Empowering Mikasa: Manu and the Leap of Faith

The people of Mikasa were a strange sight to behold. Their skin was as white as the snow on a frozen mountain, their eyes blue like the sky on a sunny day, and their hair blood red. So far, I’ve only seen men that look similar to those bald old monks that bow before Buddha statues. The women are something else entirely. They have white hair pulled into an elegant bun at the back of their heads, and they wear dresses of light purple.

The man who brought me here is named Yohaleth. He’s usually called ‘Yoh’ for short. He’s from Mikasa, and he seems pretty nice. He’s taken me to visit some places with beautiful architecture, taught me about their customs, and introduced me to some of his friends.

“Manu! Over here!” Yoh waved to me from across the street, then waited for me to cross the road safely before continuing with whatever it was he wanted to show me. I didn’t feel like we were in any danger, but I still couldn’t help feeling wary of everyone around us. They all seemed to stare at me whenever I walked past them, which made me think they might be trying to figure out where I came from and what exactly I am.

We entered one of the taller buildings that made up Mikasa City, one with many windows set high up into its walls and laced together with black metal that shone like starlight under the sun. We took an elevator all the way up to the very top floor, then walked down a hallway until we reached a door at the end of it. Yoh pushed it open without knocking first and went inside without waiting for me. Curious as usual, I followed him inside.

It was a large room filled with shelves full of books, maps, and papers scattered everywhere on every flat surface available, including on top of tables that had been pushed up against each other so that everyone could have enough room for working or studying when they needed it. There were four workstations in the room, two of which were occupied by men who were busy writing something or another on their screens before them while surrounded by mountains of books stacked neatly on their desk tops.

At first glance, they looked like monks too except for their clothes: ordinary business suits instead of plain brown robes with only thin wooden sandals worn on their feet instead of thick black socks covering their legs all the way up to their knees. One looked my age while the other seemed older than my dad by at least a few years; both had long jet-black hair tied behind them into ponytails that reached halfway down their backs. The older one looked up when Yoh approached him later on after showing me around the room; he had clear white eyes just like his fellow Mikasans while his face was strikingly similar to theirs too except for the fact that he looked like an Asian man instead of an European one like them - Eurasian rather than Caucasian or anything else along those lines. He smiled when he saw Yoh approaching him; it wasn't big but he did smile anyway - then he spoke in a language that sounded foreign yet strangely familiar at once as well as beautiful beyond measure even though I didn't understand a single word he said aside from 'Yoh'.

I'm not stupid or anything - I've lived in Japan long enough to learn how to speak Japanese fluently even though my mom is American and my dad is half-Japanese half-American too - so I can pick up things pretty quickly if someone speaks slowly enough for me to follow along when listening carefully enough because this language isn't Japanese or Chinese either... unless these are new Chinese dialects? What if these people actually do come from China? But then again most Chinese people don't have red hair...

"Manu!" Yoh waved over at me as soon as he noticed my presence standing quietly near one wall while watching his friends working silently near each other in between stacks upon stacks of books filling every inch of space left over in this room filled with bookshelves everywhere you look aside from where people's desks are placed within it: "This is Roldeon; this is Rolf," he pointed at each person present in turn as he introduced them to me one by one; unfortunately neither person ever looked directly at me during his introduction nor did they say anything more than 'Hello' in English - well Roldeon said 'A pleasure' instead but that doesn't really count because it was too polite while Rolf just returned my greeting in kind although his accent was terrible so I barely understood him: "And this is Asch." When Yoh finally finished introducing everyone present in this room besides himself among others who weren't present right now but would probably show up later on after work-hours ended later tonight or tomorrow morning depending on what time zone these people live in right now because I can tell by looking around this place that no one looks tired or sleepy despite being here since early this morning judging by how much work has already been done today already based off everything that's already been written down before us already... after all if anyone here wanted to take a break from working early today they could've done so anytime since nothing's stopping them from leaving early if they're tired or bored out of their minds already at this point since there's no boss anywhere around here... maybe these younger guys are antisocial who don't want any visitors bothering them while they're trying hard not to fall asleep at work? Maybe there's some sort of rule against taking breaks here? Or maybe they're just super focused and don't need any coffee or energy drinks nearby whenever they're working hard towards something important...? Anyway...

"Yohaleth," Rolf corrected him politely: "He goes by Yoh." Then he continued speaking in Mikasan again: "You can't call him 'Yale'" next despite what anyone else says about it because apparently Yohaleth doesn't go by 'Yale' either even though his name sounds close enough to Yale without having an 'e' added onto the end of it like some people spell it sometimes... I wonder why...? Maybe because those letters are similar enough already so adding an 'e' onto the end wouldn't make much difference...? Probably...? Well... whatever...

"Anyways..." Yoh continued speaking after hearing what Rolf said: "This is Manu." Then he turned towards where I stood near one wall: "Manu meet Rolf and Roldeon - my friends." He gestured towards each person present again as he said their names aloud: "Rolf," pointing towards the older looking guy first since he hadn't introduced himself yet; then towards Roldeon second since he was third in line right now; then finally towards himself last since he'd introduced himself earlier already: "And Asch." Then Yoh gestured towards where Asch sat towards the back corner away from us while working quietly alone while talking into his earpiece: "Asch isn't here right now but will be arriving soon afterwards." Then again turning back towards where I stood standing silently behind us while watching everything unfold without saying anything: "This is Manu." Still gesturing towards where I stood standing silently behind us watching everything unfold without saying anything yet again: "She's visiting Mikasa right now thanks to her curiosity." Then finally turning back towards where everyone present sat working quietly alone except for Asch sitting alone further back somewhere behind us: "So let's make sure she has fun while she's visiting our home planet." Then finally turning back towards where everyone present sat working quietly except for Asch sitting somewhere behind us further away from us compared to how close we were standing beside him earlier when Yoh said all those things... plus also thanking everyone for doing such good work lately especially since there's still so much unexpected work piling up everywhere due to recent circumstances arising within all three countries sharing borders along other bordering countries nobody predicted would happen ever again after so many decades passed without such events happening during our peaceful times.... All while talking faster than normal without saying anything intelligent whatsoever... Oh wait... *cough* ...never mind.. Let's continue now shall we? >_<