Chapter 3:

Manime

Boundaries


By the looks of it, the blue-eyed one was definitely a boy while the other one, with pink curly pigtails and wearing a pink shiny suit, was obviously a girl. Any normal person would have wondered how it was possible for two anime characters to move around freely, yet the only things Konoko could think of were their looks and drawing technique. Like many others, she too loved the cute super deformed style; but that aside, she was now enthralled by the precise thick line of the boy's eyelashes. The lights in his eyes were so skillfully executed! His intense gaze made her feel as if he was alive! But of course, he was alive! She just saw him earlier squabbling with his friend! Oh, she wanted so badly to see his friend's eyes too! As these thoughts were going through her head, Konoko started to worry that there was something wrong with her. Wasn't she supposed to freak out? Why wasn't she freaking out? Why was she thinking about his drawing style instead? That was a completely abnormal behavior! "Freak out Konoko!" she shouted to herself, but her common sense paled in comparison to her enthusiasm. For some reason, the fact that what she saw defied the laws of her reality didn't bother her at all! On the contrary, she felt more elated every minute. The moment of rapture didn't last long though! Noticing that she was not going to make a move any time soon, the two characters seized the moment, launched into the air and disappeared into the poster. They moved so swiftly that Konoko barely saw them as shades of colors passing through.

Without a thought, she followed them, jumping on the bed and then putting her hands against the poster. To her astonishment, her hands went right through the poster as if she reached into a thick liquid. She lost her balance as a result, falling onto her hands on some flat surface inside the poster with her head and torso following as well. The surface felt just a bit higher than her bed. As incredible as it seemed, she was now half in the poster, half on the bed in a position that appeared like she was trying to climb onto something. However, Konoko didn't advance. She felt reluctant to completely leave her room. She looked around. It was strange! The space resembled a white page. Though she felt the flat surface under her hands, there were no corners nor margins in that place. Even more, above her, the space looked round and ahead she seemed to perceive a circular long corridor. But there were no shades to indicate such forms! How did she distinguish them? Her mind went blank. She could not decide whether or not she should go further, but her curiosity thwarted any intention of returning to her room. After a few minutes of tense hesitation, she advanced a little more inside the poster. She was now on both knees and hands. Only her feet remained in the room. Just as she decided to get up, a threatening voice startled her:

"Where do you think you're going?"

The anime character boy with pointy hair and sharp-edged blue eyes appeared out of nowhere. Konoko was definitely glad to see him again; but to her surprise, he was now a lot bigger, about the size of a three-year-old child! His costume was a bit different too! It looked like something between metal armor and a spacesuit. He seemed to also have a weapon, though she couldn't really tell what it was.

"Who are you?" she asked, hoping to find out from what anime or manga he came from.

"I am a guardian here! You must leave this place at once!" he replied in a dignified manner.

His serious tone and low voice contradicted so much with his cute appearance that Konoko burst into laughter. Not even his thick frowning eyebrows and sharp-edged eyes could make him seem as frightening as he sounded.

"I don't think it's fair," she began after recomposing herself. "You and your friend have just been into my room. Why can I not be here?"

"That's not the point," answered Saitou. "You are not supposed to be here! We shouldn't have been in your room either! It was an unfortunate accident!" He seemed so sincere that Konoko almost became worried about the possibility that there was grave danger.

"Accident? What accident?" she asked, but Saitou stopped her.

"Please don't ask questions and just go back!" he pleaded. It was obvious that he was in no mood for a conversation and he only wanted to get rid of her as soon as possible. Konoko thought for a minute. Then she got an idea.

"I'll give you some of my pencils if you let me take just one look at that long corridor." She had remembered his enthusiasm at the sight of her pencils and tried to take advantage of it. It felt somewhat amusing, though, to mention the corridor for which she herself was not even sure that it was what it seemed. Saitou's eyes grew big and his irises shrank. He was outraged!

"You cannot bribe a Manime guardian!" he shouted scandalized, stressing every word.

"Manime…" Konoko became intrigued. She hadn't heard of such a title before, nor could she recall the name appearing in any anime or manga that she knew. Now she wished even more to explore the place.

