"Hehe..." Faced with Sogo Doma's defense, Rita actually laughed. "That's true. Mashiro may be very innocent, but precisely because of that, bad people..."
"Wait a minute..." Before she could finish, Sogo Doma said, "I really am not a good person..."
"Is that so?" Rita said noncommittally. "In that case, I'll call you Bad Guy. Bad Guy, you must have noticed that I'm planning to give up painting, right?"
"Uh..." Her words left Sogo Doma somewhat speechless. He wasn't blind, after all. How could he fail to notice the conflicted yet somewhat relieved emotions she was showing? Coupled with what she had said earlier, someone as seasoned as him could easily tell what state of mind she was in.
"So..." Fortunately, just as he was feeling troubled, Rita spoke again. "That's why, Bad Guy, you beat around the bush to make me admit that I liked painting, so you could persuade me not to give it up, right?"
"Huh?" This time, Sogo Doma was genuinely stunned. Were people these days really this good at filling in the blanks? He had seen that she was considering giving up painting, but what did that have to do with him? In fact, he had originally wanted to get her to impulsively say—
"I don't like painting at all!"
If she had said that, he could have replied, "Since you yourself don't care about painting, why force it onto Mashiro?"
Who knew she would refuse to follow the script? Fortunately, he had seen his fair share of storms. An ordinary person would probably have had their train of thought completely derailed and had no idea what to say.
"Yes, you guessed right. I like painting..." Rita continued. "I like it so much that I would keep practicing a tiny painting technique until I finally mastered