Kotoko has one thing that inspires her above all else: the hands of her classmate, Chikage. Don’t get it twisted—she doesn’t have romantic feelings for him. As a member of the art club, seeking out beautiful things is just in her nature. Will she ever be able to convince him to model for her?
You can check out chapter one of this series for yourself below!
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Info about this series
What’s the series about? (chapter one spoilers!)
Kotoko, a member of the art club, is incredibly passionate about drawing. Specifically, she is fixated on drawing beautiful hands. As hands are notoriously difficult to draw, she requires a bit of reference material. And who better to use as a reference than the boy in her class with the most beautiful hands, Chikage?
It doesn’t matter that he seems to think of her as a creep—she’s not interested in him, just his hands. He doesn’t really seem to understand this though, and her strange behaviours really don’t help her plead her case.
One day, she learns of his need to be able to draw a specific anime character to appease his younger sister, and uses this to her advantage. She proposes a deal: she’ll teach him the fundamentals of drawing if he’ll model for her. He agrees with one stipulation: only as long as she doesn’t fall in love with him.
My thoughts on this chapter (spoilers for chapter one)
I loved this chapter! Kotoko is a hilarious protagonist as she really will stop at absolutely nothing for the sake of her art. While she is indeed rather persistent when it comes to Chikage, I don’t think she ever actually gets on his nerves.
It’s made clear that he mistakenly thinks all of her strange behaviours are caused by her having romantic feelings for him. Some examples of said strange behaviours include staring at his hands while he’s taking notes in class, and taking pictures of his beautiful hands when they strike poses that inspire her. It’s not difficult to guess why he thinks she has a crush on him.
In response to his accusation, she actually laughs in his face! Time and time again she reassures him that to her, the only attractive thing about him is his hands. While it takes a while for him to believe her, they eventually find neutral ground. I think they actually begin developing a friendship once he is finally able to see her as anything more than “that annoying girl who is always staring at me”. As really, no normal person would see Kotoko’s actions and come to the conclusion “ah, she must love my beautiful hands”.
I think that because he’s such a handsome person, confirmed by the other members of the art club, he’s had his fair share of female classmates annoying him. So, once he’s able to confirm that Kotoko genuinely doesn’t have any feelings for him, he’s finally able to let his guard down.
So, now they have this rather delicate relationship where they both know the other isn’t romantically interested in them, allowing to focus on their own goals. This goes completely out the window when Chikage touches Kotoko’s hand. In that instant, it’s like she’s hit by a strike of lightning. While she had always been interested in his hands, this seems to be the first time she actually realized there’s a boy attached to them.
This realization completely changes the trajectory of the story, and now there’s a rising anxiety—Kotoko literally just promised that she would never fall for him. She accused him of thinking too much like a shoujo manga, and now, here we are! Strangely enough, Chikage seems to be treating her even more kindly than before she realized her feelings. Is it because she’s wearing rose-coloured glasses and we’re following the story through her perspective? Or, is it because she’s finally stopped acting strange around him now that she has to be conscious of her feelings so that she doesn’t slip up?
While Kotoko has been an eccentric character with somewhat strange boundaries from the start, I do think she’s a good person with good intentions at the end of the day. We get a glimpse of this when we see her talking with Chikage’s little sister. I think she just goes a little off the rails when it comes to her muse, which honestly, I can’t blame her for.
As for Chikage, I also think he has a good personality when it comes down to it. When we’re first introduced to him he comes of ass a bit rude and scary, but that’s only because he’s trying to steer Kotoko and all of her strangeness away from him. Again, thanks to his little sister, we get to see his soft side.
This is one I’ll definitely be keeping up with!
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