Chapter 71: At Aika's Atelier

Reading Settings

Translator: Soafp

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While Ginji and Sora were spending time together, Mio was at Aika's atelier. She had received a message via IINE during the break after first period, asking her to come and help.

Just a few minutes' walk from the school, the place was a single-story wooden house with a small garden. It had been prepared by Aika's father for his beloved daughter and his niece, Sora.

Expensive art supplies and paints lined the shelves, and the room was fully equipped with air conditioning. A separate room even included a bedroom and shower to allow full focus during long work sessions.

Aika, having taken a strong liking to the place, used it exclusively as her personal art studio, relegating Sora to cleaning and preparing materials.

Normally, the atelier was obsessively tidy to the point of being clinical. But now, it was a complete mess.

Drafts were scattered all over the floor, and dozens of expensive oil paint tubes—worth tens of thousands per set—had been tossed about carelessly.

“Aika-sama… um, I'm done… but it's impossible to finish all the paintings on the list.”

While wrapping up one of the paintings, Mio addressed the studio's mistress. Aika, who had been absent from school, had her silver hair tied back, wore a rolled-up white shirt under a work apron, and was engrossed in her painting.

Since oil paints take a long time to dry, once a layer is applied, you have to wait more than a day before adding another to avoid colors mixing.

This nature of the medium demands days of gradual work—adding and removing color, confronting the painting with patience and endurance. It's an incredibly draining process.

The piece Aika was working on was an oil painting for a summer competition—one she had originally left halfway for Sora to complete. She made today's additions and turned to face Mio, placing her brush on the table with a weary expression.

“There's no need to rush. I only accepted those commission pieces to spite that girl. As long as I finish the time-consuming oil painting for the competition, that's enough. I'll handle the presentation pieces with acrylics—they're faster. Once that one's sent out, I can focus entirely on this. After you send it to the contractor, clean up the room. I've already called someone else to help.”

Mio glanced at the table while holding the packed painting. There, Aika's schedule and the list of unfinished works—the ones Aika had referred to as petty harassment—were written out.

What shocked Mio was the realization that this overwhelming list had been completed until just a few weeks ago.

“How did Takagi manage to paint all of this?”

“I'm taking a shower. Clean up while I'm gone.”

Stepping over the discarded works, Aika took off her apron and headed to the shower room. Under the stream of hot water, she slammed her hand against the wall.

“Damn it… damn damn damn! That monster… how dare someone as hideous as Sora…”

The painting she had stepped on was Aika's own attempt at replicating what Sora had done.

In order to complete the nearly impossible tasks Aika had forced on her, Sora had used various unconventional methods to paint.

For the less demanding presentation pieces, she didn't even sketch—she adjusted the oil content and painted directly onto undried layers, bypassing the usual drying time.

The technique wasn't particularly rare, though somewhat unorthodox. But Sora's execution of it was astonishing. With a single, confident stroke, she layered paint intuitively, drawing vivid images from her mind onto the canvas.

Even when attempting to copy Sora's work, Aika ended up producing something inferior.

It wasn't simply a matter of skill. There was a fundamental “difference” rooted in Sora's very nature—Sora Takagi possessed a rare quality that translated directly into her work.

Now, having relied on Sora for so long, Aika couldn't get her brush to move smoothly, even on simple pieces. She'd assumed her instincts would return quickly, but the discomfort lingered.

She had spent the night in the studio, desperately trying to reclaim her rhythm.

“Why do I have to suffer this humiliation… To think I'd be made to feel like this… unforgivable…”

After her shower, she sat on the bed wrapped in a towel. She had managed to finish a single piece, but was utterly exhausted. Though tempted to sleep, she took out her smartphone and opened her social media accounts.

“An article should be online today…”

Thanks to her result in the last competition and her striking looks, she'd been interviewed. The article was supposed to go up today. She checked the school's internal social network to see the response—but barely saw her name mentioned.

“No way… what the—!”

The trending topic was a photo of Sora in a dress, snapped by a store clerk. The school's social feed was flooded with that image.

Only a few of Aika's followers had shared her article, and even then, the number of comments was barely half of what she expected. Furious, she threw her phone at the wall.

“Aika-sama!? Um, I heard a noise…”

Concerned, Mio entered the room. Seeing the shattered phone screen and Aika sitting listlessly, Mio fell silent.

“It seems Sora's trending on the school's social network… I don't like it. Make sure my article gets circulated. I'm going to sleep… Also, get a new phone for me.”

“Y-Yes. Understood.”

Aika collapsed onto the bed and closed her eyes. Though heavy with exhaustion, sleep refused to come.