A Cheeky Junior Denied Me My Entire Life, so I Tested What Would Happen if I Jumped off a Rooftop to Vent My Anger
Kamiya Yana did not like it.
“…… hot.”
It’s a hot morning when the blazing summer sun burns her skin. Yana came to school as usual, wiped her sweat with a handkerchief, and took a deep breath.
“Senpai, I wonder if he is coming to school today. ……”
Susumu missed school yesterday. Again, just like before, the school didn’t seem to have been contacted, and Hijiyama and her friends were spreading various rumors as if they were triumphant.
“It’s really irritating.”
Yana hated backbiting. She had always been the type of person who would go directly to someone if she didn’t like something, so she thought that sneaking rumors behind someone’s back was something a coward would do.
“But because of that, I caused a lot of trouble for senpai…..”
So this time, it was her turn to help Susumu, Yana had always thought so, but no matter what she said, she could not silence Hijiyama and the others.
“In the end, everyone is just looking out for themselves.”
Even if they were to be warned by advisor Yasaka or other teachers about their current situation, nothing would probably change. Everyone only pretends to listen to what they are told, and neither reflect on their actions nor change their behaviour.
It is easy to hurt people. But it is very difficult to heal wounds and make people reflect. At least Yana didn’t have the power to change the current situation.
“Maybe I should go to the art room.”
However, Yana still doesn’t want to keep running away like this, so she starts walking towards the art room for no reason. There is still time before classes start. Normally, it wouldn’t be strange if someone came to the art room.
But now it’s before the test, and the temperature is over 30 degrees Celsius. Under these circumstances, there is probably no one to be seen. Yet Yana doesn’t stop.
“…… I feel like an idiot.”
Maybe Susumu is there. What a convenient delusion she find herself in, Yana exhales with a tired face.
Early morning school. There is not a soul in the morning corridor, only Yana’s footsteps echoing rather loudly. ……Suddenly, she sees the figure of a girl walking in front of her.
“…… Asama Ion.”
Her white hair, which is unmistakable even from a distance, seems to swallow up the light. As if ashamed of herself for having admired her for a moment, Yana let her gaze slip out of the window.
“…………”
Ion crosses next to Yana without saying a word. For a moment, the profile she saw seemed to have a very human smile on her face, rather than her usual somewhat buoyant expression.
“…… doesn’t matter.”
Yana mutters this in a small voice and walks away. …… No, just as Yana was about to walk away, a voice rang out from behind her.
“I think you can still see him.”
“…… eh?”
Not understanding the meaning of the words, Yana involuntarily turned around. …But Ion is no longer there. The hot sun shines on the silent hallway.
“What’s really going on, that woman …….”
Yana exhales again and walks towards the art room at a faster pace than she did at first.
“…… it’s hot.”
Her hands are sweaty. She can feel her heart pounding. It’s not just the outside heat, but the deep inside of her body that feels like it’s on fire.
“What am I …… doing?”
Yana didn’t know what she was nervous about, even to herself. But for some reason, her heart was racing and she couldn’t stop walking …… forward.
Yana then opened the door to the art room.
“────”
Speechless. The chirping of the cicadas, which she hadn’t paid attention to for so long, sounds awfully loud. A heart-wrenching sensation, as if time has stopped.
—-There is a world.
◇
A message was posted to the art club group.
[Come to the art room before classes start]
[If you don’t come, you will regret it]
Ririka Usa, who saw the message from Yana, who did not often send messages to the group, was walking towards the art room without thinking anything in particular.
“Yo, Ririka. Are you going to the art room too?”
On the way, Rengo, who must have also seen Yana’s message, calls out to her.
“Something like that. It’s unusual for Kamiya-san to say something like this, so I was a bit curious.”
Seeing Ririka’s usual stuck-up smile, Rengo loosens his cheeks in a happy manner.
“Well, I guess it’s not a big deal anyway. But more importantly, do you think Susumu will come to school today?”
“…Well. But, it seems like the scholarship extension has been decided again, so I guess he’ll be coming here with a disgusted look on his face like always.”
“Haha, maybe. No matter how much Asama and the teachers like him, he’s still a boring guy who just makes excuses. Even if his talent has dried up, I’ll make him realize that in the next competition”
“I’m looking forward to it ……. Good luck.”
While talking about this, they open the door to the art room.
