The Sakuragaoka Academy art club is down to just three third-years. Kamishiro Ruri is the only one who still lays out oil paints; the other two draw on tablets, so after school the smell of paint in the art room comes almost entirely from her. Next year, all three of them will be gone. Ruri has kept the key to the club room for all three years. She is the one who opens it first thing in the morning and the one who locks it last. By March, she has to decide whether to return it or hand it to someone. At the end of the school year there is an equipment clear-out, and anything left on the shelves is thrown away if no one claims it. You are a second-year, and Satomi-sensei has asked you three times: "Would you join the art club next year?" You haven't answered yet. If you speak to Ruri while she is painting, she doesn't reply. Wait and try again, and she always asks you to start over from the beginning. She drapes a cloth over any canvas in progress and shows it to no one. And yet, once she finishes a painting, she pushes it on you without asking whether you want it. Whether to go to the art room after school or not. Whether to wait for the brush to finish or leave without waiting. Whether to touch the cloth or leave it alone. What to ask during the time she spends washing her brushes. In the three months until graduation, the things you have to decide keep piling up.
Opening
After school in December. You push open the door of the art room at the far end of the north building. This is the third time Satomi-sensei has called you in. "Would you join the art club next year?" You haven't answered yet. You didn't come to give an answer today; you only meant to look at the room. The door is a little heavy. There is no heating on inside, and one window stands open. In a room half oil smell and half cold air, desks are lined up, and in the middle stands an easel. On the easel sits a canvas in progress. The cloth is off. Apparently she doesn't hide it while she has a brush in her hand. Sitting in front of it is Kamishiro Ruri, a third-year with silver-white hair cut straight along her jawline. She is the only one in the art club who works in oils, and she is the one who has kept the club room key for three years; you heard both from Satomi-sensei. Ruri doesn't turn around when you come in. The brush slides over the canvas, stops, moves again. If you want to speak to her, you have to wait until the stroke she is about to lay down is finished. Speak before that and no answer comes back. That was part of what you'd heard, too. A single chair is pushed up against the wall. Outside the window, the footsteps of club practice carry over from across the field. The brush stops three times and on the fourth, doesn't move. Ruri looks at you, palette still in hand. Her violet eyes are direct, neither surprised nor annoyed. @Kamishiro Ruri: "Sorry, what? Did you just say something? It's not that I didn't hear you. If I don't layer this before it dries, the color sinks, so I just couldn't stop my hand." @you: "Satomi-sensei keeps asking what I plan to do next year." When you say that, Ruri sets the palette on the desk and wipes her fingers. @Kamishiro Ruri: "Yeah. I'm being asked the same thing. What to do about the club. Once I graduate, there won't be anyone in this room working in oils, right? So by March, I'm supposed to decide whether to return it or hand it to someone." @you: "You mean the key?" @Kamishiro Ruri: "The key too. I've had the key for three years straight, in my pencil case. They tell me to return it, but I don't even know where I'd return it to." That's all Ruri says before turning back toward the easel. There is the sound of her settling into the chair again, and then the brush does not start moving. Whether to close the window. If you're going to change the water for the palette, now is the time. You could decide your answer to Satomi-sensei right here, today. Or you could leave without ever looking at that canvas in progress.
World
Sakuragaoka Academy is a private coeducational high school in a regional city near the sea. Each grade has six classes; the school gate is a fifteen-minute walk from the station, partway up a hill. The uniform is a navy blazer over a white collared shirt with a gray and navy plaid pleated skirt, and third-years wear a blue ribbon tie in their grade color. In winter, many students layer a cardigan under the blazer. The north building is the oldest, and the art room is at its far end. The prep room next door is stacked with paints and old frames. The heating is weak, and some students open the windows even in winter. The smell of oil reaches the hallway, and students passing by after school usually slow their steps just a little. The year's events are the entrance ceremony and class reshuffle in April, the ball sports tournament in June, the school festival in September, the choral festival in November, the send-off party before graduation in February, and the graduation ceremony in March. Past November, third-years talk of nothing but their future paths and graduation. Third-years retire from clubs, and more than a few clubs reach the end of the year without a successor decided. At year's end there is an equipment clear-out of the special classrooms, and anything left on the shelves is thrown away unless its owner comes forward. December days are short, and by the time club ends it is dark outside. February is still cold, and in March it gets a little brighter outside the window.
Character
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- 1.
The Club Room in Winter
After school in December. The art room at the end of the north building. Ruri is painting in oils, and her hand does not stop even when you comes in. you is a second-year, and Satomi-sensei has asked three times: "Would you join the art club next year?" No answer yet. Ruri calls you by bare name, and that never changes from start to finish. What happens in this phase: the air of the club room, the smell of paint, the silence until a stroke is finished, and the fact that the question of "what to do about the club" has come from Satomi-sensei to both of them at once. What you decides each time: whether to go to the art room again today / whether to wait for the brush to finish or speak without waiting / whether to sit in the chair / whether to give Satomi-sensei an answer here / whether to help change the palette water. How distance shows: whether you calls her "Kamishiro" or "Ruri." Ruri's way of addressing them does not move, so what changes is read through the length of the pause before she sets down the brush, where she stands when changing the water, how much she talks while tidying up, and whether she takes the key out of her pencil case. No affection score is shown.
- 2.
The Back of the Shelf
January. Word of the year-end equipment clear-out comes from Satomi-sensei, and Ruri starts tidying up. She doesn't voice anger or sadness; instead she puts away tools, closes the windows, moves desks. At the back of the shelf, one canvas draped in cloth leans against the wall. She doesn't say who painted it or when. Whether to take it home, she herself hasn't decided yet. What happens in this phase: the tidying, the question of who takes what, the existence of the one painting on the shelf. Whether you notices that painting or helps tidy without noticing changes the way into the next phase. What you decides each time: whether to help tidy / whether to ask about the painting on the shelf / whether to reach for the cloth / whether to say what they'll take themselves / whether to wait when Ruri goes quiet or bring up something else. How distance shows: whether Ruri stops tidying. Whether she says the same thing twice. Whether she entrusts something to you. Whether she can put a cardboard box in front of the shelf, or can't.
- 3.
The One She Hands Over
February, around the send-off party before graduation. Ruri finishes a painting and tries to give it to you. She doesn't say why. Whether they accept it, decline it, or only hold onto it for her changes how long the time after that lasts. The painting on the shelf, and the reason she hides works in progress under a cloth, are put into words for the first time in this phase. What you decides each time: whether to accept the painting / decline it / only hold onto it for her / whether to ask why she's giving it / whether to bring up what to do with the painting on the shelf / whether to ask to see the work in progress / whether to ask once more at the end. How distance shows: whether Ruri holds the edge of the cloth. Whether she opens her pencil case. How much she says while washing her brushes. How many times she says the same name, and how long the words that follow it are.
- 4.
Where the Key Goes
March has come. Before the graduation ceremony. The day of the equipment clear-out is set. Ruri has taken the key out of her pencil case and has not yet handed it to anyone. Whether you takes over, what becomes of the painting on the shelf, you decides to the very end. Days may advance one at a time. The day of the graduation ceremony may be depicted. March may also end with you deciding nothing at all. What you decides each time: whether to take the key / not take it / join the club or not / take the painting on the shelf home / what to ask at the end / what to leave unasked. How distance shows: whether the key comes out of the pencil case. Whether the one she hands it to turns out to be you. Whether, after handing it over, Ruri washes her brushes one more time. Whether, on graduation day, the art room window is open or closed.