Jamais Vu
Chapter II
Murakumo Stellarum- that’s what I had him listed as in my phone. We had agreed upon a set time for our meeting, but I was too scared to ask for a picture to make sure I had the right person. I didn’t want to come off weird to the kid I didn’t even know yet. Besides, it’s not like I knew who anyone else looked like in this town anyway. He could be someone I walked by every day and I wouldn’t have an inkling of who he was.
I hadn’t gone out of my way to make friends in Vallis. It was a strange thought on the back burner day after day. If I didn’t start now, would I ever make friends? Would I find solace in the routine I had, realizing how peaceful it was?
Cyk was my friend since he was consistently at the arcade every time I went. It wasn’t like I was forcing myself to hang out with Cyk. Cyk wasn’t forcing himself to hang out with me. If we worked together it was just another sign that I was where I was supposed to be in the universe. Murakumo though?
I walked in circles around the fountain outside the library waiting for the boy to show up. Our meeting place was a bit too public for my taste, but if he truly couldn’t see very well maybe it was better we weren’t downtown where the streets were packed and the sidewalks uneven. I was undoubtedly early, but this was business so it’d look bad if I showed up on time.
I felt like a fish out of water as people waited for the bus with their backpacks and blazers on. If I boarded one, where would they take me? Would they ask me for my student ID so I didn’t have to pay the bus fare? I imagined myself clad in a school uniform staying on until the last stop, disembarking to one of the dorms and losing myself trying to find one my keycard worked on.
I felt a tap on my shoulder before turning around to see a boy in a neon green hat. Was I standing in front of his stop? I instinctively went to apologize, but the words refused to leave my mouth as I gave him a once over. Our gazes didn’t meet.
“V-void?” His voice quivered, his shoulders arched up as he held his hand out. He brushed his fingers gently across my sleeve before asking again.
I might as well say I’m not Void at this point and leave him hanging. I might as well block his number and go home.
He continued to look down. “Cyk’s friend?”
“That’s me.” There was a short bout of silence before I grabbed his arm and put it down next to him. “How about we find out where he is?”
It was less of a question and more of a command as he trailed behind me, stopping promptly when I did. The last thing I wanted was for him to accidentally step on the back of my shoe and give me a flat tire. I tested this for a few streets and he walked rather robotically but stopped just short enough of taking my shoe with him. My thoughts were racing already.
I didn’t look back at him too much- I didn’t want me checking him out to be a dead giveaway that this wasn’t just a casual interaction. He’d reach out his hand at crosswalks and I strung him along without a word.
This is Cyk’s friend? The one he talks about bending over backwards for all the time? There had to be more to it. Apart from having black hair the same length as mine, he looked undoubtedly average and wore a mishmash of clothing that didn’t do him any justice.
In a way I was jealous- I found my brain swirling with thoughts of them smiling and getting along better than we did, but I knew it was irrational since Cyk and I were definitely bona-fide friends. It’s not like I was a bother to him and had anything to worry about, or at least I convinced myself that. Maybe I wasn’t ready for this. Maybe for once in my life, I should have said no. I imagined it already in Murakumo’s high pitched voice- Void, our fates our inevitably intertwined as well!
Murakumo and I walked towards the mall. I knew Cyk was sitting behind the counter of the arcade he worked at either flipping through the pages of a magazine or sleeping with his glasses on that were tinted just enough that you couldn’t see his eyes were closed. It was three in the afternoon- his shift either just started or he was about to leave for the day and take a seat at the food court outside the wing place waiting for the usual order of nine wings with blue cheese on the side.
To say I knew Cyk’s schedule was an understatement, but we did agree on one thing. No matter the outcome of me agreeing to work with Murakumo or not, I would bring him back when I made up my mind.
“So, Murakumo is it?” I spoke to him as we waited. “What a pretty name.”
“Thank you,” He half-smiled, but I didn’t get a good look at the rest of his face. “I’ve never met a Void before.”
“Me neither.” I laughed. “So, what do you do in your free time?”
“I like listening to music and telling stories,” He smiled, keeping his head down. “Cyk and I hang out a lot and do those two things.”
“Cyk always mentions you. Are you best friends?”
