Chapter 98
* * *
“Oh…….”
Ji Nuri looked around the room, letting out a low exclamation. She was impressed that they had managed to find a space considerably larger than expected.
“Is this the clubroom?”
“Yes, we got permission to use an extra practice room.”
Ha Seorim, who had come in behind her, nodded.
She carefully set down the case she had brought, then took out a sky-blue bass.
The other two band members also devoted themselves to setting up their instruments.
“Suck, suck.”
Meanwhile, Ji Nuri was busy looking around the place while sucking down an apple juice pouch.
“Oh, the speakers aren’t bad.”
Swish, swish—She stuck her head out to examine the speakers.
“……Uh.”
Ha Seorim finished tuning her bass and glanced around for a moment.
Should she wait?
“Since this is our first time practicing together, shall we take it slow?”
At that, Ji Nuri hurriedly sucked down the apple juice she had been drinking. Sluuuurp—
“No, no. Let’s just start.”
Ji Nuri promptly picked up her guitar.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat—!
At the drummer’s signal, the grin she had been wearing gradually faded.
Soon, a serious expression settled sharply onto her face.
…….
Wooooooooong——
“Phew…….”
Ji Nuri let out a short breath and ran her long fingers over the strings.
At the tail end of the performance, the jam session came to an end as the volume gradually faded.
She caught her breath. Her dark brown hair was damp with sweat and stuck to her face.
“…….”
Ha Seorim watched Ji Nuri and wiped away her sweat with a handkerchief.
She really was good.
Straightforward admiration shone through. Ji Nuri shone even more brightly when she played an instrument.
Gulp, gulp—
“Phew……!”
“…….”
Ha Seorim watched Ji Nuri chugging water to replenish her fluids.
After a brief moment of tension, she finally parted her lips.
“Nuri unni.”
“Hm?”
Ji Nuri turned her head back. She looked at Ha Seorim with the sharp gaze she wore while performing.
Ha Seorim’s shoulders flinched slightly. She still wasn’t used to it.
Perhaps because of that, she asked her question even more nervously.
“Um…… shouldn’t we go onstage at the arts festival, too?”
“We?”
“Yes. I think one or two songs would be fine.”
It was possible.
Ha Seorim seriously believed that. Even though they had barely practiced together, her playing matched Ji Nuri’s well.
More precisely, Ji Nuri was the one matching her playing well.
The other members had brought it up beforehand, too. They had asked whether they should try performing at the arts festival.
“I’m not sure…….”
Ji Nuri fell into brief consideration. Her expression suggested she wasn’t particularly eager.
Ha Seorim quickly made her case.
“For reference, I was thinking of these two songs.”
She tapped her phone a few times and showed it to Ji Nuri.
They were probably songs that suited her taste.
They were both pop-rock songs.
“……Oh, they’re pretty ordinary?”
Ji Nuri muttered under her breath as she looked at them.
Having played only anime songs lately, Ji Nuri had naturally come to imagine that genre when thinking of songs to practice together.
“What?”
Ha Seorim, unaware of that, could only tilt her head in confusion.
Ordinary?
She didn’t know what kind of ordinary Ji Nuri meant. Did she mean the songs were monotonous?
Then again, they weren’t especially difficult songs.
“Yes, they’re ordinary.”
Ha Seorim agreed.
“……Hmm.”
Ji Nuri rolled her eyes around as though deep in thought.
At the end of that thought, she tilted the corners of her mouth to one side. It was a faintly mischievous smile.
“Okay. Then shall we do it?”
Ji Nuri accepted without a care. Unlike her hesitation just moments ago, it was a refreshing, decisive affirmative.
“Practice is over, so do you want to get something to eat to celebrate our first practice? My treat at the school store.”
““Oh—!””
The kids responded to Ji Nuri’s words with excited enthusiasm.
Ha Seorim silently followed after them.
She was a good person, unlike her first impression.
Ha Seorim herself often heard things like that, too. That she looked prickly.
But Ji Nuri was slightly different from that.
It felt as though her exterior and interior didn’t match.
“……”
That was why Ha Seorim found Ji Nuri so intriguing.
They were bandmates now, too.
She carefully opened her mouth.
“……How did you end up joining the counseling club, Nuri unni?”
“Hm?”
Ji Nuri questioned her while still eating.
“You were originally in the band club, right?”
“Ah, that?”
“If it’s uncomfortable to talk about—”
“No, it’s not exactly that. There was a somewhat complicated issue, though.”
Ji Nuri chuckled repeatedly, saying it was funny to think about now.
“It’s all been resolved now. Um, as for leaving the band club and joining the counseling club…….”
Ji Nuri continued speaking as she twisted open the bottle cap.
“A close friend belonged to the counseling club, so I jumped right in. I didn’t have anywhere else to go, either.”
If she meant a close friend……
“Lee Seungho sunbae……?”
“No?”
Ji Nuri shrugged.
“We weren’t that close back then. We were just classmates.”
Then had they grown close since then?
“……Isn’t it uncomfortable or anything?”
“Uncomfortable? Not particularly.”
Ji Nuri tilted her head as though puzzled.
