Chapter 21
The midterm exams ended yesterday.
A somewhat busy schedule had passed, and there was still quite a bit of time before the final exams.
It was the period when the students’ tension-stiffened shoulders gradually began to relax.
“Everyone worked hard studying for the midterms.”
Encouraging the students, the teacher stood at the podium and began the morning homeroom announcements.
“···.”
In the middle of that,
I spotted someone who had returned a little too completely to her old self.
When I discreetly turned my gaze toward the back,
“···Mmph.”
I saw Lee Sol pop a gummy into her mouth. When had she bought it at the school store?
The girl’s cheeks wobbled as she chewed the gummy.
“···.”
She was eating it with genuine relish.
At this point, it wasn’t even strange.
That was the real Lee Sol, after all.
Besides,
I could understand it now, even if she was acting like that.
Lee Sol’s grades weren’t out yet, but based on her self-scored results, she had gotten enough points to solidly land in Grade 3.
She had worked hard all this time, so she deserved to rest.
“···.”
“···.”
Our eyes met for a moment.
Her eyes blinked lightly.
Her chewing gradually slowed, and her throat bobbed as she swallowed.
“···.”
Lee Sol stared quietly down at the gummies as if deep in thought, then
stealthily extended an orange-red gummy bear.
Her eyes asked whether I wanted it.
···I hadn’t meant to ask for one. She seemed to have mistaken my gaze for a request for a gummy.
“···.”
Keeping an eye on the teacher, I secretly accepted it.
I’ve been eating too many snacks lately.
Maybe I should exercise more.
Unaware of this, the teacher continued the morning announcements.
“As you all know, next week is the day, right?”
Now that I think about it, that’s true.
The day all second-year high school students look forward to.
The school trip.
“Take good care of your health in the meantime. You all know where we’re headed even without me telling you, right?”
““Yeees—””
Everyone answered energetically.
Their voices were several times louder than usual. Their excitement was obvious.
That was only natural.
This year’s school trip was to Japan.
They couldn’t help getting excited at the thought of traveling overseas.
···All I had to do was look beside me to see that.
“···.”
Jinuri was resting her chin on her hand, looking perfectly nonchalant with an impassive face.
She appeared to be listening attentively to the teacher.
Her outward appearance practically dripped with primness and indifference.
On the other hand···
Beneath that, when I looked at Jinuri’s mini-me perched on her desk,
— “Japan···. I don’t know whose idea this was, but thank you so much···!”
Her eyes were sparkling more brightly than ever.
— “What should I do first when we get there? According to the itinerary, we’ll arrive at Kansai Airport, so··· should I raid a convenience store first? No. Before that, take pictures first—”
In fact, she had been busily making plans in her head for quite some time.
All sorts of information about Dotonbori and whatnot was pouring out.
The teacher continued while handing out the school-trip information sheets.
“The lodging assignments have been made in numerical order, and let’s see, all that’s left is···.”
The teacher took out a notebook and read from it.
“Choose who you’ll sit with on the way there and form a group to move around with at the destination, then submit it to the class president before homeroom ends.”
“···Huh.”
Wait a second.
“···.”
I secretly looked around.
Groups of three or four were already forming.
···This is bad.
Since the start of the new semester, I had only been hanging out with these guys, so I hadn’t gotten very close to the other boys.
It was too late to wedge myself into one of those groups now.
“···.”
Things had turned out this way, so I couldn’t help it.
I immediately turned around toward the back seats and spoke to the trio in my group.
“Let’s go around together.”
It wasn’t exactly common for a single boy to join an all-girls group,
but since things had turned out this way, help me out just this once.
Me. I don’t have any friends except you guys.
***
Just as I thought, this is how it turned out.
Shin A-young thought so as she watched Lee Seungho look relieved.
He generally maintained a confident attitude,
but perhaps because he preferred forming relationships naturally, he had difficulty approaching people on purpose.
Once conversation got started, he talked readily, but until then, he was the awkward type.
So she knew he would ask them to go around together.
...She had been planning to ask them to go together from the start, though.
It was fun seeing that expression on Lee Seungho’s face.
Scribble scribble—
Shin A-young wrote the names down one after another on the paper.
“He said to make it at least four people before submitting it, right? This works perfectly.”
Her own name, Jinuri, Lee Sol··· and Lee Seungho’s. Four names were written down.
“Hmm.”
Shin A-young lifted the corners of her mouth slightly.
This was good.
It was a group composition she liked quite a lot.
Rather than being grouped with kids she had an ambiguous relationship with, these four were people she could feel comfortable around.
It was the best arrangement she could make.
···Now all that was left was figuring out how to sit during the trip.
“···.”
Shin A-young’s gaze turned toward Jinuri and Lee Sol.
“Hand it over.”
“Huh.”
Jinuri had just confiscated Lee Sol’s bag of gummies.
With a low sigh, she questioned Lee Sol.
