Chapter 13- Matsumoto’s POV

I finished my work shift at the ‘Rainbow’ and I was talking to Kazu whilst I was changing my clothes.

“Are you rehearsing today as well?”

“Yeah, we’re meeting up to chat about the performance. I know you can’t come to this one, but you should watch our next stage performance, it’s going to be really interesting.”

“Okay.” He smiled happily and I smiled back. Apparently, he was still texting with this ‘Ohno-san’. I could tell because Kazu doesn’t have a lot of friends, and the only person that would make him smile like that with a text message, is Ohno-san. Recently, I always catch Kazu taking photos happily with his phone, and for a while I didn’t know what to do, but if Kazu is happy with it, whatever. I walked out of the café and towards the theatre.

“This is the script that I made.” I handed out the scripts to everyone and watched their reactions nervously as they flipped through the pages. After a while, I started hearing many comments, such as “Ooh, I like this scene,” “Seems interesting.” I sighed in relief.

“But… What are we going to do about the painting of the Sun, that the story evolves around? I think it will lack reality if we painted it ourselves…” The talking died down and everyone stood in silence, trying to come up with a solution. 

“Hey, Jun. I went to my friend’s performance recently, and he told me. Apparently there’s a company that designs and makes props and settings for theatres. I heard that thay take in jobs even if it’s not a big theatre group. Of course, it depends on the price, but maybe we can go check it out? It’s really close from here.” I’ve heard of those companies before, but I never knew that there was one nearby.

“…Okay, let’s go there.” Everyone was excited about the performance, and I was simply glad that we were able to figure something out… I never even imagined, that going to this company will allow me to meet someone that I have been dying to know about for a long time.

I asked the person who brought up the company for the agency’s number, and when I called them, they told me that I could go visit their office to talk with the designer. It only took 10 minutes to walk there from the ‘Rainbow’, and I soon found out that they used the first floor as their office. I pushed open the glass door nervously as I stepped in. The studio was extremely clean and organized, and a middle-aged man, who looked like the boss of the agency, walked over with a fresh smile to greet me.

“Hello, nice to meet you. I am the one who called a while ago, my name is Matsumoto.”

“Welcome. My name is Kashiwagi and I am the head of this company. If the price and everything suits you, we will prepare the product to be picked up after a period of time, so today, we want to discuss and see what you want made. This person here is responsible for the discussion, the design and everything else.” The man who seemed a lot younger was standing next to Kashiwagi-san, looked at me and smiled.

“Hi, nice to meet you. My name is Ohno, and I will be responsible for the meeting.” I stared at his hand as he held it out to me, waiting for me to shake it. My mind blanked out. After a long pase, I was finally able to squeeze out,

“…Ohno-san, is it?” He seemed surprised and confused for a moment, but his smile returned when I quickly took his hand to shake it. No way. Impossible. If it was the same person… that would be too much of a coincidence. The surname Ohno is not common after all.  My heart was pounding fast, but I pushed the thought to the back of my head as Ohno-san led me through the doors to a small comfy room.

I thought that these kind of companies would talk briefly and quickly and start working, but Ohno-san asked me all kinds of questions seriously, including things like the size of the stage and the role of the painting in the play. As I answered his questions with care, my feelings of wanting the painting to be perfect became stronger but I knew that I couldn’t pay for something with a high price, so I told him my honest thoughts and Ohno-san listened to me seriously. We talked for about half an hour, and by the time I was done answering all of Ohno-san’s questions, he sat there with a serious face thinking hard. I was already starting to give up. Our theatre is so small that we can barely afford to ask these kinds of big design companies for help... I thought in disappointment.

“… Maybe…”

“Yes, Ohno-san?”

“Well, I actually love drawing, and it’s my hobby to draw.”

“…Um, okay.”

“If you don’t mind, can I please draw the painting of the Sun for you? If I draw it, then you only have to pay for the price of the big frame.”

“…What do you mean?”

“I’ll make it myself, so I’m not going to ask for the design cost and the production fee and so on.” I was very thankful, but I couldn’t imagine how his painting would end up looking… When I was stuck on how to reply to his words, Ohno-san took out a big piece of sketching paper and some color pencils from the shelf.

“They’re color pencils, so they’ll look a lot different to the actual product, but I’ll draw you a simple image of the Sun that I have in my mind right now. Can I take about 15 more minutes of your time?”

“…Oh, yes, of course.” After he heard my response, he immediately got a few color pencils out of the box and started sketching. His eyes were glued to the paper, and he was completely concentrated in his drawing. I studied his face and stared at his hands work quickly and professionally. Maybe he really is the Ohno-san that Kazu was talking about… He was very passionate about his work, and he was a strange person that had a warm attractive smile. If he really is the ‘Ohno-san’, I’ll never be able to beat him…

At first I was only dazedly looking at Ohno-san’s work, but after a few minutes, I couldn’t help but stare at his work in awe. Although he only used color pencils, the colors that he used blended in together with one another and he produced a delicate but strong Sun.

“Thank you for waiting. This is my image of the Sun.”

“…Wow, this is the exact Sun I had in mind…” Actually, it was even better than the Sun I was imagining in my head. Ohno-san smiled at my words.

“I’m glad you like it. The painting of the Sun that comes up in your story, it’s something that encouraged the villagers and supported them and helped them get through their daily lives, right? So I thought that this kind of orange would suit the strong image of the Sun.” This person is just amazing.

“…Ohno-san, can you please help me with the painting?”

“Of course. However, it’s going to take some time… You still have time until the performance, so I’ll contact you when it’s ready. Thank you for coming today.”

“No, thank you. Oh, and can I please have this sketch of the Sun that you made?”

“Yeah sure, go ahead. Now, please excuse me, I’m going to go talk to the head of the department. I’ll see you again soon.” With that, Ohno-san left the room. I sighed in relief and happiness. Now I have to make sure that the performance will be the best one that I ever organized.