Chapter 29
***
— “···Could this guy possibly like me?”
At the words Jinuri's mini-me muttered softly,
“?”
I frowned without thinking.
Huh?
I was at a loss for words for a moment.
How did it get to that?
That slightly surprising conclusion left me dumbfounded, but···
“···.”
···Come to think of it, I suppose she could see it that way.
From Jinuri's perspective, unaware of my situation, I suppose I'd been overly kind to her.
— “···Let's handle this better this time so we don't end up like last time···!”
Her mini-me hopped left and right, making a huge fuss.
I needed to change the subject naturally before Jinuri went any further.
I handed her the envelope and held out my other hand.
“···.”
Jinuri glanced down at it.
— “···What does this mean? Is he asking me to hold his hand?!”
Her mini-me covered its mouth with its tiny hands.
···No.
“Give me the money. Three thousand yen.”
“Ah.”
Jinuri fell silent for a moment, then
rummaged through her wallet and handed me the bills.
— “···.”
Embarrassed by her misunderstanding, the tips of her ears were slightly red.
Both Jinuri and her mini-me.
I dragged over a chair and sat beside the bed.
Rustle.
I took out the turtle-shaped calzone I'd bought along with her lunch.
Calzone. To be honest, I didn't know what kind of food it was.
I had only bought it because it vaguely looked like bread.
Click—
Since it looked pretty, I took a picture of it, too.
Jinuri stared at it quietly before saying,
“···I didn't expect you to like taking pictures.”
“What do you mean, ‘didn't expect me to’?”
“Don't boys usually not like this sort of thing?”
“···Is that so···?”
Thinking about it carefully, I supposed that might be true.
“Girls usually take lots of pictures for Insta.”
Jinuri tossed the medicine into her mouth.
“Mm.”
···True.
Come to think of it, I was in the Theater and Film department, too.
Maybe being around cameras so often had made it feel natural to me.
Not that I wouldn't take pictures anyway.
“Even if you don't upload them, this is all you have left in the end. It's fun to look at them later, too.”
“That's true.”
I handed Jinuri a disposable spoon.
“Here, you eat some, too.”
“Mm···.”
Jinuri hesitated a little.
She seemed unsure about eating after having an upset stomach.
“They say it's better to eat a little as long as you haven't vomited. I just asked to be safe.”
I discreetly gestured toward the nurse bustling around behind us.
Of course, she said not to eat much—just enough to settle her stomach.
I wasn't forcing her.
“If you really can't eat, you don't have to.”
Apparently, that wasn't the issue. Jinuri carefully scooped up some oatmeal.
“···It's good.”
Jinuri's sharp eyes narrowed pleasantly.
The neat corners of her mouth lifted slightly.
Fortunately, it seemed to suit her taste.
“How's your stomach?”
“Better than before. Resting here helped.”
— “Did the medicine take effect right away?”
The mini-me lightly patted its stomach.
Judging by her mini-me's reaction, she really did seem to be all right.
At this rate, we could probably check with the nurse and leave soon.
···Before that, should I text them?
Tap-tap.
I texted the two people in Dotendo World.
— Lee Seungho: Jinuri seems to be feeling better.
— Lee Seungho: Let's join up later.
Were they having fun?
The 1 beside the messages still hadn't disappeared.
I put my phone in my pocket and stood up.
“All right, if you're feeling okay, let's head out. They said sightseeing would be fine as long as you don't strain yourself.”
“If we're sightseeing, do you mean the parade?”
“No, not that.”
I racked my brain, trying to remember what was written in the notebook.
“You wrote down a pirate show···? Something like that. You said it was popular.”
“Ah~ Right, there was something like that, too.”
Universal Studios wasn't only about the rides.
Apparently, there were several shows as well.
Jinuri didn't seem to know much about them, either.
Since it wasn't on the itinerary, she apparently hadn't researched it very thoroughly.
Whatever the case, that was our destination now.
It was the only thing we could do in our current situation.
······
I left the first-aid room with Jinuri.
The hum of voices that had been inaudible inside grew loud again.
“···.”
“···.”
We walked side by side.
We were walking side by side, but···
— “Naturally. Naturally.”
Jinuri's mini-me kept sneaking glances at me as it followed along with stiff little steps.
A faint sense of distance could be felt in her tiny, quick steps.
“···.”
She had been like that since earlier.
That was probably how Jinuri was feeling right now.
It seemed necessary to clear up this misunderstanding.
If my kindness had caused the misunderstanding,
then I just had to show her that kindness wasn't something I reserved for her alone.
“···.”
I rolled my eyes around and looked over the surroundings.
It wasn't someone I knew, and this was something I normally would've held myself back from doing, but···
— “It said this was the way··· This is weird···!”
