Chapter 23: Someday My Prince Will Come
Strictly speaking, he had no idea which direction to go, but he was banking on this extra-contrary version of Ren to take the lead.
"This way," the shadow scoffed almost immediately, pointing the opposite direction.
They followed the Shadow down a pleasant, tree-lined street. The shade was helpful, but the sun was now high in the sky and the temperature kept rising. The omnipresent TVs had started showing cartoon thermometers with mercury bursting out the top.
After a block or two, Goro said quietly, "Don't all look at once, but there's a van with a taxi sign behind us. It'll pass and turn right at the cross street ahead. Then it'll go around the block and come back around from behind."
They all watched as the van passed them and turned at the cross street.
"What do we do?" Sae asked.
Goro, who had gotten a look at the driver this time around, said, "No screwing around. We don't have time. You all just stay put."
When the van came around from behind, Goro stepped out into the road in front of it.
Eyes wide, Togo asked the rest of the group, "Is he always this…er, direct?"
"No. Sometimes he's worse," said Takamaki, shaking her head.
When the van got close enough, it signaled and pulled to the side of the road. If a van could be considered polite, this one was.
"Takuto?" Sae exclaimed, hurrying over to join Goro at the van's side. The others followed, with Shadow Ren ambling over more slowly.
"What are you doing here, Maruki?" Goro demanded.
"Don't get upset. I'm not here to interfere with your rescue. I just wanted to see for myself what's going on here," explained Dr. Maruki, through the driver's side window of the van.
"I thought you were going to the press conference with Makoto," said Sae.
"The more I thought about it, the more I felt like the data I need is here," said Maruki. "So I borrowed this van from one of my former colleagues at the taxi company, and here I am."
"Did you find anything out?"
"Not yet, but there's a lot to dig into here. As I'm sure you've all noticed." Maruki looked past Sae and eyed Shadow Ren.
"Fine, whatever. Just stay out of our way," Goro snapped.
"Like I said, I'm not here to interfere. I could give you a ride, though," Maruki suggested.
"I'd like that," said Suzui. At the same time, Goro said, "We don't need anything from you!"
Suzui looked distressed and Goro immediately felt that he'd made a mistake.
With effort, he said, "Actually…if you would be willing to drive us, that would be…nice."
"I'd be more than happy to," said Maruki. He hit a button and the van's side door slid open.
"Okay, all you Damn Brats get in the van," Goro ordered.
"You're enjoying that too much," said Togo primly.
Maruki shot Sae a questioning look as she got in beside him, but she just turned her palms up and shook her head.
Suzui, Takamaki, and Togo took seats in the back row, leaving the middle open. As Shadow Ren entered, Maruki said, "Oh — ah, no smoking in the van, please. It's impossible to get the smell out."
Shadow Ren flicked the cigarette carelessly out the door. Goro got in after him.
When the van started rolling, Shadow Ren stretched out an arm and put it around Goro. "Hey. Anybody got a problem with us?" said the Shadow loudly, pointing at the two of them.
All eyes turned toward them. Goro felt a stab of anxiety as nobody said anything. Briefly, Goro considered playing it off as a hallucination of this Shadow creature. But in truth, he wanted to know how his teammates would react, even if this wasn't the way he would have chosen.
Shadow Ren turned around and eyed the girls in the back seat suspiciously.
"Don't look at us. We ship it," said Suzui, shrugging. Takamaki nodded and formed her hands into a heart.
"But this Ren isn't…oh, never mind," said Togo, shaking her head. "I suppose it doesn't matter right now."
"Ohhh," said Sae. Then, "I knew it!"
"Come on, how could you have known?" Goro argued. Was this a surprise to no one? Did he not have credibility as a chick magnet, despite never being seen with a date? He felt indignant in spite of himself.
"I saw Ren kiss you when you were asleep once. That first time I was in the Metaverse. I thought I dreamed it," Sae explained.
"What about you, Straightedge?" Shadow Ren called up to Maruki.
"Me? Does he mean me?" Maruki asked Sae in surprise. "Of course I don't mind. I had the opportunity to change both your cognitions, after all."
"There you have it," said Goro.
"Huh. Your friends are surprisingly cool," said Shadow Ren, sounding a little disappointed.
"What, you think I'd hang around with losers? Don't let it rattle you."
