It Wasn't a Village Bus, It Was a Cruise
It wasn't a village bus after all. It was a full-on cruise.
"Hey, transfer student. Got a minute to talk?"
"Do I have to?"
"Aww~ No need to be so cold, right?"
Jeong Ha-rin placed her hand on my chest and licked her lips. Her eyes had turned sticky and seductive too, as a bonus.
"Not bad. You must've worked out, huh?"
"Not really."
"Playing hard to get. Can't you just undo one button for me?"
"No."
"Pretty please~ It's just one button. I'll make it worth your while twice over. How about it?"
This time she moved one hand to her own cleavage.
Her finger traced the line of her chest downward, then she brought it to her lips and licked it in a blatantly tempting way.
She'd already left a few buttons undone so her upper chest was visible. And now she wanted two more?
"Why not just take the bra off while you're at it?"
"The transfer student finally spoke more than two syllables!"
Yoo Ye-eun, who'd been calmly watching from the side this whole time, let out an impressed gasp. Seeing how cheerful she was even in this situation, she must have a seriously laid-back personality.
"Ye-eun, be quiet. Actually, just go down first. Next period is foreign language anyway. The teacher always shows up late, so it's fine."
"If I didn't have a boyfriend, I would've given you a chance. Too bad. See you later, transfer student~"
Yoo Ye-eun closed the rooftop door and headed downstairs.
Now it was just me and Jeong Ha-rin.
She took another step closer and deliberately bent forward.
Her school blouse gaped open, constantly tempting my gaze.
"Haah. Move, Jeong Ha-rin. Stop with this pathetic act."
"That's weird. Even the high school guys usually blush or get excited when I do this."
"That's because their heads are full of pink. At least I'm not like that."
In truth, I liked pink too.
There was no way a man in his twenties would hate it.
Especially since my body was that of a middle schooler, right in the middle of his prime.
But all of that came with one major condition.
It had to be with Yuri. Only Yuri.
I wanted to take things step by step with my childhood friend. I had zero interest in satisfying sexual desires with some rag like this.
"Let me ask you one thing. Didn't we meet for the first time today? This is literally our first personal conversation. So why are you so desperate to jump me?"
"Wow, you really fire off words like a machine gun. Hmm~"
She tilted her head toward the sky in an exaggerated thinking pose.
Even that careless gesture looked objectively seductive.
"First of all, your face? It's not bad. You're pretty tall for our age too. But more than anything..."
Jeong Ha-rin's gaze dropped to the ring finger of my left hand.
With a lewd look on her face, she licked her lips once more.
"They say if your ring finger is longer than your index finger, it means that other place is longer too."
I genuinely marveled inside.
If there had been a unicorn next to me, it would've vomited blood instantly and crowned me the King of Bicorns.
Back when I was twenty-three, before my regression, I was probably way past driving a village bus. I would've been captaining a damn cruise ship.
"If you're that horny, go find another guy. I'm leaving."
I sighed and started walking away.
But just as I was about to open the rooftop door, she grabbed my arm and stopped me.
"Aren't you being too difficult? Do you only do skinship after dating? Then we can just date~"
The fact that she added "just" as a modifier to "date" was already a massive red flag.
I swallowed my irritation and looked her straight in the eyes with a serious expression.
"Jeong Ha-rin. Do you even know my name?"
"...."
She quickly tried to check my name tag, but I'd already covered it.
In the end, Jeong Ha-rin could only mumble awkwardly.
Both she and Yoo Ye-eun had called me nothing but "transfer student" ever since they came up to the rooftop.
There had been plenty of chances to check my name while talking to me up close.
Yet she couldn't answer.
It meant that from the beginning until now, she'd only been looking at my body and face—purely superficial things.
"I'm going."
I roughly shook off the wrist she'd been holding.
After confirming her hand falling pathetically through the air, I opened the rooftop door without a shred of regret and headed back to the classroom.
3:30 PM.
Afternoon classes ended, and the closing homeroom wrapped up too.
"Ugh...! The day's finally over, huh? Good work today, Noah."
"Yeah, thanks for today, Ara."
"You seem to be in a better mood? You came in earlier with your face all scrunched up."
"Ahaha... Something like that happened."
After seeing that seductive fox Jeong Ha-rin, looking at someone as pure as Ara felt incredibly healing.
"You should smile more! Otherwise the people who meet you will get worried, you know?"
"...Don't people often tell you that you have strangely good intuition?"
"Hehe. Maybe it's because I pray really hard at church~"
"Was it holy power or something? Anyway, see you tomorrow."
"Get home safely~"
I looked out the window.
The once clear sky had already turned hazy.
"It's going to rain soon. I wonder if Yuri's personality has changed by now?"
Yuri's house was near Yangjae Station.
Since the middle school I attended was near Gangnam Station, it was a comfortable bus ride away.
