Chapter 2
-No.
‘…Did I do something wrong?’
In the quiet daycare bus, a boy—Han Seojin—wore a troubled expression.
“……”
It was because the girl—Kim Siyeon—had immediately turned down his request, then returned with a bright-red face and kept glancing his way.
‘I thought Mom said everyone would like me if I treated them kindly?’
Since everyone did seem to like him when he smiled brightly and was nice to them, Han Seojin had no idea why Kim Siyeon was reacting that way.
Besides, no one he'd just met had ever rejected him so coldly before.
“Want some?”
“…No.”
That only made Han Seojin stick even closer to Kim Siyeon, trying even harder to become friends with her.
Of course, Han Seojin had learned from his mother that it was wrong to keep treating someone the same way if they didn't like it. But no matter how he thought about it, he couldn't believe the Kim Siyeon beside him actually disliked him.
“W-well, if you want to give it to me that badly, I guess I have no choice….”
“Really? Then do you want some?”
He could feel her eyes on him the whole time.
After turning down the chocolate he offered several times, she finally murmured something under her breath just as he was about to give up, watching his reaction as she did.
‘I knew nobody could resist chocolate!’
He handed her the chocolate his mom had given him to share with his friends, and smiled brightly.
Kim Siyeon hesitantly accepted the chocolate, then turned slightly away from him and ate it as if sneaking a bite. Han Seojin thought the faint smile on her face was cute.
==========
“……”
On the bus.
The kids around me were chattering noisily, but I didn't say a word. I just kept glancing sideways at him.
I mean, I'd just rejected him outright, only to end up sitting right beside him.
Even though I thought I should be careful because he was the male lead of a dating sim, my conscience kept pricking me whenever I tried to dislike someone for no reason.
He'd only asked if I wanted to sit beside him, anyway.
“Want some?”
“…No.”
And after all that, he was still offering me chocolate and asking if I wanted any. It made me feel like I was turning into a genuinely awful person.
On top of that, every time he kept grinning and I turned him down, he looked so shocked that I felt like I'd done something terrible.
‘…Would one piece really be so bad?’
He kept trying to give me chocolate even after I said no, and he looked kind of pitiful. I didn't think I could keep rejecting him over and over.
Maybe it would be different if I were just a little kid going to daycare like this body, but inside was an adult who'd made it all the way through high school. I wondered if there was any need to be so stubborn.
Besides, it wasn't as if I'd talked much with other people. Aside from my family and teachers, I barely spoke to anyone outside of dating sims, so I had no idea how to deal with a reaction like his.
“W-well, if you want to give it to me that badly, I guess I have no choice….”
I couldn't just suddenly ask him for one, so I murmured softly enough that only the protagonist beside me could hear.
He was the protagonist, right? I'd glanced at his name tag and seen [Han Seojin], so unless there was someone else with the same name, there was no way he wasn't.
And with a face that handsome even as a little kid, there was no way he wasn't the protagonist.
Unless the average looks in this dating sim's world were Won X, Cha X-woo, or Seo X-joon, that is. But I'd looked around at the other kids while searching for a seat, and they were all pretty ordinary, so that couldn't be it.
Anyway.
“Really? Then do you want some?”
The moment I said that, the protagonist's eyes lit up as he offered me the chocolate. I hesitated in surprise, stared at the piece that had somehow ended up in my hand, then started unwrapping it. But remembering he was right beside me, I turned slightly away.
I absolutely didn't want the protagonist to see me eating it.
I did wonder if I really needed to turn away, but it seemed like the better way to keep some distance between us. So I turned and quietly unwrapped the little chocolate, then popped it into my mouth.
‘…It's good.’
As soon as it touched my tongue, a pleasant sweetness filled my mouth. I rolled the chocolate around with my tongue, savoring the sweetness as it melted.
The last time I'd eaten chocolate, I didn't remember it being this sweet. Maybe this brand made its chocolate sweeter than the others?
‘No matter how I look at it, it's just ordinary chocolate….’
It looked like the kind of chocolate you'd find in any factory-made snack aisle. I hadn't expected it to taste this good, so maybe that was why it seemed even tastier.
It seemed better than any chocolate I'd ever eaten, so I checked the brand on the wrapper in my hand, folded it neatly, and tucked it into my pocket.
