Watanabe leaves the group briefly to look for the creator of the beautiful drawings that captivated the attention of our dear Sophie.

Aya and Rina take a closer look at the different artworks.

“You made up your mind pretty quickly Sophie, even me who doesn’t know much about manga I can tell that it’s a pretty old style.”

“No no no, it’s not old-fashioned Aya. It’s a retro style as we do almost no more today. These kinds of drawings are legends of manga and Japanese animation, it is what made us enter the world pantheon of art.”

“Aren’t you overreacting a bit here?”

“No way!”

Sophie picks up one of the sketches on the desk and looks at it carefully.

“Um, I can’t really describe it properly but I’m strangely drawn to this style of drawing, this landscape, in particular, seems almost nostalgic to me.”

Rina comes closer.

“Let’s see…”

The drawing represents the heart of a dark and humid enchanted forest lightly illuminated by a shaft of light that highlights a small water source surrounded by green moss and some wild animals here and there.

“The landscape is truly breathtaking. It resembles something out of a Ghibli movie”

“Right?”

Aya also comes closer to see this drawing.

“Beautiful indeed.”

“And even the character portraits and concepts that she did, I have a certain affinity with her art. I thought it would be a great fit for my story and the world I’m imagining.”

“Come to think of it, I do visualize the scenes quite well in this style. At least better than in a contemporary shonen or seinen style.”

At the same time.

“White-san, I have brought back the person in question.”

The girls turn around.

“Nice-”

…

“Don’t be shy, make the first move, and go for it.”

“Senpai…”

The young girl accompanying Watanabe does not seem very comfortable.

Watanabe comes closer to her ear and whispers some words under the confused eyes of our three friends.

*cough*

“So girls, let me introduce you to the artist you chose.”

“Nice to meet you, my name is Hayashi Miyabi, and I’m in class 1B.”

“Miyabi-chan is one of our best people in the club even if she doesn’t accept it.”

“Senpai…”

Rina, Aya, and Sophie stare at Miyabi-chan in silence, until…

“So tall…”

*blushing*

Miyabi-chan covers her face with both hands and crouches behind Watanabe.

“Rina!”

“Oh snap, my inner monologue just slipped out! My bad!”

“Hehe, no need to fret Shimizu-san. Our dear Miyabi-chan gets shy about her tall stature, so she blushes at the slightest glance from others.”

“Excuse me Hayashi-san, that wasn’t my intention. I was just admiring… Especially for a first-year student.”

Miyabi-chan got up slowly and revealed her face was still a little red.

“It… It’s not a big deal. I’m not comfortable because of my body, I’m very tall and not really thin either…”

Aya comes closer and sticks to the shoulder of the girl.

“Don’t worry, you’re not too far off from my height and our builds are pretty similar, so you fit right in!”

Rina approaches in her turn and comes to ask her in a low voice.

“If you don’t mind me asking, may I know how tall you are?”

“1.79m…”

“Wow… You could be a supermodel.”

“I’m, like, 1.74m. We’re not that far apart in the end.”

“Well well well, it seems that our dear Aya-chan is quite the catch indeed! She may deny it, but I have it on good authority that she has a long list of secret admirers who can’t help but be drawn to her charm and grace.” smirks

“Sophie!”

“It’s to say that profiles like Aya or even you Hayashi-san are not at all strange or unpleasant.”

Miyabi-chan closes her eyes for a second and blows to release the pressure.

“Um, thank you for considering my feelings. I really didn’t intend to cause any kind of disturbance during the open house.”

“Miyabi-chan is just the cutest thing when she gets all shy like that! I was over the moon when White-san showed interest in her, especially since she spent most of today hiding away in the back room drawing.” giggles

“Senpai…”

“Haha, you won’t escape this time, a guest has specially chosen you. You’ll have to meet her expectations now.”

“I will do my best…”

Watanabe grabs her kohai’s hand and leads her (insistently) to the desk.

“Okay, White-san, you can stay with Miyabi-chan and show her your storyboard, you can agree on the details of the board together. In the meantime, we’ll take a little walk next door so we can see your creation at the end. Is it good for you Shimizu-san? Sakai-san?”

“Sure, sure.”

“Make us a memorable board.”

Watanabe accompanied by Rina and Aya go away nicely the time to let Sophie and Miyabi-chan finish their creation.

“Watanabe-senpai…”

“Hm?”

“Why do I get the sense that everything happened quickly and that we were excluded from the girls’ activities?”

“Hehe, my apologies for that. You see, my sweet Miyabi-chan is naturally very shy, especially in the situations we just discussed. It can be difficult for her to focus when she’s in the company of others, even if she knows them well.”

“Hmm alright. But is it okay if Sophie stays with her, then?”

“I don’t know White-san very well, but my intuition is still pretty good and I feel like with her, Miyabi-chan won’t be in trouble.”

“You’re probably right.”