Tied to My Fate

5. Nerdy Syllabus

After we finished dinner, Elisa put on a fresh pair of scrubs and went to work, leaving Zach and me to watch TV by ourselves. It's weird, sitting next to him while he reads the screen. I have no clue what the show is about, and I feel so far away from it all, I almost feel like our roles are reversed. As if I'm the ghost here and not him.

"Sorry about my mom," he says as the credits begin rolling.

"Sorry?" I ask.

"She can be overbearing...even with strangers."

He's right, but I am thankful for it. His mom has been nothing but kind to me, even though I don't deserve it. A black bar appears on the screen, asking if anyone is still watching. Zach turns his head towards the remote that he can't pick up.

"I got it," I say, and click the 'yes' button on the screen. The opening song begins to play on the next episode. It's actually a catchy beat and even though the words are in Japanese, I catch Zach mouthing them. "So what's the deal with these cartoons anyway?"

He rolls his eyes. "Not cartoons, anime. There's a difference."

"They look like cartoons just in Japanese to me."

"Well yeah, but calling them cartoons makes them sound childish. Some are, but a lot of them have intricate and mature plotlines."

"And panty shots apparently," I say looking back at the TV.

He grimaces. "They're not always sophisticated," he admits. "You can put on something else." I pull my legs underneath me. It's not like I watched masterpieces, the TLC mess of garbage I spent weekends binging wasn't exactly intellectually stimulating. I never asked what he wanted to watch; in fact, I used TV as another way to ignore him.

"No, it's fine, just catch me up," I say.

A small smile creeps across his face. I thought it would be a quick summary, but Zach goes into a whirlwind of exposition, explaining the society where the show takes place, the vampire who is the male lead, and his infatuation with a woman in the center of an investigation. But what makes the situation complicated is that the woman is a ghost.

"It's based on a book written years ago, the book had a niche audience here, but the translation is popular in Japan."

"Wow, that's interesting."

He nods. "Since you're a beginner, I usually recommend starting with anime movies, something by Miyazaki or Shinkai, just to get used to the style."

"There's a process to becoming a fan of this stuff?"

He laughs. "More like a process to becoming a nerd, I guess." I like it when he laughs. The glow to his body is a lot harder to see when he does. He seems more a part of the world that way, like a living person and not a ghost. The woman on the screen is similar, drawn to look just out of everyone's vision, but enough to show her beauty.

"Well, make me a nerd then," I say. It's not as if I have any other labels assigned to me, and it makes him happy.

"Alright then," he grabs my hand, surprising me. I forgot he could do that. He pulls me over to his room. "This will be our classroom. I have figures of all the basics, Pokémon, Mario, Link, Naruto, Goku..." he continues naming things on the shelves until all the words blend together. It's all video games, manga (not to be confused with comic books), anime, trading cards, and board games that aren't Monopoly but take twice as long to play.

"Maybe we should have started with the movies," I say.

"Oh. Yeah, it does seem like a lot. I have a few on my system, give me a sec."