England.
"Rita."
The girl curled up beneath the table like a kitten poked her head out and softly called her caretaker's name.
It was as if a hidden service bell somewhere had been pressed—ding, ding. Even such a quiet, gentle call caused the blonde, blue-eyed beauty to fling the door open with a bang.
"—Mashiro?" The girl named Rita Ainsworth rushed over immediately. Grabbing the chair that had been tilted to shield the cave-dwelling creature Mashiro Shiina from most of the sunlight, she asked with concern, "What's wrong?"
Mashiro tilted her head up, her beautiful hair slipping down along her cheeks.
"What does 'censoring ghost pictures' mean?" she asked.
"...?"
Rita's breathing stopped for a moment.
Then her tense heart relaxed, and after letting out a long sigh, she said helplessly:
"Where did you see something strange again…?"
To be honest, Rita had almost grown used to Mashiro's increasingly bizarre behavior over the past two months.
It started with the most terrifying declaration.
Mashiro wanted to become a manga artist.
Not "wanted to," not "hoped to"—she would.
A world-class oil painting genius was going to abandon that path and instead draw manga, a medium that could practically be described as purely commercial.
Her determination was so strong that she had even convinced her own parents to reluctantly accept this nearly rebellious decision.
If she was going to learn manga, then staying in England was simply wasting time.
Even if she had to experience setbacks, they would have to send her back to Japan to try.
But that created another problem—where in Japan?
Originally, they planned to transfer her to Suimei and have her cousin, Chihiro Sengoku, take care of her.
The paperwork had already started.
But for some reason, something had come up on Chihiro's side, and the arrangement changed. She could no longer accept Mashiro.
So Mashiro was still stuck in England.
…If things had gone normally, she would probably already be in Japan by now.
And the abnormality wasn't limited to the transfer being postponed.
Mashiro Shiina, to put it nicely, was a genius born for oil painting.
To put it bluntly, she was a "pet girl" with zero ability to live independently.
From sleeping to getting dressed, she lacked almost every basic life skill.
If Rita weren't here to "raise" her, Rita had no doubt that Mashiro would quietly die somewhere between the table and the wall.
Yet recently, this girl who couldn't be left alone had begun asking strange questions out of nowhere.
"Rita, what is vocational school?"
"Rita, what is a diary?"
"Rita, what is hide-and-seek?"
"Rita, what is a galgame?"
"Rita, what is an impostor?"
"…Rita, Rita, Rita, Rita—"
Every time Rita rushed over thinking Mashiro needed help, the question that came out would be something like that.
If they were normal questions, Rita wouldn't mind answering them.
Helping Mashiro understand the world better was a good thing.
But…
What kind of questions were those?!
Where had she even heard those words?
Mashiro couldn't even use the internet. If she had seen those terms online, Rita might have understood.
But Mashiro lived almost completely isolated, focused entirely on painting.
So where did she learn these random words?
Rita didn't know.
And even if she asked Mashiro directly, she got no answers.
Something similar had happened before.
Mashiro, who once didn't even know what manga was, suddenly wanted to learn about manga—and even become a manga artist.
…Whatever.
Rita decided not to pursue it further.
She doubted she'd get an answer anyway.
Shaking her head, she returned to the current question.
"'Censoring ghost pictures'… what kind of strange phrase is that?"
The previous questions had already been obscure, but this one was particularly baffling.
Ghost picture?
A picture of ghosts?
Ghosts… spirits…?
Censoring… mosaic?
After trying to explain what she thought those words meant, Rita saw Mashiro lower her head in thought.
"…I understand now."
Mashiro lifted her head again. Whatever conclusion she had reached, she spoke firmly:
"I want to go… to vocational school."
An even more confusing statement appeared.
Rita had always thought she understood Mashiro quite well.
But recently, she increasingly felt she didn't understand her at all.
No matter how she thought about it, she couldn't find any connection between "censoring ghost pictures" and "going to vocational school."
And besides—
Wasn't a vocational school just a technical school?
With Mashiro's level of talent, even if she wanted to study manga, no technical school could teach her anything.
If she truly needed a teacher, they would hire a respected veteran from the manga industry.
Not send her to some random vocational school.
"Um… Mashiro, can I ask why?" Rita asked after some hesitation, crouching down.
She gestured with her hands.
"I should have explained what vocational schools are, right?"
"Even if you want to study manga, that kind of place won't give you the education you want. And even if the environment isn't bad, it's definitely not a place you can go alone."
"I can't transfer to Japan with you."
"Since your cousin can't take you, and we haven't found anyone else who can take care of you, you have to stay here for now."
"I've told you that many times, remember?"
Her opinion about vocational schools was secondary.
The real problem was simple.
No caretaker.
Mashiro couldn't be left alone.
Without a suitable "owner," she absolutely couldn't transfer to Japan.
"Advanced Nurturing."
Suddenly, Mashiro said a new phrase.
Her eyes stared straight at Rita. Her small fists quietly clenched as she spoke firmly:
"I want to go… and become a 'prodigy.'"
The diary said that everyone at Advanced Nurturing High School was a prodigy.
Everyone there was very interesting.
If she went to that vocational school, there would definitely be many interesting stories.
So she wanted to go too.
To become a prodigy.
Then she could draw interesting manga.
And so, Mashiro Shiina made her declaration.
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