Epilogue: His World and Mine

The summer heat was killing me, every step I took through central park felt like I was walking through an active volcano. At least I wasn't alone in that feeling, I could see others around me doing their best to fight the heat. 

"Aaron, let's grab some ice cream or something to cool us down." my friend, Ana recommended. I wasn't in the mood for ice cream but given the chance to escape this hell heat and the fact that I had a huge crush on Ana (but that's not the important part of this story) the idea sounded like salvation.

"I agree let's go. This walk isn't helping me anyways." I said. I had decided to walk to alleviate my terrible writer's block. I haven't written a novel in over a year and my publisher was worried about me. My work had never arisen to huge levels but it was liked by younger audiences, especially fans of anime/manga but I was beginning to run out of ideas. I didn't want to keep doing the traditional stories I had been working on...I needed something fresh! 

Then something happened that to this day, I can't explain. As we turned around, I saw a strange reddish light appear and an object followed. It was a...book? 

"What's that?" Ana said shocked at what just transpired. She too witnessed the light and then the sudden book appearing from seemingly no where. 

"I don't know?" I bent down and picked up the book. It was...strange feeling. It looked like leather but the feel wasn't right. As someone who knew books quite well, I've felt every type and variant out there. I was blessed enough to even hold some 1st edition books that came from generations long forgotten. However, this book...was bound in something foreign. 

"Put that down Aaron! It could be dangerous!" 

"No...it's just a book." I opened it and found a very strange introduction within. 

"What does it say?" Ana came over to me and looked over my shoulder, despite the now increased heat from her, I didn't mind having her so close. 

"Hi there! I hope you're having a good day, afternoon or night! Whatever time it is that you are in! If you somehow are reading this journal then that means only one thing, that I've died..." I looked at the book. Journal? Was this someone's final tale before they died? 

"That's sad..."

"It is...I think I want to read it though." I flipped the book all around, there was no title or anything...

"Okay...let me know what it says when you finish it." Ana smiled and I returned the gesture. We walked off to get ice cream as I held a truly remarkable story in my hands and just didn't know it yet.

It only took me a day and a half to finish the story within. The story that was titled I was an Office Worker Till I Was the Hero!? It sounded like an isekai, albeit a very simple one but unlike the ones I had read...this one sounded...real. The man's name, Mizuki Ayano...a once 25 year old who seemed to die somewhere around his late 80s? The name sounded Japanese but was it just a made up name for a character? I decided to go online and search for it. 

My research, as simple as it was, uncovered something I knew I had to tell some of my friends about. I called them up and we had a video chat together. 

"What did you want to talk about Aaron? It's kind of late..." Travis said, hailing from across the sea it was late for him...

"Yeah dude...I was about to grab some food. Can this wait till later?" Christian said annoyed on screen.

"Hey let's ease up on Aaron, he probably has something big to tell us." Jenny, our female friend, yawned while on camera betraying she too was most likely asleep.

"Sorry guys, this will be quick I promise." I explained to them what happened and the story within the "journal" which at times seemed more like a book. I gave them the name inside and one of my friends went to work looking it up via an app he had. It was capable of searching names and addresses to the smallest detail. 

"Found it...so here's the interesting part." Travis shared his screen.

"What's this?" I asked staring at a Japanese newspaper clipping. I couldn't read any of it. Travis translated the screen via the search engine.

"Apparently, Mizuki Ayano was a real person or at least his name was. He lived in Japan and get this...went missing almost 65 years ago. His address is non-existent they apparently made it into a shopping mall but I got the address of his parents."

"There is no way they are alive still." Jenny said and I agreed, if he went missing 65 years ago around the age of 25, then his parents either were ancient now or most likely deceased. 

"Yeah it shows they own a home in Sawara, Chiba." Travis sent me a full information page of their exact address and a picture of the home, it was near the local river and seemed nice.

"What are you going to do man?" Christian asked as he sipped some liquid from a mug. 

"I think I need to go to Japan guys..." the group looked shocked, I had only gone once with them long ago but this time it was for business and not pleasure.

