Chapter 14
“···Shin A-young, I'm never playing ranked with you again.”
Inside the classroom, I said that to her in the back row.
“Aww, whyyy~”
At that, Shin A-young grumbled.
Was she really unaware, or was she pretending not to know?
If it was the former, I felt I needed to make it clear.
I searched up the match history site, then showed it to her.
“···Can't you see it's all red because of you?”
Red. It would be fair to say it was red all over.
“······.”
Shin A-young's shoulders flinched. She briefly averted her gaze, then...
She shot me a sidelong glance, as if she'd just thought of something.
“···But honestly, it wasn't only because of me, right? Remember that game? You fed trying to play jungle Meister.”
“······.”
“That too. Totally. A lot.”
That...
Hmm. I have nothing to say to that.
“Besides, we won the last game.”
Shin A-young pointed to the very top of the match history. Only that part was blue.
···But. That's only because we kept playing until we won.
“Ahaha.”
Lee Sol, who had been listening to us from beside me, let out a little laugh.
“See? That's all because the Yuming master wasn't there.”
“···? Since when were you a Yuming one-trick?”
That's the first I'd heard of it.
“Why don't we play a game togeth—”
“No.”
The answer came instantly.
“······.”
Shin A-young only smiled silently.
“Oh, come on···!”
Lee Sol pouted, affronted.
She grumbled about how there was nothing wrong with it.
···But the fact that she didn't know what was wrong was the problem.
Lee Sol needed to take a good look at herself.
“You got close to them pretty quickly, huh?”
Jinuri had just entered the classroom and showed interest when she saw us.
She seemed surprised that we were making such a racket.
Thud.
She sat in the seat beside me and set down her bag.
···But what she was carrying wasn't her usual guitar case.
It was some kind of ordinary schoolbag.
“······.”
Hmm.
I could more or less guess what was going on.
“···You know.”
Jinuri looked around, then.
She turned her gaze to me and tentatively parted her lips.
“I want to join the Counseling Club too.”
She said it plainly.
At that calm declaration—
“Huh···?!”
The reaction came not from me, but from behind me.
Shin A-young blinked repeatedly. She looked rather surprised.
“···What happened with your old club?”
“I quit properly.”
Jinuri answered matter-of-factly.
It was perhaps the obvious answer.
Looking for a new club meant leaving the old one.
In the end, it seemed Kang Han-sol's persuasion had failed.
— “···He confessed and got rejected one more time, too. He probably won't come around for a while.”
So she'd rejected him one more time.
In a way, Kang Han-sol was impressive for confessing again. It wasn't easy to do that.
Shin A-young braced a hand on her desk and leaned forward.
“All of a sudden? Why are you quitting?”
Shin A-young didn't know the details.
From her perspective, this must have been completely out of the blue.
She looked a little concerned about what had happened.
Jinuri shrugged as if it were no big deal.
“I just··· wanted to experience different things?”
She offered the words as if making a slight excuse.
But apparently, that wasn't an entirely false reason, either.
— “···I have felt like I've hit a wall with my skills lately. I did need a new experience.”
It seemed she'd already been considering leaving her club.
She hadn't left solely because of a confession. Kang Han-sol's confession had merely been the trigger.
···Of course, I couldn't say the confession had nothing to do with it.
“······”
Shin A-young's lips moved soundlessly.
She looked deep in thought.
Her eyebrows twitched up and down.
— “···Everyone's joining the Counseling Club. At this rate··· should I join too?”
That was what she thought to herself.
What was with her now?
“······.”
···Just like at the PC bang.
Shin A-young seemed to be the type who felt left out rather easily.
Of course, she didn't really seem likely to quit the drama club. She didn't seem to have that kind of nerve, either.
She was all bluster on the inside, after all.
Jinuri casually asked,
“What do you think?”
Even if she asked that, it wasn't something I could decide right away.
“I'll ask the club president first.”
I doubted she'd agree that easily, though.
.
.
.
Clap clap clap—
“Welcome to our club.”
The president welcomed Jinuri with Minji sunbae, clapping along.
···It was a slightly absurd sight.
“···Is it okay to decide this so easily?”
Not even ten seconds had passed.
It seemed to have been decided the moment she'd heard about it.
Even so, it felt like we'd accepted her far too quickly.
“It's fine.”
