Part 5 | Contents | Part 7 In his speech, Shima Taiga told us not to hold onto our dreams. “I wanted to become a sculptor. For that end, I practiced, studied great works, and sought the tutelage of others. So, was I chasing a dream? No, I wasn’t. Would you call practicing for interviews […]

Part 4 | Contents | Part 6 Since we’d been sworn to secrecy, the only people who knew that Shima Taiga’s objet had been damaged was me, Shimai-san, Sawami-san, Aotagawa-kun, and Koumura-sensei. …is what I would like to say, but that wasn’t the case. Of course, Koumura-sensei would inform the school, and the rest of

Part 3 | Contents | Part 5 The rumor of the threatening letter took the school by storm – but saying that would be an overstatement. The rumor did not sow any panic or chaos, and all was quiet all the way until the speech. If you conducted a survey among the students and asked

Part 2 | Contents | Part 4 We went up the stairs at the South Block, and soon found ourselves in front of the Art Preparation Room on the fourth floor. Koumura-sensei, who had one free hand, unlocked the door, causing the smell of paint to waft out of the small, dimly-lit room. The first

Part 1 | Contents | Part 3 Two weeks before the speech, I was on class duty. One boy and one girl was assigned for class duty on each day, going by our student numbers. Since the boy-girl split in my class was uneven, everyone would have a different partner every day of class duty.

(Note: Sachertorte is a chocolate sponge cake covered with chocolate glaze and filled with apricot jam.) Contents | Part 2 It was during a June which saw little rain and was swelteringly hot, making it seem like we’d skipped the plum rains and had gone straight to midsummer, when a strange rumor was spread in