Lunchtime, at the Audiovisual Reference Prep Room.
I was studying as usual when Yuyu spoke from across the table.
“G-Gla.s.ses.”
At this careful call, I stopped my pencil and looked at her face.
She was looking my way, blushing.
“I think… I have a…”
“Have a?”
“W-Well, that…”
As I was looking at her with an odd expression, she lowered her eyes and made an embarra.s.sed face.
“I think I have a baby…”
“......”
For a moment, I couldn’t understand what she was saying.
“Wha-What?!”
I jumped up from my chair at this unexpected announcement.
“Wh-What are you talking about!”
“I-I was surprised, too. I am a little happy, too, though.”
“Wait! Wait, how could I be…”
“Yu Yuyu peeked up at me and said with a red face.
“It’s like a dream, me becoming mom and Gla.s.ses becoming dad…”
“I-I’m the father?!”
Then that means…
“A-Aren’t you going to take responsibility? You’re horrible…”
“D-Don’t cry! That is, I don’t remember anything like…”
As I was struggling to calm a tearful Yuyu, the metal door of the Preparation Room opened with a loud bang.
“I heard all about it.”
The girl who walked in, her long hair in the wind… was Ka-ryeon, in her waitress uniform.
“Han Ka-ryeon?! How did you get in here?!”
Her clothing aside, I was more surprised that Ka-ryeon, who went to another school, was here.
But instead of answering my question, Ka-ryeon approached me in light steps.
“Sunbae.”
Stopping right in front of me, she tilted her head slightly and said,
“Sunbae, would you prefer a boy or a girl?”
“...Eh?”
Ka-ryeon put her hand on her belly and smiled.
“In here is the… fruit of our love.”
“...What the h.e.l.l are you girls talking about?!”
Startled, I took a few steps back.
“That can’t be! What is going on here! Not just one, but two…”
“Oppa.”
Then, I heard a familiar voice.
Peeking out from behind Ka-ryeon, Yeon-hee was looking this way.
“Y-Yeon-hee, don’t tell me you…”
I looked at Yeon-hee with trembling hands, and she bent her expressionless lips into a small smile.
“Looks like you have another member of your family, Oppa.”
“AAAARRRRRGHHH!”
I crouched on the floor. Yeon-hee, as if trying to comfort me, said in a tender voice,
“Don’t worry, Oppa. It would be trouble if we were really blood-related, but we aren’t”
“Yeah, that’s a relief… Wait, no!”
Almost accepting that for a second, I jumped up and shouted,
“Don’t lie, you girls!”
I cried at the blinking three people in front of me.
“We were never in a relationship! And we obviously never did anything that would result in kids!”
Yes.
I recently lost three months of my memory in a traffic accident.
The three girls in front of me now are the people who claim to be my girlfriend… That is, Yu Yuyu, a cla.s.smate, Han Ka-ryeon, my junior coworker, and Ahn Yeon-hee, my little sister. They claimed that they used to be in a rather serious relationship with me, and tried feverishly to prove it as well.
But none of it was true. It was a lie that the three desperately made up in order to not lose me.
After the truth was revealed and the matters sorted, we made up and agreed to stay as friends in the future.
Which means, this nonsense here shouldn’t be happening!
“Gla.s.ses, aren’t you being too mean?”
However, Yuyu looked shocked at my words and started tearing up.
“That’s horrible. How could you be like this…”
Yuyu started sobbing, and Ka-ryeon gave me a reprehensive look while putting an arm around Yuyu’s shoulders.
“Sunbae, you should take responsibility if you are a man.”
“No, I mean, I didn’t do anything to take responsibility for…”
“There was incriminating evidence in your desk drawer. Don’t try to back out of this.”
Ka-ryeon took out the square box that was in my drawer. When did she get that?
“That doesn’t necessarily mean I used them… No, if I did use them, there wouldn"t be anything like this?!”
“Sunbae, you’re a model student and you don’t know this? They don’t work perfectly all of the time.”
Next to Ka-ryeon, Yeon-hee mumbled expressionlessly,
“My belly is already bulging out…”
“Nonono, that doesn’t happen that fast! Are you sure you don’t have a disease, not a baby?!”
“Oh, it kicked… Fufu.”
“Y-Yeon-hee, making a mother’s face like that! …...N-No, don’t talk rubbish! That happens way after three months!”
Yuyu, who was wiping her tears, then said with a stern expression,
“I-It’s okay. Even if Gla.s.ses decides not to be dad, I’ll take care of the baby by myself…”
“O-Okay. So what I mean is…”
“It’s okay, Ms. Yu Yuyu. Although Sunbae is like that, he fulfills his responsibilities.”
“Don’t call me Yu Yuyu!”
That gets you worked up now?
“Well, this leaves me with no choice. I accept your relationships with Oppa. But the real wife is me.”
“What is this all of a sudden!”
I shouted to Yeon-hee, who was standing with her arms arrogantly crossed.
“Then, Sunbae… You’re prepared to support us three, plus the three babies we now have?”
“...What?”
“You will need to quit school and get a job. I’ll ask my sister to see if she can get you any good jobs.”
“Nonono!”
I was starting to go mad.
“Gla.s.ses, too bad you can’t study anymore… Cheer up.”
