Kayama Esumi: The Disciple's Past

Otaru Cheri was born into a wealthy family, a status far from rare within the Trinity Autonomous District. Since her earliest years, she had studied the fine arts as a cornerstone of her education.

However, if one were to ask if she had pursued those studies with any shred of passion, the answer would be a resounding no.

While being part of the wealthy elite sounds prestigious, her family occupied a lower rung—essentially a "pseudo-wealthy" class—with virtually no real influence or voice. Her life was anything but stable; a single misstep in social maneuvering could lead to their immediate ruin. Consequently, Cheri viewed her artistic training as nothing more than a hollow exercise in building her repertoire, a tool to be polished solely to curry favor with families of higher standing. In Trinity, where art is fiercely encouraged and woven into the very fabric of politics and factional strife, cultivating a refined eye and artistic skill was a vital survival tactic for anyone seeking to climb the social ladder.

Her ambitions were singular: to enroll in Trinity General School and secure her family’s position by joining one of the three major factions that formed the Tea Party. To that end, she simultaneously honed her skills as an attendant and servant. Her days were devoid of true freedom; not a single second could be wasted. For the sake of her parents and herself, Cheri had lived her life in a state of constant, desperate effort.

The turning point came shortly after she entered middle school.

One day, her parents were invited to an exhibition for an art competition by a business associate. Seizing the opportunity, they brought Cheri along, hoping it might serve as a reward for her hard work and perhaps offer her a moment of respite—a rare gesture of parental warmth.

Of course, there were complex social obligations involved; they had to attend to maintain appearances. Yet, her parents truly hoped this would be a chance for Cheri to gain new experiences and, above all, find some healing for her exhausted heart through the power of art.

And there, Cheri encountered it. A single painting.

"......What...... is this?"

It was an oil painting on a small F20 canvas, depicting an angel. The subject looked much like herself, yet lacked a halo. It was a strange piece, featuring a lone girl with only wings, sitting solitary in the center of the frame. On the surface, it was simple—a literal manifestation of an angel as described in scripture. But this angel was alive. The creature within the frame possessed a biological presence so profound it was impossible to think of it as anything else.

"I’ve never seen anything like this..."

Cheri stood wide-eyed.

This was a painting. It was nothing more than oil on fabric, the result of a single brush and a few dozen colors. And yet, she felt that if she stared too long, she would be pulled into that other world to exchange words with the angel.

(To think there’s someone who can paint like this... The world of art is so much deeper than I imagined.)

The young girl was moved. Because Cheri had scoured countless art books to gain the knowledge required of her station, she could say with certainty: the ability to create something like this was abnormal. It was a divine feat. While many painters can create works that draw the viewer in, few can produce something that feels genuinely dangerous—a piece that makes one fear for their own safety.

It was as if the artist’s inner solitude and darkness were being transmitted through the canvas. Cheri realized that her perception of art had been fundamentally wrong; she had never known it could possess such depth or the power to express an entire worldview.

"The name... Who painted this? Esumi... Kayama Esumi? I see. Her name is Esumi-san..."

Glancing at the placard beside the work, she saw the artist was listed as Kayama Esumi. It was a lovely name, Cheri thought. But the moment her eyes drifted to the two characters beside the name, her face twisted in disbelief.

"What? Wait... are you kidding me?! Honorable Mention?! The evaluation for this piece is just an 'Accepted' entry?! That’s a lie! It’s far too low!"

The word "Selected" stared back at her. It meant the piece was deemed worthy of display among the entries but fell short of any actual prize. To Cheri, this was unacceptable. In her eyes, the work was undeniably worthy of the Grand Prize.

"This makes no sense...!"

Though she was not the artist, Cheri grit her teeth in frustration. But there was nothing she could do. She was merely a guest at the exhibition, one viewer among many, with no authority to judge the works. She resented the fact that there was no one among the judges capable of truly appreciating such a masterpiece, and she loathed her own lack of wealth and power to become a patron for such a brilliant talent.

(Someday... I hope someone appears who can truly value her talent and support her...!)

To be captivated by a heart, to cheer for their work, and to pray for their success and happiness. For Cheri, who had lived only for her house, her parents, and herself, this was a monumental shift. A girl who had desperately learned how to be liked by others was now praying from the bottom of her soul for the success of a mysterious stranger named Kayama Esumi, whose face she had never even seen.

In that moment, for the first time in her life, Otaru Cheri had found an "Idol."

1-2

Since viewing that painting, Otaru Cheri had undergone a ninety-degree transformation. Specifically, she became devoted to the arts she once viewed as mere "experience grinding"—or rather, she picked up the brush and began to paint herself.

