Chapter 112
* * *
She looked like her.
That was my first thought the moment I saw her.
From the air she gave off to her appearance in particular, she resembled Ji Nuri.
But that was only natural, since they were sisters.
“Nuri….”
Isol hurried over to Ji Nuri and whispered in a quiet voice,
“Could she be… your older sister?”
“Yeah, that’s my sister.”
Ji Nuri nodded awkwardly.
Her eyes looked as though she had bitten into a sour lemon.
It was obvious that she hadn’t wanted to run into her here.
— “…Are these Nuri’s friends?”
Jihyori’s Minimi looked us over, gauging the atmosphere.
“Are you Nuri’s friends?”
Jihyori slowly approached us.
“““Hello.”””
We bowed our heads in unison.
— “They say birds of a feather flock together….”
Jihyori’s Minimi looked at Isol and Shin Ayoung, then let out a hollow laugh.
— “The boy’s pretty handsome, too…. Maybe it’s because he’s well-proportioned?”
They say praise can even make a whale dance.
I stood there with an expression that suggested I had heard nothing.
I tried my best not to let my emotions show in response to the thoughts I heard through the Minimi.
Jihyori gave Ji Nuri’s shoulder a light tap.
“Same class?”
“…Same class, and we’re in the same club, too.”
“Really?”
Her gaze turned toward me.
— “Ah.”
She let out a short sound, as though something had just occurred to her.
— “Then is this boy named Lee Seungho?”
She knew who I was.
Maybe Ji Nuri had told her. Or perhaps she had heard about me from her parents.
Since we had met during the family trip, either possibility made sense.
……
Under that fixed gaze, Isol awkwardly stepped out in front of me.
“By any chance….”
Jihyori’s expression turned serious, and she gave Ji Nuri’s back a light tap.
“She isn’t causing you trouble at school, is she? She can be a bit eccentric, you know.”
She added that we should tell her anytime anything like that happened.
As expected of a real older sister, she knew Ji Nuri well.
“Oh, sis, come on…!”
Ji Nuri grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back reproachfully.
“What? I can ask about that much.”
Jihyori responded shamelessly.
Ji Nuri raised her sharp eyes, telling her not to say anything pointless.
“……Forget that. Why are you here?”
Ji Nuri’s eyes narrowed.
At the question, Jihyori shrugged.
“I just had some business nearby.”
It was a simple reason.
They had happened to run into each other by chance.
“You’re on your way home from school, right? Have you eaten?”
“We were just on our way to eat.”
“Really?”
At that, Jihyori lightly clapped her hands together.
“Well, that works out perfectly. Want me to buy you a meal?”
“Huh?”
“You said you haven’t eaten yet.”
……
At those words, the skin beneath Ji Nuri’s eyes trembled faintly.
— “What is with this woman today…?!”
She was horrified on the inside. Her Minimi clutched its cheeks and bounced up and down.
“Do you have to? Right now?”
Ji Nuri desperately tried to change the subject, making it clear she wanted to eat with her friends.
But Jihyori didn’t seem inclined to back down so easily.
“I have to go back down in a few days. When else am I going to run into you and buy you a meal? Do you kids like meat?”
With that, she immediately tossed the choice over to us.
— “…Meat… isn’t bad.”
Isol didn’t seem to care either way.
There were already a lot of us, so adding one more person wouldn’t make much difference to her.
……
Shin Ayoung, on the other hand, smiled brightly without saying a word.
— “……Tsk, this is uncomfortable.”
Her Minimi’s expression fell.
She seemed to feel the awkwardness of the situation more strongly than she wanted the meat.
— “Ugh…… What should I do? Should I just eat?”
Besides, given Shin Ayoung’s personality, it would be difficult for her to say so out loud.
“Forget it. We’ll eat among ourselves.”
“It’s okay. Don’t borrow money from the kids when you’re always whining that your allowance is small.”
……
Ji Nuri’s lips snapped shut.
It didn’t work at all.
No, maybe it wasn’t working because Ji Nuri was the one saying it.
The sisters were remarkably alike in how strong-willed they were.
So I stepped slightly forward.
“I think we’ll really be fine today.”
At my voice, Jihyori’s gaze turned toward me.
I continued calmly,
“I appreciate the offer, but we’ll eat among ourselves today. We came out for a club dinner, after all.”
At that,
“Then it can’t be helped.”
Jihyori nodded lightly. She looked a little disappointed, but stepped back without another word.
The fact that she understood immediately when told plainly was the same, too.
“If we get the chance next time, I’ll let you treat us.”
I offered the customary response.
“Sure, let’s do that.”
Jihyori nodded.
Then she began to give off the air of someone preparing to leave.
“Have fun~”
“Yes.”
I lightly bowed my head toward Jihyori as she walked away.
“Phew…….”
Only after Jihyori had disappeared completely did Ji Nuri let out a deep sigh of relief.
“She’s pretty different from Nuri, huh?”
“Yeah… she really is.”
Isol agreed with Shin Ayoung.
— “She’s really straightforward.”
