All Beautiful Girls Want to Stick with Me

”How many outstanding art students have I trained?”

Or, put another way—how many excellent students has the Kyoto University Art Department produced?

Eiren Kanagawa didn’t expect them to answer. As soon as she asked, she gave a soft chuckle and said:

”Just take last year for example. The art department graduated 145 students. Out of them, I considered 60 to be truly outstanding and talented in art. Now guess: how many of those 60 went on to pursue the dream job they had in mind when they first applied to the art department? How many became semi-famous painters?”

Halfway through, Eiren Kanagawa suddenly pointed toward Hibiki Naegi and raised her voice dramatically:

”Come on, Naegi, you give it a try!”

Caught off guard by being called on so directly, Hibiki was flustered. She thought quickly and answered:

”Uh, maybe... 20 people?”

”Wrong! Absolutely wrong! Hilariously wrong! Spectacularly wrong! That number is so off, people might think you’re a kindergartener with a childish imagination!”

Eiren Kanagawa didn’t even bother to explain before declaring her answer incorrect. Then, with a slightly wistful smile, she continued:

”Heh... 20, huh? Such an innocent number—like something out of Eden. When you said it, your voice sounded less like a high school girl and more like a naive child. If there were really that many talented students who managed to make it in the art world, I could die happy.”

She wore a theatrically sorrowful expression. Then, without headphones, she bobbed her head as if to some internal rock rhythm, and held up three fingers.

”The correct answer is... three. Out of those three, only one became a semi-famous painter, showing real promise. But even now, they’re stuck in a slump, relying on the ’bread of talent’ to keep going—and it’s tough.”

”The other two? One joined a major game company as the lead artist for a new project team. The other went into the animation industry as a keyframe artist—working until 1 a.m. every day.”

The car fell silent.

Even Kotomi found that number shockingly low. Out of 145 graduates, with 60 of them considered very talented, only three had managed to find real success. And of those three, only one actually became a painter...

Such a brutal success ratio. Even with talent, the failure rate was staggering.

Though Kotomi never planned to become a professional artist, she couldn’t help but inwardly gasp at the harsh reality.

”Food, shelter, clothing, transportation—because these are basic human needs, of course they come at a price. In today’s society, that price is simple but also difficult.”

”Want something? Just pay for it. If you have money, it’s easy. But if you don’t? A penny can stump a hero. And how many people are even heroes to begin with?”

”Many art graduates, if they don’t have a highly developed skill, will struggle to find a job. They’ll struggle to earn a living.”

”Heh. If even the talented ones are subject to such brutal elimination, then what about the ones without talent? They don’t even get the chance to fail—they’re crushed into dust beneath the gears of rejection.”

”Completely ignoring their own talent and potential, applying to an art department in college just because they liked anime? Believing they could become a famous, historic painter through sheer effort? Fantasizing about a dream job with an easy monthly salary over a million yen? That’s not just unrealistic—it’s idiotic!!”

Eiren Kanagawa burst out laughing and glanced through the rearview mirror at Hibiki Naegi sitting in the back seat.

Her driving skills weren’t bad—despite hitting a few traffic jams along the way, she still managed to bring the car to the hotel entrance quickly.

As soon as they stepped out, Kotomi looked at the hotel’s exterior and couldn’t help but quietly sigh in admiration.

A luxury hotel!

”We at Kyoto University have always prided ourselves on our wealth and generosity. In contrast, the University of Tokyo is downright stingy—completely lacking in spirit. They originally planned to put you all in guesthouses for accommodation. Guesthouses! And not even the kind with hot springs. Unacceptable, right?”

”Sure enough, if it’s not on their home turf, Tokyo University doesn’t want to spend extra money. So we at Kyoto University waved our big hands and directly booked this five-star hotel as your residence for the next three days.”

Eiren Kanagawa spoke cheerfully, flipping her dark red hair with a bit of flair and mocking the University of Tokyo in passing.

It was clear that even though the National Art Exhibition was a joint effort, the rift between Kyoto and Tokyo University remained. From her tone, it was easy to imagine that there had been many disagreements during the collaboration.

But that was to be expected. After all, top universities always looked down on each other. Even in rare partnerships, conflicts were inevitable.

After helping them unload their luggage from the trunk, Eiren Kanagawa pointed toward the main entrance and said:

”Go wait in the lobby for now. The judges will give a speech there. After that, you’ll each receive your room key. Once you’ve dropped off your luggage in your assigned rooms, it’s free activity time. Lunch isn’t far off either.”

”You can either use the breakfast voucher we gave you to eat breakfast at the hotel buffet, or you can find restaurants on your own for lunch and dinner. Kotomi, Mashiro—if you’re short on money, just come find me, okay?”

