The moment a person distorts their face in unbearable agony, sheds the tears they were desperately holding back, and finally collapses.

Every time that happens, an inexplicable pleasure surges within me.

I cannot take my eyes off scenes where others turn away in pity.

In fact, I want to see it in even more detail.

Of course, I am not foolish enough to reveal such tastes outwardly.

At the Department of Fashion Design, I have a fairly good reputation.

I am skilled with my hands, have an excellent aesthetic sense, and understand techniques that others take hours to practice in a single go.

Professors praise my talent, and my peers envy me.

I wear a smile that meets their expectations and laugh just enough.

No one knows my true nature.

But then, she appeared.

A girl in the same department.

When I first saw her work, I was speechless for a brief moment.

Delicate sensibility, amazing adaptability, and a genius talent for finding answers on her own without me having to explain a thing.

She might be better than me.

That fact was incredibly irritating.

It felt like a small crack had formed in the superiority I had built up for so long.

Every time she was praised, I raised the corners of my mouth and clapped, but my fingertips were tense.

Don't smile with that kind of face.

I don't like how you're being recognized so effortlessly.

What kind of face would you make if you were frustrated?

The moment that thought occurred to me, I laughed inwardly. Ah, as expected, I am far from being a normal human being.

I wanted to see her make a mistake.

I wanted to see her confidence shaken, and her looking flustered because the result she believed was perfect didn't go as planned.

And I wanted to be the person watching all those moments from the closest vantage point.

But I am not in a hurry.

I advise her like a kind senior, praise her work like a skilled peer, and willingly lend a helping hand if necessary.

So that she trusts me.

So that I can see her slowly crumbling only in front of me.

Go ahead, try it.

Let's see if you're really more of a genius than I am, right until the end.

I'm waiting for the moment you fail.