164) Chapter 23. Because We’re Friends. (3)

It definitely felt like we had the air conditioner blasting.

Even in midsummer, if the AC is strong, the indoor temperature has nothing to do with the heat outside. It can even get cold enough that you need a blanket, which is why hotels usually prepare thick ones even in summer.

So at the very least, it shouldn’t have been hot.

“Ugh…”

At some point, I had fallen asleep, and when I woke up, my whole body felt sticky. From my sweat, and from the others’ sweat.

Normally, the only ones who sleep in the same bed as me are Soi and Chae-yi.

…Well, since there are two of them, maybe “only” isn’t the right word, but anyway—right now, there were more than just those two.

Yes. The number of girls clinging to me was double the usual.

First, there were Soi and Chae-yi on either side of me, like always.

I remembered sitting on the sofa, then all of us gathering on the floor to talk, then dozing off while watching a movie.

At some point, I ended up lying on the floor, with Soi and Chae-yi taking the spots on either side of me, and Jinwoo and Hyeonji taking the spots below me.

“…Huh?”

Wait, hold on.

I looked down.

The reason it was hot was immediately obvious.

My body was warm—no, hot—from the body heat of the others pressed against me, but the girls surrounding me were using my body as a shield, leaving their own bodies exposed to the cold AC air.

At some point, they had dragged blankets from the bedrooms into the living room. Naturally, part of the blankets was draped over me too.

“…Hup.”

There was a strange sensation around my lower stomach.

When I looked down, between the blankets haphazardly covering us, I saw the tops of Hyeonji’s and Jinwoo’s heads poking out.

Probably because they had tried to squeeze in under Soi’s and Chae-yi’s legs and ended up in awkward positions, um…

Right below my breasts, around my solar plexus, was the crown of Hyeonji’s head.

And below that, resting on my lower stomach, was Jinwoo’s face.

…Is this okay?

No, seriously, is this okay?

I mean, considering we sleep like this every day in the dorm, it’s a little funny to suddenly worry about it now, but still—

“H-hey, guys?”

“Mmm…”

When I carefully called out to them, Soi squirmed and slowly moved her face closer to my body. Chae-yi did the same.

And then—

Thunk.

Their foreheads bumped into each other. Wasn’t that a bit loud? That must’ve hurt. Are they really not waking up?

But the two girls, buried against my chest, didn’t wake at all.

The inside of the blankets felt humid in several ways.

The inside of my pajamas was completely soaked with sweat. If I stepped outside the blankets, the fabric would cling to my skin instantly.

“……”

But… it wasn’t like I disliked it.

Not that I could ever say that out loud—if I did, the girls would probably get weirdly upset.

So in the end, for about another hour, I had no choice but to remain completely immobilized, trapped in the arms of the girls surrounding me.

*

The second day moved at a slightly more relaxed pace.

We had played way too hard in the ocean from the very first day, after all. And the vacation itself was pretty long.

We weren’t planning to spend the entire week just staying near the ocean. We decided to check out some of the nearby tourist spots bit by bit. Not that we’d ever get bored anyway. What mattered was that we came here to have fun together.

“Haah, this is life, seriously.”

Just like she said yesterday, the girl we met chugged her smoothie and let out a long breath.

For the record, we hadn’t made any plans to meet up. We didn’t even exchange contact information.

It was a little strange that we were getting along this well anyway. Is this the average level of sociability for high school girls?

Well, thinking about it, Soi used to be like that back in elementary school too. She probably didn’t exchange contact info with every single kid she played with.

“Why, are you uncomfortable because there are adults around?”

“Don’t even get me started. My older relatives are so strict. The reason I still haven’t dated at this age is all because of them.”

…Is that really something you can say “at this age” about?

I mean, dating in your teens isn’t exactly unusual, but still.

“Is your family a bit conservative?”

“Yeah, pretty much. I told you about my cousin, right? He’s way more to the adults’ liking. Anyway, that’s how it is. I’m not allowed to wear bikinis, and I’m not allowed to go on trips with friends. Haah, this is my first summer vacation as a high schooler, you know? Do you have any idea how much I was looking forward to it? I even worked hard on dieting just so I could wear a swimsuit!”

