"Oh..." It had to be said, Sogo Doma's righteous, utterly-convinced-he-wasn't-spouting-nonsense expression was quite convincing. At the very least, although Mashiro, who lacked common sense, did not quite understand him, she did not deny any of his claims.
"Exactly!" Sogo continued. "Mashiro, may I ask you another question?"
"What?"
"When your art teacher used to take you out into the countryside for sketching sessions, did you feel something similar to how you feel now?"
"..." After seriously pondering it for a while yet again, Mashiro still shook her head. "No..."
Sogo Doma: "..."
Ah, this...
That made no sense. Even a dried-fish little sister like Umaru, after staying cooped up at home for too long, would occasionally want to go out for a walk. Take now, for example. Though that little dumpling had complained about being unable to play video games for several days, wasn't she enjoying the beauty of nature now?
Although Mashiro was the kind of girl whose world contained nothing but drawing, that was probably a slight exaggeration. Logically speaking, a girl like her, who spent all day cooped up at home drawing or learning how to draw, should not have felt absolutely nothing upon coming into contact with nature, right?
Wait, could the jab he had made at Rita back then have come true? What Mashiro had received was not "elite education" at all, but "brainwashing"...
Fortunately, before Sogo could begin wildly speculating, Mashiro seemed to think of something and added, "It wasn't as strong as the feeling now..."
Sogo Doma: "..."
Fine, he had forgotten that Mashiro had a habit of only saying half of what she meant.
"In other words, when Mashiro used to sketch outdoors, you did feel your mood improve, right?"
"My mood improving?" Mashiro froze again at that, then instinctively placed a