The chirping of birds slowly woke Ice up from his stupor and bright morning light suddenly dazzled his eyes. Slowly shaking the cobwebs off of his frazzled consciousness, he was suddenly greeted by an unfamiliar room.

The bed was a wooden one as opposed to the metal double deck bunk bed he had at the dorms and there was a rustic feel to it. The small table, chairs and drawers were wooden as well. In fact, the entire room was wooden apart from the bed cushion, pillows and sheets. It resembled the interior of a traditional log house.

Going over to the veranda, Ice found it was really was a log house. A stretch of tall conifers was nearby overlooking a pristine looking lake. It wasn’t exactly scenery you’d expect to see in the Philippines.

He leaned over the railings and put one hand over his forehead to block the sun as he squinted to look at the surroundings.

“Where exactly am I? What happened? It feels like I’m forgetting something really important…”

Ice was still a bit light headed so he decided to sit back down on the bed to settle down a little. Then, glancing down on the small mirror on top of the wooden table, Ice suddenly did a double take.

“The heck’s this?! Is this… me?…”

What stared back at him in the mirror was a completely unfamiliar face. Alabaster skin that seemed so pale he’d probably pass for a ghost if you saw him at night. Light blue hair, azure, slightly angled and piercing eyes. He ran his fingers through his hair and felt up his face to make sure he really was looking at ‘himself’.

It all seemed so surreal. Then again, so was everything that happened to him up until now.

“Wait… What exactly happened to me? I remember taking the MRT to meet up with Lin and then… And then…

AAAAAAAH!”

Ice screamed as a sudden flurry of memories came back to him – and with it, came the realization that something outrageous happened to him.

It all came back to him – the people frozen stiff, the creepy mist, falling through the dark void and that mysterious voice…

“___What did it call me again? Counterpoint…”

While he was immersed in confused thoughts, a small knock resounded from the other side of the room’s door.

“Um, excuse me. I heard some noises down stairs so could you possibly be awake now sir?”

A girl’s soft voice inquired somewhat sheepishly. Deciding he won’t get anywhere just acting all confused by himself, Ice decided to gather some information first.

“Yeah, I’m awake now. Please come in.”

Slowly opening the door, a foreign girl appeared. She was a bit smaller in stature, and by then Ice had noticed that he had apparently grown taller than he remembered. Given the drastic change to his face however, he wasn’t really all that surprised anymore. She was carrying a small woven basket. And, judging from the smell, it contained food.

Ice was suddenly reminded of the fact that he hadn’t eaten breakfast yet because he was too excited about the not-exactly-a-date-sort-of-rendezvous with Lin. His stomach let loose a low rumble which, in turn, elicited a fit of cute laughter from the girl.

“Pffft… Ahahahahaha!” the girl held her stomach as she laughed unabashedly.

“What? That was just a conditioned physical response!” Ice retorted, sporting an incredulous face.

“Sorry. It’s just… It’s my first time hearing a stomach growling that loud… Ahahahaha!” she responded while trying to suppress her laughing fit.

“Alright, I get it. That was funny. Can we move on now?” he half-begged as embarrassment and slight annoyance finally got hold of him.

“Okay. Okay. Just give me a moment to breathe… Haaah… Ehehe. I’m really sorry. That was quite rude of me wasn’t it?”

The girl finally calmed down and flashed him a radiant smile. Ices’ annoyance flew out the window in an instant.

“Well, you were kinda cute so it’s fine…” he mumbled while slightly averting his eyes from her smiling face.

“Hm?”

The girl looked inquiringly at him and tilted her head in an all-too-adorable gesture.

“No, it’s nothing.”

Ice waved the matter off and faced the girl again.

Now that he got a proper look at her, the girl was definitely within the bounds of what Ice considered cute. He estimated she was roughly in her mid to late teens. Long caramel hair just short of her waist, large almond eyes, a small mouth and a slightly rounded face that radiated an air of innocence. A part of her hair was braided and tied up at the end by a small, pink ribbon which accentuated her overall charm.

“___Look at me, getting all flustered over a teenager…” he thought and made a complicated expression.

“Is there something wrong?” the girl asked after noticing the look on Ices’ face.

“No! Not at all! Don’t mind me.” he responded in an agitated tone.

“Hah.”

It seemed the girl decided not to pry further.

“___Geez. Just how clichéd can this get?”

“Anyway, if you’re hungry then please have some. There’s plenty to go around anyway.” offered the girl.

“Oh. Uh, thanks miss.”

He grabbed what was apparently a freshly made sandwich from the basket and took a bite. It was delicious. The meat was flavorful and the greens were crisp and fresh. The dressing was tangy with just the right amount of acidity to stimulate the palate and also had a small kick of spiciness. He finished it in seconds and grabbed more.

