Ch.159Chapter 159. Sexual Identity (1)

“Oh? It’s Alice!”

“Huh?!”

Spotting the blonde girl getting out of the car, Cuss brightened up and ran toward her.

Just before colliding with her, Cuss slowed down and rested her chin on top of Alice’s head.

As Cuss was about to tease Alice by tickling her head, she made eye contact with a blonde woman inside the car.

She had a face that looked quite similar to Alice’s.

“Is that your mother?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Child, are you Alice’s friend?”

“That’s correct. I’m Cuss.”

“Ah, Cuss? N-nice to meet you. Please be good friends with my daughter.”

“I already am.”

“Th-thank you…?”

The woman who had been speaking awkwardly suddenly rolled up the window and drove away.

She seemed embarrassed, constantly avoiding eye contact.

They must be meeting for the first time.

Cuss, slightly puzzled, pressed her chin firmly on Alice’s head.

“Ah. Ah. That hurts, Cuss.”

“Does your mother know me?”

“She does know about you…? But I think she’s acting that way because she feels sorry.”

“Sorry? I don’t remember being wronged by your mother.”

“Hmm… Never mind. I think it’s better if you don’t know.”

Alice quickly brushed it off.

It wasn’t that her mother had a bad personality and had scolded her for being close to Cuss.

Clearly, she had worried that Cuss would soon be in a difficult situation and didn’t want Alice to get involved.

But Senator Snyder’s grand plan to expel Cuss had been nullified by the massive scandal, and with the sexual harassment trial proceeding, the situation had changed.

In the past, her mother would never have asked Cuss to be friends with Alice, even if Cuss was standing right in front of her.

But now her mother had put aside her pride and made that request to Cuss.

Alice thought it was essentially her mother’s way of apologizing.

“Anyway, it’s been so long. What have you been up to? Ah…”

Alice covered her mouth after asking the question thoughtlessly.

With her father’s criminal record becoming a national issue, causing her to take time off from school, asking what she’d been doing didn’t seem appropriate.

She probably had been hiding at home to avoid reporters…

“I went traveling.”

“What? Traveling?”

“I went to the Arctic to see penguins but failed. Apparently, penguins are on the opposite side. But I got to see the aurora, which was nice.”

Alice was a bit surprised to hear that Cuss had spent her time well.

Come to think of it, it wasn’t like Cuss to be intimidated by media attention.

‘I feel like there’s something I should say at a time like this.’

Should she congratulate Cuss on her father being cleared of false charges?

But considering the family stories that had been all over the news, perhaps she should express regret.

Then again, that family wasn’t related to Cuss, so maybe there was no need to express regret to her…

As Alice was struggling to find the right words:

“C-Cuss!”

“Hmm?”

A youthful voice called from behind.

Cuss turned around while holding Alice’s cheek, and Alice turned with her.

There stood Tom, trembling.

“I’m sorry!”

“Suddenly?”

“Actually, I’ve been cold to you recently! It was because I knew your father was an ex-convict! But it turns out he was falsely accused! I’m really sorry! I did something terrible!”

“Tom… Was that you being cold to me?”

“What? You didn’t notice?”

“I thought that was just normal Tom.”

“…”

Tom’s face turned bright red with embarrassment.

He could have let it slide, but instead, he apologized in front of everyone, making a fool of himself.

But despite the embarrassment, Tom felt relieved.

“You missed so many days—will your attendance be okay?”

“I’ll probably have to come to school during vacation.”

“Ah…”

Tom, still blushing, walked beside Alice and Cuss.

They would part ways after just a few steps, but they walked together anyway.

The conversation wouldn’t last long.

But the interrupted conversation would continue when they met again.

Even if they forgot and couldn’t continue it, that was fine.

What mattered was the belief that they would meet again.

“Tsk… It’s already time. See you after school, Cuss!”

Tom waved his hand casually and turned around, heading toward the first-year classroom with Alice.

As he trudged along, Tom felt a piercing gaze from beside him.

Alice was staring at him with a strange expression.

“W-what? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You like her. Cuss.”

“Huh? W-what are you saying! As if I’d like someone who’s just a bit pretty and smart!”

“Hmm… If you say so.”

“Hey! Hey hey! I’m telling you, I don’t!”

Alice responded in a mocking tone and ran away to the classroom, ignoring the voice calling from behind.

Tom seemed to be already in too deep.

At this rate, he’d lose to his brother.

Isn’t it said that first loves usually fail?

The only thing that bothered her was imagining Tom whining and complaining when he became depressed.

*

On the school rooftop.

