Chapter 135: Birthday (3)

After dinner, my cousin followed me to my room. We used to chat in my room whenever she visited. When we were younger, it was just comfortable, being the same gender and close in age… but now, knowing we both liked girls, it felt strangely awkward.

Like… we were rivals, even though we weren’t interested in the same girl.

“Rina-chan~! I missed you!”

Miyu hugged me tightly. She was smaller than me. We had a significant height difference now, so being hugged by her felt like being hugged by a younger sibling.

“Ugh, Unni… Don’t squeeze so tight…”
“Why? I haven’t seen you in so long!”

Miyu giggled. She sat on my bed, propped her chin on her hands, and looked at me with curious eyes.

“Rina-chan, how’s school? Are you doing okay?”
“Uh… It’s… going.”
“Just ‘going’? That means it’s not going well!”

I chuckled awkwardly. “Going” was an understatement. My school life was a whirlwind of drama, practically a soap opera.

I’d been texting Miyu often, but talking face-to-face made it easier to share what was happening.

“Well… I went to Okinawa during summer vacation, and we had a student council retreat. I met a cute kouhai named Amelia… And I made a new friend named Arisu. She’s… special.”

I chattered excitedly, telling Miyu everything. When I first arrived in this world, I’d struggled to get through each day, but now, looking back, my school life was surprisingly eventful.

Miyu’s eyes sparkled as she listened attentively.

“Wow, Rina-chan! You’re living the youth life! I’m so jealous~!”

“Heehee… But it’s a lot harder than it looks.”
“Right, right! I heard Takamari is full of talented students~”

I knew Miyu had also wanted to attend Takamari. That was probably why she was so interested in my stories.

“What about you, unni? How have things been? Is life in Korea okay?”

The more I adapted to my life as Kurosawa Rina, the more Korea felt like a foreign country. The bad memories of my past life were fading, replaced by nostalgia. Even hearing my classmates talk about K-pop and Korean dramas sometimes made me feel strange.

Miyu smiled brightly and started counting on her fingers.

“Well~ I’ve been busy with broadcasts. But I came here specially for your birthday, Rina-chan~!”

Wait… surely she wasn’t romantically interested in me? It wasn’t like I had main character syndrome, attracting everyone’s attention. Though… it was nice, but also a bit of a burden.

“We rented a pool villa with my company during the summer… and I went to Seoul Land with my oppa recently! I even went to a club, but I got scared and left quickly.”

I paused at the casual mention of a date.

“Wait… Oppa? Who’s your oppa? You’re dating a guy?”

Miyu fidgeted with her hair and replied awkwardly,

“Ah… it’s a little complicated. The girl I’m dating, Gyeoul… Well, she used to pretend to be a guy online, using a male persona… Her voice was totally feminine, though.”

“Eh?!”

That sounded strange. Even if I wasn’t interested in online personalities in my past life, a girl pretending to be a guy and gaining popularity…? And wasn’t Miyu working for a large company? Would they hire a… guy?

Something clicked.

‘A guy who became a girl…?’

My heart sank. Wasn’t that similar to my situation?

My cousin wasn’t a character in the novel. Maybe, like in some fantasy novels with multiple transmigrators, my world was just a modified version of the original novel…? My teenage brain was probably making me believe this fiction.

“Unni… Can I… meet this Gyeoul person?”
“Hmm? No, she’s busy. And she doesn’t really like going overseas. Why? Are you interested?”

“Um… I have Aya…?”
“Right, right. No N… stealing allowed, okay?”

Unni, you almost said NTR (Netorare – a genre involving infidelity). She stopped herself, realizing it was inappropriate to say that in front of a high schooler, but I’d still heard it.

“No! I would never! I’m not like that!”

“Ahaha! Just kidding, just kidding~ You’re so cute, Rina-chan. Well, Gyeoul is a nice and fun person… I’ll introduce you sometime. Do you have Discord?”

Discord…?
Of course, I knew what it was and used it in my past life, but I hadn’t even created an account in this life. I was too busy with school and student council activities, and for chatting, I just used LINE, which everyone in Japan used.

“(I’ll create an account. By the way, I can speak Korean.)”

“Eh…?”

Miyu’s eyes widened in surprise when I suddenly spoke in Korean. Was my pronunciation off? Or was it just too sudden?
I chuckled awkwardly and scratched my head, and Miyu stared at me, her mouth slightly open, blinking in surprise.

“Rina, you’re a genius…! Amazing!”

“Ehehe…”
“You’re smart enough to attend Takamari, and you can speak Korean too? You really are a genius!”

“Heehee…”

Miyu patted my back. Her enthusiastic praise was embarrassing, but also… nice.

“Then this is perfect! Gyeoul also loves web novels. She’ll be thrilled to talk to you.”
“Heehee… yeah.”

I quickly downloaded Discord and created an account.

My username was niya. It roughly translated to “grin” or “smirk.” I hadn’t used my old username; this one just came to mind.

Miyu immediately sent me a friend request. I accepted and stared at the familiar Discord UI.

“Your username is ‘Summer.’ Isn’t that a common noun? It’ll be hard to find you.”

“Yeah, so I use my Korean last name too. Kim Yeoreum.”
“Ah…! That’s cool.”

Just then,

Ding—

A DM notification popped up. A message from an account named “Winter.”

Winter: Nice to meet u! I heard about u from Summer! Hope we can be frens!

…What was with the misspelled, broken Japanese? I suppressed a giggle and typed a reply.

niya: You can speak Korean!

Winter: OMG really??
Winter: You’re not Japanese?? Your Korean is amazing! Wait, are you Korean? I was totally fooled LOL
Winter: Summer said you liked web novels, so cool that you speak Korean.

She was quite chatty. It was difficult typing in Korean after so long. Should I just switch to Japanese…? I wasn’t used to either the Korean keyboard layouts.

niya: I’m Japanese…
Winter: Ah, slow typer
Winter: Sorry!
Winter: Are you really in high school?
Summer: Oppa, you’re making my cousin uncomfortable.
Winter: Oh sorry lol

I glanced at Miyu.

“Unni… Is she always this talkative?”
“Well, she seems really excited?”
“Ugh… I’m a slow typer in Korean.”
“Okay.”

Summer: Oppa, she’s a slow typer in Korean
Summer: Tone it down.
Winter: Okay ㅠㅠ

ㅠㅠ… I hadn’t seen that emoticon in a while. Korean emoticons weren’t commonly used in Japan.
It was fun to have a new online friend. Just then, I got a LINE message.

Aya: Want to go to the dance studio this weekend to practice for the ball…?

Aya…!
Of course, I’d go anywhere with her!
I reread Aya’s message, clutching my phone to my chest, and Miyu grinned at me.

“Something good happened, Rina-chan~?”

“Heehee… A date with Aya!”

“Aw, I’m jealous!”

I grinned, basking in my cousin’s envy.