The author arrives from the land of the rising sun

The trio was seated on a couch in the living room, hearing, uncomfortably, a kid screaming and crying while arguing with his mom.

—Maybe we should escape now that we can ­—suggested Eli in a whisper. But a few seconds later, footsteps were heard coming down the ladder, making that option impossible. The woman laughed nervously before talking with the group.

—He’s being a bit stubborn, but don’t worry. I’ll convince him to give me those toys and I’ll send them to you right away.

Ken sighed. After going through so much, he wasn’t going to give up any piece of the cosplay.

—Maybe we can convince him somehow. —He stood up and the girls followed him up the stairs, both surprised by his sudden determination.

You could tell only by seeing his room, that Arthur’s nephew was a spoiled brat that got everything he wanted. Kids tends to be selfish, and especially those ones whose parents give to them everything, so it wasn’t going to be easy to convince him. Also, he only had 5 years, so the charisma and beauty of the girls wasn’t going to help. It was all in Ken’s hands.

He was playing with a train, seated in the middle of a circular rail. The sword and the set of knives was at his back. He wasn’t even paying any attention to them, he was just guarding the toys. Ken crouched in front of him, being careful of not invading his personal space so he didn’t feel in danger.

—You have a great collection of toys —said Ken with an unusual soft voice.

—Yes, and they are mine.

—Oh, you bought them?

—No, mommy and daddy gave them to me.

—Hmmm, but if you didn’t get them yourselves, are they actually yours?

—Yes!

—Isn’t it annoying to have to wait for them to buy new toys for you though? —Colt, the small child of Arthur’s sister, nodded—. If you were an adult, you could buy toys whenever you want.

—Really?

—Yes.

—I want to be an adult then!

—Becoming an adult is a long process, but we can start right away. Let’s play a game: bank simulator.

—Bank?

—Yes, you are going to be the bank, the guys who have a loooot of money to buy toys. And you’re going to do an investment.

—Investment?

—Yes. I’ll be the client. I’m going to ask you to give me something valuable, and I’m going to give you another thing as guarantee. That means that, even if I don’t return the thing you lent to me, you’re not going to lose anything. Then, the Sunday, I’m coming back here to give you not only the thing you gave me, but also some more toys. That’s how an inversion works.

—And what do I have to give you? —Ken pointed to the sword and knives and took something out of his pocket.

—And you’re going to receive this. It’s a very limited figure of Mask, the character from who those weapons are.

The eyes of the kid shined at seeing the figurine of Mask, and he immediately accepted the deal. Mirena and Eli were very surprised not only by the fact that he was so prepared, but also because he didn’t lose the patience and hit the child or something. Even the mother was surprised when they went down the stairs with the toys. And then they left the house.

—I can’t believe you lent something so important to you, Ken —said Mirena, adding a new piece in his jigsaw. However:

—That thing? That was just a random $2 figurine I bought some time ago. Of course I would never give away something that I actually appreciate. That kiddo absolutely felt for my lie. —That way, she completely obliterated that piece; Ken was still Ken.

The Friday Alice came to the apartment to deliver the clothes of the costume perfectly arranged to fit Ken. Just then, finally, they had all the pieces of both cosplays.

—I’m going to try this out —Ken said, grabbing the pants, the shirt and coat, the mask, the wig and the weapons from the bed. Then he went to the bathroom and changed his clothes.

Meanwhile, Mirena was looking to the opposite wall. She felt very stupid, but she was nervous and she had no idea why. And when the bath’s door was open, she even had a shiver.

—Yes, I think this fits very well. It’s even very comfortable; I thought it was going to be a pain in the ass. —However, Mirena wasn’t turning around. She was still looking at the wall—. You don’t want to see it?

—No, I want to wait until tomorrow… —She thought about it twice, and then changed her mind and tuned around­—. Wait no, I want to see it now!

—Too late! —responded Ken, who already locked himself in the bathroom again.

—Fuck.

Anyway, it was just one day. One more day and she would see him dressed as Mask. Why did she wanted to see that so much, and why was she so anxious about it? She had no idea, but she expected to find the answer when seeing him.

Meanwhile, in the antipodes…

That night the airport was closed for everyone, except for one person. He, along with his assistant, walked through the airstrip and boarded the private plane.

Yoriyuki Yamahito sat next to the window, since he loved to see the clouds when flying, especially at night, when the sky, even if less visible, felt more mysterious and stunning.

—We have a very tight schedule… —was saying his assistant. He was a bit upset about it, and Yamahito knew it.

—Sorry for dragging you into this tour.

—Why did you accepted so many invitations from events in the same country?

—I barely go out, so I wanted to seize the opportunity now that I’m going there. Sorry, I wasn’t aware of how tough it’s going to be.

