Chapter 52
— “---Ah, uh···.”
Jinuri's Minimi moved its mouth as if malfunctioning. Remembering tomorrow, it emitted a burst of static with a beep.
— “Cosplaying and performing in front of Lee Seungho---.”
Minimi muttered.
“······.”
I wasn't sure.
Getting onstage shouldn't have been that difficult, seeing as she had been in the band club.
I wondered if there was any reason to react so sensitively.
Was this really something to be so embarrassed about?
— “And on top of that, anime songs···.”
Hmm.
That part was pretty rough.
I admitted it.
— “···Can't I get out of it somehow?”
Jinuri's Minimi plopped down on the floor. It hugged its knees.
It rocked from side to side like a roly-poly toy.
There was no life in its eyes.
— “Aah··· I can't, can I?”
It soon looked about to cry.
Tap tap tap. Light footsteps.
“I've finished settling the accounts. Let's go home now!”
Lee Seungah approached cheerfully, then spotted Jinuri standing stiffly.
“···?”
She tilted her head at the sight.
Lee Seungah sidled up beside me and whispered.
“···What happened?”
It was a genuine question.
At that question.
“···I don't know either.”
I could only mumble vaguely.
It seemed best just to leave her alone.
* * *
······The next day.
It was the kind of weather that gave me a headache just looking up at the sky.
The weather was so nice—nicer than yesterday—that thinking about the crowd about to arrive gave me a headache.
The event continued throughout the weekend.
It ran on both Saturday and Sunday, a schedule that made me worry about Monday waiting ahead.
“······.”
Thinking we'd eat breakfast before starting, Lee Seungah and I entered a convenience store near the event venue.
“What the heck.”
Jinuri was sitting there, chewing on triangle gimbap.
“Hi, unni~”
As if she had known we were coming, Lee Seungah greeted her calmly with a nod.
“Why are you here?”
“···Seungah asked me to meet her, so I was waiting.”
“Really?”
It was nothing important.
I nodded and was about to pass by.
— “Seungho might be disappointed, but··· this is something I definitely need to clear up.”
Minimi muttered that she hadn't been waiting for me.
Jinuri's behavior was absurd, and yet it somehow irritated me in a strange way.
“···Did you prepare well for the performance?”
I tossed out the question in passing.
— “---!”
Minimi jumped in surprise, its body jerking. It even hopped.
“···Don't bring that up.”
Jinuri's eyebrows drooped, and both ears turned red.
“Okay.”
I nodded calmly.
*
We ate breakfast and headed to the event venue.
Our route was the same as yesterday. We changed clothes and put on makeup.
Jinuri also disappeared to change clothes, leaving only the two of us.
“···.”
I stood still with the top of my head held in place. Lee Seungah's hands moved delicately.
“···Good. All done.”
She dusted off her hands with a satisfied smile.
Same cosplay as yesterday. I was dressed as Teacher from Archive.
Maybe because I'd done it once already, this appearance felt familiar now too.
“Look this way for a second.”
Lee Seungah tugged lightly at my arm.
“···?”
Wondering what was up, I turned around.
Click—
The camera shutter went off.
Lee Seungah made a V with her fingers and took a selfie with both of us in frame.
“···What was that?”
I narrowed my eyes at her sudden action.
She wouldn't just take a picture for no reason.
I grew uneasy, wondering what she was planning this time.
“This is what memories are for.”
Lee Seungah shrugged.
She rattled off a perfectly casual excuse.
— “I should send it to Sol unni. Think she'll like it?”
Minimi chuckled, wearing a mischievous smile.
“···.”
I fell silent at those words.
I couldn't exactly stop her.
Since Minimi's existence was a secret from everyone, all I could do was watch.
···Still.
I'll deal with her later.
* * *
‘Has she not arrived yet?’
Shin Ayoung looked around from where she stood in front of the plaza.
She had plans today.
“Ah.”
