5 True Colours

"Nick-,"

"Son?"

Roxy completes my unfinished sentence with our mouth agape before the man we have been looking for all this time. Nickson has an astonishing expression on his face as he hears his name, calling out of nowhere inside the room.

"Are you looking for me?" He rests his leather bag on the floor while pointing his forefinger directly at his chin. I can see his disconcerting eyes blinking rapidly, trying to make sense out of the extraordinary scene.

Nickson looks analogous to what we have seen from the applicant sheet by Ms. Ai. He has his headphones resting around his neck, with his pair of glasses masking his face. All his hair shares the exact pose from the photo on the form, with the same dumbfounded expression, etching on his face. The jet black suit-like jacket captivates my eyes and fits well with his overall attire.

We can see stacks of notepads with his drawings inside his bag, mixed with black and white and some coloured papers. Upon observation, I notice the tiniest details of frames and dialogues written are like what you use for mangas and Webtoon comics.

"We are," I announce while shakingly pointing my finger at him, where his cheeks are as well aiming. "You bet we are!"

Roxane does the same, and there are now two people suddenly marking the young-looking man. From the outsiders, they can describe the setting of three individuals blaming the same man that looks innocent despite not knowing his actions.

I cannot help myself but think that way.

"Where are the goods?" Roxy scowls at the student while forming a gun-like shape out of her fingers. "Hand them over to me right now."

I instantly raise my hand and chop Roxanne's head after humiliating me in front of everyone. To add matters worse, the professors who have already dismissed their classes walk in the entrance and hear everything she has said.

It almost looks like we are criminals trying to rob an innocent man in front of a crowd. But we are not anything like that!

"No, wait! You got it all wrong!" I panicky sweep my hand, telling everyone that this is a skit that means nothing from reality.

"What do you mean nothing's wrong?" One professor rushes from the crowd and voices his concerns while hastily approaching us three with his arms gripping tight around ours.

"Come to my office, now!" He instructs while staring keenly at the three of us.

"But we are already inside?" Roxane, who could not read the atmosphere better, makes the matter worse by making a fool out of the teacher.

"We can explain!!" I try protesting for the last time.

The teacher only shakes his head and soon approaches us with intense speed.

Ms. Ai could only watch us from the back as he drags the three of us somewhere away from the ingress. Our wails are the only voice reverberating inside the room, as if punishing us children for an act that we did not commit.

The professor afterwards invites us to his desk and forces us to listen to his chide. His sermon takes up half an hour before the professor allows us to leave the schoolyards. The only thing that is hindering me from escaping the hellish office is this guy over here with his stupid-looking, yet extravagant obsidian suit.

"I can see your eyes staring at me!" Nick shouts while slightly hiding his face, using his pointed collars.

"Because I am!" I irritatingly answer while stomping my feet outside of the main halls.

We step foot outdoors and awkwardly sit on the vacant benches of the nearby park, admiring the view of the racing cars before us. Every student has already gone home except for the few individuals who have finished their clubs and late activities. I can even see the moon rising from the east with the sun setting downwards from the west. It is already late, and we have not gone home yet.

Nobody dares to utter anything since what has happened earlier inside the office.

We have heard enough scolding from our teacher, and another lecture would ultimately kill us to the core.

I shift my view and remember all the troubles I have to go through for this event. I even plan on sacrificing my spare time by playing my games! It is all for the sake of delivering my message to this mangaka who have never asked any permission to use my story.

"It is the moment of truth!" I yell in the back of my mind. After all the time I have wasted, I get to interrogate this youngster for stealing my story.

"Where are all the goodies?" I implore and repeat what Roxanne have said that put us in this circumstance.

"I thought you had enough about these?" Roxy asks, uncertain if she should mimic my stance.

"Yes, but that was not the right time to do that!" I urge her to take one step closer behind Nick to surround and blockage his exit. "And right now, we need some answers, don't we, Nick?"

