Monday, October 25, 2010

Fictitious Preview 2

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Sunday, October 3, 2010

Fictitious Preview

Wee Boon Tang browsed through the web pages briskly, not giving two bits about their contents. He gave a sigh, as he watched another episode of K-On, season two, trying yet again to decipher the meaning behind the show.

That was when he noticed something. He clicked through the tabs on his Firefox browser, back to a few comments made regarding Mio. He gave a faint smile to himself as he read them again.

'Maybe it would be better if she never met any of them at all.' he thought to himself.

There, on his Macbook, Akiyama Mio sung to her heart's desires at the Culture Festival. It was episode 12 of Season One he was now watching, his favorite episode out of the show. It was when Mio's character still made sense to him.

"What are you doing?" a voice startled him. It was Akiyama Mio - or at least, his version of Kakifly's character - walking in Wee Boon's room all of the sudden.

It has been five years since Mio first walked in on Wee Boon's actions, how he had wrote a fan fiction based on an anime called K-On, and how she was fictitious, someone made-up to entertain, to amuse.

"Nothing," Wee Boon replied. "Just... browsing through some of the archives... your history."

"Hmph," Mio scoffed. "You mean the history of that whom I was cloned from. My original copy. Nothing in my highschool years is the same as portrayed in the show, remember?"

Mio recalled the types of torture Wee Boon had wrote her to be put through in highschool, how she was ruthlessly tortured till the point she had almost experienced total meltdown. Wee Boon called it a test to push her character. Mio called it a sick masturbation.

Over the course of five years - and a few therapy sessions held by Tang himself - Mio had came to accept this fate, believing his word that free will was truly granted to her upon her acknowledgment of her fictitious nature. So the writer assumed anyway, to the extent of his knowledge about fictional characters entering the real world.

He called it 'a new life' for her, where she is no longer controlled, her life no longer scripted. Appreciating that he had taken full responsibility for actions he unknowingly made, Mio naturally came to loosen her hatred towards 'God.'

"I know, I know," replied Tang with a sigh. "But you know, I still kept most aspects of the show the same in your life. I'm only human... and not a very good writer. I'll admit, writing Ritsu to be senselessly impulsive was a bad move... I know I can't undo that now but... I'm sorry."

Mio sighed as well. "Thanks for making her such a great friend, though."

"Yeah... great friend," murmured Wee Boon, his voice almost inaudible.

Gradually, Mio stepped behind Wee Boon's chair, watching the episode from behind as well. "That's during the Culture Festival, isn't it? When Yui had a fever..."

"And you had to take her place to sing upstage," interjected Wee Boon. "You were great..."

Mio blushed in response. "I... was just doing what was necessary."

"Yeah... you were..."

~~~~~~

Later that afternoon, Wee Boon took a swig from his whiskey bottle, much to Caleb Chan's surprise.

Caleb Chan, Wee Boon Tang's real life childhood friend. Had always been a buddy to him. Almost like a brother.

"I thought you never drink," Caleb commented.

"Well, it's a good time to start now," replied Wee Boon.

"What's wrong?" inquired Caleb, standing up from the armchair in the living room.

Wee Boon shook his head. "Nothing. Just a few flame-baits that reminded me... how mediocre she really is."

Caleb sighed. "Come on, we've been through this many times. She's an essential character to the band."

"You ever think that's just what we like to think?" Wee Boon snapped back. "They said that Season Two was focused more on character development, yet Mio was barely developed at all. Initially, I thought it was just a missed opportunity. Now, I think it might be because Mio had nothing in her personality to be developed at all."

"Any proofs?" Caleb probed. "If you really think that this is what the truth really is, contrary to what might had been our misinterpretation of Mio's character, then show me some evidence."

"Well," Wee Boon continued, taking another swig from the bottle, "someone said that if not for Ritsu, Mio might not have met Yui and the rest in the first place. That got me thinking about how capable Ritsu was shown to be in Season Two. She never needed Mio... Mio was just a side-character from the start, made for moe."

Caleb rushed over to a stumbling Wee Boon. "Hey, come on... that's enough with the drink, alright? You're drunk."

To which Wee Boon lashed Caleb away. "I'm not drunk! I've been cheated! My feelings... Why did I like Mio in the first place?! She's just... filler!"

As Wee Boom fell to the floor in his state of drunkenness, Caleb stared down on his friend with disgust. "Look at you, brooding over a fictional character like this. Perhaps Mio should have never came to our world. Your feelings deepened for her when she did, didn't they? Hmph. It occurred to you that you could just go merrily with a fictional character turned real, but then you assumed she was not the girl you love in the first place..."

"It was not an assumption!"

"They were but a few comments on the Internet! It was all because you were never confident enough about her significance as a character, not because you found out the truth!" In anger, Caleb headed down to Wee Boon's level and grabbed onto his collar. "Where's the pessimistic Wee Boon I knew, huh? The one who claims that the truth is relative! That the truth is your own to seek!"

Again, he threw Caleb's arms away from him. "Leave me alone," he said, clambering up on his own to walk away.

"Where are you going?!"

"To kill myself!"

