I Don’t Want to be a Villainess – Chapter 80

… It’s a bit awkward to say this, but Ha-neul, So-hee, and Soo-ah all have different mid-sizes.

There wasn’t a precise setting in the original work, and of course, I didn’t know the exact sizes of the three friends.

However, even though it was drawn in a rough way, the original work had illustrations, and in this world, where those illustrations were somewhat faithfully applied, it was as I remembered.

So, if we were to compare the sizes of the heroines, including Ye Sara, it would be: Shin So-hee > Lee Soo-ah > Yoo Ha-neul > Ye Sara, in that order.

Aside from Yoo Ha-neul, the main character of the game, to put it bluntly, it felt like a range of sizes was prepared.

From small heroines to large ones, and even noticeably large ones, perhaps to cater to various preferences of the game’s creators.

In that range, Lee Soo-ah was categorized as one of the “larger heroines”.

She was the same height as Ye Sara but slightly shorter than Yoo Ha-neul, though she was definitely bigger than Yoo Ha-neul in size.

Soo-ah was the cute and clearly well-proportioned character.

Naturally, Soo-ah, who seemed to maintain that original setting, was also… large.

She was obviously smaller than So-hee next to her, but how should I put it?

Soo-ah had a more noticeable height difference with So-hee, and proportionately, it emphasized that part more.

Moreover, although it feels strange to say this, I have seen So-hee’s bare chest almost daily.

Coupled with her easygoing personality and the way she casually got close to me, I had gotten somewhat used to it.

But the Soo-ah standing in front of me right now… had a completely different atmosphere.

Actually, it wasn’t just the atmosphere—it was an appearance I wasn’t used to seeing at all.

Sure, if I had seen So-hee come out of the shower in that state, it would have been shocking, too.

The bandage had fallen off.

I could still see the wound on her thigh below the towel, which had been scraped.

There was a slight bruise on her left arm, and there was a wound on her forehead as well.

Her skin, which was whiter than Ye Sara’s pale skin, made those injuries stand out even more, and it made my heart ache.

At the same time, her normally twin-tied natural blonde hair was left loose and wet, giving her a fragile appearance.

Because of her fair skin, her face, which had turned red, was even more noticeable, and when our eyes met, she quickly averted her gaze.

Her excessively daring outfit, or rather lack of an outfit looked extremely out of place with her bashful expression.

Yes, she looked very suggestively sexual.

… But why would she come out in that kind of outfit, while being so embarrassed?

Was this like the atmosphere when friends go to a bathhouse together?

Still, no matter how close you are, I don’t think you would come out dressed like that after washing up at a friend’s house.

Regardless of what I thought, Soo-ah walked over to the table where So-hee was sitting.

After briefly making eye contact with the absent-minded So-hee, she picked up a chair and turned it slightly.

Then she sat down with her back to me.

Her wet blonde hair hung down toward me.

“S-Sara.”

“Y-Yeah!?”

I was startled and answered, having been unconsciously staring at her up until that moment, and Soo-ah spoke in a small voice.

“Could you dry my hair for me?”

Ah, right.

Last time, Soo-ah had dried my hair for me.

“Th-then I’ll—”

As So-hee stood up from her chair and offered,

“No.”

Soo-ah flatly refused in a firm voice I had never heard from her before.

It wasn’t that her voice had changed, just her tone.

It was still soft and not loud like usual, but the emotion behind it was clear.

“But I—”

So-hee timidly tried to protest,

“No.”

Soo-ah’s resolute feeling didn’t change.

“Oh, o-okay…”

So-hee, who had half-risen from her chair, sat back down.

She glanced at Soo-ah, her face flushing red, before quickly turning her gaze away.

…Did they have a fight?

Now that I think about it, maybe they weren’t as close as I remembered.

I’m close with Soo-ah and So-hee, but maybe these two aren’t particularly close with each other.

Sometimes when you’re with friends in a group of three, things get awkward when one person leaves.

Maybe it was something like that.

Come to think of it, even though the four of us hung out together, most of the conversations were between me and the three girls, not them chatting with each other.

If they’re not that close, drying her hair might feel a bit burdensome.

“Sara.”

Soo-ah called me again.

She slightly turned her head toward me, but her expression was hidden behind her long hair.

“Uh, okay…”

I replied absentmindedly and stood up.

It took a bit of time to find the hair dryer since I don’t usually take it out.

But I had seen Yang Hye-in put it away a few times, so it didn’t take too long.

Soo-ah waited quietly without saying a word.

I plugged it in, extended the cord, and moved behind Soo-ah.

