Chapter – 05
As the students who attended morning practice began arriving at school, the students Shioi referred to as “fools” started their activities. Naturally, the Contemporary Art Club had no such thing as morning practice, so being at school this early felt strange.
With Shioi and Iwasaki standing side by side—two people who attracted attention for completely opposite reasons—the surrounding students began to whisper among themselves.
In a way, they made a striking picture together.
If only they had been walking along having a pleasant conversation, it would have looked perfect.
But the reality was…
“I highly doubt you’ll pass my test. If you’re planning to tuck your tail between your legs and run away, now’s your chance.”
“Shut up already. Seriously, do you even want to save your club? This is your last chance, and you’re still acting all high and mighty talking about tests.”
Ever since meeting in front of the school gate, the two had been bickering nonstop.
Neither showed any sign of backing down.
The students watching from a distance probably couldn’t imagine that Shioi and Iwasaki were engaged in a full-blown argument.
Kazuki followed three steps behind them.
If possible, he didn’t want to be mistaken for being associated with either of them.
Shioi stopped in the courtyard and turned around.
“We’ve arrived. This is the testing venue.”
Kazuki had no idea what she was planning, but fortunately there were no other students in the courtyard.
Even if they did something strange, they probably wouldn’t attract unwanted attention.
“So what exactly is this test? Just so you know, if it’s sports, you’ve got no chance. Even with my injury, I can still move better than most amateurs. Especially someone skinny like you.”
Shioi’s arms were as thin as tree branches.
On top of that, her skin was as white as porcelain.
Kazuki had never seen her doing anything physically demanding, so sports definitely didn’t seem like her strong suit.
“Even if your soccer club is a weak team that gets eliminated in district tournaments, I know your individual ability is quite high. If you’d attended a different school, you probably would have achieved great things. I’m not foolish enough to challenge someone like that in sports. This is an entrance test for the Contemporary Art Club. Iwasaki, let me see your artistic sense.”
“Oh? Fine by me. But if we’re making art, wouldn’t a classroom be better than the courtyard?”
“Honestly, this is why soccer idiots are hopeless…”
Shioi frowned and shook her head dramatically.
Perhaps because of her obsession with Western paintings, she occasionally used exaggerated European-style gestures.
“How many times do I have to tell you? This is contemporary art. Anyone can wave a brush around on a white canvas. Even a monkey could do that. Actually, I think there was an elephant that could paint too. In any case, you need a broader perspective. So here’s the test: create what you consider art using only the things available in this courtyard. Naturally, I will participate as well. Once we’re finished, Vice President Kazuki will judge the winner. Those are the rules. No questions.”
“Wait, nobody told me about this.”
Without any prior warning, he had been assigned the role of judge.
It was a tremendous responsibility.
To save the club, all he really had to do was declare Iwasaki the winner.
But that risked ruining Shioi’s mood.
Normally she brushed off rough treatment without a care, but when art was involved, Shioi became difficult.
If he ruled in Iwasaki’s favor, she would undoubtedly complain about it endlessly afterward.
“Hey, hold on. You can’t just suddenly tell me to make art.”
“Begin!”
Shioi forcibly started the test.
“Damn it. There’s only so much stuff in this courtyard. What should I do…?”
Iwasaki looked around with a troubled expression.
“Hey, Kazuki. Got any good ideas?”
“Well, I’ve been assigned as the judge, so giving advice feels a little…”
“Come on, don’t be stingy. You want me to join the club too, don’t you?”
Suddenly she leaned close and whispered directly into his ear.
Her breath was warm, and the cold air made the warmth spread through his chilled ear.
One reason Iwasaki was so popular with girls was not just her androgynous appearance, but also the fact that she casually did things like this.
Even Kazuki felt his heart skip a beat and hurriedly jumped back.
“T-That’s against the rules! Iwasaki-senpai, yellow card!”
“Strict referee, huh? A little advice wouldn’t hurt. My opponent is literally the president of the Contemporary Art Club. I’m at a huge disadvantage here. Honestly, getting help from you would only make things fair.”
“Hm… you do have a point.”
“See?”
Thinking about it, she was right.
If this was supposed to be a competition, shouldn’t it be more balanced?
What was that club president doing, casually dragging everyone onto her own home turf?
“Um… actually, last autumn the president made an art piece using fallen leaves and dead branches. Since there are cherry blossom petals all over the ground right now, maybe you could use those?”
The cherry blossoms had bloomed early this year, which meant they were also falling early.
The trees that had been in full bloom during the graduation ceremony would probably be bare before the entrance ceremony.
“That’s a great idea! Alright, time to gather petals. Thanks for the tip!”
“Good luck.”
Deciding to check on Shioi as well, Kazuki approached the flower beds and peered over her hunched back.
“Eh…?”
There was a cigarette between Shioi’s fingers.
This was bad.
He had seen something he definitely wasn’t supposed to see.
“I didn’t see anything. I didn’t see anything.”
Muttering to himself, Kazuki hurried away.
He already knew she was strange, but surely she knew smoking was illegal for minors.
There had even been several incidents where cigarette butts were found on campus, leading to school assemblies trying to identify the culprit.
Nobody had ever confessed.
Could it have been Shioi all along?
“W-What’s wrong, Kazuki? You look pale.”
“It’s nothing. Really, absolutely nothing.”
“Uh… okay?”
More importantly, why was she smoking during the middle of an art test?
