SH – Chapter 21 – Apparently I have no artistic skills

“Alright! The poster is finished!” (Louis)

I shouted with both hands raised after working tirelessly on the poster for about three hours. Most of the students had already left the school as it was about to close.

“Oh, it’s finally done.” (Maria)

“Sorry. It took a little longer than expected.” (Louis)

Maria’s poster had been finished much earlier, and I had kept her waiting for quite some time, so I bowed my head in apology.

However, Maria shook her head and smiled.

“No, it’s okay. But I’m sure Louis-san has made a wonderful poster, right?” (Maria)

With a pure smile on her face, Maria clasped her hands together.

To which, I couldn’t help but interject.

“Huh!? Aren’t you raising the bars kinda high?! And don’t say that with such an innocent and bright smile, you’re making me nervous!” (Louis)

However, Maria just tilted her head curiously.

For some reason, my comment didn’t seem to get through to her. Could it be that she is naturally like this?

To break the sudden awkwardness, Maria redirected the conversation.

“Um, anyway, shall we show each other our posters?” (Maria)

“Oh, uh, can I go first?” (Louis)

“No, that won’t do. I want to see Louis-san’s work later.” (Maria)

It was rejected…

What’s with her confidence? Please don’t set the bar that high.

However, ignoring my confusion, Maria spread out her poster on the desk.

It was quite a girly poster.

It was colored in pastel shades, and the typography was quite playfully designed.

『Maria will solve all your worries! Please come visit our club room!』

The text had that kind of message.

What’s more, there were cute illustrations of rabbits and cats plastered around.

It was quite an impressive piece of work, considering how quickly she managed to make this.

“Alright, I’ll show you mine…” (Louis)

“Yes, I’m really looking forward to it.” (Maria)

Come on! Stop raising the bar higher with that innocent expression!

…Is she really doing all this naturally?

I thought it might not be the case, but Maria’s expression is somewhat hard to read, making it difficult to tell whether she’s joking or serious…

“A-anyways, here’s what my poster looks like.” (Louis)

Saying that, I presented my carefully crafted poster.

Of course, given the time I spent on it, I was quite confident in the end product.

However, I was a bit uncertain whether it could surpass the high bar set by Maria.

With those thoughts in mind, Maria looked at my poster…

“I guess it’s still not good enough, huh…” (Louis)

“N-no! I think it has its own unique style!” (Maria)

Maria tried to console me desperately, but those words are usually said when there’s nothing else positive to say.

Well… I don’t plan on becoming an artist for a living anyways. So I’m not that down about it, really.

As I was making excuses to myself, Maria looked at me with a serious expression.

“Louis-san.” (Maria)

“Yes, what is it?” (Louis)

“You don’t need to be able to draw or have artistic skills. You’re already a wonderful person, and I think you should have more confidence in that.” (Maria)

As expected of Saint-sama.

She provided a reassuring follow-up.

With such a beautiful smile, being told that made me feel relieved.

“I-is that so? A wonderful person, huh? Heh~, I guess Maria saw through me.” (Louis)

“Well, there are times when I don’t quite understand you, though.” (Maria)

Oof!

But at least she didn’t call me creepy, right…?

“Um, so is it okay to put up my poster?” (Maria)

“Well, it’s true that Maria’s poster is better, so it’s not a problem.” (Louis)

When I nodded, Maria happily clutched her poster in her hand with a smile.

And so, with those posters in hand, we headed to the staff room and used magic tools to make about twenty copies of each.

＋＋＋

After putting up the posters all over the school, visitors started coming to the club room the next day.

“Hello, ojamashimasu.” (Leila)

It was Leila.

Of course, I was the one who asked her to come and be her first client.

I thought it would be quite bad if someone a bit intense arrived right after we finished helping out at the orphanage.

So, I decided to ask Leila first, as she seemed like a reasonable person.

She had mentioned recently that she had some worries, so the timing was just right to ask her for help.

Knowing Leila, she probably wouldn’t dive into anything too deep right away in front of me. I wonder what kind of worries she has.

“Oh, welcome. Are you here for a consultation?” (Maria)

“Yes, please.” (Leila)

In response to Maria’s question, Leila lowered her head in a ladylike manner.

It seemed that Leila had no intention of revealing to Maria that she was my sister just yet.

“Please have a seat.” (Maria)

Leila sat across from Maria and immediately began to talk about her worries.

“Well, I recently had some worries about something… It’s actually related to my Ani…” (Leila)

…Huh??

Ani? She means me, right?

I don’t think there were any mentions of us having another real brother or a half-brother… I think?

Ignoring my puzzled expression, Leila continued to open up about her worries while wearing a faint smile.

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TL notes:

Thanks for reading!

Leila is ready to start trolling. But maybe it’s actually something important…? Nah probably not.

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Footnote:

1. None