~~~~~~

In a certain kindergarten somewhere, Wee Boon had broken the unbreakable rule - he had entered the canon universe, the original Kakifly-made world of K-On. Any interference made here could mean the elimination of the existence of K-On, along with Mio. That's why he needed to be careful. He had to see the real Mio herself. To find out the truth, perhaps.

There, sitting in the sandbox, was three years old Akiyama Mio, sitting alone by herself before Tainaka Ritsu came along and teased her again. It tempted him to pull Ritsu away. It tempted him to make changes such that Ritsu would never bond with Mio, and leaving them strangers to each other. It would possibly mean the elimination of Mio's character, since Ritsu might still be able to establish the Keion Club on her own without Mio. And it might also mean less pain for himself, for his fan-made Mio, and for the real Mio herself, if Mio never existed.

He sighed, unable to do it, and he turned back to the inter-dimensional portal he had came from.

~~~~~~

Sakura High. Wee Boon had headed forward in time in the canon universe. This time, he observed the highschool Akiyama Mio. Again, as he had interpreted, Ritsu and the others looked happy on their own, even without the company of Mio. He had remembered what people said...

'Mio is such a boring character.'

'Mediocre, there's nothing interesting about her.'


Sighing again, he left, too weak-willed to take the harsh actions. He turned around, and saw Caleb standing in front of him.

"What are you doing here?" Wee Boon shot.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Caleb answered. "You know better than to interfere with the canon universe."

"I didn't interfere with shit," snapped back Wee Boon, walking pass Caleb's shoulder.

"Well... I did."

Immediately, Wee Boon pinned Caleb against the wall. "You did what?!"

"Relax," said Caleb, raising his hands in front of Wee Boon. "This world still exists, doesn't it? And I assume that Ritsu and the others are still in the clubroom... without Mio, that is."

Quickly, Wee Boon ran back to the window he had gazed through before. It was as Caleb said, the Mio that had sat by the corner on her own was not there anymore, nor anywhere in the room itself.

"What did you do?!"

"Don't worry. She still exists. She's just not a friend of HTT anymore, or remember any of those bitches in there."

"What happened to her?!"

"Why don't you take a look yourself?"

~~~~~~

Somewhere in an apartment building, Akiyama Mio was typing away on her computer. She was writing a story, a romance novel, quietly, with a smile on her face.

"What happened to her?" Wee Boon asked, secretly gazing from the window by Mio's room.

"I stopped Ritsu from helping her out when she was feeling down about having to read that composition. Mio never read it, too embarrassed to even stand up on stage. She hid herself all the way through."

"So you made her an even bigger coward than before..."

"Just watch, Wee Boon."

Suddenly, a man came into the room, smiling. Not Flare. Somebody else. Somebody Wee Boon doesn't recognize at all. And he was sneaking up behind Mio.

"Mio's in trouble!" he panicked, only to be held down by Caleb behind.

"Relax, Romeo. Just watch."

When the man embraced Mio from behind, however, she smiled in return, returning a hug back.

"What's going on?"

"It's her boyfriend, you moron. She's happy now, blissfully indulging herself in her own world of romance... just like you wanted."

A tear came to Wee Boon's eye. "Heh... so I guess this makes fan-made Mio..."

"Just a fragment of your imagination, yes. I know I shouldn't have toyed with real people, but I had to try. I was going to try my best to revert everything if shit went down."

"Is she really happy? She might be just pretending."

"Come on, this is still the Kakifly/KyoAni universe we're talking about her. They aren't gonna pair her up with an abusive boyfriend like those silly H-doujins."

"Just make her live behind an illusion that seems like happiness, but it's happiness without reason..."

"Does it really matter? Look at how happy they both are - and they are going to be like this for the rest of their lives. Happily ever after, remember?"

"This is not true happiness..."

"And what Mio had experienced in the Keion Club is? Her friendship with Ritsu was something she had assumed to be happy, you know that. It was just support, to give herself an excuse to smile, to be stronger."

"Still... I want to make sure Mio is really not..."

"Being held hostage as a girlfriend under that jerk's will? Heh. You could always just pretend to be her father's close friend and ask her yourself. Her father seems to be taking several business trips recently, so the sudden appearance of his friend might not be that startling."

"...Alright."

~~~~~~

Later, while walking the street on her own, ever so shy and clutching onto her body, Akiyama Mio was suddenly approached by Wee Boon Tang - much to her surprise, of course.

"Wha-what do you want?" she protested defensively.

"Relax, relax," he raised his hands in defense, "I'm... just a close friend of your father's."

Surprisingly, she dropped her panic attack, taking the bait that he had set. "Really?"

"Yeah... Heh. Your father's been worried. He wanted me to check up on you."

A grimace came to Mio's face. It was clear that she had missed her father. "Papa..."

~~~~~~

"So he hasn't returned for a month now, huh?"

"He did write to mama just last week. But I'm not sad... I know he's busy with his work."

"You mean you are pretending not to be sad."

"What?"

"Your father told me lots about you, showed me some of your photos. It was clear you are trying to restrain your feelings, putting up a mature appearance to fit in this world, right?"

