Chapter 28
***
“Hey, are you okay?”
I checked Jinuri's complexion.
Seeing her pale lips and the beads of cold sweat on her forehead, it didn't seem like a temporary issue.
“Hic···.”
She grimaced and bent halfway at the waist.
A stomachache? Her period?
“Hang in there a little longer. Let's go to the first-aid room.”
***
I carried Jinuri into the first-aid room and set her down.
It was quite a long distance from the Henry Potter attraction to here.
Since she looked like she was having trouble walking properly, I had no choice but to carry her here on my back.
“···.”
The nurse began asking Jinuri various questions, and Jinuri slowly seemed to explain her condition.
After three or four sentences went back and forth,
the nurse calmly laid Jinuri down on a bed farther inside.
“It seems your stomach is upset. I think you'll feel better after resting a little. Please avoid rides that put too much strain on your body.”
She continued with a brief explanation to us,
but to be honest, I had no idea what she was saying.
— “You get kids like this sometimes···.”
Judging roughly from what I heard the nurse's mini-me mutter, I could only conclude that it wasn't anything too serious.
···Still, I needed to know what she was saying.
I asked Shin A-young, who had been listening with me.
“···What is she saying?”
“She says it's just an upset stomach, so she'll be fine after resting a little. But she says to avoid intense rides that put too much strain on her body.”
“···What about some medicine?”
“Just a moment?”
At that, Shin A-young stepped forward and began speaking softly in Japanese.
“Is there any medicine here for when your stomach hurts···?”
At her question,
“We are not a medical institution, so we do not provide treatment or medication.”
the nurse replied with something or other.
“What did she say?”
“She says they don't give out medicine here.”
No medicine?
“Instead, we can give you a warm heat pack.”
While I was wondering what to do, the nurse said something and began rummaging through a drawer.
Shin A-young translated it for us.
“She says she'll give you a heat pack.”
Jinuri accepted the heat pack and held it against her stomach.
“Phew···.”
Whether it really was working,
her expression looked at least somewhat more relaxed than before.
Maybe she was starting to calm down.
Perhaps because she felt bad about making us lose time, Jinuri looked at us awkwardly.
“···You guys go on in first. I'll contact the teacher separately···. It's time to go into Dotendo World now, isn't it?”
“Will you be okay?”
“I'm fine. I just ate way too much, that's all.”
Jinuri gave an awkward laugh.
“Ah.”
As if she'd just remembered something she'd forgotten, she pulled a notebook from her pocket.
“Here, take this with you, too.”
I took it from her.
It was the notebook she'd been diligently writing in since yesterday.
“I've written today's route in there, so you can just follow it.”
Jinuri lay down on the bed and promptly closed her eyes.
“···I'll contact you after resting a little, if I feel better.”
— “— — — — —”
The noise was still there,
and Jinuri's mini-me was clutching its stomach and shedding little tears.
She still didn't seem to be feeling well.
It was obvious that having fun in this condition would be too much for her.
“Okay.”
I took Jinuri's notebook and left the first-aid room.
I couldn't stay glued to her side just because Jinuri was sick.
The teacher was coming, too. She'd probably be fine.
···That was probably true.
“···.”
“···.”
The silence continued between the three of us.
There was nothing I could do about this silence.
— “This atmosphere is suffocating as hell···.”
Shin A-young's mini-me mouthed the words.
Apparently, the silence was incredibly stifling to her.
Shin A-young eventually couldn't stand it and raised her voice.
“···We can just have fun for Nuri, too···!”
“···Yeah, I guess we can.”
Lee Sol nodded in agreement.
— “···Is it really okay for just the two of us to go have fun?”
— “It's really bothering me···. But I still want to go to Dotendo World···.”
They said that, but the mini-mes still looked worried.
Maybe this was why I liked going around with these girls.
They were good-hearted underneath it all.
“···.”
I opened the notebook Jinuri had handed me.
It was filled densely with neat, tiny handwriting.
- [Buy snacks immediately whenever the line is especially short.]
Something.
[☆Important☆]
[Things to ride at Dotendo World.]
[Bario Kart attraction ← We absolutely have to ride this···!]
I immediately got the impression that she'd worked really hard on it.
[Things to note]
[There isn't enough time to enjoy all the Dotendo bracelet content in one day]
[If anyone wants to buy one, stop them]
[Things I absolutely want to do!]
···
···
···
The itinerary continued in a long list after that.
Where it would be good to eat certain foods, and which places were worse than expected.
I hadn't looked at the notebook, so I didn't know,
but her notes showed that she'd researched everything much more thoroughly than I'd expected.
I could tell she'd really been looking forward to this···.
“···.”
I quietly closed the notebook.
“···Seungho? Aren't you coming in?”
Shin A-young gave me a puzzled look.
The two of them had finished getting their tickets checked and taken a step past the entrance into Dotendo World.
“Hmm···.”
Frowning, I tilted my head up.
I could see the structures of Dotendo World beyond the entrance.
It was a magical landscape, as if we'd stepped inside a game.
There was no way that could be boring.
···But.
