Stranded

Nanako did not know where she was going. Her legs sprinted on their own. As she advanced in the huge green fields that seemed to lead to nowhere, the only thing she knew was that she ran away from those anime robots rushing after her. Nothing made sense! The fields were real, yet she was being chased by anime characters! What was this place anyway? She couldn't understand a thing about what was happening to her. It all seemed so absurd that she was convinced that she must have been having a nightmare. She had to find a way to wake up! "It's only a dream! It's only a dream! Only a dream, Nanako! Wake up!" she continually said to herself as if she was repeating a mantra. It wasn't working, though. Maybe if she stopped and let herself be caught and killed by the robots, she would have woken up. But there was something beyond her will that prevented her from making such a gesture. Her body moved on its own despite her repeated commands to stop it.

From time to time, she looked briefly behind her back, only to see that the anime robots advanced. Were they even robots? She had noticed that the pink one had only a mask covering the upper part of its face, while the chin and mouth were human. Well, not human human, but anime human. Its voice sounded human too. By the timbre of the voice, the chin and the mouth's form, she was a girl for sure. Nanako wondered if the completely robotic face of the other one, in the black suit, was only some sort of metal casket under which a human face existed just like that of the pink robot. The black robot's tone of voice sounded inhuman, yet it seemed to be a manly voice.

When they first set their eyes on her, the two robots engaged in a heated deliberation, which gave Nanako plenty of time to run. Now she was thinking that perhaps it would have been wiser to listen to what they had to say. She might have learned something about this place or how she could get away from here. If it was a nightmare, the simplest way was that she woke up. Unfortunately, telling herself that it was a dream didn't help and she was not prepared to meet an agonizing death either. Therefore, it would be great if she found alternatives to get out of the situation. Her heart pounded and she realized she was almost out of breath. A feeling of panic traversed her body. She couldn't afford to stop! Her chest hurt and her legs felt like burning. She stopped.

Bent over, with her hands leaned against her knees, she took a peek at the two robots who were approaching. What did they want from her? Were they some sort of robot assassins? Oh, if she only knew more about anime robots! That was not her kind of anime, unfortunately. Nanako had only a minimal knowledge about them that she had learned from her elder brother, Konoko, and Ichirou. The robots were almost there. Nanako decided to stay still where she was and accepted her fate. In a short time, she would have been safely back in her bed at home, happy that she had woken up. As these thoughts populated her mind, her breath became calm and she felt a deep tranquility inside her. Was it because she was tired, or was it because of her impending death? Although Nanako was certain it was only a dream, she was still nervous about how death would have felt like.

The two robots disappeared and reappeared one at her right and the other at her left. The girl gave each of them a helpless look. But at that very moment, the fields started shaking so badly that the view became smudged. Nanako felt both scared and shocked. Did that mean she was waking up? She heard the two talking in the distance.

"Not now! The timing couldn't have been worse!" the black robot shouted angrily.

"Let's try to get her away from here, before it's too late!" the pink robot responded.

When the black robot bent over her, Nanako moved her face away, shielded it with her right hand, and closed her eyes. As she opened them again, she was in a totally different place. Crowds of anime characters moved in all directions, chatting and laughing as if they were at a huge party. It was a crammed and noisy place! The anime characters kept bumping into her and the black robot who was holding her by the arm.

"Yo'! Tatsuki! Tatsuki! Wait! Tatsuki!"

A very cheerful anime young man came at high speed toward Nanako and the black robot as he tried to reunite with a fellow character.

"Hurry up Yuki!" an annoyed voice came from Nanako's back.

Even if the black robot made a move to avoid the collision, the rapidity of Yuki turned to failure with any attempt to prevent Nanako from being hit. The impact was so forceful that the black robot lost Nanako, who was swept away by the roaming anime characters just as if she was pulled by the strong currents of a river. Some pushed her in one direction, some in another direction, though none of them paid any attention to her. It seemed the characters were rushing to reunite one with one another. After a while, Nanako noticed the black robot again. He was at a larger distance now, but he was scrutinizing the place in search of her. She couldn't see the pink robot anywhere yet. Nanako decided that she had to keep herself on her feet first. Otherwise, the anime characters would have put her to the ground and then stepped on her. As far as she could tell, they felt just as real as humans in the flesh. It was hard to keep her balance; a lot of pulling and pushing were required. Nanako was not used to this amount of physical effort. She easily became exhausted, though she didn't stop. Panic and despair ate up a lot of her energy. She was just about to burst in tears when the black robot reappeared and grabbed her again. Ahead of her, she saw the pink robot approaching as well. As the black robot dragged her, someone else caught her from the other hand, preventing her from advancing.

