Don't Come Near Me!
I'd momentarily forgotten, distracted by Hongryeon's outstanding beauty….
Whatever my real purpose might have been, the official excuse for coming here was that I had something to say to Siyun.
But the truth was I'd only come because I wanted to see Hongryeon and figured I'd think of something once I got here—so of course I didn't actually have anything to say to Siyun….
In my fluster I ended up blurting out whatever selfish nonsense came to mind.
"How far have you and Carmen gone?"
"W-wha—huh?"
Siyun's face flushed scarlet and her whole body flinched—perfectly natural. Even Carmen, who happened to be walking past behind her, froze solid on the spot, her face just as red.
Ah… if they react like that, it only makes things worse!
Look—the kids in the classroom were glancing back and forth between Siyun and Carmen, reading the room. They were trying to confirm whether the guesses they'd already made were true or not.
If those two had just laughed it off playfully, nothing would have come of it. The problem was that they both froze as if it really were true.
Reacting like that only made people suspect it might actually be real… wait.
Siyun I could understand, but why was Carmen freezing up too?
"Don't tell me…."
Did you two actually do something? Somewhere I couldn't see?
Sudden indignation surged up inside me.
How much… how far did I miss?
A kiss. They haven't kissed yet, right?
That auspicious first kiss—the moment they confirm each other's feelings and exchange saliva—has to be burned into these two eyes of mine. That's the only reason I exist in this world…!
In my urgency I grabbed Siyun's shoulders hard.
"Siyun."
"Y-yes?"
"You haven't kissed yet, right?"
"What are you even—"
The students eavesdropping around us let out little "Kyaah!" squeals.
Steam practically puffed out of the top of Siyun's head as her face turned tomato-red. Leave her like this and she looked ready to explode any second.
But I was neither generous nor composed enough right now to let that slide.
I was more serious than I'd been at any point since possessing this body!
I shook both of Siyun's shoulders hard. Maybe if I did this, the information would just tumble out with her?
"I'll ask one more time. You still… haven't kissed, right?"
"We haven't yet…."
Hearing that, Carmen—still frozen behind her—gave a big shudder and muttered, "Ah, not yet?"
Siyun's words were basically a declaration that she would kiss her someday.
Watching Carmen sway dizzily over Siyun's shoulder was pretty entertaining in its own right.
"Thank goodness…."
I was patting my chest in relief when the face of the girl I'd momentarily forgotten came back into view.
Hongryeon was among the kids who had unintentionally overheard our conversation.
She was looking back and forth between Carmen and Siyun with wide, round eyes.
But unlike the other students buzzing and gossiping among themselves, she didn't seem all that interested.
Most girls her age would be all over this kind of thing.
I turned my steps toward her, thinking I might at least exchange a few words, and then a thought struck me.
Doesn't "exchange a few words" sound a little dirty?
No matter how I turned it over, my mind went straight to that place.
Think about it. Where do words come from?
That's right. Sound carrying meaning rises up through the vocal cords and slips out through the mouth. That is speech.
So if you go a little deeper into the essence of it, exchanging words is basically the same as mixing mouths!
And speech changes not only with the shape of the lips and the structure of the throat, but with the form of the tongue—changing the sound and therefore the meaning.
Therefore, exchanging words is the same as mixing tongues.
Yes. Right now I was going over to mix tongues with Hongryeon.
For a deep, rich conversation…!
For example, getting her phone number! Aah… I want it so badly. No—I will get it.
That was when Siyun snatched my wrist from behind. Oh my.
The force with which she grabbed my wrist made my heart skip for a second—but that stays a secret.
"E-Elysia-sunbae…."
Oh my, oh my… if you come up to me all red-faced and fidgety like that, of course my heart's going to race!
More importantly, won't you call me Unnie again?
"What is it?"
"W-why did you suddenly ask something like that…?"
"Why, you ask…."
Come to think of it, there really hadn't been any reason to ask right here.
I'd just been impatient.
And as a result I'd exposed their… relationship? to the entire world…!
Carmen had even overheard the whole thing….
Unable to find the right words, I ended up changing the subject.
"So how far have you two gone, then?"
"Ah! Eek! Ugh, eek…. Suddenly again…."
Siyun coughed and spluttered like someone who'd swallowed wrong, then—flustered—let herself be carried along by the change of topic.
