"I don't understand..." Mashiro was lost. She did not understand what Rita was saying, nor did she understand why Rita had become like this. She felt so unfamiliar that it scared her.
"You don't need to understand!"
"..."
"You only need to know that I hate you..."
"Rita hates me?"
"Yes, I hate you..." If Sogo Doma had been there, he would surely have been deeply confused—did this woman even still want to bring Mashiro back? Yet Rita said, "It was precisely because I hated you that I encouraged you to learn manga. I thought that would let you experience the gap between geniuses and mediocrities..."
"The gap between geniuses and mediocrities?"
"That's right!" Rita nodded. "I thought that even you, Mashiro, would understand what failure meant when faced with an unfamiliar field..."
"..."
"But what I never expected..." Rita suddenly laughed bitterly. "Was that even after switching fields, you still succeeded, Mashiro. Perhaps this is what it means to be a genius?"
"No, it was because..." She had received Sogo's help.
"That doesn't matter..." Before Mashiro could finish, Rita said, "What matters is you, Mashiro..."
"Rita..."
"No matter what you do, you succeed..." Mashiro's words failed to stop Rita. She continued, "In front of you, everyone becomes mediocre..."
"I..."
"Do you remember how many people were in the studio when you first arrived?"
"I don't know..."
"Haha..." Rita suddenly laughed. "Then do you know how many people are in the studio now?"
"..."
"Ever since you left..." At this point, Rita suddenly became agitated. "I'm the only one left in the studio. Everyone else left because of you, Mashiro!"
"Because of me?"
"Though you can't be blamed for that. They left because they decided that no matter how hard they worked, they could never surpass you..."
"..." Mashiro fell