The Anime Book

The Day that Book Fell from the Sky... and the Day Rain Became Cool

THE DAY THAT BOOK FELL FROM THE SKY... AND THE DAY RAIN BECAME COOL

"And six plus four, minus negative fifty, plus blah, blah, blah." That's what was going through my ear at that moment. Sad I know, but math and fourth period just don't mix. Because just before fourth is lunch. Get my drift?

I was tapping on my desk, my knee bouncing under said desk. Mrs. Little was a great teacher, honestly, but her math rants... not so great. They went on, and on, and on, and on!

Strangers! Waitin'!

Sorry, I tend to do that. I'll randomly break into song when any form of song lyrics is mentioned. No joke. (AN: As funny and fake as that sounds, I honestly do that in real life...) That one time during Chorus... cue shudder.

Can I not explain that please?

Well anyways, I was just staring blankly at the whiteboard, big brown eyes of mine looking quite stupid I'd guess when that cackle of thunder broke the silence. Some girls squealed loudly while others jumped at the sudden noise. I was the latter.

Well anyways, we all became obssessed with the pouring rain, which wasn't rare in Florida believe it or not. Weird as this is going to sound; rain is just so much cooler while school's in session. No joke.

So while we were all (even Mrs. Little) watching the rain which we couldn't even see hit the ground (we were on the second floor) something black caught my eye. I pushed my glasses up as I squinted and caught the vaguest outlines of a... notebook?

I blinked as Mrs. Little clapped her hands, causing us all to jump and or squeal again. "Come on class, back to work," Mrs. Little stated. Everyone groaned in protest as they stmbled back to their seats like drunken sailors. But me? I kept staring out from my seat. What was that...?

***

The final bell rang and I was half-tempted to book it to Starbucks to be in line first, when something crossed my vision. I frowned as I picked up the black notebook. Seriously? Are we in Death Note?

But there's a messy scrawl on the book. It was in Japanese. Well fahk. As much as I like anime, I don't speak or understand Japanese. I frowned before sticking the notebook in my bag. Who'll care what happens to it?

Then I start towards Starbucks. Small hot chcocolate (in August) with extra whipped cream. My mouth was quite literally watering at the mere thought. Ahhh...

***

It was now midnight. Of course I didn't open the book until now, everything cool happens at this time of night, uh, day? Screw it.

My phone alarm buzzed and I stopped it, opening the book slowly. The moment I looked at the first page my head burned. My eyes watered, but were uneasily dry in the cool room. My skin felt like it was flaring up, and I was vaguely aware of what seemed to be smoke bellowing from my ears.

Then suddenly, it... stopped.

At the same time, looking down at the messy scrawl, it all became...  clear. It's like a THIS PAGE IS IN _JAPANESE_ DO YOU WANT IT TRANSLATED??pop-up in my mind.

The messy scrawl became English causing me to blink and think (quite stupidly), Huh...?  You want to guess the cover of the book?

Do yeah!? Do yeah?!

It was called the Anime Book. My eyes widen as I thought, What a badass name.

The scrawl was still messy as hell, but it was doable. The book didn't seem the least bit water-logged either, even after sitting in a wet-ass puddle for eight hours it seemed. I squinted my eyes and leaned closer to the book to examine the writing.

But oddly enough, I still couldn't read the first page. Even after the translation pop-up in my head. It was still messy scrawl. Frowning, I turned to the next page. Blank. I shrugged as I got out a pen (my favorite one!!) and wrote, "Hey."

Now to tell you the truth, I was not expecting an answer.

Yo, came a written reply. I don't really remember the next few minutes after that, I think I had passed out, but when I regained consciousness I asked, "Who is this?"

Edward Elric, came the reply. Blank (I'd passed out again).

Who're you? I gulped lightly as I wrote, "Alex."

That's a pretty rare name. I took in a deep breath as I replied, "Yeah, people always think I say Alice." I chuckled to myself. It's so much easier to talk to anime characters when you don't have to worry about them seeing how awful and nervous you are. Especially when your bland like me.

Hey, people always are calling me small! I giggled. I should probably stay on Ed's good side.

"Really?" I wrote. "I doubt your smaller than me."

How tall are you?

"Four'eleven."

...

"Ed-"

YOU'RE THE SAME DAMN HEIGHT AS ME!!!

I bit my lip to keep myself from waking Sasha, my sister. Ed was such a great character. But now... he's real.

My pencil dropped from my hand in the realization.

They're real.