Vol. 2 Chapter 7 – Kyousuke Is Different After All

♠

The school festival.

It’s the once-a-year, school-wide celebration.

At Kyousuke’s high school, the rule is that every class except the third-years, who are preparing for entrance exams, must plan some kind of event.

Some go with the usual staples like cafés, haunted houses, or food stalls. Others take on more challenging projects, such as stage plays or independently produced films.

Having just enrolled in high school, this would be Kyousuke’s first school festival. As for what his class would be doing—

“Umm, okay everyone, those who have finished, please head home one by one.”

At the class representative’s announcement from the front of the classroom, the classmates lazily responded with a drawn-out,『Okaaay.』

A single sheet of drawing paper and a pencil placed on the desk. And written in big, bold letters on the blackboard:『Self-Portrait Exhibition.』

After discussion and a majority vote, Kyousuke’s class ended up deciding on an exhibit where they would draw and display self-portraits, a plan that practically screamed how unmotivated they were.

‘Why is our class so lacking in unity…’

He grumbled inwardly, though of course he didn’t say it out loud. During the discussion, as expected or perhaps inevitably, Kyousuke hadn’t said a single word and had simply gone along with the flow.

There were, however, unavoidable reasons why things turned out this way.

Clubs were also allowed to participate in the school festival as separate units.

On top of that, any profits made could be used as club funds, so many of the hot-blooded sports club members in this class found it difficult to participate in the class event due to time constraints.

Still, they couldn’t allow people to opt out just because of club activities, so they concluded that a self-portrait exhibit, where you just draw something and casually decorate it, was the most suitable option.

‘…Well, it’s easy, so I guess that’s fine’

Checking his own face on his smartphone, he moved his pencil across the paper in a steady, unhurried manner.

He liked drawing.

The lines he drew didn’t talk back, and the finished product didn’t complain. The pencil lead gave him a sense of comfort, letting him immerse himself in his own world as much as he liked.

“…Alright”

This should be good enough.

Since it was just a class project, putting in too much effort would only make him stand out. It was best to keep it at a level that wasn’t too bad.

He brought the finished piece to the teacher’s desk and set it down, then casually glanced around the classroom.

About a quarter of the class had already gone home and the remaining students were mostly just chatting, not taking the drawing seriously at all.

Among them, Ayano was quietly and steadily moving her pencil.

Maybe she liked drawing, he thought, and without much thought, he approached her desk—

“That’s kind of unexpected”

“…Well, no one’s perfect”

Two boys sitting nearby muttered to each other with troubled expressions as they looked at her drawing.

Hearing that, Ayano’s face flushed bright red, kaaa—.

When Kyousuke peeked from a distance, what he saw was—

‘O-ohh…’

A self-portrait so unbelievably bad that not even a single micro of her beauty was reflected in it, to the point that he couldn’t help but let out a silent gasp of admiration in his mind.

“Ugh, I’ve had enough!! That’s why I said we should do a photo exhibitionー!”

After school, in the classroom.

All the other classmates had already gone home, leaving only Ayano and Kyousuke behind.

She still hadn’t managed to finish her self-portrait, and with tears threatening to spill, she flopped face-first onto her desk.

“Can’t be helped. That’s what the majority vote decided”

This unmotivated class had been split between doing a self-portrait exhibit or a photo exhibit.

From a workload perspective, the photo exhibit seemed easier.

However, their homeroom teacher had said that just one or two photos per person wouldn’t be enough and that they needed to take at least ten photos each, which caused some of the photo-exhibit supporters to drop out, leading to the current outcome.

“Can’t you just submit that? There were even people saying they’d just draw a circle, add eyes and a mouth, and call it done”

“…Are you saying my drawing is on that level?”

“No, no! Everyone’s just doing it casually, so I meant there’s no need to take it so seriously…!”

“We’re going to be seen by a lot of people, you know? There will be people who know I’m a model watching too, you know?”

Looking anxious, looking frustrated, Ayano bit her lip.

『I see』, Kyousuke nodded inwardly.

From the outside, she was a perfect superhuman who could handle anything, academics or sports. If someone who looked like an overwhelmingly beautiful girl far beyond what you’d expect from a first-year high school student produced something like this, it wouldn’t be strange for people to feel disappointed.

