3 03 Art of Death.

In the evening after school, there was a young woman walking alone. She was Sasaki Izumi.

She stopped in front of a room, which had a sign posted above the door. It says "Conversation Club."

"It must be here."

Izumi decided to knock on the door.

"Come in."

There was a response, allowed Izumi to come in.

Izumi opened the door.

"Excuse me."

When Izumi opened the door, a young man appeared in front of her. He was the young man Izumi had talked to yesterday. He sat at a large table that appeared to be the one for the club president. Behind him was a window, resulting in a sunset light hitting his back and forming a shadow.

"Only Amakuji-san? Where have the other members gone?"

"They've all gone home because you're so late. It's only me who's still waiting for you."

"Ah... hahaha, sorry."

"However, I'm glad you came." 

The two of them gave each other a familiar smile.

"However, there were only two of us left. So what are we going to do next?

"Uh... I don't know either."

"..."

Amakuji sat and pondered, while Izumi stood still, not knowing what to do. This made the atmosphere in the room silent and awkward.

However, after a while, someone opened the door to the room. Amakuji and Izumi looked at that person with interest. That person was a young woman.

"Uh... did I interrupt something?"

The young woman saw the gaze fixed on her, so she asked if she did anything wrong.

"Itsuka! You have come at the right time! Come inside please." 

When the young woman got called, she walked inside and stood near Izumi.

Izumi continued to stare at her with interest. The young woman had a calm expression, long dark blue hair, sharp eyes, and white skin. The beauty of that young woman made Izumi unable to take her eyes off her.

"This person is..."

The young woman asked Amakuji.

"This girl will be a new member of our club. Her name is Sasaki Izumi."

 "Oh."

"Izumi!"

"Y-yes?!"

"The person you're looking at is Minato Itsuka, a member of this club, and she's in her third year, just like me."

"Nice to meet you, Izumi."

"Ah! It's nice to meet you too... Minato-san."

"You can call me Itsuka. All the club members are calling each other's first names. There is no need to be polite."

"O-okay... Itsuka-san."

"Um, that's good."

A young woman named Itsuka gave Izumi a soft smile. Her beauty and calm manner made Izumi a little nervous when being around her.

"So what are you doing here, Itsuka? Didn't you go home already?" 

"I remember that I forgot the picture I downloaded onto your laptop. I would like to use your laptop for a bit. So I can transfer those pictures to my phone."

"A picture? What picture?"

"You know, don't you? What do I mean by pictures?"

"You took my laptop to download something like that?! Why don't you use your phone?!"

"My phone is slow. I'll pay you back for letting me use your laptop the next day. Today I really need to use those pictures. Pretty please?"

"Ha~ okay, but now we have Izumi matters that we need to deal with first, you know?"

 "Oh... I forgot."

 Itsuka looked at Izumi.

 "Have you heard about our club."

 "Uh... I heard a little from Amakuji-san."

"Did you know that we will welcome new members of our club by revealing and presenting our unusual tastes to them? Most of the time, I'm usually the first to do that."

 "Oh... I just found out about it."

"Did you know what my abnormal taste is?"

Izumi stared at Itsuka and thought.

 "Um... sadistic?"

 "Huh? Why do you think that?"

 "Well, Itsuka-san looks pretty, looks cool, and looks calm. So I thought Itsuka-san might be a sadist."

"Huh~ I look like that? You're close but wrong.

 "Eh~ So, what kind of abnormal tastes do you have?" 

"Would you like to know?"

Itsuka, who has always had a calm face, suddenly had a smile on her face. She seemed to expect Izumi to be interested in knowing.

"Well... if you don't have any trouble."

Hearing such an answer, Itsuka clearly had an excited expression on her face.

"We don't know what my abnormal taste is called medically, but I call it... the art of death~"

"The art of death?"

Izumi looked a little confused.

"Only word you may not understand. Let's take a look at the real thing to know what the art of death that I favorited looks like?"

"Eh?!"

"Kaichou, please open your laptop for me."

"Ha~ You done it."

Amakuji was a little dissatisfied, but still accepted her request. He took out a laptop that was in the drawer under the desk, and opened it.

