episode_0201

We decided to indulge Appleton’s hobbies.

Appleton was very shy at first, but when Shine approached him and whispered in his ear, his initial shyness disappeared and he began to actively take pictures.

She started taking pictures of various landscapes as if testing the camera’s performance.

The pixels are so high that even when you zoom in on a photo taken from far away, the image quality remains as clear as if you were looking at it right in front of your nose.

A happy smile appeared on Appleton’s face.

“Are you feeling good?”

“Ugh, yeah! It feels good!”

Seeing my friend laughing happily made me laugh too.

As I sat on a small bench and watched Appleton poking her camera here and there, I became curious about something and asked her a question.

“Hey, Appleton.”

“Huh?”

“Why do you only take landscape photos?”

“Uh…”

Appleton’s taste was not for landscape photography.

The pictures stored on her broken camera were all of boys playing sports.

Even though it wasn’t my taste, I had to respect my friend’s taste.

I was worried that maybe she didn’t take pictures of the boys because she thought I didn’t like them.

“Appleton likes taking pictures of boys.”

“Oh, no!”

Appleton cried out, greatly embarrassed by my words.

Perhaps that was why the eyes of the students who were quietly walking around flew to Appleton.

She blushed instantly and covered her face with her pigtails.

“That’s not it, so don’t look at it like that!”

She shouted to the students around her.

They were startled by Appleton’s voice and ran away.

“But Appleton, you had a lot of pictures of boys on that camera you were using. I respect your taste.”

“Wooo…”

Appleton turned into a runny, melted cheese that was all over my comfort.

She lowered her head for a long time, then lifted the camera she was holding.

“That, that’s right. Actually, I was going to take a picture, but I suddenly got a strong feeling that I didn’t want to take a picture.”

“Do you feel rejected?”

“Yeah… I don’t know why, but I couldn’t capture them on camera.”

Appleton said as he pointed the camera at the boys playing with the ball.

A small breeze blew, gently caressing her aqua-colored hair.

Quiet surroundings, tranquility permeates.

The atmosphere was perfect for taking pictures.

The moment when the student who was carrying the ball takes a cool shooting stance.

She tried to press the shutter of her camera.

The movement of the little finger came into view.

But that was it.

She suddenly lowered the camera and covered her mouth.

“Uuuuu…”

“Why?”

“I just, just, I don’t feel like taking pictures.”

Appleton slumped down, his camera down.

The moment I looked at her with concern as she looked listless.

Lane, who was sitting next to me, said to Appleton.

“Then how about taking a picture of me?”

Lane jumped up from his seat and spread his hands.

It seemed as if Lane was taking a pose that he thought was cool, as if telling people to hurry up and take a picture of themselves.

Appleton nodded to Lane and raised the camera.

There was no shutter sound.

Lane stood there with a proud expression, and after a while she asked Appleton a question.

“Did you take a picture?”

I must have taken a picture.

Because I saw her finger pressing the shutter.

Appleton nodded, lowering the camera.

“Show me!”

Lane ran to Appleton to check his photo and clung to him.

This was possible because she was shorter than Appleton.

Appleton lowered the camera so Lane could easily check the camera’s picture.

“Yeah. Yeah. It turned out well.”

I was also curious about how the picture was taken, so I got up from my seat and checked the picture.

As Lane said, her photos were really well taken.

Lane stands with a proud expression, his legs and arms stretched out.

It looked really cute.

“Can you take a picture?”

“That’s right…”

So that means you don’t feel uncomfortable taking pictures of people.

What’s the problem?

“You weren’t taking good pictures until this morning, were you?”

“Yeah, yeah…”

I stroked my chin and sat lost in thought.

I wondered if the new camera was the problem, so I searched my camera model on my phone, but no one else had the same symptoms as Appleton.

And I could tell one thing.

I’m saying this camera’s performance is incredibly good.

It was a camera that could even take pictures of stars in space if you used the magnifying glass that came in the box.

I didn’t know the price, but it was clear that this wasn’t an ordinary camera.

“How do you feel when you try to take pictures of male students?”

While he was looking around at the cameras, Shine, who was sitting quietly playing with his cell phone, asked Appleton a question.

She answered Shine’s question with a puzzled expression.

“That, that’s right. It just feels weird. Should I say it’s awkward? Something or other creepy…?”

“Really?”

“Uh, yeah. I don’t usually feel like this…”

“Do you only feel that way when you use a camera?”

“I don’t think so… I don’t really want to see it even without the camera.”

“You don’t hate taking pictures, do you?”

