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MIS:17: Unbound

Synopsis

Nara discusses the concept of Unbounds with Chiaki. Nara is skeptical.

Author Notes

"Watch this, friends. You can actually pinpoint the second when her mind rips in half." XD

Seriously though, there's a lot to take in here. From the definition of Unbound (a term you should probably get used to, as you'll be hearing it a lot going forward), to Nara's personal stance on its legitimacy, to Chiaki realizing that her reality sounds absurd to people. The idea of an Unbound may be a known concept in this world, but it seems it's not a well understood or widely believed one from the sounds of it.

And yeah, Nara comes off pretty harsh, but be honest: if you met a person who kept insisting they were from another world - minutes after meeting them - how readily would you believe them? It's quite the statement to make, after all. Especially without any hard proof. Do you take them at face value right away, or do you assume it's the setup to a weird prank or game or something?

Or imagine the other way around. In the hypothetical scenario where you're in Chiaki's shoes right now, what would you say? What can you say?

Redge seemed to believe in Unbounds, but I wonder how common that is...

Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this week's pages giving a lot to think about. Next week, we'll shift gears a bit and have some fun. :)

Transcript

You’re making a face, Chiaki. What’s on your mind?
You’re really asking that?
I’m sorry. I probably should’ve told you more gently. I was just thrown off by your question, and felt it was better I explain as directly as possible. You’re likely going to meet a lot of people who were directly affected.
All the more reason I hoped you’d stay home and rest for a few days. I know you’re young, but it’s strange to see even someone your age completely unaware of what happened back then.
It’s good that you’ll be set up in my classroom, though, given you don’t remember anything. This way you can get acquainted with our history and customs and-
I told you, it’s not that I don’t remember…
It’s that you were never here. I know. That’s what you keep saying, but forgive me if I’m still struggling a bit with that.
Just please do me a favor: if anyone asks why you don’t know basic things, just say it’s amnesia, for now. I think that’s going to be easier for folks to accept than “you came from another world.”
But didn’t Redge-san say something about me being an… Unbound, I think?
I’m surprised you caught that. You have very selective hearing, Chiaki.
My mom and teachers say the same thing!
Okay, but what is an Unbound?
Put simply, someone not bound to the world they were born into.
But unless you can explain how someone traverses from one world into another, I’m going to have to call it nonsense.
Perhaps you can clarify, then? You said your friends were fighting in front of your school and then you fell, right? But how does that add up?
Does your school keep a teleportation device on the front lawn?
Did one of your friends cast some spell and you got caught in the crossfire?
I, um... I hit my head on the school gate.
So you bonked your head, and woke up somewhere unsure how you got there. It just sounds an awful lot like memory loss to me.
Okay, but you’ve never seen one of these, right?
I can’t say that I have, no.
But there’s other countries out there besides Rose Kingdom, and I haven’t been to most of them. I’m sure there’s lots of things I haven’t seen.
Having a strange toy doesn’t prove anything.
There’s just no definitive proof that you weren’t already here before I found you. And the same goes for every other alleged Unbound.
I’m not calling you a liar, mind. I believe that you believe this. But I’m still going to need something a bit more solid to accept it, myself.

Links and References

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