154) Chapter 22. Because It’s Summer! (2)
“Ruaaa~!”
As always, Chae-yi came over to visit, shouting my name energetically as she entered the house.
“Hm?”
Then she suddenly stopped in place and immediately narrowed her eyes.
“Uh, h-hi?”
It wasn't really accurate to say it had been a long time since we'd seen each other—we'd met just yesterday, after all. But when we lived in the dormitory, even when we were apart, it was rarely for more than thirty minutes, so not seeing each other for around twelve hours could probably count as “a long time” for us.
I'd been bracing myself, thinking she might immediately pounce on me the moment she saw me, but instead, she narrowed her eyes as soon as she looked at me, which made me tense up in a different way.
“W-what's wrong?”
“Hmmm~?”
The longer Chae-yi dragged out that hum, the more it meant she was suspicious of something.
More specifically, it was a sound she only made when she was suspicious of me. When she was suspicious of other people, she simply acted dry and detached without showing much emotion.
After taking off her shoes and coming inside, Chae-yi circled around me repeatedly, as if searching for evidence.
“...Looks like you two were glued together?”
“Uh, huh?”
How did she know?
Well, to be fair, Soi, Chae-yi, and I were always attached to each other, so there wasn't any reason for Soi and me not to be close just because Chae-yi wasn't around.
But aside from that kind of prediction, had she actually noticed something?
“It's damp here.”
Chae-yi said as she fiddled with the area around my shoulder.
Then my waist.
And my legs.
Well, that was inevitable. Soi had spent the entire time on the sofa leaning against me with all her weight.
At some points, our cheeks had practically been touching.
“...And it's wrinkled here too.”
She continued her deductions while pointing at the chest area of my pajamas.
Mm.
But was this okay?
I hadn't gone anywhere because it was vacation, but was it really okay to be dressed like this while receiving guests...?
Though Chae-yi had seen me like this plenty of times before.
Meanwhile, she was wearing normal outdoor clothes, which somehow made me feel a little embarrassed.
“Th-that...”
I started to answer but only ended up blushing and closing my mouth again.
What was I supposed to tell Chae-yi?
That's right. We were stuck together all night. We slept facing each other close enough to feel each other's breath. Our chests were pressed together too, and things ended up like that.
How could I possibly say something like that, even between friends?
“Isn't that obvious?”
But Soi could.
Were Soi and Chae-yi not friends? No, if they weren't friends, she probably wouldn't say something like this either. In her own way, Soi was expressing friendship too.
But for someone expressing friendship, her face looked far too much like she was saying, I won.
Her shoulders were drawn back proudly, and her chest was thrust forward confidently.
Almost as though she were proudly showing off the wrinkles in her clothes that matched the pattern left on my pajamas.
“We've shared the same bed since we were little, you know? We're sisters who absolutely never separate. Isn't it only natural to wake up and immediately see each other's faces?”
Was it?
That didn't seem right. Most siblings didn't live close enough that the other person's face completely filled their field of vision.
But I'd learned my lesson over the years.
If I jumped in and pointed out how strange something was, I'd only get argued with.
No matter how reasonable my opinion was, Soi and Chae-yi became too busy being jealous of each other over me to accept it.
Mm.
Thinking about it that way, maybe it wasn't entirely bad.
Girls like Soi and Chae-yi weren't going to stay single forever.
And if that was the case, wouldn't it be better to enjoy this while I could, before I eventually had to experience that sense of loss?
It's not like we're doing anything particularly bad—
“Oh my, look at her.”
Soi frowned dramatically as she looked at my face.
“You're smiling?”
“Hmph.”
Gasp.
I quickly covered my mouth, but Soi and Chae-yi's eyes had already narrowed all the way.
At the same time, though, they were both smiling brightly.
And just as I thought, Ah, they're going to use this against me somehow—
Thump.
Chae-yi spread her arms wide.
“Hm?”
“Hug me.”
“Ah.”
“Soi got to hug you all she wanted yesterday. Burying her face against you and rubbing against you and everything.”
“N-no, there wasn't any rubbing...”
But when I tried to protest, Chae-yi's eyes sharpened even more, forcing me to spread my arms as well.
Immediately grinning from ear to ear, Chae-yi walked over and buried her face against my chest.
When I gently wrapped my arms around her head, I heard another long inhale from somewhere between my chest.
...Well, being hugged was nice.
And I liked hugging people too.
