A Leisurely Sports Festival
The day right after Teachers' Day.
Midway through May, the morning at Hwaryeong High School was a busy one.
With yesterday's surprise event for their homeroom teacher apparently having taken its toll, Yeoncheong arrived at school today at an agonizingly close call with tardiness.
Most of her friends were already dressed in their class shirts.
She passed through the clusters of chattering girls with a few light greetings and headed straight for the back of the classroom, pulled her class shirt from her locker, and made her way to her desk.
"Hurry up and change. Teacher will be here soon."
Nayun, still in her uniform herself, waved her over.
Yeoncheong nudged the friend who had colonized her seat off to the side and began undoing the buttons of her shirt.
"You're the one who needs to move so I *can* change. And you haven't changed yet either."
"I already did."
At that, Nayun flipped up her skirt, and Yeoncheong's whole body jolted.
But what showed beneath the uniform skirt was a far shorter skirt in a loud, primary color.
Nayun grinned, quietly celebrating a prank well played.
"Scared you? Brought it home yesterday and wore it here~"
"You scared me! Was that fun for you?"
"Absolutely. Very fun."
Chest heaving with relief, Yeoncheong tossed her shirt carelessly onto the desk. Then she picked up the class shirt's top, found the neck hole, and pulled it over her head.
After fixing her rumpled hair with a few rough passes of her hand, she picked up the skirt and looked at Nayun.
"What?"
"Nothing, it just seems short all over again..."
"That's why the fabric's so skimpy—that's what keeps the price down."
Yeoncheong nodded along, her head bobbing.
It wasn't always true, but when it came to class shirts, it was hard to argue with her.
"Everyone, sit down. Even on Sports Day, we still have to take attendance."
Just then, their homeroom teacher Jisu appeared, and the noisy classroom began to settle.
In the bustle of students filing back to their seats one by one, Yeoncheong finished changing in a flash.
***
Just like last year, they filed out to the field to hear the principal's speech (which ran long as he went on about what a beautiful day it was, until the vice-principal tactfully cut him off).
When Yeoncheong returned to her class's assigned stands, Suyeon and Seoha came looking for her.
Class 2's class shirts turned out to be long outer robes reminiscent of the Joseon era, and the pair approached with dignified poise, traditional horsehair hats and all—the aggro factor was undeniable.
Yet no sooner had the sports festival begun than they'd peeled away from their own class to come see her...
Yeoncheong wondered if things were still a little awkward between them since the fight back at the start of the semester. Worried, she asked if they didn't hang out with their own classmates, but they just told her not to worry—they got along fine on their own.
Then, declaring it was their turn to ask questions, they forcibly hauled her to her feet.
"You said you'd be in cheerleader outfits? Blander than I expected."
Judging by Suyeon's reaction as she ran her eyes over the class shirts worn by Yeoncheong and her two friends, she seemed disappointed that reality hadn't matched her imagination.
Hasol smiled awkwardly, lips twitching.
"Haha... if you heard how much trouble our class went through picking these, you wouldn't say that."
When someone had first proposed the design, everyone had loved it and called it pretty.
But then came the endless objections—who spends that much money on an outfit you wear once?—and only after a prolonged cost battle had they finally received them just yesterday. As Hasol relayed all this, Suyeon and Seoha nodded in understanding.
Their class, it turned out, had struggled with the same budget problems.
"That's right. Hasol worked hard helping the class president and vice president."
"Haha. Well, I do have experience buying class shirts from last year. I figured if I didn't help, they'd never have them ready in time for Sports Day."
Hasol waved her hands bashfully at Nayun's praise.
Suyeon's gaze caught on the light object swaying in Hasol's grasp, and she asked for an explanation.
"In exchange, we saved enough there to add a few cheer props."
"It's sort of a cheerleader concept, you know? You need props like these to really sell it."
Beside her, Nayun amplified her voice through a plastic megaphone.
"Gahk... don't say that right into my ear!"
Yeoncheong swatted at Nayun and Suyeon as they grappled, ears ringing, while Seoha looked back and forth between Hasol and Yeoncheong.
They were wearing the exact same outfit, and yet a clear difference stood out to her eye.
"Hey, Yeoncheong, how come you didn't tie yours up?"
