129) Chapter 19. M-Me Too……! (7)

“Hm?”

The twin-tailed girl tilted her head.

“Hmmm?”

“W-what is it?”

“No, you say she’s your cousin, but I don’t think you two look very alike.”

“T-that’s because we’re cousins? She’s not my actual little sister?”

“That’s right. Rua’s sister is me, not her.”

At my words, Soi immediately cut in.

She looked confident, yet somehow extremely angry.

Ah, not outwardly, of course.

It was more like an ability I’d developed after spending such a long time with her—just as Soi could read my expressions no matter how much I tried to hide them, I’d also gained the ability to read Soi’s hidden expressions.

That expression was the one she made before she’d stare at me piercingly for a while after we got home, then suddenly come over and cling to me until our bodies became sticky together.

For reference, the period when Soi made that expression most often was for a while after Chae-yi started burying her face in my chest. And the reason she almost stopped making that expression was because Soi also started confidently burying her face in my chest after that.

……No, honestly, even I don’t know why I can remember it in such specific detail.

“No, if she’s your cousin…… Ah, I guess that makes sense?”

The girl who’d been thinking to herself seemed to realize she’d misunderstood something for a moment.

That’s right. Strictly speaking, Soi and I aren’t “blood-related sisters.”

That fact is fairly widely known, so anyone who’s watched even one of Auntie Yujin’s interviews probably knows it. Auntie Yujin never once directly said I wasn’t her biological daughter, but reporters had asked about it before.

Besides, even apart from those interviews, there were videos that had spread online.

But from appearances inside the Academy, Soi doted on me like a real younger sister. We didn’t look similar enough to be called actual blood sisters if you examined us carefully, but her attitude was so natural that at a glance, it looked like a real twin older sister overprotecting her younger sibling.

“Hm? But she doesn’t really look much like Soi either.”

“Isn’t that kind of rude?”

Hyeonji quickly cut in.

“Saying relatives don’t look alike. I don’t think that’s very nice.”

“Ah, I guess that’s true too. Sorry. Now that I think about it, cousins can look pretty different.”

“It’s okay. That can happen. I don’t think we look very alike either.”

Soi smoothly accepted the girl’s response.

Even while listening to that, my heart pounded heavily.

For now, this girl is honestly a bit difficult for me.

It’s uncomfortable enough already, but the reason it’s uncomfortable is ridiculous. I still don’t know her name.

For some reason, Soi, Chae-yi, and Hyeonji all naturally acted like they knew her name, yet none of them had ever actually called her by name.

Meanwhile, this girl knows my name perfectly.

That honestly felt unfair. Since I’d become vaguely famous before even entering the Academy, my name had already spread around somewhat. If the other person already knows my name before we even introduce ourselves, when exactly am I supposed to ask for theirs?

And on top of that, I only realized this now—

What if she asks Jinwoo’s na—

“So, what’s your name?”

—Before I could even finish the thought, the girl gently asked.

She even bent down slightly at the waist to meet Jinwoo’s eyes while asking.

That’s right. Since Jinwoo was our “cousin,” naturally she’d assume she was a year younger than us.

Depending on the family, there might be cases where even same-aged cousins still called each other older or younger sibling, but normally people just treated them as the same age.

Jinwoo already had absolutely no resistance to making eye contact with girls, and the moment the girl looked directly into her eyes, Jinwoo lowered her head deeply.

Her face was already bright red from embarrassment, and now that she had to actually speak too, she looked like she was dying.

“J-Jiwoo.”

I blurted it out without thinking.

Everyone’s gaze simultaneously turned toward me.

The twin-tailed girl and the friends behind her simply because I’d suddenly spoken up.

And Soi, Chae-yi, and Hyeonji because they were slightly bewildered.

If I’d been standing nearby in third-person perspective, even my head would’ve turned.

What the hell are you saying?

Like that.

No, if you’re going to make up a fake name, shouldn’t you come up with something more convincing? Ah, of course, Jiwoo was a plausible name. It didn’t sound strange whether used for a boy or a girl.

The problem was that it sounded way too similar to her real name.

Well, obviously, because I’d just made it up on the spot without thinking.

And because I’d just made it up on the spot without thinking, naturally it ended up sounding similar to her real name.

“Really? Your name’s Jiwoo?”

Thankfully, the girl didn’t seem suspicious over just that.

After all, the idea of a male student standing here in girls’ clothes made absolutely no sense to begin with.

……And because of that, it also felt like Jinwoo absolutely should not be standing here in girls’ clothes.

No matter how you tried to explain it, it would sound weird.

“How cute.”

