Every student has their eyes glueing on the wildlife behind the panels. They gape their mouths and lift their phones to capture the scenes. In some locations found at the zoo, the zookeepers do not allow us to use our cameras or flashes since a smattering number of animals are sensitive to flickering lights.
I, who needs these experiences first-hand, bring my notebook to my side and gather all the data I can inside my blank white sheets. I want to use my tablet for an undemanding copy of this environment, but Roxanne is on the case without my instructions.
My best friend has been running around the place, catching all the sections that include the furry animals. It is Roxanne's preference, not mine, since she is the one with the camera.
The photographs she takes will serve as Roxanne and my cache once we go home and "study" each of its content. If Roxy plans on becoming a master-class animator, designing these furballs will lead her one step closer to who knows what.
Nickson has a unique plan in his sleeves. He brings out a tablet and sketches whatever he sees during the trip. As a mangaka like himself, he also needs to check what animals we could find in Japan, and use them as our reference in the future.
We stop by at the shrines afterwards and take a quick break before going to the cherry blossom points. According to the tourist spots in Tokyo, Japan, Ueno Park is one of Tokyo's popular sites of Sakura sight-seeing, with over one thousand cherry trees lining its central pathway.
"What is your story going to be, Yuki?" Roxanne compresses herself on the petite bench as she unlocks her phone and the digital camera.
She flickers her hand on the vibrant images and shows them to me while waiting for my answer.
"I plan on doing a romance story. Can you imagine the contemporary setting of the pinkish leaves falling on the ground, and the guy proposes to you?" I clasp my hands as I dramatically turn to Roxy.
"Watashi wa aishiteru or I love you~!" My heart throbs without knowing the reason. I could also feel my eyes sparkling with scarlet heart shapes popping out at each of my orbs.
"Do you want to hear about it?" As I return to the actual world, I shift my gaze to Roxanne, who seems fazed at the moment, but listening to my story.
Roxanne has been acting strange to me. I discern her lips pointing at something in front of me.
"Not a word from the famous queen of gores, Yuki." A man walks up to the side and slides his eraser on the pad. Without batting an eye, the bloke moves his phone onto my face and reveals the name that he has mentioned earlier.
He is the one that Roxanne has been warning me about! And I have never heard that nickname since five years ago. It was when I first uploaded my novel! Who could have thought that Nickson is the one who will annoy me as he digs up into my past!
"What do you want from me, you punk?" I swear to my ancestors I will beat this chick out when I have the chance. But I cannot. As an officer, I will contain my boiling rage and death and meet him into the next life for a spar.
"Your blood and an amputated limb, like Grey form your novels." I must be imagining things, since I could hear the guy chuckling to himself. Not even your handkerchief could save your foul mouth, Nickson.
"Please do not make a manga adaptation for my novel, Nickson." His eyes twitch as soon as Nickson hears my sarcastic reply while fleeing from the scene.
"I cannot believe him! That guy is always on my nerves!" I exclaim.
Roxanne and I venture forward, leading the first-year students to the finale of our field trip. But the people behind my back are not pleasant seeing my foot stomping the ground, creating broad footmarks as trails.
All seven officers watch me move on as we enter the realm of pinkish delight. They feel desperate to shake off my maddened mind, but their action becomes unnecessary.
We lock our eyes at the blush of leaves swaying in their branches, waving us hello as we enter the gates. The tranquil breeze tickles our face with the chirping of the birds resonating from afar. The rage is no more inside my heart and lets me feel butterflies roaming inside my stomach.
Even discerning Nickson before me, I continue walking down the road, with a widening glee curving in my mouth. The mangaka tilts his head in confusion, wondering what magic I have used to feel ecstatic.
But as soon as Nickson changes his focus, his body dances with the grooves. His arrogant face remains the same for me, but more elegant than before. With his eyes wandering everywhere, Nickson steals the image and places it inside his head. Upon looking at his orbs, he must be thinking of introducing his new manga that fits the setting.
"I have an idea!" Nickson and I shout in unison while pumping our fist on our palms and rushes to our bags.
I take out my laptop and sit on the bench, typing the words I have never typed in my lifetime. My hands move twenty words per second as if I am a monstrous being who has the purpose of writing stories for the rest of my immortal stay.
Nickson rushes to the stone and uses it as his chair. He afterwards reveals his oversized graphic tablet and a dainty pen in his hands. The movements of his arms felt smooth and liquid, as if he is a master artisan in the contemporary world.
His eyes are not leaving the environment and stay at the pinkish hues colouring the world. Upon glancing at the screen, I perceive thousands of details on the image. He even captures the tiniest objects that anyone would see from afar, making him a mangaka for a reason. However, Nickson does not lose his touch despite paying attention to his technology and continues sketching everything on his gadget.
The people surrounding us are too busy gawking at the environment. Only Roxanne, who has seen enough of the park, meets our bustling figure doing something that an artist would do.
After a few minutes, we redeem ourselves and lift our works like proud parents showing off their child. But something does not feel right. We race in our arms and hide our work, remembering to hide our titles as an author and a mangaka.
Those titles are the only thing common between us, so we share the daily struggles of living differently from our classmates. All the students are too busy bragging about their online friends about the field in front of us. But if someone could look at the writer and a comic artist alone on the corner, studying the environment to its minuscule dust, these people would feel surprised.
Nickson and I exchange views, thinking to ourselves the same thing. I know that we have the same mind because we are the same peas in a pod, always thirsty for knowledge and improvements.
"Do you mind if I scrutinise yours?" I say with my flushed cheeks as I avert his gaze.
Nickson does the same and hands out his tablet while giving a reply. "As long as you give me yours."
I nod in agreement and carry the laptop into his hands. Nickson grabs the computer with his gentle arms and sits beside me, scrolling the texts inside the word-filled sheets.
The mangaka bows and shakes his head from time to time as he reads the sentences over again. After concluding, Nickson freezes from his seat, unsure what fantasy he is in right now after reading the prologue (draft) of my story.
My body schooches near him and stares at the picturesque image of his work from the actual world. Although there are no colours to fill the dull lines, the sketch feels so alive. I can even sense the wind blowing to my face as the flock above the drawing of trees passes through my imagination.
"I cannot find any mistakes from your work," I confess, and return the gigantic tablet to his waiting hands.
Nickson does the same and gingerly passes the laptop to me, with a tiny note on the side. "I have seen no mistakes, but there are lines here that make me confused every time I read it."
A burst of laughter flees from my mouth as I brace the laptop with my arms. "I need to be poetic sometimes, don't you think."
Like a fantasy paving its way to our planet, we move back to our buses and sit beside each other without taunting the other person. What makes our trip special is the two of us, like cats and dogs, halt the fight and sleep against each other's head.