11 - First Meeting (plot: developing!)

After what seemed like the longest three days of my life, I arrived at the place of our meeting. Interestingly enough, this was a cafe I'd occasionally visit if I wanted to write or read with the company of coffee. It made me smile to think about us occupying the same space—perhaps even at the same time in the past, unknowingly? But I suspected I wouldn't miss the presence of such a magnetic person easily…

She had texted me that she'd be a bit late (as she had missed her bus last second), so she told me it'd be for the best if I got my order and brainstormed some ideas while waiting. And that's what I tried to do, but I didn't know if I was being productive at all—my mind was filled with thoughts about her. I didn't really think that I had a crush on her, that wouldn't make sense, since I barely knew her. So it felt like… deep respect and admiration, if I had to name certain feelings.

But all of those thoughts flew away the moment she entered the cafe.

Long, teal colored hair in a cool ponytail. Black, trendy clothes. Dark sunglasses that complimented her facial features perfectly. A walk full of charisma.

Yeah, if I didn't fall for her that one day, now I definitely did.

I stood up to greet her. Seeing me, she opened her arms wide. "Oooh, so this is Matsushima-kun!" Suddenly, her facial expression changed to a puzzled one. "Uhh… Hold on, do I know you from somewhere? Don't tell me that we already met and I forgot…? That'd be way uncool…"

I scratched my neck sheepishly. I guess it was time to admit. "Well, perhaps saying 'anime con' and 'princess' would make you remember?" She looked carefully into my eyes (which lowkey gave me heart troubles!) and then burst out laughing. "My oh my! If it isn't Princess Marguerite!" I chuckled along with her.

"Hehe, was wondering if you'd remember, so I've been holding it in all this time~"

"You, you… Should've told me right away, ya know~?"

We sat down, and she got to placing her order, looking at the menu. My heart felt giddy watching her thinking what kind of drink to get, especially because she had put on the jasmine scented perfume on today as well! This scent alone made me feel… at home. After her drink arrived, the stage was all ours: an evening of just us two.

"Man, you really are a pretty one! It was an amazing cosplay, great job—Wait, do you mind if I speak casually? I kinda already consider you a friend, but…" Hearing that made my insides tingle. Such a cool person saw me as her friend? I wasn't doing half bad, then…!

I smiled, thanked her, and then returned the compliment. "Oh, I don't mind! You can call me by my first name, Yuuma or even with my nickname, Mattsun. You too, Lirica-san—Your cosplay was beyond amazing. You looked like a real prince!" As she took out her tablet from her bag, she grinned happily. "Heh heh, quite the praise from a real life princess. Oh, and—please, feel free to call me by my name. It's Rika."

Rika!! What a cool yet sweet sounding name, it was a perfect fit for her vibes.

"Rika…-san. Got it, thank you!" She opened her tablet's drawing software and showed me a blank canvas. "Alright then, Mattsun. Let's get to business. You tell me and I'll draw it. It'll be a great opportunity to widen my skills~ I never drew manga more than three pages." I took out my little idea notebook from my bag as well. As I was about to start explaining some rough ideas I came up with, she spoke up. "Oh, and this won't matter for the panel drawings, but I'm colorblind. So, uh, when we make the character designs, I'll request that you pick the suitable colors yourself."

Colorblind…? As far as I was aware, colorblindness was more common in males, and she was an artist so this information was quite unexpected for me. I had seen some of her colored works too; it was true that she didn't post them as much but nothing about them looked 'off' to me. Amazing…

She sighed, but her grin was still there. "Yeah, everyone gets pretty surprised. No worries, it's more on the milder side… I suppose? I'm a deutan, if it makes a difference to you." I waved my hands on my front, wanting to show it didn't matter to me one bit. "Oh, no no! I just… found it incredible how good your colored works were, despite this… Condition?" She scrolled in her tablet's gallery to find some of her colored works. "Well, digital spaces are quite convenient." She tapped on the color wheel and picked a red hue and painted over her work which depicted a red-haired girl. "See, I got the color, no?" I followed her brushstrokes, eyes widened at her accuracy. "Oooh! Exactly the same…!" She nodded proudly and then opened a new canvas. "I memorized the places of the colors I have most trouble seeing. So yeah, if you make a color palette for the characters, I'll just follow those no problem. So, what do you have in store, dear scenarist-san~?"

I showed her my notebook and we fell into a deep discussion. Since our goal was a one-shot work, it needed to have a distinctly developed plot from beginning to end. Not to mention, the visual aspect of manga was a very important point, I wanted to make sure Rika-san got to draw exactly what she wanted, in a way she'd enjoy.

It was a breeze to discuss stuff with her, since she was so humorous and open minded. Even though she had a casual demeanor, she carefully considered each point I suggested. This made me feel very happy, seeing how she valued each of my ideas…

All of this, honestly. All of this made me feel so happy. I felt like I was in a dream, so I had even more reasons to give it my all… If this truly were a dream I'd wake up from, it'd be for the best to go all out, no~?

After two hours of a thorough discussion (which felt much shorter in time!), we decided on a sweet adventure love story with fantasy elements. Basically, the plot would go like this: an unwanted princess was sent to a lone castle in the woods by her parents, who favored the eldest prince and princess. One day, a wandering hero would stumble upon the castle and offer to take the princess out in an adventure. The princess, despite being the timid and shy type, would agree and the two would embark on an adventure in the forest filled with magic. Rika-san's eyes had lit up in the prospect of getting to draw a setting of trees and magical creatures. "Oh man, if I can do a good job, that'll end up looking spectacular. I'll do my best… How exciting, how exciting~"

Since it was getting late and we both had stuff to do tomorrow, we decided to wrap it up at that point. We agreed on meeting up next week at the same time and place, and Rika-san promised to sketch many character designs, and we could pick from those. I told her not to draw too much, but she just laughed and replied that she wouldn't be able to hold herself back even if she tried. "Once something fires me up, I can't stop. Ya know~?"

Oh, did I know the feeling.

After exchanging goodbyes, it was time to go back home. I let my head rest gently on the bus window and smiled. Meeting such a cool, kind, talented, gorgeous person and working on a shoujo manga together… It was too good to be true. Life was finally smiling at me…