“Oppa, I’ll study hard and do your share as well.”
“Sunbae, you’ve studied enough, now you should work.”
“W-Wait! This can’t be happening!”
I jumped up and down, looking at the three girls’ smiling faces.
This can’t be. How could this be happening to me.
“I, I…!”
There is something I must do…!
“I have to study…!!”
“AAAARRRRRGHHH!”
I jumped up from under my blanket.
“Haah, haah… S-Studying…”
Looking around, panting, I saw my familiar room. It wasn’t the Audiovisual Reference Prep Room, and I didn’t see any of the three girls demanding that I take responsibility.
“W-Was it a dream?”
I was soaked with my own sweat.
“T-That was a bad one. Not being able to study…”
Of course, becoming a dad all of a sudden was pretty shocking as well.
Not one, but three? That’s pretty hard.
“Was it because I studied biology before going to bed last night…”
This is all because of that FSH and LH and estrogen and progesterone c.r.a.p. Why do hormones have to have such difficult names?
“...At least I memorized them well.”
Feeling the fruits of last night’s studying coming back, I stretched inside my bed.
Mmm, having what I studied stored well inside my head does feel satisfying.
“Yeah, doing it with three girls at the same time, no way something like that could happen in real life…”
I came down from my bed, muttering.
I left my room and went to the bathroom to wash my face…
“Ughh…”
There, Yeon-hee was going to be sick...!
“Y-Yeon-hee…”
She was in a thin t-shirt and shorts, not yet changed into her school uniform. She was bending over the sink, her expression pained.
“Yeon-hee having morning sickness, was it for real?!”
“......Oppa, are you out of your mind?”
Ahh, my little sister’s cold eyes. It brought my senses back like a bucket of ice water over my head.
“Get ready for school. It’s Monday, you know.”
Snapping at me, Yeon-hee rinsed her mouth and left the bathroom.
Apparently, she wasn’t having morning sickness, she just choked while brushing her teeth.
Wow, that scared me…
After having breakfast, I opened the front door and saw a familiar uniform in front of me.
“H-Hey! Good morning!”
“...Uh, hi.”
Hearing my lukewarm response, Yeon-hee peeked out from inside the house.
“You, why are you here?”
“A-Am I not supposed to be here?”
Standing in front of the door was a girl in our school uniform… Yu Yuyu.
“Of course not. Begone, stalker.”
“I-I’m not a stalker!”
“What are you if not a stalker, hanging around someone else’s house like this. Never come near here again if you don’t want to be reported to the police. In fact, I’d like you to leave this neighborhood completely.”
“I live around here too! Are you going to make me move?!”
Yuyu sulked at Yeon-hee’s unforgiving attacks.
“Uhhh… Say something, Gla.s.ses!”
“Actually, I’m a bit surprised, too, that you’re here.”
She doesn’t have to pretend to be my girlfriend anymore, and I thought going to school with her every morning was over.
“B-But….”
Yuyu said hesitantly.
“I’m a bit, worried…”
“Worried about what?”
“You coming to school, you know…”
“...I’m not a child, going to school isn’t that hard.”
Having said that, I did know what Yuyu was worried about.
“Let’s go, we shouldn’t be late. ...Yeon-hee, I’ll be off.”
“...Walk at least 10 metres away from Kyeong-hyeon.”
Ignoring me, Yeon-hee scowled at Yuyu and slammed the door shut.
...The girlfriend stuff is over, so why is she so hostile?
“...What’s that?”
As we were waiting for the elevator, Yuyu asked after seeing me take a small notebook out of my pocket.
“It’s a word list I made.”
“What?”
“I look at a few words while I’m on the elevator, and I repeat them over and over in my head as I walk to school.”
“Are you serious?!”
Yuyu looked at me, startled.
“Are you studying while walking to school?!”
“This is pretty useful. It keeps me from getting bored, too.”
I couldn’t do this last week because I wasn’t used to walking to school together with a girl, but I think it’s okay now.
“W-wait, you’re going to study alone while walking to school together with me?”
“Do you want to use it?”
“N-No, that’s not what I mean…”
Yuyu drooped her shoulders and made a gloomy expression.
“I-If we’re walking together, shouldn’t we talk or something? I can’t talk with a person who’s memorizing words inside his head…”
“Hmm…”
I was lost in thought for a second.
“That’s true.”
I put the notebook inside my bag. Come to think of it, Yuyu might be offended if she felt neglected.
“G-Gla.s.ses gave up studying for me…”
We took the elevator, Yuyu looking moved for some reason.
We reached the first floor without exchanging a word.
“So, what are we going to talk about?”
“W-What?!”
Yuyu looked surprised at my question.
“You said we should talk. What should we talk about?”
I didn’t walk to and from school with friends that often, so I didn’t have a feel for what the topic should be in situations like this.
Of course, Yuyu and I talked a lot last week, but that was about being in a relationship and such.
“What should we… Yeah, so…”
Yuyu looked rather tense. She seemed to be thinking of interesting topics to discuss.
“You don’t have to force it.”
“No! S-So, umm…”
“...Let’s talk about the future.”
“T-The future!”
Yuyu shouted when I cut her off in advance so she wouldn’t think of anything weird.