"Here you are Grace! Let's go, everyone's waiting for you!" An anime young man with a pleasant face in an eighteenth-century-style European military costume seemed convinced to know her, though he called her by a different name.

While looking at him astonished, Nanako suddenly realized she knew him. He was Richard Blade of Wurth, Hesperia's army commander from Konoko's manga! How was that possible? Why not? This seemed to be a place where all sorts of anime characters gathered. It made some sense that Konoko's characters would have been there as well. However, it was the first time she saw one of Konoko's characters moving. Her friend's manga had not yet received an anime adaptation. Nanako suddenly became more interested in the place. But how come Richard Blade recognized her? And who was Grace? She didn't recall this character existing in Konoko's manga. Could it be that Konoko has finally managed to create a heroine? But what did that have to do with her? NO! This couldn't be real! A new female character in Konoko's manga and on top of it, Nanako being mistaken for her? That was definitely wishful thinking! Nanako started laughing nervously. The moment was interrupted by the black robot.

"Let go of this person at once!" he commanded Richard Blade. "This person has broken some rules and has to come with us!" Instead of letting her go, Richard drew his sword. In the meantime, the pink robot joined them as well.

"Back off!" shouted Richard. "I heard about you guardians bullying characters unnecessarily. It won't happen with characters under my watch!"

"I advise you to let her go and retreat," threatened the black robot in a calm tone. "You don't understand this situation!"

"Then fill me in, guardian! Don't just order us around like you're our boss! If she has to go with you, we need to know why, right Grace?" He turned to Nanako for confirmation.

Nanako was perplexed by this conversation, but what she clearly understood was that she was being accused of breaking the rules. That was impossible! She did absolutely nothing! She had no time since she fled from the anime robots—that Richard called "guardians"—right after she arrived. The idea that she was to be locked up somewhere scared Nanako terribly. Not only that this wouldn't help her wake up from the nightmare, but how would she be able to escape from the place?

"I did nothing!" she shouted looking at the two robots with pleading eyes. Though their faces were very much inexpressive, Nanako thought that she felt some reluctance in the two robot's demeanor upon hearing her. It was something about the pink robot's mouth and the way the black robot positioned his head as if he was pondering.

"Well, that settles it!" concluded Richard and pulled Nanako by the hand so forcefully that the black robot lost his grip on her.

The two robots chased after Nanako and Richard. It was not as crowded as before that the duo quickly caught up with them. The black robot stepped in front of Richard, who drew his sword again. The pink robot got hold of Nanako and tried to separate her from Richard.

"No!" screamed Nanako and she struggled to break free from the pink robot's grasp. She preferred to stay with Richard. At least she knew something about him. If she explained the situation to him, maybe he could help her.

Her scream distracted Richard. The black robot held a spinning disc of blazing light in his right hand that blinded Richard. The latter moved his eyes away, covering his face with his right arm and his sword. The pink robot had taken hold of Nanako's waist and tried vainly to calm the girl telling her that she was in no danger. Richard lost his grip on Nanako's hand. He tried to reach her again and she did the same, their fingers barely touching.

Nanako found herself in yet another place. Teleporting from one place to another became increasingly tiring and confusing. She would have liked very much that it stopped. This was the weirdest dream she ever had! It resembled more to an adventure anime or movie. She watched many action anime and movies, but never dreamt something similar to them; not until now, anyway. For some reason, the new place felt a bit familiar to her, but she didn't understand why. As she was feverishly trying to remember, Richard approached her.

"It seems we managed to get rid of those nasty guardians!" he announced cheerfully while helping her to rise from the ground.

Nanako looked around. The two robots were not there. She had arrived at some green fields again, but this time, they were anime fields. Behind her, there was a thick forest stretching like a wall that enclosed the fields. It continued in both directions, but as the forest advanced, at some point it met mountains that erected ahead of her into the far distance. At the left, close to her, there was a small group of trees. To the right, not far from where she stood, there was a stone road. It seemed that the stone road led to a city, though the houses seemed infrequent and scattered. If she looked closely into the distance, it appeared that at some point, the road had a tendency to ascend. Somewhere at a higher level, she perceived a castle. Behind the castle a little farther, the rockiest and highest mountains prefigured. Nanako had a sudden revelation.