Realizing that just grabbing every sandwich he could get his hands on was rude, Ice stopped eating and bowed his head in apology.

“Err… Sorry bout that miss. I was really hungry and the sandwich was delicious.”

She giggled cutely, took some more sandwiches from the basket and handed them to Ice.

“That’s okay. I’m glad you liked it. Don’t worry. I made plenty more so go ahead and eat your fill. Judging from the way your stomach was growling earlier you must be pretty hungry.”

“Uh, yeah. Don’t mind if I do then.”

After wolfing down a few more sandwiches, Ice decided to finally gather some information from the girl who was probably his benefactor.

“Hey… Uh, not to sound rude but… who are you and where exactly is this place?”

“Ah, right! I haven’t introduced myself yet have I? I’m Seabelle. Seabelle Seyramour. You can just call me Sea. It’s nice to meet you umm…”

“…Ice. Just call me Ice.”

Deciding that giving out his full name would be a little too risky considering how little he knew of the current situation, he just decided to go with his nickname for the time being.

“Okay! Nice to meet you Ice.”

“It’s nice to meet you too Miss Seabelle.”

“Just call me Sea. I’m more used to that and I don’t like being too formal.”

“___She’s surprisingly easy to talk with.”

Feeling more comfortable with her, Ice decided to call her Sea just like she wanted and acted a bit less stiff. He was still wary though. This was still an unfamiliar place and he still didn’t know much about Sea either.

“Just where exactly are we Sea? This doesn’t exactly seem to be anywhere in the Philippines. Is this somewhere abroad?”

Disregarding the absurdity of being flown into a foreign country overnight, Ice deemed it more important to get a handle on things first and thus decided not to sweat the small stuff; at least for now. He was, however, met with a questioning gaze.

“Umm… Are you sure you’re really alright now? Perhaps you hit your head on an accident or something…”

“No. At least I think I didn’t… Anyway, could you please answer my question? Is this a foreign country? Somewhere in the West? Are we in America? Or perhaps the U.K.?”

“Umm… What are you talking about?” Sea asked as her confusion deepened further.

“Not those two? Canada then? Wait, is this Australia? Are there conifer trees in Australia? Hmmm…”

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Ice grabbed his chin and started thinking back on whether or not Australia had pine trees.

“Umm… I think we should take you to the village doctor first. You still seem confused…”

Seas look became even more worried and she tried to convince him to got to the doctor once more.

“Doctor? No, I feel fine see; never been better!”

Ice began doing jumping jacks to show he was feeling fine but the look of concern from Sea never disappeared.

“No, I don’t mean your body. You still seem out of sorts. Umm… Forgive me if this sounds rude but you’ve been talking nonsense since a while ago Ice.”

“Nonsense? What about my question was nonsense? I was just asking where we are. You’re not telling me you don’t know of America are you? The U.S. of A.? How bout the United Kingdom? I’m from the Philippines by the way; ‘[1]Mabuhay!’ and all that.” Ice snapped. He was getting considerably more agitated by the second.

“…….We really need to get you to the doctor! Come with me!”

Grabbing his arm, Sea tried to pull him towards the door. Ice shook his arm off her grip and proceeded to protest.

“Now listen here miss! It’s rude to imply there’s something wrong with someone’s head when all he’s doing is asking a simple question. Now I’m not budging an inch until you tell me exactly where we are and what’s going on!”

Sea began to look really flustered and seemed to be genuinely lost about what to do. Ice was incensed by the desperate look in Seas eyes and proceeded to apologize.

“Uuuh… Sorry. I’m just a bit on edge here. I wake up to find I’m in who-knows-where and I really don’t have a clue about what’s going on.”

“Umm, that’s okay. I can sort of understand where you’re coming from; suddenly waking up in an unfamiliar place like this. Anyway, this here is the village of Maleena. It’s a small village near the borders between the principalities of Ricksvale and Gran Sirius.”

“___Maleena? Ricksvale? Gran Sirius? What’s with all the flashy sounding names? Did the number of countries suddenly increase by a few while I wasn’t paying attention? Is the U.N. aware of this?”

Instead of things being clarified, Ice was even more confused by Seas strange reply. He tried to inquire again.

“Umm… Where’s this again?”

“Like I said, this is the village of Maleena. It’s near the northwestern end of the Valis continent. It’s considered neutral territory by pretty much all of the seven principalities and is pretty popular as a spa resort!

People flock to our village to bathe in our mineral rich springs. They say it has skin enhancing and rejuvenating properties among other benefits. Our patented Original Maleena Spring Water is used as a popular bath reagent by noble ladies. It’s really effective and the greatest proof is the timeless beauty of Maleenan women and their smooth, lively looking skin!”

