Chapter – 01
A balloon with a face drawn on it was rolling across the floor rather than floating. Stared at by its indescribable expression—somewhere between a smile and a blank face—Ayame Katsuki froze.
“Senpai, what exactly is this supposed to be?”
She called out to the figure standing with folded arms in the center of the clubroom, which, viewed kindly, was neatly organized, but viewed less kindly, was severely lacking in proper equipment.
“You can’t tell? It’s contemporary art.”
“It just looks like a balloon with a face drawn on it to me.”
“What have you been learning this entire year? I see absolutely no signs of growth. As the club president, nothing could make me sadder.”
The club president, Maiko Shioi, turned around and let out an exaggerated sigh of disappointment. Her jet-black hair, dark as spilled ink, gleamed beautifully in the evening light. To Ayame, that seemed far more artistic than the balloon carelessly rolling around on the floor, but according to Shioi, the balloon was the true artwork.
“Could you at least explain what makes this contemporary art?”
“Haa… Are you really a member of the Contemporary Art Club?”
The Contemporary Art Club was a club founded by Shioi herself. At present, it had four members in total: Shioi, Ayame, and two ghost members. They were barely meeting the minimum requirement to remain recognized as an official school club.
“I’ve spent the last year listening to your incomprehensible lectures, President, but I still don’t get it. This is way beyond anything I can understand.”
“You see, contemporary art doesn’t actually have a clear definition. Before the modern era, art focused on how visually beautiful something could be made. Just like the famous Lisa del Giocondo…”
“Wait a second. I don’t know what that is.”
“What?”
“Lisa de… what?”
“Lisa del Giocondo.”
“That doesn’t help at all. It’s probably some obscure painting, isn’t it?”
Shioi let out a dramatic sigh powerful enough to resemble a gust of wind. The balloon rolled away, turning its face from view.
“Would Mona Lisa ring a bell?”
“Oh, right. The one where it looks like she’s making eye contact with you from any angle.”
“You know, Mona Lisa isn’t actually its official title. I’m pretty sure I explained that before.”
“You could’ve just called it the Mona Lisa from the start. Anyway, what were we talking about? The definition of contemporary art…”
“Forget it. Explaining it to you is a waste of time. Instead of wasting hours watching pointless videos on your phone, why don’t you study the history of Western art?”
Frowning on her unnecessarily well-proportioned face, Shioi turned back toward her masterpiece.
Ayame stood beside her and, pretending to be interested, examined the balloon. No matter how she looked at it, she felt absolutely no artistic value whatsoever.
“If you were going to draw a face, you could’ve at least made it look happier.”
“Quiet. This melancholy expression stimulates the viewer’s imagination.”
“Somehow, this face kind of looks like you, Senpai.”
“That’s not a compliment I’m particularly happy to hear.”
What is with this person? She’s such a hassle.
People who talked about art were, more often than not, self-proclaimed critics intoxicated with themselves. They wanted others to think they had good taste, so they deliberately created things different from everyone else. That in itself wasn’t a problem, but forcing their philosophies onto others was genuinely annoying.
Shioi was exactly that type of person.
Had Ayame known that beforehand, she never would have joined this club.
“By the way, Senpai, it’s almost time for us to move up a grade. I’ll be a second-year, and you’ll be a third-year. We only have four members, including the ghost members. If we don’t get any new recruits in April, the club will be dissolved.”
“Huh…?”
Shioi, who had been basking in her own artistic brilliance, suddenly widened her eyes in shock.
“Dissolved?”
“Why are you so surprised? You know clubs with fewer than four members aren’t officially recognized, right?”
“No, but the two ghost members still belong to the club even if they never show up.”
“They’re both third-years. They’re graduating soon.”
The two ghost members were male students who had joined because they were interested in Shioi.
Compared to most students, Shioi was undeniably attractive. Outside the clubroom she rarely spoke, which had earned her a reputation among upperclassmen as a cool beauty.
The two boys had joined as founding members because they wanted to get closer to her. However, perhaps they had grown tired of listening to Shioi endlessly lecture them about her personal theories of art, because they stopped coming after only their second day in the club.
“The Contemporary Art Club can’t disappear! This is the only place where I truly belong. You don’t want the club dissolved either, do you, Ayame!?”
“Uh, not really…”
“You fool! And you’re supposed to be the vice president of the Contemporary Art Club!”
Since there were effectively only two active members, Ayame had been appointed vice president more or less by force.
The threat of dissolution—unexpected to Shioi, though completely expected by Ayame—had thrown the club president into a total panic.
Shioi grabbed Ayame by the shoulders and shook her vigorously.
“As club president, I order you! Go recruit two new members immediately!”
“That’s impossible. Who would join a Contemporary Art Club? If it were a normal Art Club, maybe. But this is like the most troublesome genre imaginable.”
“What do you mean troublesome!? That’s an insult to contemporary art!”
“Because it is troublesome. Especially you, Senpai.”
If Ayame started approaching people with bizarre invitations like Would you like to join the Contemporary Art Club?, she risked losing friends.
She had two more years of high school left and had no intention of ruining them over something ridiculous.
“Why don’t we just ask the student council? At this point, it’s their jurisdiction anyway.”
Applications and matters regarding clubs all had to be processed through the student council.
That said, the student council at this school was infamous for its rigid bureaucracy. Ayame had heard stories about other clubs that had faced dissolution in the past and desperately appealed for mercy, only to be rejected without hesitation.
“The student council, huh? Fine. Come with me. We’ll negotiate directly.”
“I have to go too?”
“Of course. We have to protect our place!”
Shioi flung open the sliding door and stormed out of the clubroom.
Ayame didn’t particularly care whether the club survived or not, but she decided to follow along anyway—if only to save her president a little face.
