The date is 30th May 2007, 8:55 am.
Chengyu is on his way to Block 27 of the ICT Cluster for his first lesson of the day. He was supposed to be taught basic storyboarding for his Principles of Animation module. On his way there, he reaches the lift lobby connecting the two blocks, and all of a sudden, a sharp pain starts to act up as he sees a green-haired youngster standing inside a glass room.
“That was the campus's eGarage – A special room designed for IT Students to develop projects there. But this pain...... why does it act up now?”
Chengyu decided to take a look, and finds that the green-haired youngster that has a ponytail tied to it, is actually a guy!
“Something is really wrong with the campus regulations...... I thought this campus doesn't allow long hair for guys in the campus?? Why does he allowed to have that kind of hairstyle here!?”
Suddenly, his pain accelerated, forcing himself to stay away from the room and ran for the lift lobby and took the first lift that came onto that place. Fortunately the lift was going up and he successfully reached the 5th storey of Block 27 and starts his lesson on Principles of Animation.
During the lesson, Chengyu listens as the lecturer for the module, Mr. Andrew Low, teaches the students about doing basic storyboarding and asked the students to draw up a single storyboard depicting a scene they want to see in their animation after the entire lesson, which will take about two hours.
As the time for the storyboard drawing came, the students were focused on drawing their ideal picture that they want to be part of their animation. Chengyu tries to convey his own message that he has been trying to convey since that assault incident back in 2005, but wasn't sure which scene to use for to depict it.
“Making an animation seems easy, but the real challenge has to come from the drawing of the storyboard. I myself don't have the ability to translate the aesthetic sense of images in my mind onto a piece of paper, that can impede me into doing a complete storyboard, furthermore this storyboard has to tell the people who are watching this the message inside my mind, or the purpose of the storyboard will be defeated! I really have to......”
Chengyu put in all his effort to create a drawing with the best of his effort. When he finally submits his own drawing, the other students' works have been easily understood by fellow students. But the work of Chengyu that depicts the somewhat crude drawing of a young man getting hit by a spike right into his chest which is bleeding profusely, has all the students bewildered, not being able to understand what message he is trying to convey. Even the lecturer has difficulty understanding what he drew really mean. However, as he is unable to speak as and when he wants, he writes down the meaning of the picture at the bottom-left hand corner what the picture means. The students have some idea on what he meant and showed somewhat uncomfortable faces, but Mr. Low still doesn't understand the entire picture behind such a devastating image that he has conjured up.
But as he looks at Chengyu, he somehow knew that he won't be able to talk as and when he wanted to, so he graded all their works except for Chengyu's work. After the students including Chengyu have left the classroom when the lesson is over.
The date is 30th May 2007, 11:05 am.
After his lesson, Mr. Low decided to go up to his office floor and looks for Mr. Jonas Chua, mentor for Chengyu's class to see if he can understand what he did for his storyboard.
“Jonas. I have something to talk to you.” Mr. Low starts his conversation at the conference room with Mr. Chua. “It's about one of the students in my Animation class, Chengyu.”
“What's wrong. Did he do something unusual in class this morning?” Mr. Chua asked him.
“Take a look at what he drew here in my class this morning.” Mr. Low showed him Chengyu's artwork that he submitted as part of the Principles of Animation lesson assignment. “Up until now I don't have any idea what's going on in his mind when he drew this... even after I've read what he wrote at the bottom right-hand corner about what he is drawing...”
But Mr. Chua obviously was not very shocked at the way he draws the image shown to him, especially after he has read what Chengyu wrote about the meaning of the picture.
“I guess this may be how he feels about himself right now... or rather, what he is right now...” Mr. Chua calmly noted.
“Jonas, I think you know something about him that I probably don't.” Mr. Low said. “If I guessed it right, the identity of this young man in the picture that has a thorn on his chest is none other than the person that does this drawing himself, am I right?”
“I believe so, Andrew.” Mr. Chua nods his head. “This boy's heart, or rather he himself, must've suffered way too much from what he had experienced in secondary school two years before that this happened to him. I told you before days after I met him for the first time that he cannot talk as and when he wanted, right?”
