Ch.244IF Side Story: From the Beginning (12)

At first, Hayun’s face was tense, but soon that subtle wariness melted away.

Well, Jihye was always like that.

“Wow, you’re really pretty!”

That was the first thing Jihye exclaimed when she faced Hayun.

She is pretty. She has been since she was very young. How should I put it? Like a child actress, perhaps?

As time passes, some people’s facial features change in unexpected ways from childhood, but that wasn’t the case with her at all.

Maybe that’s why she’s even more popular? Not just because of her family background, but because being in her group means getting that much more attention.

Hearing Jihye’s admiration somehow made me feel good. I felt oddly proud even though Hayun’s prettiness had nothing to do with my efforts.

“Uh, ah?”

That was Hayun’s first reaction.

I’ll stake my lifelong friendship with Hayun on this: despite her initial shyness, I’d never seen anyone render Hayun so speechless during a first meeting.

Actually, there are people who say… similar things. But in those cases, they don’t openly express admiration. Instead, they ask what cosmetics she uses, what shampoo she uses, how she maintains her smooth hair—that kind of talk.

As far as I know, Hayun doesn’t use much of that stuff. In particular, I’ve never seen Hayun wearing makeup.

Is it because this is a world based on comics, where magical girls actually exist? Anyway, Hayun always makes an uncomfortable expression when she hears such comments. She smiles, but with the corners of her eyebrows slightly drooping.

But now, her face was bright red.

“Uh, ah, th-thank you…”

After losing her words for a few seconds, Hayun finally managed to move her lips and answer.

“Y-you’re pretty too,” she added timidly.

“Me? No way, I’m just average.”

No, you’re pretty.

Come to think of it, most of the people I talk to and live around are pretty. And I’m pretty too. I’m not sure how it ended up this way.

I can understand magical girls being pretty, but me being pretty and Jihye being pretty—that’s just luck, I suppose.

“I can see why Jieun talked about you so much.”

“You talked about me?”

Hayun’s eyes immediately lit up.

“Hey.”

When I frowned at Jihye, she just shrugged.

“What? It’s true that I complimented you. I said you’d probably become the face of magical girls.”

“Hey, hey.”

Hayun’s face is about to explode.

It was true though. Not long after I received the invitation to become a magical girl, I boasted about it to Jihye.

Normally, I wouldn’t tell others about such things, but for some reason, I really wanted to brag about it to someone.

Ah, I see.

Perhaps Jihye suggested we hang out today because she felt we’d grown somewhat distant since then. I hadn’t really changed how I thought about Jihye, but it’s true that we’d spent less time talking face-to-face.

I nudged Jihye’s arm.

“What? Embarrassed?”

You know very well, don’t you?

But I didn’t need to say anything more.

After all, my face was also quite red, though not as much as Hayun’s.

*

“By the way.”

As we continued our conversation in a more relaxed atmosphere at the café, Hayun suddenly spoke up as if something had just occurred to her.

“Jieun, you talked about me a lot in front of Jihye…”

For some reason, Hayun’s face looked a bit darker as she said this. Why?

She had such a bright expression just moments ago.

“But you didn’t talk about Jihye to me very often.”

“…”

Ah, that was true.

Because we weren’t actually blood sisters.

Jeong Jieun, Jeong Jihye. Though our names sound like sisters’, they were just names given to us by the person who took us in. In reality, we don’t share a single drop of blood.

We’ve been together since childhood, so we’re as good as sisters, and at this point, I can’t deny our sisterly relationship.

Above all, if I started talking about Jihye, I might end up talking about the orphanage too.

The more information people share in conversations, the more room there is for mistakes.

“Well…”

After thinking for a moment, I slowly opened my mouth.

“You had a lot on your mind. I didn’t want to make you feel unsettled by talking about myself.”

“My story makes people unsettled?”

Jihye immediately objected to my words.

“No, not exactly unsettling, but I didn’t think it was right to keep talking about myself either.”