“I’ll start now…?”

“Mm.”

Soo-ah nodded.

She didn’t bother to turn around to look at me.

I tried hard not to look over Soo-ah’s shoulder.

Since the towel was tightly wrapped around her body, looking from above, various things were quite… remarkable.

I focused my gaze solely on her hair.

But even then, I couldn’t avoid seeing her wet hair clinging to her back.

Her back, hidden by the tightly drawn towel, looked much more slender than it had under her uniform.

Soo-ah had always worn her uniform a little loose, but now I could see she was slim, with only the important parts standing out.

I tried hard not to swallow.

No matter what, if I did something like that in front of my friend, it would be incredibly embarrassing.

Even if the noise of the hairdryer drowned it out.

Soo-ah’s hair, which didn’t seem that long when she wore it in twin tails, was actually longer than mine when left loose.

Drying it was going to take a while.

On top of that, I wasn’t exactly skilled at things like this.

I had never had the chance to handle a girl’s hair.

Usually, Yang Hye-in would dry my hair for me.

When I was a guy, I’d just crank the dryer up to max and ruffle my hair with my hands to dry it, but obviously, I couldn’t treat a girl’s hair like that.

Especially hair that looked as meticulously maintained as Soo-ah’s.

I recalled the method Yang Hye-in had taught So-hee when she dried my hair earlier today.

Use low heat from a distance, and gently smooth it down with your hands.

I tried that, but since her hair was so thick, it didn’t seem to be drying quickly.

I used a comb to gently smooth it down and worked my way through from the outside.

The more her hair dried, the more it released a familiar scent, the same shampoo I used.

It was a nameless floral fragrance.

*

Perhaps because I had been concentrating for a long time, by the time I finished drying Soo-ah’s hair, I felt like I had run out of energy.

As I sighed softly and rotated my arms, Soo-ah lifted her head.

She looked up at me with narrowed eyes, much like a cat being stroked on the head.

“Thanks, Sara.”

“Y-Yeah.”

I hurriedly averted my eyes and nodded.

When Soo-ah lifted her head, the part that had been hidden behind her hair became clearly visible.

“See? It’s harder than you think, right?”

So-hee boasted, proud of herself for drying my hair for the first time today.

I just gave her a slight glare and didn’t bother to respond.

“… You should get dressed now.”

Then So-hee said to Soo-ah, looking at her with an oddly cold gaze.

Well, since there was no reason for them to fight, it probably just seemed that way.

So-hee’s tone was unusually familiar when she spoke to me, so the contrast might have made it seem that way.

Come to think of it, did So-hee offer to dry her hair out of personal interest?

If So-hee were a lesbian character…

Well, maybe that’s a stereotype.

After all, in If You Wish, Shin So-hee was a lesbian character who was attracted to Yoo Ha-neul, but she wasn’t exactly a perverted character.

She wasn’t the type of character who would drool over beautiful girls or handsome boys, like in some stereotypical gag manga.

If a target character was like that, it would actually be a bit uncomfortable.

Instead, So-hee’s character was more like a delinquent senior who had been gender-swapped.

She was the kind of character who would teach the protagonist how to rebel, stay by their side, and help them find hope in life, not through academics but through other means.

I’m not sure why such a cool character was now standing in front of me dressed in a maid outfit, though.

“But I—”

Before Soo-ah could answer, there was a beeping sound at the door.

Then, with a clunk, the door opened.

“I brought the sizes you requested.”

Yang Hye-in walked in holding a paper bag.

It was from the same place Ha-neul and I had gone to last time.

“….”

And that’s when I remembered the fact I had forgotten, causing me to freeze in shock.

That’s right.

Right now, Soo-ah didn’t have any underwear to wear.

Since it would be awkward to wear the same underwear she had come in, she needed new ones.

Before I could lend her mine, Yang Hye-in had picked up on that and left to buy some.

Naturally, Soo-ah wasn’t wearing any underwear right now.

Not on top, nor on the bottom.

All she had on was a bath towel.

The clear shape beneath the bath towel… it was completely, purely natural.

“The underwear… is in there.”

Soo-ah pointed to the bag in Yang Hye-in’s hand, her voice trembling, clearly embarrassed to say it aloud.

“….”

Yang Hye-in glanced between me, So-hee, and Soo-ah.

Soo-ah’s expression now looked like she wanted to hide in a hole.

So-hee’s face also turned even redder than before.

Mine was probably the same.

“… Would you like to put on your clothes?”

With a serious expression and an equally serious tone, Yang Hye-in held out the paper bag to Soo-ah, who immediately stood up.