“G-Gla.s.ses, would you like a boy or a girl?!”
“......”
The image of Yuyu shyly confessing that she had a baby flashed through my mind.
...This can’t be a continuation of that dream, right?
“...Why are you asking something like that?”
“A-As reference…?”
“Reference for what!”
Yuyu covered her face and shook her head left and right at my loud voice.
“T-That’s… Uhh, Gla.s.ses, how can I talk about something like that here… You’re cruel.”
“What’s cruel is your conversation abilities…”
I can’t figure out what she’s talking about. Is it normal for high schoolers to talk about their future children when walking to school in the morning…?
“Then which would you like?”
“Me?!”
Yuyu blushed bright red at the question and glimpsed at my face.
“W-Well… Then of course… A s-son?”
“...Okay, please do have a healthy boy.”
I blurted out, trying to end the conversation. I felt somehow that we should stop talking about this subject.
“W-Wait, Gla.s.ses, I think that’s a perverted thing to say…”
“Which part?!”
I can’t understand women…
Exchanging such conversations, we arrived at the intersection in front of our school. There were a lot of people wearing our school uniform, and Yuyu, who was walking right beside me, put a little distance between us.
“Uh, Gla.s.ses.”
We were waiting at the pedestrian crossing when Yuyu, who was standing behind me, asked me.
“Is is okay?”
“What is?”
“There was that thing on Friday. Is it okay, going to school?”
“......”
I kept my mouth shut and stared at the red light.
This morning, Yuyu came all the way to my house. It was probably because something was on her mind.
Last week, there was the National Achievement Test. However, I ran out of cla.s.s, breaking the rules. Then I made a ruckus to save the three girls who were held captive by my homeroom teacher - Mr. Kim, that is.
What that event would do to my school life, and what that would cause for my state of mind… Yuyu came early because she had those things on her mind.
“It would be a suspension at most. It’s okay.”
After that day, I waited at home for a possible phone call from school… But there was nothing, it seemed that even teachers took weekends off.
“...Sorry.”
“You have nothing to apologize about.”
“I always cause trouble for Gla.s.ses…”
“It’s okay, really.”
“...Mm.”
Yuyu mumbled in a small voice.
“Nothing changes if I’m sorry, so I guess it’s just for my own satisfaction?”
“I’m saying, it’s okay…”
I did what I did because I wanted to. I honestly didn’t want her to feel sorry or anything.
“But, what are we going to do at school…”
“...That is a problem.”
I frowned at Yuyu’s worried voice.
That day, I shouted in front of many students that I’m a philanderer who toyed with women. And Yuyu was one of my victims.
When we go to cla.s.s today, people will give me a different look than before. An unfriendly look - not the one that they gave to the “quiet studying maniac.”
On top of that, last Thursday, Yuyu went around telling people that she was in a relationship with me. Our cla.s.smates welcomed the news, but when they hear that it was actually me playing with her…
“It must be troubling for you, too. ...I’m sorry.”
In cases such as this, people come down hard not only on the perpetrator, but the victims as well. Even if she did nothing wrong, the looks people are going to give Yuyu will certainly not make her feel comfortable.
“I-I’m okay. I just have to read the books as always and then go home… I don’t have friends, anyway.”
“Well, aside from Sega, neither do I…”
Shin Sega.
I had a heavy heart as I thought of my fine friend. Last Friday, he was watching me do that stuff.
It is likely that my behavior would be quite disappointing to him since he had a diligent and serious att.i.tude towards dating.
Growing distant from Sega would be rather regrettable, even for me.
“What should we do at lunchtime? We can’t use the Prep Room.”
Honestly, I wanted to have lunch and study at the Audiovisual Reference Prep Room like before, but since I was caught there Friday by the homeroom teacher, we won’t be using that place anymore.
“If we disappear from cla.s.s, just the two of us, our cla.s.smates will have suspicions… It’s a bother.”
“T-Then should I stay in cla.s.s? You can leave by yourself… Oh, if you want to stay, either way is fine.”
If we both stay in the cla.s.sroom, it will be uncomfortable in more ways than one. Having lunch together there is out of the question.
“...Let’s just see what happens. It will work out.”
Even if things turn for the worse, it’ll just mean that there will be two more outsiders in cla.s.s. Yuyu and I were both like that from the start, though. It won’t make much of a difference.
Mocking myself like that, Yuyu and I crossed the road, walking some distance apart.
“......”
When I left Yuyu, who said she would go in a bit later, and entered the cla.s.sroom, I felt a variety of looks coming at me.
Before, no one cared whether I came and went or not. I was certainly the center of attention now.
Some frowned openly, and others glanced my way, pretending to do something else. They were not friendly looks. Regardless of whether they were boys or girls.
In their eyes, I was actually a philanderer who tricked and toyed with girls while pretending to be studying quietly.
“...Sigh.”
I strided into cla.s.s as if I had nothing to hide. I put my bag on the desk, maintaining my confident att.i.tude.
There is no need to appear intimidated. Philanderer or not, I just have to sit at my seat and study.
Thinking that, I was about to take my seat.
“Whoa?!”
The warm feeling, no, pressure, on my b.u.t.t.
Feeling something touch me through the gap in the back of my chair, I jumped up.
