46 - Marginalia (3)

- MONDAY -

Dear Reader,

Welcome to my journal! I call you Reader because …

(A: "You know, just once, I'd like to see, 'Dear Diary' one of these entries. That'd be what they call, subverting expectations.")

(V: "Don't talk to me. We're not friends.")

… I hope Sister Lumo will show up to her birthday party tomorrow.

I think it will be lots of fun.

(A: "News flash, Odd-kun-chan—tomorrow ain't comin'. Sorry you had to find out this way. But better to hear it from me than from Valerie.")

(V: "Shut up. You're so dumb.")

Goodnight, Reader!

*

- MONDAY -

Dear Reader,

My name is Odd-kun and I live with my friends …

(V: "Odd-kun, denwa~ …")

(A, sighing: "You know, man … Three years between Season 1 and 2, and we all thought that was the longest period ever. I mean, we had the memes going on that we would never get a Season 2. … All that was 16 years ago. And that 3 year span, at the time, felt about the same time as the 16 years that have passed since. … What the fuck happened?")

(V, shruggingly : "Ya got older.")

(A: "Is it just that? Or do we just not have anything groundbreaking come out anymore? That's why it feels like time is going by so fast? We have nothing that demonstrates what storytelling is capable of anymore, to anchor the years.")

(V, rolling eyes: "Always, you and your rose tinted nostalgia goggles.")

(A: "You say that because you're concerned with visuals. Illustration and animation. Work in that domain hasn't stopped. Innovation's still happening. Creatives are still pushing the envelope on that front. … But tell me with a straight face that writing is still being advanced. When's the last time you stumbled across a story you've never seen before? … I mean, there's stagnation across all mediums, but it's like—anime used to be the one thing immune from creative stagnation, you know?

"… You know, I used to be proud of being a fan. In what other medium could you say that, their fans formally proved a hitherto unsolved math problem, just because they wanted to know the fewest number of episodes required to watch H*ruhi Season 1 in every possible order? … None of which would have happened, without the absolutely batshit insane (and it must be said, creatively satisfying) broadcast order. … Which they utilized in a brilliant way again when they stealth-aired Season 2 in what was supposedly a chronological re-broadcast of Season 1. … That was a special time, man. To me, that was what anime was all about.

"… What do we have now? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It's a grim, barren landscape. Nothing coming out today is going to inspire the same creative fanaticism that leads to people formally proving unsolved math problems on anonymous imageboards. We're creatively bankrupt.")

(V: "…")

(A: "…")

(V: "You used nested parentheses during your rant, you know.")

I hope Sister Lumo can come to her birthday party tomorrow.

I think it will be a lot of fun!

*

- MONDAY -

Dear Reader,

Welcome to my journal!

I live in a big house all by myself.

(A: "Oh, do you now? Tell me more—WAIT! What did he just say? (… Or write, rather?)")

(V: "That's new. … Alex, that's new!")

It is a very big house and it is called Parallax Manor and I know Sister Lumo takes care of me but I have not seen her in a very long time.

Tomorrow is her birthday and I made a cake today. It was a lot of fun but I wish I had friends, because then it would be even more fun.

(M: "H-hello?")

(V: "MOEKA-CHAN!" A: "MOEKA-NYAN!")

(M: "Where is Moeka? And why Moeka not have body?")

Sometimes a scary man appears at my window and tries to tell me to open the door so he can come in.

(V: "But if Moeka's here, then where's—")

(S: "Hi, gang! Wow, this place is so strange. But also kind of neat! New experiences are exciting! I've never not had a body before!")

(A: "Welcome Sunny—to the longest Monday of your life. G*rfield would've opted out of existence twenty loops ago.")

(V: "Have we been here that long?")

(A: "Well, you have. I've been here even longer.")

(V: "What are you, gatekeeping time loop seniority now?")

(M, pouting: "Moeka liked being the oldest child for once. Now Moeka's the youngest again. No fair!")

It is late now Reader, so I'm going to bed.

I hope Sister Lumo will come to her party tomorrow.

It will be a lot of fun.

*

- MONDAY -

Dear Reader,

My name is …

(S: "Wow, this diary is very interesting!")

(A, side-eye-ingly: "… Is it, though? Sunny, you've seen at least ten loops by now.")

(S: "Ha ha! Has it been that long already? Time sure flies here in the margins!")

(M, yawning: "Moeka is boo-ooored! Moeka wants to see the party!")

(V: "What … What happens if he lets the strange man in? … Do you guys know who that even is?")

(M: "Moeka doesn't know.")

(S: "I haven't a clue. But Odd-kun seems to be stuck in a constructed reality.")

(A: "Y-yes, Valerie and I … We've figured that much out at least. Oh, oh! Hey! We even came up with a diagram. One sec, lemme just, strain really hard …")

Parallaxia (True reality; we died here)
>> Parallax Manor (Constructed reality within Parallaxia; Odd-kun's diary; time is looping)

(A: "… Alright, that's the last time I'm doing that. … Is my nose bleeding?")

(V, sardonically: "Yeah, that joke's still funny.")

(S: "Hmm … I don't think that's completely correct.")

(A: "Eh? Whatchu talkin' 'bout, Willis?")

(S: "No, I'm Sunny, silly. … And I mean, I don't think Parallaxia's the true reality. There must have been something that came before.")

(V: "… Right??? That's what I was saying! There has to be something above the village of Parallaxia!")