As she put it, "I may never reach the heights she has achieved, but I want to at least stand on the same stage."

Truthfully, anyone can stare blankly at a painting and offer a plausible-sounding critique. It is relatively easy to flaunt knowledge of art history or explain techniques just by looking things up in books or online. However, the passion, skill, sensation, and the way one perceives a subject can never be put into words unless one has experienced it firsthand.

Consider the difference between someone who has never driven a car but critiques one based on internet trivia, and someone who not only drives but builds cars from scratch. It is obvious whose evaluation would carry more conviction and weight.

Thus, Cheri chose to learn through her own body. Everything was for the sake of getting closer to Kayama Esumi and understanding the core of her work.

She showed her seriousness by breaking into her life savings to buy art supplies and reference materials. For practical skills, she used her parents' connections to receive direct instruction from a middle school student well-versed in art. For Cheri, art was no longer a "subject to please others," but had been reborn as "the field through which I can see the same view as Kayama Esumi."

Whether it was a gift from the heavens for pursuing her dream or simply her destiny, Cheri’s latent talent combined with her accumulated knowledge caused her to grow at an incredible rate. Within a single year of training, the girl who had previously only been a spectator was producing works that made art competition judges gasp in admiration.

The most fortunate thing for her was that in every competition she entered, Kayama Esumi’s work was also on display.

By this point, Esumi had already established her own unique techniques and methods of expression, winning top honors at various competitions. Her technical proficiency far exceeded that of the "Angel" painting. If that F20 oil painting emphasized a "shadow" that made people feel uneasy, Esumi’s current work—having mastered her self-taught style—emphasized a "light" that brought hope and happiness to all who saw it.

Rather than a painting that "pulled you in" if you stopped to look, Esumi had created works that made the viewer "want to be pulled in."

To Cheri, it was like being shown a divine miracle she could never hope to reach. Yet, at the same time, it acted as high-octane fuel for her admiration, pushing her innate talent to its absolute limits.

However, life rarely goes exactly as planned. Sometimes, even if a person possesses the finest fuel for their heart, they are forced to stop if the engine itself fails to move.

For Cheri, that engine was her family and her home.

It began shortly after she entered her third year of middle school. A business venture her family was involved in failed spectacularly, leaving them with massive debt. While it wasn't enough to leave them on the streets, the failure left the Otaru family completely isolated within the cutthroat power struggles of the Trinity Autonomous District. Unless they could find a powerful family to align with, Cheri’s house was destined to be weeded out. In the politically charged atmosphere of Trinity, a single failure is often fatal. It was more than enough reason for a young girl to abandon her dreams.

In truth, the cause was bittersweet. Her family, overjoyed that Cheri—who had spent her life sacrificing for the house—had finally found a dream of her own, had overextended the business in an attempt to support her so she wouldn't have to worry about their finances. It was a tragic irony that their attempt to protect her dream was the very thing that threatened to end it.

To return to the point: with the survival of her house on the line, she could not afford to leisurely focus on art. Having been raised to serve her family, Cheri naturally accepted this. Even if it was the result of her parents' foolish mistake, she would not choose her own dream over them.

Thus, Cheri prepared to break her brushes and give up on following Esumi’s shadow to save her family. But then, she received a sudden invitation to a tea party from a certain individual.

"...No way?"

Cheri was speechless. The person inviting her was Kirifuji Nagisa, a member of a prestigious family known to everyone among the wealthy elite of Trinity.

They had never met, and they had no prior connection. To someone in Cheri’s position, Nagisa was a girl who lived above the clouds. To be suddenly invited to her home for tea was enough to make her heart race. For a moment, she worried she might have done something to offend the great house, but she quickly dismissed the thought; if that were the case, she wouldn't have been invited so formally.

"I won't know the truth unless I go..."

She considered making an excuse to decline and gauge Nagisa’s intentions from a distance. However, with her family’s survival at stake, she decided that reckless behavior toward a prestigious house was unwise. For the sake of herself and her family, Cheri chose to accept the invitation.

"Kirifuji Nagisa-sama... I wonder what kind of person she is."

A young lady of the same age, a third-year middle schooler with exceptional talent destined for Trinity General School in a few months. That was the extent of the public rumors, but it would be unwise to take them at face value. A family of her stature could easily manipulate their public image; she could very well be a cold-blooded person who wouldn't hesitate to trap an opponent.

"Hah... I’m worried. I hope I don't get eaten alive."

Cheri muttered her anxieties to herself, unaware that this event would fundamentally alter the course of her destiny.