Akari Soto returned to her house to pick up some supplies and necessities to discover that somebody was already inside, waiting for her.

    He sat in a dark corner, a tall man in a leather jacket, a long black sword in his lap, his long hair drawn into a ponytail and a scar down his left cheek.  For a moment, Akari considered calling in the security detail who had escorted her home, but decided against it.  She knew exactly who he was – she knew him as well as she knew herself.

    “You weren’t hard to find,” said Daiki Yamato.

    “I was never trying to be,” Akari said.  “You’re actually him, in the flesh – you’re Daiki Yamato!”

    “You know, when your friends told me I was fictional, I didn’t believe them at first,” Daiki said.  “But there was this little part of me that kept pushing to know for certain.  So I went to a bookstore and I asked them if they had ever heard of a light novel series about a character named Daiki Yamato.  And they had.”  He held up a copy of the first volume of Ascension of the Legendary Sword Hero.  “Do you have any idea of what it’s like to read your own abduction and trauma, along with every thought you had as it happened?”

    Akari sat down.  “That can’t have been comfortable.  Can I offer you some tea, or something to eat?”

    “I’ll pass,” Daiki said.  “So, what should I call you?  My author, or creator?  There’s no world in which I’m going to call you my god.”

    “Akari Soto is fine,” Akari said.  “I’ve never been one for titles.  How did you find me, anyway?”

    “I used the internet,” Daiki replied.  “I’m from Japan, remember?  This may not be my Japan, but everything still works the same way.”

    “So, I was really hoping you’d make contact,” Akari said.  “I’m working with these people at the JSDF and we could really use your help.”

    “I’m not interested in them, or whatever they’re fighting over,” Daiki stated.  “I just want to know one thing: why haven’t I been able to go back home to my Japan with Athena yet?”

    “You have to defeat the devil king first,” Akari said.  “That will be the end of your story, and then you’ll be free of the sword and be able to go home.”

    Daiki shook his head.  “Please don’t lie to me.  You of all people should know better than to do that.”

    “I’m not lying,” Akari said.  “I can show you the outline for the rest of the series.”

    “Yes you are,” Daiki stated.  “You have no intention of letting me confront and defeat the devil king, not for a good long time.”

    Akari startled and opened her mouth to protest, and then decided against it.  “How could you possibly know that?” she said.

    “I’m a light novel reader, remember?” Daiki said.  “You created me to have a bedroom full of light novel series, with every single volume read at least twice.  I know how pacing works.  We should have confronted the devil king months ago based on where we are in the narrative.  Instead, we keep having to deal with trivialities.  You’re padding the series out.”

    Akari’s shoulders slumped.  “Yes.”

    “Why?”

    “Do I really have to say it?”

    Daiki pointed at her.  “I want to hear it from my creator’s lips.”

    Akari rubbed the back of her head.  “I want your books to be picked up for an anime series.”

    When Akari made a fleeting eye contact again, she saw nothing but disgust in Daiki’s eyes.  “Well, at least you admitted it,” he said.

    “I don’t blame you for hating me,” Akari said.  “We don’t write our stories thinking that we’ll one day have to answer to our characters for what happens to them.  And I know there’s nothing I can say to you that won’t make me sound like a terrible person for the story I wrote you into.”

    “Can you get me home?” Daiki asked.

    “Yes.”

    Daiki cocked his head.  “The ones you’re working with didn’t seem very certain about that.”

    “They don’t know what I know,” Akari said.

    “But you’re not going to tell me what you know unless I come in,” Daiki stated.

    Akari looked at the floor.

    “That’s what I thought,” Daiki said.

    “Look, Atria and Captain Infinite and the others are really good people,” she said.  “And the other side have this power source from Atria’s world that Atria’s trying to recover before it explodes and kills a lot of innocent people.  It’s really important, and they could use your help.”

    Daiki looked into her eyes.  “I told you, I don’t care.  The only thing I care about is getting back to Athena, wherever she may be, and taking her back to my Japan.  But even if you send me back to my story, you’re not going to let me go home until you’ve got an anime series.  Or perhaps you’ll have her die in the final encounter, so that I can return home in a bittersweet ending.”

    “That is not how your story ends,” Akari declared.  “I promise.”

    “You know, I still have nightmares about what Saline and the royal family did to me,” Daiki said.  “They ripped me from my home, took everything away from me, threatened and cajoled me into doing their bidding, tried to destroy the new life I built over and over again, attempted to murder the woman I love...and all of that came from you.  You’re not just no different from them, you are them.”

    “There’s nothing I can say that will make this better, I know that,” Akari said.  “As Atria told me, what happened to you may just be entertainment to the reader, but to you it’s your life.  I get that.  But, I promise I can get you home if you help us, and we need all the help we can get.  The abilities the Black Sword gives you could tip the balance in our favour.”

    “I think we’re done here,” Daiki stated, standing up.

    “Athena came from me too!” Akari declared.  “Surely that counts for something.”

    “So I should accept all the trauma and loss because you gave me somebody to care about as well?”

    “It wasn’t all bad,” Akari said.  “That’s all I’m saying.  Your story has a happy ending.”

    “It would be easier to believe that if you hadn’t already lied to me,” Daiki said.

    Akari winced.  “Look, we’re at the barracks at the Camp Asaka Japanese Self-Defence Force base.  Even if you don’t trust me, just come and listen to what Atria has to say.  Please, just hear her out.”

    Daiki turned his back on her and walked out the door.  Akari raced after him to find the security detail leveling their guns at him.

    “Just let him go!” Akari ordered.  “Please, just let him go.  I owe him that much.”

    As the soldiers lowered their rifles, she saw Daiki Yamato look at her one last time, shake his head, and then walk off into the night.

NEXT: “Death”