(S: "Yes … We were kids in Parallaxia. But obviously, we're not. … Except Moeka. So Parallaxia can't be real. In my mind, it's more like this: …")

True Reality (What or where the heck is this???)
>> Parallaxia (Constructed reality; the village where we were all kids; we died here)
>>>> Parallax Manor (Constructed reality within Parallaxia; Odd-kun's diary; time is looping)

(V: "Hmm …")

(A: "Sunny, didn't that hurt to do?")

(S: "Not really, no.")

(V: "Hmmmmm …")

*

- MONDAY -

Dear Reader,

My name is …

(A: "So … you guys like H*ruhi?")

(S, smiling: "I don't know what that is!")

… and sometimes the strange man talks to me through the window.

He says he will show me the truth of the world, if I just open the door and let him in.

(V: "I don't think he should open the door.")

(A: "But we might be stuck here forever, if he doesn't.")

(V: "That might be better than the alternative.")

(A: "Let me be clear, I'm not for opening the door. I just don't know what's going to happen.")

I'm not sure what to do. I think Sister Lumo will tell me not to. But I don't know where she is I haven't seen her in a long time.

*

- MONDAY -

Dear Reader …

… and the scary man says he will show me the truth of the world, if I open the door and let him in.

He says Sister Lumo is waiting for me outside.

(A: "Uh, guys? … This is new.")

(V: "Yeah, you're right …")

He says my friends are waiting for me outside.

(M: "Moeka has a bad feeling about this …")

He tells me that we can all celebrate her birthday party together if I just come out.

He is a scary man but I miss my friends. I know we were all together once but I don't remember when that was.

I don't remember their faces.

(S: "Odd-kun …")

I move to the door and I stare at it for a long time.

(V: "… See, this is what I'm talking about with the diary format. How can he even be narrating the action while he's also writing it!? This breaks my immersion.")

(A: "Fuck your immersion, Valerie. I mean, I wanna know—what's going to happen when he opens that door? Do we disappear? If we're notes in the margins … Do we stop existing!?")

(M: "Moeka doesn't want to disappear …")

(S: "… I have to admit, I'm a bit nervous right now.")

I grab the handle.

I turn it.

I open the door.

(A: "I will say, child Odd-kun's got a good intuition for drawing out the suspense …")

(V: "Do you really want those to be your last words?")

(M: "Moeka wants the last word!")

(S: "…If I don't see you all again, just know—")

I step out into the world outside.

There is nothing outside but white.

White all around.

Bright like the sun.

And—

*

- TUESDAY -

—I open my eyes.

I'm in the tea room.

Lumo is standing in front of me, her knees shaking, her arms spread out as if to protect me.

The two of us are facing against the man with the eyepatch, who stands across the room.

Above him, a giant banner hangs on the wall that reads, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUMO!!!!!!"

… All across the tea room floor, lie the bodies of my friends.

Alex, Valerie. Sunny, Moeka.

… They're not breathing.

"Ah!" exclaims the man in the eyepatch. "The wide-eyed child has finally become his true self, once again: the angry, depressed, dead office worker! I guess this means this illusion is finally breaking. … Farewell, Parallaxia!"

The man tips his officer's hat with the barrel of his pistol.

"You know," he says, "it was a neat trick, Dolly."

"My name … is Lumo."

"I have to admit, I've never seen that before. Your constructed reality inside this constructed reality. Very interesting. Glad to see that existence still has a few surprises left to offer."

… Yes, I remember now.

It's all coming together.

Not just Parallaxia—but what existed before.

Point Parallax. L.I.M.B.O., the club room.

That's where we met Lumo.

We wanted to remember something—we didn't know what, exactly, but something—and we hatched some stupid scheme involving Lumo and her calculation ability.

Then something went wrong, and we ended up in this place—the constructed reality, the village of Parallaxia.

And we weren't our true selves. Here in the village, we were kids. We played every day, watched over by Lumo, who protected us from monsters that tried to attack Parallaxia.

We planned a surprise birthday party for Lumo.

Yes, yes—it was one of the wishes she expressed to me, back in Point Parallax. During those many talks we had, just the two of us, when we used to look out at the water.

We baked a cake. We set up decorations in this tea room.

Lumo was so happy.

And then, in the middle of the party …

The man in the eyepatch showed up.

Lumo tried to protect us all.

She constructed another reality within this one—the construct of Parallax Manor, a giant house where it was just us.

A place where the eyepatch man couldn't reach us. Though he definitely tried. At most he could peer in at us, talk to us through the windows.

That's why Lumo couldn't be in the world of Parallax Manor: she was busy outside, maintaining the illusion.

One by one, the man tricked each of us. He picked us off, and when he did—Alex, Valerie, Sunny and Moeka … They disappeared from the world of the diary.

They died in this world.

… And now we're here.

But it's okay—I know my friends will be fine. Because this world isn't real. We'll end up back in Point Parallax. I know it.

But Lumo is different.

I gently place a hand on Lumo's shoulder in front of me.

"Thank you, Lumo," I say, "for protecting us."

"I … didn't," she says, turning her head to look at me. Tears falling down her face. (… Yes, here in Parallaxia—she can emote. I remember now, how she always lamented not being able to, in Point Parallax. …) "I couldn't protect them."

"You did what you could, Lumo. Now it's time for me to protect you."

Lumo—

I have to save her from this man.

I have to do everything in my power to stop him.

And if this illusion is breaking apart now, then that means …

I look up at the ceiling, and scream, at the top of my lungs:

"JEEEEEE-SSICAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!"