Chapter 31
Today, Jinwoo got to the bus stop earlier than usual because he had decided to get to school earlier than yesterday and observe Jia, and he felt good as he boarded the bus. Perhaps because he caught an earlier bus, there were fewer people, so he could get to school comfortably.
'I want to see Jia soon... Maybe she'll return my greeting?'
After arriving at school with such strange thoughts in mind, Jinwoo killed time on his phone, but Jia still didn't enter the classroom as time passed. Yuna arrived, and so did all the other students, but Jia was nowhere to be seen even when it was time for the teacher's morning homeroom check.
"Um, excuse me..."
Perhaps his voice was too quiet, because Yuna didn't turn around.
"Yuna!"
"Huh? Why are you calling me?"
Yuna turned around and looked at Jinwoo. Jinwoo seemed a little flustered and didn't say anything, but when Yuna said, 'Thank you for helping me yesterday,' Jinwoo replied, 'Oh, th-that was nothing, haha...'
"Oh, right. Have you seen Jia?"
"I know, she still hasn't arrived... Do you think something happened?"
Just as Yuna and Jinwoo were talking while looking for Jia,
"Teacher! Jia isn't here!"
"Why did they take her away yesterday?"
"She isn't going to be unable to come to school, is she?"
Questions poured from the classmates toward the teacher, and the teacher was flustered and couldn't give them a definite answer. Watching this, Jinwoo gradually began to feel anxious. Jia had to come so he could greet her, start talking to her, and become friends with the two students sitting right in front of him... If that didn't happen, he wouldn't make any friends.
'What on earth could have happened...?'
Based on the knowledge Jinwoo had, he couldn't possibly figure it out. He didn't know what had happened to Jia, and even Yuna, who had probably gone with Jia yesterday, didn't know why Jia was late. If Yuna didn't know, Jinwoo knew even less.
*
"Jia, you need to wake up."
"Mmm..."
"Jia, does anything hurt?"
"Un...nie..."
It was morning, and I needed to get up, but I had no strength in my body. Was this a lingering effect of fainting yesterday? But no matter how much I thought about it... Huh, it looked like my period was starting today... Ah, damn, I'd forgotten about this...
"Ah, should I give you a hot compress?"
It seemed Unnie had realized I was starting my period today, too. I nodded slightly, lay back down in bed, and started applying the hot compress; if I didn't do this, I might not be able to go to school today. Even if I did and went to school, I would probably be late...
"I'll call the school, so relax and get plenty of rest. That's the only way you'll be able to go to school."
"Yes... I'll go as soon as I feel a little better."
After eating the breakfast Unnie had prepared and washing up in the bathroom, I got a sanitary pad ready. Since I would have to stay at school for a long time, I packed a few spares too... By the time I finished getting ready and stepped outside my house, it was already somewhat late. Still, if I went straight there, I should reach the classroom before the end of first period.
'Huh? Why is the school nurse in front of the main gate?'
"Jia~"
"Hello, teacher."
My back hurt a little too, but I still had to greet the teacher, so I bowed at the waist.
"Are you all right? I got the gist over the phone, but I heard your pain was supposed to be worse than average."
"Well... A hot compress makes it better. Hehe..."
It seemed the school nurse had realized right away that I was late because of the hot compress, even without me saying anything. Well, in a coed school, countless girls must ask to leave early because they're in pain. Since everyone's pain is different, it would be awkward if some were allowed to leave because theirs was severe while others weren't because theirs was mild, so the school probably had no choice but to make some allowances.
"Jia, if it starts to hurt, tell your teacher and come straight to the nurse's office, okay?"
"Yes, I will."
The school nurse said they had told every teacher who taught Second-Year Class 3, 'If Jia says she's going to the nurse's office, let her go quietly right away,' and told me not to worry and to come immediately if I felt sick. If I fainted like yesterday, another student would have to go through the trouble of taking me to the nurse's office, or a teacher would have to deal with it, and I didn't want that.
