My love index is at its maximum.

After regaining her senses, she looked at Tsukasa Tazaki's guilty expression and felt that he had dug a series of pits for her to fall into.

“Well then,” Tsukasa Tazaki took the drawing board from the short-haired girl, “see you tomorrow, Minister.”

"no!"

Kuriyama Sakura suddenly stood up, staring at him coldly: "I'll draw it!"

"Do you know how to draw it?" Tsukasa Tazaki asked, looking troubled.

"What are your demands? Speak!"

Her tone was cold and barbed; you could tell she was really angry.

"No, no requirements, just draw some sports pictures!" Tsukasa Tazaki instantly put down all his tools, turned around and ran off: "I'm going to train now, good luck, Captain!"

Before the words were even finished, the person had already run more than ten meters away.

For some reason, Kuriyama Sakura found his cowardly appearance rather endearing...

illusion!

What a terrifying illusion!

Kuriyama Sakura shook her head slightly, banishing distracting thoughts, then set up her easel and laid out a new canvas. Then, holding a paintbrush in one hand and resting her chin on the other, she gazed at the playground.

As the sun slowly set in the west, many crows cawed and flew towards their nests behind the school building.

On the playground, the soccer club members were sweating profusely during a training match, the soccer ball repeatedly flying out of bounds. Among them, Kuriyama Sakura spotted Murakami Mizuiro.

Murakami Mizuiro also saw her and waved from afar, saying, "Hey, welcome, Kuriyama-san! Let me, your host, do something for you... Ouch!"

With a bang.

The soccer ball slammed into Murakami's head, knocking him to the ground where he cried out in pain and rolled around, clutching his head.

Kuriyama Sakura smiled slightly and turned her gaze to continue searching for suitable material.

Not far away, the cheerleading team from the support department was training. Even though it was late autumn and the weather was already getting colder, they were still wearing short sleeves and shorts, waving pom-poms and practicing their support dance. Many of them had strands of hair stuck to their faces with sweat.

The girl leading the dance was particularly eye-catching.

As the slogans rang out, she danced joyfully, radiating the vibrant energy unique to young people.

Not bad.

Kuriyama Sakura nodded slightly.

She has a keen sense of aesthetics and immediately decided to make this energetic cheerleader the main character of the promotional poster.

The idea is basically formed, but I don't know exactly what kind of painting to paint yet. However, I do know how to start painting.

First, the idea of ​​which brush to use and in which direction to make the first stroke on the snow-white canvas has already popped into my mind, and soon it becomes clearer and clearer, gradually establishing itself as the main theme in my heart.

This is the first step in drawing, and Sakura Kuriyama loves this process.

Just then, the lead dancer stopped to rest, immediately turned around and looked this way, and greeted them warmly: "Hello, Sakura, you're here too? Were you also tricked by Kiki into coming here to do hard labor?"

Forget it.

I'm not drawing her anymore!

He was coerced by his fellow members to do manual labor, but was caught red-handed by the deputy minister. The minister, embarrassed, had no choice but to look away and find new material.

Unsurprisingly, Tsukasa Tazaki's figure became the only thing she was chasing.

On the running track outside the football field, a boy in sportswear was running slowly, occasionally looking back, seemingly not thinking about putting in any effort.

That guy!

Kuriyama Sakura puffed out her cheeks slightly, somewhat annoyed that Tazaki Tsukasa hadn't trained as hard as he'd asked.

Wait, who is he waiting for?

Under her watchful gaze, a group of track and field team members dressed in track and field sprint uniforms slowly caught up with Tsukasa Tazaki. Just as she was about to overtake them, Tsukasa Tazaki suddenly accelerated, leaving them far behind.

then……

He stopped again and continued jogging slowly.

After the track and field team members caught up, he accelerated and left them behind again. This happened several times, which finally angered the track and field team members. The group completely forgot about training and chased Tazaki Shiman around the track.

Kuriyama Sakura looked at Tazaki Tsukasa, her lips moved slightly, as if she wanted to curse, but she was too embarrassed to say it.

Honestly, how could he be so childish...

It's so embarrassing to be in the same club as someone like that!

Criticisms aside, to be fair, at least in terms of looks, no one is more suitable to be the protagonist of the promotional poster than Tsukasa Tazaki. Moreover, his face shape is truly unforgettable, the kind of distinctive and intriguing face that an artist would want to draw (in fact, the club president also wanted to, and even secretly drew a few sketches of him at home).

Kuriyama Sakura sighed and began working.

First, sketch with a soft pencil, drawing the outline of him running, then concentrate intently on layering lines onto the canvas. Sometimes the strokes are swift and decisive, sometimes they are light and deliberate, each stroke careful and deliberate.

