Chapter 11:

Confrontation

Boundaries


"What's wrong about being a mangaka?" asked Konoko with bitterness.

"It's simple. We are afraid of you!" came the Venerable's serene answer.

Konoko expressed a dumbfounded face upon hearing these words.

After being brought before Commander Krieg and the Venerable, she had begged to be permitted to safely take Nanako back home. She thought that her request met everyone's expectations since the Manime people got rid of the humans. But the guardians were so angry, a furious mob! She almost felt like she was at a public execution. They shouted something about the danger of her spiritual affinity with their world, but most of all, they seemed scandalized that she was an author! It was easy to figure out that "author" referred to mangaka and anime creators. She knew why Manime people feared the presence of humans, but why were they so violent toward the authors in particular? Saitou and Chie—accused of having conspired with her—were the only guardians who remained silent. The commander had quickly become tired of the commotion. It thwarted any of his attempts to make a decision. When the Venerable asked him for a private discussion with Konoko, he was happy to grant it.

The girl had hoped that she might have come to better terms with the old man, but his last answer made her quickly lose faith. Still, she was not ready to give up, knowing how close she was to seeing Nanako again.

"But... I don't understand..." she began, "Manime would have never existed without the mangakas or anime creators," she observed.

"Ah! But that's exactly the reason, Miss Konoko!" he paused. "You don't mind if I call you Miss Konoko?"

"Of course not," replied Konoko quickly, rather anxious to hear the continuation of the old man's explanation. "In fact, you can call me Konoko directly, if you please!"


"Oh, but that's perfect!" replied the Venerable gleefully. "Please call me Soph then! Where were we... Oh yes! It is because you are so important to this world that we fear you!" He stopped and looked attentively to Konoko's frown.

"It doesn't make any sense to you, does it?" he concluded. "How should I put it? How do stories appear?"

"I don't know..." replied Konoko impatiently. "You just make them up!"

"Yes, yes, but how does this happen? Or better said, where?"

Konoko regarded him with complete confusion. The old man pointed at his own head grinning suggestively. A few seconds of silence followed. Konoko was still waiting for the old man to proceed with his idea. However, he obviously expected an answer from her first.

"The head?" she finally answered reluctantly.

"Exactly! Inside the head!" the Venerable accentuated the last three words. "The world you see before you is a huge playground of the human mind! But that's the trick! Everything here is inside the mind! This place is immaterial, and yet... you came here with your body."

"Well, so far, I see no difference between the authors and any other human who gets here."

"Oh, but of course you do! You said it yourself! This world would have never existed without mangakas and anime creators! You see, the difference comes exactly from here. The authors have a greater impact than other humans. They can make drastic changes as easily as breathing. And you know why? The body usually has little participation in the process of creating the story. It actually does the opposite ever so often: distract the mind. This happens all the time when one is hungry, thirsty, or tired. Such interruptions also occur whenever something happens in that person's vicinity, like a sharp noise or a sudden movement. It is not a bad thing, you know? It ensures balance! But here..." the old man laughed amused, "the body lives the story! When the body comes here, it mistakes the mind's world for the real one. Consequently, it acts as if it were still in reality. And poof! The balance is gone! A human as a whole brings to this world the overwhelming energy of the real world. While this is applicable for all humans of course, please consider a bit the author's position! Not only do they practice this particular use of their imagination more often than others, but they also are sensitive to other people's ideas, desires, and visions as well. It is something ingrained in the author's nature to also act as recipients of others' thoughts. Admittedly, in Manime, that aspect amplifies since you have direct contact with other minds. It's like cheating in a game, Konoko!" he ended in a whispered voice, looking piercingly into her eyes as if he tried to detect her hidden thoughts.

"I don't intend to make any changes! If I promise to refrain—"

"Do you think it's that easy?" interrupted the Venerable, bursting into laughter. "Did you want to create the shields and soldiers inside the antechamber?"

"I didn't—" Konoko wanted to deny that she was responsible for what happened in the antechamber, but she stopped. It may have been her doing after all. That was what Virgil also believed. If she was completely honest to herself, those shields and soldiers appeared whenever she yearned for help in her own mind while imagining all sorts of means of defense. Now, after what the Venerable told her about the authors, it made perfect sense! She remained silent for a moment, clutching her knees with her hands as she felt pins and needles, sitting on that simple light-colored wooden stool.

"The territory of the mind is delicate," proceeded the Venerable. "Even the simple interaction between characters translates as an interaction among different human minds. The body is not fitted for this environment. Not only does it no longer ensure a balance, but it can also create great damage."

