I Hit the Back of the Tower Master’s Head - Chapter 18

Episode 18

Sketching dolls was so easy because I had done it for a long time. My mother always drew detailed pictures when making jointed dolls, and I learned her techniques.

I guess I was underestimating the drawing part.

I looked at the picture of Lily, now a fluffy ball of fur, the picture of Lulu turned into an egg with wings and a beak, and the picture of Pinocchio, just a block of wood with a face. I instantly knew I had lost. Was it because I didn’t sketch first and just went straight to painting? The more I painted, the worse the picture got, and in the end, it became an unrecognizable mess that didn’t match my original goal.

The title of this picture is “Mother of Success.”

I could make cookies filled with chocolate whenever I want, but after confidently suggesting a challenge and then drawing a failure, I couldn’t help but feel embarrassed. I glanced at Ruth, who was still busy with his own hands.

When Ruth noticed my gaze, he quickly covered his paper.

“This is cheating!”

[It’s not cheating.]

“We agreed to show our work once we finished.”

Ruth said firmly. I stuck out my lip in a pout and nodded. I was curious about Ruth’s drawing, and since I was already embarrassed by my own, I couldn’t help but wonder what his looked like.

If I was going to lose, I wanted to lose to a good drawing. I was eagerly waiting for Ruth to show me his.

Lily quietly walked over, saw my drawing, and then asked with a bit of distaste:

“What is this?”

‘You guys drew it.’

Lily squinted her eyes.

“Are you saying I look like this chunky and weird?”

I was hurt by her specific criticism.

By the time the chocolate cookies had cooled and the water in the cup had turned lukewarm, Ruth set his brush down with a weird look on his face. He didn’t even notice that there was paint on his hand and now had green paint on his cheek.

“…The paint’s a bit weird.”

[We used the same paint.]

“Well, anyway, it’s the paint’s fault.”

At this point, my curiosity started to peek through.

[Should we count to three and show them at the same time?]

“Sure. One… two… three.”

Ruth counted, and we placed our pictures on the table at the same time.

[Explain your picture.]

“…Let’s not do that. How about we try to guess each other’s pictures? Who should go first?”

[Then I’ll guess first.]

Ruth’s picture had a rock covered in moss. Well, was it a rock? It looked too red to be a rock. Beside the moss-covered rock was a blue ball, and next to it, there was a white fluffy thing.

[The rock looks really nice. From the moss, it seems like a nature-friendly picture. Is there a rock like this nearby? Maybe one you remember?]

“…It’s a tree.”

[Now that I see it again, it’s a really nice tree. And what’s this blue ball and white fluffy thing?]

“It’s a blue bird and clouds.”

[Oh, I see. A pretty bird and fluffy clouds.]

I should’ve just refused and explained my picture. I made a confused face, and Ruth looked at my picture with a gloomy expression.

“Well, it’s a cute bear. And beside it, is that an egg the bear laid? And that’s a tree, right? With eyes, nose, and mouth, it seems like a picture giving life to nature… something like that.”

[Lily, Lulu, and Pinocchio.]

“I’m sorry.”

It was just an awful guess.

Ruth and I looked at each other’s pictures again and then burst out laughing. Ruth slammed his forehead onto the table, shaking his body intermittently. His laugh was almost like crying.

I lay down halfway on the floor, laughing silently. Ruth wiped his eyes and asked:

“This is definitely going to make Lily mad, isn’t it?”

[She already got mad.]

Ruth collapsed.

“Ugh… I thought the bear was pink…”

[It didn’t turn out the way I imagined, so I had to add more paint to fix it.]

“I added extra layers when I was drawing the tree, and it got thicker.”

[But why is the tree color like this?]

“I mixed gray and red to make it special. As you can see, the result isn’t great.”

Hearing that, I bent over laughing. My stomach started to hurt from laughing so much.

“Did Lulu and Pinocchio also get messed up by extra layers?”

[Of course.]

“I thought you were confident in your drawing and that it would look good.”

[This is the first time I’ve painted with real paint.]

I gave a sheepish smile.

[Once I finished my picture, I felt like it was a disaster. So I peeked at Ruth’s picture to see how it turned out.]

Ruth smiled slyly.

“I didn’t want to show my picture either because I was embarrassed.”

[Then why did we play the guessing game?]

“I figured if Lunaire’s interpretation sounded good, I could just fit my picture into it. The blue ball and the white fluffy thing? I never imagined that.”

Ruth and I laughed again.

“What about the cookies?”

[We’ll share them.]

I split the cookies in half, giving one to each of us, and then handed over half a cookie to Ruth. He smiled at the 2.5 cookies.

[The title of my picture…]

“Yeah?”

[It’s called ‘Mother of Success.’]

Ruth, who had been nibbling on the cookie without thinking, suddenly started choking and coughing. I quickly grabbed the lukewarm water and handed it to him. After he gulped it down, he sat up, shaking and laughing.

“…Well, I guess my picture’s title will be ‘Mother of Success,’ too.”

Ruth licked the crumbs off his lips, chuckling. I smiled again, munching on my cookie. My stomach hurt from laughing so much. Seeing Ruth happy made me feel proud, and I had fun too.