'I'm a little late...'
After talking with the nurse in the nurse's office and receiving a painkiller, I slowly opened the classroom's back door and entered. All the students looked at me for a moment, which startled me, but class was still in progress, so the teacher asked me, "Jia, you're here? Are you feeling all right?"
"Yes, I got some medicine from the nurse's office."
I answered the teacher's question and went to my seat, where I felt the gazes of several girls. What was going on...? Were they thinking, 'Everyone gets their period, so what makes Jia so special that she's allowed to be late?' If even one person seriously thought that, it could damage my image already. It would be troublesome if a problem like that arose in the class I'd be spending the rest of the year in...
"Jia, are you all right?"
When I sat down, Yuna pushed her textbook slightly toward me and spoke in a whisper. My stomach still hurt a little, but it wasn't severe, so I gave her a faint smile and nodded. Jinwoo, who had carried me to the nurse's office yesterday and sat behind me, also seemed worried and kept staring intently at me.
'It's... a little much... What could he possibly find so appealing about my back...?'
I did think that, but since we sat one behind the other at the far end by the window, I decided to let it go, thinking perhaps he simply couldn't focus on the lesson and was staring blankly ahead. If I assumed every gaze I noticed meant someone was staring at me intently, it would be mentally exhausting. Just as I was worrying over all sorts of things like that,
'It's break time. I barely listened to the lesson...'
If this happened every month from now on, it would be a real problem... My grades would suffer. What should I do...? If many people suffered from the same condition as me, a cure or at least a reasonably effective treatment would quickly be developed, but since I was still the only one, research couldn't progress quickly.
"Um, Jia. Are you all right?"
Huh? What was this? Yuna wasn't saying anything, so who was it? When I turned my head with those thoughts, several girls had come over to our desks to check on me. 'Is it really that bad?', 'Did you go to the hospital yesterday because of that too?', 'You'll be able to keep coming to school with us, right?' They were saying nothing but genuinely concerned things, so I regretted suspecting them, even if only for a moment.
"Uh, yeah... It hurts a little, but a hot compress makes it better."
"Wow, how do you stand it? When it's bad, it's really hard to endure."
The students seemed rather shocked that I was enduring the pain, and they all exclaimed in admiration. Well... even if the teachers had only discussed me among themselves in the teachers' office, students passing through the hallway might have overheard, and there were many ways rumors spread. They might have heard that my pain was worse than an ordinary period.
'It looks like the boy behind me tried to talk to me but gave up... But so many students have gathered that I can't answer him.'
*
Ugh... I can't take it anymore. I opened the cap on the bottle of water I'd brought in my bag, took out a pill, and swallowed it with water. Phew... Maybe I'll feel a little better after taking the medicine? The teacher had said something urgent had come up, sped through the lesson, and left ten minutes early, so the students were chatting a little and enjoying their free time.
"Ji...a..."
Huh? What was that? It sounded like someone was calling me... Had I misheard?
"Jia...!"
Ah, the boy behind me must be calling me. He'd probably feel bad if he thought I was ignoring him, so I should at least answer.
"Yeah, did you call me?"
"Y-Yeah. I called you..."
I turned my body slightly and answered the boy sitting behind me, whose name I couldn't remember, but he couldn't speak and only fidgeted with his fingers awkwardly.
"Um... If you don't have anything to say, I'll go..."
Since he wasn't saying anything, I didn't know what was going on, but keeping my head turned back was starting to hurt my neck, so I decided to put my head down on my desk and sleep. One thing that had really improved since I started living in this body was that all my respiratory problems had disappeared. Thanks to that, I could sleep quietly without snoring at all, which made me very happy.
"J-Jia..."
"Uh... What is it?"
"Did something serious happen yesterday?"
Ah, right. He had taken me to the nurse's office yesterday, then gone straight back to the classroom when the school nurse told him to return... Since Yuna, a girl, was already there, the nurse would have sent her along rather than a boy. He was probably just curious about what had happened to the girl he'd taken to the nurse's office.
