Chapter 103
* * *
“Come on in!”
Ji Nuri opened the clubroom door and strode in confidently.
“Excuse meee….”
Lee Seungah followed behind her, looking around cautiously. There was a chance the other members might be inside.
“No one here? Looks like they all went out to enjoy the festival.”
As Ji Nuri had said, no one was inside.
It was completely empty.
No, it wasn’t just empty—it was dark.
Maybe they had drawn the blackout curtains. Going straight from a bright place into the darkness made it feel twice as dark.
“…Wait a second?”
Ji Nuri groped her way through the darkness as though swimming through it.
Click, click.
“Not this one….”
She tried to find the light switch among the many switches.
Click, click.
Apparently, she still wasn’t familiar with the room’s layout. She repeatedly turned the switches on and off.
“Ah, here it is.”
She finally found it.
Flash—the lights came on brightly.
“Ta-da.”
Ji Nuri spread both arms as though showing off.
“What do you think? Pretty good, right?”
“Oh….”
The inside was neat.
The speakers, drums, and instrument stands were lined up in a row. The eraser and ink pens on the whiteboard were arranged neatly as well.
‘It’s cleaner than I expected….’
No, it was even cleaner than she had expected.
‘The counseling clubroom is clean because Oppa is there. That one makes sense, but….’
When she thought of the clubroom Ji Nuri used, she had imagined something a little messier.
But this was unexpected.
“Did you organize this, unni?”
“Organize it? Seorim probably did it. Oh, Seorim’s the bassist in the band club. She’s a first-year.”
“I see.”
Lee Seungah nodded.
No wonder it was excessively neat. So someone else had done it.
She was looking around the clubroom under Ji Nuri’s guidance when—
Knock, knock—
A knock came from outside.
When she turned her head that way, a female student she had never seen before was standing there.
“Sunbae Nuri. They said one representative from each team performing onstage should gather in the auditorium now.”
She probably wasn’t a club member.
She didn’t come inside, only poking her face into the hallway.
“Huh? Really?”
“Yes, they said they just wanted to check something.”
“What’s going on?”
“I don’t know. I only heard that they were calling us.”
“Oh, come on.”
Ji Nuri frowned as though it were a nuisance.
Apparently unable to avoid it, she got to her feet.
“Seungah, can you stay here for a minute? I’ll be right back!”
“Okay, go ahead.”
Lee Seungah nodded, telling her not to worry.
“I’ll really be right back!”
With those words, Ji Nuri left the clubroom.
……
The clubroom fell quiet.
Lee Seungah was left there alone, blinking repeatedly.
“Hmm.”
If she’d known this would happen, maybe she should have stayed in the counseling room.
At least she could have watched Seungho’s romantic situation unfold.
“…No.”
Lee Seungah shook her head.
Then there would have been no point in giving them space.
She was thinking that over when—
Bang—!
The clubroom door opened, and she heard someone muttering to herself.
“Of all times, the file had to go missing now….”
Clomp, clomp—
A blonde female student hurried in. She busily searched through the piles of boxes on the floor.
She didn’t seem to notice Lee Seungah.
She happened to be standing right beside the door, and the girl also seemed too distracted to notice her.
‘Uh… what should I do….’
She had missed her chance to speak.
Lee Seungah held herself in an awkward position and held her breath. Maybe it would be better to pretend she hadn’t been seen and let her pass.
“…?”
Lee Seungah tilted her head as she watched her.
She definitely looked familiar.
But she couldn’t remember clearly.
She had never been the type to study people’s faces carefully and remember them in the first place.
“Tsk… where did I put it?”
The girl continued rummaging through the boxes, then suddenly turned around.
“Eek?!”
When she saw Lee Seungah, she jumped in surprise, backed away, and fell over all by herself.
Thud!
She hit the back of her head against the box behind her.
“Mmm… tsk… ngh….”
After hitting her head, she squeezed out a few tears.
“A-are you okay?”
Lee Seungah hurriedly checked on her.
She felt sorry for startling her by staying so quietly out of sight.
“…Who are you, and what are you doing in our clubroom…?”
She lowered the corners of her eyes, trying to look composed.
The tips of her ears were red, perhaps because she was more embarrassed than hurt.
“No, it’s just… I followed Nuri unni here, but she stepped out for a moment….”
“Oh. Are you a friend of Nuri unni’s?”
Ha Seorim understood the situation and calmed herself down.
She waved her palms dismissively.
“P-please, make yourself comfortable and look around.”
“Ah, okay.”
But the room filled with an awkward atmosphere.
For several seconds,
a suffocating silence continued.
“Um….”
Lee Seungah couldn’t stand an atmosphere like this.
That was simply the kind of person she was.
Unable to endure the silence, she opened her mouth.
“You can speak comfortably. Um… I’m a third-year middle school student….”
“Ah, yes… No, yeah, I will.”
The awkwardness still lingered. It was understandable, since this was their first meeting, but still.
“…Huh?”
Ha Seorim raised her voice as she looked at Lee Seungah.
“Is that a Yeongho Middle School uniform?”
“Huh? You know Yeongho Middle?”
“Well… I went to Yeongho Middle, too.”
“Wow, really?”
Once they found something in common, the conversation burst out as though a dam had broken. Once it started, it continued at length, one topic leading to another.
They talked about how Ji Nuri had joined the band club and which booths were worth visiting at the festival.
After chatting about this and that,
“Unni, is there any music you’ve been listening to a lot lately?”
the conversation moved on to that topic. Lee Seungah asked Ha Seorim.
“Well… these days I listen to pretty much everything, so… it’s hard to name just one….”