"What do you mean by the interaction of characters being an interaction of different minds?" asked Konoko intrigued. "Aren't the characters created by the same author?"

"I don't refer to the interactions between characters of the same story," elaborated the old man. "That happens too, of course, but what I meant... Come to think about it, you haven't seen the breaks, have you?" he added dreamily.

"The breaks?" asked Konoko with sheer curiosity.

"Well, I suppose it wouldn't be much harm if I showed you. You're here anyway!" said the old man, seemingly with prankish intentions. "Come see it with your own eyes!" he invited Konoko. "I wanted us to take a stroll while we were talking anyway, and I think it's just about time that the next break starts!" he added in a secretive tone as if he wanted to intensify Konoko's interest.

Konoko followed the old man outside the incredibly bright simple room where he initially brought her. They arrived in a long corridor with lined up posters on both walls, featuring different anime. Konoko looked curiously at each of them. The light was not as powerful as in the room she came from, but she could still clearly see the colors and the details. If she hadn't been so worried about Nanako, she would have loved spending time in this corridor! Suddenly, the place started to shake as if there was an earthquake. Konoko threw herself to the ground and covered her head with her hands. Though she held her face down, she could still see that a blazing light had invaded the space. The next moment, she found herself in the middle of a huge crowd of anime characters roaming all over the place. The old man's hand caught hold of hers.

"Stay close," he said. "The last thing we want is to have you lost around here!" he laughed.

"What is this place?" asked Konoko breathlessly.

"Look for yourself!" replied the Venerable.

Despite the vast multitude of characters and their to-and-fro movements, somehow, they never touched the old man. It was like an invisible barrier protected him. Konoko realized that she was safe by his side. She seized the opportunity and calmly contemplated what happened around her. It seemed like characters from different anime and manga gathered, talking and laughing like actors between playing sessions. That was what the old man meant by different minds coming together! They were all the characters of different authors! Being here, she could have also talked with those characters! As a matter of fact, talking to the Venerable, Saitou, or Chie, she had already interacted with other minds—their creators! She searched feverishly to get a glimpse of her favorite anime characters. Just when she finally set her eyes on one of them, the Venerable interrupted.

"It's time we head back!" he announced.

They arrived in a different corridor, though it looked very similar to the previous one. This time, there were mirrors lined up on both walls. Konoko was shocked to discover that every mirror reflected a different image of her. In each of them, she looked like an anime character, and for the most part, it was the same character. It resembled her real self as if it was made after her! However, each reflection was drawn in a different style. She looked at the Venerable's reflections. Unlike hers, his were always drawn in the same style. As she was at a fair distance from the old man, she ran to catch up with him to ask him about the mirror reflections.

"Another differentiating trait of an author is that they directly become an anime character once they set their foot in Manime. They don't need to fuse to become one. Normally, their character is drawn in their own art style. However, when entering different manga or anime, their character's design immediately changes, borrowing the art style of that specific manga or anime. This helps them to easily mingle inside any story, even though the rest of the characters don't recognize them. Their look is so deceiving that no one can suspect they're actually humans."

"Is this why the guardians said that I had a high affinity with this world?"

"No, it has nothing to do with it. You could be an author and have medium or low affinity with this world. High affinity measures one's fascination and disposition toward the imaginary world." As Konoko said nothing, he continued. "You are both an author and have high Manime affinity, one could say that you are among the most dangerous visitors here, Konoko!" the old man remarked with a short laugh.

"When I heard that Nanako fused with Grace Flemmings and that this endangered her life, I hated myself for creating Grace after Nanako," confessed Konoko. "Yet... I only did it for her enjoyment!" she added as if she felt the urge to defend herself. "It was terribly overwhelming to learn that such an inoffensive well-intended act could bring so much harm!" Konoko ended in a defeated voice.

"You are so young my dear," responded the old man with an affectionate voice. "You have yet to learn that people inflict suffering on each other unknowingly more than they do it on purpose. It's the main reason why pain roams in the world."

"I'm sorry!" she cried. "Even after telling me all of these, I still cannot go back and wait!" She looked imploringly in the Venerable's pitch-black eyes.

The old man didn't remain unmoved. During his moments of joy or inquisitiveness, the lights in his eyes sparkled like stars in a dark sky. On the contrary, his thoughtfulness made those lights become shadowed similar to when the moon was darkened by thin clouds.

