Angie, but she and Atua have no interest in you.

Your time at Hope's Peak Academy is shaping up to be an odd experience. You can't find anyone to talk to who isn't either a sleepy space-case, a total freak, or both. As a result, you've simply been flitting from one introduction to the next. After three strike-outs, you're racking your brain for a rational explanation. Maybe the difficult curriculum can explain the students being sleep-starved, and the eccentric personalities can explain their odd behavior?

Maybe this is just how people are these days. Or maybe you're just boring to talk to? But you're trying so hard at conversation...

Finally, you've got it. There's a much easier way to find people who share your interests than just talking to students at random. Club activities! If you find someone in a club you're interested in, you'll be set. And when you think of subjects you're passionate about, it has to be art. Modern art, the ancient works of their masters, even performance art... You could talk about it for hours.

Tunelessly humming, you identify the art room and head that way with pep in your step. You imagine all the people you could meet: maybe there'll be an Ultimate Impressionist? An Ultimate Pixel Artist? An Ultimate Cartoonist? You're sure you heard there was an Ultimate Manga Artist at this University.

Instead, you don't find much of a club at all, and when you see the person making use of the art room, you suddenly remember why. There's only one student known as an Ultimate Artist at this school: apparently, she's talented enough in all forms of it that she's given that umbrella title. A short young woman with a tan islander complexion and bleached white hair in two front ponytails is working on some kind of incredible art piece that takes up the entire room. She's carved several hanging figures, which are tied up all around from a room-wide diorama, and she's splashing buckets of paint on them seemingly at random. It's chaotic, but, also, inspiring. She's staining her baggy yellow coat with paint, apparently using it as a type of smock. It's open, however, and you can see a grey bikini top and short skirt, the kind you can picture covering a similar bottom. Even though she seems to be pensively considering her art before each tossed bucket of paint, she has overall cutesy features, a sunshiny resting smile, and humming to match. But when you focus harder on some of her features, like the piercings she has near her belly button, you wonder if she's more mature than she initially appears...

With excitement, you knock on the door and wave to her, asking if you can introduce yourself.

The artist turns her bright blue eyes to you and looks you over, smiling as she seems to consider it. For about ten seconds. Then, she turns her head back to the carving she was studying. "Hmm, no thanks! Atua and I are busy at the moment and are not taking disciples at this time. Please try again later!"

Oh... Maybe it's fine if you just stand around and watch, then?

"Hmm... As long as you don't bother us, Atua says it's fine! He just doesn't want me to talk to you, no offense. Atua is telling me you're very, very, suuuper-boring!" she tells you, briefly tilting her head your way with an inappropriately friendly grin that shows her upper teeth.

Well, that conversation didn't last long. That's a shock and a bummer... Still, even if she won't talk to you, you're still free to enjoy her work. You stand back and gather your impressions. It seems she was serious about not talking to you: she's gone back to completely ignoring you, letting you observe her artistic concentration.

It's captivating, even without conversation, and you can't help but remark on her form. The way she appears carefree at a glance, but actually employs a combination of self-control and free-wheeling inspiration to have the paint fall exactly as she wills it, or, perhaps, as her deity wills it. Perhaps, in fact, this blend of control, direction, and carelessness is the essence of art, and the fact that she can create such a powerful installation as this is proof and mark of her ability as an Ultimate Artist. Yes, you've begun to feel as though-

Angie slides forward on her feet, bumping face first into the paint on the carving she mulling over. It clanks loudly, and she wraps her arms around it to steady it. You hear the whole diorama she's set up creak dangerously, and see she's made an even bigger mess of her coat. She blinks with bleary blue eyes, then turns them to you with a look of surprise. It quickly fixes itself to an amused laugh. "Oh? Oh oh oh? I was in a trance for a moment there! Atua does inspire in the funniest ways some times! Atua, the hilarious god!" Her face and the front of her bangs are painted bright red now, but she doesn't seem to notice. She puts a finger to her painted lip, tilting her head curiously again. "Were we talking about something before? I remember something about disciples."

You tell her you were introducing yourself, and that she said she wasn't taking disciples.

"Ahahaha! Well, that doesn't sound right! I still have no idea who you are, and Atua never turns away disciples who are eager to enter his fold! So!" she points at you dramatically, folding one arm behind her head and pointing her bucket-holding hand your way. "Who comes seeking Atua's embrace?"

