Didn't You Say Jamsil Was My Territory?
"Didn't you say Jamsil was my territory?"
"Fi~na~lly! It's over!! Whew!"
Only after the consultation with the doctor and getting every prescription filled did Clear, who had been silently clinging to me the whole time, finally stretch her arms with a big yawn.
"I handled all the talking and counseling from the start anyway. If anyone saw us, they'd think I was the one with the mental illness."
"Hehe, you're the one who offered to come to the hospital with me, Noah. And it's the first day!"
"When you put it like that, I can't argue."
It was a rather strange consultation session.
Even though the doctor recognized Yuri because they were already acquainted, my childhood friend simply stayed docked against me in silence the entire time.
Naturally, the doctor and I had to talk while assessing Yuri's condition, so we settled for setting up a long-term treatment plan today.
Well, I never expected it to be a quick fix anyway.
Better to take it one slow step at a time rather than rush in with greedy expectations of instant change.
There was still plenty of the year left, and I had no intention of pushing things too hard.
"Still, it's interesting that there are medications for social anxiety. I thought it was all just therapy."
"This is what they mean by beginner~ So clumsy. Your approach to treating illness is so clumsy!"
"Don't act smug just because you have a mental disorder."
I gave her forehead a light flick and took Yuri's hand again.
The doctor said we should put the multiple personality aspect on hold for now.
The immediate priority was her social anxiety.
She needed to be able to clearly express her own will first, which would help with the rest of the treatment.
So this year we'd focus on the social anxiety. High school would center around treating the multiple personalities.
After all, there wasn't a clearly established treatment for dissociative identity disorder, so the doctor had offered to study it alongside her treatment.
"Let's do the treatment properly. I'll help you every step of the way."
"...Yeah! I'll try my best. I'll take the medicine properly without skipping any."
"That's the spirit. In that case, lunch is on me today."
"Hee, really? What's the menu?"
"I had to decide that too?"
"Today's the day Noah takes the lead!"
My childhood friend was very naturally dumping all the responsibility on me.
If I'd known, I would have told her to look up some places in advance.
Still, it wasn't a big problem.
The Line 2 area was my territory, after all.
Having done some food-review club activities back in college, I knew most of the good restaurants around here.
"Somewhere close by... Yeah, that place should be good."
"Noah's eyes just lit up! Where? Where are you taking me?"
"I'll save the fun for when we get there. Want to walk a little first?"
"Hehe. Anywhere with you!"
We stepped forward in perfect sync, pleasantly soaking up the sunlight that had grown brighter than before.
"Noah, Noah. Didn't you say Jamsil was your territory too?"
Yuri tilted her head and looked up at me with those pure, innocent eyes.
Was it just my imagination that her crystal-clear gaze felt so heavy?
The embarrassment kept me from opening my mouth to my childhood friend.
Right... it's the past... The Seoul I remember is at least five years ahead...
I had forgotten yet again that I had regressed.
Of course my restaurant knowledge was based on the future.
There was no way those Instagram-famous spots would already be open this far back.
In the end, every place I tried was a bust, so we ended up wandering the area for thirty minutes.
"I'm an idiot. I'm a stupid-idiot-sandwich!"
"That's right, that's right!"
"Isn't a normal person supposed to deny it there?"
"I can't lie!"
Strange. Had our Clear always been this good at striking at the heart of things?
They say the idiot dog is surprisingly smart, so maybe that clueless look was an act after all.
Anyway, this was a problem. I had wanted to treat Yuri to something delicious.
But my pride wouldn't let me just settle for any random place nearby.
"Haah... Sorry."
"Huh? Why do you look so down, Noah? I was enjoying myself."
"You don't have to go this far for me. We just walked around pointlessly for thirty minutes."
"What are you saying!"
She suddenly jumped up from beside me and stood right in front of me.
Grabbing both my cheeks with her hands, she forced me to look at her.
"Don't say that. Thanks to you, Noah, I got to come out this far and walk around. Because you held my hand so tightly, I could see all these sights. Everything was a new stimulus!"
"Yuri..."
She was dazzling. More so than the sunlight pouring down on her right now.
"Still, aren't you hungry?"
"Mm... That part is true. Hee."
She rubbed her stomach with one hand.
Her lovable gesture made me sit her down beside me again as I turned on my phone.
I was just about to pick a decent nearby shop as a temporary solution when—
"Noah, can we go there instead?"
"Where..."
Yuri was shaking my shoulder so hard I followed her pointing finger with my eyes.
The building right in front of where we were sitting.
On the third floor, the sign read—
"...Manga cafe?"
"Yeah, yeah! They sell food there too! What do you think?"
"It might be a bit light since it's a cafe. Is that okay?"
"We're eating dinner together anyway, so it's fine! Plus... the original personality was in the middle of reading a manga and stopped."
