Chapter 32
Hmm... What is this? Why is it so quiet...? More importantly, why are all the boys sitting instead of standing?
"Jia, the boys need to take their tests, so could you step aside for a moment?"
"Y-Yes..."
Hmm... What is it...? Even after thinking about it, I can't figure out why. I didn't even do the running test—I only did the grip-strength test...? Whenever I look at the boys, they hurriedly avert their eyes, and the teacher asks me to step aside for a moment... Ah, I was the cause... Even though it was only the grip-strength test, my arm was trembling so violently... Now I understand. They couldn't stand up because of me. I should move out of the way right now.
"Jia! Come chat with me."
"Yeah, okay."
If I'm here, they probably won't be able to take the test, right? It'd be better to put some distance between us and chat with Yuna. After a while, the boys' test began too, and Yuna, who had been eliminated first in dodgeball, found somewhere to sit and decided to chat with me.
"I saw this while playing dodgeball earlier, but why were all the boys sitting down? They have to take their tests."
"Who knows...? I have no idea...?"
Come to think of it, they probably couldn't stand up because of 'that.' If you set me aside from the class, there'd be no reason for the boys to react like that unless they were doing jump rope or something. It seems the overwhelming size, which they'd never seen before, shocked them quite a lot. Since the girls' test ended very quickly, dodgeball won't end in a single game. A second game is already about to start.
"Yuna, I think the next game is about to start."
"Oh, you're right... But I want to stay with Jia."
"If I sit out since I don't have gym clothes, there'll be exactly ten players. They'll need you, Yuna."
"Okay..."
Yuna had no choice but to join the dodgeball game again when her classmates called her. Afterward, I went over to Jinwoo, who had finished his test, intending to apologize on Yuna's behalf for what she had said earlier.
"Your name is Jinwoo, right?"
"...Huh? Huh?? M-Me? Me??"
"Did I call you by the wrong name?"
"Oh, no. I'm Jinwoo, Kwon Jinwoo."
Jinwoo said that and sat down on a chair near the gymnasium wall. It looked strange for me to stand there alone, and I was wearing a skirt, so I sat down with my legs pressed tightly together.
"I'll apologize for what Yuna said earlier. She probably said that because she was too worried about me."
"N-No... It is true that I kept looking at you."
"Even so, saying that someone is a stalker or that they looked you up and down is accusing Jinwoo of being a criminal. It was wrong of her to say that."
"...!"
Did I say something wrong? Why was Jinwoo so startled? Was he angry because I apologized for what Yuna had said on her behalf? If so, I should change the subject. What would be best? If I abruptly asked whether he had friends or suggested we become friends, Jinwoo would probably get even more flustered... Since we aren't even the same gender right now, approaching him too casually might backfire.
'Jinwoo could be misunderstood by his classmates too...'
Jinwoo looked around, then suddenly stood up and went to another corner. Did I say something wrong...? Did he dislike me approaching him?
"Jia!"
"Oh, did dodgeball end already?"
"I rushed through it because I wanted to stay with Jia."
"Come on... You didn't have to do that."
After hearing my answer, Yuna glared at Jinwoo and looked over all the boys one by one.
"Don't go near that creepy guy, Jia."
"Uh... He always seems to be alone, so I wanted to be his friend..."
"No. He's a boy, isn't he?"
Yuna spoke with a tense voice, as if she were terribly angry about something.
"Well, that's true..."
"All boys only look at Jia's breasts. Why else would Jinwoo keep staring at you?"
"Jinwoo doesn't seem like such a bad person..."
"I feel bad saying this, but he's kind of creepy and... Anyway, don't go near him, okay?"
Why was she so hostile toward him...? He might seem that way because he was so timid, but no matter how I looked at him, he seemed like a shy kid who needed a friend... After the boys' fitness tests were all over, the bell rang before I knew it, signaling the end of physical education. Some students headed straight to the cafeteria, saying they wanted to eat lunch quickly, while others wanted to change first because they felt uncomfortable.