Itsuka walked up to Amakuji and stood waiting for the laptop to be ready for use. After a while, she was able to use it to her heart's content.

"Izumi... Come on."

Itsuka called Izumi to come over with a smile, which made Izumi a little nervous, but with interest, she decided to go as requested because she also wanted to know what the abnormal taste of this cool and beautiful woman was.

...

The moment Izumi looked at the laptop screen, she had a terrified expression on her face. The picture in front of her It is filled with images of dead people, images of surgery, images of accidents, murder scenes, and images of distorted bodies, as if someone had decorated it to look like that.

Izumi couldn't bear to look any longer. She looked at Amakuji and Itsuka to see how they reacted to these pictures. But their response made Izumi very surprised.

Amakuji had a calm expression, as if familiar with the sight he had seen, while Itsuka had an expression of excitement. Itsuka smiled and blushed, like she was happy to look at those pictures.

"This is the art of death I'm talking about. You understand, right, Izumi?! The beauty of the human body will manifest when they die and become such a fascinating art."

Itsuka describes her artistic taste with a loud and clear voice, like a child describing his or her favorite hero.

"Look at this picture! This is a picture of a body that was hit by a car. His body was twisted in a form that a normal human couldn't do. Such an art is difficult to describe. And this picture was taken by the murderer. It was a picture of the victim whose internal organs had been ejected from his head, and they put a lit candle there instead, similar to a pumpkin on Halloween day. Even though I don't like murderers, but I have to admit their art is really elegant. and this picture! It's a picture of a crocodile biting someone's head. Thanks to the photographer who managed to capture this shot before a crocodile swallowed the head."

Itsuka portrayed the image that she drank with joy, while Izumi stood trembling, speechless, and her face clearly showing fear.

 "All the pictures It's so beautiful, don't you think? "

 "I don't know, I can't understand your artistic preferences. To be honest, I feel more sorry for the person in the picture."

"That's true, but it can't be helped. Death belongs to all living beings, regardless of who or what time, but at least after death, they have given birth to these beautiful works of art."

 "Whatever you said, at least I don't want my corpse to look like that."

Amakuji and Itsuka chatted and exchanged their opinions happily, as if the image in front of them was just a work of art, but Izumi didn't seem to think that way.

 "So Izumi, what do you think about my favorite art of death...  Isn't it beautiful? You probably understand my preferences, right?"

Itsuka stared at Izumi with sparkling eyes, as if expecting an opinion from her... but it's troubling for Izumi, who now feels terrified.

 "Excuse me!! I feel kind of sick! I have to go home now. Good bye!"

Izumi bowed to them and said she had to go home suddenly. As soon as she finished speaking, she quickly walked out of the room, closing the door gently. After getting out of the room, she prepare her feet and ran away for her life. Amakuji and Itsuka hasn't said a single word, just looked at each other with confusion.

...

Izumi ran until she reached the bathroom. She was now dizzy and drenched in sweat from her strenuous run. So she decided to go inside the bathroom to wash her face a little.

Izumi walked into the bathroom and found a sink with a mirror attached to the wall. So she decided to use them

"Ha~ damnit! Those images are still in my head. Crazy scary! But... people who look at those pictures and smile are even more scary! Because I don't know what's in the head of a person like that... Or is that Itsuka-san actually a psychopathic murderer... No way! I must have thought too much... But most of those who will become psychotic killers have always liked watching something like that. At first they just watched, but after that they wanted to start doing it... No! Stop thinking. I should better go home and just forget about it."

Izumi muttered alone in an empty bathroom. She slowly splashed water on her face. The dull face started to feel fresh again. Izumi took the towel in her pocket and wiped her face dry. Then look in the mirror as usual.

But as soon as she looked in the mirror, the reflection of it gave her a glimpse of Itsuka, who was now staring at her from behind, which caused Izumi to panic a lot.

Izumi was terrified, her eyes wide with fear. She quickly turned around to look, hoping she was just blind, but it turned out that Ituka was actually standing there. Izumi flinches backwards against the wall in confusion and trembling like a stalled dog. Izumi doesn't know what Itsuka is doing here, and doesn't know what will happen to her from now on.

...

...

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