Fool's Love

Vaguely, I felt that my body temperature was gradually cooling down.

"Do I look like a ferret?"

"Well, how should I put it..."

Masumi thought about it.

“Has Yamagishi ever been to a shop that paints manga-style portraits of people before? I have. The one who painted me was a young, petite older sister, and I was sitting in front of her.

She took a portrait of me, it was very similar, and I liked it very much.So after three days, I went to her to paint again. "

"and then?"

"She seemed to recognize me. This time she drew in a different style, and it seemed that she was more comfortable drawing.

Compared with before, it is more in the comic style, with a lot of exaggeration.A few days later, I asked her to paint a portrait again.For some reason, her expression changed slightly. "

——For this business, there should be very few regular customers, right?

I wonder.Especially according to what Masumi said, he asked the same person to paint several times in just a few days, which is extremely suspicious.

"And then?" It was Sasaki who asked the question this time.

"The young lady still drew a picture for me. I was looking forward to her work. When it was finished, I turned it over and saw that in the middle of the picture was a corgi with the same expression as mine!

It's an interesting painting, I like it very much.This time I happened to be painting Yamagishi. I felt that I had not yet had the ability to draw Yamagishi in a realistic style. Thinking of my previous experience, I made it up on my own. "

Masumi said in a tone of talking about something interesting.He himself didn't seem to feel that there was anything wrong, but as a listener, I only felt that he was regarded as a weirdo by the portrait painters at the time.

Then again, after hearing all this, I still have absolutely no idea why he drew me as a ferret.

I suspect he didn't give it much thought, just because ferrets are lanky, and so am I.Other than that, I can't think of anything we have in common.

"Sasaki-san drew very well!"

Masumi looked at Sasaki's painting and expressed sincere admiration.Megumi Sasaki immediately showed a hint of shyness on her face: "Ah, because I habitually doodled when I was reading manga..." At this point, she changed the subject and brought the topic to me again, "Student Yamagishi It's also pretty good."

"Yamagishi is a professional in this area." Masumi said with a smile.

"Ah."

Sasaki responded, and his eyes followed my painting from top to bottom.Her expression is full of concentration, which I usually only show when I am rushing to draft and taking exams.

"It's so pretty."

A sentence came out of Masumi's mouth indistinctly, with a hint of half envy and half emptiness mixed in his gentle voice. "What's wrong?" I asked him.

"It's not a big deal. It's just that Yamagishi draws so well that I can't help but start to imagine how Yamagishi would draw me."

"Then why did you propose to paint me in the first place?"

"Because I have been taken care of by Yamagishi a lot during this time. You have helped me a lot in painting, but I have nothing to repay you.

I happened to seize an opportunity, and I thought it might be a good choice to take this opportunity to draw a portrait of you.

But it turns out you saw it too—it's not a pretty portrait.It's not even close enough to be proudly gifted—it's just a picture that a child could draw. "

Masumi said.There was a hint of regret in his words, and he really looked like a corgi dog in the rain.

"Then can you give it to me?" I asked Masumi.

"but……"

"Since it's a portrait, I think it's a good choice to gift it to me. Sasaki, what do you think?"

"Huh?" Unexpectedly, as soon as my conversational focus turned to her head, Sasaki exclaimed, "I think it's good too."

In this way, I accepted Masumi's painting semi-strongly.Because Masumi said it was drawn for me, even if it didn't look good in the end, I felt like I deserved it.

I presented my painting to Sasaki, and Sasaki gave her painting of Masumi to Masumi himself.

"You should have told me just now." I whispered to Masumi during the process of smoothing the corners of the painting, "It was half an hour before the bell rang when I finished the painting. Enough time to draw another one."

"Won't that bother you too much?"

"Will not."

What Masumi didn't know was that I had secretly drawn him before.He was still thanking me and said that he would definitely be my model for painting in the future.This made me feel even more guilty.

Anyway—when I got home from school, I looked at the poorly drawn drawing on the table—

This is the first thing I got from Masumi.I couldn't find a suitable place to put it, and it didn't fit well with the sundries, and it always felt weird when I posted it. If my parents or Miss Mei Hai came into the house in the future, I don't know how to explain this problem.In this way, the existence of this painting is very tasteless.