"Jia, I'm going to change before we go. Want to come with me?"
"Sure."
Changing clothes wouldn't take long, so Yuna could wait that long, right? I headed to the changing room with her, waited while she changed and returned to the classroom to leave her gym clothes there, and then we set off together. For some reason, the other students were following me today too. What was going on...?
"Jia, do you want to go eat with us?"
"Yeah, sounds good."
Perhaps the other students in our class wanted to ask me everything they were curious about today, because all the girls in the class came flocking over and headed to the cafeteria with me. Yuna looked a little displeased, perhaps because she wanted to be alone with me, but she was a decent person by nature, so she quickly accepted it and went along with us.
*
Ugh... Had I stared at Jia too much? This time, Jia herself had called me out. Honestly, I was so nervous that I couldn't hear exactly what she said, but it was roughly that, unlike Yuna, she didn't think badly of me.
'Huh? Is that Jia's voice with the rest of the class a little farther ahead?'
If I found a good spot in line, maybe I could figure out what side dishes Jia liked. Then, when we became closer, I could give her some of her favorites and have a chance to deepen our friendship.
"Oh? Jinwoo, you're here?"
"Huh? Junseok the fraud?"
It was nice to see my friends again, but now I wouldn't be able to observe Jia! Still, eating with them was better than having lunch alone and feeling lonely.
"Did you line up alone?"
"Yeah... I still haven't made any friends..."
"Pfft! We'll eat with you, Jinwoo! Snrk..."
Dongwoo looked excited as he tried to hold back his laughter when he saw me. Ha... I probably did look pretty ridiculous. I'd thought I wouldn't make any friends, then actually failed to make any, and my face lit up the moment I saw them. From their perspective, that probably was pretty funny.
'Ha... I was planning to observe Jia today... But she got surrounded by the girls too, so today will probably be difficult.'
I gave up on observing Jia and decided to eat lunch with my friends from last year. Even so, I couldn't let go of my interest in Jia, so I looked around for her after sitting down, but I couldn't see her well because she was hidden behind other people.
"Jinwoo, have you found someone you like?"
"What? Why are you talking like my sister...?"
"If even your sister says that, it's definitely true. Snrk... heh heh heh..."
Ha... Maybe my sister had stopped saying that a while ago, and they were doing this because they thought I might be bored without it. Why was the world treating me like this...? Anyway, after roughly finishing my meal and chatting with my classmates, I saw that fifth period was approaching and decided to return to the classroom.
"Haa..."
With Yuna treating me like an enemy, I even felt self-conscious about looking straight ahead. If I spaced out and stared like last time, I'd be in serious trouble. I'd observe Jia when we moved to another classroom instead.
*
I was flustered as girls surrounded me from every direction and took turns asking questions.
"What do you usually wear?"
"Your skin is so white~ How do you take care of it?"
"What do you have to eat to grow that big?"
"If I lose more weight, could I get curves like yours?"
And so on... There were many things I couldn't answer, but these girls didn't know the truth about me. Of course they'd be curious.
"I usually wear clothes my older sister, who I live with, buys for me."
"M-My skin... I do use products from OO or ㅁㅁ, but... I heard it's just something I was born with..."
"I get asked questions like that a lot, but... I don't know either..."
"You're already so slim, and I think it would be dangerous if you lost any more weight..."
While we stood in line and waited for our food, I was surrounded by countless questions and had to answer them one by one. They might not have gotten the answers they wanted, but what could I do when I genuinely didn't know? Oh, but tteokbokki was on the menu today. I'd been worrying about what I would do if mala tang came out... Fortunately, it wasn't being served today.
'Would the girls be shocked if they found out I don't really like mala tang...?'
Since I hadn't tried mala tang with this body, I didn't really know how it tasted. The tteokbokki had been so good that mala tang might taste good to this body too; cafeteria food was quite different from what you bought outside, after all.