“It seems like everyone’s coming.”
Everyone had answered Yana’s call with some discipline, and it seemed that more than half of the club members had come to the art room.
“What is it. Everyone is silent, what are you all looking at?”
The art room was unnaturally quiet, even though that many people had gathered there. Everyone is just staring at one point, as if drawn together.
“…… Ah.”
Ririka noticed first. She stopped and her eyes widened. Seeing Ririka in such a state, Rengo frowned in wonder.
“What is it? What in the world is going on with you too, with a face like that——”
Then, Rengo also notices. A picture was drawn on the blackboard. It was probably a doodle drawn by someone else, the same as the picture Hijiyama and the others had drawn earlier. The whole blackboard was dyed red.
Today, too, there is an art class from now on. This kind of drawing will be erased soon. This is just a meaningless doodle. one think so ……, but they can’t move. No one can even speak out.
—-The painting was beautiful.
The red world that stains the night’s curtains. The blood overflowing from a small hill and the small white flowers blooming on it.
There is a limit to the expression that can be achieved with blackboard art. To begin with, chalk has only a few different colours, and the colours do not change like paints even if they are mixed. Blackboard art is a kind of performance, not something that can be called art. Ririka had always thought so.
In fact, the pictures drawn by Hijiyama and the others were very poor. They were scribbles that were drawn on the assumption that they would be erased, and were thinner than paper. This drawing should be no different.
And yet, it overwhelms.
What is in front of her now is the same colour of chalk that she always sees in class. There is no special technique used in the drawing either. It’s just a doodle. …… It overwhelms her….. beautiful, she thinks.
“The same……”
The same as the night sky she saw on TV that day. An overwhelming talent that Ririka detested more than anything else and at the same time longed for more than anything else. It is not necessary to think about who drew the picture. There is only one person in the world who can draw such a picture.
“This is …… something like this, I do not approve. ……!”
Since when has she been here? Hijiyama, her face red, shouted in a trembling voice and ran out of the clubroom. …She must have been more embarrassed than anyone else. The picture she drew the other day and the picture in front of her now were both drawn with the same chalk on the same blackboard.
And yet the difference is stark.
A picture drawn just to hurt people, and a picture of something just beautiful drawn freely. The way the artists approach their work, and above all, the overwhelming difference in ability, which is so great that it is absurd to even compare the two.
She must have thought this picture was beautiful. If she doesn’t like this picture, she can erase it. No one will complain even if she deletes it.
And yet she ran away.
That is undeniable defeat. In the face of overwhelming talent, she could only choose to run away.
“This, this is just a doodle! It’s just a doodle!”
Rengo probably thought the same thing as Hijiyama. He pushed aside the club members who had gathered in front of the blackboard and tried to erase the picture.
“……!”
But halfway through, his hand stops. He felt …… that it would be a shame to erase this picture.
“Damn!!!”
As if ashamed of himself, Rengo slaps the nearby wall as hard as he can.
“…… an idiot.”
Ririka muttered in disgust and made that beautiful red night disappear. With that, everyone leaves the art room, as if the magic has been lifted.
“That’s why I hate geniuses.”
No matter how hard she tries, she can’t change that disgusting atmosphere that pervades the art club. Ririka had never thought of doing anything for Susumu like Yana did, but she had always thought that she would still have to listen to troublesome bad words for some time to come.
And yet, in just one moment, with a mere scribble, it silenced them all. Susumu didn’t say anything. There is no guarantee that this is the picture Susumu drew. Even so, everyone was convinced that it was Susumu’s drawing.
Beauty silences people.
For those who aspire to art, beauty is synonymous with God, and when they are shown something truly beautiful, they have no choice but to admit it. No matter how much they tried to run away like Hijiyama, deny like Rengo, or how jealous they were like Ririka, they all thought this painting was beautiful.
No matter what they say afterwards, they cannot deny that feeling.
“…… worst.”
After that, the advisor Yasaka comes to the art room and all the remaining students are kicked out of the art room. But still, no one could talk about Susumu behind his back anymore.
◇
“I’d say that’s up to scratch.”
I exhale as I stare blankly up at the sky on the roof of my school.
At first I was going to paint the red sky on a big canvas. A small canvas is not enough to express that beautiful world. …… However, the local art supply store didn’t sell canvases in the size I wanted. It would take time to order them and I didn’t have the pigments ready in the first place.