"Tie up what...? Oh, like Hasol's? We voted, and it was left up to whoever wanted to."
Sure, they had cheer props, but the t-shirt-and-skirt combo was just too plain.
Some of the girls had tied the bottoms of their shirts into crop tops for that reason, and judging by her expression, Yeoncheong had wanted to do the same.
"...Should I tie my shirt up too?"
"Huh?"
Seoha's surprised eyes went wide.
She had caught Yeoncheong sending casual glances her way now and then, but she never expected her to bring it up first.
"I thought you were too shy to do it?"
"I was, but... I wouldn't be the only one, and if you want to see it, there's no reason I can't."
What had gotten into her?
Just as Seoha was failing to keep up with this transformation in her chronically bashful friend—
Yeoncheong had already enlisted Hasol's help and completed her transformation in the blink of an eye.
She'd volunteered to do it herself, yet apparently still felt embarrassed, rubbing her bare belly with small, fidgety strokes.
"How's this? Does it look okay?"
The same girl who once worried she was gaining weight now had a smooth, flat stomach without an ounce to hide.
"...Huh? Oh. Yes. It suits you."
Yeoncheong stole a small smile at Seoha's belated, flustered praise.
Something about her fresh, unguarded look gave the impression she'd changed somehow from before.
Meanwhile, Suyeon—having just concluded a fierce battle (that was not fierce in the slightest)—finally noticed her friend's new look, and her eyes lit up.
"Whoa! Yeoncheong's gotten bold! All that work breaking her in with miniskirts paid off."
"Miniskirts?"
"What's that supposed to mean? When did you two even meet?"
She'd deliberately kept their secret hidden, knowing exactly what those two would think if they found out—
and now a second round of battle erupted as she rounded on Suyeon and her loose lips.
That part, at least, hadn't changed much at all, and as Seoha snorted with laughter, Hasol and Nayun pressed in, demanding to know what had happened.
***
And so, while Yeoncheong was cursing Suyeon's careless mouth,
the secret date (?) she'd gone on with those same two friends was exposed to the whole world—courtesy of Seoha.
"Hahh... haah... Damn it. Two of them at once. I can't exactly cover this many mouths alone."
"That's the burden of dating two people at the same time."
"No wonder my strength's all gone."
When Yeoncheong flopped back onto the stands complaining of exhaustion, Suyeon immediately hauled her back up.
"Weren't you the one looking forward to Sports Day? Why are you so out of energy?"
Last year, she'd gone over the tournament brackets with her, running around until her feet sweat. Today was a completely different story.
Yeoncheong just let her limp body hang in her friend's grasp, her lips moving lazily.
"It's not that I'm out of energy—I'm saving it. Even if there are only a few events, I have to win as many as possible. That's the only way to stop your class from taking first place."
If I can't be first, I won't let my friends be first either.
At her friend's admirable spirit—
"Ugh."
—Suyeon promptly flung Yeoncheong back down onto the ground.
"Goodness. I'm a fool for worrying whether you were hurt."
"...I'm hurt because *you* threw me."
"Want me to show you what real pain is?"
As her friend raised a threatening palm,
Yeoncheong scrambled upright and swung her arms forward and back, making a show of being perfectly fine.
Nobody had even teased her yet, and there she was, burning with competitive spirit all on her own.
Seoha cautiously ventured a question.
"So I'm guessing you won't be coming to watch our volleyball match either?"
"Wha—? Uh... w-well, of course not. My goal is to keep your class out of first place, after all."
When Yeoncheong crossed her arms and nodded with exaggerated gravity, Hasol and Nayun snickered loudly enough for everyone to hear.
"Where'd that girl go who said she had nothing to do, then turned around and told us to go watch Seoha and Suyeon's match?"
"Beats me... She definitely said her name was Yeoncheong, and her face looked the same, but I think the thing in front of us must be a doppelgänger."
"I-I never said anything like that!"
Shrieking at the betrayal of her trusted friends, Yeoncheong threw punches at the doppelgänger behind her—
while Suyeon sidled up with a smirk.
"No wonder she was so uncharacteristically flashing her bare stomach around. Hey, doppelgänger. Where'd you take our Yeoncheong?"