"I just wasn't feeling well, so I received treatment at the hospital and went home."
"Oh, I see... Is it really that bad?"
"I'm fine after receiving some treatment. It's not that serious."
"Oh, that's a relief. Hehehe..."
What was this? Did he want to become friends with me? He seemed timid too, and perhaps that was why he seemed so lacking in confidence. It looked like he still went around alone, so maybe he hadn't been able to make any friends. Should I try to befriend him if he came along with us?
*
Before I knew it, time passed and fourth period was approaching. Huh? Fourth period was... physical education? Didn't I still not have gym clothes? The uniform shop had told me to come on the last day of March to have mine made because there were more incoming students at B High School than last year... It must have been because my size was, well, a lot bigger, so the clothes required more fabric.
"Jia, let's go change clothes."
"W-Well... The uniform shop has more demand for gym clothes than last year, so mine aren't ready yet..."
"Really? Then wait just a little. I'll go change and come back, and we'll go together."
"Okay, let's do that."
Yuna dashed to the changing room, changed clothes, came back, took my hand, and was about to head to the gymnasium with me.
"Um, excuse me..."
"Hm?"
When a boy spoke to Yuna, she stopped short.
"I-If it's okay, can I come with you too...?"
The boy said that in a tiny voice, and Yuna seemed to hesitate for a moment before saying,
"Sure, why not!"
She smiled and invited him along. That was how we set off for the gymnasium, with Yuna in the middle, me on her right, and the boy on her left.
"Jinwoo, you're not planning to stalk her, are you?"
"W-What??"
"It's nothing, but you kept staring intently at Jia as soon as she arrived at school."
"U-Uh, y-yeah... I-I mean..."
The boy called Jinwoo seemed flustered by Yuna's words and could only stammer.
"I'm fine with it, Yuna. He probably just wants to become friends with me but is a little shy."
"The way he looks Jia up and down is a little..."
"W-What are you talking about?! I didn't look her up and down!"
Whether he felt called out or was simply trying to deny Yuna's words, Jinwoo spoke so loudly that he surprised even himself. All the nearby students turned to look at him, and Jinwoo was startled, apologized, and immediately ran off toward the gymnasium.
"Uh... He ran off..."
"He's obviously the kind of guy who goes around stalking people and leering over Jia's body while giggling. Stay away from him."
"He doesn't seem that bad... Maybe he just—"
Yuna covered my mouth, then put a finger to her own lips in a gesture telling me to be quiet. If Yuna disliked him this much, well... I couldn't do anything about it. I felt sorry for Jinwoo, but I supposed I should leave him to himself for a while.
*
Jinwoo took off running straight to the gymnasium. He normally spoke so quietly that the students trying to call him often failed to understand him the first time, but Yuna's words had startled him so badly—like he'd been caught committing a crime—that he had accidentally raised his voice.
"Ugh... Now Yuna's going to be completely hostile toward me..."
I was, quite literally, screwed now. I'd thought Yuna was my only possible way to make a friend. I had been really worried about Jia, and she was so... beautiful that I must have stared at her absentmindedly without realizing it. I could understand why Yuna had gone that far.
"Haaah... It's all over for me. Should I walk around class with my eyes lowered now...?"
Thinking that, I entered the gymnasium before being late for fourth period, and was rather shocked. Jia was surrounded by the girls in our class, chatting about all sorts of things, while even the handsome or popular boys in class had given up on joining them and were playing with basketballs.
'All the girls have gathered around Jia and are asking her all sorts of questions. There's no way a guy can get in there...!'
Seeing that even the boys who were definitely handsome couldn't approach her, I knew I was finished. Noona, I'm sorry... I betrayed your expectations and failed to make a friend...! The most serious problem was that I couldn't even join the group of boys. I guess I'll just have to hide in a corner until the teacher arrives...
"Class 3! Eyes up here!"