I skipped school and spent the whole day visiting various shops, but still couldn’t find what I wanted, until I happened to pass by the school and suddenly remembered. Hijiyama-san’s painting from the other day. It was a terrible picture, but it certainly had the power to move people’s hearts.
“Come to think of it, I’ve never done blackboard art.”
The focus came into focus. I bought a lot of chalk and crept into the school at night. I had a …… image. I had no experience of blackboard art and a long blank to begin with. I don’t expect to be able to draw like I used to.
But fortunately, I’m not fatigued now. I can draw all night long and not get tired, and I don’t need to take a break. I drew and erased over and over again and drew that red night.
—-Red night and white flowers.
The beautiful world in which Asama-san lives. I gave form to what I thought was more beautiful than anything else. Asama-san must have seen that picture when I called her up in the morning. …… did she get the message a little? The beauty of the world in which …… Asama-san lives in that world.
“Good work, Aoi-kun.”
A voice was heard from behind me. I returned the words while keeping my gaze on the sky.
“How was it? How was my painting?”
After a short pause, Asama-san said, somewhat dumbfounded.
“I now understand why you are called a genius, Aoi-kun. I don’t know anything about painting, but a good painting stops time, doesn’t it? It’s the first time I’ve ever known that.”
“I don’t really care about that. But what did you think about it, Asama-san? Did you think it was a little bit beautiful?”
Asama-san sits next to me and looks up at the sky in the same way as I do.
“……Yes. It was beautiful. I was a little embarrassed to think that Aoi-kun saw me like that.”
Asama-san looks at me. I also look at Asama-san. Asama-san laughed ……. It is a carefree, normal, girlish smile that makes your heart skip a beat.
“Thanks to Aoi-kun, I’ve come to like myself a little more, too. That red night and white flowers are me to Aoi-kun, aren’t they?”
“…… Yeah. If so, I’m glad.”
I let out a small breath. …I’ve found another thing I want to draw.
“Once I regain my senses a little more, I’ll draw properly on canvas this time. I’ll continue to paint what I think is beautiful, so that I won’t forget it even after 1000 years have passed. …Next to you.”
“That’s exciting. Another reason to live.”
Asama-san laughs. I don’t know why I’m about to cry, because her smile is the cutest smile I’ve ever seen.
I will continue to draw pictures for her. I want Asama-san to come to like me, even if only a little. I hope that her loneliness will be eased, even if only a little. I will continue to draw pictures next to her.
……Sorry. Father, mother. I can no longer wait for you to come and get me.
It still pains me to think that I will never see your smiling faces again. But even so, I still want to paint. To show this girl the scenery I wanted to show you, from now on.
If there is a heaven, and if I can see you again one day, I want you to be proud of me. I will continue to paint many more pictures so that one day in the distant future I can proudly say that I have lived in such a beautiful world.
I won’t ask you to wait a thousand years, but if we meet again someday, I want you to smile at me again like we used to. For that reason, I’m going to move forward.
“…… Hey, Aoi-kun.”
Asama-san puts her head on my shoulder. Beautiful white hair sways in the wind.
“What?”
I relax my body and look up at the blue sky.
“Thank you, for finding me that day …….”
“No, it was Asama-san who found me when I jumped off, wasn’t it?”
“No.
Aoi-kun found me. So, ……, thank you.”
“……, you’re welcome.”
The two of them look up at the sky side by side. A beautiful sky that looks like it’s going to fall. …The same blue sky as that day.
“Now then, shall we go back? I have to take class today. I’ve been slacking off a bit too much lately.”
I stand up and stretch lightly.
“Ehhh. I’d like to do this a bit longer. ……”
“You can see the sky again tomorrow. I’m sure the sky will still be blue after ……1000 years.”
“……. Right, shall we get going?”
The chime rings and we start walking side by side.
“………….”
I look up at the sky one last time. The blue sky is beautiful no matter how many times you look at it. The warm summer breeze caresses my cheeks.
“Come one, let’s go? Aoi-kun.”
“…… I know.”
Asama-san leads me by the hand and we start walking. There are no clouds in the blue sky, and I can hear the cries of cicadas from afar. …It looks like the rainy season has finally ended.
—-The sound of rain can no longer be heard..
What a fuckin chapter. Hats off