He would also occasionally lift his head and quickly draw Tazaki Tsukasa's facial features on the canvas from several angles.

For her, capturing individual details was not difficult; she only needed to glance at him, even though he was now wanted by both the track and field team and the soccer team.

In about twenty minutes, I completed five sketches from different angles.

When Kuriyama Sakura re-examined the situation, she found herself inexplicably powerless.

These works certainly capture his facial features precisely, but they lack the beauty that can be described as "painted with heart." All the lines are incredibly superficial and lack the proper feeling.

To be precise, it's not much different from a street portrait artist painting a portrait of a stranger.

Kuriyama Sakura continued to draw several more pictures, but the results were largely the same.

What's missing...?

It got dark quickly, and as it approached the time to leave school, the students on the playground began to leave slowly.

Tazaki Tsukasa broke free from the group of men and ran back to the minister's side, looking at his portraits: "You've already painted so many, it seems like you're making good progress."

Kuriyama Sakura chewed on her pen: "These are all scrapped proposals. Progress is slow right now; we're stuck in the initial stages..."

As she spoke, she turned her head and looked at Tsukasa Tazaki, a slightly surprised expression appearing on her face: "I understand!"

correct.

We were too far apart to catch his gaze.

The reason why the first few paintings were unsatisfactory was that the most crucial part was that his eyes were painted based on his impressions, which made them too rigid and lacking in spirit.

What Kuriyama Sakura most wanted to draw was, of course, his vibrant side—in her view, a profound world that transcends time lay deep within those lively eyes.

"Tazaki-san, I understand!"

"Huh? What?" Tsukasa Tazaki was completely confused.

"Please stand in front of the drawing board."

"Oh, and then?"

"run!"

"Clam?"

"I'll make you run in place!"

"..."

"Start drawing!"

"Minister, you're really persistent..."

Ignoring Tsukasa Tazaki's wails, Sakura Kuriyama picked up her pen again and began working slowly but steadily forward.

Chapter 298 Kana Shimamoto's Provocation.

The sun slowly sets in the west.

Kuriyama Sakura put down her paintbrush, gently rubbing her wrists, her face showing undisguised fatigue.

In front of her, Tsukasa Tazaki, who had been running in place for an hour or so, was so tired that he didn't even have the strength to stand up.

The western sky still held a faint glow of sunset, but the east was already tinged with a thin layer of inky blue. The playground lights came on, illuminating the students on their way home.

The hours of daylight have been greatly shortened, and Kuriyama Sakura was so engrossed in the painting process that she hardly noticed the changes in the sky or the passage of time.

Only after putting down my paintbrush did I realize that the temperature had plummeted along with the setting sun, and the wind had become even stronger.

Along the road leading to the school gate, fallen leaves swirl silently in the evening breeze.

“Let’s go back,” Tsukasa Tazaki said, getting up from the ground, his voice tinged with exhaustion. “Let’s go back to my house, have dinner, and then continue drawing.”

Kuriyama Sakura nodded: "Okay."

After packing up their art supplies, the two went back to the activity room to get their schoolbags.

The school building was completely dark, with only motion-sensor lights occasionally turning on in the corridors.

Two footsteps, one heavy and one light, rang out in the cold, stifling air.

The private Kitagawa Academy was built on a high platform in Yotsuya, and there were no tall buildings around it, so the chilly evening wind could blow straight in and make the windows rattle.

Tazaki Tsukasa subconsciously turned his head to look outside in the corridor.

The trees swayed in the wind, the road was covered with branches and leaves, and the dry wind stirred up gusts of dust; inside the school building, there were few people, and each student turned up their coat collar, hunched their shoulders and walked forward with their heads down.

Winter looks like it will be here soon.

He turned his gaze to Kuriyama Sakura's beautiful profile.

She had already pulled the collar of her uniform tighter and covered her neck completely with a scarf, the strands of hair on her forehead swaying slightly with each step.

I went back to the activity room, grabbed my backpack, and went down to the shoe cabinet to change my shoes.

Tazaki Tsukasa's gaze was involuntarily drawn to her legs once again.

As the weather got colder, she rarely wore black stockings anymore, opting instead for warm black tights. Tsukasa Tazaki didn't know much about women's socks, only that even in the cold winter, many girls would simply wear short skirts with these kinds of tights underneath.

“Tazaki-kun,” Kuriyama Sakura said, one foot inside her shoe and the other outstretched in front of him, “Just looking probably isn’t enough to satisfy your desires, how about you lick it?”

Tsukasa Tazaki asked in an exaggerated manner, "Is there really such a good thing?"

"What do you say?"