You tell her your name is Tomo Tominaga, you're the Ultimate Transfer student, you don't have any particular talent, but you just transferred into the school, and you're interested in art, so the idea of becoming a disciple of hers does sound appealing, but you aren't actually sure about the religion, as you've never considered yourself a religious sort, so it might take some salesmanship on her part, but you also aren't actively an atheist either, so perhaps you'd be open to-

In the middle of your introduction, Angie has started snoring loudly, still holding that dramatic pose. Could she actually have fallen asleep that way? When you clear your throat, her big eyes pop open once again and she lets out a startled gasp. "Tommy Gangimari!" she shouts, switching the positions of her arms as though that made it a normal way to stand. "Yes, Tommy! Before your boring introduction, we were, um... I dunno!" she says, with a carefree shrug. Suddenly, she seems to remember, putting her fist in her palm. "Aha! I recall! An embrace! You came here to be enveloped in my embrace, correct? Come here, Tommy Gangimari!"

You're confused about what's happening, but you can't complain as Angie throws her arms wide and wraps your skinny body up in a big hug. She's short, but she's not that small where it counts, and you can feel a pleasant softness pressing against your chest. Oddly, however, she's placed one of her hands on your head to begin gently patting your messy hair.

Soon, she begins comforting you in a soft voice. "There, there, Tommy Gangimari. In the arms of Atua, you will find a conversation partner who hears your every wish and confession... You will find Atua, who accepts you for who you are, even if the whole world loses interest in you. The chaos of your life will be sorted into His order. All you need to do is accept His love. Would you like to walk in the light of Atua, Tommy? Atua will accept you as his follower."

... You've never felt such an incredible, enveloping warmth, not even in the arms of your own mother. You've never met someone so immediately attuned to your struggles, who knows so perfectly what you need to hear. For a moment, you consider... could this be a type of hypnosis? Haha, as if! There's no such thing... Then, this must be the real deal! A real pivotal point in your life.

You decide to take a chance. You tell Angie yes, that you'll join in following the path of Atua wherever it leads, that you're ready to emerge from the cocoon of your dreary and aimless life into the metamorphosis of true faith, and that while you might currently be a neophyte, you're ready to study her teachings so that one day you can spread them far and wide, although your oration skills may need some-

... Again, the sleepy-headed artist has fallen asleep standing up. She's slumped onto you, getting both paint and drool on the breast of your uniform while her hand absently scratches at your head, probably mistaking it for something else in a dream. You lightly shake her and she snaps out of it with a snort. "Oh...! I got too comfy, ahaha," Angie laughed, still taking it in stride. "Well, ignoring that! I heard you have accepted my offer and will become my artistic disciple! I warn you this path is laden with sweat, tears, blood, sacrifice, and blood sacrifice! Do you-" she pauses, tilting her head. "Have what-" she tilts it again, taking you in from another close angle. "It takes?" she concludes, looking up into your face from below now, a spooky look in her deep blue eyes.

... You don't know about blood sacrifice, but maybe that part is negotiable? Anyway, you're all in. As you stop and think about it, this somehow turned from you becoming a follower Atua into you training under Angie... But hey, that was what you originally came here to do! Sometimes things worked out, after all. You had a feeling that from this point on, maybe the goofy, strangely sleepy Angie and her god Atua could bring some stability to your crazy life.

"Very good!" Angie claps her hands over her head with a radiant smile. "Atua and I welcome you! Remember that there is no art without Atua! Now, the first lesson will be tomorrow. Somehow, I've managed to make a big, big mess of myself!" she declares, pressing her hands to her cheeks and making an even bigger mess. Still compressing her cheeks, she speaks to you seriously. "But, Tommy! Your homework is to think about what you want to learn under my teaching."

What you want to learn... You wonder aloud. The truth is, there are so many things you want to learn under an accomplished artist like Angie, but you wonder if that's the right place to start. After all, should study be more about book learning, history, and theories? Should it be more about the technical aspects, like the techniques Angie uses to bring life to her art? Or was faith truly all that was needed? In that case, should you open your heart and mind to Atua and study his teachings in order to have him guide your hands and your tools in-

Once again, Angie's fallen asleep, making a funny noise as she snores through her pressed cheeks. This time, she's not holding onto anything. Afraid she might fall over, you move her to a desk. She seems to be out hard this time, so you decide to leave her be for the day and get ready for your next class. You consider your assignment, but you can't help but wonder if the eccentric artist will remember what she told you when she wakes up. She seems a bit scatterbrained...