Right. Since it had come to this, I decided to stick with the story that I simply hadn’t talked about myself.

For reference, Jihye knows at least that I never told Hayun about the orphanage. She definitely knows it’s a sensitive topic. She’s always been perceptive enough to accommodate me since we were young.

Even now, she seemed to be doing this on purpose, despite knowing why I hadn’t talked about it. She rested her face on her hands and sucked up the pink drink through her straw.

“That’s true.”

But for some reason, Hayun tilted her head and looked at me.

“I feel like I haven’t heard much about Jieun’s story in depth.”

No, Hayun.

Why do you keep fixating on such strange directions?

She seems to have become oddly proactive lately. Maybe she’s feeling good about the possibility of becoming a magical girl, just like I am.

“Oh, really? Should I tell you?”

“Yes, yes.”

“Hey, why are you two suddenly teaming up?”

I rolled my eyes in disbelief.

But in my mind, I was trying to recall if there were any embarrassing memories about me—

“One day, she came home, buried her face in her blanket, and cried her eyes out.”

“Hey.”

“Jieun did? Why?”

“Well, because her test scores dropped—”

“Hey. Jeong Jihye.”

When I glared at her seriously, Jihye burst into laughter despite knowing better.

Hayun looked at me with wide eyes.

“Did that really happen?”

“Just once, just once.”

I waved my hand dismissively.

It happened in elementary school.

Of course, being in elementary school, it wasn’t some major exam. Elementary students don’t take midterms or finals.

But still, I was incredibly frustrated about falling behind Hayun in grades.

I pretended it was nothing and congratulated her, but when I got home, I cried my eyes out.

The fact that I, who remembered my past life, reacted that way… I guess my mentality matched my physical age at that time.

Or maybe I was just frustrated about losing to an elementary school student. After all, everything I had built up, however small, had crumbled.

“I didn’t know that…”

Looking at Hayun, who was muttering in surprise, I felt a strange feeling.

In the past, I would have been extremely concerned. Perhaps I wouldn’t have been entirely comfortable with Jihye and Hayun meeting.

Jihye probably knows that too. That my demeanor has softened a lot lately.

That’s probably why she could make such jokes now.

But even so.

When I glared at Jihye, she slightly lowered the corners of her eyebrows as if apologizing.

She probably got caught up in the mood. There were things both Hayun and I had said. I was the one who started it with my words.

The way Hayun looked at me was a bit strange. Until now, Hayun often looked at me with subtle admiration. Probably because I had taken such great care of her to make that possible.

So it’s understandable that she’d be surprised to hear that someone like me had cried over mere test scores.

“…”

It’s still annoying when I think about it.

When I glared slightly at Jihye, this time she turned her eyes away with a somewhat shameless expression.

“I… didn’t know.”

“I never talked about it in front of you. Why would I tell others about crying over something like that?”

But Hayun maintained her serious expression despite my words.

“If I had known, I would have told you it was okay.”

“…”

I didn’t cry just because my scores dropped, but because I lost to you.

But I can’t tell Hayun that directly. It’s my inner feelings that even Jihye doesn’t know about.

“Well, next time I cry, you can comfort me then.”

I said with a smile, then took a refreshing gulp of the fruit juice in front of me.

The orange and mango flavors mixed together as they went down my throat coolly.

…Hmm.

It feels refreshing somehow.

No, not the drink.

*

Naturally, hanging out is always fun.

Hayun and Jihye seem quite close now. Is it because they talked about me?

Jihye brought up a few more stories about me afterward, but thankfully, none were about me crying over something.

Hayun blushed when she heard that I treasured the CD she had given me.

“When you become a magical girl someday, give me an autograph.”

When Jihye said that, Hayun nodded with a bright smile.

“I’ll give you one too.”

“I will if I see you.”

“…While living together?!”

Seeing Jihye’s somewhat shocked expression, Hayun and I burst into laughter.