Jake leaned against the railing alone, gulping down a caffeinated drink while lost in thought.

‘So that’s the kind of past he had…’

He recalled his previous meeting with Cuss’s father.

He had thought the man was a bit eccentric, but never imagined he had gone through such an ordeal.

If that was the case, the man’s extreme wariness toward him made some sense.

It was probably a form of distrust in people.

‘And yet, he’s willing to try to trust me.’

Despite outwardly seeming to dislike him, the man had allowed him to hang out with Cuss.

If he was willing to trust Jake, Jake needed to reward that trust.

He needed to show, not just say, that he could accept people with special gender identities.

For that purpose, he had been carrying around an adult comic featuring a heroine of a special gender in his bag.

If he could “accidentally” let Cuss see that comic…

‘That just makes me a pervert, doesn’t it?’

Jake quickly came to his senses and slapped his own cheek.

Bringing an adult comic to school was already a mistake.

Regardless of its content, it would be a disaster that could lead to lifelong contempt.

Fortunately, he had come to his senses before acting on it.

If he had actually gone through with it, Cuss’s father might have broken his nose.

“Hahaha. That was a close call.”

Wiping sweat from his forehead, he went down the stairs.

With his usual smile, Jake opened the classroom door and—

“Huh?”

“…”

He made eye contact with Yujin, who was looking inside his bag.

At that moment, Jake completely lost his composure.

“Yujin!”

“Ack?!”

“H-hey, shall we go for a little walk, just the two of us?”

“I don’t want to?”

“Quickly! Come out!”

He put his arm around Yujin’s shoulder, who was grimacing, and forcibly dragged him out.

The classroom door slammed shut, and the students who witnessed the scene looked intrigued.

“Oh my. They just left together.”

“What’s going on? Jake and Yujin actually look good together?”

“Come on. Are you guys shipping men with each other now?”

Meanwhile, Jake dragged Yujin all the way to the back of the school building.

Though initially overpowered and forced to follow, Yujin soon resisted and shook off Jake’s arm.

Breathing heavily from the exertion, he glared at Jake, who had a strange expression on his face.

For some reason, he looked like he was checking if anyone was watching.

“Did you… see it?”

“What?”

“Why were you going through my bag in the first place?”

“Who’s going through anything? You told me to put the book I borrowed for club activities in your bag. So I was just doing that.”

“R-really? So you didn’t see it?”

“What do you mean I didn’t see…”

Though confused by what Jake was talking about, Yujin recalled what he had seen in Jake’s bag earlier.

He hadn’t looked carefully, but he remembered seeing something out of place among the many books.

And judging by Jake’s reaction, it was probably something that shouldn’t be seen by others.

Yujin decided to change his strategy.

“Did you think I’d say that? Of course I saw it, you idiot.”

“Ah…”

“Wow. You brought something like that to school? Are you in your right mind, Jake?”

“Ugh… Kuk…”

“Oh no. Should I spread rumors about this around school?”

Even though he didn’t know what it was, just pretending to know was enough to use as leverage.

With this, he could also make Jake delete the video of him calling his mom.

Just a little more.

Just a little more progress and it would be done.

“If you don’t want rumors to spread…”

“What? Did you think I’d get on my knees and beg?”

“I-I’ll spread rumors!”

“Go ahead! Spread them! I have nothing to be ashamed of!”

‘I’m screwed!’

Damn it.

It wasn’t as big a deal as he thought.

Only then did Yujin realize that his blackmail wasn’t working properly, and he became anxious.

“You know I still have that video, right? If you spread rumors, I’ll send this to Cuss.”

“I’ll kill you! I told you I’d kill you if you did that!”

“If you don’t spread rumors, I won’t send it.”

“You bastard…”

A strange tension hung between the two.

Whatever the rumor was, it didn’t have enough leverage to force Jake to delete the video.

But it was enough to prevent him from spreading the video.

“Let’s come to an agreement. These are weapons that would lead both of us to destruction. The best option is for neither of us to use them.”

“So if we don’t want mutual destruction, we should keep each other’s secrets?”

“Exactly. You’re quick to understand, probably from reading all those books.”

“Do you want to die?”

Yujin pushed up his glasses and shook hands with Jake.

Weapon countering weapon.

It was the moment of mutual assured destruction.

The two exchanged fierce glances before heading back to the classroom.

The first period was about to begin.

After exchanging wary glances with Yujin, Jake irritably opened the door and—

“Huh?”

“…”

He found Cuss.

Cuss standing in front of his desk.

In Cuss’s hand was a familiar comic book.