Artists were often stereotyped as smoking pipes, but surely this wasn’t the same thing.
He couldn’t imagine nicotine improving creativity.
“More importantly, Iwasaki-senpai, have you finished your piece?”
“Yeah. Take a look. Cute, isn’t it?”
Iwasaki pointed at the ground.
Arranged there in pink cherry blossom petals was the face of a cat.
“It’s adorable!”
“You know, I actually really like cute animals like cats and dogs. It doesn’t really fit my image, so I don’t usually tell people.”
Smiling shyly, Iwasaki looked more feminine than usual.
Imagining her diligently gathering petals and arranging them into a cat made Kazuki smile.
That kind of unexpected contrast was probably another reason people found her so charming.
She really was unfairly attractive.
But the real problem was Shioi, who might have become unfairly criminal.
Kazuki had never noticed the smell of cigarettes on her before.
Had she simply been covering it up well?
As he debated whether he should report her to a teacher, Shioi slowly walked over.
“Time’s up. Now then, Iwasaki. Let me see your work.”
“U-Um, Senpai.”
“What?”
What should he do?
Should he say something?
“No, it’s nothing.”
Not knowing how to bring it up, Kazuki stayed silent.
“Don’t be too shocked by my masterpiece. Behold—Cherry Blossom Kitty!”
With the innocent grin of a little boy, Iwasaki proudly presented her work.
She even winked at Kazuki, as though already certain of victory.
After a moment of silence, Shioi covered her mouth and burst out laughing.
“Ahahaha! What is that? A cat? Give me a break. This isn’t some elementary school arts-and-crafts project.”
“Wha—!”
Her masterpiece being mocked, Iwasaki’s face turned bright red.
With a mixture of embarrassment and anger, she stepped toward Shioi.
“What’s wrong with it? It’s cute! If you’re gonna talk that much trash, show me yours! Let’s see this so-called art!”
“Gladly.”
“Ugh, that’s disgusting!”
Iwasaki recoiled as though she’d been physically shoved backward.
What had Shioi created?
Kazuki leaned over to look.
The exact same words escaped his mouth.
“Ugh, that’s disgusting.”
“How rude.”
Resting in Shioi’s palm was the corpse of a frog with a cigarette in its mouth.
The frog looked recently dead.
Its body still retained a glossy sheen.
But its limbs hung limp, exposing its white belly as it lay upside down.
And jammed into its mouth was a cigarette.
So that was what she’d been holding earlier.
“This cigarette… where did it come from?”
Now that the evidence was being displayed so openly, Kazuki couldn’t avoid asking.
“It was lying on the ground.”
“Huh? It was already there? You weren’t smoking it?”
“Are you an idiot? Do you really think I’d smoke while being a minor? Look at these white teeth and this bright red tongue. Does this look like the mouth of a smoker?”
Shioi stuck out her tongue and even opened her mouth to show the inside.
Her slightly long red tongue made her look surprisingly seductive—far too mature for a fellow high school student.
If someone painted that image, it would probably turn out quite beautifully.
“Okay, okay. Please close your mouth.”
“Hm. So what’s the verdict?”
“First, I’d like an explanation. Isn’t this just a dead frog with a cigarette butt shoved into it?”
“Exactly! What kind of twisted thing is that?”
“Did you already forget what I said? Contemporary art doesn’t provide answers. What am I expressing? There are as many answers as there are viewers.”
Shioi smiled smugly.
For some reason she already looked victorious.
But Kazuki had already made his decision.
“The winner is Iwasaki-senpai.”
“Impossible!”
“Hah! Told you, idiot! You really thought a dead frog could beat a cat?”
Shioi collapsed onto the ground.
If she’d lost after giving her all, her frustration would have made sense.
But all she’d really done was trample on a dead frog’s dignity.
She didn’t even have the right to be upset.
“Why, Kazuki? Why can’t you understand my art?”
“More importantly, where did you even find that frog?”
“It was lying behind the flower bed. Don’t get the wrong idea. I didn’t kill it.”
“So your artwork is literally just a dead animal you found with a discarded cigarette you found shoved into it. Could you stop attaching garbage to garbage?”
“It’s art. Surely it makes you feel something? Something… satirical, perhaps.”
“Like what, specifically?”
“If I explain it, then it stops being contemporary art!”
Maybe she didn’t actually understand her own work.
For an entire year, Kazuki had simply gone along with her atmosphere.
But all Shioi ever did was throw around complicated words and talk about her personal theories of art without ever saying anything concrete.
“So that means I’m officially in the club now, right?”
“Uuuugh…”
Shioi remained collapsed on the ground, refusing to stand.
“I’ll be balancing it with soccer, but I’ll show up whenever I can. And within a year, I’ll win some kind of award with my artistic talent. It’ll only be a matter of time before TV stations start calling me the famous high-school artist.”
“No chance! Anyone who makes cats out of cherry blossoms will never achieve that!”
“Sounds like a sore loser to me. Pretty pathetic.”
The deadline was after school today.
Their goal was still to recruit one more member.
Kazuki had thought it was impossible, but now there was a real chance of avoiding the club’s closure.
All for the sake of drawing a painting with Shioi as the model.
“Let’s do our best and find one more person, Senpais!”
But by the time he said it, Iwasaki had already disappeared toward the faculty office to submit her club application, while Shioi remained on the ground, groaning in defeat.
