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After he has gotten so thoroughly turned around that his efforts to fix it only serve to confuse him more, he leans against the painted wooden wall and tries to get his bearings.
Why did he let Genji convince him to do the maze alone? Why is a half-wooden half crop maze in the middle of a farmer's field such a creepy concept? Why does that painted corn have eyes? The paint on the plywood walls makes an attempt to be cutesy, but that only serves to make it more unsettling. Alone with the crunch of hay under his feet Hanzo wishes he hadn't entered this stupid fair game.
He finds a brunette head peeking out from a corner only to beckon him forwards with a smile. Hanzo thinks "Oh, this is how I am going to die? Trapped in a maze with a strange man."
Nevertheless, he moves forwards.
"Okay, so I think this symbol here repeats but upside down in the other section," the stranger says, instead of a greeting, as he points to the wall, and then to the right. "Over yonder."
The tiny symbol is certainly bland enough to be familiar, but Hanzo hasn't seen it before, having been to focused on finding the key needed to leave.
"I do not recall seeing it," he says. "I think I found where the key code may be, however I lost it."
The air carries the smell of fallen leaves and the sudden quiet. People are leaving the orchard, going home, and Hanzo is still stuck in this maze.
"I meant to head out on my lonesome without bothering you, honest, but you seem more lost than I am, partner."
Hanzo moves a bit of hay around underfoot. "I am glad to not be the only one puzzled with this."
The man offers his hand. "My name's Jesse."
"Hanzo." He shakes the mittened hand.
"Just follow me, I know the area," Jesse says as he turns them right.
The path Jesse leads them on leads to a dead end, and he apologizes and scratches his head. Hanzo thinks the dead end is nearby where he got lost, since he can see the same rocks peeking out from under the opening at the bottom.
"What if we just..." Jesse says. "What if we crawled under?"
Hanzo rolls under first and is shocked to find that it looks nothing like how he remembered it, and now he is even more lost.
Jesse crawls under and just continues on, cautiously saying that this part of the maze looks familiar to him.
Hanzo pats some of the dirt off of himself and follows.
After coming up to another dead end, Jesse says "Should we commit crimes again?"
Hanzo is appalled at the concept of rolling onto the cold dirt for minimal results again. They agree then that slipping under the gap is cheating and they should no longer do it.
They keep running into dead ends, and Hanzo decides that Jesse is worse than he is at finding his way around. He starts leading again, determined now to not only get himself out of this maze, but also his unexpected companion.
"So what brings you to the orchard today?" Jesse asks as he runs his hand along the wall.
"My brother wanted to pick out pumpkins for carving."
"How old is he?"
Hanzo slowly answers, "Nineteen."
"Keeping traditions alive, then?" Jesse mutters.
Hanzo is confused as to what traditions he means, so he asks: "What?"
"Pumpkin carving," Jesse says. "Did you used to do it when you were little?"
"We grew up in Japan," Hanzo says. "We didn't celebrate Halloween with our family, so it is our first time."
Jesse comes to a corner and stops. "Oh, how are enjoying it so far?"
"It is very inviting during this season," Hanzo comments before he can stop himself. "When I first came, about two years ago, I thought Autumn was like a scene from a story book, it was incredibly magical."
"Fall has always been a favorite of mine," Jesse admits. "My only complaint is that it's just too damn cold."
Hanzo nods his agreement, fully intending to just let himself be guided around in circles until he finds the key code or the exit
"How are you doing, by the way?"
Hanzo looks at him, pausing where his feet crunched the hay. "What do you mean?"
"Aren't you cold?" Jesse asks. "You ain't too well dressed for this weather, and its just gonna get colder as the sun sets."
"Will it snow?"
"Not sure."
He frowns. "I will have to text my brother, he is wearing even less than I am."
His hands are already hurting with the cold when he pulls them out of his jacket pockets. He has to huff on them.
"Here, you can borrow my gloves." Jesse offers them out. "They have the little pads on the fingers so you can text."
Hanzo reluctantly takes the mittens and pulls them on.
He texts "How are doing, shittybro, are you cold?"
Genji sends him a picture of him cuddled up and smiling with a blanket and two people that Hanzo doesn't know, with a pumpkin on each of their laps.
"u staying warm too? not getting lost? lol" Genji texts, and then adds an emoji that looks cold.
Hanzo turns to Jesse. "May I take a selfie with you?"
"Depends on why," Jesse gives him a side eye.
"I'm sending it to my brother, he's worrying about me."
Jesse leans in over Hanzo's shoulder with a grin. Hanzo flashes a peace sign as he snaps the photo.
"Got very lost and stole this man's gloves"
Genji spams the cowboy emoji.
"u found the maze worker!! nice, u can find ur way out"
"You gonna send me that photo?" Jesse asks, pointing to Hanzo's phone.
"Yes," Hanzo says. "But Genji thinks you are the maze worker?"
"Ah, I've been caught." Jesse blushes. "I was gonna see how long it took you to notice."
Hanzo purses his lips. It was not too bad to be tricked like this, but he wanted to leave, right now, because he was very cold and he's had enough tonight of being lost.
He tucks his hands and his phone into his pockets. "Get me out of this infernal maze and I may send you the photo."
Jesse laughs. "Somehow I knew you'd say that."
Hanzo shifts his weight. He is terribly cold, and the wind is picking up, blowing from under the slats at the bottom.
"Here," Jesse says. "I'll tell you a trick before I show you the way out."
Hanzo nods.
"Just pick a direction and keep following the wall." Jesse says, "Just keep turning left and eventually you'll find your way out of most mazes."
Hanzo trudges along behind Jesse. He is shivering more now. The straw crunches loudly under their boots, and the air smells like hay and fallen leaves.
They arrive at the maze door and Jesse types in the code. Regardless, they could get out because of the slats on the floor, but to Hanzo, it yet again feels like cheating.
"I hope I didn't ruin your fun too badly," Jesse says, "But I had to come get you because this is closing up for the night."
Hanzo takes his hands out of his pockets and pulls up his contacts. "I assure you, it was no fun to be lost alone."
"Can I give you my number?" Jesse closes the exit gate and locks it. "For the photo, that is."
Hanzo hands him the blank new contact screen.
Jesse finishes and hands Hanzo his phone back.
Genji comes bounding up, two styrofoam cups in a drink carrying tray, and a little red wagon doing its damnedest to not tip over with the three misshapen pumpkins inside of it bouncing with each roll of the wheels over the uneven, hard ground.
"Brother!" he says. "Glad to see you finally made it out!"
When handed it, Hanzo takes a cup. He doesn't think about it too long before he is drinking some. It is hot and tastes like spices and apples.
"Thank you, Jesse," Hanzo says. "I will send you the picture, but I need to go warm up."
Jesse just waves him off, saying something about a good evening.
Hanzo loads the pumpkins into the trunk of their car along with the little red wagon.
He drinks his hot apple cider and turns the heating up high from his passenger seat. Genji turns their seat warmers on, shivering himself.
Hanzo drinks his cider and falls asleep, his gloved hands wrapped around his empty styrofoam cup, and his phone in his lap with a message still unsent.