episode_0021

Questions under the guise of torture from fellow classmates, or rather, torture under the guise of questions (Tell me honestly, you’re dating him, right? Huh? No? Why are you kissing in class when you’re not dating him, you deceiver…) ended in the 6th period. It was right after the bell rang for recess.

Today is the first day, and classes only last until the 6th period, so to put it simply, I had to endure all kinds of bullying, teasing, questioning, and harsh criticism from lunch time until the end of school.

The person who caused it was my childhood friend ‘Aki’.

… … Anyway, after school.

After turning down the offer to go out with my classmates with kind words, I was returning home with Aki.

Today is the day that Aki came to cook a meal for me, who lives alone because my parents went to work in the United States, so I’m going with him.

That’s that, this is this.

“… … Aki, I’ll give you one minute to make an excuse now.”

As I stopped at the bus stop, I looked at Aki and asked.

No matter how much I think about it, I don’t understand why Aki played such a prank on me, so I really want to hear an explanation from his own mouth.

“Huh? What excuse~?”

As if he had been waiting for those words, Aki looked up at me and asked again.

Unlike when he opened his mouth as if he didn’t know anything, the corners of Aki’s mouth were drawn into an arc and his eyes were smiling. Anyone who sees it can clearly see that they are deliberately pretending not to know.

“What kind of excuse is that? I don’t know, so I ask… ?”

“Yes, Atashi (me) is not sure. Can you explain, Uju~chan?”

“… … .”

Oh my, have you seen this shameless and cute girl?

Aki, who is about a head shorter than me, tilted his head slightly, which was so cute that my eyes naturally went to him, but if I had planned on getting over this level of cuteness, I wouldn’t have even started in the first place.

I took my gaze away from Aki, who was smiling brightly, and put my hand on the bus stop window, reflecting on my anger from earlier.

“A while ago, during lunch time, Aki, you came to our class and-.”

“Oh, the bus has arrived. Uju~chan, let’s take the bus!”

“… … Ah, yes.”

I have to take the bus.

We take a bus that runs every 15 minutes, so if we miss it, there is no answer.

I sheepishly withdrew my hand and followed Aki onto the bus.

“Two students~”

“Wait a minute, I’ll pay for mine. Please cancel two people, we each have to… .”

“Wooju~chan, just come up quickly. Other customers are waiting behind you!”

After hearing Aki’s words, I glanced behind me. A boy who appears to be a student at the same school as me is looking up at us with lukewarm gaze from his feet.

“Student, will you pay separately?”

“Ah… . no. Please do it together.”

I put my phone back in my pocket and went up the stairs.

Due to the time zone, it is normal for it to be quiet inside, but today, strangely enough, there were so many passengers that Aki and I couldn’t find a place to sit together.

Is there anyone who feels like getting off at the next stop? I’m just looking around.

“Wooju~chan.”

Suddenly, the bus started moving forward and Aki gently tugged on my sleeve.

“Uh, why?”

“Hey, there’s a seat in the back. Go and sit down, Uju~chan.”

“I’m done, Aki, you sit down.”

“Huh? No, is Atashi okay?”

“Then let’s decide to play rock, paper, scissors, and the loser will take a seat.”

“Okay, the loser sits down!”

Normally, it would have been normal for the person who won to sit down, but in a very unusual way, Aki and I agreed that the person who lost would sit down.

“If you don’t pay, you lose, scissors, rock… . See!”

“… … Ah, Atashi wins!”

“Ah… .”

The result is my defeat.

Aki used scissors and I used scissors.

Aki, who defeated me with rock-paper-scissors, stretched out her chest, smiled, and winked at the empty seat.

“Hehe, Uju~chan. It’s still 10 years too early to beat Atashi. Now, go ahead and sit down. Uju~chan!”

“I’m upset, Aki… .”

Having become a loser, I sat down and swallowed my anger.

Aki came closer to me.

“Atashi, it feels like I’ve grown a lot taller like this.”

“It’s a coincidence. I felt like my height had become incredibly short.”

I haven’t measured myself recently, so it’s not exact, but the height difference between Aki and me is about 20cm. The difference is about the size of an adult female head.

So usually Aki looks up at me, but now when I’m sitting, instead of being at the usual eye level, Aki looks down at me and I look up at Aki. They are looking at each other with completely reversed eye levels.

“It would have been fun even if the actual height was like this. Right?”

“You don’t know, but I wouldn’t have had fun… ?”

A man who is more than 30cm shorter than his childhood friend who is around 160cm tall. So, I’m talking about 130cm, which is almost the level of a lower grade elementary school student. Anyway, that’s not a good idea.

