Chapter 32
Shaaah—
Rain roared down like a massive waterfall.
The gloomy clouds must have been storm clouds, because they blanketed the sky and poured an enormous amount of rain onto the ground.
"Haa…. This is bad…."
Since I'd only planned to go out briefly and come right back, I hadn't brought an umbrella or anything.
The one saving grace was that there was a park nearby, so I could take shelter beneath one of the large trees there.
At least I avoided ending up looking like a drowned mouse….
The problem was, I was now completely stuck here.
"Haa…. I should've brought an umbrella…."
The rain pouring hard from the sky showed no sign of stopping, pounding the ground without mercy.
And one Snow Woman sat there, quietly watching it.
I think I once heard that the sound of rain makes you sleepy….
But the sound of rain pelting down like bullets only sharpened my senses instead of making me sleepy.
How much longer would I have to keep sitting here….
Of course, I could just go and let the rain soak me.
Because I'm a Snow Woman, not a vampire.
But if I did that, my whole body would be drenched, and I'd have to wash and dry my hair all over again after finally getting it dry, which would be a huge hassle.
Thinking about it, it was better to wait it out beneath the tree.
Unless an umbrella just popped out of nowhere….
"...No, it might be possible."
At the thought of it appearing, a great idea struck me.
I'm a Snow Woman who can make ice, after all, right?
Then couldn't I make an umbrella out of ice?
My control has improved a little lately, so there's a chance…!
"I can do it!"
Having thought of a way out of this predicament, I immediately focused and began making ice in the shape of an umbrella.
Focus…. Focus…!
I focused for a while, beginning to condense the cold into umbrella form….
Soon, an umbrella-shaped piece of ice really did appear.
"...It's a little small, but it'll be fine."
Maybe I hadn't visualized the size clearly enough; it came out tiny, like a folding umbrella….
It's fine. I'm small too!
With a small umbrella to match my small frame, I tried to head home—
"Ah, it's cold!"
The moment I grabbed the ice umbrella, the cold made me drop it.
W-wait…. I'm a Snow Woman, aren't I?
I'm a Snow Woman, but I can't hold ice? Ice, why are you doing this to me?
Thinking something was wrong, I tried several more times….
It was still too cold to hold.
...Thinking about it rationally, even shaved ice had given me brain freeze, and I felt the cold when eating ice cream too, so apparently even a Snow Woman's sense of pain couldn't handle gripping ice with her bare hands.
"Haa…. I thought that was a good idea…."
In the end, my ice-umbrella plan failed, and I had no choice but to sit beneath the tree again and wait for the rain to stop.
"Haa…. I'm bored…."
While I idly watched the still-heavy rain and wondered when it would stop….
"Meow."
Suddenly, a cat walked toward the tree I was under, perhaps to get out of the rain.
The cat stretched its back, letting out a long shaaa—.
It then circled around, found a spot, curled up, and lay down.
Apparently, this cat also planned to rest here for a while until the rain stopped.
“...Cute.”
My view, which had been occupied by the scenery until then, was now completely taken over by the cat.
Its ears twitched as it slept, and its tail swished from side to side as if content.
My gaze drifted gently after the swaying tail.
Just as you'd expect from an animal that survives on cuteness alone, even its sleeping form gave off an aura of adorableness.
It even reminded me of those sisters I'd seen before, but a real cat had something unbeatable about it….
“...It should be okay if I pet it just a little, right?”
The cat was lying beside me, completely defenseless.
That meant it wouldn't move if I gently petted its head, right?
I slowly reached toward the cat, which was purring softly in its sleep.
Careful…. Careful….
I slowly extended my hand toward the cat so as not to wake it by accident.
Holding my breath, I carefully moved my hand until it was above the cat's head, but—
“Meow!”
“Ow!”
The cat must have noticed at some point; it quickly scratched my hand and backed away.
Oww…. This tiny little thing….
The cat's claws left a small scratch on my arm.
It wasn't bleeding, but it stung a little, which was incredibly irritating.
Grr…. Now that it's come to this, I'll pet its head out of sheer stubbornness…!
My unnecessary pride kicked in, so I straightened up to pet the cat and watched where it moved.
Perhaps because of what had happened earlier, the cat stared at me as if threatening me.
Hmm…. This is going to be difficult unless I lower its guard first….
If it was this wary, it would obviously run away if I approached carelessly.
So I needed to lower its guard a little—but how?
“Meow….”
The cat looked at me and let out a low meow.
No matter how I looked at it, it still seemed wary.
Hmm…. If only we could communicate through words….
...Wait, words?
“M-meow…?”
To communicate with the cat, I held my hand in a cat-paw shape and tried imitating its meow.
“Meow…?”
“Meow-meow!”
To my surprise, it seemed to work: the cat lowered its guard a little, and its gaze grew calmer.
Good. Just a little more like this…!
“Meow meow meow-meow!”
“Meow….”
As I kept making cat noises, the cat's guard gradually relaxed.