"Do you know why we are talking now instead of having you directly sent back to your world? I may be dangerously naive, but I was touched by the way Saitou and Chie spoke of you. They tempted me to think we could collaborate with you if it came to it. At this point, I strongly consider this collaboration." confessed the old man. Since Konoko remained silent while watching him attentively, he continued. "Besides, I also convinced myself that you being the author of The Lost Kingdom of Hesperia, there were little chances that you caused any harm inside your own story. Of course, we still had to ensure you didn't wander off to other stories..." Another pause followed.

"But then again, I strongly believed that Saitou and Chie would have earned Nanako's trust," continued the old man, as if he was in the middle of an internal monologue. "I vouched for them in front of the commander! And yet, things went awry, ending with the girl's loss of faith in Marly and Mike and a cataclysm shaking the break zone. Not to say, you came here too." He added the last words with an ironic smile.

Konoko did not know what to say. She had no arguments. It seemed to her wiser to remain quiet. But then, an idea suddenly struck her just like that time when she decided to write a side story in between her manga chapters. As she prepared to speak, she felt as nervous as when she presented her manga plan to Mr. Yuno.

"I may not be able to refrain myself in certain cases, but... What if I was restrained by someone else?" she asked.

*

"Are you insane, Soph?" shouted Commander Krieg, his purple face contrasting with his clear-sky blue eyes. He was so agitated that his eyeballs seemed to come out of their orbits. "What can possibly be in your mind to encourage such an outrageous idea?"

"We're running out of time Krieg! We should start considering other options..."

"Other options?" replied the commander. "What you are promoting is no option! It's NONSENSE! NONSENSE! Do you hear me Soph? Another two humans? Don't we have enough trouble with those already present?"

After the Venerable and Konoko returned, Soph approached Krieg and whispered something into his ears. Commander Krieg exploded in anger. Listening to their conversation, the guardians—who had barely calmed down during Konoko's absence—fretted again. Whispers started spreading around the room. Konoko could identify the words "other humans" mentioned quite often.

"Exactly!" remarked the old man. "We already have two humans with us! There's no way to stop the aftereffects now! Trust me, two more would not make much difference if we think about their simple presence here, yet... they could make a beneficial difference if they helped us!"

"That again? I don't know where you got this strange idea that humans could help, Soph! I'm honestly worried that your old age weakened your vigilance! To play into a girl's hands like that!"

Though the guardians were not as noisy as before, it was only because their commander shouted like that. He intimidated them when he lost his temper. The Venerable was the only one that seemed somewhat comfortable with these outbursts. However, they couldn't remain quiet either. The guardians started to intervene one by one, as, just like their commander, they were not happy with the Venerable's perspective. It seemed unacceptably risky!

"If you don't mind Venerable," began the guardian with long black hair covering half of his face, "we already have one of the humans fused and unstable while the other one is a mangaka that has already proved they could easily lose control! Who knows what the other two could do?" he watched the Venerable with persevering eyes.

Other voices strengthened after what the long black-haired guardian said.

"Thankfully, it was only the antechamber this time, but leaving this girl inside a manga..." added a guardian girl with curly blond hair.

The protesting voices increased. Heated discussions in murmured voices filled the room. Konoko looked fearfully at the old man and the commander as if she was on trial and awaited her sentence.

"If we assume that things only get worse, why don't we give it up already?" came the Venerable's answer to the audience's opposition. "Until now, we acted only by the rules! Tell me! Where did it get us? I don't see any progress! Do you, Krieg?" he added, turning to the commander.

Krieg gave him the look of a big feline that had just been disturbed from its peace. The voices of the guardians calmed a bit, pondering about their lack of results.

"I wrote those rules myself!" continued the Venerable on a more forceful tone than his usual one. "But let's face it! There may be situations that need new rules, even if only temporarily. What matters is to keep the situation stable! Isn't this the purpose of the guardians?"

His last words silenced the audience completely. However, they had unhappy, resentful faces. Seated in his big chair as usual, his chin leaned on his left palm. The commander stared at Soph, who was standing only two steps away from him. Krieg's eyes looked as if he was trying to break the enigma behind the old man's thinking.

"The girl Nanako," the Venerable began, "she is close to losing herself. What her friend here proposed is not unreasonable. It actually makes sense! Please, Konoko..." he addressed the girl.

Konoko froze once she saw all the attention directed to her.

"Well..." She quickly lost all of her ideas. The audience watched her attentively like a pack of wolves preparing to attack. "The Venerable talked to me about the balance," she started, trying to gain some time to recollect her thoughts. Her voice echoed into the room. She hated that effect. It distracted her. The guardians waited silently. Konoko looked around the room and noticed the commander. She was surprised by his gaze. It seemed like he was expecting a salutary solution from her, something to cling on. "He said that in the real world, the body helps the mind to alternate between reality and its inner world." she finally continued. "Well, I don't think this goes the same for everyone, at least not for me... I don't mind being hungry, thirsty or sleepy... as long as I'm in the middle of an intense moment of the story I write or read. I can't stop! I just can't! My body's signals seem to me like distant weak distractions that I can overlook too easily." She spoke the last sentences very fast.

