Story Of My Life

1.

Sunday, 15th September 2013

It's early Sunday morning, and I am sitting on a cheap plastic chair by the manga section in the local library, surrounded by teens who are all reading educational books with expressions of distaste on their faces. I flick lazily through a random Bleach comic, one that I had almost definitely read and watched the anime episode of numerous times before, waiting for a streak of brilliance to hit me with an idea of how to spend the impending day.
"This is bullshit."
I look up to the left of me to find the owner of the voice, a boy around the same age as me - late teens/early twenties - staring down at a paperback version of One Piece: 2 East Blue (volume 4, 5, 6). Immediately offended by his description of one of my favourite anime and manga series, I glare at him as he opens the book from the front and his eyes scan from left to right, his expression clearly becoming more and more confused. I chuckle arrogantly, and he glares at me.
"What?" he asks irritably.
"Oh, nothing," I reply airily, "It's just, do you always read books starting at the end and reading backwards?"
He frowns, looking down at the artwork.
"What?" he says again, but this time unsure and curious.
"Awe, first time reading manga? Never mind, you chose a great series... Although you may want to start with volume one, not four to six. C'mere, I'll show you."
He studies me for a moment, checking whether I was serious or not. Deciding I was to be trusted, he nods slightly and sits down beside me, placing the comic down between us.
"I'm Harry," he says, as I open the comic correctly, from the back.
"Becca," I reply, and start to read the words, pointing out how I was directing my way (from right to left, then down to the next line).
"Miss Kaya! I've received the special glasses that you ordered from the store in the next town. Are they ok?"
I read through three pages until I'm positive Harry understood. I took manga extremely seriously.
"Ok?" I ask him, and he nods. I smile. "You read."
He takes a deep breath as he pulls the book closer towards him, preparing to read.
"That's why your captain was running late to the village. It's good that you knew this before it happened..."
He also reads three pages, and I clap appreciatively when he finishes.
"You learn quickly," I praise.
"It's not exactly hard," he smiles, "Just read it backwards!"
"It took me months to figure that out, actually," I say, "Then again, I wasn't reading a dubbed one. It wouldn't make a difference any way I read it, the only word I understood was 'yosh'".
"Well, I'm glad you were here to teach me all you know on the reading of manga," Harry says, putting the book back and taking out another, "You have inspired me to read the entire series."
I look down at the comic he had pulled out, and smile as I see the familiar One Piece comic that stated it was volume one.
"I feel like a proud parent," I say, and he chuckles.
We end up talking for what seems like minutes but is in fact hours, and I find it hard to believe I had never met this guy before.
"Were we married in a previous life or something?" I laugh, "I'm positive I must know you from somewhere. I never get along with people so well so quickly!"
"I guess we'll have to investigate further into that question," Harry says, chuckling, "But I know what you mean... We just kinda clicked, right?"
For a moment, we sit in a comfortable silence, resting our jaws from speaking.
"This is a little off-subject, but I'm guessing you're out of school, right?" Harry asks, "I mean, otherwise you'd be reading Biology Begins or something, and there's no way you're under sixteen..." he trails off, looking a little awkward.
"I turned nineteen on the fifth," I tell him, "and this is my gap year, before uni. How about you?"
"I'm nineteen too," he says, smiling, "But I'm not going to uni... I have my own self-set project."
"And what's that?" I ask.
"Oh, just completing Harry's Awesomely Epic Bucket List, nothing big," he shrugs.
"And when's the deadline for this project, exactly?"
"I've got two years. Deadline is December twenty-fourth, twenty-fifteen."
"Hm... And is this an individual project?"
"Can be. Doesn't have to be. Why?"
"Just wondering... Does picking up a manga slash anime loving girl to join you happen to be part of this bucket list?"
"The bucket list is always open to new ideas," Harry smiles.
"Is that an invitation?" I ask.
"Didn't you invite yourself?" he replies.
"Is that a rhetorical question?"
I wasn't sure what I was doing. I was young and bored, fresh out of school and ready to see the world. I didn't know what I was getting myself into, not at all. If I had, I probably wouldn't have cared anyway. The idea of fulfilling Harry's Awesomely Epic Bucket List excited me, because I didn't think things like this actually happened outside stories and movies; it thrilled me beyond words.
And I'd always been a sucker for thrills.

-The manga series I was talking about is One Piece manga, and the extracts were from Volume 04, Chapter 27 - Information Based, English dub of course so I can read it...-