The president waved a hand as if to say it was no problem.
“We have to think about next year, too. Besides, no first-years joined this year, right?”
“That's···.”
···She definitely had a point.
The president and Minji sunbae would both be graduating next year.
If only Sol and I remained, we'd inevitably have to struggle to recruit new members again next year.
As expected, the president had planned for everything.
“Here. Take this.”
The president pulled out a sheet of paper and held it out to Jinuri. It was a club membership application.
“You just need to submit it to the teacher by tomorrow.”
“Thank you.”
A lot of steps had been skipped.
Regardless, this meant Jinuri had joined the Counseling Club.
It did feel like the decision had been made rather hastily.
Well, what mattered was that it was a good thing.
“Now that Nuri's joined too, this worked out nicely. Since we're here, shall we do it today?”
Minji sunbae suddenly brought up the subject.
“···Do what?”
“A welcome party for the new club member. We haven't been able to hold one because we've been busy with counseling and all.”
She pulled out a white envelope. It was fairly thick.
“Let's go out and have a meal together with the club funds. Is there anything in particular you'd like to eat?”
As she said that, she winked with one eye.
“Of course, it's voluntary, so feel free to come.”
That's what she said, but in practice, it was mandatory.
In an atmosphere like this, an ordinary person wouldn't even consider sitting it out—
“Oh, then I'll sit this one out.”
Lee Sol raised her hand and said so.
Then she started gathering her things, clearly intending to head home right away.
“Huh? Oh, um, uh······.”
Minji sunbae's expression grew blanker by the second.
An ordinary person wouldn't sit it out.
But if that person was Lee Sol?
Yeah. She was someone capable of doing exactly that.
“······.”
The only thing was—
If there was one thing Lee Sol had failed to consider here,
“···Wait a moment?”
She had only just joined,
but one of the new club members happened to be Jinuri.
Jinuri smiled brightly, then led her outside the clubroom.
Rattle—
The clubroom door closed.
“······.”
···I didn't know what had happened,
but afterward, Lee Sol attended the new-member welcome party without a word.
···The Counseling Club had acquired an anti-Sol device.
.
.
.
“Phew~ That was delicious~”
“This place is pretty good.”
Minji sunbae and Lee Sol walked side by side, commenting on how full they were.
···What exactly was Lee Sol?
She'd eaten the most of anyone.
“···She always acts like that even though she enjoys herself once we're actually out having fun.”
Jinuri was baffled by her as well.
Minji sunbae, walking ahead, spun around.
She raised a hand and pointed somewhere.
“It feels a little awkward to part ways right away. Should we go to the arcade?”
A nearby unmanned arcade beside the malatang restaurant happened to catch her eye.
It was called an arcade, but inside it was mostly filled with claw machines.
Lee Sol, who had been looking around inside, kept sneaking glances at me.
When I wondered what was up and met her gaze,
“···Do you have any money? Lend me just a thousand won.”
she made that request.
···She really was a handful.
It felt like looking after a younger cousin.
It wasn't much money, so I took out a thousand-won bill and handed it to her.
“Thanks.”
Lee Sol eagerly snatched it up.
Since I'd lent it to her anyway, maybe I should watch her try.
“Are you good at claw machines?”
“The trick is finding something that can actually be won. Let's seeee···.”
Lee Sol strolled around the arcade, examining the claw machines one by one.
Then she stopped dead in front of one.
“See this? The one that's slightly caught on the edge? This is guaranteed.”
Lee Sol put the money into the machine and moved the joystick little by little.
Whoosh, whoosh.
She shifted her body around to check the angle, then pressed the button with a tense look.
Whirrrrr—
The claw descended and clamped firmly onto the plush.
It rose quickly, gripping it quite securely.
···Is this really going to work?
The moment I had that thought—
The claw lost its grip and dropped the plush with a thunk—right in front of the chute.
“······Wow, so close.”
I let out a groan before I could stop myself.
It had really almost worked. That was a shame.
Apparently Lee Sol thought the same, because she looked up at me imploringly.
“I think it'll work if I try just once more···.”
That meant she wanted me to lend her more money.
···Should I let her try just one more time?
I took out another thousand-won bill from my wallet.
“This time, I'm definitely getting it···.”
Her eyes gleamed sharply.