Gently, she nodded slightly.

"Don't worry. I'll make this quick. He just asked me to come here to make sure your boyfriend's an okay guy..."

"Don't worry. Aneko loves me very much." Her smile seemed genuine, the same smile she had during her previously existing club activities. "He cares about me, and he doesn't force me to change, to love me for who I am."

That was when Wee Boon came to a sudden stop, causing Mio to turn around.

"Is something wrong?"

"Huh? Oh, no. I was just... thinking of my... erm, ex-girlfriend." He began walking down the path with her again.

"Wha-what about her?"

"I... tried forcing her to change. I wanted to make her stronger. Heh. Turns out that I was wrong about who she really was. I didn't quite understand her enough in the first place... She was just an insignificant person..."

"No person is insignificant in this world. Why did you even like her in the first place if she's not the person you like?"

"Because I had thought that she was just too insecure about herself to help the people she loves... I had thought that she had only lacked the confidence to love... not that she never really love people."

"Your ex-girlfriend sounds like a real selfish person."

"Not selfish, Mio. Indifferent. Acedia. I don't know anymore... I feel indifferent towards her each day myself, too."

"Maybe you should just try and forget about her..."

"Yeah, maybe."

~~~~~~

"So? How did the talk go?" inquired Caleb, resting by one side of Wee Boon's bed in his bedroom.

"Well, nothing out of the ordinary. Seems like she's indeed happy with her life, if not a little..."

"What?"

"Mundane. Boring... er. Possibly worse than the original Mio who met Ritsu."

"Well, at least she's happy. And it seems that fan-made Mio, along with the rest of your characters are gone, too. Ritsu and everyone. You are free from the responsibility."

"Yeah..."

Together, they rested on the bed in quietness, wondering about their actions, if what they had done was indeed better.

"Why did you write Fictitious?"

"Come on, I told you. I wanted to make Mio grow."

"No, no. Why did you consistently write the story without fail, without any hesitation?"

"Because I... wanted to make sure Mio gets a proper happy ending she deserves."

"You're still not answering my question. Why did you stay with Mio these five years, watching out for her?"

Wee Boon brewed a small smile. "Because I wanted to have a good time with the Mio I love, the Mio I envisioned..."

"Your creation. God's creation."

"Indeed."

Suddenly, Caleb got up and placed a hand on Wee Boon's shoulder. "Remember when you were young, you always wanted to go on adventures with a girlfriend?"

"I was 6, Caleb."

"Yeah... Well, you were a big Pixar fan just seven years ago, before you even heard of K-On. You loved those stories, because they were the nicest characters you've ever saw, full of friendship and love for each other."

"What's your point?"

"A story, in essence, is just to entertain, but the characters themselves bond with the audience to relate with their humanity inside. Does it really matter what Mio was created for? Your version of Mio was a person you love. Sure, real people might not actually love as passionately as she did in your story, but god, don't you see how awesome this gift was? She became a real person for crying out loud! How many times did we ever wish that the real world is more like the fictitious one, full of people that love as unrealistically as them?"

"Yeah, well, it's too late now."

"No, I could still perform proper revert on the canon universe... if you want me to."

"What?"

"I could still ensure that I never interfered in the first place, bring Ritsu and Mio together. The problem is that the mediocre Mio you hated would exist as a popular character once again, milked of her moeness, making her more than an annoyance than the lovey-dovey Mio that's with Aneko now. However, it would also ensure that fan-made Mio returns, as if nothing had happened, and you could continue testing her, nurturing her into the character you had wanted."

"I don't know..."

"You still have the power over your fan-made universe. Did you remember the joy we had while watching those old Disney cartoons back then? They were so distanced from being related to real people... just like your Mio. The joy we had was from seeing an awesome character, someone we could only dream about to be, thrive in a dream-like universe, something we could escape from reality to."

"Hmph. You mean like Kakifly Ritsu and Yui? They were crazy fellows but... they were better people than Mio could ever be."

"Only because Kakifly made her that way. If Kakifly had the same intention as you, Wee Boon, to make a character like fan-made Mio, someone whom they could actually develop like Ritsu and Yui rather than drown in a moe-blob madness, Mio would've had the same amount of significance as the other two. Fan-made Mio proved it."

"But the truth might be that we are still playing 'Pretend' like back when we were 6."

"Yeah well, some idiot told me once that the truth is relative. I still believe that idiot."

Wee Boon smirked. "Pfft. Who are you calling an idiot, you idiot?"

"Well, then, Wee Boon, I best be taking my leave. Call me when you decided whether to do the revert or not."

After Caleb left, he dived into a deep series of thoughts to make the best decision he could. He had dreamed of giving Mio the true definition of happiness he had envisioned, to be fully able to appreciate her life, her beauty, after the storm. Growth after pain. The Mio of Kakifly might never be able to be anything more than a moe-blob, but that had nothing to do with him, he realized. This was not Kakify's Mio. This was his Mio, his story, his world. And He is the God of this world.

One day, he shall be able to grant that true happy ending for Mio using his own means. With a click of a button on his phone, he made his decision to live on to see that day.