”Bye-bye! I’m off to park the car—I really don’t want another parking ticket.”

With that, Eiren Kanagawa hopped back into the car and sped off.

Just as Kotomi and Mashiro were about to head to the hotel lobby, Kotomi turned her head and suddenly noticed Hibiki Naegi looking a little down. Without drawing attention to it, Kotomi slowed her pace, pretending to take a leisurely stroll so Hibiki could catch up.

When Hibiki finally reached her side, Kotomi casually asked:

”President, it’s rare to come all the way to Kyoto—shouldn’t you be smiling more? Don’t tell me you’re already homesick?”

Hibiki snapped out of her thoughts at Kotomi’s voice and gave a bitter smile while shaking her head. ”Do I really look like someone who’d start missing home the moment we arrive? I’m just feeling a bit down...”

”Because of what Professor Kanagawa said in the car?”

”No, it’s not that. It’s just... earlier she at least called my surname. Just now, she didn’t even mention me at all. Did I do something to upset her?”

Hibiki’s voice held a trace of frustration and confusion over the way Eiren Kanagawa had clearly favored Kotomi and Mashiro while seemingly ignoring her. As she spoke, she scratched at her hair in agitation.

Kotomi had naturally noticed the same thing just now, but felt it wasn’t appropriate to point it out. Since Hibiki Naegi had brought it up herself, there was no need to pretend otherwise anymore.

Kotomi didn’t try to console Hibiki with empty words like ”Don’t overthink it.” In her view, such phrases were rarely effective.

Instead, Kotomi nodded firmly, then cautiously said with a thoughtful tone:

”Yeah, why did she only call out me and Mashiro by name… Could it be… she’s got her eyes on me?! You know why it’s cloudy in Kyoto today? Because I’m here! The sun saw how dazzling I am and hid behind the clouds out of shame!”

She leaned closer to Hibiki and said pitifully:

”Waaah~ President, you have to protect me~”

”N-No problem!”

Who knew if Kotomi’s words carried some kind of magic, but the moment she said them, Hibiki momentarily forgot the gloom that had filled her heart earlier and instinctively nodded. By the time she realized, she had already agreed.

Just as she was about to say something, she noticed that her previous sense of melancholy had been completely swept away by Kotomi’s words.

”Yay, you’re such a good person, President!” Kotomi said with a smile, subtly lightening Hibiki’s mood.

Though she had helped Hibiki feel better, Kotomi still felt a little curious—why had Eiren Kanagawa treated Hibiki differently? She didn’t seem like someone who would deliberately snub a student.

She decided to ask Chisato later that evening, when Mashiro called her.

As expected, once everyone had gathered in the hotel lobby, the panel of judges began their traditional speeches.

Just as Chisato had warned during the trip, the judges each took turns talking. At minimum, two hours—three hours was not unusual.

This time, they set a new record: four hours.

Kotomi had long since exhausted every curse she could think of in her mind and had moved on to calmly analyzing just how long the judges had prepared for these speeches.

The worst part? The hotel lobby had no chairs where they were gathered. The entire four hours had to be endured standing.

Hibiki Naegi, likely still feeling physically ”drained,” could barely last half an hour. Her legs trembled nonstop, and in the end, she had to slowly lower herself to sit on her suitcase, looking utterly spent.

At least it was indoors. Had it been outdoors and hot like in the summer, some students probably would’ve suffered heatstroke on the spot. Even though today was cool due to yesterday’s rain, there were still risks—after standing for four hours, a few people might catch colds from the chill.

Finally, after what felt like eternal torture, the judges sitting comfortably on their chairs announced that their ”brief” speeches were finished.

Staff members began distributing room keycards to each student.

Hibiki Naegi received hers and saw that her room was on the 5th floor.

”Nice, I think there’s a karaoke room on the 5th floor.”

”Karaoke? Do you like going, Hibiki-senpai?” Kotomi asked.

”Mhm! I often go with Seiko to karaoke—cough, I mean, to sing. Especially those high-energy songs where you really have to belt it out! It’s exhausting afterward, but that feeling of releasing all your emotion is super satisfying!”

Of course, Hibiki wasn’t about to admit that whenever she and Seiko went to karaoke, they usually stayed for half the day. And as for how many minutes were spent actually singing versus doing other kinds of ”singing”… well, let’s not get into that.

After the staff finished handing out the room key cards—

Kotomi and Mashiro looked at each other, eyes full of confusion.

All the room keys had been distributed to the students.

Why didn’t they receive theirs?

Not only the room keys—even the complimentary breakfast vouchers were missing for Kotomi and Mashiro.

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