Thank goodness…! This way I can still protect my image as the perfect Unnie who never makes mistakes!
Watching her bashfully let go of my wrist and fidget with her hands and feet somehow reminded me of the old days.
She'd been exactly like this the first time she came to me for advice about Carmen, hadn't she?
She'd said she'd dreamed about kissing her, I think….
Come to think of it, in the original setting Siyun and Carmen were childhood friends.
They'd grown up together since they were little, seen each other at their best and worst.
Light skinship was the baseline—they'd bathed together, slept together.
They'd even washed each other when one of them was sick….
So why on earth aren't they dating yet? I don't get it.
Anyway, once Siyun became aware of her own feelings, all the casual skinship and natural behaviors she'd always done must have suddenly become enormous stimuli.
This was pure speculation on my part, but from Carmen's reaction earlier it seemed she, too, had become aware of the feelings buried deep in her chest.
In that case….
I fixed Siyun with a serious look and spoke.
"Siyun. Be honest with me."
"…About what?"
"You two…."
I could feel every student around us clamp their mouths shut and focus their attention this way.
Gulp. Someone swallowed hard.
"Really nothing happened? Like while one of you was asleep… or something."
"N-n-nothing happened!"
And with that she smack! slapped me hard on the back.
"Ow…."
"Huk! A-are you okay, Sunbae?"
Startled, Siyun rushed over and began gently rubbing the back she'd just walloped.
Honestly it had been more noise than pain, but….
Siyun was so kind that whenever she reacted like this she jumped out of her skin, and that was incredibly cute.
Bonus points for fretting and rubbing my back. No—it actually felt like the pain was going away.
Watching her keep flailing around would have been fun too, but….
"I'm fine, I'm fine."
I had other things to do, so I soothed her.
"Sunbae-nim. But…."
"Unnie."
"Huh?"
"Will you call me Unnie?"
Siyun stared at me blankly for a second, then continued.
"Unnie. But… are you going over to Yeonha?"
Yeonha? …Ah. Hongryeon's real name was Hong Yeonha, I seemed to recall.
"Yeah. Why?"
When I tilted my head with a look that asked if there was a problem, Siyun hesitated before speaking.
"What business do you have with Yeonha…?"
"I'm going to mix tongues with her!"
"What?"
"Hnn…?"
Far away, Hongryeon's body jerked as she eavesdropped on the conversation.
"Whoops, that came out wrong. I just want to talk with Yeonha."
"Aha…."
Siyun gave a small nod, then for some reason started trying to stop me while reading the room.
"Th-that might not be a good idea…."
"…?"
Is it bullying? Is Hong Yeonha being ostracized or something?
Did I completely misread the class atmosphere?
But… the Siyun I knew was the kind of person who would roll up her sleeves and help if someone was being bullied—not join in on the bullying.
First I should hear the reason.
"Is there a reason I shouldn't talk to Yeonha?"
"Well…."
Summarizing what Siyun said, it went roughly like this.
She'd felt bad seeing Yeonha always alone and tried approaching her a few times, only to get ignored every single time.
And the last time she spoke to her, Yeonha had told her to stop talking to her already.
"I think she just has a personality that likes being alone…. She probably found it uncomfortable when I kept talking to her…."
Even while telling a story that simple, Siyun was sweating bullets as if she'd done something wrong.
Mm-hmm, even the way Siyun reads the room is cute.
But this Unnie is different!
Who am I?
I'm Elysia—the one who befriended Tania and Adele when no one else believed in them, and Luna and Rina on top of that!
The days of fretting over one cute girl are long behind me.
With a triumphant expression I strode straight toward Hongryeon.
But Hongryeon's reaction was completely different from anything I'd imagined.
"D-don't come near me."
"…Huh?"
Eyes wide with something like fear.
Ahh… so that's it.
She must have realized how strong I was when we ran into each other during the Mudwell raid!
If that was the case, I could understand!
I slowed my approach a little, very gently….
"Hii…! I said don't come near me, you pervert!"
"What?"
"M-mixing tongues?! What kind of shameless—!"
She glared at me with a face gone bright red, then bolted out of the classroom in a flash.
There were plenty of students inside the classroom, but in that moment not even a single breath could be heard.
A moment later, only one dazed voice slipped from my throat and echoed through the silence.
"…Ah."