The Art of Undressing

Rei writes a list.

Not just any list.

A Very Official, Extremely Rational, Definitely-Not-Emotionally-Compromised List.

She titles it:

TEN REASONS I AM DEFINITELY NOT JEALOUS(Shut up, Suzu.)

Kaito can sketch whoever he wants.

Nocturne is basically a living shadow puppet. Not even cute. Probably.

I am emotionally mature and sexually indifferent.

I've only imagined kissing Kaito twice this week. And one was metaphorical.

I AM NOT JEALOUS.

Seriously.

I can pose nude too. Watch me. I am art.

Just because he looked at them like they invented sunrise doesn't mean anything.

Their hand touched his hand? Cool. Whatever. I have hands too. MANY HANDS.

SHUT UP, SUZU.

"Wow," Suzu says, peeking over her shoulder mid-sketch session, "you wrote 'shut up Suzu' twice."

"I WROTE IT ONCE," Rei snarls.

Suzu nods sagely. "Ah yes. Classic denial spiral. Delicious."

Rei crumples the list and throws it across the studio. It lands in Yuuto's tea.

He shrugs. "Tastes angrier than usual."

Meanwhile, Kaito is preparing for today's activity: The Seductive Line Workshop.

Which sounds sexual.

And is.

But also not.

Mostly it's about line weight, fluidity, emotional contour mapping, and what Suzu calls "emotional bone licking."

Yuuto is in charge of making stickers for it.

He was told to design something tasteful.

He, instead, prints 300 glossy stickers of an abstract torso and calls them:

"✨Sensual Structure™✨"

They are accidentally erotic.

No one stops him.

Now they're on everything.

Scene: The Workshop Begins

Kaito demonstrates on a large canvas. He draws a simple reclining figure, but with soul.

The way the pencil thins at the wrist.

The tension in the curve of the back.

The pause before the lips.

"Good linework seduces," he says. "Not with anatomy. But with honesty."

Suzu claps. Haruka swoons. Yuuto loudly fans himself with a rice cracker.

Rei doesn't move.

She watches Kaito with a mixture of admiration and something like… longing.

Then she catches Nocturne watching him, too.

Quiet. Focused. Like they're sketching him in their head.

Rei stands up so fast her stool falls over.

"I'm posing," she announces.

Kaito blinks. "Now?"

"Yes."

"Clothed or…?"

"Interpretive partial nudity," she snaps, already unzipping her hoodie.

She ends up in a sports bra, leggings, and one sock (the other got lost mid-drama).

Then she drops into a pose that says:

I am powerful. I am not jealous. My clavicle could kill a man.

Kaito tries not to blush.

Yuuto tries not to scream, "IT'S HAPPENING!"

Nocturne quietly sketches. Suzu throws rose petals for no reason.

Rei holds the pose for fifteen minutes.

Kaito draws her carefully.

He catches the lines under her eyes from late nights.

The tightness in her jaw from things unsaid.

The flicker of vulnerability she doesn't know she's showing.

Then… he adds a line he wasn't planning on.

A second figure.

Just behind her.

Hands extended. Not touching. Just there.

Supporting.

Watching.

Caring.

He doesn't realize until it's finished that it's… him.

Rei breaks the pose. Walks over.

Peeks at the sketch.

Sees it.

Freezes.

"You added yourself," she says quietly.

"Accidentally," he lies.

"You always do," she whispers.

He doesn't know what to say.

She leans forward.

Their faces are close again.

But this time…

She pulls back.

Not in anger.

But fear.

"…Not yet," she says.

He nods. "I know."

Later, Yuuto reveals the sticker sheets.

Everyone gasps.

They are weirdly sexy.Glossy, fluid, and vaguely NSFW in the way that makes you question your printer.

"Why do they have that… sheen?" Rei asks, squinting.

"Emotional polish," Yuuto replies.

Kaito sighs, "Please don't call it that ever again."

Nocturne stays late.

They help Kaito clean brushes in silence.

Then, out of nowhere, they say:

"You drew her like you miss her. Even though she's right here."

Kaito stills. "Is it that obvious?"

Nocturne smiles sadly. "Only to people who've been invisible long enough to recognize longing."

Kaito turns to them.

"I'm not in love with Rei."

"You don't have to be. But part of you lives with her. That's enough to draw shadows."

Kaito looks away.

Then back.

Softly: "And you? What do I draw when I sketch you?"

Nocturne answers immediately.

"Hope."

Kaito blinks. "That's… a lot."

"I didn't say it was comfortable," they say."But it's true."

Then they reach forward and place a Sensual Structure™ sticker on his chest.

Right over his heart.

"Stick with it," they whisper.

And vanish into the night.

Later that night, Rei finds a copy of her crumpled list taped to her easel.

Someone's added a new item:

11. He looked at you first.

She doesn't sleep that night.

But she smiles.

Just once.

End of Chapter 13