"Hesperia!" she whispered almost out of breath.

She was in Konoko's Hesperia! The fields, trees, and even the forests did not make it so obvious, but how the castle was placed as if it was right in the middle of the rocky mountain—though it was actually at a lower level and significantly closer—that was definitely Hesperia!

Richard smiled as he heard her whisper. Stretching his hand out at her in an invitation to mount his horse with him, he could not help but make a remark:

"You look as if you saw it for the first time!"

"Well, it is the first time I'm actually here!" replied Nanako without hesitation as she placed her gloved small hand in Richard's.

As she lifted the hem of her dress with her other hand, just a bit as to permit her to mount the horse, she realized for the first time that she didn't wear her clothes anymore. She was in a beautiful blue silk and satin dress with lace adornments. She wore silk white gloves and fine leather boots. This Grace character was obviously nobility. Of course! The army commander would have never paid so much attention to a commoner!

"You're so funny Grace! It's not the first time you're here! You've been here for two weeks!" observed Richard amused.

As they began to ride toward the city, Nanako decided that was the perfect occasion to tell him who she really was.

"Richard," she began reluctantly. "I am not Grace! I don't know why I look like her to you, but I'm actually a commoner from a faraway land. My name is Nanako! Nanako Ogawa."

Richard looked at her puzzled. He burst into laughter.

"You? A commoner?" He laughed again."You couldn't be a commoner even if you tried! I know you're from another land! I've just told you that you came here two weeks ago!"

Nanako was confused. Who was this character from another land that appeared in Konoko's manga? That was just great! She fell asleep and now she populated Konoko's manga with characters that her friend never created. Things were not going in the direction she wanted.

"Please let's stop for a few minutes Richard! It's important!" she pleaded.

Richard made a small detour from the road and stopped somewhere in a meadow near the forest. It was obvious that something was bothering Grace and he wanted to hear her out. They dismounted and sat in the grass.

"I mean it Richard," Nanako began with a gentle tone. "I'm not Grace! I'm Nanako, an architecture student from Japan and there are no nobles where I come from. I really must go back home!" her tone became gradually desperate and she was about to start crying. Richard looked concerned into her green troubled eyes.

"Did those guardians do something to you Grace?"

"No!" she replied exasperated. She didn't believe that it was so hard to convince him. But then she hesitated. As far as she recalled, the guardians didn't do anything to her, but what if they actually did something? They had strange powers after all.

"Are you sure?"

"Well, I don't know, but I'm positive about who I am. I was Nanako long before getting to this place and meeting the guardians!" she said firmly.

She seemed very sincere, which made Richard waver. He became convinced that the guardians might have done something to Grace that caused her an identity loss. He had heard about such things during the break sessions when all anime and manga characters met. Even if it was not often, sometimes strange things happened to characters or stories. The guardians were always involved in those incidents. It was said that the incidents were caused by something else and that the guardians' role was to solve them and to prevent more incidents from occurring. Yet, there were so many mysteries around them that Richard didn't know what to believe. Just like other characters, he feared that these guardians sometimes abused their power.

"As far as I'm concerned, you're no other than Grace Flemmings of Leer," he affirmed. "You look like her, talk like her, act like her, and dress like her. I certainly don't know any other Grace here! And you are the only Grace I found when I searched for you after you disappeared! Come on! I'll show you something," added Richard. He took her by her hand, helped her rise, and headed towards the forest.

The forest was peaceful and Nanako could hear different birds singing. She realized how much she had missed such experiences in Tokyo. The dried leaves rustled beneath their feet, creating a soothing atmosphere. While she followed Richard, Nanako felt an unusual feeling of strong familiarity with the place. This time, it was not because she saw the place in Konoko's manga. It was like she had personally been there. Her senses recognized it. Richard and Nanako arrived at a brook.

"Look Grace, who do you see?" Richard invited her.

Nanako approached shakily and looked into the brook. Right in front of her, there was a beautiful anime girl with rich blond curly hair braided and arranged in hair loops. Her golden-green big eyes had marvelous lights of different shapes. Nanako covered her mouth with both hands. Her eyebrows contracted a little bit and big sparkly tears started falling over her cheeks. There was a very faint resemblance between the charming character in front of her and how she normally looked, but one thing was for sure: she was no longer human! It was like she had been transported inside the wrong body.