-This stop is Deoksugung Palace in front of City Hall. The next stop is Seoul Station Bus Transfer Center… .

“There are two stops left, Uju~chan?”

“No, you have to get off in front of the school, so it’s three stops.”

“Oh, I see. I forgot, hehe.”

“There’s something else to forget… .”

While we were chatting about nothing special, the bus arrived at the stop.

Looking at the queue outside the window, it looks like there will be quite a few people getting on this time, but my eyes are on the front row.

So, I went to a white-haired old woman who seemed to have a bit of difficulty moving around, and I fell in love with her.

‘… … uh.’

There is no need to pay attention to this.

I got up immediately.

“Grandma, please sit here.”

Then, I approached the grandmother, guided her to the seat where I had been sitting a moment ago, and carefully sat her down.

“Thank you, student. Would you like me to carry your bag for you?”

“No. it’s okay. We’ll get off soon, so you don’t have to. Right, Akiya?”

“Huh? Ah, yes. yes… ?”

Aki must not have expected me to ask for consent, but after a moment of confusion, he quickly nodded.

The white-haired grandmother looked at the two of us with a happy smile and then asked a question vaguely.

“Is the girl next to you your student girlfriend?”

“… … Ugh?!”

He asked me a question, but Aki was more surprised than me.

“Ah, uh, um… .”

“… … .”

Aki glances at me with a red face.

I thought for a moment about what to say.

‘… … Well, we decided to get married later anyway.’

Even so, I thought it wouldn’t really matter, so I opened my mouth.

“Yes, well… . Is that so?”

“… … ?!”

“Uh, why? Isn’t this it? Aki, you had nothing to do with me? Are we strangers?”

“Ah, no… ! Well, it’s not like that… . Well, don’t say anything… !”

“… … Miss.”

“Oh, yes… ?”

“It’s rare to see male students this polite these days. So, tight when you’re still young, huh? Hold on as tight as you can. Got it?”

“… … .”

Aki’s face turned red.

Aki, who had not only his cheeks but also the nape of his neck puffed up to the point where he thought his cheeks were going to explode, he didn’t know what to do and said, ‘Eh, ah, that…’ . Ssss… He just made a strange sound like ‘.’

As if trying to hide his red face, he walked quickly with his head down and stood at the entrance of the bus.

Beep!

And, it doesn’t stop there, they even press the exit bell.

It’s only one stop away, but it looks like he was quite embarrassed to see him do that.

“… … .”

Well, it wasn’t intentional, but is revenge a success?

I smiled to myself and slowly and leisurely approached Aki’s side.

Aki knows that I came next to him, but he remains silent.

I felt like they were ignoring me on purpose, so I looked at my surroundings and gave up.

“When will you get married, Aki?”

“… … .”

“ Should I do it after I graduate from college or when I return from military service? Or just as soon as you turn twenty?”

“… … .”

“What, don’t you answer? Should I just marry another girl?”

“… … … … That’s not possible.”

‘You’re answering this again…’ .’

I heard that he is also cuter than he looks, or rather, as cute as he appears.

I thought Aki was cute when he timidly but firmly said no, so I hinted… … .

──Great!

At that time, the bus suddenly stopped.

All the passengers, including me, were startled because the bus was shaking and shaking, and I reflexively grabbed the pillar and moved my body to hold onto Aki who was next to me.

“… … Aki, are you okay?”

This guy’s sudden acceleration is always there, no matter which bus he takes.

While I asked a question with my mouth, I looked at Aki’s behavior with my eyes.

It wasn’t my intention, but Aki, who was half-in my arms, seemed fine.

“Ah, thank goodness.”

It appears that he was able to avoid falling by holding on to his waist instead of his shoulder.

I was truly relieved and relaxed, so I smiled.

“… … Ah, shit.”

Aki, who was looking up at me blankly with startled eyes, just looked at my face and then slowly moved her lips as if she had come to her senses.

“And, thank you… . universe… .”

“Okay, it’s okay because I wasn’t hurt. But didn’t you just say space?”

“… … uh? Atashi?”

“Yes, you just said Wooju instead of Wooju~chan.”

Yobiste, the Japanese naming culture that I once mentioned.

While name + san (さん) is a title used by close friends, name + chan (ちゃん) is a title used by very close friends. The next step is to cut out all the little details and call them only by name.

According to what I found out, there are two people that Japanese people call only by their first name. One is an immediate family member or lover, and the other is a close friend.

So, in other words, Aki only called me by my first name… … .

“Wait a minute, could it be…? . Aki, you and me… .”

“… … Ah, Atashi, I’ll get off!”

“Huh? Aki, where are you going~?”

“No, I don’t know… ! Universe, idiot! Really stupid… … !”