The pokes to her exposed stomach landed with infuriating casualness, and Yeoncheong finally couldn't hold out any longer.
Declaring she'd wait in the gymnasium, she bolted.
"What the heck? She even knows our match is coming up soon?"
Suyeon stared after her friend's retreating back, especially baffled.
She'd assumed she didn't know the tournament brackets, since she hadn't checked them—but she'd known perfectly well all along.
***
Nayun headed off to watch a match being played by a close underclassman from her club.
With tug-of-war the only event on Yeoncheong and Hasol's morning schedule, the two of them went to the gymnasium to watch Class 2's volleyball match.
They wished nothing good upon Class 2—and yet they couldn't help hoping Seoha and Suyeon, out on the court, would play well.
Caught squarely on the border between cheering and heckling, that contradictory behavior carried on.
"Ah, dammit! They won!"
Watching her friend groan at Class 2's victory, Hasol finally burst out laughing.
"Wh-what? What's so funny all of a sudden?"
"Nothing... it's just, from over here, you're genuinely hilarious."
When Class 2 lost a point, she was delighted—unless it came from Suyeon's or Seoha's mistake, at which point she'd snap, "Would you play properly?!"
When they scored, she despaired—yet if it was one of those two pulling it off, she'd pout her lips and clap for them anyway.
What drew the laughter, above all, was how the performances of those two friends outranked everything else.
"I did all that?"
"Yep, you stared at Seoha and Suyeon the whole time. I'd believe it if you told me volleyball was a two-person sport."
The crowning touch was that Yeoncheong herself hadn't noticed any of it.
According to Seoha, the three of them had had a great time together not long ago—and clearly, her feelings had shifted in some way or another.
Perhaps the embarrassment only caught up to her once Hasol pointed it out.
She nodded meekly to Yeoncheong's plea to keep it secret and checked her buzzing phone.
"Tug-of-war is up next for our class. Let's go."
"Oh—yeah. Let's hurry."
Yeoncheong grabbed Hasol's hand, saying it was a relief she wouldn't have to watch her preen over a win.
The flinch of surprise lasted only a moment—it wasn't like Yeoncheong to reach for someone's hand first.
Hasol happily clasped it back.
Yeoncheong was always the one who shied away from even the lightest skinship unless it came from her friends first, so now that she was naturally reaching out on her own, there was no need to point it out and make her self-conscious.
***
Perhaps because Yeoncheong hadn't competed in a single event since the sports festival began,
her class, overflowing with saved-up energy, utterly crushed their first opponent in the tug-of-war tournament.
And then lunchtime arrived.
With students all pouring into the cafeteria at once, there was no table big enough for Yeoncheong and her four friends to sit together.
They agreed to eat scattered about, then regroup in the classroom afterward rather than waiting around in the crush.
"Hm? Seoha, done eating?"
"Yeah. You too?"
Perhaps because they always ate lunch together.
Suyeon and Seoha, having finished their meals at nearly the same pace, ran into each other on the way out of the cafeteria and walked back to the classroom together.
"Yeoncheong? Haven't seen her."
And Siyeon, on her way to brush her teeth with Seobin, tilted her head at her twin's question and shook her head.
"They said they'd meet in the classroom... where did she wander off to?"
"Isn't she in that club room you guys always go to? The classroom's too crowded."
Suyeon gave a vague "oh, right" to the crowded classroom question—
but when her twin asked how *she* knew that, the warm answer came back: "Because you told me at home, you lunatic."
Suyeon grinned sheepishly, having just remembered, and her lips twitched.
"Even so, that can't be it. I'm the club president, and I have the key—"
"Suyeon. We gave the key to Yeoncheong yesterday."
At Seoha's explanation, it hit her.
Come to think of it, she'd handed it over partway through the day when she left for volleyball practice, saying she had no idea when she'd be back.
"Oh."
Only then realizing it, Suyeon strode out of the classroom without so much as a goodbye. Seoha passed a word of thanks to the twin on her behalf and hurried after her friend.
The two of them, robe hems flapping, arrived at the club room and flung open the door that, sure enough, wasn't locked—
"Snrr... snrr..."
—and there lay Yeoncheong, sleeping the picture of contentment.