Chapter 25
***
“···.”
I subtly lowered the hand resting on Jinuri's shoulder.
Then I took a step to the side.
So far, so good.
Should I clear up the misunderstanding first?
“···.”
Just then.
Shin A-young hurried over, as if she'd been worried.
“···Nuri, are you okay? You just chased off that guy who was hitting on you, right?”
···Did she figure it out right away?
There was no need to explain.
She'd darted her eyes around and seemed to have grasped the situation immediately.
Jinuri patted my back, saying everything was fine.
“I'm fine. He helped me out.”
“···Ah.”
Seeing that, Lee Sol let out a short breath.
— “···What? So that's what it was. I got the wrong idea for nothing.”
Her mini-me let out a breath.
She lightly kicked a stone by her feet, looking a little embarrassed.
“···.”
Watching her, I fell into thought.
No matter how I looked at it.
This.
“Hey. Lee Seungho!”
Shin A-young called my name loudly from farther away.
“What are you doing? Hurry up and come over. We don't have much time before we have to gather.”
When I looked up, everyone was already ahead.
I slowly blinked.
“···Coming.”
I slowly headed toward the three of them.
***
“Wow~”
Dinner was a buffet, laid out across a table groaning with food.
Shin A-young exclaimed as she entered the dining hall.
There was so much to eat. There was enough to make me start worrying about what to choose before even beginning.
“They say it's a buffet every night from now on?”
Shin A-young excitedly slapped Lee Seungho on the back.
“What are you going to eat first?”
“···I'll look around first.”
Shin A-young followed Lee Seungho around the buffet once, piling food onto her plate.
Even though we were in Japan, the food wasn't all that different from a Korean buffet.
There was meat, noodles, and Japanese cuisine.
“These shrimp look really good. Want one?”
“···It seems like a hassle to peel.”
“They taste good, though.”
Just as Shin A-young was about to pick up a shrimp with the tongs,
“Seungho.”
Lee Sol appeared and suddenly poked her head out between their shoulders.
“I found some delicious meat over there.”
She showed off her plate.
Just as she'd said, a huge steak sat appetizingly on her plate.
“Oh··· Where was that?”
Lee Seungho immediately took an interest when he saw it.
“Come on, I'll take you there.”
Lee Sol turned around and led the way.
She trotted off.
“···.”
Shin A-young quietly blinked as she watched the two leave.
Huh.
What was this situation?
···This continued to happen after that, too.
“Is that good?”
Lee Sol showed interest in the food Lee Seungho was eating.
“Hmm···.”
He chewed thoughtfully for a moment.
“···It's not amazing, but it's pretty tasty.”
“You must really like fried food.”
“Well··· anything tastes good when it's fried.”
Shin A-young watched them while chewing on her meat.
“···.”
Those two. They'd gotten closer after coming on the school trip.
Besides.
Had Lee Sol ever been that proactive about talking?
As far as Shin A-young knew, she hadn't.
This···
It felt like that tendency had grown even stronger after what happened earlier.
***
And so, after dinner.
“See you tomorrow.”
Lee Seungho gave a small wave and left for his room. The boys' rooms were upstairs, so he went up.
The girls, including Shin A-young, went downstairs.
“Phew··· That was delicious···.”
As she entered the room, Jinuri rubbed her full stomach in satisfaction.
Well, then···
“Let's decide who showers first.”
“One-round rock-paper-scissors?”
“One round.”
The match was settled quickly.
“Rock, paper, scissors~!”
Three hands shot forward.
···Urgh.
Shin A-young's brow furrowed.
“So close···.”
Jinuri had won with paper.
“Then I'll shower first~”
She promptly went in to shower. She wasn't about to let anyone off easy.
“Hwaaah···.”
Lee Sol sat leaning against the wall, as if that didn't matter to her.
She blinked languidly.
“I'm really tired··· I think I'll fall asleep right away···.”
Yaaawn···.
Lee Sol yawned lightly and asked,
“···Where did we say we were going tomorrow?”
“Wait a second. Let's see··· On Day Two, we're visiting several places, but the main attraction is the aquarium.”
Looking through the guidebook, it seemed to be a fairly famous place.
Apparently, it used to be the largest aquarium in Japan. It had been surpassed and was in second place now, though.
Ding—
Just then, my phone alarm went off.
When I opened the screen,
“Oh, the pictures we took today are here.”
Lee Seungho had sent over all the pictures he'd taken today via Instagram.
There were several from inside Don Quijote, as well as the ones in front of the Glico Man billboard.
I'll save them first···.
“Sol, look at this. It came out really well, didn't it?”
“···Where?”
Lee Sol leaned her face over my shoulder.
Shin A-young swiped through the gallery with her finger.
“Ah, I took this one.”
It was a picture with all four of us in it.
Lee Seungho, farther away, came out a little small. Still, the picture was clear and well taken.
“What do you think? It came out—”
“···.”