Her slender fingertips made minute adjustments to the joystick.
She began seriously analyzing the angle, moving between the front and side of the machine.
After spending quite a bit of time on it—
···When there were only three seconds left,
“Right now!”
—Smack!
With a battle cry, she slammed the button down.
Whirrrrr···
Scrape, scrape.
The descending claw gave the plush's back a nice scratch, then rose right back up.
“······.”
“······.”
Ah.
There was no chance this would work.
This machine was absolutely unwinnable.
“···Maybe.”
Lee Sol gave me another meaningful look, but—
I shook my head and turned away.
“Oh, just once! I really think it'll work if I try one more time!”
She clung to my waist, but impossible was impossible.
I dragged Lee Sol along as I moved. She was so light that it wasn't difficult.
We arrived in front of a machine where another club member was standing.
Minji sunbae was moving the joystick with a cautious expression.
“What are you trying to get?”
“···Chainsaw Boy.”
Chainsaw Boy···?
“Ah··· That movie that came out recently?”
The club president, who had been watching from beside her, gave a wry smile.
“···Minji seems to have gotten really into it this time. It's been hugely popular lately, you know.”
She added that she'd already seen it twice.
Well, Minji sunbae did like animation.
Although she wasn't a huge fan or anything; apparently, she tended to watch only famous works.
“······.”
I glanced around.
It must have been popular indeed.
Come to think of it, the arcade was filled wall-to-wall with character merchandise from Chainsaw Boy.
···Should I try for one too?
“You're going to try for one too?”
“Yeah.”
I nodded at Lee Sol's question.
Since we were here anyway. Even if I didn't win, I should at least give it a try.
“Hmm.”
This one looks good.
I stood in front of a figure machine with what looked like an expensive prize.
If I was going to do it, I might as well pick something that inspired a little fighting spirit.
It was a rather pretty character.
“What was her name again? Li··· Li···”
— “Ha··· Liz. She's really gorgeous.”
“?”
···What was that?
A thought suddenly reached me from behind.
I turned around slightly and saw Jinuri standing there with her arms folded.
A piercing set in her earlobe was briefly visible between her strands of hair. She must have put it on as soon as she left school.
Anyone could tell she was in a band.
···But.
— “The quality is pretty good for something you win at an arcade. Should I get one? Ah, but there probably isn't any room left on the display shelf in my room···.”
She was thinking that with a serious expression.
— “···Or should I just get it first and think about it later?”
“······.”
Jinuri was an otaku?
Was I really seeing this correctly?
···It was a little like how I'd felt when I first saw Shin A-young.
“······.”
No, more than that—
The fact that I hadn't known until now was even more surprising.
It meant that, at least at school, she'd never let on in the slightest that she was into that sort of thing.
— “Should I get Liz after all? Or Miki?”
Jinuri's mini-me was jumping up and down on the control panel of the claw machine, making a huge fuss.
She looked extremely excited.
“Aaaah···.”
Just then, Minji sunbae came over with dejected steps.
Judging by her expression, she must have blown through all her money.
“See? I told you not to overdo it.”
“···Where did all my money go?”
The club president was busy consoling her.
Minji sunbae asked with a woebegone expression,
“···Did you guys win anything?”
“We're about to try.”
“What about you, Nuri···?”
“Not yet. But··· I don't know which one I should try for.”
Minji sunbae's eyes lit up when she saw the claw machine Jinuri was standing in front of.
“You know Chainsaw Boy too, Nuri?”
Jinuri didn't deny it and gave a small nod.
···But their interests ran in slightly different directions.
“Yeah, it's really popular these days. I thought this one was pretty.”
Jinuri lightly pointed at the character with her index finger.
She didn't say the character's name, which she'd been speaking so fluently about until just now.
She knew it,
but was taking the stance that she didn't know it well.
“Right? Miki's pretty too. I like the protagonist best, though—”
Minji sunbae continued enthusiastically rambling about Chainsaw Boy.
— “···I guess she doesn't know it in that much detail.”
An ordinary person who liked animation.
That was about the extent of it.
That was how Jinuri defined Minji sunbae's level.
And she continued responding to Minji sunbae as if she didn't know a thing about it.
Watching that, I found myself speechless.
Impressive.
“······.”
Shin A-young was the same.
···Maybe she should seriously become an actress, too.