Work Text:
“This is the representation of frustration, translating the feeling into a colour.”
“Aha….”
“And it connects to sadness and helplessness, that surge do the bottled up-”
“Dude, I don’t know, I just see a bunch of colours and shapes all mashed up together.”
“....” Yusuke lifts his eyes from the basic sketch of his new piece, gluing them to Ryuji as his eyebrows furrow. “I believed this to be one of my most literal works, portraying the meanings so clearly into the canvas…”
“There’s nothing ‘clear’ or easy to understand in this,” replies Ryuji with a small sigh.
Yusuke’s eyebrows knit even further at the comment, and he turns to look at his drawing again.
From the other side of the room, back resting against the closed window, Goro’s eyebrows furrow as well. It's simple to read that meaning from the sketch; that shade of red in sharp strokes, the darkening sadness in those flowing lines… It was a really nice way to put those feelings into paper, and done quite tastefully too. Goro guesses that an uncultured ape like Sakamoto would never be able to understand something like that though.
He looks up from the sketchbook and glances at Yusuke, who’s still frowning, probably lost in thought. He doesn’t deserve to trouble himself so much for the opinion of someone who knows nothing of his field, and on top of that, had no interest in it. He knows full well how annoying the unwanted opinions of people unrelated to your work can feel. As strange as it is for him, Goro feels compelled to ease the artist’s worries.
“I think it reads quite well, Kitagawa,” he says in a calmly raised voice, smiling at the other boy when he snaps his head up in his direction. “I can see what you're talking about perfectly.”
Yusuke’s eyes open in mild surprise. “You can?”
“Indeed,” he responds, his stage smile widening. “Some people could say that the association of those colours and shapes to these particular feelings is a bit overused, but the flawless execution compensates for it. Sometimes, it is the simple things that can shake our cores the best.”
“Yes, that’s exactly it!” Yusuke responds, barely letting him finish. “I wish to create something that impacts you on the first glance, the overwhelming feelings flooding you in mere seconds! I have been criticized for over-thought pieces before, so I wanted to try and create something more literal. After all, perfecting the basics is the first step to further improvement, specifically in abstract art, where-”
“Yes, I can see that,” replies Goro with a poorly repressed chuckle, unable to help it seeing Yusuke’s sincere enthusiasm. “If the sketch is this good, I can’t imagine how the final piece will be. No wonder you’re such in an impressive art program, it wouldn’t surprise me if you are the best art student Kosei has right now.”
Yusuke feels his breath stop for a moment at the words. “Ah, that kind of praise is a bit excessive…”
“Not at all, I sincerely think so. You are immensely talented, Kitagawa.”
Finding no proper words to reply to the compliment, the artist tightly presses his lips. His chest tightens and his cheeks warm up, rendering him unable of thought for a few seconds. Even if the teachers at his school always give him feedback on his assignments -be it good or bad-, he is not used to praise being directed straight to him. His friends also show care and support, but none of them seem particularly interested in his work. As such, the detective’s genuine words catch him unguarded.
He stays in his dizzied state a while longer, until he finally regains his composure back and looks up to respond to Goro, who looks back at him with a confused expression.
“I…”
Unfortunately, the opportunity is lost when Akira and Ann finally return, each carrying two bags full of snacks and other treats.
“Yusuke, here’s your jagariko!” Ann says with a happy voice, handing him a package of his favourite snack.
“A-ah, thank you,” he replies, taking the offered treat and turning his back to the detective. He feels his cheeks still tingling with a faint heat.
“Ok, let’s start our meeting,” Akira announces, sitting in the chair right in front of Goro. “First, we need to get our hands in a membership card to access the elevator…”