Chapter 45
"We have to go eat dinner soon. Shouldn't we wake Jia?"
"I know, but she's too cute."
"That's true."
Yuna, Yeji, and I watched Jia doze against the wall, unable to take our eyes off her.
"Wash my face... I need to wash my face..."
She might not have consciously meant to say it, since she was completely dazed with sleep, but Jia seemed to want to wash her face with cold water.
"Can you help me, Yeji?"
"I think she needs to wash her face with cold water."
We were of one mind, so we supported Jia and took her to the bathroom sink, where we washed her face with cold water. Whether she'd only partially woken up or was now fully awake, Jia's eyes became wide and alert.
"...! Thanks for helping me..."
"You don't have to be so embarrassed, Jia. Heh..."
"Y-You were cute, pfft..."
We couldn't hold back our laughter, and Jia was so embarrassed that she collapsed facedown onto the bed. Just then, someone's phone rang.
"Did I get a text?"
"Yuna, isn't that your phone?"
"Huh? Not mine."
The alarm rang again, this time from Jia's side. Jia took out her phone and began replying to something, but an announcement appeared in the class chat, so we had to get moving for dinner.
"Jia really came?"
"Yeah, she flew here today."
Jinwoo approached us while cautiously glancing around at the people nearby. He must have been really happy that Jia had come, since he didn't have any male friends in the class. There probably wasn't anyone else who accepted Jinwoo as well as Jia did.
"Is something wrong?"
"N-No, it's nothing. Hahaha..."
He really was shy. After going as far as stalking Jia because he liked her, he now couldn't even speak properly because his face turned bright red at a single word from Jia. Did he really like her that much...? Besides, with all of us here, he wouldn't be able to get any closer anyway. He could at least speak confidently...
"Wow~ It's a real buffet!"
"Yeah, this definitely isn't some cheap-looking buffet."
Of course, I hadn't been to buffets often, but the one in front of us was fairly upscale. It wasn't quite as fancy as the places my father occasionally took me to, but for a buffet, it was quite luxurious.
"Jia, should the four of us sit together?"
"C-Can I eat with you too?"
"You came all this way to see Jia, didn't you?"
"Th-That's true, but..."
Jinwoo was flustered, but when Jia said she was fine with it, he nodded and decided to sit with us. Jinwoo told us to go ahead first, so we didn't refuse his offer and got up with Yeji, each holding one of Jia's hands.
"What should we eat first?"
"Should we start... with meat?
"Should we?"
Well, meat was fine. I could see sushi too, but this probably wasn't a seafood specialty restaurant, so it would likely be average at best. The meat, which most buffets paid more attention to, seemed like the better choice. There were quite a few people here even excluding the students, so the turnover probably wasn't bad either.
"Jia, try this too."
Yeji, Jia, and I returned with our plates, let Jinwoo, who had probably been waiting for a while, go get his food, and began eating first. For some reason, whenever I looked at Jia, I felt an urge to feed her all sorts of things... Was this what grandmothers felt like? ...Though I wasn't a grandmother yet.
"Oh, come to think of it, they said we're doing something like a talent show after dinner tomorrow. Do you want to cosplay?"
"We're doing cosplay too? What kind?"
"Well, there'll probably be game and anime characters."
"What character would you like to cosplay, Jia?"
After hearing Yeji's question, Jia seemed startled and dropped the strand of pasta she had been about to put in her mouth.
"M-Me?? Me???"
"Uh... You don't have to if you don't want to..."
"It's not that I don't want to, b-but, you see... Cosplay is..."
Jia seemed so shocked that she couldn't even string her words together properly.
"It's not decided yet. I just want to try entering the talent show, so we only have to decide by lunchtime tomorrow."
"Y-Yeah..."
Jia was startled, Jinwoo kept glancing at us after hearing the word cosplay, Yeji was looking at Jinwoo with a sly smile, and I felt awkward, thinking I might have misspoken. The four of us simply ate dinner in silence.
*
I was so sleepy. My body had gotten to the point where even riding in a car made me feel motion sick, and I had to board a plane without getting any rest, which made me even more exhausted. It felt as though the dizziness in my head hadn't completely gone away... I could hear Yuna and Yeji repeatedly trying to wake me, but I couldn't open my eyes properly.