She said that, even though she ordered a luxurious smoothie that looked like it had at least 500 calories in one cup, but I decided not to mention it.

She didn’t look much different from when I saw her during the school year, but maybe she’s the type whose face doesn’t slim down easily.

“Even the swimsuit I bought was the most conservative one I could get permission for, and the adults still scrutinized it like crazy.”

For the record, she wasn’t wearing a swimsuit right now. Neither were we. We had spent the morning relaxing and were trying to decide what to do in the afternoon.

“What’s the point of going in alone, it’s not fun,” she had said. Well, she wasn’t wrong.

“Don’t you have any other cousins?”

“Except for one annoying cousin, the rest are all way younger than me.”

Ah.

So if she went into the ocean, she’d have to play with a swarm of elementary schoolers.

I could understand why she didn’t want to go in.

And her family was more conservative than I expected.

But I guess that made sense.

Actually, wouldn’t most hero families be conservative? If anything, Auntie Yujin and Uncle Dohyun were probably the unusual ones for being so relaxed.

Maybe the reason she always looked so bright whenever I ran into her at school was because she could finally enjoy that freedom there.

“So— ah.”

The girl was about to continue talking when she suddenly closed her mouth and looked to the side.

I turned my head and saw him—the guy from yesterday. The delinquent.

I couldn’t tell if he was pretending not to see us or if he genuinely didn’t notice, but he sat down a fair distance away.

His older sister was with him too.

“Why does he keep showing up?”

The girl lowered her voice and grumbled.

“That’s him, right? The one who bullied you at the start of the semester.”

“Y‑yeah, you knew?”

“I didn’t know at first. I heard about it after I got to know you.”

After she got to know me.

I wasn’t sure if we could even call it “getting to know each other.”

I felt a pang of guilt. I still didn’t even know her name properly.

“He didn’t get punished or anything, right? Even after doing all that to you. His family’s connected to someone high up in the Association, wasn’t it? Or was it that his dad was someone important?”

“Yeah. Probably.”

Chae‑yi answered in a flat voice.

“I think he even knows my mom.”

“Then shouldn’t you be more careful? These days, having something like that recorded can cause trouble, especially for people in high positions.”

“Well, it’s the Association. From what I heard, the people working there aren’t technically treated like government officials. It’s a place where only superhumans gather, so a lot of things run on personal connections. Or so I heard.”

Listening to Chae‑yi talk, it sounded like she had discussed this pretty deeply with her mom.

Maybe Chae‑yi had been trying to protect me in her own way too.

Thinking that made me feel embarrassed again.

I mean, everyone around me always worries about me, right?

Maybe it’s because I can’t handle things properly, so they end up wanting to help.

“…Should we finish up and head out? Since we’re already out, want to look around the area a bit? My parents were happy when I said I was going to meet you guys. …Though I kind of know what they were thinking, which is a bit annoying.”

The girl said that, then sucked on her smoothie too fast and winced, pressing the bridge of her nose.

That’s what happens when you drink something cold too quickly.

But I agreed with her suggestion to leave quickly.

It wasn’t that the boy made me uncomfortable—his sister did.

She didn’t look like a bad person on the surface, but… how should I put it?

Her expression made me uneasy.

The others seemed to agree with the girl, quickly finishing their drinks and standing up.

Since our group had been taking up an entire table, we naturally drew attention when we all stood at once. The boy and his sister looked our way.

The boy quickly averted his eyes, but his sister met mine.

And then she smiled—brightly, warmly, like she was greeting someone she knew.

Someone she knew…?

Unlike the girl here, I had only exchanged a few words with her.

Still, ignoring her completely felt rude, so I gave a small nod and hurried after my friends out of the shop.

Even as we walked out, I kept feeling eyes on my back.

…Probably just my imagination.

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Pub: 07 Jun 2026 05:23 UTC

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