After waiting nearly twenty minutes for my co-artist to show up at the little cafe, I was surprised to find out that I actually do know Mr. Shimizu. Or rather, I had just met him the other day during the conference with Mr. Yoshida. At least then he knew when to shut up. He has been talking on and on about what his favorite sweets from here are and how he spent every day here working on his last project. At some point I had gotten distracted by a painting hung up on the wall behind him. It is a landscape of a Tanada that looks better fit for a gallery than a cheap coffee house. Maybe it belongs to the owner? I have never seen him before but surely, he would be elderly enough to appreciate a dusty painting of an outdated farm. I realize that it is relatively quiet, Shimizu just looks at me patiently smiling through his foofy blended coffee. I try a smile.
"Sorry, what were you saying?" My hot matcha late grounds me and permits me to focus again. I retrieve my notebook and a pen without thinking about it, realizing I have already dived into a tangent in my own world again. "...wouldn't last but I proved Hashido wrong, now he can't look at me without turning red!" He bursts into laughter making a scene of slapping his leg, I shy away from the barista's glare. She looks like she'd come dunk his drink right on him if he was any louder.
"Can we focus on work now? I already sketched Ryota's character sheet but I'm worried that it's not up to his standards. I want to get his characters just right, to the T. I want viewers to see it and just know, can you tell me what you think?" I open by book to a page full of a woman's body. She was always such an idol for me. I posed her in various ways to capture every perfect angle, my favorite is the pose looking over the shoulder with the umbrella held over the opposite side. Even though it is only a sketch it had taken me almost two hours because I wasn't sure what expression made most sense. It turns out that I couldn't make a decision right then, so I left her face blank!
"Oh wow! That looks great, I haven't even started my own sketches yet!" Shimizu stands up suddenly and leans over. I can see it about to happen. I notice the first wobble. But I couldn't react in time, I stuck out my hand to stop him but there was nothing I could have done. Well, I could have said no to his invitation when he emailed me but here we are. Sticky caramel slush covers the whole table, my shirt and most of all my patience. I jump up, grabbing my sketchbook and shake it desperately. Ryota's umbrella smears all the way down the page, her legs are nonexistent, and the other sketches have been reduced to blobs and swirls of indistinguishable ink. Not to mention the entirety of the book is soaked.
"Did you have to get the largest damn cup in the world? What is your problem! We have deadlines, you know? Now I have to start all over and I used my best sketchbook for this very important project!" I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths before collecting my things into my bag which I had thankfully kept on the seat next to me. Shimizu apologizes dramatically and I think he may cry but that's not my problem. I turn towards the door, stopping by a trashcan. I glare at him before dropping my destroyed book into the can. Back in my car, I can't seem to find my keys. My arm is elbow deep in my bag when I finally feel the novelty manga charm on my keys. At the same time Shimizu bursts through the cafe door and runs at me. I hurry to start the car before he gets here but I fumble with the key and drop it by my feet. When I finally get it into the ignition Shimizu is already at my window gesturing for me to roll down the window. I do reluctantly.
"You forgot your sweater." I snatch the little blue jean jacket from him and throw it onto the passenger seat. I start the car and begin rolling up the window, but he puts his hand over the glass. He's lucky that I don't roll it up anyway. "I'm sorry I ruined your stuff, mine got soaked too. Not as bad but well that's not the point."
"Then what is the point? I have other things to do today so if you could move your hand, please." I don't have anything else to do today actually, but he shouldn't be standing here wasting my time like he's the hottest thing on my agenda or something! I grip the steering wheel, keeping my eyes trained on the horn in the center.
"Let me replace it. I can get you a whole new set of sketchpads and pencils, whatever. I have to get new stuff anyway." I guess some free supplies would be pretty useful. I can forgive him for ruining one little book in exchange for what would cost me at least two paychecks. I nod and relax a little.
"Great, I drive us after work tomorrow. See ya then, Ito!"
"Wait what?" Drive us? Who said it was a group activity? But he already ran off to his car and started backing out. Exasperated, I lay my forehead on the wheel and let out a long angry groan. The horn goes off suddenly, making me jump and an old man walking gives me the stink eye. Sorry, I mouth at him before pulling out of the space.
* * *
I breathe in the smooth spicy cigarette with my eyes closed. It really takes me back to high school, when I had started smoking them. Sui had a boyfriend who bought them for her and after trying it with her after classes one day, he started buying an extra pack for me. But then she broke it off and ended up dating an older grocery clerk who would just give them to her. She was a wild one, at the time I had admired her for it. Now, well, I just wonder why I never questioned it. Shimizu finally comes out of the office. His bright hair is all messy and frayed and he's holding onto his side bag as though it will escape him if he's not careful. As his eyes dart around the parking lot, I stuff down the flutter in my belly that only worsened when his eyes lit up once he found me. I pretend that I don't notice him waving and take another drag. I ignore him like a fly until he inevitably started talking. Once he's given up the small talk he points out his van and starts toward it.
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"Nah." He gives me a puzzled look. I make a point to ash my cigarette slowly. "I am taking my own car, thank you. And I will meet you there after I finish." I keep my eyes on the small embers but watch in my peripheral as his face falls then lights back up. He walks over and makes himself at home leaning against the back of my car.