Shin Ayoung found the person she was looking for and raised a hand slightly. There she was.
It was Lee Sol.
“···.”
Lee Sol came walking over in quick, light steps.
She was dressed incredibly casually: a black tracksuit, top and bottom.
She looked like someone out for a walk near home.
The problem was that they were about to go shopping at a department store.
In a way.
It was a very··· Lee Sol-like outfit.
“···Have you been waiting?”
“No, I just got here too.”
Shin Ayoung gave a slight shrug.
“Really?”
Shin Ayoung walked alongside Lee Sol.
‘I didn't expect to make plans with Sol···.’
Shin Ayoung thought that as they walked slowly.
After all.
Lee Sol had been the one to contact her first.
Asking if she wanted to go shopping together. Apparently, she had nothing to wear.
Jinuri had said she had a performance today and couldn't come, leaving the strange sight of Shin Ayoung and Lee Sol walking side by side.
Honestly···.
After realizing her feelings for Lee Seungho, it was a little awkward.
“···.”
Shin Ayoung gazed at Lee Sol walking ahead of her. Her hand inside her outerwear pocket tightened slightly.
She wondered if she could tell her today.
This was why she had accepted the invitation.
She wanted to tell her in advance while she had the chance.
Tell her what she thought of Lee Seungho.
“···.”
“···.”
The two wandered around the department store. Once they reached the women's clothing section, their pace slowed.
“Which one do you think looks good?”
Lee Sol sifted through the clothes on the rack, examining them.
‘···Doesn't she trust me too much?’
Shin Ayoung rolled her eyes at the question.
Looking back, that was true.
Lee Sol seemed to have noticed to some extent, but Shin Ayoung hadn't expected her to ask for help so readily.
“···What are you going to wear it for?”
Even so, Shin Ayoung asked out of courtesy.
“A date.”
“···.”
Her hand stopped abruptly.
Her heart lurched. It felt as if cold water were sloshing deep inside her chest.
“···Did you make plans with someone?”
Shin Ayoung carefully asked back, pretending not to let it show.
“···.”
There was no answer. Lee Sol stood silently for a moment.
The silence seemed to stretch unbearably long.
Lee Sol glanced at Shin Ayoung, then whipped her head around.
“···Not exactly.”
“···.”
So she hadn't.
Some relief rose within her.
She let out an awkward laugh. Haha—
“···.”
Lee Sol was still choosing clothes, her face expressionless.
Then she picked one up.
A brightly colored yellow T-shirt.
“I think I'll go with this—”
“No, not that···!”
Shin Ayoung raised her voice, her eyebrows shooting up.
The clothes Lee Sol had chosen were appalling.
“Uh··· really?”
Lee Sol looked down at the shirt, breaking into a nervous sweat.
“Is it really that bad···?”
“The design looks way too childish.”
“···Childish···.”
Lee Sol crumpled as if shocked, but.
Shin Ayoung had no intention of backing down.
The colors were weird to begin with. Who wore such a brightly colored yellow T-shirt on a date?
“I wear stuff like this all the time for work···.”
As if making an excuse, Lee Sol mumbled timidly.
Apparently, she wore them for modeling work.
Well, that made sense.
She was a model, so every outfit probably looked good on her.
It definitely would suit her.
But.
“Either way, this isn't it.”
Shin Ayoung took the hanger from her, returned it to its original place, and looked for another outfit.
“Let's see.”
Shin Ayoung flipped through the hangers one after another.
“What did you wear on the school trip? You dressed well then.”
She asked with a grumble.
If I remembered correctly, she had dressed very stylishly.
It had suited Lee Sol's image and enhanced her distinctive looks.
That was when I had thought, ‘So she really is a model.’
“···Mom picked it out for me.”
“Aha···?”
So she had known.
Her mother already knew that Lee Sol had strange taste in choosing clothes.
“Hmm, this one looks good.”
Held against Lee Sol's body, it was a decent fit too.
‘Models really are different···.’