"Jia, there's something I want to ask you too."
"Hmm? What is it?"
Yuna had been quietly buried beneath the other girls' questions, but she finally spoke to me. What could she want to ask? I hoped it was something I could answer...
"Does Jia have a guy she likes?"
The other girls who heard the question all fixed me with intense gazes and waited for my answer. Th-This is awkward... What should I do? Oh! The line had already dwindled this much. If I just picked up my tray and got my food, maybe they'd forget about it, and once I sat down, they'd completely forget while eating what was in front of them.
"We're already here, so let's get our food and find a seat first."
"Okay, Jia."
I silently cheered in relief as I received all my food and looked around for a seat. There were quite a lot of seats, but they were all divided into groups of three or four, so all eleven of us from our class couldn't sit together at once.
"We're going to eat with Jia today!"
"Huh?"
Two girls grabbed each of my hands and took me to a table with three empty seats, inviting me to eat with them. The other kids, who had been staring blankly for a moment, said, 'Let's take turns eating with Jia!' and looked extremely excited... But why? If this had been yesterday's Yuna, she probably would have said, 'I'll take care of Jia. Come on, Jia!' Maybe she wasn't confident she could persuade the other nine students, or perhaps she had been convinced by the idea of taking turns...
"What kind of food do you like, Jia?"
"Hmm... Meat?"
"Then do you want to pick a date and go to an all-you-can-eat barbecue restaurant later?"
"Uh... h-huh? With me?"
They happened to suggest going to a barbecue restaurant while I had tteokbokki in my mouth, so a cute-sounding 'huh?' slipped out as if I were trying to act cute... Ah, this was embarrassing...
"I thought it would be nice for the four of us, including Jia, to take turns going out together every week."
"Uh... I... I don't know whether I'll have time."
"That's okay. Take your time figuring it out, and tell Yuna when you have some free time."
"Okay, I will."
Wouldn't they just ask for my phone number...? Maybe they were saying that to be considerate since it was only my second day after transferring. In reality, Yuna was the only person I'd had a proper conversation with. As I was finishing my meal, I felt an intense gaze coming from the direction where we returned our trays... but the two girls sitting with me kept asking questions, so I finished eating and left without finding out who was staring at me.
"Let's go straight back, Jia."
"Huh? Yuna will be waiting..."
"It's fine. I explained everything over chat, and they said everyone else was heading in first."
I guess so...? I must have been a little slow at eating. Rather than having everyone wait because of me, it would be better for them to go ahead and do whatever they needed to do. I nodded and decided to follow them.
"By the way, Jia eats kind of cutely, doesn't she?"
"Huh? Did I?"
"Yeah, it was totally cute."
The girl who had been looking at her phone poked my cheek with her finger as she said that. I ate cutely...? Was she just using a roundabout way to say I was trying to act cute...?
"I-Is that so...? I did eat a little slowly, right?"
"No, it's fine. It's because your mouth is small. And Jia was so cute, munching on her tteokbokki."
The girl who had suggested going straight back heard that and said with a laugh, 'That's right, that's right. You were so cute. Pfft...' Was I really that cute...? I'd just been chewing carefully so I wouldn't take too long... I suppose this appearance made everything I did look cute. Even during fourth-period physical education, when I gripped the dynamometer and strained with all my strength, I heard something from the dodgeball side like, 'Jia's so cute when she trembles while straining~'... At the time, I had assumed I'd heard wrong and let it go...
*
"We've already used up half of lunch break..."
"Huh? Jiyeon sunbae, is something wrong?"
Was my expression really that bad? My junior asked with a worried look. Since I usually kept a poker face, she probably assumed something serious had happened when she saw me looking like this.
"No, it's nothing."
"Come on—I saw you, the unnie who's usually so good at keeping a poker face, making that face. How could it be nothing...?"
"All right, I'll tell you. It's because of that girl."