That's right. The original personality shared a cosplay hobby with Cloudy.
That meant they probably had several favorite titles.
"...Alright. It's not like I don't read manga either. This way we won't need to look for another cafe."
"It's decided? Let's go, let's go~"
"If you pull that hard it's dangerous~"
It was an impulsive decision, but this kind of event wasn't bad at all.
Especially because right now—with Yuri smiling brightly and tugging me along while holding my hand tightly—I found the moment surprisingly charming.
As soon as we entered the manga cafe and picked our time package, Clear started piling food onto the kiosk screen like crazy.
"Tteokbokki, corn dogs, and fried chicken? Isn't that too much?"
"Should I take the corn dog off then, Noah?"
"When I think about your figure, you probably should eat a lot, but..."
I glanced down at her stomach, then her arms.
She really was thin. Maybe the corn dog should go back on.
"Do you want to fill me up so much that my belly swells out, Noah?"
"Ugh... Please don't say things like that where people can hear. Why do you keep omitting the subject and driving me crazy?"
The part-timer making our pre-ordered coffee was now giving us a very strange look.
Meanwhile, Yuri just tilted her head with an innocent expression, as if she had no idea what she'd said.
We hurriedly finished the order and practically fled into one of the inner rooms.
We headed to the second floor, which I'd noticed when we first came in.
"The second floor really is the golden rule for manga cafes!"
"The corner is so cozy! I could fall asleep right here!"
The moment Clear plopped onto the sofa, she sank deep into it.
When I sneaked a glance at her, she wore the satisfied expression of a dog who had finally found her own personal space.
"We booked three hours anyway, so it's fine if you take a nap in between."
"Hehe, it's a manga cafe. The original personality is pestering me to go get the manga right now."
"Do all the personalities have different tastes in manga?"
She was folding her outer jacket but paused, bringing a hand to her mouth in thought.
She even closed her eyes for a moment as if trying to come up with a grand metaphor.
"If I borrow the original personality's words... Poppy and Cloudy are both really picky! They have such strong preferences that they fight sometimes! Their standards are pretty unique too."
"That sounds exactly like them. What about the original personality?"
I decided not to ask about Mist or Snow.
The former didn't like being mentioned, and I'd never even met the latter.
"Our main body likes the more dark and depressing stuff, I guess? You know the type. Cute art style but the story has zero dreams or hope!"
"So the original likes bleak stories for healing... That just leaves you, Clear. Come on, reveal your taste~"
Without hesitation, Clear shot her hand into the air.
"Yellow dog! I don't really have any restrictions!"
"Perfect, exactly as expected! I love it!"
I ruffled her bangs vigorously.
As expected of a yellow dog, Clear grinned brightly and basked in the head pats.
"Noah, but there is one genre all the personalities like."
"What is it?"
"Pure romance!"
".....That's a wonderful taste. Yeah. Really wonderful."
I couldn't bring myself to add that I hoped to have that kind of relationship with her too.
Doing something like that while fully conscious was just too embarrassing!
The manga Clear was looking for turned out to be one the original personality liked—a healing story.
Maid from the Abyss.
It was a title I'd read before. Despite the adorable art style, it was famous for having absolutely no dreams or hope.
I remember getting emotionally scarred by this as an adult. Yuri reads stuff like this without any problem?
My childhood friend really did have quite unique tastes.
But even after circling the shelves once, we couldn't find it, so I had to search the system.
It turned out to be on a rather high shelf.
Clear climbed the ladder and reached out, but she was still too short.
"Ugh! So annoying! I can almost reach it on tiptoe, but..."
Too cute! Too lovable! I want to take a picture!
I watched her struggle and whine for a moment.
"Uu... Noah...."
I couldn't resist the teary look she gave me and walked over.
"Don't worry. This is easy to fix. Cloudy liked it too."
"Huh? Why are you suddenly bringing up Cloudy?"
Sometimes actions are easier to understand than explanations.
"Step one. Get behind Clear."
"?????"
"Step two. Lift her straight up—whoosh!"
"Whoaaaa?!"
I slipped my hands under Yuri's armpits and lifted her clean off the ground.
Clear was completely flustered by the sudden elevation.
She kicked her legs, but since I was already holding her completely off the floor, her feet just flailed through empty air.
"This feels so weird! I've never felt anything like it before!"
"There, there. Calm down. Let's grab the books."
"O-okay...."
Still a little hesitant, Yuri picked out the books she wanted to read.
"Noah, you can put me down now."
"Hmm..."
"Noah...?"
I deliberately didn't lower her.
It definitely wasn't because her flustered face was adorable.
"Ugh, seriously!"
Bonk!
In the end, I received a headbutt full of resentment to the back of my skull.
Still, no regrets!