Chapter 65
“Sss···.”
Jinuri, Isol, me, and Shin Ayoung were sitting side by side, in that order.
Yet none of us exchanged a word.
The atmosphere was choking me.
Whenever it was just the four of us, Jinuri or Shin Ayoung usually led the conversation.
But with both of them silent, things had ended up like this.
— “Did something happen between those two?”
Shin Ayoung had picked up on the subtle tension between them and was merely watching their reactions.
“······.”
Should I try to probe and see what was going on?
I discreetly glanced at Jinuri, who was sitting beside Isol.
“Ahem.”
I gave a small cough in Jinuri’s direction.
“···!”
At my subtle signal, Jinuri jumped and shook her head vigorously.
— “Ah, not right now···!”
“?”
— “I managed to brush it off somehow without letting them find out. If this keeps up, they’ll find out we were talking about anime earlier!”
Jinuri desperately looked away.
“······.”
At that almost pleading cry, I turned my gaze away again.
···I didn’t know whether it was about anime or something else.
But it was clear something had happened between them.
At least judging by Isol’s Minimi, quite apart from whatever had happened between the two of them.
Isol was also upset with me. That much seemed obvious.
“Oh. Right.”
Just then, Shin Ayoung moved.
Perhaps she was trying to ease the atmosphere.
She reached into the tote bag she had left in the corner. With a rustling sound, she pulled out a bag of snacks.
“If you liked the last one, I have other kinds too. Want to try this one?”
She tore open the bag with a playful grin. A savory aroma wafted out.
She took my hand and poured the snacks into it.
“······.”
At the sight, Isol’s Minimi’s brow twitched. Its expression grew even worse than before.
It felt as though the situation was plummeting further and further.
Fortunately, she had brought snacks for the others too.
“Here. You two should try some too.”
Shin Ayoung extended the hand holding the bag toward the two of them.
“···.”
Seeing that, Isol’s expression gradually softened. She began to calm down a little.
“Here, take some—”
Since we were sitting in a line, Shin Ayoung leaned her upper body all the way in front of me.
I felt weight on my left shoulder. Perhaps to keep from falling, she naturally braced herself there with her hand.
“···.”
“···.”
My eyes met Shin Ayoung’s. We were almost nose to nose.
— “······Ah.”
A single note slipped out. Her Minimi had realized what she was doing.
“···.”
She looked at the hand she had placed on my shoulder.
Soon, she turned her head the other way and hopped back to her original seat.
“Ahem.”
She looked calm on the outside, but her Minimi was flailing in utter confusion.
— “---------”
Then another burst of noise came out.
Perhaps she had been startled by her own actions; the noise sounded flustered.
It wasn’t just her, either.
— “---------”
Isol’s Minimi’s eyes trembled as it watched that, and noise burst out at the same time.
The sound hammered into both eardrums from either side.
Listening to it already left me exhausted.
Vwoong—
I put in my earbuds and turned on the noise-canceling function.
The noise became almost inaudible. Only then did I feel like I could breathe again.
“······.”
But the suffocating atmosphere continued unabated.
The subtle battle of nerves was still going on.
‘What am I supposed to do now?’
Where had the problem even started?
I wondered how I was supposed to resolve this.
— “Wow, what is this? It’s really good.”
Jinuri crunched on the snacks along with her Minimi.
— “···Is there any more?”
Jinuri’s Minimi only moved its eyes as it stole glances at Shin Ayoung.
It smacked its lips. One wasn’t enough for it.
“······.”
Watching it, I narrowed my eyes slightly.
I had never felt more envious of Jinuri’s composure.
But I couldn’t just sit there doing nothing, either.
Wasn’t there some way···?
“Hey, hey, Lee Seungho!”
Looking toward the voice, I saw the vice class president below the bench.
“Can you come over here for a moment?”
There was an air of urgency about him.
“···?”
What was this?
Wondering what it was about, I got to my feet.
* * *
I’m not in a good mood.
To put Isol’s current state into a single sentence, that was it.
“······.”
Her lips moved restlessly up and down. Her fingers, demurely folded over her knees, fidgeted.
It was proof of the anxiety she was feeling.
This wouldn’t do.
She had felt that all the more keenly today.
“Sola.”
“···Yeah?”
“···What did you and Nuri talk about earlier?”
Isol’s eyes went round at the whispered question.
No.
Was he really bringing that up so openly with all the others there?
That was what she thought, but···.
“?”
She looked around and saw no one.
Neither Lee Seungho nor Jinuri was anywhere to be seen.
Before she knew it, only she and Shin Ayoung were sitting on the bench.
“···Where are Seungho and Nuri?”
Isol whipped her head around, looking for the two of them.
Had she been too lost in thought? She hadn’t noticed them disappearing at all.
