Ayanokouji's Probing and Teaching

Tsukishima set down the towel and clipped the drawing paper to his board. "She still wants to split points with me, after all. She's lent out quite a few of her points, and she's also borrowed a lot from other classes as a guarantor. She doesn't have many points left."

Actually, she had plenty tucked away. Back when she sold information, Tsukishima hadn't taken a single point from the 200,000 she'd earned. It was all still in her pocket.

But the other people in the class really were running low on points. To make ends meet, they had no choice but to borrow some.

And who would they borrow from? Obviously, Saint Kushida from their class!

Could Saint Kushida refuse to lend to them? No! She was a saint, after all. Saints were supposed to sacrifice themselves to save others!

But could she let them know she had a large stash of points?

Of course not. Aside from the questions about where the points had come from, those big shots in Class D would treat her like an ATM!

So after lending some out, she announced that she was out of points too.

But what kind of people were the gods of Class D? Naturally, they begged Kushida to act as guarantor so they could borrow points from other classes.

A saint was supposed to 'sacrifice' herself for others, wasn't she?

Horikita frowned. "So Hirata and Kushida are both your people?"

Ayanokouji turned his gaze toward the window. Horikita, you really are too direct. Some things don't need to be said outright.

Tsukishima rolled his eyes. "Think whatever you want. Either take the adviser job or don't; I don't care. Anyway, I still have to get back to drawing, so I won't invite you to stay for dinner."

Not that I had anything to eat here, anyway.

As he spoke, he stood up and spread his arms, ushering them toward the door.

Horikita snorted. "I'll be your adviser, but don't think you can use me for anything!"

Ayanokouji, meanwhile, reached the door in just two steps.

Tsukishima replied perfunctorily, "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. What ulterior motives could I possibly have? I just wanted to draw you as a succubus too. All right, goodbye, good night. It's Saturday tomorrow, so we won't see each other."

Ayanokouji suddenly spoke up. "Tsukishima, I can draw too. Could we study together?"

Tsukishima narrowed his eyes and smiled. "Of course. Come by whenever you have time. You're welcome."

Horikita frowned at Tsukishima, who had suddenly turned all smiles, and snorted. "Let's go."

With that, she pulled Ayanokouji out of Tsukishima's room.

Ayanokouji's room.

Horikita folded her arms and studied Ayanokouji.

She said nothing, just kept looking at him.

Ayanokouji sat in his chair, expressionless.

"When did you get so close to him? He gets impatient with me, but suddenly changes his tune around you?"

Ayanokouji turned his gaze toward the window. "Maybe we share the same interests."

Horikita said nothing. She stared at him, trying to put pressure on him that wasn't really there.

"That guy isn't someone you can handle. From now on, you have to tell me everything you do and say with him."

"That wouldn't be right."

Horikita silently took out her Companion Spirit Tool—the compass. The threat was obvious.

Ayanokouji glanced at the compass and nodded in agreement.

The next day was Saturday, so Tsukishima planned to sleep in a little.

Unfortunately, the moment it was eight, someone knocked on his door.

"Shit! Who is it? Starting this early in the morning? Could you at least be considerate about when you bother people?"

Tsukishima sighed and went to open the door, his hair a mess. Kiyotaka Ayanokouji stood outside with a drawing board on his back. "Good morning."

"Fine, come in, come in. I'll get ready first."

He ducked into the bathroom, freshened up quickly, then returned to his room.

He asked casually, "Have you eaten?"

"Yes."

Tsukishima nodded. "All right, I'll grab a quick bite, then. What kind of drawing can you do?"

"A bit of everything."

"Okay. In exchange for letting you observe me up close, how about you teach me drawing and studying?"

"...All right..."

"If you agree, you have to teach me properly. No half-hearted effort, got it? Otherwise, you can go home."

"Okay."

Tsukishima rolled his eyes, pulled a sandwich out of the cabinet, and shoved it into his mouth.

Meanwhile, Ayanokouji openly looked around his room.

"Want to check under the mattress to see if I've got any dirty magazines stashed away? I know you're here to observe and probe me, but you're being a bit too obvious about it."

"Okay..."

Fine. That was the only word he knew.

Tsukishima finished the sandwich in a few bites, picked up his drawing board and paper, and asked, "What do you think I could improve in this drawing? Point out any shortcomings or mistakes in my technique and composition, and tell me what I should practice. Use a guided teaching method, something like Socrates' 'maieutic method.'"

"When you spot a problem, ask me what I think. If my reasoning is right, explain why my drawing still doesn't work."

"If my reasoning is wrong, tell me what the right approach is and what I should work toward. That's about it."

He planned to use Ayanokouji like an AI. If he couldn't do the job, he could leave; if he could, then Tsukishima didn't care what he did.

Ayanokouji fell silent for a while, then took the drawing board and looked at it for ten seconds.

"First, the lighting: where is the light source in this drawing?"

"Front left. If we translate that into a time of day, it'd be evening."

He pointed to the face, chest, and legs. "What do you think the shadows on her face would look like in the evening?"

Tsukishima rubbed his nose. "Most of the face probably wouldn't be in shadow, but there should be some around the nostrils, and they should be lighter."

Ayanokouji nodded. "In the evening, the light comes in at a low angle and is soft. The lit areas won't be too bright, the contrast will be low, and the shadows will be softer."

"Finally, the face. You changed the details of Kushida's face, but her eyes don't look quite right."

Ayanokouji's gaze quietly shifted from the drawing to Tsukishima's face. "Kushida's eyes don't look like that."

Tsukishima nodded. "Of course Kushida's eyes don't look like that. But I'm drawing a succubus, so I have to take some artistic liberties, don't I?"

Ayanokouji fell silent for a while, then nodded. "Go on..."

Damn, he's trying to see if I know Kushida has a double face, right? I should give Kushida a heads-up so she doesn't let Ayanokouji catch her out.

Tsukishima rolled his eyes to himself.

Still, he had to admit that Ayanokouji was really good at drawing. And there he'd been, thinking he'd nearly learned enough. Tsk, how arrogant.

He gave himself a quick mental scolding, then immersed himself in Ayanokouji's lesson once more.