“Yeah. You mentioned to me about that.” Mr. Low replied. “Maybe he might just be trying his best to express his past using that kind of gory drawing since that may be the only other option that he is able to communicate with other people?”
“I guess what people think as incomprehensible gore...... is actually as real as his own past because that was exactly what happened to him two years ago.” Mr. Chua starts to understand his work. “The gory depictions were merely an expression that tells stories about what happened to him at that time......”
“Is that so, Jonas... you have any idea what happened to Chengyu before he came here?”
Mr. Chua thought for a while, and decided to explain to Mr. Low about what he knew about Chengyu's past, which he heard from his former student who was a teacher in Chengyu's former secondary school where he took his 'O' Level Examinations. After hearing the sad story about his past, Mr. Low starts to get a clearer picture in the meaning of what Chengyu drew for his storyboard.
“Okay, Jonas. I guess I can start grading his work now that I know the meaning behind him doing such work, now that you told me something about his past that caused him to draw up something like that.”
Mr. Low starts grading his work after he has returned to his office.
Meanwhile, Mr. Chua thinks about the pain that Chengyu is still experiencing right now.
“I hope that he attends the counselling session today at the Student Services Office and opens up to the counsellors there if he can...... I really hope that if he can open up a little, they might be able to find a way to allow him to talk properly.”
The date is 30th May 2007, 2:00 pm.
Chengyu has exited the lift on the lift lobby and was walking towards Canteen 3 when he met Mr. Chua there, who approached him as soon as he saw him coming by.
“Good afternoon, Chengyu. How are you feeling today?” Mr. Chua places his hand on Chengyu's left shoulder while asking him.
Chengyu however did not respond to Mr. Chua's actions too readily, but at the same time did not repel any of Mr. Chua's actions as he didn't sense any malicious intent from the lecturer.
“By the way... is your chest all right?” Mr. Chua asked him this out of the blue.
“Wait! When he asked this question...... does he know something about what happened this morning??” Chengyu was thinking about the time he first arrived at the eGarage and felt pain in his heart as he saw a guy with green-coloured hair.
Chengyu immediately nodded his head to avoid anymore suspicion by Mr. Chua as he still couldn't trust his own class mentor completely right now.
“I thought that you suffered a heart attack this morning, but I may have worried a little too much...”
It is pretty obvious that Chengyu refuses to talk about the incident this morning with his own mentor as he wishes to deal with it completely on his own.
Meanwhile, at the opposing block, a student with orange hair is looking at the two from a distance, but the real focus in his eyes was on Chengyu himself.
“My predictions were spot-on this time. That Li Chengyu really went into this Polytechnic to study...... I guess all the pain that he went through before he came here had his speech affected in a way that he wasn't able to speak whenever he wanted to......”
But all of a sudden, another voice inside his body speaks out about the situation.
“Is it just my intuition or do I feel some kind of enormous power inside that Chengyu guy you're looking at right now. I feel that power is still somehow asleep right now while waking up rudely at times to be unleashed...... I myself have no idea whether he even knew about the existence of this power inside him......”
The orange-haired student seems to understand what the other voice inside him is talking about.
“I guess we need to make more observations about him to find out for ourselves......” The student said before leaving the scene.
“That morning, I saw you looking at the eGarage and was seemingly curious about what's inside there, maybe if you're interested, I can show you inside the eGarage to better understand the workings of this as you might be using it in the near future.” Mr. Chua made an offer to show Chengyu around the place.
Chengyu didn't say anything, so Mr. Chua took it as a yes and brought him to the eGarage. However, since only the final-year students doing the Final-Year Project and Intern-ships are allowed access to this place, Mr. Chua has to use his staff pass to get them inside.
“So this is the inside of the eGarage, huh......”
Chengyu looked around and saw only tables and a special large-screen computer with a tablet on the side on one end of the room, and two game consoles on the other end of the room.