"Ah... You said you started going to school yesterday, right?"
"Yeah... I was a little worried."
Since Jia had to be taken away on her first day because she wasn't feeling well, it would be a lie to say I wasn't worried. My junior seemed to understand that too, because she nodded and comforted me by saying Jia was a tough kid and would be fine.
'Jia, did you enjoy your lunch?'
I put my worries about Jia aside and sent her a message asking how she was.
'Yes, unnie. Did you enjoy yours too?'
Jia's reply came right away. Fortunately, the cafeteria food must have suited her taste. Since Jia had been a college student, she'd probably eaten out often, so I'd been worried that she might not like the food here...
"Unnie, do you know what kind of face you're making right now?"
"What? What kind? Do I look strange?"
"You look exactly like a new mother raising a child."
"W-What?!"
An intense wave of embarrassment swept over me at my junior's words, as if I'd been stabbed by a knife. 'What?? I look like a new mother???' Since she was a close junior, she couldn't have meant that I looked old... Was it because I was worrying about Jia too much...? I suppose I could look that way...
"I'm sorry if that offended you. It's just that you really look like someone who's worried about her child..."
"Mentally, she's not a child, but physically, she is one... So I can't help worrying about her."
My junior quietly nodded too, and we got up together, deciding to brush our teeth and clear our heads before lunch break ended.
*
As I entered the main building and passed the vending machines, the students began stopping in front of them to choose drinks, as if it were an unwritten rule. 'I should go brush my teeth.' Bad breath would wake me up a little, after all... I should do it right away.
"Hmm? Jia, where are you going?"
"I'm going to brush my teeth."
"Aren't you being a little too diligent about taking care of yourself? Thirty minutes is fine~ Come have a snack with us."
"B-But I just ate..."
I really said it because I was full, but to them I probably just looked like a girl my age restricting snacks so she wouldn't gain weight... I tried saying, 'I-I'm full...', but ended up with a zero-calorie drink in my hand.
"Jia~ Come quickly~"
Yuna poked just her head out of the classroom door and called for me. Was something wrong...?
"Let's go, Jia."
"O-Okay..."
The two girls who had returned with me pushed me from behind and led me back into the classroom.
"Here, Jia. Come on in."
"Uh... What's all this...?"
The eight students who had already returned to the classroom had turned the front seats by the window into a snack-party area. Ah... What was going on...? I was so flustered that my thoughts stopped for a moment.
"Jia?"
"Huh? Uh... Why did everyone gather here with snacks...?"
The students who brought me back to my senses didn't answer my question. Instead, they sat me in the middle and started the party. I was already a little full, but I couldn't completely refuse... so I decided to nibble on one or two pieces and listen to them talk.
"You know Jinwoo? He always goes around alone."
"Yeah, but he seemed kind of weird starting yesterday."
"Right. Yuna said he just stares at Jia blankly, as if he had a crush on her."
What? What was this supposed to mean? It was true that Jinwoo kept staring at me, but that was probably because he wanted to become friends with me... As if he had a crush on me?
"That's right. That's why I warned Jia to be careful, but Jia seems to think well of Jinwoo, you know?"
Yuna glanced at me as she said that, and the other girls turned their eyes toward me too. Was it time for me to speak?
"W-Well, when I saw him yesterday, he seemed to always be alone, so I wanted to be his friend..."
"Aww, Jia's too kind. Even so, it'd be hard to become close with Jinwoo."
The girls chatted enthusiastically about romance and other things. I couldn't join in on most of the topics, so I simply listened quietly and responded with positive gestures whenever someone addressed me.
"Huh?"
Jinwoo made that sound as he entered the classroom, but the girls began cleaning up, saying lunch break was almost over and they should hurry to brush their teeth. Jinwoo's expression looked gloomy, so I tried to approach him and speak to him, but Yuna grabbed my hand and dragged me away, saying we should brush our teeth together. In the end, I had no choice but to head to the bathroom.