“?!?!”
Where the h.e.l.l did he come from? Sega, who wasn’t at his seat just a moment ago, was leaning over his desk and rubbing my b.u.t.t.
“A good b.u.t.t today as well, thank you.”
Sega, saying that perverted line with his handsome, smiling face.
This manliest of men, perfect in every conceivable way, touched my b.u.t.t.
I was a bit moved by that.
“S-Sega…”
I was about to cry. Not necessarily, of course, because of the fact that he touched my b.u.t.t.
Sega heard everything last Friday, but his att.i.tude towards me hasn’t changed a bit.
He still looks at me as before and makes the same jokes.
If this doesn’t move my heart, what should?
“T-Touch all you want! I can trust you with my b.u.t.t!”
“Then I won’t refuse.”
Rub-rub.
I saw many of those who were giving me those looks hurriedly turn away. Among those, a few girls seemed to be concentrating even harder at what was happening here, but that didn’t matter to me.
“W-What are you guys doing…”
When she saw us, Yuyu became pale and came to a dead stop as she was entering the cla.s.sroom, but that didn’t really matter either.
As I was enjoying my friendship like that, it soon became homeroom time.
“Okay, quiet down.”
But the person who came in wasn’t the homeroom teacher… Mr. Kim.
A white blouse, a black skirt, and slender legs. Still in her twenties, monopolizing the popularity of the male students… It was Ms. Park Eun-Kyung, the social studies teacher and also our vice-homeroom teacher.
“Mr. Kim can’t come today because of personal matters. I’ll be doing both the morning and afternoon homeroom times today.”
The cla.s.s became noisy at Ms. Park’s ringing voice. It must have been pretty shocking that Mr. Kim, who was like a teaching machine, was taking a day off.
Of course, I couldn’t keep my composure either. While I was a bit worried about having to see Mr. Kim face-to-face, I was more confused than relieved.
Disregarding the hum, Ms. Park started to call attendance. She wasn’t the type to give a warning when students were chatting or not paying attention, but she had a curious ability to quieten things down just by speaking aloud.
“Okay, homeroom time is over. And, Ahn Kyung-heon.”
After making all the announcements and such, Ms. Park stopped and looked in my direction while stepping out of the cla.s.sroom.
“See me in the Counseling Room. Cla.s.s president, please tell the first period teacher that I borrowed him.”
“Okay, Ma’am.”
Sega’s voice coming from behind my back, and the eyes of my cla.s.smates focusing on me.
“......”
I silently stood up.
I saw Yuyu worriedly looking my way, but I’ll only give others something to gossip about if I stay too close to her in cla.s.s. I stepped out, not giving Yuyu a look.
When I stepped inside the Student Counseling Room, the supposedly soothing pastel tone interior greeted me.
“Sit there.”
When I sat on the sofa, Ms. Park opened a cupboard and started making coffee.
Two cups in her hands, she put one down in front of me. Not sure whether I was supposed to drink it, I sat still, but Ms. Park sipped hers silently.
“...Um.”
Unable to bear the silence, I broke the ice first.
“Mr. Kim, did something happen to him?”
“What, you’re worried about Mr. Kim?”
Ms. Park replied to my question without changing her expression.
“Why, do you think he’ll be sick in bed because of what you did?”
Perhaps Ms. Kim saw me cringe, because she laughed.
“Don’t worry. Actually, Mr. Kim’s mother is getting discharged from hospital today. He was supposed to have today off anyway.”
“...Is that so.”
It’s been some time since Mr. Kim’s mother fell ill with a stroke. I thought she was okay now, but did something else come up?
“Well, I suppose he might have spent the weekend in bed since his favorite Ahn Kyeong-heon became a real delinquent.”
“...Okay.”
Mr. Kim Mu-hyeok. As a friend of my father, he became the legal guardian of Yeon-hee and me after father pa.s.sed away.
We weren’t especially close and we both kept our distance, but he still helped us out.
But I let Mr. Kim down. It was to protect the three girls, but I went against him and showed him the appearance of a delinquent with relationship problems.
I know I should formally apologize later and repay my debt, but I can’t fathom when that would be.
“Then again, I’m not sure you’re a real delinquent, after all.”
Ms. Park’s voice startled me.
“...What?”
“Don’t make fun of your teachers, you.”
Ms. Park said, furrowing her brows.
“If you were really out of your mind like that, you wouldn’t become all serious about what I just said.”
“...Oh.”
I unconsciously covered my mouth.
I tried to show a good-for-nothing, rebellious att.i.tude last Friday, but I completely forgot about it just now.
“Us teachers were a bit troubled, too. We all knew what kind of student you are. But you did cause that ruckus, and we were confused.”
Ms. Park said, shrugging her shoulders.
“So they just dumped everything on me since I am the youngest. I’d know your feelings the best since we’re close in age, that sort of thing.”
I realized that my treatment was left in the hands of the person sitting in front of me, Ms. Park.
“You had your reasons, right?”
“That’s…”
“But, you aren’t going to tell me?”
“...I’m sorry.”
I don’t want to explain things and justify myself. I’m also not sure if I can explain the complicated situation so Ms. Park can understand.
“All right…”
Ms. Park sighed and leaned back on the sofa. She didn’t seem to be angry, though.
