Drawn to You

2. Meeting again (not so coincidentally)

Hua Cheng woke up, reaching for the water bottle beside his bed, drinking half of it in a few long gulps. Fuck, shouldn't have gone drinking last night. All because Qi Rong kept calling him nonstop, and (just to get rid of him) Hua Cheng agreed in dropping by for one beer. Big mistake.

Qi Rong's annoying voice kept playing in his head, C'mon Hua Cheng, I know a guy who's fucking hot for you! What, not interested? What's wrong with you, Hua Cheng, you're getting old, haha!

For some reason, he hasn't been interested in partying, drinking, and even less in meeting someone. He's been restless, feeling like going around random places, seeing different things, new people, get his mind buzzing with ideas for new plots. Yes, he just released a book, but no time to relax.

Getting up and stretching, he looked around the flat, thinking vaguely of tidying up a bit, then going to the gym to work out a sweat. Later on, having lunch somewhere nice, hmm sushi, and hot sake: it's getting chilly these days. But first he walked to the kitchen and made himself some coffee.

He's been living in this low-budget flat since when he started uni, seven or eight years ago. Even though nowadays he made decent money with his books, merch and other collaborations and could move to a bigger, better place, he never got around to it. He often told himself, I just come home to sleep (and sometimes not even that).

Besides a tiny kitchen and an even tinier bathroom, it had one room with a mattress at a corner, a flat screen tv, and bookshelves with many and assorted publications against the walls. No balcony, and it was hot on summer, and cold on winter. A desk where Hua Cheng sometimes did rough sketches – he had his studio nearby for proper work.

It was near Okachimachi Station, a busy and noisy area, but fun and full of life with its long row of cheap restaurants and bars, bustling under the elevated railway tracks. And Hua Cheng was well-acquainted with every single one, stopping by almost every day.

Not today, he thought, thinking of the neighbouring places, today I'll go somewhere classier.

He glanced at a spot on the bookshelf where he dropped things from his pockets: change money, hair bands, the occasional crumpled napkin with a phone number. And that business card from Tokyo University of Arts he got from that guy the other day.

Tokyo University of Arts, huh?

That specific place where he graduated from a few years ago has been in his thoughts for a while, so it was funny he'd meet one of its professors some days before, on his book signing. Because Hua Cheng's creative process was highly intuitive and visual, he liked to go to places, get its vibes, make it part of the story. Like he was playing a film in his head.

And Tokyo University of Arts was exactly where he's been wanting to pay a visit to.

•

He saw himself walking down to Ueno that same afternoon, crossing the park to TUA west gates by that modernist building that was The University Art Museum, surrounded by (now orangey-brown) leafy trees. It was a 20-minute walk from home, even less from the restaurant he ended up having lunch at.

He was wearing an oversized red hoodie, black jeans and white (well they have been white once) canvas trainers, so he didn't look out of place walking around its many buildings: the Factory Complexes, the Geidai Art Plaza, the Painting and the Sculpture Buildings, the Chinretsukan Gallery... He stopped for a bit, trying to Imagine himself in that student life all over again.

"Good afternoon", somebody said behind him, "Are you lost? Can I help you at all?"

He turned around to see a smiling young woman with long, flowing brown hair and an aqua-blue suit. Hua Cheng was a visual artist and noticed these things: he thought it was a funny choice of colour since it was already autumn, but it suited her. She wore a dark blue lanyard, so she was staff.