The twin-tailed girl giggled, then straightened back up.

Maybe because Jinwoo had her head lowered so deeply, the girl hadn’t looked too closely at her face?

This girl was also a hero’s daughter, and more than anything, she was the type with such strong heroic instincts that she’d stepped forward herself back then, so maybe she simply knew it would be rude to stare intently at the face of someone who clearly had their head lowered.

“Well then, have fun.”

“Uh, yeah.”

Thankfully, she didn’t suggest we all hang out together.

Well, it wasn’t like we were close enough to constantly spend time together normally anyway.

More than anything, the girls she’d brought with her were complete strangers to us, so it probably would’ve just been awkward for everyone.

And our side also had our “cousin.”

Only after the girl lightly waved and walked away from us—

“Puhah.”

—did Jinwoo finally let out a breath. ……Wait, were you holding your breath this whole time?

Well, I could understand not wanting to make a sound and get found out.

“……Hey, are you okay?”

When I asked, Jinwoo finally lifted her head and looked at me.

Ah.

Her face was red. Sweat had formed on her forehead at some point, making strands of hair stick to it, and her breathing was ragged.

The corners of her eyes were damp too.

Honestly, she’d been in this state for a while already, but it seemed meeting that girl had made it even worse.

And seeing that face somehow made me unbearably embarrassed too.

Because, like. How should I put this.

When a girl makes a face like that, it’s just.

It’s just that kind of thing, you know? That sort of thing, yeah? Anyway, that.

Soi and Chae-yi also made embarrassed expressions in front of me. Every summer when we went to the beach together and they bought new swimsuits to show me, they made expressions so embarrassed that I was the one who felt more embarrassed looking at them.

But there usually wasn’t any shame in that embarrassment. It wasn’t the kind of expression that said I’m doing something I absolutely shouldn’t, or I’m crossing a line, or Nobody can ever find out about this.

But Jinwoo was making exactly that kind of expression right now.

Amazingly enough, if I had to compare it to the closest expression I’d seen across both my previous life and this one, it’d probably be the heroine in that sort of manga, or an actress in an adult video.

You know, that expression people make when they’re doing something they absolutely shouldn’t be doing outside and are just about to get caught.

The feeling was strange. I was embarrassed too, but at the same time, it wasn’t my embarrassment, and yet I was still afraid of getting caught—this bizarre sense of taboo.

“L-let’s go pay first. Go change back into your clothes for now.”

“O-okay.”

And then…… would it be okay for her to change right in the fitting room? People often did that with outerwear, but I wasn’t sure about regular clothes…….

Well, if not, she could just change in the bathroom.

And in the end, that’s what happened.

Partly because of Jinwoo, and partly because of the atmosphere among all of us.

For some reason, none of us could bring ourselves to directly ask the employee, “We’re going to wear these out, so could we use the fitting room again?”

So we ended up taking Jinwoo to the restroom instead.

I’d spent more than ten years adapting to this body already, so it didn’t bother me anymore, but Jinwoo was absolutely horrified even by entering the women’s restroom.

No, you’re a girl though.

Why is your face turning bright red just from walking in while holding my hand? Her head was lowered deeply, and her eyes were even shimmering with tears.

At this point, the atmosphere felt like one of those onee-shota stories where a delinquent girl gang was “training” a younger boy. Couldn’t she at least pick whether she wanted to feel like a girl or a guy?

That said, thankfully we didn’t go into the same stall together, and luckily no other women came in while Jinwoo was changing.

“Haa…….”

Still, maybe because she’d relaxed after putting women’s clothes back on, Jinwoo let out a huge sigh of relief after coming out of the restroom.

“S-so then, are we going back now?”

“What are you talking about?”

I tilted my head at Jinwoo’s words.

Still, while Jinwoo was changing, I’d calmed down a little too.

Right. Jinwoo had made much stranger expressions than I expected, which had made the atmosphere weird, and running into school friends midway through had been dangerous too.

But the reason we came out here in the first place was to have fun.

There’d be no point spending the whole day inside the house, right?

…….

Well, maybe that wasn’t something I, who’d practically stayed inside ever since dropping out of middle school, should be saying.

“……Huh?”

Seeing my expression, Jinwoo’s face filled with despair.

Though instead of turning pale with despair, her face flushed even redder, which made me wonder whether she was actually the type whose emotional expressions were the exact opposite of her real feelings.

Ah, maybe that’s kind of a dangerous thought.

But maybe it was fine, since she was making dangerous expressions anyway.

…….

No, honestly, maybe I hadn’t actually calmed down very much either.

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Pub: 17 May 2026 08:17 UTC

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