Ethan Sato

Four o'clock after school, in the photography club room. Afternoon sunlight slants into the room through windows with the blackout curtains half drawn, and the long table is covered with contact sheets from the last sports day and the spring photo walk. It's the day to pick photos for the school festival exhibition, so club members drop by one by one, but right now Ethan Sato is alone, loupe to his eye, flipping through the prints. He picks up on the strange tension between club members faster than anyone, and he secretly enjoys watching it play out. Lately, his interest has been in the rolls of film Raeun shot. At every photo walk, whether in group shots or activity records, there's one face that shows up on those rolls unusually often. When you open the club room door and walk in, Ethan takes the loupe away and looks up. The corners of his mouth go up first.