“Ayoung takes really good care of me, and Soli’s adorable.”
Ji Nuri giggled.
“Seungho’s really perceptive. He always takes care of things a step ahead.”
“Ah…….”
Ha Seorim nodded in agreement.
She knew what Ji Nuri meant.
Something like that had happened to her a few times at her part-time job.
Anyway, she was glad nothing was wrong.
“……?”
Seeing that, Ji Nuri tilted her head.
She thought Ha Seorim had said they were only middle-school seniors and juniors who knew each other by face.
But Ha Seorim had responded with rather familiar understanding.
That was a little puzzling.
* * *
Counseling Club room.
As time passed as usual, Ji Nuri suddenly brought up the subject.
“A performance?”
I voiced my confusion.
“Yeah.”
“You?”
My eyes narrowed slightly.
Hadn’t she made such a fuss about being embarrassed at the last event?
‘No, back then……!’
Realizing what my look meant, Ji Nuri whispered with a reddened face.
She lightly tapped my shoulder repeatedly.
“……What?”
Blinking blankly, Isol looked between the two of us.
Ji Nuri let out an awkward laugh and changed the subject.
“……It’s nothing.”
“Hmm.”
“Right?”
Ji Nuri nudged my elbow. It was a signal for me to agree quickly.
I stood still, putting on an air of knowing absolutely nothing.
“…….”
Then Isol flopped back down onto the sofa.
— “Did something happen between you two…….”
The Minimi flopped forward.
Her suspicion still hadn’t been erased.
“Ahem. Anyway, don’t be surprised when the time comes.”
Ji Nuri let out a fake cough.
— “I’m looking forward to seeing what expression she makes.”
Ji Nuri’s Minimi shrugged its shoulders.
It already seemed excited for that day to come.
I watched it quietly for a moment, then asked,
“Do you have time to practice?”
“It’s fine. Once we get our timing down a little more, I think we’ll be good enough to go onstage.”
“Really?”
I wasn’t an expert in music, so I supposed that was good enough.
We weren’t taking an exam, and there was no reward for participating. We were only going out there to enjoy ourselves.
Whether we were good or bad wasn’t all that important.
“Oh, right. We have to prepare, too.”
I stood up. I was talking about preparing for the arts festival.
There wasn’t much to prepare, but there was a big difference between practicing once and not practicing at all.
“Let’s just try the board game once.”
We each moved to a different seat.
Shin Ayoung naturally took on the role of customer, and I sat facing her.
Clack-clack-clack-clack—
I shuffled the cards. After dealing two cards to each of us, I held one up to my forehead.
Once that was done—
— “A five.”
Although I could hear the Minimi’s words in real time, I had to use a trick this time.
I shifted my gaze behind Shin Ayoung.
“What was the trick again?”
At my question, Ji Nuri trotted over.
She stopped a short distance behind Shin Ayoung.
“When the game starts, you stand here naturally, then sneak a look at the card from behind.”
Ji Nuri stuck out her head. As a demonstration, she stole a glance at Shin Ayoung’s card.
“Then you give a signal.”
“……How are you going to signal?”
“If the card you’re holding is number one, you blink your left eye once.”
Ji Nuri moved her eyelid up and down.
“There.”
She held out her palm as if telling me to try it now.
Isol was the helper.
“……Ugh.”
Isol tried to wink with one eye, but it didn’t work, and her eyelid merely trembled.
Bliiink—!
She tried somehow, but all she could do was squeeze both eyes shut.
Some people just can’t wink.
“…….”
Shin Ayoung rose slightly from her seat and asked,
“……Should I do it?”
“Yeah, that’d be better.”
I nodded slightly.
The helper was replaced. Isol became the person sitting across from me.
She wore a slightly sullen expression.
“For number two, blink twice.”
Shin Ayoung blinked twice.
“Hmm.”
I nodded.
Good. With this—
“……Wait, then what about number ten?”
My movement stopped. I realized the problem with this trick.
I raised my head.
Shin Ayoung clenched her fist and desperately began firing off winks.
— “Hwaaaang……!”
The Minimi’s facial muscles trembled.
She had done fine up to five, but from then on her eyelids trembled so much that I couldn’t tell how many times she had blinked.
The higher the number got, the harder it became.
“Hey, hey, this won’t work.”
I put the cards back down.
“Hmm.”
Ji Nuri let out a short groan as she watched.
“……Then how about expressing it with hand signals, like in baseball?”
Shin Ayoung rubbed her eye with her palm, then offered an idea.
I tidied up the cards and asked,
“Baseball?”
“Yeah. The left ear for number one, the right ear for number two……something like that?”
“Huh? That works.”
It really wasn’t a bad idea.
With this, we could convey the number while acting naturally, and even high numbers could be expressed simply.
— “Hehe.”
Shin Ayoung’s Minimi lifted the corners of its mouth proudly.
— “……She’s only being needlessly picky with me.”
Ji Nuri’s Minimi stuck out its lower lip.
……No, then come up with a good idea yourself.
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(!Signboard!)
(There’s an AI illustration if you scroll down!)
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Ha Seorim
+It’s hard to get a medium-sized one... There’s no in-between.