CHAPTER 8: ABSENCE MAKES THE HEART GROW CONFUSED
Saying that it was unseasonably cold for the time of year would've been a stretch. Second quarter was coming to an end — as evidenced by Kyoko's impending final exams — and spring was still only a hope. It was only unseasonably cold in the respect that Kyoko wished it could be so she could complain about the way the strong breeze threatened to freeze the current frown on her face and have it stay that way until the warmer temperatures arrived to thaw it out. She had to admit however, that Ren's scarf was astonishingly warm and she felt less conflicted about using it the further she buried her face into the soft fabric to ward off the chill.
He had yet to call her that morning and she assumed he was probably busy. Still, she figured he would have at least tried to get in touch with her as soon as he realized the spell wasn't effective. Then again, it was the weekend and he, most likely, was not needed at the coven.
"He's probably still sleeping," she grumbled, mostly out of envy.
She continued to grumble loudly all the way to work and, when she arrived at the shop, her friend ("I'm your boss first," she'd always complain) gave her a bemused look. Not bothering to dignify her with an explanation, Kyoko stormed across the room and threw her coat, purse and that damnable scarf into the closet behind the counter. With a huff, she took a seat at the counter.
Kanae opened her mouth, but Kyoko's glare quickly snapped it shut.
"I don't want to talk about it," she growled. "I'd rather not even think about it if I could and I certainly don't want to hear whatever cheeky comments I'm sure you have saved up."
"Bad day?"
"You could say that."
Kanae watched her for a few moments and Kyoko just knew she was tempted to ask what pea got under her hundred mattresses and feather beds causing her to be in such a bad mood. She could almost hear the question without her even speaking it. Common sense prevailed, however, and nothing else was said save for a few instructions to move some stock from the back room to one of the displays near the front window. Kyoko could work with that. The more she had to do, the more she was distracted from her thoughts.
She could feel Kanae's eyes on her the entire time she worked and pointedly ignored it, instead focusing on meticulously dusting each bottle, jar and box on the shelves of the store. As much as she wanted to vent to someone about it, she was more of the mind that there was one person in particular she had to discuss it with first.
And he still hadn't called her.
Did he think he was doing her a favor? She figured he would have been over the moon the moment he realized it hadn't worked. Then again, perhaps he was but, knowing her thoughts on the matter, he was avoiding rubbing it in her face. He knew better than to push her. A soft sigh escaped her lips and she twirled the feather duster a bit more vigorously over the surface of the shelf in front of her. Damn him for being so considerate. He was probably giving her time to process so they could regroup and figure out what their next course of action should be.
She was reluctant to admit it, but it was true; he was being a responsible adult while she was being an ill-tempered child.
Still, the self-indulgent sulking felt good and she allowed herself to have at least that day to wallow in it. Tomorrow she could suck it up and formulate a plan, with Ren's help of course. Now that they both knew Maria Takarada not only remembered Ren, but thought highly of him, maybe they had her help too. But, those were thoughts for another day.
Back to sulking. And dusting.
The only redeeming part about having to work at the shop on the weekends was that it closed earlier than it did during the week. When they had locked the front door and dimmed the lights, Kyoko was still revelling in her brooding, though it had waned some over the past few hours. Bundled once again in her thick outerwear, she wrapped the scarf around her face. The soft fabric embraced her with warmth and she breathed in the traces of Ren that still clung between the woven fibers. It tickled at her lips and instantly conjured the memory of the night before and their farewell.
With a hiss, Kyoko ripped the scarf completely off her head and slammed it on the countertop.
"Hey, whoa! No need to treat my counter like that," Kanae warned from beside her. "Also, that scarf looks like it's expensive, you probably shouldn't treat that so harshly either."
"It's not mine so I really don't care."
"Oh? Who'd you steal it from?"
"I didn't steal it," she shook her head. "Ren left it in my apartment two nights ago."
"Ren who?"
Kyoko narrowed her eyes at her friend.
"Very funny, Kanae."
"I'm not joking," she said it in such a way that Kyoko was forced to believe her. "Now, tell me about your newest fling."
"He's not a fling. We aren't even together! How do you not remember any of this? I've been going to Vandersud every day for the past week!"