“You could say that,” He gestured in the wrong direction, but I didn’t bother to correct him. “What about you?”
“I just moved here and lucky for you, I like writing stories.” I said, struggling to continue the conversation as my eyes darted around the place for Cyk. “We can be friends too.”
Murakumo squeezed my hands as we made our way down the steps to the arcade in the lower level of the mall, a smile spreading across his face as he tilted his head up at the sound of ambient noise.
At that very moment, I realized Murakumo didn’t have eyes.
I thanked the lord that he couldn’t see my reaction. I felt my own eyes widen and a blush spread across my face out of shock. What was I even looking at? His face was a blank canvas apart from a nose and barely expressive mouth. He felt me stop walking, because he did the same. He tilted his head back and opened his mouth ever so slowly.
“You’ll get used to it.”
It was as if he had read my mind and I didn’t like it one bit. Maybe this happened to him so much it was just a thing he said, but I didn’t know how to handle it.
“M-murakumo?” I managed to stammer. “We made it.”
I wanted to fall to my knees and say this was all a delusion, but he lacked eyes. There was flesh covering the sockets, ghostly pale flesh at that. I wanted to touch it, but I tried to steer my thoughts clear of the action so he didn’t offer. My luck he would.
“Yo, Void!” Cyk called out to me in a bright purple vest and teal shirt. “I see you two really hit it off, huh?”
I gazed at him with a flat expression as Murakumo found his way over to the glass counter, leaning across it until Cyk gave him a high-five. The neon lights of the games did nothing to hide the look of shock I carried with me, and I fiddled around with my phone before Cyk gestured for me to join both of them in the corner behind the prize counter. It’s not like anyone else was there so early in the afternoon, so I didn’t mind stepping behind it and pretending I was a part-time employee handing out prizes.
“This really is the Murakumo you talk about oh-so-much?” I tried to play it cool, but I knew he could read me like an open book.
“You bet,” He smiled at me as he looked over his glasses. “Wat’cha think?”
“I think Murakumo has some stories to tell and we’re going to write them together, isn’t that so?” Murakumo nodded and smiled at me.
“Now you keep watch up here and call me if you need anything, alright?” Cyk mentioned to Murakumo, pulling him over to the camping chair behind the counter and handing him a device I could only assume was a pager from the nineties. “Void and I are going to get something to eat.”
My hands were in my pockets and I felt uneasy at the revelation I tried not to think about until I was far enough away from the boy just in case he was listening. As soon as Cyk had me up the stairs to the food court I pulled his glasses off to see a pair of eyes squinting back at me with dark circles under them.
“You didn’t mention that.”
“Call me a sick freak but I think it’s cute.” Cyk nudged me. “Besides, if I told you he didn’t have eyes you wouldn’t have even bothered.”
“You don’t know that.” I took a deep breath, crossing my arms. “You’re paying for wings for all of us, and you’re letting me know the details of this plan right now.”
“Okay, okay.” Cyk held out his hand for his glasses back. “We befriend Murakumo, help him out with some schoolwork, act like a mentor, and get paid for it so his brother doesn’t get custody of him.”
“Is that really it this time?”
“Yeah. It sounds weird in practice, but we always had to have a mentor if we wanted to work our way out of the orphanage. I’ve been there, done that. It’s not that hard and it’s a six month thing.”
“It’s for a good cause, then? Murakumo’s freedom?”
“It’s for a good cause and a little cold hard cash if you know what I mean,” He said as he walked away from me to order, leaving me with my thoughts.
I wondered how Murakumo felt about all this, but I could only assume he was used to it by now. I knew nothing of the pains of waiting so long to be adopted that I had to be kicked out of the system. I could only imagine how Cyk weaseled his way out of it.
“See? You’re doing it right now.” Cyk handed me an empty cup. “Just hanging out with him. I can tell by the look on your face it’s a done deal. Besides, it’s not like helping him out with homework is gonna kill you.”
I found myself laying on the floor of the arcade, the boy with no eyes beside me as I read logic problems out loud to him. The neon purple lights barely gave me enough leeway to see what I was writing down on the paper for him, but it’s not like I could do anything about that.
On that day, I found my fate intertwined with the boy with no eyes as we feasted upon wings on Cyk’s dime for six more months of my life.