The Reborn Genius of an Arts High School - Chapter 65

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 65.
Kobayashi Ai was staying in the penthouse suite of the hotel.
Of course, the room originally provided by Montravelu was on the same floor as the other contestants.
But after staying only a few days at first, she had upgraded it herself.
A luxury suite with a clear view of the Eiffel Tower.
Rather than admire the scenery beyond the window, she sat gnawing at her nails, consumed by anxiety.
“Miss.”
The caretaker who had accompanied her as a guardian.
A woman who appeared to be the Caretaker gently grasped Kobayashi’s hand and tried to stop her.
Blood was seeping from her nails, which had been bitten to the quick.
But the sharp pain wasn’t enough to quell her anxiety.
“Get away from me!”
Kobayashi shoved the Caretaker away and shouted.
Once the shout burst forth, it transformed into a wail.
“Aaahhhhh!”
Kobayashi swept everything on the table and hurled it about wildly.
“Nothing goes right since I met that girl!”
Finally, she even threw the mobile phone she was holding.
On the screen of the phone skittering across the floor was a familiar photograph: Ye Ji visiting a restaurant.
Ethan had blocked her, but she was still following Ye Ji and Ye Ji was following her back.
That’s why as soon as she opened social media, Ye Ji’s post appeared.
A photo of the very restaurant she’d heard about from the judge—as if to rub it in her face.
‘Could it be…?’
Kobayashi was the type to give her absolute best using everything at her disposal.
If she discovered suspicious behavior from a competitor, what would she do?
When she put herself in the other person’s shoes, there were far too many possible moves.
Of course, Kobayashi didn’t yet realize that Ye Ji was not the same sort of person as she was.
Wasting time in worry and concern, Kobayashi suddenly had a thought.
Could Julien perhaps help her resolve this somehow?
…….
The anxious Kobayashi hastily scooped up the mobile phone again.
It was somewhat shattered and cracked, but she didn’t care.
As she grabbed the phone and searched for his contact, a sharp pain startled her and she dropped it again.
“Ah!”
Her hand had been cut by a fragment of the broken case.
Blood flowed from her gashed palm.
Worst.
The worst.
To injure her hand at this exact moment.
As Kobayashi was losing her grip on reason, the Caretaker finally stepped in again.
“Miss, please calm yourself….”
“I told you to get out!”
Kobayashi shoved away the Caretaker who had moved to treat her wound.
Unable to hide her emotions, she lashed out, shrieking.
This spiral wasn’t part of her calculations.
Until now, everything in her life had unfolded exactly as she planned.
After all, she was doing her absolute best!
With talent and effort on top of having so much already, what could possibly fail?
Surely everything should go well—wasn’t that how the world worked?
Trapped in this narrow thinking, Kobayashi spent the entire night awake, consumed by anxiety and rage.
…….
Time was not on Kobayashi’s side.
Having gone without sleep and with bandages wrapped around her hand, Kobayashi appeared at Montravelu.
Those clueless others greeted her with words of concern about her complexion.
Kobayashi offered them her habitual smile, and felt a twinge of self-loathing.
‘How did I come to this?’
But regardless of such thoughts, the final day’s schedule began.
In eight hours, it would all be over.
She still had no idea what Ye Ji was trying to do.
‘It doesn’t matter what she does….’
Kobayashi attempted self-rationalization to calm her mind.
Not winning in this art competition wouldn’t be the end of the world.
After all, wasn’t she already doing well enough in Japan?
…….
But why did she feel more wretched the more she rationalized?
Was being successful in Japan enough to satisfy her?
Wasn’t a wider world supposed to be where I belonged?
Could I really stop for something like this?
Unmanaged anger came crashing back.
Her gaze drifted toward Ye Ji without her realizing.
But she was focused entirely on her own work, as if Kobayashi didn’t even exist.
And then.
“…Oh.”
Like her fraying concentration, the brush tip split.
Kobayashi felt a cold chill run through her head in that moment.
Black paint had spread across the area that had been painted white.
Especially since she’d removed all the guidelines for the final touch-up.
The paint seeped relentlessly outward.
Shocked, Kobayashi leapt to her feet.
The scrape of the overturned chair echoed through the hall.
***
The sudden commotion was clearly visible to the judges.
“Oh dear.”
From their vantage point above, the situation was clear to them.
At the moment when she should have been finishing, Kobayashi had made quite a significant error.
The black paint that had spread widely across an area that should have been clearly defined was visible even from a distance.
Kobayashi’s work was a painting where the Visual Illusion Effect was crucial.
Given the work’s nature, breaking the rules with a mistake of this magnitude was quite severe.
Worse, black paint had stained the white area.
Without drying completely and covering with multiple layers, careless repair would only spread the blotch further.
A situation requiring very careful, deliberate Modification.
But the panicked Kobayashi was hastily applying thick white paint over it.
“Foolish….”
Julien muttered without thinking.