“Honestly speaking, I don’t want to interrogate you. As a woman, I am interested in the love affairs of others, but what good would it do me to listen to you kids talk…”
I’m not sure what the difference is, but I guess Ms. Park isn’t interested in high school students’ relationships.
“I’ll make something up, so you just wait.”
“I-Is that okay?”
“It’s harder to listen to your story and make it so that the other teachers can understand.”
I agree with that.
“But, um…”
“Yeah?”
“What about, any disciplinary action?”
At my question, Ms. Park crossed her arms and made a thoughtful expression.
“If you think about it, you didn’t really do anything that wrong. Leaving cla.s.s early, roaming around the school, and letting non-students into the building… There is also the affair with the girls, but suspicions are just that, suspicions.”
Ms. Park suddenly leaned forward.
She put her face into mine and asked in a serious tone,
“Did you get them pregnant or something?”
“?!”
The three girls from last night crossed my mind. Desperately trying to chase the memory of them, charging at me and demanding that I take responsibility, out of my mind, I said,
“I-I did not!”
“If something like that happened, it’d be difficult to just let you off the hook, but if not… It’s nothing, really. Definitely not something to give a suspension over.”
That was a bit surprising.
“No suspension? I caused such a fuss…”
If anything, I wanted to be punished for the trouble I’ve caused Mr. Kim.
“Even if we give you a suspension, you’ll just study at home. Hardly any punishment at all.”
“......”
I didn’t have anything to say.
“We won’t give you a suspension for something like this. Just a long talk would do fine. But still, you did make a big commotion… Be prepared for some community service work.”
Community service… I wouldn’t be able to study while doing that, so it would definitely be punishment for me, but still, I thought it was too light.
“So model students really are different? You didn’t have alcohol, smoke, or get into a fight, but you were that worried about punishment?”
“It’s not like I was worried…”
“The world’s more lenient than you think, you know? Even when you think you are crossing the line, people will accept it.”
Ms. Park sounded both playful and grown-up at the same time.
“...Would Mr. Kim accept it, too?”
“It might take time. He has his stubborn sides.”
I nodded, and Ms. Kim smiled and waved her hands in front of her.
“Well, then, get to cla.s.s now. I shouldn’t keep a student from his cla.s.ses, especially in your case.”
“...Thank you.”
After showing her my grat.i.tude, I left the Counseling Room.
I felt strange, like my face was tickling.
After returning to cla.s.s, first period ended and the first recess arrived.
Recess is always noisy with the sound of students chatting. However, I was sitting still at my desk, and no one was paying any attention to me. People gave me curious looks when I returned in the middle of first period, but if I just sit still, their interest fades quickly.
So I stayed at my seat and opened a book. If I just study at my desk like usual, no one will care about me.
I glimpsed at Yuyu, who was also studying with a notebook open in front of her. Perhaps we were thinking the same thing. That’s good. If Yuyu comes over and talks to me, gossip will spring up from everywhere. It would be like trying to make small talk with the guy who played around with her.
Thinking that, I turned my attention to the book when a voice sounded from above my head.
“Ahn Kyeong-heon.”
When I looked up in the direction of the cold voice, I saw braids hanging in the air.
It was a neat looking girl, her soft hair braided over her shoulder. She appeared to be a bit angry, but since she looked younger than her age, it wasn’t really intimidating.
She was small and had little in the way of feminine curves, but the disciplined movement of her slender limbs gave her presence. Her skirt was a bit longer than that of her cla.s.smates, and overall, she seemed to be without fault.
I knew her name. She was Chae Song-hwa, our vice-cla.s.s president.
“...What?”
I replied, a bit tense, and the vice president frowned.
Then I saw the others looking this way behind her. I just wanted to study, not draw attention - what is this…
“Let’s talk just a bit.”
“Talk?”
I blinked at the vice president’s stiff voice.
I wasn’t friends with the vice president. I wasn’t friends with girls in general, really. We might have spoken before since she is, after all, the vice president, but we didn’t have private conversations before.
“...Wait.”
I realized a certain possibility all of a sudden.
I didn’t have any memories of being friends with vice president Chae Song-hwa. But what if I had forgotten it?
What if, during the three months that vanished from my memory, I had built up some kind of relationship with the vice president?
“V-Vice president…”
I looked at the vice president’s face, feeling tense. But it was impossible to deduce from her frowning face whether we did have some kind of relationship or not.
“Ahn Kyeong-heon, I…”
“W-Wait!”
I jumped up from my seat and grabbed the vice president’s wrist.
“?!”
I saw her make a surprised expression. But there wasn’t any other choice. There were too many onlookers here to talk.
“Let’s talk somewhere else!”
“Hey, Ahn Kyeong-heon! What the…!”
I dragged the resisting vice president into the hallway. Being approached by the vice president, then grabbing her wrist and hauling her out of the cla.s.sroom… I realized my cla.s.smates were staring at me, their eyes wide, but it was too late.
“What the heck are you doing!”
The vice president yelled at me when I stopped at an out-of-the-way spot where I spoke with Yuyu before.
“S-Sorry.”
I was a bit rough with her, I admit. I lowered my head, feeling sorry, but the vice president still looked unsatisfied.