The Shadow scoffed, but didn't take his arm away. Goro smiled to himself and decided to let him leave it there, just for now.
They continued toward Ren's house. The closer they got, the more detailed and realistic everything looked. The number of TVs and radios also increased, with sets in every window, sitting atop fences, on patio furniture, sticking out of mailboxes, and even wedged in between tree branches. Even with the windows rolled up, they could still hear the noise getting louder and louder. In the driver's seat, Maruki turned up the volume on the van stereo, which was playing a CD of classical music. Not Goro's first choice, but he'd take it over the sound of electronic chatter any day.
Shadow Ren directed them for a few blocks, where they came to a stop in front of a standard two-story home. It sat on a modest lot surrounded by a brick wall, similar to homes all over Japan. They could see a clothesline filled with clothes over the top of the wall. No doubt there would be a small lawn and garden inside, perhaps some patio furniture or a birdbath.
All the windows were open and the curtains fluttering in the breeze. All except one, on the second floor. Goro noted the window as he pressed the doorbell.
As the doorbell chime faded, the door opened and there was Ren. He looked the same as ever, except that his hair was trimmed and combed back neatly and the lenses in his usual glasses were tinted a dark brown. Interesting that they're hiding their eyes now, Goro thought, but he didn't have time to dwell on it.
"Hi…everybody," Ren said cheerfully, looking confused. "What are you all doing here?"
"I planned to come next week, but then…I got restless," said Goro, sidestepping the question of why the others were there. "Can we come in?"
A woman appeared over Ren's shoulder. "Oh my! Are these your friends from Tokyo?" she asked.
Ren nodded and introduced them to his mother. "This is Ann Takamaki from Shujin…Hifumi Togo, an up-and-coming shogi player…and of course you know Goro Akechi."
"Of course I know Akechi-kun from the TV. And Hifumi-chan too! Who could have imagined my son would meet celebrities in Tokyo?" She sounded delighted.
"The honor is all ours, ma'am. Your son is a special individual," said Goro, flashing his TV smile. Mrs. Amamiya's cheeks colored a little.
The girls murmured their assent. Ren dug his toe into the floor, looking embarrassed.
Mrs. Amamiya looked curiously at Dr. Maruki, Suzui, and Sae, but Ren made no move to introduce them. "Well…if you're Ren-kun's friends, you're welcome here," she said, stepping aside to let them in.
They spread out throughout the living room. Goro noticed that the "bad" Ren they'd brought along had disappeared, leaving just the lingering scent of cigarettes on Goro's collar; another piece of evidence for Togo's theory that the Ren Shadows had territories.
Sae, all business, got right to the point. "Ren-kun, why don't you take off those glasses and we can talk about why we're here?"
"Glasses?" said Ren blankly.
Goro rolled his eyes upward. These creatures were getting tiresome, and from the sighs he heard around the room, he wasn't the only one who thought so.
"Ah…what is it that brings you to our little town, if you don't mind my asking?" said Mrs. Amamiya.
"We're here to bring Ren-kun home to Tokyo," said Sae. "He has a place to stay, with Sakura-san, and he can come back to Shujin, just like before."
Mrs. Amamiya's face fell. Ren stepped over and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Looking around at the group, he said, "Oh, wow…well…how can I put this? I am home. I'm fine here. No need to go anywhere. Ever." He smiled radiantly, as if he were the happiest person in the world.
Mrs. Amamiya brightened up. "Of course, darling. If that's settled, then I suppose you want to spend a little time with your guests before they go. I'll get some refreshments." She bustled off to the kitchen.
"Where's Morgana?" Takamaki asked suddenly. "I'm surprised he's not around. You two are practically inseparable."
Ren laughed. "My cat? He's probably napping under a bush outside." He lowered his voice and added with mock-seriousness, "The cat just thinks he's the brains of the outfit, you know? We can probably get along without him this once."
"Morgana, where are you…?" Takamaki murmured, looking worried.
Goro didn't want to get sidetracked, so he suggested, "Let's set that aside for now. We, uh, haven't gotten a chance to see your lovely home. Show us everything."
"Oh. Um…okay, sure. I'll give you the hundred-yen tour."
He led them to the kitchen, explaining to his mother that he was showing his friends around. Concern briefly shadowed her face, but Ren was able to smooth things over. He avoided taking them upstairs, and before Goro could steer him back that way, they found themselves out in the garage, meeting Ren's father.