The assistant sighed and shrugged. There was nothing he could do rather than rant, since Yoriyuki was the boss.

The writer took a folded paper from out of his pocket and opened it.

—What is that?

—Oh, nothing —Yoriyuki responded—, just a drawing from a fan.

—Wow, you really care about your fans lately, don’t you?

Yamahito stared the drawing in silence. It showed a small studio apartment, with anything remarkable rather than a calendar. It was in English, and even if the exact date wasn’t pointed out, the month and the year matched the current.

The drawing was made in a way that it looked like if the camera was on the floor, showing only two walls and the roof of the studio apartment. And there was one person looking directly at the “camera”, with a surprised face. A male with black and messy hair.

Of course, it wasn’t a fan-art, he didn’t care about those things at all.

When Mirena disappeared, he became unable to write about her. Every time his fingers tried to bring her back, the words on the document changed, like if some kind of weird auto-corrector infected his computer. He tried to write in a cellphone, in a laptop, even on paper, but always happened the same result. Somehow, he had lost control over his own world, and that was all the Witch’s fault.

But after a long fight against his own creation, he managed to get that: a drawing from the Witch of Barriers, a drawing of the last thing she saw when sending Mirena out of Sekaunmei’s world.

That happened some months ago, after he gave up on bringing back Mirena and sent the manuscript to the editorial. That meant that the Witch sent Mirena not only to real world, but also to another country and some months in the future.

The time for her incarnation came, and that was the only reason why he accepted the invitations to so many events: in some of them, maybe, he would be able to find her.

He went to the balcony and sat on the emergency stairs, covered with a sheet and holding a hot cup of coffee with both hands.

The sky was still orange in the east and a bit dark on the west. Some stars seemed reluctant to disappear.

Even if it was still early, Ken couldn’t sleep. So many things were going to happen that day that he was anxious. And scared.

That could be his last day with Mirena. Because of that, he wanted to have a great and fun day, but he was unsure if he was capable. The sadness for her probable departure and the frustrations for wanting to confess but not being brave enough, those feelings were too strong. And he was too weak to defeat them.

After finishing his breakfast, he went back inside. Eventually, Mirena also woke up, and her energy made him forget all the worries. But they were there, screaming, and he wasn’t going to be able to shut up the voices much longer.

17 characters in mind, and just in a few minutes, he had to choose one.

Eli came approximately at 10 am, carrying a bag where she had the things for her own cosplay. Because of all the treasure hunt thing going on, Mirena’s training was almost stopped, so she still had a lot of ignorance about anime world. Of course, since they already had all they wanted, there was, in fact, no need for her to keep acting as an old-school otaku (if there was a need before to begin with). but Ken was obsessed with not allowing his lies to be revealed, and he wasn’t going to lose the last day.

He barely could see some things in the bag: something fluffy and pink, and a lot of black fabric. With that poor information, when Eli went to the bathroom to dress-up, he made a mental list of the characters she could be cosplaying.

17 characters matched with the description; 3 were male, so they were unlikely but not impossible, since a lot of people tends to cosplay as characters of another genre. 7 were female but had very, very different body. Of course, there are tricks to change some body proportions, but Eli’s bag seemed not very full, like if it only had clothes, accessories and the wig, the basics. Therefore, he discarded those 7. 2 were from very underrated and unknown anime, so even if Eli was cosplaying one of those, nobody would blame Mirena for not knowing those characters.

From the 5 characters left, he chose one based on her personality and how likely it was for Eli to know and like that character. Then searched for it on the internet, and forced Mirena to read the main article about that character.

And the result of his efforts was:

—How do I look? —asked Eli, coming out from the bathroom.

—Oh, it’s Mike from Gyunbunshi! —Ken exclaimed. She had a short and pink wig, crowned with cat ears matching the color. The upper part was a black top with an unnecessary amount of golden zippers in the front, back and sides. With makeup she drew cat whiskers and three hearts in the tummy. The pants were short and also black, with a belt (which buckle had the form of a cat) that held a pink and fluffy tail. Her legs were covered from the cold by two black tights. Lastly, the shoes were also black with white shoelaces, and she was holding a bag with the character's name written on it in white thread.

—You’re so cute! ­—said Mirena—. Oh, I’m sorry, I need to check something in my phone, I think my mom was texting me.

Ken didn’t get it right, but at least they had a plan B. Mirena grabbed the phone and she searched for that character, while Ken started to talk with Eli and strategically throwing some data about the characters and the anime she was cosplaying.

—Are you going to be ok by the way? —asked Ken after saying all he wanted—. It’s kinda cold outside.

—You never went to a convention, didn’t you? Inside it tends to be pretty hot! I hope so. Ok, now it’s your turn, are you ready?

—I guess I have no choice —he said, but actually, he was a bit exited. With the clothes under the arm, he went into the bathroom.