Chapter 30
***
···What kind of situation is this?
“I’ll call you later.”
“Lee Seungho···?!”
Lee Sol called out to him, but no answer came back.
Amid the amusement park’s noisy din, Lee Sol stared blankly in the direction he had disappeared.
He really left.
“···.”
Honestly, she was flustered.
He had suddenly turned around and left right in front of Dotendo World.
Lee Sol couldn’t properly sort out the changed situation in her head.
For a moment, she stood there doing nothing but silently moving her lips.
“···.”
···Should I follow him?
Her fingertips twitched at the impulse.
···But they said that if she left now, she wouldn’t be able to get back in.
What would be the best thing to do?
Lee Sol started to step forward, then put her foot back down. She hesitated and fidgeted.
“Are you okay?”
Shin A-young glanced over at her.
“···What?”
“No··· I mean Lee Seungho going to Nuri···.”
Shin A-young kept darting her eyes around, as if gauging her reaction.
“···What is there to be okay or not okay about?”
It was understandable, though.
Lee Seungho had gone to look after someone who was sick. It wasn’t as if she could complain about that.
Objectively speaking, what he was doing was the right thing.
He was going to check on a sick friend, after all.
···Of course, that was a separate matter.
She couldn’t help wondering if she had been the only one looking forward to Dotendo World.
A faint sense of hurt rose all the way to her throat.
“···.”
···No.
That wasn’t it.
“···Haah.”
Right now, more than hurt, she honestly felt···
A little heated.
Wouldn’t having looked forward to this even a little make her feel ridiculous?
She knew Lee Seungho hadn’t really done anything wrong. Still, she couldn’t help feeling petulant for no reason.
Well. It wasn’t as though she was someone who had to yield to anyone, either.
Would it really hurt to have fun together?
“···.”
Maybe that was why.
She thought perhaps it would be okay to be just a little petty toward him.
A little impulsively···
“Shin A-young.”
“Yeah?”
“···Don’t buy him a Bario hat.”
She said it in a slightly sullen voice.
The words had slipped out before she knew it.
“···.”
Shin A-young’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, and then.
“···Then how about we have just enough fun to make him jealous?”
she replied.
“···Sure.”
Lee Sol took a furtive look in the direction he had disappeared, then slowly started walking toward Dotendo World.
···Whatever.
It was only one day. Nothing would happen, surely.
***
“Ugh—”
I stretched my stiff body and walked out of the theater.
No matter what, I had enjoyed the show.
The front row would probably be nice and cool in summer, too. Unfortunately, it was a little chilly right now.
“···.”
— “···Come to think of it, I haven’t confessed or anything. I can just act like I normally do, right?”
Jinuri’s mini-me nodded.
— “If he shows signs of confessing, I can make it clear then. Besides, I don’t even know whether he just likes me or actually loves me···.”
Well, neither of those is true.
If she acted that way, I had no objection.
Since I had no intention of confessing anyway, our relationship would continue running along parallel lines.
Of course···
— “···Naturally.”
Her mini-me returned with its stiff little gait.
As long as she continued to hold on to that misunderstanding.
It was unavoidable for these awkward feelings to show through like this.
Even if someone acted natural on the outside, what they felt would show through on the inside.
I hurried toward the next destination to change the mood.
···And so we arrived at the second attraction.
“Huh···?”
Jinuri’s eyes trembled.
She looked surprised.
Even so, the reason she wasn’t trying to show that emotion too openly was probably because.
We had come to an anime collaboration attraction.
A collaboration with the anime Demon Slayer.
She wouldn’t be able to go on the attraction because she wasn’t feeling well, but apparently there were plenty of other things here too, so it shouldn’t matter much.
“Ahem···ahem.”
Jinuri folded her arms with the most composed expression she could manage.
As if to say, What is this place?
She looked around with a gaze that tried to seem as observant as possible, but···
— “Wow, wow, wow···!!”
Her mini-me spread both arms and hopped up and down in delight.
Every time it moved, its short brown hair fluttered in the wind—whoosh.
“···.”
Seriously···
That gap was fascinating every time I saw it.
Did she really like this place that much?
I had come because it was written in her notebook, but if she liked it this much, I was glad we had come.
“···Do you like anime?”
At Jinuri’s subtly probing question, I nodded.
“I watch it sometimes.”
I had originally been more into games.
Lately, though, I had started keeping up with anime more.
Maybe because I had enjoyed Chainsaw Boy so much, I had wanted to watch other anime movies too.
“I watched Demon Slayer a little while ago. The movie came out too, you know.”
Actually, I had watched the movie first and only binged the anime afterward.
