Track 06
“R-Rei.” I tripped over my own simple name as well as over my own two feet when I got up to follow her.
She shut the lights in his room then led me down to the end of the hall into a kitchen area. It was a neat little clearing where the dark wooden floorboards transformed into slick white tiles. There was a blackboard as the entire backsplash wall, and pleasant blocks of white kitchen cabinets, as well as a black laminate counter cap like a piano key you could eat on from on top two revolving high chairs. Thinking, this alone sufficiently provided for their family of two; I was surprised to see an entire circular dining table for five, revealed to me after rounding the corner.
“You don’t have to be alarmed, take a seat wherever you’d like.” I almost plopped down on the floor like I’d done in Axel’s room, but then figured she probably meant for me to sit in an actual chair.
I picked the high chair, sitting down so rigidly that it didn’t get more than a nano-second to revolve into place. She smiled at me from around the counter, this time her smile wasn’t the type to add to my anxiety, rather it relaxed me, however slightly.
“Would you like some hot Cocoa? My little special customer.”
“Um, s-sure, yes please.”
She used an insta-kettle so we didn’t wait long for the appliance to start screaming out its steam, but in every interval of free time I received, I turned to look back down the dark hallway. I managed to watch, in parts, as she poured the ingredients with a barista’s grace into a glass mug. The water, the milk, the chocolate mix, the cinnamon stick, the shot of Nutella in a spoon, and two plops of giant marshmallows in each mug. She slid my share over to me without a spill.
“Sorry, we don’t have whipped cream at the moment. It goes by fast here.”
I don’t know how she found something to apologize for after giving me this masterpiece. After seeing the perfection, smelling the perfection and, finally tasting the hot, creamy perfection, I melted over the counter and stared at the contents in hypnotic awe.
It seemed like she waited for the moment I let my guard down to make conversation. “So it seems like you’ve bonded with my son rather quickly.” I sprang upright, bringing the cocoa with me. I couldn’t help but feel like she planned that too; our entire bonding session.
“…yeah…” I clinked my mug back down to the counter and brought my gaze with it, thinking of what had just transpired moments ago. “Did I- … um, hurt him in some way?”
“No, no, of course not, is that what you were thinking all this time? Don’t worry, his condition right now is his own doing.”
She had said something about his limit being five or six songs… I was trying to wrap my head around this. I listened to around double those numbers. I didn’t know enough about sell-souls to understand what this meant, but I took it to mean that if I had simply returned his headphones after a few uses, he wouldn’t be unconscious right now.
“I’m sure you knew before you came here that Axel is a Sell-soul.”
How did she know that I knew that?
“He’s a major background character until he brings that weapon of his out, isn’t he?” She was reading minds now? How overpowered can a mother get?
“Well he didn’t become a Sell-soul the way normal people do.” Normal people weren’t Sell-souls to begin with. I didn’t say this. But I really wanted to.
“Normally, you’d be presented with the choice. It’s like an invitation of sorts, by something or someone who already has Sell-soul abilities, which in itself is a rare opportunity, but… Axel never got that choice.” The constant chiming of her spoon swirling around her cocoa stopped suddenly. Then she took a sip.
What was she telling me right now? This topic seemed too heavy a thing to be sharing with a stranger.
“When he was very young, my choice was either to let him die or sell half his soul for strength in his heart that he didn’t have; strength to live longer in a world he wouldn’t have. Essentially he can’t live without those headphones. Well not for long anyway.”
Without meaning to, I was gawking at her. Seriously, how could she be telling me this? Wasn’t this, like, serious plot?
“I could tell you more, but at this rate, I’ve already gained a few thousand hatred points from my son, so I should preserve what’s left of his trust in me while it still exists.”
This was already too much to take in. Like, he wore those headphones his whole life! I was wearing the headphones that followed him around his whole life!!! Did that mean he has to sleep on his back all the time? What about school? How did he survive school? What about when he had to shower!? Or go to the pool?
“Your chocolate will get cold.” She warned.
“Sorry!” I flinched into drinking some more sweet goodness. Then I lowered the cup. “I’m really sorry.”
She smiled. “You have no need to apologize.” But I felt the need. I had to express my condolences somehow…
“You’re a nice person, aren’t you, Rei?” She smiled behind her cup of cocoa. “I think my son needs more people like you in his life.”
Compliments like being called nice, were hard to come by when you had a personality like mine. I was more accustomed to hearing praises like ‘she’s too aggressive/too wild/too unpredictable/too weird/too psychopathic’. I’ve learned to buckle down my rage and accept words like that with a menacing smile.
After finishing my – now cold – hot chocolate, Axel’s mom led me to her room and then to her closet of pajamas. Her room was simpler than Axel’s, less busy with posters and instruments and whatnot, but I did spot hints of her love for music with how everything was designed. The bed was white and simple with long black pillows, the headpiece of the bed was curved like the hood of a piano and at its center was engraved the word Meloda™ – the brand name you’d find on any generic piano. In the corner, stood a music stand holding a scattered array of sheet music, and framed on the far wall were wide-sized photographs of signature band pics that even I was familiar with.
Her closet was a walk-in and had rock-style clothes that all completely suited her. When she showed me the pajama collection, they were almost all lacey and far too fancy for a body like mine. It would be rude of me to point this out so my plan was to let her pick something for me, but she must have sensed my unease.
“Hmm, none of these really seem like they’d suit your style, do they? … Oh that’s right; I have something in the laundry that might be better. Hold on.” She whizzed away, leaving me alone in her room for around ten seconds. “Tadaaa~ isn’t this better.” She held up a dark blue polyester pajama set with little clusters of cartoon singing people here and there. “I usually only use this during holidays, or whenever I feel like being extra cozy. It even has a matching hat. Not sure where that ran off to, though.”
Embarrassingly enough, this was the kind of thing I’d be wearing back at home. “It’s perfectly fine without the hat, thank you.” We exchanged smiles and she gave me a spare toothbrush, a teddy wolf named Kiba, and then showed me to the spare room, which was greatly used as storage space.
“No peaking in those boxes, okay? Some of those albums are only scheduled to be released next week. If they look like they’re already open that’s just your imagination. Axel and I would never do such a thing.” She spoke her way out of the room before I could say anything to that. “Good night. Don’t kill us in our sleep now.” she called from the hallway. I failed to stifle a laugh.
This was probably the warmest, kindest, most beautiful, down-to-earth home I’ve ever been in. It had only been maybe four or five hours since I got here, but I already knew I’d miss it when I leave.