When I was growing up, I had this fascination with Lego toys. I loved building them up, and playing various make-believe stories with them. But what fascinated me the most about them was the different series that each merchandise came from. I used to bug my mom a lot growing up to buy me all the items in the Ice Planet series. I was enamored with the idea of collecting the whole set and displaying them.

When I became a little bit older, I had come to the realization these Lego toys were quite expensive, especially the bigger items in each series. I understood that at that rate, I was never really going to completely collect any series. So I turned my attention to something smaller: miniature model cars.

But once again as I grew older, another realization came to me: These merchandises were simply unending. Much like with my fascination with collecting Archie comics, another thing that took my attention for a period of time, I realized that there were simply too many back issues to look for, and that the manufacturers were never going to stop producing while they were profitable.

So by the time I was in my secondary education, I had already given up trying to collect anything. It wasn’t as if it was my money to spend in the first place.

However, when I was finally working and earning my own money, I was finally given a chance to revisit one of my childhood dreams: To have some kind of collection. But at that age, I was no longer particularly interested in Lego, nor in miniature cars, nor in Archie comics.

It just so happened that during the first Christmas after I began working, I saw a box set of the manga of Death Note being sold in a local bookstore. I wanted to sort of treat myself a gift, and I thought buying graphic novels would be a cool idea. And so I did, and from then on I embarked on a journey of building my own manga library.

* * * * *

“Extended lunch?” Vivien asked me as I hurriedly went to my chair.

“Yeah, went out to buy something,” I replied, showing her the plastic bag I was carrying. It had the logo of a local bookstore.

“What did you buy?” an ever inquisitive Chris asked.

“Just some manga.”

“What manga?”

I proceeded to show Chris, Vivien and Shirley. who joined in on the discussion, the volumes I bought. They were three volumes of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle.

“Oh, Tsubasa! I was reading that online before. I think I stopped at the Tokyo arc,” Vivien remarked.

“This is actually the final volume,” I said while showing her volume 28. “I have the whole series complete now. I can lend them to you if you want.”

“You sure?” Vivien asked. It was obvious from the smile on her face that she was excited over the idea.

“Yeah. But I can probably only bring a few volumes each time.”

“That’s okay. I’ll read it here during the mornings. Thanks!”

Unintentionally, it seemed as though I had started to move.

* * * * *

Over the course of the next few weeks, I would bring two volumes each day and Vivien would borrow them to read during the mornings. At first, it was just a simple routine of rolling my seat towards her place and handing her the volumes. But when I was assigned to a different project shortly after that, I was also moved to a different block in the office. The simple routine then became a more elaborate routine of visiting each other’s places.

As soon as I arrived in the office, I would immediately visit her place and hand her the volumes I brought. Then after an hour or so, she would then visit my place and return them to me. On the occasions that I wasn’t in my seat when she came to return the volumes, she would leave leave them on my desk with a note of thanks. Unsure what to do with those notes as it seemed improper to throw them away, I ended up just collecting those notes inside my pedestal.

Regardless, those morning routines became our connection. They were our moments. At least, they were to me.

* * * * *

“It’s Free Comic Book day this Saturday,” I told Vivien and Shirley, both of whom I met by the water dispenser. “Fully Booked is going to have a sale for graphic novels. Twenty percent off on manga if I recall correctly.”

“Are you gonna buy in bulk again?” Shirley asked.

“Yeah. The discount is too good to pass up. Oh they’re also giving away free comics on that day.”

“Whole volumes?” Vivien asked.

“Nah, just single issues. Mostly of western comics.Like those 20 pages one. Steve actually already asked me to get one for him. He said he wants the issue but is too lazy to go.”

“Let’s go, V?” Shirley asked Vivien.

“Sure,” Vivien replied.

“We can just meet up there afterwards.” Shirley turned and said to me.

“Oh, okay,” I replied.

It seemed like I was added into their plans.

* * * * *

<[email protected]> there

<[email protected]> i’m being a good wingman

<[email protected]> :P

<[email protected]> wut

<[email protected]> you’re not even a man

<[email protected]> lol

<[email protected]> you know what i mean!

<[email protected]> it’s a date!

<[email protected]> you want me to not show up on the day?

<[email protected]> :P

<[email protected]> lol

<[email protected]> don’t do that

<[email protected]> anyway

<[email protected]> i also told josh about the sale

<[email protected]> he might also go

<[email protected]> i also told him you and v will be going as well

<[email protected]> and just to contact each other if ever

<[email protected]> pfft

<[email protected]> you’re wasting your chance!

<[email protected]> lol

* * * * *

Even if I did not want to admit it, I was quite excited when Saturday finally came. I had slept early the night before. I had already picked out my best clothes from my admittedly lacking wardrobe. I had even shaved off the stubble of hair on my chin. Whatever I could think of that I could prepare beforehand, I did so.

I was excited. Sure, I was also nervous. But I was more excited than anything. That day could be the start of something new. It felt like I was about to take a first step in my life, a major step in my life. Perhaps it was the start of something good in my life. Perhaps, it could be the start of us. Who knew?

There were several branches of the bookstore that participated in the sale on Free Comic Book day. I had agreed earlier with Vivien, Shirley and Josh to meet at the main branch during the afternoon, at around 3. But since I did not really have anything to do that day, or on any typical Saturday for that matter, I decided to visit the other branches during the morning.

There were a couple of reasons for that. First, for some reason, I had found out before that some of the books that could not be found in the main branch could actually be found in some of the smaller branches. Since I was actually collecting and completing several series, I needed to visit those other branches from time to time to look for my missing volumes.

Second, some of those smaller branches were located in malls that had other shops as well, most importantly ones that sold anime toys. The other thing that I started collecting aside from graphic novels when I began working was scale figures of anime characters. I figured that with such a trip, I could hit two birds with one stone.

Third, and maybe most importantly, was that the free comic giveaway was capped at one per person. This meant that I could not get one for Steve and another for myself. But one of the ways to circumvent this was to actually visit multiple branches. I found that in the previous years, the checkers from different branches used different methods to identify who had already taken their free comic book. Because of this lack of consistency, it was pretty easy to be tagged as someone who has yet to get one from a branch, even if one had already taken their free comic book from another.

Maybe they really allowed it like that. Maybe it was a flaw in their system. Regardless, it was one of the reasons I decided to visit other branches before meeting up with the rest of the gang.

After buying some stuff and having a late lunch, I decided to head over to the main branch for the meetup. As I was taking the train that day, I decided not to buy too much prior to the meetup, and intending to only splurge at the main branch.

While on the train ride, I received a text message from Shirley that said:

> I’m here.

It seemed like Shirley was the first to arrive. I found this a bit ironic. She never was early coming to work, but on this particular day she was the first to arrive. Perhaps mornings were her weakness.

Since I was, in general, a lazy guy when it came to texting, I decided not to reply her message. I figured I was already on my way, and was soon about to reach my stop. I thought that I would just message her once I arrived as well.

After a couple of minutes I felt my mobile phone vibrate again. Maybe the others arrived as well.

I checked my phone and saw that it was Shirley once again. Curious if it was important, I read the message that said:

> v is here with someone. her boyfriend. v has a boyfriend!

I missed my stop that day.