To now and never

Chapter 3

It all started on a Friday morning in 1963. A young Riku was lined up among the other Grade 3 elementary students of Kamito Gakuen in Okinawa, Japan, waiting for the soft opening of the botanical garden in the northernmost part of the island.

On the way, he slept on the bus and stood not knowing he had half-pissed in his pants. He wore a red hat, a wrinkled white shirt, black shoes, and shorts. He stood half-awake with his classmates and all he could think was his loins beaming with pain and wanting to urinate more.

He ran instantly into the aquarium in fear of judgment and relieved himself behind a bush. He moved past the group of Chinese tourists and lost his way back. Instead of heading west, he reached the far end of the aquarium where the botanical garden is.

Desperate and confused, he was on the verge of crying when he saw an oddly shaped flower that had trapped an insect. He was mesmerized by the idea that a beautiful flower hides its dark side. He could not contain his fascination with what he was seeing.

He exclaimed, “Sugoi!”

It seemed that the flower tried its best to become beautiful, to lure and kill its prey. The insect inside is not even struggling for its life. It was as if it was meant to be captured all along. He was overwhelmed by the absurd image in front of him.

Riku was dumbfounded by the notion that, in his art class, his sensei would always ask them to draw flowers in the most colorful and bright hues possible. That image surprisingly gave him comfort during that moment of being lost in the garden. It was almost a moment when destiny whispered to his very ear that flowers are actually wild species.

He did not know how many hours had passed by, but it was long enough for him to start moving by following the trail in the garden. He cannot smell his urine and he can only smell the sweet fragrance of the jackfruit tree.

He moved around, directed by the arrow signs, and collected the stamps per station. By listening to the recorded speaker, he learned that each major section is named after an orchid flower: Cattleya, Vanda, Phalaenopsis, and Dendrobium. He recited each section loudly and the words glided so smoothly on his tongue every time like they were not even foreign words.

He enjoyed his sweet time in the botanical garden, striking the balance of being lost and finding his way. The fear he had earlier was totally gone now.

As he exited the butterfly exhibits, he surprisingly found himself back in his group, straight back to his line. His classmates had taken their snacks back on the bus, so nobody even noticed he was missing for hours.

He could have assumed that he was just dreaming or daydreaming but he could feel his empty stomach. He was starving after hours of walking, but a different hunger for creativity had been planted in him that day. The more he thinks of that experience, the more it becomes real.

From then on, he always asked his father to go to the botanical garden every year, in particular during his birthday. His father supported him with this, especially because Riku's mother abandoned them when he was two years old. So, doing this is his way of mending an incomplete family his son grew up with.

Also, his father was mistaken in thinking that he would increase his interest in the fields of science or medicine. A different hobby, talent, and skill blossomed in him because of the garden.

Each time he went to the garden, he learned something new, as if another secret was being whispered to him by destiny. Then, he began drawing all his insights and he created his own garden in his mind. He continues to go into the garden and when he is sad, he goes there.

When he is angry, he cries with the flowers as if they are consoling him. He finds peace and inspiration in that garden. When he misses his mother, he goes to the garden to fill that emptiness in him. When he is questioning life, he meditates in the garden as if the plants, animals, flowers, trees, and insects are responding to him.

Each season gives the garden a new glow, a new spark, and a new dimension. To him, that garden is his whole new universe. Even during his free time or study hours, he would create sketches of the garden. At age 8, he started with the image of the flowers enveloping an insect. It was a rough sketch, it was very hard to distinguish which was the flower and the insect. He just kept on doodling the same image.

At age 9, he wondered how the insect fell into the trap, so he created two possible ways; that is, day and night scenarios. He could not even decide which was more convincing. So he tried another concept; windy and rainy weather. With this, he drew the movements of the species.

The same results- both of the drawings appeal to him logically. He kept on changing and combining his ideas. The funny thing was that he was arguing with his own mind up until his high school stage.

After college, he knew what he wanted to do with his life, unlike most of his peers. He would become rich and buy a botanical garden. With this dream, he not only bought the garden but planted a whole new garden through his drawings.

Being an artist is not just about being passionate, he spends hours researching and reading to improve his skills. As a result, he became less sociable and introverted. Being a storyteller is his other dilemma. He wanted so much to perfectly capture what he had experienced and realize them through his narrative.

Without any clear sign that he would find success in his chosen field, he studied in Los Angeles for 6 months when he was 22 years old to attend a short course in animation. There he learned that manga is a whole different universe and there are so many passionate and creative minds in the world.

He struggled with how his story would stand out and find its relevance. He also hired an English tutor to learn the language so that he could appeal to the global market. Learning a foreign language was the most difficult part of his journey.

He began to question his dreams, because each step he takes toward his goal the more he discovers his limitations. He felt like he was a tiny ant lost in a foreign land. He had to do this work because he had never set his mind on failing. He had no fallback or plan B.

During one of his summer breaks in America, he went to Vegas and he saw how lively the city was. The place just makes people happy and ecstatic. He had never felt alive before. This was where the idea of taking chances and reading a manga emerged. He wanted his readers not only to read his work but also to interact with the story.

He watches anime, cartoons, comics, and even educational videos on botany to appreciate the process of growing orchids. He is determined to realize his ideas because he was that he is meant to share to others his fictional garden.

While others saw him as a lucky writer and witty animator who managed to win the hearts of fans-men and women of all ages, they cannot see that his manga is 30 years in the making since that Friday morning field trip. The main plots of each manga series deal with trapping the villains or the queens, outwitting their circumstances.

He often receives mail, emails, and gifts from fans containing their appreciation and admiration. Some of these are hate mail and messages, especially when they are dissatisfied with the story. He still reads them to get on the same page as the fans and discover how his audience thinks and reacts to the manga. To him, it is his way of indirectly interacting with his readers.

Many have questioned his ability to create alternate endings, but his mind has wandered into thousands of stories about the garden. There was even a rumor that there are actually 10 writers and a whole bunch of animators, but it's all him- his unique childhood, his innocence, and his curious mind.