Science discovers a way to fully immerse one with the book, and literature takes off!

  Damsel in Distress

  It was another ordinary day of high school. Uki and his classmates were going to have an assembly. He walked into the classroom with the same bored look from yesterday on his face. For the past month, the class has been learning the same material over and over.

  “Another boring day, huh,” Uki says, sighing, “What did I even expect?”

  As everyone was settled, their science teacher, Ms. Slat, walked into the room.

  “Today we’ll be doing something different. Class will have to wait. Josh, get everyone in a single file..”

  She got up and motioned for the class to follow her. They walked through the halls, with other classes behind or in front of them. The dull mood was everywhere, as students yawned and groaned, shuffling through the halls with shoulders down.

  Something different, huh?

  The assembly’s topic today was on the newly discovered effect of reading on the human brain. Two speakers, full-time scientists, mind you, would be talking to all the students. The scientists that uncovered this secret called it “the world conscience of a story”. According to their discovery, if one focuses and gets lost in the book they are reading, the brain can experience said book as if it were real.

  “Cut to the crap,” Uki’s classmate, Hailey, called out, “Everyone knows you can zone out while reading a good book. So what?”

  The scientists chuckled. “You don’t get it.”

  “What if instead of just normally zoning out, you were in the story. In other words, what if you could change the course of the story you read?” People “ooh”ed. Uki’s eyebrows went up. He was invested.

  Uki thought for a bit. Change the course of a story..? He stood up and raised his hand.

  “So.. what do I do?” he asked.

  One scientist smiled.

  “You’ve annotated books right? Do that in your head.” Suddenly Uki got a tap on the shoulder by somebody he didn’t know.

  “What if I… trapped someone in a book?”

  The awkward mood of the conversation hung. Uki was taken aback, and shivered. Enga’s smile was too wide, and the gym suddenly felt colder.

  “Don’t.. do that.” Uki backed up. “Definitely not.”

  The person chuckled. “Maybe we’ll see each other again. I’m Enga.”

  “Uki,” he uttered cautiously. “But seriously, trapping someone inside of a book? That’s impossible.”

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  Enga grins, and scoots over to his part of the bleacher.

  The assembly soon ended, and everyone was given a copy of a book to practice with.

  Walking through the halls, new book in hand, Uki began to examine its cover.

  “Don’t judge a book by its cover.. well, here goes..”

  He observed closely. “Damsel in Distress by Lesmad.”

  No last name?, Uki thought to himself, Mysterious author.

  The name hung with him. “I’ll try that “world conscience” thing at home, I guess. I’ve got to get to science..

  Uki got to class, walking by those he’d seen before, and those he’d never seen at all. He dropped his book down a random pocket in his bag, and sat near a girl he never talked to. He overheard bits of her conversation with her friends earlier, saying: “My dad’ll force me to read this book.. I’ll never be able to see you guys again. He’s too overprotective.. he never lets me out of the house unless it’s for school.. my dad just wants to keep me reading and everything.”

  Uki thought hard on the girl’s predicament, and got an idea.

  It’s not the best idea I’ve ever thought of,

  but maybe…

  I can save her.

  . . .

  “Hey.” Uki said.

  “Hi. Not in the best mood right now.” she replied. “I’m Annabelle. You can call me Belle. What’s your name?”

  “Uki,” he smiled. “Nice to meet you, Belle. I accidentally heard your conversation earlier. what time are you gonna be reading?”

  Belle’s face flushed a deep shade of red. “Y-You wanna read with me..?”

  Uki nodded. “Wouldn’t hurt to try the world conscience with someone.”

  Belle thought for a while. “He’s only made one copy of the book he’s making me read. I could print it for you, but you’d have to wait about a day,” she said. “I’d bring it back to you next class.”

  “Sounds good.” Uki was too shy to ask for her number, so he left it at that.

  The class was learning about mitosis. “Uki, what’s one thing you know about mitosis?” said Ms. Slat.

  “Huh? Cell division or something, I don’t know…”

  “Go more in depth, come on, Uki..”

  “…”

  “Anyway, mitosis is in fact cell division. But to be more specific, it’s the kind that results in two daughter cells that have the same number and kind of chromosomes as the parent nucleus. If even one step goes wrong, the entire process becomes unstable.”

  “The... huh? This hurts my brain…”

  “Keep that up and you’ll be in this same class as a sophomore next year.”

  “Fine, fine.” Class continued for 50 minutes, and the bell rang.

  . . .

  Uki opened his door and hung up his house key. With his shoes off and his homework done, he went to practice activating the “world conscience”. He grabbed Damsel in Distress out of his bag and went to his room. “Okay. Damsel in Distress by Lesmad. Focus.. annotate in your head…” He sat for minutes… and nothing happened.

  “Agh!!” Uki threw the book in frustration… and nothing happened.

  “Why can’t I go in?! The princess fighting the dragon.. the knight locked up in the tower.. the dragon..”

  He ran his hand through his hair. “It should’ve worked.”

  Uki picked the book off the floor and decided to try again. “Annotate in your head..” He exhaled sharply. “Princess.. knight.. dragon.. dragon… drag..”

  . . .

  “Huh? What just happened..” Uki woke to an unfamiliar sky above his head. “I’m guessing the trick worked.”

  He looked around. “Yeah.. this doesn’t look like my highschool.” He looked down and noticed he was in a blue suit. “Don’t tell me.. the princess— er, prince.. is me..” Uki groaned, slapping his forehead. The air was fresh and birds he had never seen before flew through the sky. The grass was greener than ever… suddenly someone called out to him. “Takeru! Get me down! My parents left!” Uki didn’t look back. “Takeru! Don’t ignore me!” Was he the “Takeru” that person was referring to? He looked back. “Come up...” A girl that seemed to be in her teens looked down from a tower. She was about the same age was Uki. “Why are you calling me Takeru?” he asked.

  She giggled. “Don’t be silly.”

  So I’m Takeru in this world. Got it.

  “You’re right.. I’m silly, haha..” he found a ladder nearby and placed it at the side of the tower.

  Uki ascended the tower. “If you forgot your own name, you probably forgot mine, right? I’m Bell.”

  “Nice to meet you, Bell. Your name reminds me of someone.” Bell smiled. Uki stuck out his hand, and he helped her down. “Where to?” Bell looks down. “I want to find out how to leave this kingdom… I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do here.”

  “I’m just as lost as you, Bell. I just came here, I don’t really know..”

  Suddenly, a spear came flying at Uki. It whooshed past his ear, and then— “Takeru, get down!!”

  He instinctively ducked, hands over head, shut his eyes…

  …and blinked. Uki removed his hands from his head. “I’m back here. That could’ve— should’ve killed me.” He noticed his mom in his room, and she was confused. With her hand on his shoulder, she said, “Dinner’s ready.”

  Uki sighed. “I might’ve died back there.. thanks Mom.”

  His mom chuckled. “Dying from reading a book? This generation, seriously..”

  Uki felt everything. It was.. real. He and his mom went downstairs. They were having noodles. Uki finished up quickly, as he wanted to get back to Bell. But the thought of almost being killed with a spear stuck with him.. he found it hard to focus. “Maybe I’ll get back to her tomorrow…if nothing else stops me.”