Chapter 93
* * *
“Ha, seriously—”
Ji Nuri's low grumbling escaped.
“Of course I remember!”
Her lips stuck out in a pout.
Ji Nuri picked various items from the store with a sharp look in her eyes.
“···.”
I just rolled my eyes.
Maybe I shouldn't have asked.
This had happened because I'd asked whether she'd forgotten the band club proposal.
“Even so, I'm not that scatterbrained, you know?”
Had I been too dismissive?
Maybe she'd sensed how I regarded her.
Mentioning something she'd been self-conscious about had hit a nerve, and she blew up.
Ji Nuri narrowed her eyes.
“I was just still thinking it over.”
I'd already heard that several times.
“Yeah, I said I was sorry.”
I nodded repeatedly.
In response to Ji Nuri, I placed the basket she held on the register.
One banana milk and an ice cream. Several bags of snacks and several drinks.
She'd picked out quite a lot.
We were splitting the bill, but I felt bad, so I decided to buy her one banana milk.
“···.”
Her eyes were still sharp, apparently not satisfied yet.
— “What do you take me for?”
Ji Nuri's Minimi puffed out its cheeks like a balloon.
We left the store.
“Here.”
I took Ji Nuri's banana milk out of the bag.
Judging from her Minimi's thoughts, Ji Nuri planned to drink this first.
“···.”
Ji Nuri accepted the banana milk without a word.
She went hmphing along, making a show of sulking,
then inserted the straw into the banana milk with a crooked glare.
Slurp—
She sucked on the straw.
“···.”
Sluuurp.
With every sip, her expression gradually relaxed.
— “Mmm~ It's delicious, just as expected.”
Ji Nuri let out a small sigh of admiration at the taste.
— “I'll have to stop by and buy another one before I go home.”
Her Minimi walked along, humming.
Though her expression remained sharp on the outside,
she had softened completely inside.
“···.”
That easy?
I'd been wondering how to cheer her up, so I felt a little deflated.
······.
Having bought everything we needed at the store, we returned to our classroom.
Shin Ayoung had apparently come to school in the meantime and was sitting at her desk.
Isol didn't seem to have arrived yet.
“?”
Why was she acting like that?
— “Sss···.”
Shin Ayoung fidgeted restlessly, her leg trembling.
She looked as though something had happened.
“!”
She soon noticed us and widened her eyes.
“···Oh, you're here?”
Shin Ayoung greeted us with uncharacteristic enthusiasm.
“Did you go to the store?”
She asked, pointing at the bag.
“Yeah.”
I nodded slightly.
— “So it really was the store.”
Shin Ayoung gave a small laugh and returned to her seat.
She abruptly turned her gaze toward the window.
— “Ugh, damn···. Why did I have to have a dream like that?”
Her Minimi blushed, embarrassed by all the fuss it had made just now.
‘···A dream?’
A dream?
I didn't know what it had been about, but it probably wasn't a very good dream.
* * *
After-school club time.
As always, I spent the time hanging around the counseling club.
It was the first day of the new semester, so there wasn't anything to do, either.
“Yes! Only one left.”
Senior Minji lifted an iced tea stick from the snack container.
“···Mmm.”
She looked over the snack corner,
“We need to restock the snacks, too.”
she muttered.
“You're right.”
Since vacation had ended, the snack container had
no snacks left.
There were only candies and drinks in stick form, which were easy to store,
and even those were nearly gone.
“Want to bet on who goes to the store?”
“Should we?”
“There'll probably be a lot to carry, so let's have three of us go and leave one person behind.”
The club president was out running an errand,
so only one person could stay in the clubroom.
Following Senior Minji's lead, Ji Nuri, Isol, and I gathered in a circle.
— “Today, I'm definitely winning.”
Senior Minji's Minimi muttered as it looked at me.
It crossed its arms and peered through the gap between them.
Its determination to win at all costs was plain to see.
— “Rock···?”
Ji Nuri's Minimi swept Senior Minji with a sharp gaze.
— “Rock.”
Senior Minji's Minimi nodded and waved a fist.
They were secretly sending hand signals.
— “Rock···.”
Even Isol, who found going to the store bothersome, joined in.
The three of them briefly exchanged glances.
“···.”
I blinked quietly as I watched them.
‘Hmm.’
Were they planning to rig the game?
— “At least one person's out.”
Ji Nuri's Minimi wore a sly smile.
A low chuckle drifted over.
I asked Senior Minji,
“···It's one round, right?”
“Of course.”
“No complaining if you lose.”
“Okay, okay.”
She nodded quickly, trying to hold back her laughter.
“If you don't throw, you lose! Rock, paper, scissors!”
······.
Slurp—
“Mmm.”
The iced tea Senior Minji had left behind without drinking was quite sweet.
I enjoyed a brief moment of leisure while watching anime on my phone.
Rattle—
“Hello.”
Just then, the clubroom door opened, and Shin Ayoung came in.
“···You're early?”
