When I had crossed the street, I looked down on the map in my hands to figure out where to go next and took a few slow, hesitant steps. The next moment I bumped right into someone, someone I was sure hadn't been there before.
"Excuse me! I'm sorry!" I said in my best Japanese, and looked up to see two young men. Thankfully, they didn't look upset at all. One of the boys answered me with a smile, but unfortunately I didn't catch the meaning of his words.
"I'm sorry, I don't understand", I said apologetically, and the boy replied in English:
"I said that it was entirely our fault for coming around the corner too quickly. It was really us who bumped into you." He looked at me with kind curiosity and asked: "Are you here in Japan on vacation? Do you need any help figuring out that map?"
I explained that I was in the country to study the language, which I was only in the beginning of learning, and introductions followed, complete with the phrases I had learned in class.
When I heard their names I couldn't help that I laughed – 'Shibuya Yuuri' and 'Murata Ken' were probably very common names, right? I still couldn't help myself, I had to comment, switching over to the more familiar English again:
"Oh, so your names are just like the Maou and the Great Sage of Shin Makoku, then!"
Even as I said it, I blushed, thinking that the comment was just as silly as if someone pointed out that a guy named Clark shared his name with Superman. The two young men, however, stared at me in shocked silence and then exchanged quick glances.
I was beginning to apologize for being silly and having overdosed on anime, when one of them – the one called Yuuri – took one step closer to me, stared me down and asked with an intensity that almost scared me:
"Who are you? How do you know Shin Makoku? Are you a Mazoku of Earth?"
I laughed nervously, not quite sure if he was only making fun of me or if he really thought I was playing a game…
"Um, that would have been cool, I guess, but no, I'm afraid I'm very ordinary…"
The other young man closed in on me as well, looking curiously – or suspiciously? – at me behind his glasses.
"I can tell you're not a Mazoku of either kind", he said, "so what are you?"
Funny, I thought, he even have the same kind of glasses… Then the thought hit me that perhaps they were cosplaying… but in that case they would have worn those black uniforms, right? These two looked just like two ordinary Japanese boys in their late teens or early twenties.
"I'm just a tourist", I said, and looked around me for clues, half-expecting people dressed as Yozak and Conrad to jump out of nowhere. "I don't… I don't know what to say. We do watch anime where I come from, but… I don't know how to play this game…And, you see, I really have to be somewhere right now…"
I tried to take one step away, but the boys immediately followed.
"Game?" Yuuri frowned. "Why are you talking about anime? Did you or did you not mention Shin Makoku?"
"I did", I said, standing absolutely still now.
"How do you know my title?" he insisted.
"Oh, come on!" I sighed in exasperation. "Kyou Kara Maou, guys! Give me a break, will you? This isn't funny anymore."
The two boys looked at each other, and I mulled over my choices. They didn't seem exactly threatening, but this was getting weird, and maybe I should run? On the other hand, they'd catch me in the blink of an eye if they wanted to…
The sidewalk we were standing on was empty except for the three of us, and not even on the other side of the street did I see a living soul, except a striped cat that looked calmly at something or other.
"What do you make of this, Murata?" the slightly taller and more muscular boy asked his friend.
"I'm not sure." The other guy seemed genuinely puzzled – was that possible? – and pushed his glasses up his nose with his right index finger. "I think… I think we'd better bring her to Ulrike. There might be more to this than what meets the eye. Or what do you say?" He turned to me again. "I'm going to ask you one more time: Who are you?"
"I've already told you!" I said. "I'm just an exchange student, there's nothing else to add."
"Murata", Yuuri said, "don't be so suspicious. I'm sure there's a logical explanation. I'll bet she's met someone who knows us… Hey, do you know my older brother, Shouri?"
I shook my head, although I knew very well who that brother of his was supposed to be, and the small hopeful smile that was beginning to form on Yuuri's face faded away.
"Look", I said, "I don't know who you are, or who you think I am, but I just recognized your name from this anime I've been watching, that's all. I'm sure you get that a lot; you must be tired of hearing it, and I apologize. Truly, I do. Can I please go now?"
"You're saying", Murata said very slowly, "that there's an anime about us? Where even Shin Makoku is mentioned? That's impossible! Besides, we're Japanese. Anime is made in this country; we'd certainly know about it if someone had found out about the other world and tried to make money out of it!"
I didn't know what to say. One of us was going crazy – it was just that from the look on their faces, I was no longer sure that I wasn't the crazy one.
Crazy as they both were – or as I was? – I was relieved that they still bothered to talk to me in English.
"That settles it, Shibuya – we need Ulrike for this."
"Okay…" Yuuri scratched his head. "If you're sure. I agree that it seems suspicious, and we were about to head back soon anyway, so…"
"On three!"
The young man who was acting like the Great Sage of Shin Makoku grabbed both of us by the arms and dragged us out in the street. There were no cars or buses but I still protested loudly. I was dragged to a big puddle in the middle of the street – it had stopped raining only an hour or so earlier – and I was wondering just how far the boys were going to take this practical joke.
Then I didn't have to wonder about that any longer, because I was sucked down, and soon I couldn't tell down from up anymore and water and darkness was all around me, and the firm grip on my upper arm didn't let go.
Next thing I knew, I was sitting down in water; I was soaking wet and I head the splashing sound of bodies getting up from the water. I kept my eyes closed. I thought that I could guess where I was, but I was afraid. Afraid of finding out if I was right, or afraid of being wrong? I didn't have the answer.
"Welcome back, Your Majesty, Your Grace! We weren't expecting you so soon. Who is your guest?"
It was a girl's voice. Were there going to be a crowd of young women around her, women with arms? Was I really sitting in the fountain right in the middle of..?
"Or guest", replied the voice I knew belonged to the boy with glasses, "is the reason we have returned early. We need your advice about her, Ulrike."
I opened my eyes and almost fainted from the shock of being surrounded by something so familiar, and yet so strange. I was in the fountain at the Shinou temple, all right, but it didn't quite look like I had expected. Or rather, what could I have expected? I hadn't been transferred to a bright and colorful anime world; everything around me was solid and real and solid, just like the Japanese street I had been crossing moments ago, but I was certain this wasn't Japan. Unlike Yuuri on his first visit to Shin Makoku, I couldn't believe that I was in some 'attraction' in a theme park or something.
This was the real thing. Not that I could explain it, but it definitely was the real thing.
Author's notes: Yeah, I do feel like I'm violating some sacred code of fanfiction by writing a first person original character point of view, but I just couldn't resist the temptation! Haven't we all sometimes wondered what would happen if we suddenly got flushed into another world? Hopefully you'll find this amusing, and if so, welcome to follow the story. :) Rest assured; I am not planning any canon character/OC romance in this one! And I'm not particularly plotting to "break up" a certain engaged couple this time, either. ;) (Though no promises…) By the way, I have not abandoned "Cherie's Baby"; I'll update when I have the time to write and when I'm tired of this little game…