“…It’s Kyousuke’s fault.”

“Why is it mine?”

“Because! During the vote, it was decided by just one vote difference!”

It was true that Kyousuke had voted for the self-portrait exhibition and it had been decided by a single vote but that didn’t give anyone a reason to blame him.

Kyousuke shrugged as if it had nothing to do with him, but since Ayano looked at him with such a pitiful expression, he felt a slight sense of guilt.

“…Is there anything I can help with?”

When he reluctantly asked, Ayano flipped her palm over with a smooth turning and broke into a beaming smile.

“Draw it for me instead!”

“If I do that, they’ll figure it out from the art style.”

“Th-then, you draw it first and I’ll copy it! That should be fine, right?”

“Hmm… well, if it’s like that…”

To be honest, Kyousuke still carried a lingering sense of guilt about what happened at the camp. He had been wondering if settling it with just a cake had really been enough.

If helping her this time could ease that feeling even a little, then drawing a picture was easy enough. Of course, he couldn’t tell her that.

“Make me look cool!”

Saying that, she straightened her back with a pin and put on a dignified expression like something he’d seen in a magazine before.

Kyousuke took a mechanical pencil out of his bag, faced the paper on the desk, and immediately got to work.

‘…Even so’

From April until today, the time he had spent with Ayano was second only to his family.

He had completely gotten used to seeing her face, but now that he observed her again like this—

‘She’s ridiculously beautiful, it doesn’t even make sense…’

Glossy hair, translucent skin.

Her facial features were like something crafted with utmost care by a top-class dollmaker, and in a good way, they had no strong quirks, making her easy to draw.

On top of that, she was tall enough to put most men to shame and had a great figure too. Just how much virtue would someone have to accumulate in a past life to turn out like this?

“…ngh… ngh…”

“Hey, don’t move.”

After about ten minutes, Ayano’s eyes started twitching and the cheeks that had been tightly composed began to crumble like a sand mound washed away by waves.

“S-sorry, sorry.”

Ayano rubbed her cheeks monyumonyu, then went back into work mode once again.

That dignified expression of hers was truly beautiful, and most people would probably call it cool. He could understand why Sayo was so obsessed with her.

“You don’t have to hold back blinking, you know.”

“Ah, yeah. You’re right.”

When he said that, Ayano slowly lowered her eyelids, then opened them again.

Behind the curtain of her eyelashes, eyes of a beautiful indigo blue, like the depths of the sea, shone—reflecting only Kyousuke and refusing to let him go.

Her lips, gently curved as they closed, showed no trace of wrinkles, whether due to cosmetics or not, and had a natural gloss that didn’t feel artificial. Perhaps bothered by dryness, the tip of her tongue, like a cherry blossom petal, lightly traced her lips before slipping back into the parted seam.

“…nn… ngh… …nn…”

Once again, Ayano’s expression began to melt.

Her handsome, composed look transformed into a childish, sloppy grin, and Kyousuke stopped his hand.

“Something wrong?”

“…Kyo—Kyousuke…”

“Huh, me?”

“Kyousuke… y-you’re… looking at me…”

“Well, of course I am. I’m drawing your portrait.”

“If you stare at me like that, I’ll get embarrassed! What am I supposed to do about that!?”

“I mean, even if you say you’re embarrassed…”

“Draw without looking!”

“How am I supposed to do that!?”

Her face was so flushed it looked like steam might start rising off it with.

A question suddenly came to mind, and Kyousuke tilted his head.

“More importantly, isn’t being looked at basically your job, Ayano? If you got embarrassed every time, wouldn’t you not be able to work?”

“…Kyousuke is different.”

“Eh?”

“It’s nothing!!”

With a forceful snort, she pumped herself up again and Ayano straightened her expression back into a dignified look.

♥

“I’m done.”

About thirty minutes had passed since then.

Having somehow fulfilled her role as a model, Ayano was finally released from the tension and let out a 『fuhaaa』leaning her weight back against the chair.

Kyousuke gathered the eraser shavings and threw them into the trash, then let out a deep breath mixed with exhaustion. Since he had kept a very serious expression the whole time he was working, he must have been extremely focused.