Ah, the physical education teacher must have arrived. I must have been spacing out so badly that I didn't even notice the teacher coming...
"Today, we're going to do a fitness test first, but let's have the girls go first."
"What kind of tests are we doing?"
"A 100-meter sprint, sit-ups, push-ups, a grip-strength test, and a flexibility test."
...? Didn't they do that at the beginning of March...? I hadn't attended physical education then because of personal circumstances and had watched a video related to physical education in the classroom, so I wasn't sure...
'There were about six other students besides me then, I think...?'
Because the number of incoming students at our high school and the nearby high schools had increased so much compared to the previous year, there hadn't been enough fabric for gym clothes, leaving some students without them. Most of the girls were wearing uniform skirts, so they couldn't exactly be made to do physical education, and it would have been troublesome if the boys' uniforms tore while they ran in them, so they had made do with watching a video.
'I guess the test wasn't conducted normally because they only had some students do it.'
The girls' tests were nearly finished, and it was finally Jia's turn, but perhaps because of the shortage of fabric for gym clothes, she seemed not to have any.
"Ah, I guess you still don't have gym clothes because of the uniform shop issue. Then let's just do the grip-strength test for now."
When it was Jia's turn, all the boys, myself included, swallowed hard. Ahem, ahem... Male dignity was in crisis. Most of my fellow men who had been standing also sat down, slightly bending their knees and extending their legs straight in front of them.
"Hnnng...!"
When Jia gripped the dynamometer and strained, her arm trembling... well, something enormous happened. Both figuratively and literally... Ha, haha... Since the physical education teacher was a man, surely he'd understand and tactfully gloss over it. Haha, hahahaha!! This was a real disaster. With a chest th-that big, when she strained and made it shake like that... ah... It was over. The boys couldn't take the test. It was over before it began.
'Even when I look around at the boys nearby, they all have the exact same expression as me—the kind that's a little embarrassed...'
Ah, most of them had given up and looked resigned. Some of the boys were closing their eyes to endure it, but the moment they opened them even briefly, it was too late. No, wait. Even if they closed their eyes, they couldn't block out sound. It was already... over. The boys' defeat... was confirmed.
"Ahem, I'll give everyone who's finished the test some free time, so how about a game of dodgeball over there? The winning team gets drinks on me. Hahahaha!"
Nice one, teacher! As soon as he said it, the teacher turned to face us. If the girls played dodgeball over there, he'd have his back to most of the boys taking the test. Nice one, teacher!!!
'We should probably finish the tests quickly today so they don't interfere with the next class. The students with unusual results will have to do them again, and then again...'
Since Jia had only been able to do the grip-strength test, if she started the other tests, the boys would be doomed to spend the rest of their lives sitting down.
*
Huh? We were doing a test? I still didn't have gym clothes... The physical education teacher came to the gymnasium and said we were going to do a basic fitness test. When I looked down, there was no way I could borrow someone else's gym clothes and wear them. Sigh... What was going to happen now...?
"Ah, I guess you still don't have gym clothes because of the uniform shop issue. Then let's just do the grip-strength test for now."
"Yes."
I nodded at the teacher's words and stood awkwardly near the girls who had started testing. Still, it was a relief; there was no way I could do a fitness test in a skirt. Grip strength... What would mine be? How long had I waited for the other students' tests to finish? At last, it was my turn.
'Uuugh...!!'
I put as much strength as possible into my arm and strained until it trembled, but... right hand, 21...? That was about 3 or 4 points lower than the other girls. What? Was the machine malfunctioning?
'Hnnng...!'
Maybe my left hand would be different. The machine might have been a little strange, and perhaps the result would be different if I tried again.
"Huh...? Jia's result is a little low."
"I know... Both hands came out in the 21 range..."
What...? The other high school girls seemed to average somewhere between 23 and 25, so why was mine...? More importantly, the gymnasium had grown awfully quiet. What...? The girls' test was over, so the boys were next, but why couldn't any of the boys get up?