“Yeah, that’s not it. I still enjoy taking pictures. It’s so romantic to be able to capture a wonderful moment and keep it forever.”

“Still having fun, that’s a relief.”

“Ugh… Should I consider this a blessing in disguise…”

Appleton took another photo.

I’m talking about Shine’s appearance.

She was flustered and startled even though she had taken the picture herself.

“Mi, sorry! I suddenly wanted to take a picture, so I pressed it without realizing it.”

She apologized to Shine and tried to erase the photo.

But Shine shook her head and said.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to erase it.”

“Really?”

“Instead, can you tell me why you suddenly wanted to take a picture?”

“Uh… Yeah. It felt similar to before. Like when I wanted to take pictures.”

“Like when you took pictures of the old school boys?”

“It was similar, but it felt a little different.”

“What specifically?”

“Um… I don’t think I can explain it in words. My heart was pounding so hard…”

“Yeah. And?”

“I wanted to keep seeing you…”

“I see.”

Shine smiled slightly at Appleton’s answer.

At that moment, Appleton took another photo.

“Ouch!”

“It’s okay.”

I crossed my arms and frowned as I listened to their conversation.

I felt bad.

It’s not that I feel bad when people talk about things without me.

I felt bad for sharing my shine with Appleton.

“Appleton over there.”

“Oh. Huh?”

When I called Appleton, she suddenly raised her camera.

Her fingers move.

A look of doubt appears on his frowning face.

“Did you take this picture of me?”

“Oh. Yeah… What, why is this happening?”

She looked confused as if she didn’t know why she took the picture.

I checked the photos she took.

A grumpy white-haired girl stood with her arms crossed.

“Why did you take a picture like this…”

I felt ashamed of my appearance.

I didn’t know what my expression would look like to other people, but when I saw it in a photo, I felt incredibly embarrassed.

The problem was that it looked too childish.

The girl in the photo was speaking with her facial expressions.

I’m in a bad mood right now, and if you don’t let me go, I’m going to throw a tantrum.

“Can you erase that?”

“Okay. I’ll delete it right away.”

Appleton nodded to my request and operated the camera.

“Wait. Don’t erase it.”

“Oops.”

At that moment, Shine, who was sitting on the bench, came over urgently and placed his hand on Appleton’s camera.

Appleton, who couldn’t delete the photo because of her jersey.

Shine quickly manipulated the camera and sent my picture to her phone.

“It’s okay to erase it now.”

“Oh. Yeah.”

Appleton nodded to Shine’s words and deleted my photo.

I said to Shine with a dumbfounded expression.

“Hey, Shine. Why did you get that?”

“You’re cute.”

“Ears, you’re cute… that’s…?”

“Yeah.”

I took a step back, taken aback by Shine’s answer.

Then Shine took a step closer to me.

“Look at that. Isn’t it cute?”

“That…”

A photo sent to her phone.

My appearance was exactly as it was before.

Of course, objectively speaking, it was cute.

But when I thought about it as my appearance, it felt different.

“Ouch-”

As he was bowing his head like that, Appleton took another picture.

This time, it was a scene where both me and Shine appeared.

“Did you take another picture?”

“Ah… I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s okay…”

I was really curious about what criteria she had for wanting to take a photo.

What on earth makes you take pictures like that?

Shine and I checked out the newly taken photos.

In the photo, I was stepping back with a red face, completely embarrassed, and Shine was approaching me with a sly smile on her face.

“Send this again.”

Shine again received the photo on her phone.

“Me too!”

Rain, who was watching from the side, also received the photo.

Why do people want photos like this?

I sighed, biting my lip.

“Excuse me. Are you feeling bad?”

“No… that’s not it.”

Appleter was really kind enough to look after my feelings.

I shook my head, not particularly offended by having my picture taken.

Appleton continued taking photos after that.

It was mostly me, Rain, and Shine.

Shine received all the pictures I took.

She had a big, satisfied smile on her face.

Lane also received a flood of photos, and she would look at them and smile happily.

Are you so proud of yourself for taking such a cool picture?

Appleton also took photos of other students before heading to afternoon classes.

There were no male students in the photos taken by her camera; they were all female students.

I couldn’t figure out why her tastes had suddenly changed, but she seemed happy, so maybe that was it.

I looked at Appleton, who was smiling happily, resting his chin on the desk.

She was sorting, selecting and grading the photos she had taken.

“What are the criteria for grading?”

“That, it’s just something I like…”

“Ugh…”

I just nodded to Appleton’s question.

I wasn’t sure exactly what the criteria was, but I was starting to get a feel for it.

This child also developed similar tastes to Rain.

Is it okay?