It looked good on her even though she was only holding it up.
Lee Sol couldn't exactly be called tall, but her face was small enough to fit in a fist.
She looked like a doll. Her proportions were unreal.
“I'll go try it on.”
“Oh, take your time.”
Shin Ayoung waved a hand lightly.
And then.
Her movements stopped.
‘Ah.’
She came back to reality.
‘This wasn't what I meant to do···!’
She hadn't intended to help properly.
Even if she didn't interfere, she had planned to half-heartedly go through the motions.
Yet when she came to, she was helping. Lee Sol's thoughtless behavior had made her start giving fashion advice.
“···.”
Shin Ayoung gently patted her cheeks.
Get a hold of yourself.
This wasn't the point.
*
···The shopping ended quickly.
Only after helping pick out a few more outfits was Shin Ayoung able to calm her complicated feelings.
“Thanks for today.”
At Lee Sol's innocent expression of gratitude.
“Yeah···.”
Shin Ayoung gave her an oddly complicated smile.
It was a truly complicated feeling.
···She wasn't going shopping with her again.
——That was when.
Ding—!
A notification sound rang from a phone.
Shin Ayoung checked, thinking it might be hers, but it wasn't. It was Lee Sol's.
Lee Sol slowly looked over her phone.
And then.
“···.”
Lee Sol stopped short, her eyes fixed on the screen.
She looked a little flustered; her eyes darted around before she stared blankly down at the screen.
“···?”
Wondering what it was.
Shin Ayoung looked at the screen over Lee Sol's shoulder.
“···Uh···.”
It was someone she had seen before. Definitely the girl she'd seen at the airport.
The person in the photo behind her was none other than him.
Perhaps the picture had been taken suddenly; his eyes were wide open.
His sharply tailored suit, strikingly unfamiliar hairstyle, and makeup that had carefully enhanced his handsome face.
···It was Seungho.
It was Lee Seungho dressed up. Had he gone to some event?
Well, the picture had come out pretty well.
“···.”
Lee Sol abruptly turned the screen away.
“Ah.”
A short note of disappointment slipped out.
“···.”
Lee Sol hugged her phone to her chest and took a hesitant step backward.
She seemed wary, her lips pressed tightly together.
Come to think of it, Shin Ayoung wondered why a picture of Lee Seungho had been sent to her.
“···Are you in touch with Seungho's sister?”
“What··· yeah, I guess···?”
Lee Sol brushed her hair back behind her ear.
A faintly smug look rose on her face. It was the relaxed air of someone who was ahead.
“···.”
Shin Ayoung's eyebrows twitched upward.
···I see.
Ah, she already knew.
The moment she saw that expression, Shin Ayoung realized Lee Sol already knew her own feelings.
“How did that happen?”
Shin Ayoung maintained her composure and smiled sweetly.
Hiding her expression was what she was most confident in.
And yet, for some reason, her voice had dropped lower.
“I met her when I went to Seungho's house to study.”
“Mmm··· really?”
Should I tag along next time they studied?
That became something to consider.
“···.”
“···.”
An odd silence continued.
“···Hmm.”
Shin Ayoung fell silent for no particular reason.
The glimpse she'd caught of Lee Seungho a moment ago kept circling through her mind.
So that's what he meant when he said he had something to do today.
“···.”
Before she knew it, Shin Ayoung was tapping on her phone screen.
···A cosplay event?
If it was happening today, where was it being held?
Tap. Tap. Rat-a-tat.
Ah.
Found it.
“···.”
When she raised her head, her eyes met Lee Sol's exactly.
“···Should we call it a day on the shopping?”
“···Yeah.”
Somehow, they had arrived at the same thought.
They would just go take a quick look.
* * *
“···Hoo.”
Jinuri deliberately steadied her breathing.
It was fine.
There was only one person who knew her, after all.
Lee Seungho was tight-lipped too. It would be fine.
She reassured herself that way.