— “— — — — —”
A moment ago, Jinuri's mini-me had flashed through my mind.
Maybe it was because of that.
She hadn't been crying because she was in pain—
“···.”
Ah.
···This was seriously fucking bothering me.
Even if she looked fine on the outside, I knew she really wasn't.
It bothered me more because I knew exactly where her true feelings lay.
If we hadn't been close, or if she had been just a little less pretty, I would've let it slide.
“···.”
I spoke to Shin A-young in an earnest voice.
“···Buy me just one Bario hat. I'll pay you back later.”
“Huh?”
“For now, you guys go have fun without me.”
“Huh? Where are you going?!”
Shin A-young raised her voice,
“···Are you going to Nuri?”
Lee Sol tried to follow me out, but the guide stopped her with a slight gesture.
“Once you leave, you won't be able to re-enter. Is that okay?”
“Huh? Huh? What did you say?”
Leaving Lee Sol behind as she struggled to understand,
“I'll call you later.”
With that, I retraced my steps up the way I'd come.
“···.”
This was the last of the three school trips one could experience in life.
On the last day. At this one-and-only time,
the person who'd been looking forward to it most wouldn't get to enjoy it.
No matter how you looked at it, that just wasn't right.
***
“···.”
Jinuri stared blankly up at the ceiling.
After lying down with the heat pack, the pain in her stomach had eased a little.
The pain gradually faded,
and as her senses slowly returned···
“Ah, shit···! This is so fucking embarrassing···!”
Jinuri's face flushed bright red.
It wasn't food poisoning, and it wasn't her period.
To think the reason she was sick was simply that she'd eaten far too much at the buffet.
How flustered must they have been when they saw that?
“Haa···.”
She let out deep sigh after deep sigh.
“···.”
When she checked the time, it was around eleven-thirty.
There wasn't anything in particular to do,
so all she could do was mindlessly fiddle with her phone.
“···.”
Then a thought suddenly occurred to her.
She hadn't been able to contact her mother all this time. Maybe she should give her a call.
Calls through CocoaTalk were free, after all.
— Ding-ding-ding-ding.
After several rings, the music abruptly cut off. Her mother had picked up.
“Hello?”
— “Oh, honey~ What is it? Do you need anything?”
Need anything?
Those were the first words she'd heard from her mother in a while.
Jinuri stuck out her lower lip as if she were hurt.
“···Do you think I only call when I need something?”
— “Isn't that usually how it is? You haven't even sent me a single text until now.”
“···.”
At her mother's subtly sulky tone, Jinuri fell silent.
She couldn't really argue with that.
“···I just had some time to kill, so I called.”
— “Oh, is that so?”
“···.”
— “Hmm~ Today was the amusement park, right?”
“Yeah.”
Jinuri rolled slowly around on the bed.
— “How is it? Are you having fun?”
She paused.
Jinuri's words caught slightly in her throat.
The softer tone of her mother's voice made something churn near the base of her throat,
and she quietly swallowed it down···
“···Yeah. I'm having fun.”
Jinuri tried her hardest to keep her voice sounding normal.
— “What did you do?”
“We rode Henry Potter. And we ate churros while waiting···.”
Jinuri's gaze shifted outside,
then sank a little lower.
“And··· well, some other things.”
— “Really? Sounds like you're having a good time. Should I send you some more allowance if you're running low?”
“No, it's fine.”
She probably wouldn't be able to spend it all anyway.
A slightly hollow smile appeared at that fact.
“I··· have to go now, so I'll hang up.”
She felt that continuing to talk would only make her more depressed.
Jinuri hurriedly brought the conversation to an end.
— “Okay~ Have fun, and make sure you eat well.”
“Okay.”
The voice from the other end of the phone disappeared completely.
Instead, the distant sound of a roller coaster running outside and people's cheers drifted in.
“···.”
Jinuri leaned her upper body forward and pressed her face into the mattress.
Why had she done that yesterday···
Between a little regret and the situation she was in, she was gradually starting to feel miserable···
“Hey, are you okay? Does it still hurt a lot?”
“?”
Jinuri froze.
That voice···
When Jinuri slowly raised her head, she found Lee Seungho standing there nonchalantly.
Why was he here?
No, more importantly.
“Hey, what about Dotendo World!?”
At this time, they should already have been inside.
Had he still not gone in?
Or had he wandered off somewhere else?
“···.”
Lee Seungho didn't answer.
He set down the bag he'd been holding and took out various things, laying them down.
“···They weren't selling porridge, so I bought some oatmeal. Can you eat it? Or you could take the medicine first.”
Did he buy all that?
On purpose?
“···There was somewhere selling that inside?”
“There wasn't, so I left and came back. I checked the map and there was a pharmacy nearby.”
“···.”
Jinuri accepted the oatmeal, her expression turning slightly dazed.
No.
Even if they were friends, did people normally go this far for each other?
“···.”
Jinuri's eyes narrowed slightly.
A hypothetical possibility brushed through her mind.
Looking at what he was doing now, it wasn't completely impossible, was it?
No way.
···Could he possibly like me?