Mr. Chua told him that the large-screen computer is for Multimedia & Animation Students to create digital artwork and animation for Final-Year Projects and the consoles there are used for annual game competitions organised by the faculty's Student Council.
“For this time of the year, the current final-year students will be handing over the leadership of the ICT Cluster Student Committee to the new students and there will be an election to choose the new candidates to fill in the seats in the Committee itself. After all the members of the new Committee are elected, there will be an internal election to select the leadership of the various sub-Committees to complete the formation of the entire Student Committee.”
“Hearing what he said just now, I have sufficient reason to believe that guy with a hairstyle problem is most likely to be involved in that Student Committee elections...” Chengyu starts analysing the situation he is in right now. “...the question is, in exactly what way...?”
Chengyu looked around and saw a small green-coloured booth that has a large photograph of what was seemingly the face of the guy he saw this morning, as well as an electronic caption that read: “Vote for your Sunshine Candidate! Vote for Kentaro Matsumoto for the Student Committee!”
“I guess that was the name of the student with that hairstyle I saw this morning, huh......”
Then all of a sudden, the owner of that booth popped his head out of there and saw Mr. Chua.
“Good Afternoon, Mr. Chua! You came to visit the booths?”
“Yes, Kentaro. Also to show this student around here as well.” Mr. Chua replied, pointing to Chengyu.
This made Kentaro somewhat glad that someone is willing to visit this place and possibly support him in his candidacy in the Student Committee.
“Hi there! Nice of you to drop by! My name's Kentaro Matsumoto! Nice to meet......”
However, that kind of “kindness” automatically triggers his emotional defence mechanism inside him and showed a very angry face to his kindness, which startled Kentaro a little.
“What's with that attitude of his......?!” Kentaro's annoyance is showing in his face now as a response to that.
Looking at the situation, Mr. Chua suddenly remembers something that Chengyu has written on the paper as a means of communication to him when they met face-to-face for the first time:
“These skills are never talents because they took years to extremely harsh training to develop and grow so that I can tell good persons from bad ones and avoid harm as much as possible. Due to the skills that I have developed all by myself, I have absolutely zero tolerance for grey areas in a person for fear of betrayal and the eventual irreparable damage that it will cause. It will be “Game Over” immediately for a person who dares to attempt this heinous act.”
“However, there's a downside to these powerful skills that I have learnt do far: Any attempt of hostility or kindness will automatically trigger my internal defence mechanism that is powerful enough to repel anyone who dares to come near me. Close contact will elevate this mechanism to hyper-drive where I won't hold back in taking down anyone who show hostility, no matter who he or she is!”
“I would guess that's what is going to happen when Kentaro is trying to get close to Chengyu in his current state......” Mr. Chua is thinking about what he wrote to communicate with him, and tries to intervene between the two of them.
“Kentaro, I think you should stay away from Chengyu a little......”
“Why? What's wrong with him?” Kentaro is a little surprised at Mr. Chua's sudden reversal of plans.
“Chengyu here is suffering from pain caused by the betrayal of his friend years ago, and he's still hurt even till today, so please don't try to put any pressure on him, okay?”
However, Kentaro doesn't seem fazed about what Mr. Chua said about him, or so it seems...
“That's weird! I've never seen anyone with that kind of attitude after losing a so-called friend due to things like that! If you lose one, you just simply find another one to replace him or her......”
But hearing those words made Chengyu immediately clench both his fists and started growling in extreme anger!
“Friends come and go anyway in life, right? It's not too healthy to take these things too seriously that you get yourself too immersed in those that you forgot about what you really want......”
The angry clenching of Chengyu's fists got even tighter to such an extent that he had to literally force himself to speak after all this!
“You...... moron......!! How...... can...... you...... take...... friendship...... so...... lightly......!!”
This made Kentaro and Mr. Chua equally shocked at Chengyu's extreme anger!
“Friendship...... helps you in ways...... family...... cannot...... help...... Friendship is not a game that you can say 'Game Over' as and when you feel like it, and feel as if nothing happened!!”