Mr. Amamiya was working on some sort of woodworking project, while listening to the radio. Shelves along the walls were lined with them, playing various talk shows in a cacophony of overlapping voices. Ren's father didn't seem at all bothered by it. He looked up and took off a pair of safety goggles to get a better look at them.
Suddenly, the leather-jacketed Ren was back, slinging an arm around Goro. "Hey, pops. I wanted you to meet my boyfriend, Goro Akechi."
Mr. Amamiya shook his head. "I knew it," he said scornfully.
"Where'd the other one go? He's gone!" said Takamaki. She looked around for the clean-cut Ren, but he was nowhere to be seen.
Goro expected Ren to ignore the reference to the other one, but the Shadow surprised him. "There's no other me. This is how I am. Accept it or get lost."
"You're against everything this country stands for," said Mr. Amamiya.
"This country is bullshit!" said the Shadow, finally getting the fight he'd been looking for.
"If you could put a pin in that for just a second," said Goro, stepping in between them, "we were hoping to see the room with the closed window upstairs. Can you show us that?"
Shadow Ren frowned at him. "The storage room? What do you want to see that for?"
"Forget it! All of you damn brats can get out of here! Including you," said Mr. Amamiya to Ren.
"Make me, old man!" Shadow Ren retorted.
"You ungrateful -!"
"We probably don't need to stick around for this. He's just arguing with himself. Let's regroup for a minute," said Goro, waving them out of the garage. They found a patio with a furniture set where they could sit down under the shade of a large umbrella. Togo spotted a cup full of folded fans and offered them around. Soon, they were all trying to wave away the heavy summer air.
"This place is so weird. Like…the weirdest," said Suzui. Takamaki nodded fervently.
"That sums up the lay opinion," said Goro to Maruki. "What's your professional take?"
Pushing his glasses up, Maruki said, "It's obvious that none of the Rens we've seen are the real one. He couldn't possibly be everywhere at once; I know that from experience. And it would take an extraordinary amount of power for someone to control them all, so we can assume that these are cognitions. Finally, nobody would expect to see more than one Ren at a time, so that's why they don't overlap."
Goro nodded. "That's what I've surmised as well. What do you think about the Ren twins here at his home?"
"I could write a whole thesis on just that, but in short…I think it's interesting that his mother's version can do no wrong, and his father's version is just the opposite."
"Neither one of them is anything like the real one," said Sae. "That seems…worrying."
They all nodded in agreement. So far, this all aligned with what Goro himself had put together. "How about the radios and TVs?" he said.
Togo piped up, "Did anyone else notice that the Shadows only started wearing sunglasses after Ann said we could identify them by their eyes? I think…." She trailed off self-consciously.
"Go ahead. I doubt if you can out-crazy this town, Togo," Goro encouraged her.
"I think the radios are listening to us. And the TVs may be watching too."
Takamaki and Suzui looked shocked, but Goro nodded. "That hadn't occurred to me, but now that you say it, I think it makes sense. As much as anything makes sense here."
"But who is watching?" said Sae. "You aren't suggesting that the radios have a will of their own, are you?"
"No," said Goro. "I think something larger is going on than we know. Ren-kun is tied in somehow, but that's all I can say for sure."
"Agreed," said Maruki. "So where do you think the real Ren is?"
Goro pointed out the window he'd noticed on the way in. "There. Everybody in this house keeps directing us away from the stairs, and I think it's because the real Ren is in that room."
Takamaki looked exasperated. "You could've told us that before!"
"I wasn't completely sure. Of course, there was no way all the Rens we saw around town could have been him, but it wasn't clear to me which one was the real one. Until we got here…then I started to suspect that none of them were the real one."
Just then, the well-groomed Ren came out with Mrs. Amamiya, carrying a tray of drinks and snacks. He kissed her on the cheek and she went back into the house, looking pleased.
Ren busied himself passing out the snacks. Goro pointed again at the window and said, "I was just wondering what's up there."
Without looking, Ren said, "Nothing. Just storage." He seemed entirely sincere, nothing betraying even a hint of untruth.
Goro took a soda bottle and popped the top off. It was icy cold and fizzy, if a little sweet for his tastes. He slugged down half of it in one shot.
"Good?" asked Ren, looking slightly disgusted.