She had come earlier than usual.
Unless it was exam season, she either didn't come because she went to the theater club or arrived late.
Was the theater club not meeting today?
“It just worked out that way.”
Shin Ayoung nodded slightly and looked around.
“But where is everyone else?”
“They're at the store getting snacks.”
“Everyone?”
“No, the club president stepped out to the faculty office for a moment.”
When I told her that everyone else had gone out,
Shin Ayoung gave a quiet chuckle and set her bag on the floor.
“You won rock paper scissors.”
“···.”
I nodded without a word.
I had been winning quite a lot lately.
‘Maybe I should lose soon.’
It seemed my image was becoming fixed that way. Next time, I should read the room and lose appropriately.
“What are you watching?”
Shin Ayoung plopped down beside me.
She leaned over and sneakily peeked at my phone screen.
“···Someone recommended it.”
Ji Nuri had recommended it.
I didn't want to give her name directly, so I vaguely evaded the question.
“Is it fun?”
“It has a different kind of fun from movies or dramas.”
That was especially true of works with strong fantasy elements.
If it had been made live-action, the CG work would have cost an enormous amount. It was fun seeing the kind of direction only animation could achieve.
“Mmm—”
Shin Ayoung let out a nasal hum.
As her head swayed slightly, her black hair tickled the back of my hand.
Had she put on perfume? A faint floral scent wafted over.
“···.”
It was distracting enough that I could barely take in what I was watching.
The distance between us was strangely close.
She didn't act like this when other people were around. Only when it was just the two of us like this.
At some point, Shin Ayoung had begun openly closing the physical distance between us.
“···.”
“···.”
Our gazes met briefly there.
Shin Ayoung smiled faintly.
“···.”
I turned my gaze back to the screen.
Shin Ayoung silently turned her eyes to the screen as well.
“Should I join the counseling club, too?”
She suddenly brought up that topic.
“···All of a sudden?”
I naturally voiced my confusion.
I had thought it was something that would happen someday.
She had been thinking about it for a while, so it wasn't all that sudden.
Still, this was the first time I'd heard her say it directly.
“Then what are you going to do about the theater club?”
“I should quit.”
“Is it okay to quit so suddenly?”
“···I was planning to quit soon anyway. I'd already dropped a few hints.”
“Really?”
So she'd told them in advance.
That was a relief, but···
“Are you really okay with this? The theater club is the only one at school.”
Once she quit, it would be difficult for her to return to the theater club.
···No, since it was Shin Ayoung, maybe it would be okay for her.
There would inevitably be backlash.
On top of that, given her personality, I couldn't imagine her enduring those looks and going back.
“Mmm—it’s okay.”
Shin Ayoung stretched out her legs and continued.
“They've been making me do nothing but act lately, you know?”
— “···I joined to write scripts. Who said I wanted to act all the time···?”
Her Minimi rolled its eyes as it recalled that.
Her acting skills were too good to waste by not casting her, but that wasn't where her intentions lay.
“···.”
Besides,
judging from her Minimi's thoughts, that wasn't the only reason.
— “···And that senior keeps clinging to me like crazy. Ugh···.”
She must really hate that.
A swear word she hadn't used often lately slipped out.
Her Minimi grimaced and rubbed its forearm, its whole body recoiling in disgust.
“Have you submitted your withdrawal form?”
“Not yet. I'm planning to soon.”
I see.
I nodded and turned my gaze back to my phone.
— “Could Shin Ayoung be in here···?”
A faint voice drifted from beyond the counseling club door.
It was a voice I remembered.
“···.”
Looking toward the entrance, I quietly got to my feet.
“Why?”
Shh.
I raised an index finger to my lips, signaling for silence.
“···?”
I gently took Shin Ayoung by the arm and led her to the desk at the back of the counseling room.
Though she hesitated, she moved obediently.
It was the office desk where the club president or teacher usually sat.
‘Hide in here for a moment.’
I whispered softly and sat Shin Ayoung down beneath the desk.
“···.”
Then,
I dropped into the chair, as if to block the spot from view.
— “···W-what, what, what is it all of a sudden?!”
Her Minimi shouted with a face flushed bright red.
“···?”
No—what?
Knock, knock—
At the soft knock, Shin Ayoung instinctively held her breath,
“Yes, come in.”
When I raised my voice,
Rattle—the door opened, and a man I had seen once before walked in.
‘···What was his name again?’
I couldn't remember.
Anyway, all I remembered was that he was Shin Ayoung's senior in the theater club.
“Hi?”
He raised a hand slightly when he saw me.
It was a genial, good-natured smile.
“Hello.”
I calmly dipped my head as well.
— “···Oh, shit···.”
At Shin Ayoung's sigh when she realized who it was,
my first thought was that it was a good thing I'd hidden her.
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(!Sign!)
(There’s an AI illustration if you scroll down!)
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Technically, it's supposed to be a summer uniform, but it looked best without one, so I'll upload this version for now.