In order to solve this problem, I dug out from the top of the bookshelf the empty iron box that was used to hold snacks, and used it to hold these "chicken ribs" things——

Just the other day I bought something that fits that word perfectly.I took out the paper bag containing the ring from the bottom drawer full of sundries, and pressed it on the bottom of the empty box.

The rolled Masumi painting is then tied with a rubber ring to prevent the surface of the painting from being stained.

I hesitated for a while, and finally rolled up the portrait of Masumi that I had scribbled before, stuffed it into the iron box, and closed the lid.

After doing all this, I suddenly felt a soreness behind my nose.It was as if the nerve endings had been scorched by a small spark and failed to ignite——

I sneezed at the slight irritation.In a daze, I realized that it was because I didn't close the window, and the pollen outside the window floated in, which caused my hay fever.Every year around that time, I suffer from this bug.

-

"'Masumi'? You mean Masumi Kazuki from the group?"

With a Pocky stick in his mouth like a cigarette, Morita Takumi showed me a surprised expression.I took a breath to look more natural.

"Yes, it's him. What's the matter?"

"I thought you were the kind of introverted person who basically didn't take the initiative to interact with others." He paused.

After thinking for a short while, he acted like he had already figured it out, "But since it's that Masumi, it's not too strange for you to know."

I realized that I still knew too little about Masumi.That's why I would find Morita the next day and ask him about Masumi.

To say a jack-of-all-trades, this guy is the first thing that pops up in my mind.I happen to have a good relationship with him.

"Is he a celebrity?"

"It's not a celebrity, but it has a sense of presence in their class." Morita said, "His family seems to be quite rich, and his temperament is reminiscent of the kind of young master who has never experienced the world. Smiling, the way you never get angry." His description made me sure we were talking about the same person.

"I'm in the same department as him."

"Manga Research Department? It's amazing. I thought this kind of person's hobbies would be more refined."

Morita couldn't help but click his tongue.

"Didn't you know that before?"

"Of course! I just listened to others talking about him, and paid a little attention."

"Where did you hear that?"

"Athletics club. There is a girl named Hanae Shiko in his class," Morita explained, "She is very fascinated by that person. Good grades, good looks, and gentle personality—this is exactly the prince of the 21st century. !"

I frowned: "What an exaggeration."

"It's what Hana said." Morita said in a tone that seemed to avoid suspicion, "She came from a more rural area, and she was ridiculed by a small group of several people after school started, and Masumi stood up to speak for her at that time.

It was incredible because he looked so thin, as if anyone passing by could punch him.

Or maybe he's just naive and sometimes acts like an alien—he doesn't care about the consequences.

"What about you?" Morita changed the topic.He looked at me, his gaze piercing like cotton with needles hidden: "Why do you want to know about him?"

I was at a loss for words.Why?I also want to know.I should have known, but right now the question is as clouded as Masumi herself.

It was a feeling of being dependent on something.I can't describe it - to say I'm obsessed with him just because he's good-looking is superficial.

I think I should have an answer, because when I think about this question, I feel as if I saw a sentence not long ago, without thinking about it, and turned my head to think about what I just saw.

I scratched my head because I should have known - I figured I must be forgetting something.

"I see!"

I'm still struggling with how to answer.On this end, Morita yelled, showing an expression that everything was under control.

"No wonder the expression is so embarrassing - the girl you like has a good relationship with that guy, right?"

It's not true at all.However, fortunately, Morita is a "stupid" who is good at justifying himself.

I made a wry smile in response to his words, and the man immediately bit the bait.

"Sure enough!" He nodded, but what he said next poured cold water on my head, "But you don't have to worry—that guy treats everyone the same. He doesn't have any sense of distance when getting along with others, and he treats everyone the same. He can talk. There are many people who are close to him, both men and women."

I listened to Morita's words, and nodded casually - vaguely, I felt that my body temperature was gradually cooling down.