Rita was about to lose her mind.
Where the hell did this Advanced Nurturing High School come from? What kind of shady school was spreading propaganda all the way to Mashiro?!
At that moment, Rita finally understood why Mashiro had been saying all those strange words recently.
It had to be scam calls from that school!
Those kinds of calls were common, right? Randomly dialing numbers, then immediately launching into a long speech about how amazing their school was—using exaggerated and fake claims to trick people into enrolling.
And now they had actually scammed Mashiro?!
This was outrageous! How could they deceive such a pure, innocent girl!
"Mm-hmm, I understand."
Although anger burned inside her, Rita still maintained a gentle smile in front of Mashiro.
She stretched out her hand.
"Anyway, give me your phone first."
To prevent Mashiro from getting lost, she did carry a phone with GPS tracking enabled at all times. Rita had even spent quite a bit of effort teaching her how to answer calls.
Which, apparently, had allowed someone to feed her misinformation.
"Here."
Crawling around under the table, Mashiro found her phone and handed it over.
The moment Rita got it, she opened the call log.
But the expected scam calls weren't there.
Almost every entry was just Rita's number.
"…I see."
The evil Advanced Nurturing school had even tricked Mashiro into deleting her call history!
But it didn't matter. Rita remembered that phones could set whitelists—only approved numbers could call in.
She had forgotten to set that before, but she certainly wouldn't forget now.
After rapidly tapping through the settings and adding her own number, Mashiro's parents' numbers, and a few other important contacts, Rita finally returned the phone.
"Advanced Nurturing, right? I understand. I'll look into it first," she said with a friendly smile.
She would definitely tell Mashiro's parents that some shady school was trying to trick their daughter into enrolling through scams.
As for why she immediately concluded it was a scam school…
Seriously—what kind of normal school calls itself a vocational school?
And what legitimate school recruits students through random phone calls?
"Mm, thank you, Rita."
Mashiro nodded firmly.
"I will definitely work hard to become a prodigy manga artist."
…Please don't work hard at something like that.
"Advanced Nurturing… Advanced Nurturing… Advanced Nurturing…"
Typing the name into the search bar, Rita slammed the Enter key.
A flashy, almost suspicious-looking school introduction immediately appeared.
"Government-funded… full tuition waiver… employment guarantees… fully residential…?"
It sounded impressive.
But…
Mashiro didn't need any of that.
What exactly about this school attracted her?
And also…
"Prodigy," wasn't that a word Mashiro had asked her about before?
If Rita remembered correctly, she had explained it as "a person like a god."
So Mashiro wanted to become the god of manga at that school?
That was the only way Rita could interpret it.
Still…
Would a school with government backing really need scam tactics to lure Mashiro in?
Or had someone leaked Mashiro's phone number—and discovered that she wanted to return to Japan?
Rita couldn't figure it out.
But she decided to call Mashiro's parents.
"…Yes… ah, right, that's it. Advanced Nurturing… yes, Mashiro mentioned it. Huh? It really does have government backing? Who? Onishima? Ah, sorry, I'm not very familiar with Japanese political factions…"
"But it's fine?"
"And transferring at this time of year isn't a problem? It's also a fully closed boarding school…"
"Oh—so not transferring. I understand. I'll tell Mashiro."
"…If she objects, I'll have her speak with you directly."
After hanging up, Rita let out a long breath.
"Phew…"
Unexpectedly, Advanced Nurturing didn't seem to be a scam school after all.
According to the search results—and apparently among Japanese people—it was actually quite famous.
…So had Mashiro heard about it from her parents?
Opening Mashiro's room again, Rita found that the girl—who had just been helped into proper clothes and had her room cleaned—was once again sitting casually in a chair.
And… staring blankly?
"Mashiro?" Rita called softly.
If she had been painting, Rita would have left her alone.
But since she was just daydreaming, it was fine.
"…Rita?"
Stopping her pen, Mashiro set down the diary she had been using as a sketchbook and turned around.
Blinking her eyes cutely, she asked:
"Can I go to vocational school and become a prodigy now?"
"I'm sorry, but no."
Even though those eyes made it hard to refuse, Rita had long since grown used to them.
"After all, it's a three-year fully residential school. Even if you transferred, they'd have to accept you directly into the second year."
As soon as the refusal came out, Mashiro's hopeful expression collapsed into disappointment.
"…."
For a moment, Rita felt a sharp pain in her chest.
So she quickly added:
"You can't transfer, but if you want to visit Advanced Nurturing, there might still be a chance."
"October."
Rita held up her fingers slightly.
"In October they'll hold a sports festival. Your parents might be able to take you there."
Apparently, the event had never been open to outsiders before.
But recently, to attract more support, someone behind the school—some political figure named Onishima or something—had loosened the restrictions.
The school would send invitations so certain guests could experience the atmosphere during the event.
Of course, in reality it was probably just a political networking event.
Mashiro's parents had no intention of taking sides.
But with a few connections, bringing Mashiro in for a quick visit wouldn't be difficult.
"And I heard you actually have a relative studying there."
"If you want to know anything, you can ask her."
"I think her name was…"
"Shiina Hiyori?"
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