Chapter 109
* * *
The darkened night sky.
Beneath the streetlamp, he gave a light wave.
“See you tomorrow.”
“Mhm. See you tomorrow.”
Isol raised a small hand toward him.
“See you tomorrow”—she said.
It was nothing more than a simple phrase, but the fact that she had exchanged those words with him made her heart flutter for some reason.
“…….”
Isol briefly stopped in front of her front door.
As she watched his back grow farther away. Watched it….
Only after he had completely disappeared did her feet finally move.
She passed through the building entrance and stood before the elevator.
“……Ahem.”
Remembering what had happened with him once more, she tapped the innocent floor with her toes.
Beep beep beep beep—
When she opened the door and stepped inside, she felt the warmth of the boiler.
“I’m homeee….”
At the greeting she mumbled out,
“…You’re back? Was it scary on your way home?”
As if she had been waiting, her mother’s answer came right away.
Isol gave a small nod at the question.
“I’m fine. Seungho walked me home, so…….”
Somehow, that was how it had turned out. When she came to her senses, she was standing in front of her own home.
The route she had thought was simply a walk had actually been leading toward her house.
When she realized that, she had blinked in surprise.
“Seungho came all the way here? I feel bad for—”
Her mother’s words abruptly cut off midway.
“…….”
Her mother’s round eyes looked up at her,
then her mother leisurely shifted her gaze away. As if avoiding her, she turned her attention to the TV.
“……Right, go wash up and get some rest.”
That was all she said.
“Yeees.”
For a moment, Isol wondered about that gaze.
But fatigue had risen all the way to the back of her neck, so she turned toward her room.
Just as she was about to take off her outerwear and toss it aside with a weary step,
“…….”
Her own face was reflected clearly in the mirror.
“……Ah.”
A faint sigh slipped between her lips.
Well, how should she put it?
Her face was faintly flushed.
Other people might have thought her expression was the same impassive one she always wore,
but she knew because it was her own face.
‘That’s why…….’
And her mother must have been the same.
She probably noticed this small change at once.
Recalling her mother’s reaction a moment ago made her even more certain.
“Phew…….”
After she slowly regulated her breathing, her face finally returned to normal, as if she had calmed down a little.
Isol shook her head briskly.
“……It’s nothing. Yeah.”
There was no need to worry about it for no reason.
Anyone could see she was overthinking this. Getting so excited and dejected over something like this was childish.
It wasn’t as though they had actually touched.
“Ahem.”
Isol cleared her throat and headed for the bathroom.
Let’s wash up quickly and go to sleep.
Tomorrow was Friday. She had to go to school early in the morning.
Whoosh…….
Warm water streamed down her body.
“…….”
Then, suddenly, she looked in the mirror.
At her lips reflected there.
And the sweet ice cream she had bitten with them.
And the faint crimson…… that had brushed against it.
Thump…!
Isol reflexively raised her hand and slapped the wall again and again.
What was this even about?
It wasn’t as though they had actually touched.
“…….”
…Though they hadn’t.
Even so, if this was how she felt,
“…Ssh.”
Isol leaned against the wall. She tapped her lips with her index finger, as if tickling them.
Her throat bobbed.
If she really did it for real,
what would it feel like then?
She couldn’t help but feel curious and intrigued by the thought.
* * *
Friday, a golden day that every student waited for.
While everyone sat in the classroom in higher spirits than usual,
Shin Ayoung’s eyes were drooping about one degree more than usual.
“…….”
Shin Ayoung rolled her eyes toward the seat beside her.
Her seatmate by the window. Isol was there.
There was something strange about Isol’s behavior today.
“Hm~ hmm~”
She hummed softly as she flicked through her phone screen.
When Ayoung checked what she was watching, it was some kind of Short.
Something like a trendy dance challenge.
“……Did something happen?”
She was doing all sorts of things she normally never did.
“No?”
Isol shook her head.
She didn’t look inclined to answer easily.
‘There’s definitely something.’
Yesterday had been Thursday. If Ayoung remembered correctly, it was the day Isol’s mother had an appointment with Lee Seungho.
Something had definitely happened.
“Huaaam—”
Lee Seungho entered the classroom with a yawn.
“You’re here?”
Shin Ayoung greeted him.
And Isol, as usual—
“?”
Ayoung expected her to greet him as usual. Instead, she was strangely quiet.
Isol’s eyelashes lowered, and then
“……’lo.”
she greeted him in a voice so quiet it was barely audible.
Even her tone contained a hint of embarrassment.
“Uh… hi.”
Lee Seungho responded awkwardly as well.
“…….”
Shin Ayoung narrowed her eyes and examined the atmosphere flowing between the two of them.
There was definitely something going on.
She just didn’t know what it was.
The fingertips of the hand she had hidden beneath the desk tightened pointlessly.
“Hey, hey.”
Just then, Ji Nuri came dashing into the classroom.
Ji Nuri called out to Lee Seungho.
“Let’s go to the cafeteria now.”
