Penguin Highway (ペンギン・ハイウェイ) is a Japanese science fiction novel written by Tomihiko Morimi, published in 2010. A manga adaptation was serialized in Media Factory's Monthly Comic Alive from March 2018 to February 2019, and an anime film adaptation by Studio Colorido premiered in August 2018.
Plot
Penguins suddenly appear in the town with no explanation. Aoyama finds that the penguin species is known to follow a singular path known as the "Penguin Highway," which leads to the woods. After the bully Suzuki ties Aoyama up to a vending machine, the Lady frees Aoyama and transforms a soda can into a penguin.
At school, Aoyama finds Uchida and his other classmate Hamamoto with a penguin named Penta on the rooftop. They bring Penta on the train, where it falls ill upon leaving the station. Penta stumbles out of the cage and transforms into a soda can. Aoyama then goes to a cafe to play chess with the Lady, where she mentions her trouble sleeping after reading about the Jabberwock. The power goes out, and she accidentally transforms the pieces into bats. Aoyama later deduces that the Lady can turn thrown objects into penguins in the light and bats in the dark.
The next day, Hamamoto leads Aoyama and Uchida deep into the forest, where a floating sphere of water sits, which she calls the "sea". The next few days, Aoyama, Uchida and Hamamoto, spend playing around the sea and investigating it. Uchida throws in a toy spaceship into the sphere, and it sucks up the toy. One day, Suzuki comes to bully Uchida and Aoyama, happening upon the sphere, and Hamamoto warns him not to tell anyone about the sphere.