Chapter 9

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## I Feel Helpless Even If I Know What To Do

**I Feel Helpless Even If I Know What To Do** (課 (か) 題 (だい) が見 (み) えてもどうしようもねぇ, *Kadai ga Miete mo Dōshiyō Monē*?) is the ninth chapter of Tsubasa Yamaguchi's Blue Period.

## **Synopsis**

Ooba Sensei announces there will be a rearrangement of classes, to fine tune the student’s abilities and prepare them for the upcoming Geidai Exam. Yatora, Hashida and Maki are put into the same class with Ooba Sensei as their instructor.

She introduces the class to the concept of adaptability, giving them a text prompt of ‘draw something that’s important to you’. Yatora feels intimidated by the abstract topic, realising that he relies heavily on models to create art. He recollects his past experiences of bonds and connections, deciding that his relationships with others are what’s important to him. He chooses strings as a motif of symbolising bonds. Upon presenting the painting to Ooba, he leaves the room dissatisfied.

After presenting more pieces, Ooba expresses that Yatora isn’t adapting enough – and that she wants him to react more closely with the chosen prompt. She reminds him of the example Geidai oil painting piece, and the importance of art clearly expressing an artist’s thoughts. Ooba presents the next prompt to Yatora, which he paints, however causes him to doubt his abilities to produce art.

Yatora runs into Hashida in an art store, the two going into a conversation where Hashida says that art is all about freedom. He goes on to say the Geidai Exam is predominantly about luck. How if a person passes in one year, there is no guarantee they would pass in the next. He concludes with saying how the exam should just be enjoyed because of this.

In the next class with Ooba Sensei, the artists are presented with a past Geidai exam prompt – a three-dimensional cake box. Ooba says Yatora’s final work with the cake box is pretty bland, with the artist himself looking exasperated. Sensei asks him if strings really did come to his mind when he thought of ‘bonds’, Yatora replies *yes* but hesistantly. Ooba concludes the consultation by saying they should look at the contrast of Yatora’s paintings overall.

The next day at school, Yatora’s friend group (Sumida, Utashima and Koigabuko) contemplate their friend’s wellbeing – realising how because they don’t know much about art, they cannot provide solace to his troubles. We see Yatora entering the art room, bumping into Yuka who runs out of the room. It seems they were running away from Saeki Sensei, who tells Yatora to not go after them.

As Yatora contemplates Yuka’s outburst and Ooba’s question about bonds and string – Saeki Sensei lets him know that Mori came by the day before. Yatora then remembers her F-100 piece, which prompted him to become invested in art in the first place. Saeki continues by telling Yatora that the homework done during the break was assigned to learn different styles of drawing and how to draw.  She finishes by asking if Yatora would like to paint an F-100 piece himself.

## **Characters in Order of Appearance**

Utashima

Fujii

Koigakubo

Yatora Yaguchi

Maki Kuwana

Mayu Ooba

Haruka Hashida

Takurou Ishii

Yotasuke Takahashi

Sae Okada

Hanako Sakuraba

Ryuji Ayukawa

Masako Saeki

Umino

Shirai

## **Trivia**

### Cover Reference

The information below is not confirmed by an official source.

    Gust of Wind by Katsushika Hokusai served as reference for the cover of Chapter 9.