Had the two of them slipped away again to fool around together?
Just as that unease began to creep up on her,
“Seungho was called away by the vice class president earlier. Nuri said she was going to the snack stand to buy something to drink.”
Shin Ayoung answered nonchalantly, tapping her phone.
She was texting Jinuri, who had gone to the snack stand.
Seeing that, Isol felt a little relieved.
“···So, what did you and Nuri talk about?”
“It was nothing—”
Isol hesitated over whether to tell her.
Then she decided to confide in her.
Her reason for telling her was simple.
Because she was Shin Ayoung.
She was a rival, but at the same time, the only person who could truly empathize with Isol’s feelings.
“The way I see it···.”
“Yeah.”
“···I think Nuri is interested in Seungho.”
“Nuri?”
Shin Ayoung blinked at that.
She didn’t look all that surprised.
It was probably something she had already considered to some extent.
“Why do you think that?”
“Just from the way she acts···.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“She’s like you.”
“······.”
Shin Ayoung’s shoulders flinched—
She rolled her eyes awkwardly. Her lips opened and closed, twitching uncertainly, before she finally said,
“···I’m sorry.”
A short apology slipped out.
Isol turned her gaze toward her and asked calmly.
“···Then are you going to give up?”
As she said it,
Isol felt her heart being pressed tight.
It was a question that felt a little too harsh even to her as she said it.
“······.”
A brief silence passed. Shin Ayoung did not answer.
She kept swallowing audibly.
Instead, she subtly furrowed her brows. A hint of guilt showed there,
and in the gaze she directed at Isol without a word, Isol could sense what she was thinking.
‘I knew it.’
Isol turned her gaze back toward the field.
She had no intention of backing down.
Perhaps she had already known the answer. It was merely a useless process—if not entirely pointless—of confirming it one more time.
“Then that’s enough.”
Isol did not accept her apology.
If that was the conclusion, then it was a needless remark now.
“······.”
Shin Ayoung did not mention the matter again, either.
She smiled awkwardly and looked up at the blameless sky.
“But···.”
Shin Ayoung straightened her back.
“Is Nuri really like that?”
She was asking whether Jinuri really was interested in Lee Seungho.
“She doesn’t seem like it to me···.”
“······.”
Isol partly agreed with Shin Ayoung.
That was probably true.
Jinuri seemed to have almost no romantic interest in Lee Seungho. At least, that was how it felt to Isol.
At most, perhaps she was keeping things within the bounds of friendship.
‘···Though sometimes it does seem like she steps over that line and back.’
Either way.
Judging by the looks of it, she didn’t seem to like him. Isol had no disagreement on that point.
Of course.
‘For now.’
For now, that was how things stood.
There was no telling what might happen later.
At first, it had only been her, but then one became two··· and two became three···.
She couldn’t help worrying about what would happen if there were even more.
“Phew······.”
A sigh escaped her naturally.
She looked at the spot where Lee Seungho had been sitting. Only a bottle of the drink he had left behind remained in the empty seat.
Had he said the vice class president called him?
It was obvious without even looking. He must have gone off to help someone again.
“···.”
The corners of Isol’s eyes drooped.
She felt resentful toward him. His kindness to everyone made her this flustered.
This wasn’t his fault.
He had always maintained the same consistent attitude. It was simply that so many people had been drawn to it.
‘But···.’
Feeling hurt was feeling hurt. Otherwise, she would be lying about her own feelings.
How wonderful would it be if emotions went according to one’s wishes?
Emotions weren’t rational.
That was probably why they were called emotions.
“···.”
Isol looked down at the ground sulkily.
Her chest felt tight, as though she were suffering from indigestion.
She simply wanted him to pay attention to her alone.
That selfish desire had arisen within her.
But reality wasn’t like that. And it annoyed her.
She found herself needlessly snapping at Lee Seungho.
“Huh?”
Shin Ayoung, sitting beside her, raised her voice.
“···? What’s with you all of a sudden?”
Isol was startled by the sudden outburst.
Wondering what was happening, she turned her eyes toward where Shin Ayoung was looking.
“···?!”
On the field, Lee Seungho was running toward them, drenched in sweat.
A white sheet of paper was clutched in one hand.
Was it the obstacle race she had just taken part in?
“Huff, huff···.”
He exhaled raggedly and stopped right in front of them.
And then—
“Isol, let’s go.”
“···Huh?”
Her lightly seized wrist—
Swish—
She was pulled away with such ease that her feet followed of their own accord.
‘···Ah.’
She didn’t even have to see her own face to know exactly what expression she must be wearing.
Heat rose to her head. Sweat trickled out.
Unable to look at him, she could only stare down at the dirt.
Simply.
She ran after him one step at a time, following the pull on the wrist he had grasped.