It all started because I wanted to treat Ruth well, who might be feeling like the master here, but I’m enjoying it too, so it’s a win-win, right? What should I do tomorrow?

“Are we going to draw again tomorrow?”

[If you enjoy drawing, we can do it again. Or is there something else you want to do?]

“I’m not sure.”

Ruth stared down at his drawing, muttering. Seeing his face looking happier than usual made me wonder if I should tell him that he seems like the master here. But then again, would he suffer emotionally if we talked about the memory?

I’ll have to think about that more.

[Should we hang the pictures on the wall?]

“Won’t it be embarrassing?”

[We can hang them on the walls of our rooms.]

“No, wait… Is that my room?”

[If it’s not Ruth’s room, then what is it? You’re staying there now.]

Ruth silently licked his lips, glancing between my room and my mother’s room, then mumbled.

“…Alright, let’s hang them.”

[Wait a second. I think there’s some string somewhere.]

I stood up and went to the studio. Lulu shouted from behind.

“We don’t have string at our house, Lunaire!”

I awkwardly came out of the studio after hearing Lulu’s words, holding yarn in my hand.

“Why yarn?”

[Lulu said we don’t have string.]

I cut the yarn and used it to hang the pictures in both my mother’s room and my room. Ruth smiled softly as he looked at my picture, ‘Mother of Success.’

The yarn socks were done, so I had to take them to Annie’s house quickly. I told Ruth I was going out for a bit, then went to Annie’s house. After knocking twice, Annie opened the door.

“Lunaire! I thought you weren’t coming, but it took longer than expected.”

[Ruth was busy sewing, so I was a bit slower.]

Annie smiled as she looked at the yellow yarn socks.

“They’re so cute! Wait, I’ll bring Suri.”

Annie went inside and came out with the eagle doll, Suri, and put the socks on its claws.

At first, Suri seemed uncomfortable and flapped its cloth wings, but after a while, it quietly sat on Annie’s shoulder.

“It seems like she likes them.”

[How do you know?]

I asked with pure curiosity since Annie couldn’t communicate with Suri.

“My mom wrapped her feet in cloth temporarily, but she tore it all up.”

[Sorry.]

“It’s okay. She likes them, so that’s all that matters. But why the sudden sewing?”

[Ruth seemed bored, so I suggested it.]

“Is sewing going well?”

[I’m not good at it, so I was thinking of doing something else.]

“How about learning to knit?”

[I’m not sure if Ruth would like knitting. When I first learned, my hands were so stiff.]

“How about baking cookies or bread?”

[I’m worried Lily might get mad.]

“Just kick Lily out of the kitchen.”

Well, then we’ll make cookies since Ruth likes them.

[Actually, yesterday, Lily asked if she could cook, but I rejected it. She’s too strict.]

“Then quickly go tell her you were wrong.”

Annie joked, laughing. I smiled awkwardly. Yeah, I should do that. I said goodbye to Annie and headed back home.

[Do you want to cook tomorrow?]

“Cook?”

[Yes, let’s bake cookies.]

Lily shot a glare at me.

“But you rejected me yesterday!”

‘I didn’t want you to be too harsh on us. Just me and Ruth will use the kitchen for now.’

Lily stomped her feet.

“I’m the head chef in this kitchen! Of course, I should be supervising!”

“Can we use the kitchen? Lily’s going to be mad…”

[Since it’s my house, it’s fine.]

Ruth gave a half-hearted laugh.

“Alright, I’m looking forward to it.”

[Is there any special cookie you want to make?]

“Honestly, everything Lily made was delicious.”

Ruth answered seriously. He started counting on his fingers, going through all the cookies he had eaten so far.

“The fruit jam ones were good, and even the plain dough ones were delicious.”

[Everything tastes good when you eat it with milk while it’s hot.]

“That’s true.”

Ruth smiled slightly.

“But… hmm… today’s chocolate cookies were my favorite. Maybe because I ate less.”

Ruth seemed a bit disappointed, wiggling his fingers. Then I decided to make cookies full of chocolate chips. I’d mix chocolate dough with regular dough. As I was planning, Lily spoke up from beside me.

“Hurry up and ask me to supervise!”

I patted Lily.

‘No, we’ll do it ourselves.’

Lily crossed her arms.

“If it fails and you need help, I won’t help. You’ll have to eat all your failures!”

“What’s Lily saying?”

[She says if we fail, we’ll have to eat it all ourselves.]

“Well, we’re the only ones eating cookies here.”

[The difference is that if it tastes bad, eating it will be torture.]

“Ah.”

Ruth let out a small groan, biting his lips.

“…Well, if it doesn’t fail, it’ll be fine.”

[Right, as long as it doesn’t fail.]

“But do you know how to make cookie dough?”

[Isn’t it just flour and eggs?]

Lily shook her head as she looked at my notebook. Maybe I should’ve watched her more carefully when she cooked. Ruth looked between Lily’s reaction and my notebook and cautiously asked.

“Don’t you need to add water?”

[Is that so?]

“…How about just asking Lily to teach you?”

Lily perked up her ears and said to me.

“Ask her to teach you.”

I quietly lowered my head. Please, teach me, Lily.