Her hands were waving frantically a she spoke, eliciting a peal of laughter from Kanae who followed it up with a number of delirious giggles. Kyoko stared at her like she had grown a second head.
"I think you're the one who's joking, Kyoko. You've been here with me all week except for when you were in class."
Her mouth hung open at this and she stood still for a moment before digging into the purse that hung at her side. Rummaging around the bottom, she found the lanyard containing her school identification. She knew that she had tucked the temporary pass she'd been issued from Vandersud behind it. Kyoko held up the lanyard proudly, displaying it to Kanae before pushing two fingers into the back of the protective sleeve that held her identification card to remove the item behind it. Squinting in the low light, she struggled to get a good look at it and had to bring it much closer to her face for inspection.
It was a coupon.
An expired coupon.
For a cereal she didn't even like.
Kanae leaned forward to get a better look at the slip of paper before straightening back up, doubt clearly evident in her expression.
"Were you going to bribe me into believing you with an expired coupon?"
"I-I can explain."
"Can you?"
Kyoko hesitated for a long, agonizing moment. Could she explain why Kanae had no memory of the ordeal she'd relentlessly teased her about the entire week before? She could probably try, she reasoned. The spell must have done something, obviously, but the extent of its effect she didn't know. If she was honest, she was also a little scared of finding out. So, she shook her head.
"No, I don't think I can."
"How about we get something to eat instead?" she offered, her voice gentle. "You've been out of it all day. I thought it was just because you were grouchy about something."
"That's because I was."
"And what about now?"
Kyoko's nose wrinkled in thought.
"I'm… confused?"
"Maybe you were confused the entire time and that's what made you grumpy."
Kyoko was still in a daze from seeing the physical evidence of her previous week turned into a useless slip of paper. It was even dog-eared and wrinkled like it had been there for a considerable amount of time. All she could do in that moment was give an unsure nod.
"Maybe."
She let Kanae take the scarf still trapped under her splayed hand and fold it into a small bundle before silently ushering her out of the shop with a hand against her back. They continued like that the entire way to their favorite restaurant, Kyoko completely oblivious to the biting cold against her unprotected nose and mouth.
Later, a steaming hot bowl of soup was placed in front of her that she didn't remember ordering. For that matter, she didn't remember sitting at the table with Kanae in the first place. She eyed the vegetables floating in the murky, golden broth as if they would suddenly grow faces and begin teasing her. Dipping her spoon into the bowl, she quickly began to eat just so they wouldn't have the chance to do so.
Kyoko had a lot to process. What's more, she had a lot investigating to do to figure out what — and who — else had been affected by the spell.
Her brain was exhausted just from thinking about it.
Kanae kept watching her, the desire to ask more questions clearly evident on her face. To her credit, however, she kept quiet. Kyoko was glad that she understood her need to keep her thoughts to herself for the time being. Either that or her own expression was threatening enough to prevent it. Well, she got the desired effect either way.
They ate mostly in silence, peppered here and there with short conversations about nonessentials. The shop was doing well and Kanae was considering expanding, but nothing any time soon. Kyoko's classes were going fine, as far as she knew. She couldn't be completely sure since she had no idea of what transpired in Kanae's version of last week. Of course, it would take nothing short of a drastic personality change for Kyoko to encounter any difficulties in her studies. Then again, she could think of someone who had gone through a drastic personality change in the past week, at least to her remembrance. And he still had yet to call her.
Just where the hell was he?!
A tiny thought was born in that moment, springing forth from the depths of her mind and bounding around awkwardly like a foal still adjusting to its own legs. Upon acknowledging said thought, the spoonful of soup she'd just fed herself turned to ash in her mouth. It was remarkably pessimistic, this thought, and one that was classically Kyoko in nuance. Thus, she started up a new round of meaningless discourse with Kanae, if only to divert her attention away from it.
Because, it just couldn't be possible.
Could it?
"I can tell that something big is bothering you," Kanae's voice broke through the haze of her thoughts. "You know that I'll listen to you about whatever it is."
"I know. I, uh…"
"You're not quite there yet, are you," Kanae finished for her and she nodded in agreement.
"It's a lot more complicated than I thought. Until I put more pieces together I don't think I could explain it very well anyway."