Shin A-young turned toward Lee Sol and stopped.
The way her gaze studied the screen···
Shin A-young felt like she knew where that gaze was directed.
“···Sol.”
Shin A-young called to her softly.
“Mmm?”
Lee Sol answered languidly, as if she didn't know why she was being called.
Shin A-young voiced the question she'd been harboring for a while.
“You, by any chance···”
It was only a guess, of course.
“···Do you have a thing for Seungho?”
···Ah.
After Shin A-young said it,
she herself realized she'd made a mistake and flinched slightly.
Even so, she stared straight to the side.
What kind of reaction would Lee Sol show to this?
For some reason, she couldn't look away.
“Huh···?”
Lee Sol turned her head, her lips gradually parting.
“···Ah··· No··· I don't?”
That was what she said.
But it was obvious from the way her flustered eyes darted around.
Was she trying to keep her expression under control?
Lee Sol slightly furrowed her brows and asked in return,
“···Why, why do you think that···?”
“···No··· It's just, you seemed kind of interested in him. You were like that at dinner, too.”
Hadn't she kept following Lee Seungho around?
“···I was?”
“Your eyes kept following him, too.”
“···Did they?”
Lee Sol tilted her head. Her eyes narrowed halfway.
She looked genuinely unaware.
···Just as I'd suspected.
Could it be that she hadn't even noticed it herself?
“Well··· that can happen. People usually don't realize these things about themselves.”
There were feelings that only other people recognized first.
People often failed to realize their own feelings.
Even more so when those feelings were complicated and deep.
“So what do you think? Do you like him? Or do you dislike him?”
“Maybe··· I don't··· like him···.”
“Huh? Then?”
“I don't know either···.”
Perhaps this subject was slowly making Lee Sol flustered; sweat trickled down her face.
“But··· a little···.”
Lee Sol slowly opened her mouth.
The tips of her ears were tinged a strange red. Against her pale skin, it stood out even more.
“···He does get on my mind.”
So she did find him distracting.
She hadn't said she liked him, but she had left plenty of room for interpretation.
Lee Sol let out a small breath.
“···For now··· yeah, just this much.”
Lee Sol's face as she said that
was different from her usual languid expression,
and because of that,
“···.”
Shin A-young sat there silently for a moment, at a loss for words.
···And she said that wasn't liking someone?
“···You.”
At that moment, Lee Sol asked her in return.
“What about you?”
“···What?”
What was she trying to say?
When Shin A-young asked back with a puzzled look,
“···I'm asking how you feel about him.”
“···Me?”
What was that supposed to mean all of a sudden?
“You find him distracting too, don't you? You two are always together.”
···Me?
“Me and Lee Seungho?”
Of course not.
“···So? What do you think?”
Lee Sol's voice held a subtle seriousness, too serious to laugh off as a joke.
This was.
The mood called for her to think about it, at least a little.
“···.”
···How did Shin A-young think of Lee Seungho as a man?
Honestly, she'd never thought about it that way.
Of course, he was a fun, nice guy to hang out with.
He was perceptive, took good care of others··· and helped her when she was in a difficult situation.
···Then.
How did she think of him?
“···.”
Shin A-young cautiously raised her head.
“I···”
***
“I···”
“···.”
Lee Sol held her breath, watching Shin A-young's lips.
The two of them spent a lot of time together, so that made it even more significant.
···It had only been a short while, but Shin A-young had become close to Lee Seungho before Sol did.
What was she going to say?
She likes him?
Or would she say that she was interested in him, like Sol?
If.
If she said that, how was Sol supposed to react?
“···.”
It was a moment that made her a little tense.
“Come on, we're just friends. Though Seungho's pretty great···.”
Shin A-young gave that answer with a light expression.
“More like a guy friend? Or should I call him a gaming buddy?”
She folded her arms and nodded.
“I know what you're thinking, Sol, but don't worry.”
···Ah.
“Okay.”
I see.
Now she understood.
“Wow—but Seungho's pretty good, huh? He's got Sol all charmed.”
“···It's not like he charmed me.”
“That's what ‘he gets on your mind’ means.”
Shin A-young smiled awkwardly and playfully nudged her shoulder.
It was a gesture meant to lighten the mood.
“···.”
Lee Sol stared at Shin A-young without a word.
They said people often failed to realize their own feelings.
Now she finally understood what that meant.
···Did Shin A-young even realize it herself?
“···.”
At the very moment she talked about Lee Seungho,
the smile she showed wasn't one created by acting,
but a natural, faint smile from her true self,
was quietly showing through.
···Maybe not yet.
But if things continued like this, then surely.
Shin A-young would···
“···.”
Shin A-young was good at studying, sports, and acting.
She was beautiful, too.
She'd probably be good at dating as well.
But she knew she had no such knack.
···Even if she wasn't good at it, she didn't want to lose out over something like this.
···So.
Sorry.
I'm not going to tell you.