The time soon came to the afternoon.

After perfunctory questioning, Tsukasa Higashino walked to the innermost right side of the third floor of the club activity building according to what Aiko Kijo said.

Ryoko Okano has been informed that he doesn't need to go to the studio to report, just go directly to complete the wood carving exhibition.

But one day is certainly not enough.

In fact, half a month was still quite tight - at least there was no need to count on painting and coloring or something.

Higashino shook his head.

Fortunately, the new monthly magazine of Urashima Publishing House is scheduled for the middle of next month, otherwise these miscellaneous things are crowded together, and "Lonely Gourmet" will definitely not have time to draw.

Tsukasa Higashino took out the key, opened the door to the empty classroom, and glanced inside.

Wow - Aiko Kijo has prepared quite a few things.

On the floor were various models of brand-new arc knives, hammers and tools, and a whole piece of polishing wax was placed next to it.

Of course, the most important thing is the piece of wood in front of you, which is about 20 cm long, 15 cm wide, and 30 cm high.

Tsukasa Higashino didn't give Aiko Mujo a detailed size yesterday because he hadn't thought of what to carve yet, but now it's different, he probably has an idea, and the piece of wood in front of him has been processed and the bark has been removed...

"It's barely enough."

Tsukasa Higashino nodded, and then began to stuff the wood into the storage box to fix it, and then mentally estimated, and then took out a larger needle pen and started to draw an irregular circle with a notch on the wood... If you look closely, the overall shape looks like a cracked eggshell.

However, since it directly occupies two-thirds of the wood, the whole is more like the shape of a broken ostrich eggshell.

That's right, the broken eggshell with the bottom half intact is what Higashino wanted to sculpt.

Since the theme of maturity and independence has been decided, the carved image of the hatchling shell fits this theme perfectly.

No matter what country the students are, sooner or later they will come out of the 'shell' to protect themselves, and stretch out their hands to the outside world in ignorance...

Maybe they will suffer unimaginable painful experiences, or they may be cornered by reality...

But this is a process from childishness to maturity, and no one can escape it.

Yes, it is painful to get rid of the 'shell', but it is also not because you are afraid of pain that you are always in the 'shell'.

The image of Higashino's 'shell' can be a school, a family, and something that has always protected high school students.

Of course, if it's someone who doesn't have to work hard to easily inherit hundreds of millions of family assets - this is what Higashino didn't say.

After the bluebird takes off, the same is naturally true.

flew out of the 'shell', and all that was faced with it was the helplessness and pain of reality.

College entrance exams, college, post-university job problems... A flurry of things that had never been considered before came like a shower.

This is the theme that Tsukasa Higashino wants to express - maturity, independence.

But that was not enough—perhaps others would be satisfied, but at least Tsukasa Higashino would not.

Because this is an art festival in Kitagijuku, if there is no key carrier of 'Kitagijuku', it will be somewhat unbeautiful.

For this reason, Tsukasa Higashino also made a special trip to bring a map of Kitagijuku.

That's right.

He was going to carve a miniature version of the Hokugijuku in the eggshell.

Playground, club building, gymnasium, student cafeteria, canteen

... This is where the students of the Hokugiku school have been living for a long time.

And this is also the starting place for the broken shell bluebird to go to society.

That's what Tsukasa Higashino thinks.

The 'shell' is the protector of the blue bird, and the 'Kita-gijuku' serves as the starting point for the students and is the carrier for cultivating their 'spirit'.

Then the title of this wood carving should be-

"Blue Bird."

Tsukasa Higashino muttered to himself, and began to see out the approximate shape with a wire saw.

Although there is no direct image of a bird, the broken eggshells, the feathers scattered around the eggshells... None of this means that the bluebird has broken out of its shell and flown into the distant sky.

It's just that although the pine wood is not too hard, the middle of the sawn eggshell still needs to be hollowed out with a tool, and the edges are also very rough, and there are wooden thorns that pierce your hands to the touch.

But Tsukasa Higashino didn't care.

The center edge is smoothed with sandpaper, and finally a layer of polishing wax is applied to smooth the whole area.

As long as the post-processing is good, "Blue Bird" is definitely a good work.

"But... It's a bit of a waste. ”

Higashino couldn't help but ponder as he looked at the large part of the wood that needed to be hollowed out.

The eggshell with a simple Kitajuku in the middle was about 20 centimeters tall and 18 to 19 centimeters in diameter.

Remake, match an exhibit base... That's what Higashino had in mind.

However, since a large piece of wood has to be dug out of the middle, it is inevitable that the wood in the middle will be wasted.

In the past, Higashino Tsukasa would not be such a loser when he was a student, after all, wood is frighteningly expensive, and no one would be such a loser and dig a piece to make carvings.

"Even if you use this hollowed-out wood to decorate eggshell fragments and feathers, most of it will still be wasted..."

Tsukasa Higashino thought for a moment, and then thought of today's trio of Konoe Ryoka.

Anyway, these leftovers don't gush out much, so let's use these leftovers to make something for them...

After all, in the future, "Lonely Gourmet" will probably ask them for help every time they go out to collect style.

Tsukasa Higashino had an idea in his heart, but his movements did not stop.

Hammer and arc knife slowly to create a smooth eggshell surface.

Higashino's feet were also gradually piled up with fine wood chips.

This later stage will be smoothed with a sander from Aiko's house of wooden strips, and the sandpaper will be used to repair the details at most, and this large round surface will still be polished smooth with the help of a machine.

After about fifty minutes of this work, Higashino put down the sweaty hammer and wiped the sweat from his face.

I have to say that doing this work on a hot day is really torturous, although there is an electric fan turning around overhead, but the hot air that turns out can only play a slight role in quenching thirst - Higashino Tsukasa is still sweating profusely.

He basically hammered for ten minutes and then put down the hammer to rest, otherwise his wrists would be too sore, which would affect the drawing of comics at night.

"That's pretty much it for today."

Looking at the eggshell that had turned into an irregular semicircle, Tsukasa Higashino put it down, and then simply washed his palms covered with sawdust before putting back on the stand-up collar uniform that had been taken off because it was too hot.

"Let's go."

The work here is over for the time being, and it's almost time to collect the style for "The Lonely Foodie".

I hope Ryoka Konoe can really surprise herself.

Thinking so, Tsukasa Higashino picked up his shoulder bag and walked in the direction of Class D of the first year.