“What were you going to do if you got caught eating it during class?”
“? That’s why I ate it secretly.”
“···.”
Jinuri’s brows furrowed sharply, and she poked Lee Sol in the side repeatedly.
“Eek!”
The two naturally started fooling around.
They really got along well today, too.
“···.”
Shin A-young sat quietly in her seat and watched the scene for a while.
As expected···
Because she thought those two were closer to each other than to her.
Not that she wasn’t close to them···
But as long as she was hiding her true self to some extent,
she couldn’t help feeling an instinctive distance, thinking, ‘This girl must be hiding something from me···.’
···So she thought it would be better to let the two of them sit together during the trip.
Besides,
it wasn’t as if she would be completely left out.
There were other people she could sit with, after all.
Shin A-young subtly sat down beside Lee Seungho’s desk and spoke.
“Is there anything you want to do when we go to Japan?”
“···Something I want to do?”
“What, you must’ve thought about it at least once.”
“I don’t know···.”
Lee Seungho’s lips moved. He scratched idly at the desk with his finger, then
apparently unable to think of anything, turned his eyes toward her instead.
“···What about you?”
Hmm.
It wouldn’t be fun if she simply told him.
Shin A-young felt a little mischievous.
“Try to guess. I’ll give you five questions.”
Lee Seungho laughed as if incredulous, then obediently continued asking questions.
“Is it a famous place?”
“Uh··· I guess it depends on the person?”
“Then, is it a convenience store?”
“Huh?”
She was slightly surprised.
She hadn’t expected him to guess it so quickly.
He really was annoyingly perceptive.
“···How did you know?”
“It was obvious what you were thinking.”
“···.”
Lee Seungho’s teasing tone irritated her.
She felt a little annoyed.
···Next time, she would give him something harder. Something he absolutely couldn’t guess.
“Those who haven’t submitted their groups yet, hurry up and turn them in.”
The class president’s voice rang through the classroom.
“We haven’t submitted ours yet, right?”
“I’ll write it down now.”
At Lee Seungho’s words, Shin A-young picked up her pen.
All that remained were the seats for the trip, so it would be quick.
···Shin A-young. And beside her.
Shin A-young was about to write the name down as it was, but paused.
She wondered if it was okay to write it down so readily. She set the ballpoint pen down for a moment, then
Right.
Let’s ask him first.
It would be better to bring it up, anyway.
Shin A-young spoke to Lee Seungho.
“Um—”
***
A little earlier—
Lee Sol was rolling her eyes while Jinuri held her in place.
Behind her, Jinuri was pressing her cheeks repeatedly.
“You’re really soft.”
“···.”
Lee Sol stayed still, though it was a little bothersome.
Just because it seemed like Jinuri was extremely excited.
Seeing Jinuri act clingy like this for no reason, she couldn’t help thinking that.
Jinuri wasn’t usually like this.
Maybe she was really that happy about going to Japan.
···Well. It wasn’t as if she couldn’t understand.
To be honest, Lee Sol wasn’t particularly fond of traveling.
It wasn’t that going out was bothersome or anything.
“···.”
Hmm.
···No, it wasn’t as if that wasn’t a factor, either.
Lee Sol simply got motion sick easily.
Even a short ride on any form of transportation completely drained her. Planes were no exception, and cars were even worse.
Maybe it was because she always remembered suffering from motion sickness.
She rarely got especially excited about traveling.
“···.”
Lee Sol absentmindedly rubbed the back of her neck.
···Was it because the group had been arranged well?
Or was traveling with friends simply different?
Unlike usual, she was looking forward to it a little.
Still, only a little.
Very little.
Lee Sol stuck her head out and looked down at the paper listing the group members.
‘All that’s left···.’
was only deciding how to arrange the seats for the trip.
“···.”
Lee Sol glanced subtly at Shin A-young.
“Hmm.”
···Normally, she would sit with Jinuri as usual, but
if she sat with Jinuri, Shin A-young would probably be left on her own.
She had always been uncomfortable around boys.
Although she seemed to get along well with Lee Seungho··· she still wouldn’t be as comfortable as she was with Jinuri, who was another girl.
‘···In that case.’
Wouldn’t it be best if she sat with Lee Seungho?
Since they were in the same club, she was closest to him out of everyone here, too.
There was nothing wrong with that.
···He was observant and took good care of her.
···And being with him was fun in many ways, too.
Hmm.
If anything, it would be a good thing; there was no downside.
“Ahem.”
Lee Sol lightly cleared her throat and approached him.
She figured she might as well ask.
Lee Seungho might think differently, after all.
“Hey, Lee Seungho.”
“Seungho.”
Two voices overlapped from the same spot.
“···Yeah?”
“Huh?”
Lee Sol and Shin A-young’s gazes tangled in midair.
“···.”
“···.”
···Because they somehow felt they knew what the other was about to say.
The two briefly looked at each other.