Yusuke Kitagawa's Inherent Trait

"Eat slowly. There's plenty more on the counter." Resting her chin on her hand as she watched Yusuke Kitagawa swiftly stuff a serving of sushi into his stomach, Sonoko Suzuki offered a word of advice, then sighed. "Living in the school dorms must be pretty inconvenient, right? In all sorts of ways."

"The conditions are actually pretty good." Pulling his gaze away from his plate, Tangze continued along the prepared backstory. "Living at school means I can use the art studio all day, and utilities and such aren't too expensive."

"Do you only study painting at school? You don't have any other teachers?" Ran Mouri, happily eating a small cake, looked surprised at that. "Then, Kitagawa, when you were little, how did you..."

What came next would not have sounded very pleasant, so she quietly stopped herself. Having read quite a few psychology books recently, she knew better.

Art forms like painting were, after all, subjects people only had the energy to pursue once they were fed and clothed. Unless there were special circumstances, children from truly impoverished families rarely threw themselves wholeheartedly into such a field.

As Yusuke Kitagawa himself had said, it was simply too expensive. Even though he had entered a high school with a specialized department as a specially admitted student and received ample preferential treatment, the expenses were still beyond what a minor could afford.

If he spent all his spare time working part-time jobs, perhaps he could earn enough for basic living costs. But the school's aid and scholarships were tied to awards and achievements. If he divided his attention to make money, he might not be able to maintain his current reputation, and could even lose the chance to attend school altogether.

It would be more accurate to say that studying painting was