While watching Nanako's distressed look after seeing her face, Richard became a bit worried. She was obviously honest! And yet, there was no way that there were two versions of Grace. If the guardians caused a personality switch between two characters, then Grace must have been somewhere out there, lost in another story just as confused as the girl standing right in front of him and claiming that she was Nanako from Japan. If that was the case and he helped Nanako find her own anime or manga, would that have brought Grace back as well? But what if she was actually Grace? What if she suffered only a temporary identity loss? He could not afford to let her go.

Grace Flemmings came to Hesperia two weeks ago to search for her fiancé. He had disappeared one day, leaving her only a note that said he was to return soon. After three weeks without a sign from him, his sixteen-year-old fiancée lost her patience. She somehow discovered that he headed to Hesperia on account of a secret mission. She immediately embarked on a long and difficult journey to get to Hesperia. Upon arriving, Grace concealed her identity and made investigations on her own during the first week. To her disappointment, nobody in Hesperia had heard of her fiancé. When her presence was discovered by the High Chancellor and made known to the prince, she was received at the castle as a guest. Prince Virgil promised her that he would assist in finding her fiancé. There were some things that only Prince Virgil and Hesperia's Council—from which Richard also took part in—knew, but they had to keep them secret from Grace for a while. During this time, it was best that Grace was kept under strict surveillance. If she had disappeared, the prince would have never forgiven Richard.

"When did Grace disappear?" asked Nanako, moving away from the water. She had wiped away her tears and regained her composure.

Thinking about what Richard said right before they came to the brook, she thought that she might find a way to prove to him that she was not Grace. Richard looked baffled at her.

"Well, you said that you had to search for Grace when she disappeared." explained Nanako.

"It was a little before the break started!" replied Richard.

"What break?" Nanako asked, confused.

"It was that moment when we all gathered at—" Richard stopped. Something was wrong. Why did she ask such a question? How come she didn't know what the breaks were? She was a character! How much did the guardians affect her?

"Oh!" exclaimed Nanako as she had had a sudden revelation. "That crowded place was the break!" Then she realized that she had arrived during the break as well. She froze. What if Grace Flemmings of Leer arrived at her home and she got here? Her mind wandered a bit thinking about her friends' reactions at meeting a Nanako that called herself Grace and said she came from Hesperia. Konoko's look would be priceless! But she could not stay long with her small fantasy as she was eager to explain her theory to Richard. She ended up speaking so fast that Richard had to slow her down a few times and ask for more clarifications. Even after he finally understood her perspective, he seemed doubtful.

"What you are saying doesn't make sense, Grace," he said. "You are telling me that you are actually a human that has traveled to Manime."

"Yes!" Nanako exclaimed happily. She had made herself understood at last! But what was Manime? Wasn't she in Hesperia? "Manime?" she asked, intrigued.

After his first shock that Grace did not know what the break was, Richard was no longer surprised.

"It is the name of this place where all anime and manga exist. It's our world."

"That's it then!" concluded Nanako enthusiastically. "I came from Earth to Manime. Probably Grace got lost on Earth!" she ended in a sad voice.

"That's absurd Grace!" burst Richard impatiently. "Humans cannot travel to Manime, nor can we travel to the real world!" he added, stressing every word.

"How can you be sure?" insisted Nanako.

"Our worlds are completely separated! There's no way such travels exist!"

"Well, I think, starting from now, they do! I don't know how, but I'm the living proof!" affirmed Nanako courageously. "It is probably why the guardians said I've broken the rules! See? That makes perfect sense! Maybe it didn't happen before and that's why you think it is impossible, but it certainly happened now, with me!"

Richard did not know what to say anymore. There were many strange aspects, so he could not be certain that Grace was wrong. There was some logic in her theory too.

"Maybe it was best if we told this story of yours to His Highness as well," were his first words after a long moment of recollection.

That was the only thing Nanako needed: some hope! She knew that Richard would listen to her!

"Thank you, Richard!" she exclaimed gratefully. "I'll do my utmost to fill Grace's role to my best abilities until we find a solution! But I'm begging you to help me return home! It will bring back Grace as well! I'm sure of it!"

They returned to the horse and set off for Brims, Hesperia's castle. It was almost dark when they saw the castle's gates. Though her discussion with Richard went well, Nanako felt very sad. She had occasionally thought that it would have been a delightful experience to meet the characters from a manga or anime she loved, but now that it really happened… she really missed her friends and most of all Kenji.