Summary
Yue is a talented young artist who humbly receives praise from her classmates as they inform her that another poster she made is being featured around school. But on the inside, she is incredibly arrogant; she's loved to draw since youth and she did so much of it that it would make sense that by now she's very talented. Takao's praise flusters Yue and he brings up the upcoming traffic safety art contest. He asks if she will be entering and Yue admits that she's been putting thought into an entry. She wants to win, considering the winning entry will be displayed nation wide.
Unfortunately, Yue is unable to properly come up with a real concept. She lacks inspiration and can't re-use her old artwork. Her dad comes by to ask Yue how she is doing and he offers to show her some of his old work and asks for her opinion. She isn't very impressed, until one image in particular happens to stand out to her: one depicting a truck that ran into a pole with alarmed onlookers. A picture like this would make a strong impact, so she decides to base her entry around it.
Upon day of submitting, everyone is amazed with Yue's bold statement with her artwork. She's convinced that she will win, having expected them to react strongly with her addition to the picture, a girl laying on the ground in front of the truck. It brought more impact, but some teachers are concerned over it. Yue tries to explain that the girl is a focal point, and there isn't anything graphic being depicted. Her teacher remains unsure but the art teacher doesn't share their opinion, its realistic approach makes it different from the others. Yue is glad that someone understands, but her swelled ego convinces her that the judging panel will be overwhelmed with her masterpiece. In fact, she wants to make it look even better. She can't leave it at that, controversy is how one obtains fame.
Yue remains unsatisfied as she continuously touches up her picture over the next couple of days. It continues to get attention and eventually there's nothing more she can do to it.
One night, as they eat dinner her dad asks about her entry. Yue is fairly quiet because she doesn't want to tell him that she used his picture for inspiration. By now, the drawing has become her own creation.
Tomorrow is the day of competition, and Yue rushes straight to school to overlook her poster again. But to her shock she discovers blood beneath the girl, something she didn't do. She is frustrated to think someone tampered with her poster, but it looks even better so she leaves it alone. But the next day, the picture changed again. This time it looks scary and disturbs those who look at it; the girl has a face now.
During class, Yue comes to the decision to hurry up and fix her entry, but by the time she gets back it's changed again. Now the image looks like it is moving. She drops her supplies in disbelief as her friends approach, concerned that she's getting out of control. It's then one girl recognizes the location, a traffic signal near their school. Yue confirms she is correct after checking for herself, and she is perplexed because she didn't notice that until now.
She heads to the girls restroom to call her dad and ask him about his old drawing. He explains that he witnessed a girl being hit by a truck at that very spot when he was younger, and he hurriedly jotted it down in his notebook to use for his own entry for the traffic safety program. He didn't think anything was wrong with it at the time, but after redrawing it he decided not to submit it because it was based on a real accident and would be distasteful. Yue ends the call and wonders what happened to the girl, wondering if the one she drew is the same from the incident. She decides to rip her poster down when she realizes the girl is moving, reaching out to her. Yue panics and runs away, outside of school.
She doesn't care about this girl.
All that matters is saving her entry.
She can die.
In her blind panic, Yue fails to see an oncoming truck and gets hit. She is surrounded by her frightened classmates, friends and Takao. They scream and cry, trying to get help. Yue realizes she is at the same location that the picture took place. This dons on everyone as they think about her entry; the victim in it resembles her now. Yue cries as the ghost of the original victim is visible behind her in her picture, smiling.
Tropes:
- Crowd Pleaser: Yue's main motivation is to receive praise from others.
- Yomi remarks in the epilogue that this was her problem, and that if she wasn't so focused on getting it, things would have ended differently.
- Death of a Child: two of them in fact.
- Downer Ending
- Lack of Empathy: Yue didn't care that a girl lost her life. She just didn't want other people to think poorly of her if they connected her entry to the incident from years ago.
- Pride: Goes hand-in-hand with Yue's Perfectionist personality and desire to get attention.
