life.”

  “…Huh?”

  “Boy, that’s sure a pity…Oh, well! I guess we’ll just have to make him into a coatrack! Not that we even need one…” said Kido, her facial expression completely unchanged.

  Kano…We had only just met, and this is how you leave me…?

  But she was right. This kind of coatrack wouldn’t look right in anyone’s home.

  “How ’bout we just throw this piece of junk in the trash…? Oof! Here, can you take the other end, Marie?”

  “Yeah…Let’s get this garbage out of here…”

  “—Yagh! What’re you doing, Kido?! Don’t grab me from behind like that! Ngh!!”

  The moment the two of them were about to drag Kano off, he suddenly came back to life.

  Without missing a beat, Kido buried a knee into his side.

  I had figured from Kido’s sarcasm that he would unfreeze sooner or later, but that blow probably hurt a lot worse. He collapsed to the floor, groaning.

  “What is your problem?! Stop shooting your mouth off when we’re trying to go out!”

  “S-sorry, boss…”

  Even though he had to feebly reply to Kido from his curled-up position on the floor, Kano’s smile was still there.

  “You go get ready, Marie. It’s gonna close if you don’t hurry.”

  “Wha?! Oh, no! I’ll be back in just a second…!”

  Marie skipped over to her room.

  Kido shrugged bitterly.

  “Um…Is Marie…? What is she?”

  “We don’t really know much either…but apparently she’s descended from a Medusa.”

  “A M-Medusa?! As in turns-people-into-stone, that Medusa?!”

  “Yep. I couldn’t believe it myself at first, but no way she’s human, anyway.”

  Faced with one outrageous concept after another, my expression went completely blank.

  I had heard the name Medusa before, at least.

  Not that I knew anything anyone else didn’t. A legendary monster, snakes for hair, petrifies folks, etc., etc.

  I had just seen one, right here, using her skills before my very eyes.

  “She said her parents had told her from birth that they were a family of Medusas. Her mother really could stone people for good, supposedly, but I guess all Marie can do is stop them in their tracks for a bit.”

  “But…but this is so unreal…”

  “Mm-hmm. I hear you there. But there she is. Besides, we’re kind of similar, you and I. Ignoring whatever science is behind it for the moment, some people have some pretty weird abilities. You know that by now, right?”

  “Y-yeah, I guess, but…”

  “—Do you hate her?”

  “…Huh?”

  “Now that you know she might not be human, does that make you hate her?”

  “…No. I’m hoping I can be her friend…!”

  “…Great. In that case, don’t think about it for now. We’ll tell you about it sometime later. You can tell us about yourself, too, if you’d like.”

  “O-okay…!”

  “I…I’m ready, but…”

  Marie poked her face out the door she’d entered before.

  But she refused to go out any farther, an embarrassed look on her face.

  “What’s the problem? Let’s go.”

  “A-all right…”

  Marie opened the door and left her room, revealing…nothing out of the ordinary.

  The socks that Kano couldn’t resist making fun of were plain, old, normal white socks.

  “Huh? Is there something…odd with those socks at all?”

  “Nah, those are normal. But the ones she came out wearing earlier were those real loose, baggy socks.”

  “Those socks…?!”

  I tried to imagine matching her current outfit with the long, baggy socks popular back in the nineties. It would have been…unusual.

  Marie, her face reddened, stormed up to Kido.

  “W-why did you say that?! I put on normal ones this time…!”

  “Mm? Sorry. She asked, so…Those oughta be just fine.”

  “B-but…!”

  Marie’s eyes darted around the room. She had to have been hurt by her friends picking on her all day.

  But what could have driven her to try on socks like those…?

  “I mean, I…I saw them in your magazine, Kano…”

  “His magazine…? You mean this?”

  Picking up the magazine Kano was reading earlier, I was greeted by the sight of young women dressed in outfits that were all but parodies of street fashion a few decades ago. The headline above them read KICKIN’ IT OLD-SCHOOL! NOSTALGIA FASHION BLOWOUT!

  “It was really cool, so I…I just…”

  There was some real retro fashion sense in this modern-day Medusa’s mind.

  “I spent all that time knitting them, too…”

  Oh, man, and they were even homemade.

  Making our way through the tight path to the main street, we were greeted by the usual hustle and bustle of city life.

  We could see the restaurants that lined the opposite side of the road, all filled to the brim with families and large groups of customers.

  I didn’t think I would be back here right after attracting that mob of onlookers, but everything was completely different from before.

  I wasn’t hiding, I wasn’t wearing a disguise, and yet not only was a crowd not forming around me—nobody even spoke to me. Pedestrians didn’t so much as bat an eye as they went past, eyes forward, walking in a straight line.

  “This…This is so novel.”

  “Yep. I’ll bet. Not so much to me, though. But when the hell is Kano going to notice us?”

  Kano, walking a little ahead on the sidewalk, suddenly turned around.

  He strained his eyes, as if searching for a contact lens on the ground. A moment later he confidently strode toward us, a look of recognition finally crossing his face.

  “Yeah, you guys are perfect. I mean, I had to, like, seriously look for you.”

  “Sure took you long enough.”<
br />
  Kido sighed, as if stood up for a date.

  “Hey, what do you want me to do about it? I couldn’t see you.”

  The smile remained firmly planted on his face as he grumbled.

  “Wow…You really couldn’t. It’s like we’re totally invisible…”

  “Nah, it’s not like that. It’s like…I dunno, I can see you, but I can’t will myself to notice you? That sort of thing. Pretty unnerving when you’re on the receiving end of it.”

  The way Kido described it, she could erase the “presence” of anything she wanted within a two-to-three meter radius.

  She couldn’t literally make us invisible, however, so everything remained seemingly normal from our perspectives.

  “Wow…! Can I try finding you, too?”

  “What’re you, crazy? If you left my side, you’d be right back where you started…Come on, Marie, you’re too close to me! Gimme some space!”

  Kido wrested Marie away, keeping her from nervously clutching the bottom of her jacket.

  “So…soooooooo many people…”

  “Well, yeah. We’re on a busy street. Anyway, everything’s okay, I guess. On with the mission.”

  “O-okay!”

  Hearing her put it that way made it feel like we really were on some secret infiltration mission. I was starting to get a little excited.

  Of course, the mission—to sign up for a new phone and buy some teacups—wasn’t exactly black-ops material.

  Kido and Kano led the way as we began to walk down the wide street. It was like another world.

  I was walking freely, completely unobstructed. It was like watching a movie, except this one was being shown 360 degrees around me.

  Nobody around us seemed to notice our presence, and I almost had to be careful not to bump right into them. The sensation of seemingly turning invisible gave me a sense of profound relief like nothing before in my life.

  The road we walked along was laden with fast-moving traffic, something that did distress me a little. Concerned, I looked down at Marie, walking side-by-side with me. She was white as a sheet. I hadn’t noticed until now, but I could hear her deep in the midst of her “It’s okay…it’s okay…” incantation.