"Great. Now how about you show us what's in that storage room?"
"It's just…" Ren faltered. "Uh, sheets and stuff."
"Fascinating. Let's see," said Goro flatly.
Looking confused and uncomfortable, Ren led them upstairs. He kept trying to convince them it was a bad idea. At one point, he slowed down, stopped, and turned around, acting surprised that they were all following him. Maybe he really was surprised. What he wasn't, Goro was sure, was Ren.
Eventually, they made it to a door that Goro judged was the right one, based on the location of the closed window.
"That's it, right?" asked Ren nervously. "We can go back down now?"
Goro gave him a big, bright smile. "Sure thing. You go ahead, we'll be right behind you."
Ren broke out into a relieved grin and jogged back down the hall. The girls stared after him as Goro tried the doorknob. Locked from the inside.
Goro had considered this and prepared accordingly. Modern interior doorknobs were usually fitted with a way to get them open, in case of emergencies or mischievous children. He took a tiny screwdriver from his pocket, slipped it into the hole in the knob and turned it. The lock opened with a click.
"Why…why do you suppose he's in here?" asked Suzui.
Goro had some ideas that he didn't particularly want to share. Instead, he flicked his eyes at Maruki, who took his cue.
"He may be hiding his true self, which would be an unfortunate regression for him…but it does seem like the most likely possibility," said Maruki.
"I've shut myself in my room to concentrate," Togo suggested.
"Or to cry," said Takamaki glumly.
"It may feel invasive, but regardless of his reasons, I think we have a duty to find out how Ren is doing — from Ren himself," said Sae.
They all agreed on that. Goro pushed the door, but it didn't swing inward. Odd. He pulled instead and the door swung outward to reveal a huge jukebox, completely filling the doorframe so not even a crack was left open.
"What the heck is this?" demanded Takamaki, saying what they were all thinking. She banged on it with her fist, but nothing happened.
"It's supposed to play music, right?" said Togo, running a hand over the neon lights. "Why is every radio in town playing, but not this?"
"None of the radios here play music," said Suzui. "Not that I heard, anyway. It's nothing but talk."
"Of course not. Music has structure and consistency. Even if you don't know English, everybody knows what 'My Way' sounds like," Goro murmured, peering at the song selections through the little window on the jukebox's front.
"I don't know what 'My Way' sounds like," said Suzui offhandedly.
"Just hang out in a karaoke bar for a few hours, you'll hear it," said Sae.
"Do you suppose they sing that song all the time in America, too?" asked Suzui.
"Not so much anymore, but you can get a good sing-along going with 'Sweet Caroline,'" said Maruki.
"There's got to be a song like that in Japan," said Takamaki. "Something everyone knows."
"'Oyoge, Taiyaki-kun'?" suggested Togo.
There were mixed groans and laughs around the group. Suzui and Takamaki immediately began singing the tune about a fish-shaped cake that escapes into the ocean only to be caught and eaten after all.
Goro tuned them out and focused on his phone. He flipped back to check his note about the song titles. Looking again at the jukebox's catalog, he saw that all of the songs Ren sent were available.
He broke out in an excited grin and started punching in the selections. He already knew the right order. A simple puzzle, practically child's play. But when he got to number five — "If My Friends Could See Me Now," perfect — nothing happened. The music didn't even start playing.
There was a digital screen above the song catalog. Goro saw his selections there, numbered one through five…and there was a space. The jukebox wanted a sixth song.
He was at a loss. There were only five! It can't end at this stupid puzzle!
Silently panicking, he pulled out his phone and tapped it as if he were checking something. He was just pretending that he knew what he was doing, covering while he came up with something to tell the team. After some frantic tapping, he wound up in his text log and saw the song he'd sent back to Ren: "Someday My Prince Will Come." He'd forgotten all about that.
He found the song in the catalog, but some instinct made him pause. He thought back to the Palaces he'd encountered in the Metaverse. They were like this town, mazes guarding a treasure in the center. But if Ren is the ruler, he can't also be the treasure…then who is guarding him? And from what…? His brain churned as his finger hovered over the buttons.
"Goro-kun, did you think of something?" Sae asked.
Her well-intentioned question broke his train of thought, and it was gone. Well, they could sort it out after they rescued Ren.
"No…sorry." He finished punching in the code, and the jukebox slid aside.