Sai for Esama's Watch and Learn: [link]

Sorry, semi-real's as close as I can do it. >_< And even then, it's still a bit wonky. That's the reason I couldn't get into art school and had to go into writing and editing. Seriously. They hate anime.

Fic clip:

"Hello. My name is Nakano Hayate. Can I talk with you for a moment, teacher?" the old man asked, pulling one of the four chairs back.

Like always, Hikaru felt a lurch of strange happiness inside him, hearing himself being called like that. It was especially flattering because he hadn't encouraged it; his students had started calling him teacher on their own. "Sure," he said, motioning the old man to sit down. "I don't think I've seen you here before."

"Yes, I'm new here," the old man nodded. "I don't want to talk about Go, though. You backpack fell," he motioned to the direction of the clothing racks. "And your sketchbook slipped out. I must admit that I leafed through it."

"Oh," Hikaru frowned at the words a bit before leaning back and sipping his soda. This was surprising turn of events, he had expecting the old man to want to talk about Go - it was Go-salon after all. "What about it?"

"Well, your sketches are very good. How long have you been drawing?" Nakano asked eagerly.

"Ah… it's been year now," Hikaru said thoughtfully. "Yeah, I think I begun to draw about year ago."

"Only year and you're that good? You must practice daily!" the old man looked shocked before shaking his head. "I must admit that my interest is rather professional. See, I'm building a small art school not far from here - nothing major, just something where I'm going to be giving classes, holding up small galleries and such… and you, indeed, you have potential. Do you paint?"

Hikaru was for a moment too surprised to speak. "You mean like with oil paints? No, I haven't tried yet. I've played around with inks and water-colour a bit, but mostly I just sketch…"

"Maybe, if you wouldn't be too adverse against it, you could some day drop by the school. With talent like yours, it would be waste to let it slip away," Nakano said with serious nod while taking out a calling card and handing it to Hikaru. "I already have few students coming by now and then, so you would get to see what it's like."

"I… I'll think about it. Thank you," Hikaru looked down to the card as the old man sat up and walked back to the counter.