The guardians started the murmur again. She could clearly hear the words "high Manime affinity," repeated frequently. The commander still paid very much attention. He made her feel burdened with a responsibility she could not assume. Konoko had to look elsewhere not to lose her ideas again.

"My friends are—" she stopped as the murmurs became louder. The commander hit his sword against the floor. The sharp noise made everyone silent once more.

"My friends..." the girl started again, "are the only ones who can distract me. They are the ones keeping my feet on the ground! Without them..." she mentioned the last words in a trembled voice and had to pause because her emotions choked her, "who knows what would have become of me." Konoko spoke the last part in such a small voice that no one could clearly understand what she said. They still guessed the idea by her repentant tone and humble demeanor. It was a moment when she had suddenly realized how important her friends were to her and how little gratitude, if any, she ever expressed. After a short pause to regain her composure, she proceeded.

"If they were here with me, I'm sure they could help me refrain from doing unnecessary, impactful changes into your world!" affirmed Konoko with confidence.

The audience became aroused upon hearing these words.

"It may be easy for your friends to do that when they are in their own world!" shouted a guardian. "But how can you tell what will happen here?"

"Who knows what lurks inside your friends' heads!" added another guardian.

The commander looked at Konoko as if he expected her to bring reassuring answers. But Konoko could not do that. She had no convincing words because she couldn't possibly know what was in her friends' minds, nor could she tell how they would have reacted in Manime.

"There are some among you with special abilities: you can restrain a human, even an author, when their emotions grow too strong," the Venerable addressed the guardians. He particularly glanced at Chie. She was one of the best. "No one said these humans would act on their own as long as they are our guests!" He stressed the last word.

Some protests started among the guardians. Konoko became so desperate that she lost all of her patience.

"You surely don't expect me to obediently return home!" she shouted in a defiant tone. "As far as I understand, two weeks have already passed in this world since my friend arrived and you could not help her return! She is in peril to lose not only her identity, but her life as well! How do you imagine I could go back alone and patiently wait? I have absolutely no reason to trust you to handle this situation by yourself!"

The murmurs stopped, but she was regarded with hostility. The guardians alternately watched Konoko and their commander. Commander Krieg glared at her like a watchdog right before attacking. The girl's outburst was not to his liking! He made a short sign to the guardians. A couple of them bound the girl with invisible strings and forced her to move. While pushed toward the exit door against her will, Konoko struggled violently. The Venerable didn't seem happy with the result, but there was nothing else he could do at this point. Saitou and Chie followed her with worried eyes. There was a fretting among those present there. They knew that if Konoko wanted to, she could create great damage before they threw her back into her world. The commander watched her with uneasiness. The Venerable held her look as if he tried to transmit her something of capital importance. Just before leaving the room, she spoke again while vainly struggling to break free.

"I'm not your enemy! I want exactly the same thing you do! Just give me my friend back and you will never hear from us again! I don't mean any disrespect toward your rules! On the contrary! Having people from my world with me, it would make it easier for all of us to not lose ourselves in this fascinating world of yours! It goes the same for Nanako! If she saw us before it was too late, she would certainly collaborate and we would all leave this place. Think about it people! We could be allies! There are things humans can do that you can't! Surely, no one can guarantee everything will go according to plans... but tell me honestly! Do you have a better strategy? And if you do, can you ensure its success?"

Konoko left the room accompanied by the guardians that restrained her. They were tense, fearing at every moment that she would attack them somehow. Against their expectations, she no longer struggled. With her face at the ground, she seemed to have accepted the outcome. Surprisingly, the intensity of her emotions decreased as well. During this time, the commander watched the door with sheer interest, as if he was trying to see things through it and far beyond. The Venerable too showed a similar attentiveness. Nothing happened, however. Gradually, the tension eased up. The Venerable became pensive and slowly moved away from the commander. He didn't go too far when the latter called after him. The old man turned around and met Krieg's intense look. Something was radically different about the commander's demeanor. He had a change of heart!

"She didn't fight back Soph!" he said as if he had a striking revelation.

The Venerable smiled with bitterness. Then he tried to leave again. The commander called him one more time. He wanted to bring Konoko back and he needed the old man's assistance.

