I sat down on the couch next to Mike and Tre. Tre was watching some kind of porn on the television and Mike was reading some kind of book backwards. I looked at Mike.

"Mike, are you stupid?" I asked. "You are reading that book backwards." I turned the book around and put him in the right direction. "In America, we read left to right."

Mike looked at me like I was the stupid one. "No, Billie, you have it wrong. This is manga." Mike pointed to the book. "You read it backwards."

I was so confused. What is manga? Like, some kind of Bible? Why was Mike reading a Bible? And why is it printed backwards? Mike could tell I was puzzled by this stupid book.

"Let me explain," Mike began "Manga is Japanese drawing, or comic books. They are really funny, and are about just about anything the author wants it to be about. And, since the Japanese read from right to left, they are printed right to left. So, you read it they way the Japanese do, but in American they print it in English so that we can read it."

I understood. Mike help up the book so that I could see the cover. "Fullmetal Alchemist?" I read aloud. "What is an alchemist?"

Mike signaled for me to follow him. I got up and followed him to his room. He closed the door and walked over to his bookcase. He pulled on a book and the bookshelf moved out of the way of a torch-lit path. I followed him down the path into a room full of books. Mike led me over to some seventeen books titled "Fullmetal Alchemist" Mike picked out a book and handed it to me.

"That is volume one of the series. Start reading it and you will know all about it." Mike explained.

I looked at the book and opened it. I tried to read it, but I was so confused. "Mike…help me..?" I asked my friend.

Mike took about ten minutes to explain it to me, and before I know it, I was on my way to becoming a manga freak. I sat down and began to read all about Ed and Al.

"Billie, before you go any further, I want to explain some rules." Mike paced. "This room is never to be discovered by anyone. I have every manga in the world in this room. Never tell anyone about it. You can come in here anytime you like, and stay as long as you like, but none of my books are to be ruined in any way, or lost."

I gave him a thumbs up and spent the next two hours reading about the wondrous adventures of Ed, the Fullmetal Alchemist and Al, his younger brother without a body, but a suit of armor.