Well, she always looked a bit unsatisfied.
“...What, why are you looking at me like that?”
Feeling my stare, she took a step back.
“So, uh… What is it that you wanted to talk about?”
“......”
This time, the vice president looked at me with her mouth shut.
I started to become uneasy at her silence. If there really was something between us, I wanted to reveal my amnesia and hear from her what our relationship was like.
But the calamitous events of last week flashed through my head. After realizing that I had lost my memory, the three girls started claiming to be my girlfriend. That gave me a lot of trouble… Wait, this time, too…?!
“Don’t you even have an idea of what I’m going to say?”
“D-Don’t tell me you’re going to say you’re my girlfriend, too?!”
The vice president’s eyes grew wide. I covered my mouth, realizing that I had said something stupid, but I couldn’t take it back now.
“W-What are you talking about! Who’s your girlfriend!!”
The vice president yelled, her face red. Yuyu also had a thing for blushing, but the vice president was up there, too. She was so red that she looked like a scarlet flower, just like her name. [TL note: Chaesonghwa literally means ross moss (Portulaca grandiflora).]
“W-W-Were you looking at me with those eyes, too?!”
“T-Those eyes?”
“D-Don’t tell me you brought me here because…”
The vice president made a frightened expression, looking around her surroundings.
“Y-You’re going to do perverted things to me, too! You pervert!”
“P-Pervert?!”
The vice president’s eyes, which were looking at me with a burning stare before, were now trembling like those of a frightened herbivore. She was raising her guard against me, her body shrinking.
“I-If you touch me, be prepared to face the consequences!”
“...What are you going to do?”
“I’ll bite my tongue off and die. Then you’ll be charged for murder!”
...No, I don’t think that counts as murder.
“Don’t worry, you won’t be doing anything like that.”
“Are you saying you’ll stuff my mouth and stop me from biting my tongue?!”
“No!”
“I’m really disappointed in you, Ahn Kyeong-heon! I didn’t know you were like this!”
The vice president screamed in a reprehensive tone.
“I thought you were different from the other boys, but you were this perverted…!”
“...Different from the other boys?”
I asked, and the vice president looked as if she was caught off guard.
She turned her eyes away and mumbled sulkily,
“You know I don’t like boys, right?”
“Well, yeah…”
Even sitting still at my seat, I can hear the things that people talk about in cla.s.s. I heard it from Sega once as well, and apparently, the vice president hates men.
It’s not so bad as to affect her social life, but arrhenphobia was enough to seriously hurt men who approached her with stinging words. That was one of the few personal things I knew about vice president Chae Song-hwa.
“But… Ahn Kyeong-heon, I thought you were a bit better than the others.”
“What?”
I opened my eyes wide, and the vice president continued, her face blushing a little.
“You study hard every day, and you don’t chat or slack off in the middle of cla.s.s… Most of all, you don’t chase after girls like the other guys. So I had a good opinion of you.”
“T-That means…”
A thought popped up inside my head.
M-Maybe the vice president…
“D-Did you like me?”
“No! What are you talking about! Why does it come to that!”
...Oh, yeah. Of course.
Who would like a boring guy like me? I shouldn’t make a.s.sumptions like this from now on.
“Don’t get the wrong idea! Because you’re different from the other boys! I thought you wouldn’t be a threat! Cause any trouble or things like that!”
Yeah… Okay.
“But, but…”
The vice president shook all over, clenching her fists.
“Why did you do that? Why did you have such messy relationships?”
She proceeded to yell at me, showing anger on her face.
“Missing the Achievement Test, letting students from other schools in, doing perverted things inside the school with all of them… Why are you doing this!!”
...What? Isn’t something wrong here?
The story I fabricated last Friday was that the girls I meddled with gathered round and had a skirmish over me… Something like that.
“W-Wait, I think there’s a misunderstanding…”
“Don’t make excuses! I saw you too, last Friday! You guys doing perverted stuff in the school and getting caught by our homeroom teacher!”
“I’m telling you, it’s not like that!”
D-Don’t tell me that’s what my cla.s.smates think what happened.
It is definitely more exciting and interesting if you put it that way…
“I couldn’t understand what was going on when I saw it then! But I figured it out after thinking about it over the weekend! You were definitely caught because you did those things!”
“That’s just your imagination!”
I think it was just her delusion.
“No! It’s true that you had an indecent relationship with three girls! Did you not! Three girls! Indecent relationship!”
“T-That was…”
It was hard to deny it when she put it in such a direct fashion. I did, in fact, end up doing things with three girls, and it was a pretty indecent relationship.
“I-I didn’t.”
“See?! You’re stuttering! You pervert! Pervert! Pervert gla.s.ses!”
The stubborn vice president, accusing me relentlessly. I wasn’t sure how to deal with this. There didn’t seem to be a very good way.
“Haaa…”
I let out a long sigh, feeling tired.
“...So, what is it that you want to say.”
I’ve heard enough about what the vice president thinks of me.
Her purpose wouldn’t be to just condemn me, so I’d like her to say what she wants now.
“So, I’ve decided!”
“...What?”
“I’ll keep watch over you so you don’t get your hands on any other girls, and I’ll educate you so you regain a healthy state of mind! You’ll become a new person!”