— “…All the genes went to Nuri.”
Shin Ayoung focused on her personality. Isol, on the other hand, focused on one aspect of her appearance… her upper body.
They were clearly talking about different things, yet the conversation continued smoothly.
Grrrrrr——
Just then, a small growl of hunger rang out.
“…That wasn’t me.”
Ji Nuri spoke up defensively.
No one had accused her of anything, but she had volunteered herself anyway.
I said nothing and started walking.
“I’m hungry. Let’s get inside.”
Woooong—
As we passed through the automatic doors and entered the restaurant, warm air greeted us, perhaps because the heat was on.
I could gradually feel that the weather was turning chilly.
“How many people?”
“Four.”
“This way, please.”
We took our seats following the employee’s directions.
It was a wide table for four by the window.
I set down my bag and tapped the kiosk.
I set the spice level to regular, as we had last time, and added various ingredients.
“Bok choy, bean sprouts… wide glass noodles, corn noodles, too….”
“I want extra cheese rice cakes.”
Ji Nuri chose cheese rice cakes.
“What about you, Isol?”
“Hmm…… Add more glass noodles for me.”
“Extra glass noodles.”
I added Isol’s requested ingredients exactly as she had asked.
Shin Ayoung said she didn’t eat malatang often and would try whatever she was given, so I didn’t ask her separately.
A little while later, the ingredients we had ordered arrived.
“Sss….”
I licked my stinging lips.
It was spicier than I expected.
It seemed to be hotter than last time.
I drank peach juice to soothe my tingling tongue.
Munch, munch— munch, munch—
Meanwhile, Isol’s small lips were working hard.
She didn’t sweat a drop, her expression perfectly calm.
As expected, she was good with spicy food.
There was someone who wasn’t, though.
“Sss—”
Shin Ayoung drew short, shallow breaths. Beads of sweat had formed across her forehead.
— “Haa, haa—”
Her Minimi, meanwhile, looked like a drenched field mouse from head to toe.
Trickle, trickle.
When I noticed, I poured her a glass of peach juice.
“…Is it really that spicy?”
“I-it’s, it’s finee?”
The end of Shin Ayoung’s sentence rose sharply. She forced a smile.
“…Really?”
It didn’t look that way at all.
Her entire face had flushed red.
Since her skin was naturally so pale, it stood out even more.
I should have ordered it less spicy.
“…Want some milk?”
Isol asked casually with a faint smile.
“……I said I’m fine.”
Perhaps Shin Ayoung felt challenged by something.
She gripped the chopsticks she had half-set down and picked them up energetically.
* * *
The evening had grown dark.
Ji Nuri returned home after finishing dinner with the others.
“I’m hooome.”
She tossed off her shoes and entered the living room.
“You’re home?”
Her mother’s gentle voice drifted over.
“Wash your hands and feet, then come here and eat some fruit.”
“Okaaay.”
After washing her hands in the bathroom, she shook off the water and walked into the living room.
A bowl of fruit sat on a small low table.
Jihyori was sprawled across the sofa.
……
Hmph.
Ji Nuri plopped down in front of the sofa, ignoring her for the most part.
Jihyori had caused her no end of trouble earlier.
Crunch—
Ji Nuri bit into a sweet apple.
“…That boy from earlier is that boy, right?”
Jihyori spoke while looking at her phone.
As if she knew who I meant.
……
“Hey, answer me.”
Ji Nuri pressed down on a piece of apple with her fork and opened her mouth.
“…Who?”
“You know. Your guy you’re seeing.”
“Tsk, I told you, it’s not like that.”
Ji Nuri turned her head away and denied it.
“Hmm, so the boy from earlier really is the one named Lee Seungho.”
……
Ji Nuri’s face crumpled beautifully. Her lips poked out in a pout.
Again. She had fallen for the exact same trick again.
Why did she keep getting caught by it?
Jihyori giggled at Ji Nuri’s reaction and continued.
“But looking at the atmosphere between them, you’d better hurry, too, wouldn’t you?”
“I told you it’s not like th—”
Ji Nuri stopped speaking for a moment.
“? What are you talking about?”
It was because her sister’s words seemed strange somehow.
“Huh? What?”
“Huh?”
They both looked at each other with puzzled expressions.
Their conversation was missing the point. Something had gone wrong somewhere.
Jihyori turned her body to the side.
“…Wait a second. You didn’t know?”
“Know what?”
“No, those two….”
Jihyori began to continue, then paused slightly.
She looked as though she was debating whether or not to say it.
“Well, I’m not completely sure.”
Jihyori let the end of her sentence trail off.
“In my opinion, you know those two….”
“Sol and Ayoung?”
“Yeah, the two girls.”
She raised her index finger with a serious expression.
“They seemed to have that kind of vibe with your guy.”
……
At those words, Ji Nuri kept chewing her apple.
She slowly savored the sweetness of the fruit.
Then she slowly swallowed it.
After blinking several times……
“……What?”
Even then, she didn’t understand and asked again with a blank expression.
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