“W...what the...!?” Kentaro's shock was obvious for the fact that no male in his life has ever been so hostile to him as Chengyu right here.
“The things you've said clearly shows that...... you never feel anything when you lose someone you cherish before......!! Have you!?”
The words that Chengyu said now has stirred the emotions of Kentaro, his past that he tries to forget before coming to Singapore to study is starting to catch up with his present time once more, and with it delivering a painful and painful shock to his heart!
“Losing friends because you've given all that you've got to maintain it, have you even felt about that kind of pain that you can inflict to them as if it happened to you when you give them up in the first place!? Do you!?”
This shocking words seems to remind Kentaro of his past relationships back in Japan, and was taken aback so much that he inadvertently fell backwards in shock!
“Chengyu, calm down! Please!” Mr. Chua brings him to a corner and tries to calm him down. “I know you're in constant pain but it's not right to simply criticise others before understanding how they feel.”
However, these words only increase the anger in Chengyu's heart and showed it in a very angry growl in reply! And Mr. Chua immediately saw the emotion in his eyes.
“Those eyes of his...... they seem to show feelings of immense sadness and anger, which might stem down to what Kentaro just said earlier, but......”
“Try to calm down, Chengyu!” Mr. Chua grabs his arm in an attempt to cool his heating anger, but this only served to activate his emotional defence mechanism in hyper-drive and exerts a powerful force that even Mr. Chua's own strength was unable to handle. This strength caused him to swing his arm downwards and roared loudly, causing a powerful tremor on the floor and the force of that pushed Mr. Chua five metres away from him before falling on his back, while at the same time, Chengyu's body has generated a blue-coloured energy field that covers his entire body.
However, the emergence of strange energy from Chengyu's body has been unexpectedly felt by someone nearly 150 metres away. The student with the orange hair is sitting on a seat inside the Atrium when he and his other self inside him felt the emergence of the hidden power inside Chengyu there as well.
“Hey partner, did you felt some powerful energy coming from over there??”
“I feel that same thing as well. Probably that power is from Chengyu and it has been awakened at the least expected time......”
“But why now......?”
Back at the eGarage, Chengyu looked sharply at Mr. Chua with fearsome anger in his eyes for a few seconds before opening the door of the eGarage and ran off.
At the same time, Kentaro was still shell-shocked after what Chengyu said earlier about taking friendships for granted, which is exactly what Chengyu was trying to put across all along.
“(Japanese) Yo...ru...ko......!” Kentaro seems to have some memories of his past back in Japan coming back to him. “(Japanese) Is... this... why... you... left... me... on... my... own... back... then...?”
After that, tears start to well up in his eyes and he started sobbing in silence. But after a few seconds, his mobile phone rang and he takes the call after he saw the caller's name on the screen.
“(Japanese) Hello...”
“(Japanese) Good Afternoon, Kentaro-san! It's me, Reika.”
“(Japanese) Oh, Reika. What's the matter?”
“(Japanese) Um... is it okay if I can come over to help you in the booth preparations?”
“(Japanese) It's okay, I can manage on my own...”
“(Japanese) That's not like you, Kentaro-san. You always welcome people to help out whenever they want to. What's wrong?”
Kentaro remained silent about this.
“(Japanese) It's okay. I'm always here to listen and try to help the best way I can, Kentaro-san.”
“(Japanese) You're a good person, Reika...”
Kentaro told Reika over the phone about what happened a few minutes ago, which surprised Reika after hearing it.
“(Japanese) Chengyu-san did what?? I really need to talk to him to find out why he did such a thing......”
Meanwhile, Chengyu has kept on running until he reaches the staircase behind Block 27 of the ICT Cluster, panting hard and his blue aura vanishing from his body.
“What's happening to me!? Why am I doing things I don't intend to do at all!? WHY!?”
Chengyu immediately looked at his watch and the time reads 2:25 pm.
“This is not good...! I have to reach that place by 2:30 pm!”
Thinking about the appointment, he went down the stairs and walked towards Block 4, where the Student Services Office is located.