No matter how carefully applied, the white would bear the dirty shadow of black beneath.
It would have been better if she’d stopped right there.
Kobayashi’s hasty attempts to wipe away and manage the spread were only ruining the work further.
The other judges sighed as they watched her attempt to wipe away the spread paint with a wet brush.
The paint spread further and tangled.
The excess moisture even began trickling black paint down across the Canvas.
The scope of damage was expanding.
“There’s no way this won’t affect the scoring.”
Julien’s real desire was to give Kobayashi at least one prize in the three-tier awards system.
That’s why he’d leaked the theme to her in advance.
But she was too inexperienced.
A creator who had done substantial work would naturally have developed the ability to handle diverse situations.
Observing the creative process meant exactly that.
Judging whether through accumulated experience an artist had cultivated genuine skill.
The judges had no choice but to factor in all of that.
Whether an artist receives help from experienced adults or doesn’t always becomes apparent in such moments.
“How is it looking?”
Marc, the director of Montravelu.
He had just arrived at this exact moment.
On the final day, he was scheduled to participate to hear explanations of the works as the Judging concluded.
He whispered softly, asking the judges gathered there.
Following the judges’ hesitant gazes downward, Marc let out a small sigh.
What he saw was Kobayashi, whose work was disintegrating in real time before his eyes.
“…Oh dear. That student—it seems she has little experience in knowing what to do when a work is ruined. When facing such situations.”
Having heard Marc’s quiet murmur, Julien made his decision.
There was no obligation to give Kobayashi a good prize.
He hadn’t even taken money—just leaked the theme over a meal—so he’d done his part.
Originally, his intent had been to build a connection with her side.
‘I should give up.’
It was regrettable to miss a good opportunity, but that was all it was.
Though she was making mistakes, Kobayashi’s work itself wasn’t poor.
Because Marc didn’t know the specifics, he was looking down at Kobayashi’s efforts with a sympathetic gaze.
This was a scene showing fresh passion and enthusiasm unlike the worn, jaded veterans.
Though unfortunate, as Kobayashi’s work had already become irretrievable, he slowly moved on to examine the other pieces.
As Marc observed the overall high-level works, his gaze suddenly halted.
A head of jet-black hair.
Beyond it, a vivid blue landscape captured his attention completely.
“…That is.”
Seeing Marc’s expression, Julien’s face also went rigid as he followed his gaze.
Ye Ji.
That inexplicable girl who brought Catherine to mind.
The ill omen he had felt from her proved accurate without a shred of error.
This Art Competition seemed unlikely to yield anything he had intended to obtain.
***
“(Please stop all work. Time has ended.)”
The announcement marking the end came.
It began in French, continuing in English and languages from around the world.
The announcement came with exactly one minute remaining until the deadline.
On one side, a contestant was still trying to draw another line before the announcement finished.
But Ye Ji, who had already completed her work, set down her brush unhurriedly.
‘It’s a bit warm.’
Thinking this, she fluttered her shirt and suddenly recalled Ethan.
She had met him on the final day of Judging for the first group.
His excited expression back then.
She smiled faintly, thinking that she probably looked no different from him now.
“(We will now proceed with explanations of each work in order.)”
The final stage was a simple three-minute speech introducing the work.
Of course, accounting for language differences, contestants were also required to submit a written document separately.
Even three minutes was actually somewhat generous, given the language barrier considerations.
Some contestants had prepared documents in advance and read from them, but Ye Ji waited for her turn casually, empty-handed.
Due to alphabetical order of names, Ye Ji was last.
Kobayashi, who went first in the introductions, could no longer muster her usual confident, relaxed smile.
It was clear she had been crying—her eyes were puffy and red.
A detail she had only just noticed: her right hand, which had been fine yesterday, was now bandaged.
Whether from injury, one couldn’t say for certain, but her work too bore dark stains and was completely ruined.
It was a pitiful sight, yet it stirred no sympathy in her.
It was obvious this was the result of anxiety born from her own scheming.
Everything was self-inflicted.
She would have to bear the consequences herself.
“(My work is…….)”
Kobayashi could speak French.
That was probably the result of private tutoring as well.
Though not fluent, she was capable of reciting her prepared speech.
She opened her mouth, presenting her work marred by black smudges.
“(I sought to express three-dimensional wings within a flat plane…….)”
Using visual illusion, she had wanted to express the image of upward flight inherent to wings, and through that, speak of possibility.
She droned on with something like that.
But from the ruined work, no sense of possibility emanated anymore.
Ye Ji held no ill will toward Kobayashi as a person.
She disliked her scheming tendency to corner others, but apart from that, Kobayashi’s work was decent.
If she took this experience as a lesson and developed in a good direction, the art world would be none the worse for it.
In that moment of reflection.
“(The structural design must have been difficult. Yet you started working immediately upon beginning.)”
Among the judges.
The elderly gentleman standing at the center posed a question.
He was Marc, the director of Montravelu.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————