“Want some more?”
“I'm good.”
The protagonist pulled out another piece wrapped just like the one I'd eaten, from who knows where. For a moment, I considered asking for one more, but decided that would be too much and turned him down again.
I'll ask Mom to buy this for me when I get home.
==========
What had I played with when I went to daycare in my previous life?
I remembered making guns out of LEGO and going “bang, bang” with my mouth, or playing house when some girl asked me to. I also remembered forcing a doll's legs as far apart as they would go, setting it between two pillars I'd built out of LEGO, and laughing to myself.
I didn't know if any of that was fun enough to fill up all that time now, but back then, I really had enjoyed it.
Sometimes I'd build a really tall pillar out of LEGO, accidentally bump it, and burst into tears when it came crashing down.
“……”
There was a simple reason those memories had come to mind now.
I was bored…!
Having already experienced the incredible advancement of civilization that was computers, I couldn't make myself any less bored by fiddling with LEGO, even though it used to make me smile just to look at it…!
And I didn't want to play house. Being possessed into a dating sim was bad enough, and I hated the idea of playing the mom.
“Whoa….”
“It's so huge! How'd you make it?”
“…I dunno?”
Even when I fiddled with LEGO and built something far better than I could have managed back then, I just couldn't recapture that old sense of wonder.
The other kids were amazed by my building and asked how I'd made it, but honestly, I'd just thrown it together based on whatever I remembered from YouTube. I had no answer, so I told them it had just sort of turned out that way.
It was nice to let time pass while spacing out, but it wasn't exactly fun…
Even when I took a doll and split its legs apart, then made its arms and legs touch, it just looked grotesque. It didn't even make me laugh. It just wasn't fun…
‘How did I used to play back then…?’
Of course, at that age, anything could be fun and make you happy. But even taking that into account, this was still boring…
“That's awesome…!”
“…!”
I was just about to take apart the LEGO building I'd made and maybe go to sleep when I heard a voice behind me. Startled, I turned around and saw the protagonist staring at my LEGO building with shining eyes.
“How—how did you make it so good?”
“Y-you're c-close….”
He suddenly came right up to me, asking how I'd made it. Maybe it was because he even grabbed my hand while he asked, but he was so close that I could barely get my words out.
I mean, even if he's five, do kids normally just grab someone's hand like that?
‘I didn't even touch anyone's hand when I played house…?’
Besides, I'm a girl right now. Even if I'm just a kid at daycare, don't people avoid touching someone of the opposite sex?
As I stood there bewildered, wondering what on earth was going on, his face kept getting closer and closer. I couldn't help freaking out.
I had to make him back off somehow…!
“L-let go of my hand, you idiot…!”
“Oh, sorry.”
I somehow managed to squeeze out the words telling him to let go, and only then did the protagonist seem to come to his senses. He let go of my hand and took a step back.
I couldn't help feeling relieved at the sight.
Phew, thank goodness.
This was a dating sim, after all. Even something this trivial could turn into some weird connection, so I had to be careful.
So I'd pass on sudden physical contact like that. I wasn't into having some guy hold my hand.
‘Ugh, this is driving me crazy….’
How hard had he squeezed my hand for it to still be throbbing?
The pain still lingered in my hand, and I had to hold back the tears threatening to well up as I glared at the protagonist. He lowered his head as if to apologize.
…Did I glare at him too hard?
‘No, that actually hurt…!’
I almost felt a little sorry for him at the sight, but when I thought about the pain I'd just felt, I absolutely didn't want to let him off the hook.
“So, how'd you make this?”
“I just did.”
“I want to make one like this too!”
I was about to start taking it apart when the protagonist lifted his head and gazed at me with sparkling eyes, saying he wanted to make one too. My hand stopped mid-motion.
…Honestly, I'd made it pretty well, and I didn't really want to tear it down just yet.
“Then you can have it.”
“Huh? Really?! I can?”
Since I'd given him chocolate too, I figured this much was fine.
I gave up on taking it apart and waved my hand, telling him to go ahead and take it. He carefully carried the LEGO building away, thanking me, and I couldn't help smiling a little.
It was funny to see him get so excited over a LEGO building.
Maybe I'll try making another building later….