Oh no! I'm late for school again! How could I oversleep again after all the trouble I went through the first time this happened!? Its 8:00 a.m.! The bus has already left for school,and I'm not on it! I've got to go now! I quickly changed into some fresh clothes,dashed into the bathroom to brush my teeth,and ran down the stairs passing by the kitchen,not stopping to grab my breakfast,and raced out the front door. I have no choice but to run the whole distance from my house to the school;a full 2 miles to travel before I make it to my homeroom class. Mr. Ross is going to be so pissed off at me by the time I get there!
Before I know it,the school is within my sights. I must have been thinking so hard that time just flew by and here I am. With no time to lose,I burst through the main hall doorway and run as fast as I can down the hall and make a right turn onto another hallway. I continue down the hall until I reach room #92;Mr. Ross' classroom,and open the door. As expected,all of the other students were already in their seats,their eyes focused on their textbooks,that is,until I came in. Suddenly,all the attention was on me,and right on cue,Mr. Ross emerged from his desk and walked toward me,his eyes filled with anger and disdain.
"How nice of you to join us,Mr. Coswell." "You have finally chosen to grace us with your presence on this fine morning." "Even better,you're only 45 minutes late for class and today's test."
"Mr. Ross", I replied,"I honestly don't know what happened to me this morning. I went to sleep early last night and I set up my alarm clock for 6:15 as always,but for some reason,I--"
"Enough!",bellowed Mr. Ross. "I have had it with your pathetic excuses!" "You used to be such a punctual young man,but recently,you've been more and more undisciplined and disorganized,and even after I gave you that long detention yesterday,you still continue to show up late,and on a test day no less!" "It is obvious to me that you no longer value your education,and so,as a result of your continued defiance on the matter,I have no choice but to enact the most serious disciplinary action on you." "Attention class!",Mr. Ross commanded as he turned to face the students,"I need all of you to stop working on your tests and head out of the classroom,right now." "And make it quick." The students immediately got up from their desks and exited the classroom in an orderly but fast fashion.
After the last student exited and closed the door,Mr. Ross immediately locked the door from the inside and then turned to face me again. He had a very serious and grim expression on his face,more serious and threatening than I've ever seen him show before. Then he spoke once again;"Its a shame that it had to come to this,Mr. Coswell." "You had so much potential;so much vigor;so much intelligence,and yet,in the end,you have disappointed me like all the others in the many years that I have been teaching in this school." "I thought you were the one;the student who I've been waiting for in all of my 25 years of teaching;the student who would rise above all the rest and surpass everyone else,including me,in grades and intelligence and resilience,and would eventually become the greatest genius that the world has ever seen,and as a result,would catapult me and my reputation into the international spotlight,where I would become rich and famous,and my name would be known all over the world;then it would only be a matter of time before I would become President of the United States of America,and then,I would use all of this nation's diplomatic,economic,and military resources to conquer the world and become lord and overseer of the entire planet,and everyone would bow to me,the god of all humans!" "But after 25 wasted years,none of my students have proven to be the great genius that I so longed for and yearned for;by far you were my best candidate,my Holy Grail,but you deceived me;you let me down;you failed!!" "And now I will make you pay for all of the misery and trouble that you have caused me!!"
Right before my eyes,Mr. Ross transformed into a fierce-looking dragon. The dragon had black scales,with orange wings,an orange tail,and blood red eyes.
"Now die!!"
Mr. Ross the dragon opened his mouth wide and shot out a wave of burning hot fire towards me. I'm too terrified to move. As much as I want to,my body does not respond. So this is really it. This time I really will die. Damn it! No,I'm not ready to die! Not yet!! Nooooooooooooo!!
I sit straight up,gasping for air,panting heavily;my heart beating hard against my chest. I can feel my blood rushing throughout my body;I'm sweating like I just came out of a sauna. My pulse is racing. Just then,my mind catches up with me and I survey my surroundings. Everything comes back to me;all the events of yesterday play out in my head. The last thing I remember is Akemi telling me she's sorry and I fall asleep. Wow,what a crazy nightmare that was about Mr. Ross. Anyway,I'm still here in this room,in this place,in a world where anime characters are real people. That means that everything I experienced yesterday was real. I really have been warped into another dimension or planet or something. But where are Akemi and Hibiki? They're not in this room and I don't hear them anywhere in the cabin either.
I get up from the bed and walk out of the room. I find myself in what looks like a living room or den of sorts. To my left are two bedrooms at the end of the living room,in front of me is a fireplace surrounded by two sofas and a recliner chair,and to my right,there is a kitchen on one side and a bathroom(in terrible disrepair)on the other side,and straight down at the other end of the cabin is a door,which appears to lead outside. A little bit of what appears to be sunlight is filtering through the bottom crack of the door. Seeing this,I decide to investigate and head down the den towards the door,passing the kitchen,which appears to have no refrigerator,stove,microwave,or any modern appliances that one would expect to find in a typical kitchen,and I also pass by the bathroom,where I notice,much to my alarm,there is no toilet,sink,or shower,at least not ones that I or most other people would recognize;I return my focus to the door in front of me,and as soon as I reach it,I catch a glimpse of something in the corner of my right eye that makes me stop dead in my tracks.
I turn to my right to see a large,old-fashioned wood-framed mirror. Its covered with a hefty amount of dust and a few cobwebs,but I can still see my reflection in the mirror,and that's what caught my attention in the first place. I could not believe what I was seeing in the mirror. It was me,for sure,but not the same old me that I'm used to seeing in mirrors;no,the me I saw in that mirror looked like an anime-styled version of myself. This is just insane! It was hard enough for me to come to terms with the fact that I was warped into a world with real anime people,but to think that I've been changed into an anime person as well is...well its just...mind blowing!
Before I had a chance to reflect more on my startling discovery,I was distracted by the sound of a flute being played. It sounded like it was coming from outside the cabin. It was a beautiful melody;one which I didn't recognize but what sounded to me like some sort of lullaby song. I felt compelled to find out who was playing this heavenly song;this master flutist who just happened to be playing right next to the cabin in which I was residing. So,with intense curiosity taking over me,I walked away from the mirror and opened the door and stepped out into a beautiful outdoor scenery;a lush green clearing surrounded by a massive forest on two sides and a huge lake next to which was a small town,situated along the southern banks of that lake,and the perfect accentuation on this majestic view was the cloudless blue sky and a radiant sun,shining with all its glory.
But to me,as beautiful a sight as all of that natural scenery was,it paled in comparison to the girl playing the flute sitting in the middle of the grassy clearing. The sun shined upon her back,illuminating her long and silky brown hair,while a sudden gentle breeze pulled and stretched her hair in a dramatic slow-motion dance,flapping up and down,back and forth,and just as suddenly as it came,the soft breeze disappeared and her long,radiant hair fell back down to its normal angle. At that moment,she finished her song,and lay down her wooden flute on the grass next to her,and,as if she knew I was there all this time,she turned around and faced me with a warm smile. Akemi Himura. She is the first girl in my life who has ever noticed me,shown me kindness,and talked to me. Akemi Himura. Just who is this girl and what is it about her that has me so captivated and enchanted?