“...Are you for real?”
The vice president nodded in a serious expression.
“I can’t overlook a cla.s.smate heading down the wrong path. The cla.s.s president is too close with you, so it’s up to me, the vice president.”
...I don’t know why a mere cla.s.s vice president has such a large sense of responsibility.
“You know, vice president.”
Feeling weary, I groaned,
“This doesn’t concern you.”
Maybe I was being too cold to her, but you can’t be ambiguous on matters such as these.
The vice president was probably acting on her sense of morals and good will, but honestly, it’s just unnecessary and annoying interference for me.
For instance, there was a kid back in middle school who used to tell me to get along with my cla.s.smates, not just study all day. Of course, his logic made sense, but I didn’t like his att.i.tude of trying to force others to be like his version of what’s right.
When you get involved in something with such a person, you have to be clear cut from the beginning - it’s better for both sides.
“Don’t interfere. I’ll take care of my own business.”
I told her as resolutely as possible, but the vice president started to slowly lower her gaze.
I became a bit uneasy at this unexpected response. Did I make her cry or anything…? Was I too cold to her…
“It doesn’t matter…?”
As I was feeling alarmed, she moved her lips slightly.
“Of course it matters!!”
She cried, raising her head suddenly.
“Ahn Kyeong-heon, you’re in the same cla.s.s as me, right? Then does it not matter?!”
“N-No, I mean, we’re just in the same cla.s.s…”
“What if you keep walking the path of the Pervert Gla.s.ses and other girls in the cla.s.s get harmed? Even when it comes to that, do I have to not do anything because it doesn’t concern me?!”
“No, I’m not going to do anything like that!”
“Don’t joke with me!”
“Like I said, I’m not doing that!”
“Liar! You laid your hands on Yuyu!”
I gulped when I heard those words.
The vice president’s look towards me didn’t hold just stubborn self-righteousness.
“Last Friday, Yu Yuyu looked like she was really suffering. She was in pain, she was hurt! You are responsible for making her like that!”
“That’s…”
Of course, the events of that day were totally different from what the vice president thought happened. Still, I couldn’t deny that I had some responsibility for Yuyu getting hurt.
“I’m not really that close with Yu Yuyu, but I was thinking I should become closer friends with her because we’re in the same cla.s.s. Seeing someone like her getting hurt, it does concern me!”
The vice president roared, looking at me with fire in her eyes.
“I can’t condone something like this happening again in my cla.s.s! I’m going to make you a new man. Of course, I’ll see that you apologize sincerely to Yu Yuyu and reflect on yourself…”
Just then, as the vice president was pointing fingers at me and raising her voice, she stopped as if someone had hit the stop b.u.t.ton.
I was looking at her with a dumbfounded expression when she put her hand into the pocket of her skirt and retrieved her cell phone.
“...30 seconds before the start of second period.”
“Oh, we should get going now.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, actually having wished for recess to end soon.
“Let’s continue this after second period ends.”
“What?!”
“Come on! What if we’re late for cla.s.s!”
The vice president grabbed my wrist and started running. She just told me she wouldn’t let me touch a hair on her body, but is it okay if she touches me?!
We arrived just as the bell signalling the start of second period was ringing. Feeling the stinging looks from all around as soon as we set foot inside the door, I gulped.
“Sit down! Cla.s.s is starting!”
Pushing me, the vice president strided to her seat and plopped down. No one dared talk to her, who had her arms crossed with a determined expression.
After second period ended in that state, the vice president suddenly stood up and approached me.
“Ahn Kyeong-heon, let’s go!”
“W-Wait!”
Feeling everyone’s stares again, I resisted.
“I just want to sit here and study!”
“You’re the one who took me to that out of the way spot! We should finish what we started.”
“We already did enough! Stop, will you?!”
“I haven’t had enough. Is it over after you’ve satisfied yourself?”
“I’m tired…”
“Man up and put your back into it!”
*Bustle, bustle…*
The cla.s.sroom was quite noisy, for some reason. More so than this morning or just a few minutes ago. W-What?
I was just standing there, confused at the strange atmosphere, when the vice president dragged me out, even resorting to kicking my waist.
After taking me to the spot from before, she resumed her nitpicking. She droned on about what kind of life is sound and healthy and human, and I couldn’t help but listen to her with a tired feeling.
“We’re out of time. Let’s continue this after third period.”
“Again?!”
Returning to cla.s.s once more, the looks my cla.s.smates were giving me were on another level from before. I sat down at my seat. I don’t know what’s going on anymore.
And it was recess once again.
“Hey, let’s go and continue what we were doing!”
Just as the vice president, who seemed to me like the devil now, was coming over to my seat.
“H-Hold on!”
A girl blocked her path all of a sudden.
“...Yuyu?”
The girl who spread her arms and tried to stop the vice president with a desperate expression was none other than Yuyu.
“What’s going on?”
The vice president looked at Yuyu, perplexed.
“W-What are you doing!”
“Doing what…”
“T-Taking Gla.s.ses outside during breaks… Doing that in obscure spots…!!”
The whole cla.s.s stirred in an odd way.
Yuyu, no, everyone was reacting strangely. What was happening?
“Uh, Yuyu.”