But I had watched all of it.
It had been so much fun that I could understand why it was popular.
“Ohh~ Is that so?”
Jinuri nodded calmly, but the corners of her mouth were twitching strangely.
She really gave herself away.
Just like Lee Sol, she was terrible at facial expressions.
That was true even without looking at her mini-me.
Just from hearing that I found it fun, her fondness showed plainly on the outside.
— “He’s an otaku too···!”
Her expression brightened.
She began speaking with a delighted expression, saying she had found an otaku friend, and then.
— “···Wait, don’t let your guard down yet.”
Whoosh. She lowered her energy.
Her mini-me straightened its back again.
— “···A normie can like anime too, can’t they? Anime these days is an in-crowd pick.”
I wasn’t sure why she was taking it so seriously, but Jinuri’s expression was earnest.
···But wasn’t she an in-crowd person too?
— “If he’s an otaku, he should at least have watched The Reason My Little Sister and Childhood Friend Ended Up Living Under One Roof with Me—”
Ah.
No, I guess not.
— “Hmm···.”
Jinuri’s mini-me narrowed its eyes and looked me up and down.
— “But··· considering the cosplay pictures last time too··· Maybe he’s hiding his otaku identity in public···.”
She shot me another suspicious look.
“···.”
I silently and subtly moved away.
···Whatever.
I should ignore it and look around at the souvenirs.
There were quite a few interesting things inside.
They were selling dolls of the enemy characters from the movie, as well as toy swords used by the protagonists.
There were even clothes you could actually wear.
“···Whoa.”
I checked the price and put it back where it had been.
This is fucking expensive.
Of course, it cost that much.
···And so, after browsing the souvenirs for quite a while.
— “Hmm···.”
Furtive glances.
I noticed Jinuri’s mini-me wandering around me.
What was this?
She looked desperate to talk to me about something.
Where had the awkwardness from earlier gone?
“···.”
Jinuri cautiously watched my reaction, then, apparently having made up her mind, naturally closed the distance beside me.
— “···Should I sound him out a little···?”
With that thought in mind.
Jinuri picked up a key ring and asked casually.
“Picked out a lot?”
“···No, not yet.”
“If there’s a character you like here, buy that one. I like this character. I think Jinnosuke is pretty cool.”
Hmm?
“···You mean Minosuke?”
“Ah, right, that’s what it was. Minosuke.”
Jinuri awkwardly put the key ring back down.
“···.”
···This.
She had deliberately gotten the name wrong just now.
— “···The fact that he knows a character with a difficult name so well means he definitely isn’t a normie.”
Her mini-me carefully wrote in a small notebook.
She was checking things off one by one.
At this point, it was starting to get a little frightening.
— “···I’m almost a hundred percent sure···.”
Jinuri’s suspicion had nearly turned into certainty, and.
She glanced around, then.
Her head slowly tilted until it nearly touched my ear.
“You, by any chance—”
The moment Jinuri opened her mouth—
“Hey.”
Lee Sol appeared, lightly bumping Jinuri’s shoulder.
Her silver hair swayed lightly.
“?!”
Jinuri’s eyes went wide, then she gently brushed her shoulder.
“You startled me··· When did you get here?”
“Just now.”
Lee Sol answered briefly.
Yeah. I was a little surprised too.
I had wondered how she knew to come here, then.
I remembered that I had texted them after the show, saying I was headed here.
“···W-What was that all of a sudden? You ran off without saying anything.”
Shin A-young followed Lee Sol inside.
She was catching her breath slightly, as if she had hurried over.
“···.”
The two of them seemed to have had a good time; they had all sorts of things hanging from their clothes.
They were wearing mushroom hats and Bario hoodies, with bracelets on their wrists that could only be used at Dotendo World.
Looks like they had had fun.
It was a relief that they had enjoyed themselves, even if it was just the two of them.
Even so, they had arrived sooner than expected.
“You could’ve played a little longer.”
At my words, Lee Sol shook her head.
“The lines were too long for anything else.”
“Ah···.”
So that was why they had come back early.
“···Here.”
Lee Sol gruffly handed me the Bario hat she had been wearing.
No wonder she had been wearing one that looked a little big.
Had she been wearing mine?
···But I asked Shin A-young to get it, so why did she buy it?
— “Huh, what the!?”
Judging by Shin A-young’s mini-me, she hadn’t known either.
“···.”
At that moment, Lee Sol looked back and forth between Jinuri and me.
— “···What’s the atmosphere between those two?”
Her mini-me muttered softly, looking a little serious.
— “···It can’t be···?”