I got on the flight to Japan early in the morning. As I sat on the plane, I wasn't paying attention to the screaming kid wanting his snack or the old man snoring next to me...as annoying as those things were. I picked up the book and looked at the pages...was this Mizuki a real person? Maybe some aspiring author took a person's name lost to the world and used that hoping a poor dimwit like me would find it interesting. I said that but deep in my heart, I knew that wasn't the case. While the writer of this story was...amateurish at best, his tale had heart and passion...too much for a writer's fake story. The way Mizuki talked, the weird challenges he faced and his growth within...it felt too real. This story screamed straight out of fiction but I think it was a biography in the form of a fantasy...

I landed in Japan and set off right away for Sawara, Chiba. It took me several trains, some taxis and a bit of walking to find the right area (I may have gotten lost a few times) but I arrived at the house near the early evening. Part of me wanted to wait till tomorrow and ring the bell then, but I felt a drive overcome me...I needed to know this story now and the sun was still up to light the sky.

I rang the door bell...once...then twice and got no response. Maybe the people who lived here weren't home? 

"Konnichiwa" an older woman answered the door. My Japanese was...poor but I knew she meant hello. 

"Konnichiwa" I replied back. The woman smiled.

"Are you...English?" she asked.

"You speak English? I was caught off guard and considered myself lucky.

"Yes...little bit. Can...I help?" She asked. I didn't want to overload her with the story so I kept it short and lied a bit. I told her I was looking to do an article about MIzuki Ayano and wanted to know if his parents were around. 

"Ohhh...they are...passed on." the older woman said sadly. 

"I'm sorry I didn't know." 

"It's okay...I am...family friend. They gave me house before...they died said I could have with my husband." I looked in the back and saw an older man look at me curiously and cautiously in the other room.

"That's nice...kind of them to do." I smiled.

"Yes...you can visit their graves...over there." she pointed to a small cemetery maybe several blocks away. 

"Arigatogozaimasu" I said bowing.

"Doitashimashite" the woman said bowing back and then closing the door softly. 

I walked to the area's cemetery, not a soul was around and I swear i didn't mean that to be ironic. I looked around for the Ayano plagues. It surprisingly didn't take me long. 

"Here they are." I stopped and looked at the name. Haruka Ayano, I guessed that was the mother. Minato Ayano...the father. His death was only a year after his wife. Then my eyes stopped on the small epitaph in the middle of there's...Mizuki Ayano. The epitaph said...

"Gone from this world but not from our hearts" and the date he was missing matched the book...

"Mizuki was real..." I pulled the book out and just sat there in silence. I didn't even realize the sun had finally gone down. Here in my hands was a true story...

"Mizuki, I'll write your story. I'll spread your tale and maybe no one will believe it but I believe it." I got up and headed to start my own adventure...bring Mizuki's story to life. 

**********

It took me several months to transfer Mizuki's story to paper. Mizuki wasn't a bad writer and while his grammar missed the mark a few times here and there, I helped as much as I could without compromising his story. I made sure to keep everything I could and never added or subtracted from the story. In the end I was writing his story but it wasn't my creation. It was his life. I even used his title which I figured would get some traction in Japan. I figured to release this story here in his birth country. It would be a light novel, a particular novel type that was quite popular here in Japan and was growing steadily across the world. I was also happy that it was translated flawlessly in Japanese and even other languages later on. 

Here's something quite important. I didn't use my real name though as the author, I wasn't so full of myself to act like I had made this story on my own. I used my online user name, Epitaph009 and got a cover picture drawn by a dear friend of mine. She would remain anonymous but use the name Jenesis. I gave her specific instructions to find a special scene from the story that resonated with her and make that her cover art. It would end up being the dream of Mizuki, standing as an everyday businessman looking at the stage that would be ultimately his final battle ground. 

*******

The light novel sold faster than Id ever imagined and I was happy. I became a big name in the author world here and even had a signing to celebrate the books growing popularity. While I was sitting there in the bookstore a young boy came up to me holding the story and held it out to me. I signed it and handed it back but the boy seemed to want to ask me a question. 

"Do you speak English young man?" I asked. 

"Yes. I wanted to know is this real?" He said pointing to the cover. 

"The story or Mizuki?"

"Yes." He nodded. I smiled and leaned over. 

"Yes little reader. Mizuki was real and he really was just an office worker who ended up becoming a true hero in another world."