I wanted to avoid talking to Yuyu in cla.s.s if possible, but there was no other choice. I tried to walk over to her, but the vice president turned her eyes on me wildly.
“Ahn Kyeong-heon. I thought I told you not to approach this girl?”
At that voice, I flinched and stopped. The vice president emphasized over and over that I, as the perpetrator, shouldn’t go near Yuyu, the victim.
After blocking my intervention, she turned her attention to Yuyu.
“I didn’t really do something that serious.”
“I-It must be something you don’t do every day!”
“That is true. It isn’t a very ordinary thing to do.”
“I-I knew it…”
“I thought I should do something, having found out Ahn Kyeong-heon is a guy who goes around seducing innocent girls.”
“So did you want to test Gla.s.ses? I didn’t know Chae Song-hwa was that kind of girl…”
“Test? Well, I guess you could call it a test. The results were as expected.”
Interpreting my actions the way she wanted to, she came to the conclusion that I am indeed a philanderer.
“S-So you did it?”
“Yes, I did it.”
She did the pestering.
“T-To think that Chae Song-hwa was such a carnivore… Uuu, I thought I wouldn’t have any rivals inside the school… Getting him stolen so suddenly…”
Carnivore? Rival? Stolen? What’s she talking about?
“On top of that, doing it at school, I can’t believe it!”
“Then where should we do it?”
“W-Well… Anyhow, somewhere no one else is around!”
“That’s true. That’s why we went to that corner. We couldn’t do it in cla.s.s.”
“Of course! But if you really had to do it, couldn’t you have done it after school?!”
“After school? I couldn’t wait until then.”
“You should wait! ...Is it t-that good?”
Yuyu glimpsed at me for a second, and her face turned scarlet.
“And not once, but several times…! S-Shouldn’t you be satisfied with doing it once?!”
“We didn’t have enough time. Recess is 10 minutes, and we have to count the time it takes to get to and from there.”
“Y-Yes, I did hear that women take a bit of time, unlike men…”
Is the time required for pestering different for men and women?
“Gla.s.ses doesn’t like it! Taking him by force… You shouldn’t do that!”
“Even if he doesn’t want it, we should do what should be done.”
“N-No! You should do it under consent or it’s unwholesome!”
“I think it would be rare for both to like it.”
“It’s not! Anyway, you shouldn’t work Gla.s.ses too hard!”
Yelling in a loud voice, Yuyu then pointed a finger at me.
“Y-You did it so much that his waist hurts! Give it a rest!”
I was rubbing the spot where the vice president kicked me before.
“I don’t think that is related to waist pain…”
“It’s related! Don’t tell me Chae Song-hwa was on top of Gla.s.ses and moving on her own!”
“On top of me? Moving on her own? I don’t know what you’re talking about… We were both standing.”
“S-Standing…?! I-I see, in that position…”
Yuyu looked back and forth at me and the vice president, her face becoming a darker shade of red.
“Just to make this clear, I don’t do this with anyone.”
“Ehh? D-Don’t tell me, Chae Song-hwa, you actually think of Gla.s.ses like that…”
“I just did it because I knew he was a dangerous philanderer who toyed with girls.”
“Then it’s because of his body?! That’s even worse!”
“One more thing, this is my first time doing this.”
“First?! It’s your first time and you did it like one night’s mischief?! Not even my fantasies were that wild!”
Yuyu was spouting nonsense, but I was a bit surprised that I was the first person the vice president lectured like that.
“...Vice president, you seemed like you were used to doing that, so I thought you had done it to the other guys before.”
“Who do you think I am? My body won’t stand it if I did that with anyone.”
“Of course!”
Yuyu shrieked.
“A-Anyway, you can’t do it anymore! I will protect Gla.s.ses!”
“Protect? What are you talking about?”
The vice president looked dumbfounded.
“You’re the victim. Why is the victim protecting the perpetrator?”
“T-That’s…”
Out of words to say, Yuyu looked at me - but I couldn’t think of anything, either.
It was near impossible to explain now that the relationship between Yuyu and I was different from that of a victim and perpetrator, that is, a girl who was fooled and a boy who toyed around with her. There were too many people around, too.
“S-So, that was, I…”
Yuyu clenched her fists and tried to say something.
“W-Wait, Yuyu!”
Yuyu seemed like she would make a big mistake again, so I tried to stop her.
“Gla.s.ses and I…!”
Just as everyone’s attention, including the vice president’s, was focused to Yuyu, who was radiating a strange willpower.
“It’s time for cla.s.s, everyone~ English time~ Let’s study again today with… Eh?”
Ms. Choi, the English teacher for 4th period, tilted her head at the tension in the cla.s.sroom.
And then, finally, lunchtime.
During 4th period, I had already decided what I should do now.
That is!
Run away!
Exactly as lunchtime began, I’ll take my boxed lunch and run outside. It doesn’t matter if it’s the bathroom, I just want to eat lunch peacefully and study alone.
I’m done with bothersome things. If I drag my feet, the vice president will catch me again and I’ll have to listen to her tirade. Yuyu will also try to say what she was trying to say before, and that would be a headache. The other students will think even worse of me, and there was nothing I could gain from that.
I just wanted to study quietly, but what is this? I was a bit relieved that the school was going to go easy