Still, wasn't burying your nose there and taking deep breaths a little much?
But then again, Chae-yi did it.
Soi did it too.
Jinwoo did it too.
Even Hyeonji did it, though a little more carefully.
Seeing that, I sometimes wondered whether this was simply normal in this world.
Mm.
Let's stop thinking about it.
I think it'd be better if I just stopped thinking about it.
*
“So we're going to the beach again this summer, right?”
“Of course. It's summer, isn't it? Isn't going to the beach the natural thing to do in summer?”
Was it?
Unfortunately, in my previous life, I hadn't gone to the beach during summer after middle school.
Because summer was hot.
Wasn't it better to stay home, turn on the air conditioner, and play games?
If you already bought an expensive house and an air conditioner, wasn't it a little wasteful to go outside?
Though now that I thought about it, neither the house nor the air conditioner had ever been bought with my own money.
Still, in this world, I just accepted it as normal.
In anime, dramas, and movies too, summer always meant people wearing swimsuits and relaxing at the beach. It seemed everyone thought that way.
And our family was no different. Ever since I started living with Soi's family in this life, we'd gone to the beach every single summer.
When we were little, Auntie Yujin and Uncle Dohyun took us there.
Once we got older, they'd sometimes let us spend a few days on our own. We'd go together and get separate rooms and, um...
...Actually, now that I think about it, Auntie Yujin and Uncle Dohyun seemed to enjoy their own trips too.
“Th-then what about Hyeonji and Jinwoo?”
The thought suddenly occurred to me, and I asked.
For some reason, Soi and Chae-yi both fell silent the moment they heard the question.
Huh.
“Yeah... well, they're friends too. Friends, I guess. Yeah.”
Huh?
“It'd probably be nice if they came too, right? Neither of them seems to have many friends besides us.”
Chae-yi and Soi each offered their opinion.
How should I put it? Their evaluation still felt a little harsh, or maybe awkward.
Even though they all gathered around me, Hyeonji and Jinwoo seemed to feel more like “a friend's friend” to Soi and Chae-yi than actual friends.
“Well, fine. Let's say they're coming too. But do they even have swimsuits?”
“Hyeonji probably does.”
Chae-yi answered Soi's comment.
That certainly fit the image.
Though the swimsuit Hyeonji owned was probably less of a vacation swimsuit and more the kind athletes wore for training as a hero.
“Jinwoo definitely doesn't.”
“One hundred percent.”
“Uh, yeah. Probably not.”
Soi, Chae-yi, and I spoke in that order.
Then, suddenly, Soi and Chae-yi exchanged a glance.
Usually they acted like they were constantly competing with each other, yet at certain moments their thoughts aligned perfectly. What exactly they were competing over, and why they worked together so seamlessly at times like this, remained a mystery.
“Well, then it can't be helped.”
“Yep. Can't be helped.”
“...Uh, what do you mean, can't be helped...?”
At my question, both Soi and Chae-yi looked at me simultaneously.
“We have to go buy swimsuits!”
Their voices rang out together like an echo.
“Uh, right. I guess we need to buy a swimsuit for Jinwoo...?”
“Exactly! There's no way Jinwoo already has one. And it'd be weird if we were all wearing swimsuits while she was the only one entering the ocean fully dressed, wouldn't it?”
Chae-yi said excitedly.
But you know.
Why did it feel like they were only looking at me while talking about Jinwoo's swimsuit?
I mean, obviously they were looking at me because they were talking to me.
But it wasn't that.
How should I put it?
It felt like I was the real target, not Jinwoo.
“I-I already have a swimsuit...”
“It was bought when you were in middle school.”
I'd tried offering that defense just in case, but Soi swatted it aside effortlessly.
Actually, swatted aside wasn't quite right.
It felt more like she'd sliced straight through it with a sword.
“It's too small.”
“I-I don't think it is...”
“Well, we were planning to buy new swimsuits too while we're at it. You can't wear the same one every year.”
Soi said that while looking directly at me.
The pressure of her gaze made me swallow involuntarily.
What was it like the last time I bought a swimsuit?
Um.
Right.
To put it simply—
It had been unbelievably, mortifyingly embarrassing.
“R-really, I think I should just wear the one I already have...”
But even after I said that, the two of them were already discussing where we'd all meet this week and where we should go.
That's right.
My opinion wasn't taken into consideration at all.
Yeah, well.
I knew that was going to happen from the moment the topic came up...