"I'll wait with you then. So that Kaori really has it out for you, huh?" Ugh, how is everyone so ignorant of how rude it is to pick at a hard time in someone's day? So what if she totally spilled her coffee on my only clean shirt. And yeah, I may have lost my cool a little, I shouldn't have thrown that mug, but I was already on edge! I had to do professional sketching in an old beat-up notebook that I dug out the corner of my closet! Just because this blue haired puppy can't sit in a chair and do some honest work.
"Don't wanna talk about it." I mutter, biting down on my cigarette. I throw it down and get into the driver's seat. "Which store?"
"Oh, uh, the one just north of here. It's called Jade Pallet, have you heard of it?" The name didn't ring a bell, it sounded more like one of those uppity ninety-cent stores that lonely old women run. I agree to follow him but take a minute to rest my eyes before starting up the car.
We'll let me tell you. My. Jaw. Dropped! There are hardcover books in locked boxes with a cute little blue light underneath that made them glow and an entire two walls of just pencils and pens with their own displays and neatly kept testing pads. I saw canvases as big as my apartment wall! One set of multimedia art pads caught my eye. The beautiful royal blue cover adorned by a calligraphy F right in the center of each one. It seemed to shine though it belonged only to a steel shelf. Two-hundred durable pages in each. The smell of fresh unabused paper made me grin embarrassingly. Oh my mother. Seven-thousand yen. There is no way I could afford to get that and eat today! But wait, I guess that I'm not getting it so...no, no. He needs to eat too; he deserves that much.
"Did you find something you like?"
"Nope!" I stand bolt upright, instinctively blocking what I was looking at. "So, what have you got there?"
"Just some new pens for my outlining and a technique book for 'the master art of shading manga to life', a bit cheesy but the content is thorough."
"Why would you need something like that? You've been with the agency longer than me; how bad could you be?" I had taken to looking at other art pads, I found a considerably cheaper set though it was still nothing that I could afford.
"No, not bad. But there's always something else you can learn or improve. Plus Mr. Hashido has me on my toes, I feel like I can always feel his eyes on the nape of my neck. Even here." I glanced over, catching him looking around the isle as if the boss might jump out and fire him right then and there.
"He probably doesn't take you seriously because your hair. I mean I think you're the only one with color there. Though I do expect a certain someone of dying her hair blonde even though she denies it quite aggressively." I look up at nothing really, imagining it. "Kaori?" I nod and keep looking at the bright books and gadgets.
"Well that just means that I have to work harder to prove myself." Yeah, whatever you say puppy. We reluctantly find ourselves at the checkout, there's a shocking line. I mean honestly, how many people could possibly survive shopping at a place like this? There are several much cheaper options! Yet here I am. The clerk put everything into one bag, thankfully Shimizu was smart enough to ask for another one. We stood in front of our vehicles to sort our things into their own respective bags.
"There's one more thing." He says as he pulls out a heavy, royal blue set of books. That's right, each stamped with a capital F.
"Woah, really!" I put my bag on the hood of my car to accept the gift with both hands. My face turns beet red as I grow aware of his ear-to-ear smile and my childish glee.
"Thank you, but how could you afford all of these things? You do seem rather thin, you do eat don't you? And you're not living in the office, right?" A sudden thought comes to me, and I gasp. "Do you strip?" I whisper it so no passersby could overhear. Now his face is scarlet as he rubs the back of his neck nervously.
"God, no I don't. I do eat and I have an apartment. But my parents pay my rent and I work an extra job to take care of the rest." "Oh right, sorry I just, um." I clear my throat and regain my composure less than gracefully. "So what is your second job, then?" "I buss tables at a Yakitori place."
"Wow, that's impressive! I love Yakitori but I don't think I could handle customers, I'd probably offend 'em all by accident." I had been loading the bags into my car when I turn around and notice that he was looking down, rubbing the nape of his neck and is he, is he blushing? What did I say? Did I get too excited, it's only meat on a skewer after all. Quick, I have to say something abrasive so he doesn't think I was complimenting him or something!
"Thanks, but really it's almost mindless. I just clean up the tables and shop after. It's not like I get to cook or anything." Hmm.
"Well, thank you." His eyes dart to meet mine. "For replacing the things, you destroyed. I should go home now, there is a lot to redo so I can meet our deadlines. I suggest you do the same, don't be the reason I lose this project."
"I know I'd regret that." He has some nerve to be the one smirking.
I stop at a small market for some cheap frozen dumplings on my way home. I wiggle the key until my apartment door finally opens. I drop the bag from Jade Pallet onto my desk in the corner and get a pot boiling for my dumplings. Ok, I say to myself. I bust out the new books, standing the set of fancy "F" books so they lean against the wall. My final drafts will go in those and when I present them to the boss, he will be so impressed he may even sing my praises to Mr. Yoshida! I will use the cheaper set for testing the new pens and pencils, then for my first few drafts. A while later and I am pages deep into concept sketches of the lead characters when the pot on the stove starts boiling over. My landlord would just kill me if I burned his nice wooden counters! The efficiency kitchen is the nicest thing in this dump, he upgraded the kitchens in all of his buildings last year. But with my dumplings saved and desk writhing with creativity, there is nowhere else I would rather be.
Though, as I reflect on it, my mind wanders back to the blushing Shimizu standing outside of my car and the butterflies in my stomach because of it. I shake it out of my thoughts and sit to eat.