I wondered if washing my face with cold water might wake me up a little, but I accidentally said it aloud. Embarrassingly, my voice must not have been very quiet, because Yuna and Yeji lifted me up, took me to the bathroom, and washed my face for me... My eyelids were so heavy that I couldn't resist and simply let them help me.
"Are you awake?"
"Yeah... Washing my face helped. Thanks."
Yuna and Yeji excitedly chatted about this and that, though I couldn't remember much of it anymore. I'd been to Jeju on a school trip once before, so it wasn't all that fascinating. What was fascinating was that the students in my class weren't avoiding me...? If anything, they came over saying things like I was cute or pretty.
Was it because this was a school for rich kids? The hotel wasn't quite a four-star hotel (though I'd never stayed in a four-star hotel or better), but it was fairly clean and nice, and apparently dinner would be served buffet-style too.
'Huh? A text... It's from Minsu oppa?'
It was a message asking whether I'd joined up with my classmates and arrived safely. I replied, 'I arrived safely and made it to the hotel where we're staying. Thank you.' Then Yeji said my face was red, and I was startled.
"M-My face is red...?"
"Yeah, like you're falling in lo..."
"S-Stop! Don't say anything more..."
Yuna tilted her head as she looked at my face too, but I immediately ran to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. I could tell that Yeji hadn't been lying. Why was my face red...? This was strange...
"Ah! It's time. Let's go eat, Jia!"
"Y-Yeah..."
Yuna took my left hand and Yeji took my right, leading me to the buffet. I could see the teacher and my classmates... and the boys who were staying on another floor.
"Oh my, Jia, you're here? You must be tired. You had a hard time flying here."
"Thank you."
I answered the teacher and was standing in line when Jinwoo cautiously approached. He hadn't done anything wrong, so why was he being so careful...?
"If it's all right with you, could I join you?"
"Sure, that's fine."
"Really? Thanks. The people in my room already decided to eat with their friends..."
Yuna and Yeji looked a little surprised, but Jinwoo was always alone, and we couldn't turn him away too. Besides, each table had four chairs, so there was no reason it wouldn't work.
'Oh... There are lots of meat dishes, and even the pasta and pizza look different... Hehehe, should I put some ribs on my pizza?'
I hesitated when Jinwoo told us to go ahead first, but Yuna and Yeji each took one of my hands and stood up, leaving me no choice but to take my plate and choose some food.
"This looks delicious too. Oh, the sushi looks good as well!"
"I'll have meat on my next plate... Oh, they have cold soba too?"
Yuna and Yeji pointed out all sorts of things that looked delicious and put a little of everything onto my plate. When I saw the cold soba, I filled a bowl, carried it in one hand and my plate in the other, and returned to the table.
"You must have been waiting a while. Jinwoo, you go get some food too."
"Yeah, thanks."
Jinwoo lowered his head, apparently embarrassed about something, and hurried toward the food. There were many different kinds of food on my plate, and Yuna and Yeji even fed me some of it. I was embarrassed and tried to refuse, but the disappointed looks on their faces made me let them feed me in the end.
"Pfft, Jia's cute when she lets herself be fed too."
"Right, right, she's like a baby bird. Heh..."
Damn, I'd been played. So it had all been an act? They'd only done it because it seemed fun...? I supposed I should be glad they hadn't meant any harm. Then Yuna suggested that we cosplay together for tomorrow's talent show...
"W-What...? Cos...play?"
"You know about it too, Jia?"
"Uh, I know what it is..."
"Let's do it together."
"Huh? Me... too?"
Yeji and Yuna's eyes sparkled with anticipation at the thought of my cosplay. Huh? This wasn't how it was supposed to go...? They looked at me expectantly, clearly hoping I'd cosplay, while Jinwoo kept glancing back and forth between the three of us, apparently excited too.
Before I knew it, we'd finished eating and returned to our room. I was about to take a shower... but a group chat message said we were going to see a nearby attraction after sunset, so I couldn't shower and had to wait in the room after only brushing my teeth.
"Yaaawn... I'm sleepy..."
"Just hang in there a little longer, Jia. You can sleep soundly when we get back."
"Right. Even if you sleep now, you'll have to get up at dawn tomorrow."
I nodded at Yuna and Yeji's words, and afterward they led me by the hands to the front of the hotel on the first floor, where the bus and the other students in our class were waiting.