[This is your stop.]
The moment I got off the bus, raindrops began falling from the sky one by one.
It was still a drizzle.
But it looked like it would get heavier soon.
"Good thing I brought an umbrella."
As soon as I opened it, raindrops started forming on top.
A song I'd heard every rainy day in America flowed from my lips.
"Mr. Raindrop falling away from me now~"
While humming and walking along, my phone rang in my pocket.
I usually kept it on silent, but I'd set it to vibrate for my parents and one other person.
That one person was obviously Yuri!
"Let's see. What kind of tsundere is rainy-day Yuri, I wonder."
Polite speech. But in a commanding tone.
It was closer to a noble young lady than a tsundere.
'Ah, those two words basically mean the same thing anyway.'
Still, it was a relief that she didn't call me a commoner like in some romance fantasy novel.
I decided to go along with Yuri's mood for now.
I'd been planning to buy snacks to eat while watching TV with her anyway, so it wasn't any trouble.
"There was a convenience store around here... Ah, there it is."
After buying some simple snacks, I arrived in front of Yuri's house.
Even though I knew the passcode, I deliberately chose to ring the doorbell.
'Because... it's fun.'
It was absolutely not because I wanted to see the young lady version of Yuri come all the way down to the first floor with a face that had three percent extra venom in it, complaining.
"Huh? Why isn't there any response?"
Yuri should definitely be home.
Plus, she knew I was coming, so she wouldn't have mistaken it for someone else.
But even after ringing the bell, there was no reaction.
I thought she'd at least show some annoyance even if she didn't come down.
Just in case, I pressed it once more. Hard.
The doorbell rang through the house again, but still nothing happened—like a Magikarp that refused to evolve.
Then, a notification sound came from my phone saying a message had arrived.
Aha. So that's how you're going to play it?
Was it because of her current young lady personality?
For some reason, I didn't want to lose this battle of wills with Her Ladyship.
'Besides, I even brought snacks. You should at least show basic hospitality to a guest!'
I closed my umbrella and pressed the doorbell repeatedly with my finger.
"Begin. Super Bell Ring 16 Hits Per Second."
Ding-dong-ding-dong-ding-dong-ding-dong-ding-dong!
"Let's see if you can still stay inside after this."
"Ugh, seriously!!!"
Yuri's irritated voice could be heard even through the door.
It was so satisfying that using the technique felt completely worth it.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Bang!
"What are you doing!! I already have a hard time going outside—"
Unfortunately, Yuri couldn't finish her sentence.
The moment the door opened, I pulled her into my arms.
"?!?!?!?"
"Sorry. I just really wanted you to come greet me at the entrance."
Yuri trembled in confusion from the sudden hug.
At the same time, the fluffy hair touching my shoulder was purple.
It was a color and scent that perfectly matched a rainy day.
She couldn't say anything, her face heating up with embarrassment. She looked so adorable that I raised my hand to stroke her head—
"...? Yuri. Don't tell me the reason you said it's hard to go outside is..."
My gaze finally moved to the top of her head.
"Because you have cat ears?"
I'd noticed her hair felt different from her other personalities and wondered why.
She lifted her face from my chest and shot me a sharp, sulky glare.
"That's why I didn't want to come out, you damn Noah."
Her original personality had pink hair and was a hikikomori.
Clear days brought out the golden-haired golden retriever type.
Cloudy days brought the black-haired menhera.
And the rainy day I'd met today had purple hair and was a tsundere.
Oh, and with real cat ears to top it all off.
"Don't you think you have way too many attributes?"
"Shut up, Noah."
"Ah, that mouth is pretty dirty too. You're not a tsundere, you're a cursedere."
"You're the one making me curse! Let go already!"
"No way~ It's so fluffy and feels nice."
Right now, I was in a room with Yuri.
To be more precise, I was leaning against the bed while holding her in my arms.
I'd seen the cat ears poking cutely through her purple hair, couldn't hold back, and ended up grabbing her in a hug.
Meanwhile, Yuri was hissing and struggling wildly in my embrace.
"At least wash your hands and feet first. Your cardigan is all wet and damp too."
"Tch. So mean."
"Isn't that basic etiquette for a guest? So please go do that. I'll take the cardigan and hang it on the rack for you."
With no choice, I released Yuri from my arms.
I handed over my slightly damp cardigan and headed to the bathroom.
"Still no mirror, huh."
Still, I was more used to it than when I first saw it.
Right now, I was more eager to get closer to this rainy-day version of Yuri.
I quickly washed my hands and feet and returned to Yuri's room.
"Yuri, before we eat dinner, what do you want to—"
This time, I was the one who couldn't finish speaking.
"Huu... Noah's scent. Haaaa... hng..."
She was clutching my cardigan and burying her nose in it.
".....Noah?"
Oh. Our eyes met.