Ah, yes, that was about as specific as pointing out a single blade of grass in a giant field. Well done, Kyoko.
"You look like you're itching to find one of those missing pieces," Kanae shooed her with a wave of her hand. "Go do what you need to and I'll take care of the check."
Kyoko put a hand on her chest and her lips curled into a grateful smile.
"Aw, that's so nice of you! You're the best friend, a girl could ask for."
"Don't worry, I'll be taking your half out of your check."
"And that's the boss I know and love." Kyoko rolled her eyes.
Kanae laughed and wished her good night, before motioning again for her to leave.
As much as Kyoko wanted to go, she was equally as reluctant. Stepping outside the restaurant, she idled on the sidewalk for a moment, considering her next move. The feel of the scarf wrapped once more around her face told her that she should at least try to contact Ren. However, she was having a hard time summoning the courage to make her legs actually propel her anywhere closer to the Vandersud coven.
Settling for the path of least resistance, she reached into one of her coat pockets for her phone. Now that the sun had set, it was too cold to remove her gloves, so she lazily used her nose to enter her passcode before navigating to her list of most recently called numbers. It didn't show up in the first ten numbers, so she scrolled down with her nose and looked again.
Still nothing.
A huff of irritation was muffled by the scarf as she pulled off one of her gloves, tucking it halfway into her pocket before navigating to her contacts. She quickly typed his name into the search bar, her fingers moving as quickly as possible so she could make the call and return them to the cozy warmth of their glove. The spinning blue circle on the screen rotated a total of three times before disappearing to reveal a blank screen.
No entries found.
The unfortunate thought that her mind had previously conceived now galloped around her head like a confident yearling. If she were honest, the fact that her temporary pass had transformed into a coupon should have generated that thought much sooner. But, she was stubborn then. To be more precise, she was still stubborn now.
At last, her legs found the motivation to move and she half walked, half scurried over to Vandersud.
Covens were, thankfully, open quite late due to their members needing access to resources at random times during the day and this one was no exception. Jogging up the stone steps, Kyoko turned the knob and pushed in the front door with a bit too much force, nearling falling into the reception area before catching herself at the last moment. Using the momentum to stumble her way over to the front desk, she ignored the strange looks sent her way by both the receptionist and the fair-haired man who was on his way out of the same door through which she entered.
"May I help you?"
Kyoko swallowed, still catching her breath from the brisk walk.
"Yes, I'd like to speak to Ren Tsuruga if he's available."
The receptionist's face crumpled with bewilderment.
"I'm sorry, but we don't have anyone here by that name.
"What? But he's—"
She choked on the remainder of her sentence when she looked up at the large placard on the wall behind her. The one she'd seen many times in the past week. It listed the names of those coven members who held executive positions, the coven head, assistant head and trustees included. His name was nowhere to be found. In fact, right where Ren's name had been engraved into the brass plate under Coven Head just the night before was the name of someone else.
Yukihito Yashiro.
A quick apology was mumbled and she provided the quickest excuse her addled brain could create; that she had been given inaccurate information. Refusing to look the receptionist in the eye any longer, she lowered her head in a clumsy nod and quickly turned back towards the door. She was on the front steps of the coven before she could even blink.
It was so much worse than she'd imagined. Her arrogance had convinced her that she was the only one the spell had not worked on and everyone else's memories were effectively wiped, Ren's included. During her walk to the coven, she had almost convinced herself that, if such was the case, it probably wasn't a bad thing and she could learn to adjust to having a week of her life being completely rewritten. Now, she had a much more dangerous and terrifying theory. They hadn't just wiped out a series of memories.
They'd wiped out someone's entire existence.
Kyoko knew she should go back to her apartment, but the thought of being alone with this was seeming less and less preferable by the second. She reached into her coat again for her phone and dialled the top number on her recently called list. The person on the other end picked up after five rings.
"Kyoko?"
She took a deep breath, squeezing her eyes shut tightly and desperately trying to will away the quaver she knew would be in her voice.
"I think I'm ready to talk to someone about it now."
I ONLY WISH I COULD SEE YOUR FACES RIGHT NOW. You'll just have to describe it to me in a review.
AUTHOR OUT!