“Let me see. I’ve been looking forward to it.”

Saying that, she picked up the paper that had been placed face down.

Her eyes widened. She caught her breath. Aside from  『amazing』she couldn’t find any other words.

She already knew he was good at drawing. She had even seen it before.

Even so, this was on a completely different level.

“S-so amazing! This is amazing, Kyousuke! You’re like a pro!”

“A pro at what? If you could get paid for something like this, everyone would be rich.”

He said it as if exasperated, but it wouldn’t be strange at all if there were people in the world willing to pay money for this. It was that skillful, that captivating.

“…If it was going to turn out like this, I should’ve joined the art club.”

He muttered that and hung his head, looking genuinely regretful.

“Why? I like it, though?”

“Well, it’s just…”

Lowering his gaze, he brought his hand up to his mouth.

That hand was stained with graphite from the mechanical pencil lead, dyed pitch black.

“I wanted to draw you even more beautifully than the real thing but it didn’t go well at all.”

Kyousuke was speaking in an entirely serious tone, treating it as a sincere matter but for the one receiving it, it wasn’t that simple.

On top of acknowledging that the real Ayano was beautiful, the fact that he had tried to surpass the original made him unbearably happy. The very fact that he had looked at her that closely dyed even the tips of her ears red.

“Am I… more beautiful than the me in this drawing?”

“Well, obviously.”

He answered instantly and her face melted with joy, as if it were about to overflow.

Just like earlier, it slackened into a loose, unguarded expression.

“Sorry, but can I redo it? Even though I got to look at you up close, I can’t be satisfied with something like this.”

At Kyousuke’s suggestion, Ayano shook her body side to side.

Hiding her face behind the paper with her portrait on it.

“If it’s too good, then I won’t be able to copy it, right?”

“…Ah, I guess that’s true.”

When she gave a reasonable excuse, Kyousuke backed down.

Ayano shrank in on herself, shuffling her feet in small steps.

As if trying to let the heat escape, even just a little faster.

♠

“All right, finished!”

Several dozen minutes later, Ayano finally completed her copy.

“How is it? With this, people who see it won’t be disappointed, right!”

“Yeah. It’s good, I think.”

Since copying also requires skill, the quality was quite a bit lower than what Kyousuke had drawn, but at this level, it probably wouldn’t stand out in a bad way.

The completed drawings were to be kept by their homeroom teacher for the time being.

『I’ll go turn it in for a bit』Ayano said as she stood up and walked toward the door.

“Hm?”

A familiar ringtone rang out and he placed his hand on his pants pocket.

Not his.

Looking over, the source of the sound was Ayano’s smartphone, left on the desk.

It was a notification from the messaging app she always used. The moment he saw the name displayed on the screen, Kyousuke’s expression stiffened.

— Iori.

It wasn’t a name he had ever seen before, but somehow it sounded masculine.

She had probably changed the given name into katakana.

“A-Ayano, your phone—”

“Sorry! I’ll get it right away!”

The moment she turned on her heel, she rushed over at incredible speed, snatched up her phone and ran out of the classroom.

‘W-what was that? Is it someone she has to hurry for that much…?’

He couldn’t hear what she was saying, but her voice, growing distant, sounded very bright.

The same kind of voice she used when talking to him, cheerful and happy.

“…”

It’s probably just a friend.

Or maybe someone from work.

Yeah. There’s no other way to think about it. What else could it be?

“…What else…?”

Muttering to himself, he turned his thoughts toward a possibility he had momentarily pretended not to see.

The way she had panicked. That voice. Could it be that the person on the phone… was her boyfriend?

Anyone, from any angle, would see Ayano as beautiful, and her personality was also exceptionally good. She had her airheaded moments, but even those were more than made up for by her charm.

It wasn’t certain yet, but even if the person on the phone were her boyfriend, there would be nothing strange about it. After all, she was that wonderful of a girl.

‘…This is bad. What is this…?’

Something began to bubble up.

It was dark, hot, and cold.

Slowly, it began to eat away at his heart.

“…!”

Not understanding it himself, he clutched his head.

Right now, all he felt was an overwhelming sense of discomfort.