Chapter 75

Day 75

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「Good morning~♪」

Kouhai-chan was energetic, completely different from how she was yesterday. Her voice bounced so much to the point that I could even hear the music note at the end of her line.

「Did something good happen to you?」

「No, not really.」

Her mouth was hidden in her checkered muffler, making me unable to discern her expression. Even so, her eyes were laughing.

「You can just tell me, and yet…」

「Nothing really happened, senpai.」

During our unproductive conversation, the train arrived at the station as usual.

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The train was warm, and I started to relax in our usual position.

When I thought of it, I had been asking about things that were a little bit too complicated. That’s why, I had given a lot of thought about what to ask to senpai today.

「Err, I’ll just get into it, senpai. Here’s my『today’s question』.」

「Uh huh.」

I’ve been thinking about this a lot, so let’s just ask it right away.

「Senpai, what did you do with my illustration?」

Well, of course I’m curious. I’m the one who gave it to him after all.

「Ahh, that?」

「Yes.」

Senpai moved his gaze to the train and sighed.

Eh?

「First, let me complain. I already told you this before, but don’t just push it to other people suddenly.」

「But senpai, you received it, right?」

「You are the one who made me receive it, though?」

「Ehh.」

「You are so shameless, really.」

Well, it’s hard to take it home since it’s bulky, and I don’t have a place to hang it at home, so I gave it to senpai just like that.

「Then, what did you do with it?」

「I use it to decorate my room.」

He answered me while scratching his head.

「Oh my, thank you very much.」

I’m a little surprised that senpai would honestly tell me that he used it as a decoration.

「I just simply hang it on the wall next to my desk.」

「It sounds pretty authentic.」

「The frame, or the canvas, or the panel? They are made quite well.」

Senpai traced a large square with his finger in the nearby window. The size was around that, huh.

「Then, how was it?」

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Now, now.

I don’t want Kouhai-chan to think that I’m going along at her pace. Even I have been thinking a lot every day how to catch her off guard.

That’s why I said this while holding the power button on my smartphone.

「You told me that you want me to look at it carefully before. You didn’t forget, right?」

And then, I show her my smartphone, with the home screen wallpaper projected in front of her.

Of course, I already set Kouhai-chan’s masterpiece as my wallpaper.

I could feel myself grinning.

Kouhai-chan sucked in a breath.

「…Really, what are you doing, senpai?」

「You told me to look at it.」

「I didn’t ask you to look at it that much!」

Making this as my wallpaper was quite difficult.

Since I didn’t have the image data or the digital data, I had no choice but to take a picture with a camera. But I needed a certain amount of space to do it, and I needed to pay attention to the lighting as well. I didn’t want to have strangely bright and dark areas in the illustration after all.

I finally could set the illustration as my wallpaper after struggling to close and open my curtain and adjust the location.

「Well, that’s right. I think you drew it beautifully.」

Two puffer fish are swimming comfortably in the sea full of corals.

「Thank you very much…」

Kouhai-chan was unusually thanking me, not looking straight at me. Well, fine.

I’ll give you my final blow from now on.

「『Today’s question』. Why are there two pufferfish in this illustration?」

I didn’t have the image that fish need to be in pairs. They were either drawn alone, or forming a large group.

It’s weird to have only a pair here. Since the body color is different, with one white and the other yellow, they should be two different fish.

「Eh, that?」

「Uh huh, that.」

I could see how Kouhai-chan was glancing back and forth from me, panicking.

「That, uh, err…」

「Come on, answer me now.」

「Shut it. I already told you before, but I used senpai as a model here.」

「Well, I already know that.」

She told me that she had been refining the idea all along since the second day after we started talking, the one conversation about「Eating puffer fish」.

The problem was why there were two puffer fish.

「The idea was, they were both senpai and me as the model.」

I didn’t really feel surprised.

After all, I already thought of that possibility the moment I saw the illustration at the cultural festival.

「Fuuun…」

「Can’t you be a little more surprised?」

「It’s already clear anyway.」

Anyone who sees this will definitely know.

「Eh, that much?」

「Yeah.」

On the contrary, I’m surprised that Kouhai-chan was unaware of that.

I think she should think a little more about how others would see what she had created.

「Then, which one is me?」

There was a white one, and a slightly yellowish one. Two puffer fish.

「I wonder?」

「You should’ve known it, okay?」

Am I telling you to choose here?

「Then, senpai, which one did you want to be?」

「Nnn…」

If I have to choose, then I’ll take this one.

「The white one.」

In the end, I selected the white one, since it was my image of a「puffer fish」.

「Then, let’s go with that. I will be the slightly yellow puffer fish.」

It seems like it becomes like that.

I am the white puffer fish.

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「By the way, senpai. You really like the illustration, huh? You even put it as your wallpaper.」

When I grinned, senpai made a face as if he just saw a ghost.

「Do you like my illustration?」

「Just leave me alone already.」

「Nope.」

Really, he is really not honest.

「If you properly answer me, I will give you something good.」

「I don’t need ‘something good’ from you.」

「If you don’t answer me, I will prank you.」

「I don’t hate Kouhai-chan’s illustration.」

He is really not honest, eh. But, it’s fine.

「Nn, well, fine.」

After inserting a pause and a break in my words once, I met senpai’s eyes and asked this.

「Err, do you want the illustration data?」

「…Hee?」

For some reason, senpai became petrified at my words.

Was it too sudden?

Senpai who was rebooting his brain diverted his eyes from mine, and whispered this

As the train wheels made a rattling sound, his words mysteriously, yet firmly, reached my ears.

「Well, if you will give it to me, then I want it.」