Ah, this was that.
Lee Seungah quickly caught Ha Seorim’s reaction.
Like bringing up One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach when asking an ordinary person what anime they liked, perhaps it was hard for her to name a favorite song outright.
After all, there was no point in mentioning something Lee Seungah wouldn’t know.
“What kind of music do you like?”
Ha Seorim asked in return.
“I like ‘Lilac.’”
“Oh, Red Apple’s ‘Lilac’?”
“!”
Lee Seungah’s eyes widened.
She leaned forward at once.
“Unni, you know ‘Lilac’?”
“Ah, I do…?”
Flustered by Lee Seungah’s sudden closeness, Ha Seorim leaned back.
“No! Usually, when I say that, people ask if I mean IU’s ‘Lilac.’”
“Ah, that song is good too… but personally, I prefer band sounds. Japan has a lot of good band songs, right?”
“Exactly, exactly!”
Lee Seungah continued excitedly.
They had been chatting for quite a while when Ji Nuri returned.
“Huh? What? When did Seorim get here?”
“You’re back?”
Lee Seungah greeted her happily.
“Did you two introduce yourselves?”
“Of course we did.”
“And ask each other’s names.”
“Oh, right.”
They hadn’t done that yet.
Ji Nuri chuckled at Lee Seungah’s expression and spoke as she placed a hand on Ha Seorim’s shoulder.
“This is Ha Seorim, the bassist in the band club.”
Ji Nuri looked at Lee Seungah this time.
“And this is Seungho’s younger sister, Lee Seungah.”
At those words,
Ha Seorim’s expression changed for a brief moment, then returned to normal.
It was such a subtle shift that a less perceptive person might not have noticed, but Lee Seungah caught the change at once.
“….”
Lee Seungah tilted her head slightly, looking somewhat puzzled.
…What was that reaction?
* * *
After Ji Nuri and Lee Seungah left, only the three of us remained in the clubroom.
I put the mop into the cleaning-supply cabinet and asked,
“When did you say Ji Nuri’s performance starts?”
“It’s scheduled for around five. If things get delayed, it could start even later.”
Isol answered as she unfolded the schedule.
“That’s pretty late, so we have plenty of time.”
I nodded and got to my feet.
“Then should we look around until then?”
We had closed our booth early, and there should still be quite a few booths open.
There was plenty of time to look around.
“Should we?”
Shin Ayoung’s voice brightened, as though that was exactly what she wanted to hear.
“Yeah.”
Isol also stood, dusting off her skirt.
“Is there anywhere you want to visit?”
I walked down the hallway with the two of them.
There was a booth in every classroom.
“Well… nothing comes to mind right away.”
Isol seemed happy to go anywhere.
“The snack booths are crowded, so it might be hard to go now….”
Shin Ayoung muttered as she looked through the festival guidebook.
She was right.
The snack booths were still popular. The lines would probably remain until they ran out of ingredients.
“Oh, should we go do that?”
Shin Ayoung stretched out her arm toward one place.
I turned my gaze in the direction Shin Ayoung was pointing and slowly read the booth’s sign.
“……The House of Prophecy?”
“Mm-hm.”
Shin Ayoung nodded excitedly.
— “There’s no one there, and it looks fun!”
Her Minimi bounced up and down on Shin Ayoung’s shoulder.
“Yeah, I’d like that too.”
Isol agreed as well.
— “I don’t believe in it, but… if it’s just for fun.”
Isol’s Minimi sniffed primly.
I agreed with her.
Honestly, I didn’t believe in things like that either.
“Okay, let’s go.”
Since the two of them wanted to go, there was no harm in taking a look for fun.
The line wasn’t very long, so we were able to go right inside. That was nice.
As we lifted the curtain and entered,
“Welcome! This is the House of Prophecy!”
a male student greeted us in an unnecessarily cheerful tone for a house of prophecy.
“Here you go.”
I paid the admission fee listed on the price chart.
“Thank you!”
He busily stuffed the money I had given him away, then—
Whoo—
with a short exhalation, completely changed the atmosphere.
“So… you customers have come because you’re curious about what kind of romance you’ll have?”
He leaned his upper body forward with a sharp look in his eyes.
— “!”
— “Whoa…!”
Shin Ayoung’s and Isol’s Minimis opened their eyes wide.
They must have been startled, because they covered their mouths with their tiny hands.
— “Hmm… There are two women, but judging from the atmosphere, it’s obviously romance even without looking.”
His Minimi crossed its legs and muttered.
“……”
I flinched, and my shoulders trembled.
Feeling guilty, I lowered my gaze like someone who had committed a crime.
‘…Come to think of it.’
I had expected it, but this still wasn’t quite right.
I didn’t really think it was prophecy. But things like this were supposed to have a slightly mysterious quality to them for the experience to work…
That quality was completely absent.
Once you learned the secret in real time, your interest disappeared in an instant.
“Who wants to go first?”
Instead, I handed the choice to the other two.
“…Can I go first?”
“Sure.”
When Shin Ayoung nodded,
Isol promptly pulled the chair forward and sat down.
“Could you draw three cards from here?”
He spread a deck of cards across the table.
Isol carefully chose her cards at his words.
“……”
And then,
she fell silent.
A gaunt man. Countless red-eyed foxes. Women fighting over jewels.
The cards were objectively awful.
— “Oh crap… what do I do? I mean, what kind of cards…?”
His Minimi’s expression hardened, and sweat poured down like a waterfall.
I silently cheered him on.
Somehow, make it work.
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(!Signboard!)
(There’s an illustration if you scroll down!)
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Surprised Isol Minimi
Minimis are hard to drawww