3-3: Looking at paintings

“Take this!”

“Is it necessary to beat the canvas like that?”

“I almost never get the chance to paint something I made by myself, let me enjoy it.”

The day after my defeat against Leonard, we were in art class. I still can’t move properly without feeling pain, but I can do things like this.

Now, probably everyone is wondering why a magic academy has an art class (I actually wonder the same about normal academies). Visualizing a formula and the spell happening at the same time isn’t something easy, that’s why we have this class so we can visualize magic happening without any problem.

“And…ready!”

“What is it?.”

Fran looked at what I did. The teacher told us to draw what we visualized as “The peak of our magic”, so I did a scenario with Yuto in it.

“A scenario?”

“For me, this is the peak I wanna reach.”

“But, that is not you.”

“The best way to visualize your objective is visualizing someone who already got it.”

“Where did you hear that?”

“I just invented it.”

“Okay...I did this.”

Fran showed me a painting of a violin melody reaching a lot of enemies. It wasn’t a bad painting, but it felt a little boring.

“Hmm…”

“It’s that bad?”

“You did a good job with the colors and proportions. But it’s basically the same as looking at a photo.”

“Photo?”

“The point is, you need something that you could consider your own vision.”

“I don’t think I can understand it…”

“Hmm…What if we go to the advanced class?”

“Huh?”

One of the few classes we had at the same time as the advanced class was art. The difference is that we do it in our classroom and they can do it in the art classroom.

“We’re in the middle of a class.”

“I got this.”

I approached the teacher who was doing his own painting and used my persuasion skills.

“I’m gonna go to the restroom.”

“...”

“Fran’s gonna go with me.”

“...”

“...And I’m gonna break a window on the way.”

“...”

“...I think they should hire better teachers…”

I got out of the classroom with Fran at my side. We both walked to the restroom, surprised about how effective this idea was.

“I can’t believe we actually did it…”

“I guess artists can be really immersed in their own work.”

“So, are we really going to the restroom?”

“Nah, we're gonna use all our stealth.”

“Are you sure you can do that in your actual state…?”

“Don’t worry, I feel better.”

After that lie, we changed our course. If a teacher or someone from outside saw us it would be a problem, so we crouched each time we were close to a window. That strategy worked for a while, but after reaching the classroom, we noticed that it didn't have windows pointing to the inside of the building.

“Dang it.”

“That’s a shame…”

“...”

“What are you thinking now?”

“...Wanna try from the outside?”

Fran was about to say something, but then, he looked at the floor before answering my question.

“...Sure.”

“Really?”

“Maybe we actually got something.”

“All right.”

We searched until we found an empty classroom without windows pointing to the entrance. There, we just opened one of the windows and went outside.

“Where is the art classroom…?”

“From what I remember, this way.”

Thanks to our little travel, we were able to see other classes besides ours. The second year students were learning really long formulas that I couldn’t understand in a million years, the third year students had mixed emotions. Some of them looked concerned, probably thinking in things like future tests or even in their future, but others had a more relaxed aura, like they already know what to do with their lives. I wonder which one I will be in the future…I shouldn't think about that right now, I’m just a first year student.

While I was looking at them, I noticed the absence of someone.

“I can’t see Leonard.”

“Maybe he’s with other things.”

“...What do you think someone like him will do in the future?”

“I don’t know…Maybe he’s an adventurer, or a knight…Or bandith.”

“You're only thinking about things that involve violence.”

“I still can’t forget the thing he did to you.”

“Thanks for the concern.”

“What about you?”

“I don’t know that much about him. Maybe a botanist.”

“I don’t wanna know your mental process for reaching that conclusion.”

Finally, we found a window that allowed us to see into the art classroom. We crouched down and prepared to take a look inside.

“I got this.”

With some mana I made a periscope and looked at it.

“What are you seeing?”

“...Trees.”

“...”

“Yeah, I don’t know why I thought this would work.”

We just looked at the inside, but that was even more confusing.

“What is that?”

“I don’t know…”

Instead of doing comprehensible paintings, they were doing abstract images that neither of us could actually understand. I guess they’re trying to visualize even more complicated things.

“Does this help you to get a better image of what you want?”

“I can’t even understand what they want.”

“Dang it.”

“Maybe Cloe is doing something that you can understand.”

Following his idea, I looked everywhere until I found Cloe’s blonde hair, but her body was blocking the painting she was doing.

“Move a little.”

“...She’s struggling…”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“She’s saying it.”

“Oh, I forgot you had good ears.”

“Sometines I hate having this ability.”

“At least it’s useful.”

“Most of the time I hear bad things…”

“But that also means you can hear compliments from afar.”

Fran tried to hide his embarrassment at what I said by looking away, but it was too obvious to simply ignore.

“You are a musician, praises aren’t something new, right?”

“...Yeah…But…”

“Hmm?”

“...Look, she’s moving.”

“Oh, right.”

When Cloe moved aside, we were able to see some kind of flower, but the principal colors were red, orange and yellow, like an explosion. Also, she went out of the lines.

“Haha, somehow I can understand it.”

“Somehow, me too…Hmm…”

“You got something?”

“I’m thinking. I didn’t know that was an option…”

The aggressive look of the coloring combined with a perfectly drawn flower made me think about how she acts in front of people that aren't me. Fran already knows her real personality, so he must have the same thoughts.

“...I got something.”

“Cool!”

“I hope she doesn’t get angry with me for copying her ideas.”

“You’ll be fine as long as you can make it yours.”

“I’ll try.”

“Anyways, wanna go back?”

I did that question thinking that his answer would be an instant “yes”, but he wanted something else.

“Can we continue this for a while?”

“Are you sure?”

“...Yeah, it’s fun spending time together like this. We have enough time before going back to the classroom.”

“All right. Let's go!”

"Please stay quiet, they could hear us..."

What was supposed to be a brief escape from the classroom ended up with us watching other classes and talking about them for a while. I don’t know why Fran wanted to do this, but I know something: he was enjoying it.