The first 1728 steps

Sitting on the bed, Mirena was looking at him with the ignorance of a child while Ken was doing weird connections between the laptop and the TV. Actually, it wasn’t weird nor complex at all, he just plugged in the HDMI; but from her point of view, it seemed very hard.

—And it’s done —he said.

—What’s done?

—It’s time for the first lesson. We are going to watch all the 3 seasons of the anime adaptation of Sekaunmei.

—Why? I mean, I’m kind of an expert on Sekaunmei, don’t you think?

—Nah, a hardcore fan probably knows more than you.

—Hey.

—Also, the anime adaptation changes some things from the light novel, so it won’t be bad for you to see it.

—How long will it take?

—Let me see… each season has 24 chapters. Every chapter is 24 minutes long including opening and ending (and of course we’re not going to skip them, they are bangers). So in total it will be… 1728 minutes. That is, around 28 hours.

—28 hours?!?! Do you want me to be sitting and watching a screen by 28 hours?!

—Oh c’mon, it’ll be fun, I promise.

—I guess I can try…

They both were sit next to each other. I don’t think is necessary to say how nervous and excited was Ken for all this. Watching his favorite anime with a girl that happens to be the love of his live and his waifu incarnated; he was living the dream.

She was still a bit reluctant about the idea. With such a huge world to explore why would anyone choose to spend 29 hours just watching TV? However, Ken looked quite happy with the situation, more than ever. Actually, that was probably the first time she saw him so genuinely happy, so she didn’t want to screw his mood.

“If so many people like this, then it can’t be that bad” she thought.

Not more than one scene was needed to make her amazed.

It was a simple scene. A fluffy and brown bird flying in the blue sky. The clouds are very spongy, like cotton. The bird flied down while the main credits started rolling. Then it flew through a medieval-style city. Shining houses with thatched roofs, colorful and beautiful people, delicious food, cute domestic animals, etc.

—This is so pretty —she said, hypnotized due to the images.

—Contrary to the cartoon, which exaggerates the defects of everything to make fun of them, the anime style estheticizes the most beautiful parts of the world and the people. —Even if he had already seen that scene and others with equally or better animation a lot of times in the past, he was still as shocked and amazed as Mirena.

After the credits ended, the bird flew to the sky not being followed anymore by the camera. Instead, it stayed still and the logo appeared on the screen.

Right away, Mirena saw herself, a bit younger though. She at 13 years old was the first character to appear on screen. The small Mirena was lying on the grass, with an extended arm trying to grab the sun. The real Mirena also extended her hand, and saw both. They were the same, but also different.

They both were pretty pale, with thin and long fingers. The real one was bigger, of course, but that wasn’t the main difference. The real hand had slightly different tones in the skin. The nails grew up unevenly and were a bit dirty. The skin already presented some imperfections, even after just a few days. It was a real hand, with all the implications.

The tiny Mirena stood up and ran back to her rural home. There the anime introduced her mom and her 3 brothers, 1 older and 2 youngers.

She cried again watching this. It was a double nostalgia: firstly because of the past that would never come back. Secondly because of that world she was seeing, once so familiar, now so distant and enigmatic.

—When will dad come back? —She said. Of course, the audio was in Japanese, so they were reading subtitles.

—This is so weird —said the real Mirena—. It’s me who is talking, but not with my voice neither my language.

—He’s the mayor, honey —replied her mother—, he has big responsibilities.

—For me it was the opposite —said Ken—. It was very weird to hear you speaking English and with another voice.

—But he said he’ll already be at home at this time —protested the little girl.

—Maybe something happened and he needs to resolve it. The entire city depends on him.

However, the small and disobedient Mirena wasn’t going to be quiet. She went out and looked for her dad, running through the entire village and being an adorable troublemaker for everyone.

—Wow, I was really annoying at that time. Now I think the hate was justified.

—The anime exaggerated it though, adding more scenes of you being a brat.

—Oh, really?

—You forgot? Looks like you’re not such an expert as you claimed to be.

—Shut up.

At the half of the episode, the main conflict was introduced. Her father and all the public functionaries of the village were kidnaped by two unknown villains. The people gathered around the building where they were being held hostage.

One of the villains was a very big man, a least 2 meters or 6.5 feet tall, with enormous muscles. He was wearing military pants and a sleeveless shirt, all in black. He was standing on the roof of the mayor’s building, yelling at the people with his deep voice:

—If anyone dares to come in, we’ll kill everybody!

Mirena was terrified for her father, but instead of being a good little girl and obeying, she entered to the building by a small hole in a window at the rear of the building.

