There is no friend as loyal as a book. 《Describe Method Online》《Wednesday Essay by Amika》

The Wednesday article is handled by members of the writing club, the "After-School Writing Club." It's our turn about every two months.


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Continuing from last time. Describe Method Online

Mingway, the City of Revision

While I was heading toward Mingway, the City of Revision, I was held up by a jelly-like creature called a Typo Slime.

It's gross, and I don't want to touch it. I mean, I'd hate to get all sticky...

But it doesn't look like I can pass without touching it. I feel like it's increasing right before my eyes. Marie appeared before me just as I was about to cry.


Right now, I'm at Marie's house.
After bringing me to her home when I was at my wit's end with the Typo Slime, Marie said:


“That girl who was in the City of Beginnings is a friend of mine. Her job is to guide people who come to this world. In Mingway, it's my turn to take over for travelers.”

“O-oh, I see...”

I wrapped my palms around the cup of warm milk Marie gave me and nodded, feeling small.
I feel relieved. This might be the first time I've been taken care of by someone in a land I don't know.

I glanced at her. She seems to like coffee herself. With a mug in one hand, she looks like she's thinking about something.

Even though we just met, Marie is a friendly person. She's treating me so kindly like this. But, I'm not very good at opening my heart to people I've just met...

Marie let out a small sigh as I counted the tiny bubbles floating on the surface of the milk.

“Hey, you were struggling with that slime earlier, but you don't know how to defeat it?”

“I don't... know.”

“If you can't learn to defeat things like that, it's going to be pretty tough in this world.”

She said this as if muttering, sitting in the chair opposite me with her legs crossed, then suddenly turned toward me.

“You know. Typo Slimes are generated from the sentences you've written up until now.

People gain the power to create sentences starting around the time they enter elementary school. It's something you refine and train over a long, long time.

However, there are many 'wrong characters' in the sentences that are created. Things left behind, just said or just written.

Those things you've released into the world are left alone for a long time, and then they appear in the form of monsters like that.”


Scary!! What kind of world is this?
I have absolutely no memory of my own typos until now. Is it possible that things I don't remember are attacking me?

Seeing me surprised, she continued.

“...You're not aware of it, right? That's the cause of this slime's generation.

Have you ever thought about how much influence the sentences you write and the words you speak have? That mindset of 'it's trivial, so I don't need to worry about it' is what gives birth to monsters.”

“...What should I do?”

I feel a faint sting in Marie's words and get a little scared.

“If your level goes up, you can defeat monsters of that level in an instant. There are many ways to defeat them, but... well, the classic way is to 'chant a spell.'”

“A spell?!”

“Yes. Even if it's a spell, it's a simple one. Once you get used to it, anyone can do it.”

When she stood up, she brought a dictionary from the bookshelf. The corners were tattered, and the cover was worn.

It must have been used over and over again. Even so, it didn't have an air of being treated roughly. Rather, it was wrapped in an atmosphere of having been cherished.

“At first, you'll need a dictionary. After all, you don't have any power or anything yet.”

Saying that, she muttered with the dictionary in one hand.


“There is no friend as loyal as a book.”


A soft light was emitted from the dictionary and then vanished.

“Hold the dictionary and chant the spell I just said. Just by doing that, the Typo Slime will disappear.”

“...Just by doing that, it disappears?”

“Yeah. They are monsters of typos. They disappear just by you carefully facing your writing and reading it back. Saying it out loud is probably the most effective. But, just knowing the solution isn't enough. If you do it over and over again, you'll be able to deal with it smoothly.”

I compared the dictionary she held so dearly with the cover of my own brand-new dictionary. How much effort must she have accumulated to get to this point? When I asked, she said she used to be a newspaper reporter. The history of reading back the sentences she wrote over and over, looking them up in the dictionary, and carefully facing them is engraved in that dictionary.

I hugged my own dictionary. The smooth cover seemed to be quietly bracing itself for the journey ahead.

I am still nobody. But, it is the nobody that I am who will open the path forward from here.

I looked straight into her eyes as she watched me with concern.

No matter how much I travel around, I cannot run away from myself.

“I'll try it, too.”

I felt like she finally showed me a smile.


(To be continued)


[Writer: Amika]

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