90) Chapter 15. ……It Was Warm (3)

One of the things I found truly strange in my previous life was that people, surprisingly, paid quite a lot of attention to the people around them.

I don’t mean “people they’re close to.” I mean people who are physically close to them.

Like coworkers sitting nearby, people sharing the same office, or the neighbor next door.

I wasn’t the type to care about people around me.
Why would I bother talking to someone I never speak to? It would only make things awkward.
If work could proceed without us becoming close, then I thought it was best for everyone to just do their own tasks.

Since I never introduced myself, I assumed the other person wouldn’t know anything about me either.

But then, while working, at some point the other person would casually call my name as if it were nothing.

At university, at work—
even if they weren’t pretending to be close friends, they acted like knowing each other’s names was natural, while I couldn’t even remember theirs properly.

I didn’t hate it.
I thought of it as a kind of consideration.
Better than acting like machines who only work and never greet each other.

But when someone I barely ever spoke to suddenly called my name and started talking to me, it was inevitably startling and a little uncomfortable.

“Rua.”

A girl called out to me in a tone you’d use for someone you’re completely close with.

And it wasn’t just one girl.
Just like in middle school, they always moved in groups of four or five.

Behind the girl who spoke to me were four other girls.

So her name was… ah.

Unfortunately, our uniform shirts don’t have name tags.
The name tags go on the jackets.
Summer uniforms have name tags on the shirts, but it’s not warm enough for summer uniforms yet.

I recognized her face.
I’ve sparred with every student in this class at least once.
Well, except for Chae-yi, since Instructor Justina stopped us.

After sparring with everyone, the way the class looked at me changed quite a bit, and the hostile atmosphere faded a lot.

Of course, a few students started glaring at me even more fiercely, but those kids didn’t seem to have many friends anyway.

This girl was probably one of the ones whose attitude had softened.

“Uh, yeah.”

Since I failed to figure out her name, my reply came out extremely awkward.

My heart pounded nervously.
Maybe someone nearby would call her name by chance?

“Hey, I have something I’m curious about.”

I felt Soi and Chae-yi shift in their seats in front of and behind me.

Whenever someone talks to me, those two always go into alert mode.

“C‑Curious?”

Maybe she came to tease me or bother me?

I’m cautious with people.
Most kids my age I’ve met so far were like that.

“Well, um. Ah, I wonder if I should even ask this.”

When the girl looked back, the others giggled.
Some laughed in disbelief, some had slightly flushed faces—not from embarrassment, but because they found it amusing.

Their laughter made my shoulders shrink a little.

Even if the girl talking to me wasn’t hostile, I’d had plenty of experiences where the ones behind her were.

“What is it?”

Before I could say anything, Chae-yi spoke.

She wasn’t glaring, but her smile radiated a sticky, dangerous heat.

One wrong word and she looked ready to stand up and grab the girl by the collar.

But the girl didn’t seem to notice the atmosphere and cleared her throat.

“Rua, are you… maybe dating Nam Jinwoo?”

A question I absolutely did not expect hit me.

“…What?”

I felt my mind go blank for a moment as I repeated her words.

Even if I thought Jinwoo were actually a boy, it would’ve made my mind go blank, but since I was certain Jinwoo was a girl, it stunned me in a completely different way.

I mean, if we could hide it forever, it would just be a misunderstanding we could laugh off.

But if something gets revealed or someone finds out later, wouldn’t things get complicated?
If people keep misunderstanding that I like Jinwoo, won’t I end up looking pitiful?

Well… I’m already treated like a pitiful kid as it is.

“It’s just, yesterday I happened to look out the window, and I saw you and Nam Jinwoo looking at a cat together. In front of the girls’ dorm, too.”

“Ah.”

“And he waited for you for a long time before you came out.”

So they saw.

I wondered if I should hold my forehead in disbelief.
Would that gesture be okay?

But before I could, Soi already did it for me, so I decided not to.

“And you went out together on Saturday, right? You even held his hand.”

One of the girls, whose face had been slightly red, finally blurted it out as if she couldn’t hold it in anymore.

I didn’t exactly hold her hand, though.

“I—I only grabbed his sleeve…”

“So you did grab something.”

Why?

Is grabbing someone’s sleeve that strange?

But before I answered, I remembered my previous life.

Right.
In my entire previous life, not a single girl ever tugged on my sleeve.

So maybe it really isn’t common.

“You went out together, and you pulled his arm?”

“Uh… b‑but it wasn’t just me and Jinwoo…”

I quickly turned my head, and Soi, who had been holding her forehead, sighed loudly as if to say listen carefully.

“Yeah. It wasn’t just Jinwoo. I went, Chae-yi went, and Hyeonji over there went too.”

As Soi pointed at herself, then at Chae-yi, then at Hyeonji, the girls’ eyes followed her finger each time.

“But you were together yesterday too.”

“Same yesterday. All four of us were there. If you watched a little longer, you would’ve seen us following behind Rua and Jinwoo.”

“Oh, so they’re not dating?”

“Nope.”

This time, Chae-yi cut in.

“If Rua were dating someone, of course we’d know. We share a dorm room. And Rua has never gone on a date with anyone. Well, maybe if it were me, I wouldn't know.”

“You definitely wouldn't know.”

Soi shot back.

Even though she was sitting a bit farther away, Hyeonji—who had been listening with mild interest—pressed her hand to her forehead.
What is this? Is that gesture contagious?

“So why ask?”

“Well…”

When Chae-yi asked, the girl shrugged with a deflated expression.

“This is a co-ed school. But until now, there hasn’t been a single dating rumor or anything even close. So I thought maybe we finally had a couple.”

“…Do you think anyone here can actually date properly?”

“Huh? Why not?”

“Well, aren’t everyone’s families strict?”

At Chae-yi’s words, several girls flinched.

“Ah… well…”

“Yeah…”

Judging by their reactions, it really was like that.

“Is that so?”

“Of course. If I dated someone, my mom would faint.”

Chae-yi said with a sigh.

“Look. Almost everyone here has hero parents.”

Ah, right.

They maintain public safety, and many are respected figures.
Strict households probably aren’t unusual.

“My family… isn’t like that.”

“Oh? Really? You think so?”

When I muttered that, Soi asked with a laugh.

“If rumors spread that you and Jinwoo were dating, Dad would show up at school instantly. He doesn’t nag because he assumes you’d never get a boyfriend in the first place. Do you know how much he lectured me before school started?”

“…Really?”

“And he asked me to look after you. So this big sister is always by your side guarding you, right?”

Soi puffed out her chest proudly.

…Seriously?

“I was asked too.”

Chae-yi said in a slightly sulky voice.

…So it wasn’t just “Rua has poor social skills, please take care of her”?

Thinking about it, it does sound like something Uncle Dohyun would do.
He cherishes Soi and me so much.

I’ve never even seen him angry.

If I had a daughter like Soi, I’d probably act the same.

…But wait.

What did Auntie Yujin say when we altered our uniforms?

Didn’t she say she partied a lot as a student and even met Uncle Dohyun back then?

Didn’t they already do everything in high school?

Isn’t it contradictory to tell us not to?

Well, not that I’ll ever date a boy in high school anyway.

“……”

I glanced across the room.

Jinwoo was sitting in the far corner, flinching every time her name came up, trying to listen from a distance where she could barely hear, clearly extremely nervous.

…I was a little curious how she reacted to all this.

But I decided not to say anything.

If she heard, she’d probably hide in some corner like a startled hamster and skip class entirely.

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Pub: 22 Apr 2026 09:53 UTC

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