Puffing out her surprisingly ample chest, Sea acted really proud of this little village called Maleena – proud of her ‘smooth, lively looking skin’ too by the looks of it.

She actually sounded suspiciously like those professional tour guides Ice listened to during company trips. So much so that he thought it wouldn’t really sound out of place if she suddenly blurted out ‘[2]It’s more fun in Maleena!’

But that wasn’t the issue! That wasn’t the issue at all!!!

“Eh?! Maleena? Ricksvale? Gran Sirius? Valis? Wait, which continent is this again? Eurasia? Is it a part of Eurasia? Eeeeh?!”

“There you go again with your nonsense Ice. Even little kids know about the name of the continent we’re in. It’s basic geography. What’s Eurasia or America anyway? Are these what Valis and Ehvenlande are called where you’re from? Those are very weird names.” she responded with a light laugh.

Ice was taken aback. Sea didn’t seem to be acting and this definitely doesn’t seem to be an episode of Wow Mali. It was too elaborate. He was having a hard time swallowing all the information.

Then it hit him.

After reviewing all the crazy stuff that happened to him, Ice, the ever avid gamer and otaku, came to one conclusion. Still, watching or reading about it was one thing and it happening in reality, moreover it happening to him of all people, was another story altogether.

However, the truth was staring at him right in the face. He was again looking at the small mirror; looking at his face. And he wondered why he was able to ignore that crucial little detail and think of it as natural when it very obviously wasn’t.

Besides, he was talking to a foreign girl with absolutely no problems understanding her, and there would be nothing wrong with that if they were speaking in English.

He actually worked as a call center agent so his English was quite okay. Problem was; they weren’t speaking English at all. And it certainly wasn’t Filipino. But he completely understood every word and could converse perfectly fine in this completely unfamiliar language.

He pinched his cheek hard wondering if doing that would wake him up from this crazy dream scenario. It was certainly painful. But he didn’t wake up.

“The heck… How the hell is this happening?… Is this even possible?… It doesn’t seem to be a dream?… A top secret experiment on virtual reality by some shady foreign organization? No that’s crazy! Then again ALL of this is crazy!” Ice mumbled incoherently while his face turned even paler than it already was.

Sea proceeded to hold his hand and spoke in a soothing voice to try and calm him down.

“Um, Ice? What’s wrong? Your face looks horrible? Do you want to go see the doctor now? Does it hurt anywhere? Please tell me. I’m here to help.”

Coming to from his reverie for a bit, Ice once again took a good look at Sea to finally make sure of his conclusions.

“Um, Ice… if you stare at me like that I’ll get embarrassed…”

Seas cheeks were faintly blushing as Ice stared at her with fierce intensity.

Yep. Cute. Real cute. Long caramel hair just short of her waist, large almond eyes, a small mouth and a slightly rounded face that radiated an air of innocence. A part of her hair was braided and tied up at the end by a small, pink ribbon which accentuated her overall charm.

And on top of her head was a long, slightly drooping, perfectly shaped [3]ahoge……

“Hmmm… It’s an ahoge alright. Yep. Definitely an ahoge. Ahoge… Ahoge?…

AHOOOOOOGEEEEEEEEEEEH!!!!!!!!”

Ice startled Sea so much with his sudden yell, she fell to the floor.

“Eh? What’s wrong with my hair? Why did you suddenly yell like that? Ice? Ice! Are you okay?! The whites of your eyes are showing!”

“……Ehehehehe… Nyehehehehehehe… Wahahahahahahahaha! Seriously?! You gotta be kidding me! This is one hell of a joke! I… I really did turn into one… I turned… I turned into…

I TURNED INTO A 2D ANIME CHARACTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!……………..”

Ice let out another heart felt scream.

-Out of this World End-

*Note

[1] Mabuhay – A Tagalog greeting. It literally is the imperative form of “live”, from the root word buhay (life). The phrase carries various meanings including “may you live”, “cheers”, “welcome”, and “hurrah”. It is thus analogous to the Romance language expression “Vive, Viva”, the Hindustani suffix Zindabad, and the Japanese exclamation Banzai.

[2] A parody of the tourism marketing campaign title “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” coined by the Philippine Department of Tourism.

[3] Ahoge – (literally idiot hair) refers to the noticeable slim forelock of hair that sticks straight up from an anime/manga/LN character’s head. Originally a hairdresser term for the “stupid hairs” or cowlicks that will not comb down, it later mutated into a literal reflection of a person’s intelligence. Thus Idiot Hair suggests that a character is stupid, naive, or strange. (This suggestion is usually accurate, but not always – sometimes a serious character just has funny hair.)