"Please Soph!" The Venerable hadn't seen that puppy-eyes look ever since the commander was just a boy. He usually made that face whenever he got himself into trouble. His expression was such an unworldly sight for a rough, intimidating man like him.

Soph looked at Saitou and Chie and made them sign to go after Konoko. There was no need for explanations. The two hurried out of the room. An excitement started among the remaining guardians. The one with spiky white hair and the purple-haired guardian girl stepped forward and addressed the commander.

"Commander, can we go too?" the guardian girl asked, waiting with eagerness.

"They might need help!" added the white-haired guardian.

Krieg made them an approving sign and they left the room immediately. Then, the commander addressed the rest of the guardians.

"You go as well! I need you all to keep the barrier stable! We have another two visitors coming!" he announced in an energetic voice.

As the room emptied, he turned to Soph who couldn't help smiling in satisfaction.

"Are you happy now?" said the commander as if it was he who had just done the old man a favor. The Venerable didn't reply. Krieg scratched his head. "I sure hope the other two are as reasonable as she is!" He couldn't help gnawing the nail of his right thumb out of nervousness.

"It will be alright, Krieg!" responded the Venerable at last.

"Well, if this doesn't work, I don't know what else will..." spoke Krieg again.

*

When half an hour passed and there was still no sign of Konoko, Ichirou and Kenji became worried. They went to her room and knocked as forcefully and frequently as they could. No answer came. After Nanako's disappearance the other day, this situation felt very spooky. The boys' nerves were already tense. They quickly became impatient. In a moment of anger, Ichirou hit the door with his right foot so hard that it opened wide. Kenji approached cautiously. Konoko was not inside. The two entered the room. Kenji had a hard time trying not to step on Konoko's things that were thrown all over the place. Ichirou, who was already used to the girl's mess, didn't pay any attention to them. He discovered, however, some clothes prepared on the desk's chair as if Konoko intended to change.

"She was here recently!" he exclaimed.

"Are you sure? Maybe those clothes have been there since yesterday!" observed Kenji.

"I don't know, but..." Ichirou concentrated on remembering something. "I was here yesterday when I asked her about Nanako. I don't recall having seen them and Konoko go to her room since."

Ichirou was known to be a very perceptive person. He could observe very insignificant details that most people overlooked. As a result, Kenji stopped questioning his friend's conclusion that Konoko was in her room this morning. After he finished browsing a manga magazine, Kenji's attention was caught by Konoko's new poster.

"What's that?" he exclaimed while slowly sitting on the bed to analyze it.

Ichirou was looking in the opposite direction at that moment.

"What?" he asked, turning around. "Ah! That!" he added, almost disappointed. "It's a new poster Konoko acquired at that fair where we all went together. She seemed quite fond of it. It's more beautifully detailed than others, yet it's still just a poster. I don't understand why it made such an impression on her!"

Kenji seemed fascinated as well. Ichirou didn't recall having ever seen him so interested in a manga or anime object.

"I don't remember this poster when we went to the fair that night!" remarked Kenji, still studying it carefully.

"She bought it the night before, after the scene she made at the café," replied Ichirou while browsing a manga volume.

"I can't believe it!" exclaimed Kenji ecstatically.

Ichirou looked at him intrigued.

"Watch this!" exclaimed again Kenji. "When you hover your fingers over these pictures there is an orange glow that appears!" He glanced at Ichirou enthralled.

Ichirou frowned. He took Konoko's chair, placed it in front of the poster, and sat with his chest against the backrest, leaning his hands on it. He followed Kenji's finger closely. There was indeed an orange glow. But there was something else that got his attention. Some of the characters from the poster have changed since he last saw it during his improvised breakfast with Konoko.

"Oh god!" started Kenji jumping from the bed. "It has a vacuum effect!" he shouted.

"That can't be!" came Ichirou's answer. He felt annoyed at such an absurd idea.

"It does!" insisted Kenji in a serious tone. His cheeks flustered.

"There may be some air currents coming from somewhere," explained Ichirou while rising from the chair to check for himself.

He was still standing near the chair with his right hand on its backseat when half of Konoko emerged from the poster. The heads of two chibi anime characters—one pink-haired and the other black-haired—stuck out at Konoko's right and left sides respectively. The two boys remained perplexed. Upon seeing them, Konoko blinked a few times. The two blinked in return. Watching their stunned faces, she realized that she had a lot of explanations to give. But there was no time for this. With only her upper side and one leg out of the poster, Konoko stopped exactly where she was. The two chibi characters followed her, remaining motionless.

"I found Nanako!" Konoko announced in a precipitous voice. "I was just coming after you guys! We have to hurry! She's in great danger!"