"Ok. I'll give you all my pencils then!" she reinforced her offer as if this time it was impossible to refuse. Saitou could not believe that she completely disregarded his previous words. His face became a bright pink while a big anger mark, the size of his fist, appeared above his head. Completely fascinated by how Saitou expressed his emotions, Konoko let out an unintended scream of joy. Yet, the moment he took out a strange metal stick and placed it before him while his face became pale and his gaze ice-cold, Konoko realized that she was not watching an anime. She was part of one! And she had just made a character angry! That was certainly not what she had intended. If she would have been a character herself in that story, she definitely wouldn't have acted as she did. She had been rude, which she was realizing only now that the strange metal stick became a staff prolonged both upwards and downwards. It also emitted a bright light. Was the cute little character going to attack her?

"Wait!" she broke in a precipitous tone and, without a thought, she grabbed the stick with both hands as if wishing to calm him down. "I'm sorry! I... I... I didn't mean…" she found her words with difficulty as the situation became increasingly awkward to her. Saitou was surprised by her gesture. The bright light disappeared. Konoko looked fuddled and blinked a few times. She released the stick and stayed still for a few moments with her hands up in the air. Saitou stared at her. The next moment, however, she found an opening and quickly sneaked past him. She ran into the corridor, then turned around to see what the little boy was up to. She was breathless, but not because of the running. She was nervous about his reaction. A feeling of guilt bothered her as well, just like a bee sting. At first, he didn't do anything but watched her closely. Then he began running toward her, spinning his staff in his left hand. The bright light reappeared! She hurried to take distance, but because she got scared, she tripped and fell on her knees. She looked back. He was approaching. She didn't realize when she got up again and continued running, but this time, he appeared in front of her, though at a considerable distance. The staff now resembled a disc of blazing light. Could he even hurt her? He was only a drawn character after all! How could a drawing hurt a human in the flesh? That was impossible! Or not? Having two living anime characters in your room was impossible too and that still happened! Even so, he was still a tiny fellow! She must have been stronger than him!

Probably... Come to think of it, the super deformed style was a drawing technique. It had nothing to do with the character's abilities. He may have looked like a child, but he was most probably an adult! Regardless of their appearance, anime characters could be unexpectedly powerful. Maybe she should have returned home after all. She had a lot to do in her life! She couldn't have risked getting hurt in a battle with an anime character only to check if a common yet real human had any chance against a warrior anime character. That was a foolish and pointless thing to do!

"You know you can still go home and I wouldn't touch you!" announced Saitou in a neutral tone while still keeping a significant distance. By his position, Konoko could tell that he wanted to avoid her advance into the corridor. He didn't move, but the flashing disc span vigorously in his hand. He said he would let her go! Go home! Yes! That was the right thing to do! Everything would have come back to normal. Perhaps it was not even real! How come she didn't think of that until now? When she went to her room, she must have fallen asleep because of her tiredness and it was all a dream. That's right! It must have been only a dream! But if it was a dream, then there was no risk! Konoko bounced off, preparing to face Saitou. She figured that if she pushed him with all her strength, she might have been able to move him out of her way. Saitou understood that she was coming at him. He prepared too.

Just as the two were about to clash, Chie appeared right in front of Saitou, causing both to stop at the last moment. Because of her sudden halt, Konoko fell on her back. Saitou bumped into Chie, making her fall with her face down. Then he landed over her.

"Get off me Saitou!" she screamed angrily.

The two got up and Chie nested her shiny pink metal costume. She seemed really pissed off, but did her best to refrain. She turned only a second to Saitou and said in a smaller, yet still unnerved voice.

"What were you thinking!" Saitou could see that tiny round tears appeared in the corners of her upset eyes. He deviated his regard half-covered by his eyelids. He felt sorry for Chie, but didn't regret his actions. Konoko didn't get up. She began to raise herself from the ground, taking support in her elbows and looked astonished at the two.

"Are you all right?" Chie addressed Konoko with gentleness. "Please forgive my friend! He shouldn't have treated you like that, but he only tried to protect this place! It is our duty, you know? You really must go back! It is not safe for you here, just as much as it is not safe for us there."

Konoko turned into the prone position only to look at what Chie pointed. In the middle of a complete white surface, there was a foggy image of her room, like a hole in a white cloud. The image oscillated as if there was a curtain rocked by a gentle wind. Konoko turned again to Chie and placed herself in the lotus position, holding her knees with her hands.

"If it's risky for you, why did you come into my room?"

"We didn't have a choice! The barrier between our worlds is broken. We need to repair it!"