"I am sorry, okay!" He promptly kneels on his feet while bowing his head steadily near the ground. "I have no ill intentions against you!"

"Boss, I think we overdid it," Roxane switches her voice into a yakuza (A Japanese gangster stated in the dictionary (for legal reasons, this is just a joke. Please forgive me)) and reports to me about the snivelling lad undergoing puberty.

"Are you kidding me?" I draw near the curling man and hesitantly poke him, using the nearby twig beside him. At first, I have tthought he is in a trance of some sort that charm himself into this pathetic state.

However, upon discerning him up close right now, I learn he is genuinely frightened of what is occurring around him. His personality corresponds with the way he sends his messages for me-fragile and diffident inside of his shell.

The ordinary guy that loves reading books and being alone.

"Look, we just want your explanation about-," Before I can even finish my sentence, I accidentally trip over his glasses and kick it away from his face. It even rolls between the two metallic trash cans, making it arduous for anyone to get it.

I instantly go for the lenses and return them to him when I suddenly hear menacing laughter coming from behind.

"What a fucking drag, you two," The mysterious low pitch voice sends shivers down our spine as he utters such language directly to the two of us.

"Yuki, I think we have a situation here," Roxane professes while backing off from the site slowly as she could be.

"What's wrong?" I swivel to see what is behind my back, only to see Nick picking himself and eventually stand on the ground.

I can feel his confidence level skyrocketing way above the roof, incomparable from what I have witnessed before. He feels different, like a different man despite the same clothes he is wearing not too long ago.

"Can you give me back what is not yours, Yuku," Nickson meets me in the eyes and extends his palm, gesturing to me with his hands. "Don't make me count."

"It's Yuki," I utter, correcting his mistake.

"Whatever. Just give me that damn glasses, thief."

"What's up with you?" I retaliate while storming in his direction.

It is the first time that I feel pissed off and angery at the same time! Who does he think he is, a handsome guy who can get whatever he wants?"

"I am an august-looking man with an attractive personality," He adds as if reading what's running inside my mind.

"I am not gonna lie, but he is right about that," Roxy interposes with her eyes glistening into crimson hearts while clutching both of her hands.

"Roxy, behave!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

Roxane abruptly reverts to her usual self, with her eyes leering at Nick's transformation. She readies her phone within her reach and dials random numbers that she thinks are the closest for calling 119.

"This is yours, right?" I wiggle the glasses that I have recovered from the trash can and grab his attention.

"Yes. So give those back to me." He gives me a menacing reply while gritting his fist into a ball, preparing himself to be violent.

"Are you planning to hit me even though I'm a girl?"

"No," He confidently answers.

"Then you're a gentleman after all."

My tease and insult works at this arrogant side of his character. He was once a nerd that acted like a vulnerable kid that wanted to escape reality.

But now, he exalts himself as a king inside his jungle that he does not own.

However, if he is a lion destined to become king, I am the lone tiger waiting for disturbance within my territory. He has met his match, and he will surely regret fighting with me.

Nick hastily dashes onwards and goes for the kill, snatching away from me the lenses I have stolen from him. I try my best eluding his movements, but he is far too quick than any other athletes that I know of as he, somehow, outmanoeuvres me with his jolt. I can even see him prancing all over the place, trying to catch the eyeglasses that I grasp with my hand.

He walks off in a hurry without uttering a single word as he ventures forth towards the narrow and buzzing streets.

I plan on chasing him right after, but something large and elongated on the road trips me.

Upon looking at the object, I discern the black bag he brings along since he have walked inside the office. The sketches that I have seen before are in plain sight on the ground. The shoulder bag also has the documents that he must have planned on submitting to the office.

"Hey, dumbass, you forgot these!" I shout at the ends of my lungs, trying to track down where he have gone through.

But, alas, my efforts are all futile, as he has already gone through the crowd, away from our school.

"Roxane, stop drooling and come with me,"

"But I wasn't!" Roxy insists, while wiping her wet face with saliva dripping since the time she last see the man with the name Nick.