Good…! It's working! I think just a little more will do it.
I am a cat…. I am a cat…!
“Meeeow, meow!”
“...Seolhwa?”
“Meow?”
When I turned around at the sudden sound of a human voice, there was—
Hyeonwoo, holding an umbrella.
“Eek…!”
I was dumbfounded for a moment, then realized I'd just shown him this bizarre scene; my face flushed, heat rose to my head, and steam began to billow out.
Too embarrassed to show my face, I covered it with both hands still shaped like cat paws and fled behind the tree to hide.
Agh…. Seriously…! Why does he only show up when I'm doing something like this…!!
“...It's okay. I understand. People can imitate cats sometimes.”
“Shut up!!”
======
About thirty minutes later.
After finally calming down, I explained what had happened to Hyeonwoo.
“So…. You were here because you didn't bring an umbrella?”
“Yeah….”
After I explained, Hyeonwoo looked at me with an expression that seemed to say, ‘What on earth is up with Seolhwa….’
Ugh…. He probably thinks I'm even more of a child now….
For the record, Hyeonwoo had been on his way home after class, and the cat, startled by the noise I'd made, had run off somewhere.
I wanted to pet its head…. What a shame….
“Nothing to be done…. Come on, we'll share my umbrella on the way home.”
Hyeonwoo gestured for me to come under his umbrella as he spoke.
In the end, I'm just getting his help again…. Then at least….
“Hyeonwoo, Hyeonwoo.”
“What's wrong?”
“At least let me carry the umbrella!”
At least I wanted to be of some help to Hyeonwoo, so I tried to carry the umbrella myself.
“Huh? No, that….”
“It's fine! Give it to me!”
Hyeonwoo didn't look too pleased, but after my persistence, he eventually handed me the umbrella.
For the record, Hyeonwoo and I had a pretty large height difference.
And the resulting disaster was….
“...Um, Seolhwa.”
“...Yeah.”
“The umbrella keeps getting caught on my head.”
“...Sorry I'm such a short Snow Woman.”
I tried my best to hold the umbrella high despite my short stature, but it kept catching on Hyeonwoo's head.
Oh no….
======
With no choice, we walked home with Hyeonwoo holding the umbrella.
“The refrigerator was empty too. Don't we need to buy groceries?”
“It's fine. I ordered groceries online.”
As we walked and talked, I found out that Hyeonwoo already knew the refrigerator was empty.
...Oh, I see! What I was about to do would've been pointless.
Of course…. Hyeonwoo was the one who cooked, so he'd know better than anyone that the refrigerator was empty….
This is making me depressed for no reason….
Why does everything I do turn out like this….
“...But what's up with your arm? Are you hurt?”
“Huh? My arm?”
When I looked at my arm after Hyeonwoo pointed it out, the scratch from the cat earlier was still reddish.
“Ah…. I tried to pet a cat earlier, but it attacked me, haha….”
“You should be more careful…. I have some medicine. Want me to put some on it?”
“It's fine. It's just a little thing like this.”
“What if it leaves a scar? You should put something on it.”
“I told you, I'm fine. Snow Women heal naturally well, so it won't leave a scar.”
“Even so….”
Hyeonwoo seemed worried about the wound, but I didn't think it was a big deal.
It's only a scratch. Why would I put medicine on it…. Honestly, he worries too much.
“Ah…. I wanted to pet the cat's head…. What a shame.”
“Pet its head….”
To keep him from worrying any more, I changed the subject by bringing up the cat.
I told him things like how the cute cat had tried to take shelter from the rain, pretended to be asleep, and then ambushed me.
“So that cat….”
Then, when I noticed Hyeonwoo had fallen silent and glanced over, I found him quietly staring at my head.
“What's wrong? Is there something on my head?”
“...No, nothing.”
“Huh…?”
As I stared hard at the strangely behaving Hyeonwoo, I suddenly noticed that one of his shoulders was getting slightly wet outside the umbrella.
It seemed to be because Hyeonwoo was standing a handspan away from me.
“Hyeonwoo, come over a little. Your shoulder's getting soaked.”
“...It's fine. What's a little rain?”
“No, but still….”
“It's fine.”
This time, Hyeonwoo brushed it off as no big deal and stayed where he was, but once I'd noticed his shoulder getting wet, I couldn't stand by.
“There!”
“S-Seolhwa?”
If Hyeonwoo wouldn't come over, I'd just go to him!
I immediately pressed close against Hyeonwoo so his shoulder wouldn't get wet.
“It's not getting wet anymore, right? Hehe….”
“Ah…. Um….”
Thinking Hyeonwoo would be happy now that his shoulder was no longer getting wet, I looked at him with a silly grin, but—
Hyeonwoo turned his head away, avoiding my gaze with an awkward expression.
“Huh? What's wrong?”
“...Nothing.”
“Come on….”
Hyeonwoo's inexplicable behavior bothered me, so I kept asking, but he never explained himself before we reached home.