"But didn't you say you were the guardians? Are you doing the maintenance too?"

"It's part of our job!" intervened Saitou in a tone that showed he felt bored by Konoko's questions.

"What is this 'barrier' anyway? Is it a portal between the worlds?"

"It actually protects the portal between our worlds," replied Chie.

"You both say that it's not safe, but how bad can it be if one of us goes to the other world?" inquired Konoko impatiently. She was still hopeful that she might have found a clever solution so that she could explore a little bit.

"When someone from one world travels to the other world, their visit affects the balance of the two worlds. There are many things that could happen as a result: real people could experience memory loss, apathy, significant change in thought or feeling; for us there may be cataclysms, mutinies, dramatic changes of plot, or disappearing characters." She mentioned the last part with a fearful voice as if it was a thing that was not to be said out loud. "Yet this doesn't necessarily happen to those directly involved. The aftereffects are random and completely uncontrollable. What's certain is that whatever happens in one world has a corresponding effect in the other."

"Cataclysm and mutinies? Change of plot? How could that be? The stories are made up by their authors! They cannot be altered outside the author's decisions!" scandalized Konoko.

"It's not that simple! I just said that the effects have a certain randomness. In these cases, something changes in the authors' decisions with regard to their stories, without them being aware of it."

"Well, if it's that random and the people and characters directly involved don't always suffer from the aftereffects, how can you be sure that those visits are what caused the incidents?"

"It's because they almost always happen after such visits. Also, the aftereffects take place in both worlds at the same time. The infrequent visits allowed us to properly investigate those situations. Besides, we, the guardians, are here to prevent such incidents and, when they occur, to handle them. It is part of our job to thoroughly examine all aspects on such occasions."

Konoko remained silent for a while. She had no reply to this. However, after a few moments of reflection, new questions started to bother her.

"You were in my room, in my world! There will be consequences, right?"

"Most likely... However, the effects caused by our travels are considerably weaker. Real people have a significantly stronger energetic mark, which is why the turbulence that follows their visits is more impactful. Even so, we still avoided coming to your world as much as possible and never stayed long."

"So, I suppose something worse will happen because I am now here, isn't it?"

"Not necessarily," replied Chie reassuringly. "You didn't get past the antechamber."

"This is the antechamber?"

"Yes."

"Does that corridor lead to your world?"

"I don't know! Could be... I don't recall seeing this view before. Even if I did, I see so many that I wouldn't remember anyway," said Chie, laughing a little embarrassed.

"What do you mean?" Konoko asked, confused.

"Well, the antechamber doesn't always look the same. The way you see it now is your perception. Other people see it differently."

"But you do see what I see now!"

"Usually, the human perception is stronger than the character's."

"And when no one comes in here?"

"It changes frequently, depending on people's thoughts. It is always the most powerful thought that creates the images of this room."

"Wait!" Konoko started as if she suddenly remembered something she had forgotten. "What will happen with my poster after you complete the repair?"

"Nothing! It will be just a regular poster!"

These last words were the best news Konoko heard since the beginning of this conversation. She felt relieved at the thought that the poster at least would remain with her.

"Are there people from my world who know about this portal?"

"Possibly... However, as a rule, our world and the portal are kept a secret from humans."

"What about the characters?"

"Well, all the guardians know! But not all the characters. I suppose that in both your world and ours, those that know are most likely those who made contact with the other world or its inhabitants at some point."

"Are there only anime and manga characters here?"

"Here yes! But Manime is only a part of a greater universe, just like a planet. There are others too: cartoons, comics, literature, mythology, fairy-tales, games—you name it… everything that is a part of human imagination."

"Anime games are with us though," interrupted Saitou again.

Konoko remained silent once more, her gaze wandering far away from that place and her interlocutors. There was a shadow of disappointment in her thoughtful eyes. Saitou and Chie exchanged hesitant looks.

"All right," she concluded while suddenly getting up."It is what it is! Some things don't happen, even in dreams! I think it's time for me to head back!" She moved toward the wavy image of her room with a sad smile. Before crossing to the other side, Konoko looked back one more time to say goodbye to her poster's guardians.

"If you want, you may come to my room whenever you please! I'll lock it when I'm not home so that no one can see you!"

As she disappeared from their sight, Chie and Saitou remained perplexed. Was their understanding correct? Was she going to help them? Chie felt a little more hopeful. Saitou remained on the fence.