"Class 3~ Is everyone here? Let's see... The numbers match..."
After the teacher finished checking attendance, I boarded the bus and saw Yuna and Yeji engaged in a fierce standoff. Uh... why?
"I'm sitting with Jia."
"No, I'm sitting with Jia."
Since Class 3 had boarded first, there were plenty of seats. Other than the very back, though, the seats were paired, so we could have gone to the back and sat there, but...
"Then let's go to the very back!"
"I'm sorry, Yeji. I get a little carsick..."
"What."
I felt sorry for Yeji, but if I sat in the very back, the motion sickness would make me dizzy again, and I probably wouldn't be able to move properly... There were nine boys, an odd number, and Jinwoo was sitting alone... There were also eleven girls, another odd number, so...
"I'll sit by myself."
"What?"
"Huh?"
"I don't want to see you two fighting, and there are plenty of seats, so you two sit together and I'll sit alone."
"Th-That's..."
"I... want to sit with Jia..."
Yuna and Yeji spoke at the same time, looking distressed, but the more they lamented, the more I darkened my expression to show that I was upset about them fighting. When they saw my face, they looked at each other and decided it couldn't be helped. They sat together, while I took the second seat from the front.
The bus set off and soon arrived at the attraction. As soon as I got off, Yuna and Yeji came running over and surrounded me. Jinwoo joined us belatedly with a shy expression, and after we were given free time to look around, we decided to see the waterfall first.
"Wow... The waterfall looks beautiful in the moonlight..."
"I know. We're lucky we got here in time to see a waterfall like this."
"I'm really glad Jia made it here before it got any later."
Yuna admired the waterfall, Yeji said she was glad to see it with me, and Jinwoo continued to silently stare at the waterfall without saying anything. The teacher looked around at the students and warned us not to go too far, while the boys snickered and wondered how far they could go, as if they were planning to test their courage.
"It's harder to see than in the daytime since it's evening... but the moonlight is pretty."
"Right? I'm glad we get to see the night view with Jia."
"Yeah, the moonlight is really bright. And the weather's nice too."
The moonlight really was bright, so the waterfall was easy to see, and the water cascading down the moonlit falls was quite beautiful. However, at the edge of my vision, I could see some boys trying to go somewhere that was obviously dangerous...
"Guys~ You can't go over there~"
"It's not dangerous at all, so don't worry!"
The boys ignored me and started to go, but the teacher heard what I said and hurried over in time to stop them. The boys stood there blankly and then tried to come down slowly, but it was completely dark now that the sun had set, and two of them lost their footing and tumbled down.
"Hey, are you okay?"
"Ah, yeah... I should've listened to you... It was too dark to see where I was stepping."
"Are you all right, boys?"
Fortunately, the teacher arrived in time, and the boys received basic first aid. After the teacher gave them a stern warning, they ultimately had to follow the teacher around. We spent about an hour looking around the attraction and then returned to the hotel before it got too late, but Yuna and Yeji were still trying to figure out how they could sit next to me on the bus.
"Guys, what are you talking about?"
"Nothing."
"Jia, you don't need to worry about it."
Yuna and Yeji shook their heads simultaneously and said it was nothing. Since they insisted so strongly that it was nothing, I decided to pretend I hadn't heard and let it go. I heard a male voice calling me and turned around to see Jinwoo holding four drinks.
"Um, if it's okay... do you want to eat snacks and hang out together tonight?"
"What?"
"Why?"
"Uh... I'm fine with it..."
Yuna and Yeji were both startled by Jinwoo's suggestion, but I had no objection, so I was willing to go along with it.
"Yuna and Yeji might not be interested, but the boys have already gathered in one room, cooked ramen, and started having fun together... I don't have any close male friends..."
"Sure, if it's just you, we can let you join us. The room's big too."
"If Jia's okay with it..."
"If Jia's fine with it, so am I."
Yuna and Yeji kept speaking at the same time and watching my reaction, then took my hands and headed outside the hotel. We'd been given free time, but where were they going?
"Uh... Yuna, Yeji, where are we going?"
"The convenience store! Jinwoo, you come too and help carry things."
"Y-Yeah!"
The girls headed toward the convenience store, each holding one of my hands, while Jinwoo followed behind. If the four of us played a truth game tonight, wouldn't that be a disaster? I didn't know what would happen tonight, but I hoped nothing would happen.