“No, mom! I’m not coming home now. Not for something like that!"

Hanae turns the knob and finds the door unlocked. Heading in, she finds Mareo holding the canvas, standing next to the easel on the ground facing the window, with his back towards the door.

“What'll one of dad's gloating colleagues teach me over a weekend that I don't already know? Besides, they're not good teachers in the first place! You tried this before, too, remember? It never helps. They'll just boast about their success and how good their technique is instead of giving actual advice!"

Noticing the confused Hanae standing, Mareo quickly moves away from the bed and he mouths to her, "Sorry. Mom. Sit down. One minute."

She walks in and sits down on the bed and he places the canvas on her lap. He moves back. Facing away from her, he sits on the mat in the middle of the room and continues.

"Don’t worry so much. The teachers here are helping me a lot. Yeah, I'm going to visit during winter vacation. Yes, really! You take care too.”

When he gets off the phone, Mareo walks to the switchboard next to the entrance right away and turns the lights on before turning around to see Hanae lying on the bed holding the portrait above her. As Hanae looks at it keenly, she swings her legs from the knee down back and forth.

Mareo also lies down to her left and says, "Do you like it? It's almost done. I'll get it done by tomorrow."

"Yeah. I love it, Fujii-kun," she says smilingly as she turns her head towards him and brings the canvas down, "Although, I don't think I ever make a face this pensive."

"Yes, you do. I see you making that face every time you're getting ready to go onto the starting block before a race. It lasts right till you jump into the water." Getting no reply from a somewhat surprised Hanae, he gets up. "Come to think of it, why did you skip practice today? You don't usually skip club practices."

"Yeah, well, I just-"

"You didn't take time off from practice just to prep-"

"So what if I did? I don't get chances like this to spend time like this,” Hanae says with a slightly flushed face, “Not that I could, even after I did so though. Running a few errands got me this late. And I had to tell mom that I was going to my friend's house for a sleepover."

"That one from your middle school? The so-called 'novelist'?" Mareo says with a smirk.

"What was that? She is a novelist!"

"We'll go to a book shop someday and then I'll make sure if you're lying," Mareo says jokingly and they share a laugh as the last rays of the setting sun disappear.

"It's pretty much evening now. I better get going, Fujii-kun. It's getting late." Hanae says as she stands up and hands the canvas to Mareo.

Mareo also gets up. He pulls the easel off the ground and stands the canvas upright on it. As they take the few steps needed to get to the door, both their phones begin beeping.

"Oh, it's from," they say in unison before diverging as Mareo and Hanae say "Isamu" and "Akira" respectively.

Chuckling, Hanae waves to Mareo as she heads out.

With a smile, he says, "See you at school on Monday."

Closing the door, Mareo calls Isamu.

"Hey, Mareo, has Kawano left?" He hears from the other side.

"Yeah. She just left. Did you figure that thing out?"

"Yeah. Uh, well, not as much 'figured out'," Mareo hears a chuckle before the continuation, "it was mostly me being an idiot. It was a girl who found some merit in that malfunctioning sprinkler of a founta-."

"Why did you stop?"

"Did you just say you let your girlfriend go alone this late? Idiot, at least accompany her to the station! What're you two thinking? Get off the phone and go! Now!"

Mareo quickly ends the call. He puts his keys and his phone in his pockets hurriedly. Closing the door behind him, he runs out.