“…Now? Doesn’t homeroom start soon?”
When Lee Seungho gave her a sidelong look as if this had come out of nowhere,
Ji Nuri grabbed his shoulders and shook him with urgent movements.
“We’ll be right back. I heard them talking in the next class, and they said that came in this morning…!”
“What came in?”
Ji Nuri looked around and covered her mouth.
“…Dujjonku.”
Perhaps she was afraid someone would hear. She whispered it softly.
“…Really? How?”
Lee Seungho turned toward her, apparently interested.
His voice lowered along with hers.
Dujjonku. Make a note.
“Are you sure?”
“There’s no way to know. I just overheard it in passing. They said they saw it being unloaded from a truck this morning.”
“All right, let’s check it out.”
Lee Seungho rose from his seat. Isol subtly followed after him.
“Shin Ayoung, you’re coming too, right?”
“I’m okay.”
She shook her head.
Even if she went now, there would probably be a crowd. She didn’t want to squeeze in among them and compete for it.
“Really?”
Lee Seungho nodded as if he understood.
“Hey, what are you doing? Hurry up.”
Ji Nuri said that as she ran ahead.
As Lee Seungho started walking, he suddenly asked,
“…Nothing’s wrong, right?”
“Huh?”
“You looked upset.”
At Lee Seungho’s words, Shin Ayoung blinked.
She lowered her gaze slightly.
“…….”
Her reflection on the phone screen looked perfectly fine.
She wore an expression with a faint smile.
There was nothing particularly strange about it. Just an ordinary face no different from usual.
‘……Then how does he know?’
It hadn’t happened just once or twice. Lee Seungho had already caught her several times.
It was beyond simply being perceptive.
She felt a strange embarrassment, as if her bare face had been exposed exactly as it was.
Shin Ayoung lightly shook her head.
“I’m fine. Nothing happened.”
It wasn’t a lie. That was genuinely how things were.
Maybe it was because of that small question.
Strangely, her mood eased a little.
* * *
Time passed.
Before long, it was after school.
Rat-a-tat-tat——
I sat at the counseling club president’s desk, tapping away at the keyboard.
“…….”
If I became president, this meant I would have to handle all this alone, didn’t it?
It wasn’t difficult, but it was fairly annoying.
“She really isn’t coming…….”
Ji Nuri slumped over the sofa with a depressed expression.
She was like that because Senior Minji and the club president weren’t in the clubroom.
“It can’t be helped. There’s only a month left until the CSAT.”
I answered her muttering while clicking the mouse.
It would be stranger for them to come to the clubroom at this point.
“I know that…… Ah…….”
Ji Nuri let out a deep sigh.
She seemed weighed down by the fact that graduation would come not long after the CSAT ended.
She had a surprisingly sentimental side.
“But….”
I turned my gaze toward Ji Nuri.
Just look at her.
Toy sunglasses covering her eyes. A party cone hat. An outfit utterly unsuited to someone who was supposed to be depressed.
It was beyond absurd; it was downright ridiculous.
“…Why are you dressed like that?”
Pwoo—
Beside her, Isol was even blowing a party whistle.
She looked fully prepared to celebrate.
“I mean, come on.”
Ji Nuri looked up at me from her reclined position and crossed her arms.
“…What?”
“Come to think of it, we never held a welcome party for Ayoung.”
“A welcome party?”
“We did one when I joined, too. Why don’t you remember?”
“…No, that’s not what I mean.”
It had been a few months ago, but of course I remembered.
Hadn’t we eaten out and gone to a claw-machine arcade?
That was where I learned that Ji Nuri was an otaku.
But….
“You’re doing that now?”
“Yep.”
“Now?”
I felt the timing was quite a bit too late.
It had already been some time since Shin Ayoung joined the club. It felt like holding a belated birthday party.
— “Well, honestly, it is pretty late…….”
Shin Ayoung’s Minimi muttered.
She had the same impression as me.
But what came out of her mouth was different.
“…You really don’t want to do it?”
Shin Ayoung gave me a look that suggested she was secretly disappointed.
“See? Ayoung wants one, too.”
Ji Nuri drew strength from that and raised her voice.
“…….”
Shin Ayoung lifted the corners of her lips where only I could see.
A mischievous smile.
She was doing that on purpose.
It was the kind of smile that made me want to put her in her place.
“Did any consultations come in today?”
I asked while rummaging through the file folders.
I checked whether there was any of this year’s budget left.
There was some.
“Nope.”
The answer came straight from Shin Ayoung.
“Hmm.”
That worked out nicely.
I stood up and picked up the clubroom key.
“All right, let’s go.”
What should we do? As it happened, there was something I had been trying to decide.
“Since we’re going out, we can pick next year’s president and vice president, too.”
Bowling, table tennis, a PC café….
If they didn’t like that, anything else would do.
Whatever it was, settling it with a bet seemed like the cleanest solution.
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(!Signboard!)
(There’s an illustration if you scroll down!)
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F Jin Nuri