Silently, she reached the main hall. It was a big room with golden walls and a golden chandelier illuminating the place. The hostages were on the ground, being threatened by another villain. He was wearing an elegant suit and a hat with a feather, all in white. His weapon was a thin and long knife made of silver.

Unintentionally, the small Mirena made a sound, making the real Mirena quiver.

—Who’s there?! —shouted the villain. Mirena went out of her hiding, crying and scared—. How the hell did a kid came in? Well, anyways…

He wielded his knife, ready to kill Mirena. At that moment, one of the hostages stoop up and said:

—No! —It was her dad.

—Don’t joke with me! —The villain changed his course, and was ready to kill the mayor when another knife flew by in front of his eyes, making a small cut in his nose—. Rufus! I told you not to let anyone come in until…

He gasped. Through the main door came in a mysterious guy wearing a carnival mask. He was dragging the unconscious body of Rufus, the muscle man.

—Wh-wh-who are you? —asked the man in white.

—Who am I? That’s a good question. I guess you can call me Mask.

Right then, the first battle of Sekaunmei started.

The light novel was already popular before the anime, but it became very famous after it. Especially because of how good the anime was. Every single battle sequence was full of actions, smooth movements, great drawings, a good contrast, a magnificent color scheme, etc.

The battle was brief, but enough to make Mirena, both of them, fall in love with Mask. However, the villain pulled a trick, a smoke screen, and took advantage of the situation kidnapping Mirena.

—My daughter!

­—It’s okay, I’ll rescue her —said Mask—. You just leave this place.

—I don’t even know who you are! How can I trust you?!

—I already saved you, didn’t I?

At the end, the mayor had to resign himself and let the life of her daughter in hands of this unknown hero.

—I didn’t know about this —said the real Mirena.

—Well, of course, you weren’t present at that time.

Realizing how much about her own life she would come to understand from watching the anime, her interest in it doubled.

The child Mirena and the white villain were both at the edge of the roof. Not so long after, Mask appeared.

—Don’t come any closer! I’ll push her down!

—I don’t care.

—Huh? —said the villain. Mirena was crying of fear.

—Of course I wasn’t going to say that in front of her father, but I don’t care about her. I saved the mayor because he is important. A random child is not. Defeating you and your evil leader, the Witch of Barriers, will save more lives than just one girl. So prepare yourself!

Mask ran towards him without thinking. Frightened, the villain pushed down Mirena, and prepared himself to fight.

—You’re horrible! —yelled Mirena to the so-called hero as she started to fall down in slow motion. At that moment, a fuzzy, fluffy and flying humanoid cat rescued her.

—Please, don’t hate him —said Shishun—. That’s the way he does the things.

—What?! —yelled the villain.

—Bold of you to assume I was here alone —said Mask with a confident smile.

—You bastard!

The final battle started. Again, the animation went crazy to create the best first impression possible. They both fought along with the opening theme, a j-rock-like theme singed by a powerful female voice. When the music stopped, the villain was defeated. The last scene was the reflection on Mirena’s red eyes of Mask standing triumphantly on the roof. That way, the journey had started.

—It still gives me shivers… —said Ken—. So? What do you thi…

—What are you waiting?! Quick, the next chapter!!

Ken smiled. “I guess you liked it.”

They spent the entire Sunday like that, remembering the most epic moments of the series: the first adventure, the time she found the divine sword, that battle where Shishun was very important, the other time when Mask was kidnaped and they both had to save him, and of course, the last battle before the time-skip at the end of the season. So in total they watched 24 chapters, spending more than ten hours including breaks to eat and have a shower.

—That was amazing —said Mirena with the red eyes. No, not the pupils which were always red, the whole eyes—. I would like to keep going but I don’t think I can handle it.

—Yeah, me neither. However, we’re going at a good pace. If we continue like this, you will become an otaku queen in no time.

She stood up and stretched the arms.

—Now I understand why you like this so much. However, I still think finding real adventure is more fun… —She interrupted herself yawning—. Anyways, goodnight.

She walked to the bed and buried her face in the pillow. Meanwhile, Ken was thinking about her words.

“Real adventures? It’s not so easy… right?”

He always wanted to live an adventure, but he never looked for one. He always shielded himself behind the fact this world is boring, but was that so? If one actually goes and looks for adventures instead of being locked on inside a small room, would eventually find one? He actually wanted to live adventure or he was fine with a quiet life?

One thing he was sure: thanks to Mirena, he was a bit happier.

“Our best adventures were of the most ordinary. Go to the gym, go to the supermarket, even working. Everything was an adventure with you. Only with you I can feel that this world is fun.”

And that was troublesome, because now he had to admit that he wasn’t as happy before as he wanted to believe, and that in two weeks, if Mirena went back to her world, he won’t be happy anymore.