A blond tourist's mini-me was studying a small map from side to side.
Tears were welling up at the corners of its eyes.
···There they were, right over there.
As luck would have it, I found a suitable person.
“Wait a sec.”
“?”
Leaving Jinuri behind with a puzzled look, I hurried my steps.
I turned on the translation app and exchanged a few words with them.
It seemed they couldn't find the attraction they wanted, and fortunately, I happened to know where it was.
I pointed out and explained where the place they were looking for was.
The foreign tourist smiled brightly, thanked me, and left.
Jinuri stealthily approached from behind and asked,
“What was that? What happened?”
“There was someone lost, so I helped them.”
I gestured toward the foreigner walking away.
“Oh··· You actually noticed that? How did you know?”
“They stood out because they were blond.”
When I brushed it off with that vague excuse,
Jinuri merely admired me and didn't raise any particular questions.
“Hold on.”
“Huh? Again?”
I told a tourist looking for a trash can where it was,
then found a grandmother's lost wallet,
and took a lost child to the lost-and-found center.
“···.”
I wiped the sweat running down my forehead away.
Somehow, I felt a little proud, too.
Having done some good deeds, I wondered if luck might follow, just like something a Japanese baseball player once said.
Phew.
This should be enough.
— “···Aren't you being a little too nice···?”
Jinuri's mini-me narrowed its eyes at me.
···Was that too much?
No, the effect was definitely clear.
This was all about leaving a strong impression, after all.
— “···So he didn't like me. I just misunderstood him for no reason.”
The mini-me scratched its head awkwardly.
Good.
With this, the misunderstanding was definitely cleared up.
“···.”
As we made our way around doing good deeds, it took us some time to reach the pirate show.
“Ah, there it is.”
Jinuri raised her hand and pointed at the building where the pirate show was being held.
We followed the crowd inside.
A huge circular tank stood in the center.
It was called a pirate show, but apparently they had set up a stage on the water.
Maybe because there were still about thirty minutes until the show began,
“There are still plenty of seats.”
···At the same time,
people began pouring in from behind us.
Were they Chinese tourists? They really came flooding in.
“···People are filling up. Let's sit down quickly.”
We hurried down to the front row.
We promptly claimed seats on the blue chairs.
“Phew···.”
“That was close.”
Jinuri and I sighed in relief.
According to the schedule, we'd have had to wait quite a while for the next show. Missing this one would be a huge loss.
···To kill time until the show began, we casually shot the breeze.
Now that the misunderstanding had been cleared up, Jinuri continued the conversation with a much more relaxed expression.
Maybe thirty minutes passed like that···?
— [#$%^&&*$@ ···!]
An announcement came through the speakers.
It was in Japanese, and the mumbling was so heavy that I couldn't understand it.
“Looks like it's starting now.”
The voices of the murmuring crowd began to settle down,
so I figured that was probably the case.
The person sitting in the row ahead began fumbling into a rain poncho.
“···?”
What was going on?
At that moment, something caught my eye.
There was writing printed on the chair in front of us.
The part hidden by the lower half of the person in front was upside down, making it difficult to read.
I calmly read it.
Spl···
Splash···?
“Whoa···! Hey, hey!”
Jinuri was startled and shook me, raising a finger to tell me to look over there.
As I lifted my head in that direction—
“Whoa.”
What the hell was that?
An actor appeared, hanging from a rope while performing stunts.
Whoosh—!
In the scene that followed, flames lit up the stage,
and a real explosion even went off with a bang—!
The entire show was packed with moments that grabbed your attention.
The highlight was even more spectacular.
The protagonist and his rival engaged in a boat chase over the tank,
and finally,
a model airplane that had risen from behind the stage slowly descended toward the surface of the water.
Only then did I suddenly come to my senses.
“Ah.”
This spot—
Without a moment to think, I raised both arms to shield Jinuri.
Swoosh—!
Cold water splashed down.
“···.”
···This was the splash zone.
Fortunately, we weren't in the very front row, so we weren't completely drenched.
But both my arms were somewhat damp.
“Uh, hey···?”
Jinuri looked up at me with a flustered expression.
At least she seemed fine, perhaps because I'd blocked it for her.
Getting splashed → her condition getting worse → my responsibility for bringing her here.
If anything went wrong, things could follow exactly that sequence.
“···We chose the wrong seats.”
Next time, I'd look into things more carefully···
— “Ah, uh···.”
Jinuri's mini-me's mouth flapped, then it furrowed its brow and shouted,
— “This definitely means he likes me···!”
A very faint flush colored the mini-me's ears.
At that shout,
I looked back over my actions for a moment.
···Ah.
“···.”
I silently sat back down and sipped the drink I'd bought on the way over.
···Damn it.