The Cat at the Fish Shop (1)
The distance between campus and my studio apartment was five minutes by car, twenty on foot. With Seolhwa's pants soaked through, walking was out of the question, so I called a cab.
The ride to my building took exactly five minutes. I paid the fare myself—I needed to stop by anyway, and she needed a change of clothes.
"Come on in."
Apartment-style corridor, right in front of the front door. I unlocked it and stepped aside to let her through.
"…E-excuse me."
Awkward, bashful, oddly hesitant—Seolhwa gave a little bow of her head and carefully stepped inside.
Thud.
"Ah…."
She was wound so tight that even the sound of the door closing made her jump and spin around. I kicked off my shoes, headed further in, and let out a quiet snort of laughter.
"Why so tense?"
"S-sorry. It's my first time coming to a place where a guy lives alone…."
"You don't need to apologize to me for that. First time in a guy's place, though? You've never dropped by a classmate's studio or anything?"
"No. Never."
"Really? Weird. In the novels you write, guys' apartments show up all the time."
"Th-that's… I just made it all up, of course."
"You can write all that from pure imagination? No real experience?"
"…People who write fantasy novels haven't all lived in fantasy worlds, right? Even if you haven't experienced something yourself, you can still get a rough idea—like, it'd probably be something like this—and put it on the page."
So every filthy scenario in Girlfriend Training had come straight out of Seolhwa's imagination. I stepped past her, gathered the trash off the folding table, and jerked my chin toward the bathroom.
"Anyway, bathroom's that way. I'll grab you something to change into while you wash up. Go get yourself sorted out first."
"…W-wash up?"
Whatever she was picturing, she twisted her body and flushed pink with shyness. I gave her a flat look.
"Stop fooling around and go wash. You've got a lecture at one, don't you? Washing and drying your clothes takes a good two hours. Drag your feet and you'll be late for fifth period."
"Tch—yes."
She clicked her tongue cutely and trotted off—then stopped dead right in front of the bathroom, hand on the doorknob, and glanced back at me.
"Oppa. …Want to wash together?"
"Oh? Should we?"
"…A-ah! I-I was joking! A joke, it was a joke! …I-I'll wash up quick and come out!"
When I actually took hold of my T-shirt hem like I meant to pull it off, her face went scarlet and she bolted into the bathroom.
She'd been the one to make the offer, and then she'd been the one too embarrassed to stick around. For someone with a terminal case of perversion, she had a surprisingly innocent side.
Well—she'd said this was her first time in a guy's apartment. If she'd been smooth at seducing men on top of that, that would've been weird in its own way.
I'd known it was a joke from the start, but a tiny part of me had still hoped, so I clicked my tongue in mild disappointment.
"…Might as well clean up."
The bathroom was tiny anyway. Both of us in there would've been a nightmare. Muttering to myself, I pulled out a trash bag and loaded it with last night's leftovers and the usual household garbage. I wasn't the fussy type, but I wasn't a slob either—once the folding table was clear, the living room looked decent enough.
Shhhh—
While I was at it I swept loose hair and lint into my palm. Right on cue, the sound of running water drifted from the bathroom. Seolhwa was getting down to washing in earnest.
Fifteen minutes at most and she'd be out. I needed clothes ready before then.
"Seolhwa, do you need a top too?"
—……
"Huh? What was that?"
—……Hnnngh…
Was she even talking? Maybe the water was drowning her out. I stepped closer to the bathroom door to ask again.
—……squish, squish.
—……Hah, hh, hnnngh…
From inside came a wet, sticky sound, layered under the water—something slick moving fast.
—Ah, hnn, hnnngh, hnnnngh…
"…?"
No answer, just those strange little noises.
Knock knock.
"Seolhwa, you're not hurt or anything, are you?"
—……!
I rapped on the door and raised my voice. There was a flurry of motion inside, and the squelching stopped.
—…Y-yes? Wh-what, hnn, what did you say…?
"Are you sure you're okay?"
Why did her voice sound so rough?
—Y-yes… I-I'm fine. …Why did you call me?
"Oh—I was wondering if you needed a top as well. That's all I wanted to ask."
—Ah…. Yes, if you have one, hnn…. Th-that'd be nice…. If you c-could set one out, I'll wear, hnnnngh…. I'll wear it….
"Uh-huh. Sure…."
Something about her voice through the bathroom door sounded strangely lewd. For a second I almost jumped to a weird conclusion.
…Do all girls do that?
Not that I'd ever had a girlfriend to compare notes with. On this subject I was a complete blank, so I settled for, I guess girls just make weird noises in the shower, and headed into the bedroom.
"Let's see. Something Seolhwa can wear…."
My usual stuff was way too big. That left the women's clothes my older sister had dropped off once when I wasn't home and simply left behind.
"…Why is everything so short?"
I pulled out whatever I could find. Top and bottom, the hems were tiny. The T-shirt looked like it wouldn't cover half my torso, and the pants were dolphin shorts that would leave her thighs completely bare.
I dug deeper, hoping for something better. Nothing. They were all indoor clothes—every pair of pants was dolphin shorts, and every T-shirt was basically the same length.
"Hmm…."
If I handed her these as-is, she was going to get the wrong idea for sure.
Should I just give her something of mine?
"…."
I thought about it for maybe three seconds, then quietly shut the drawer.
…If she could wear it, it counted as clothes.
I'd briefly considered running out to buy her underwear too, but that felt like overkill, so I dropped it. I laid a big towel outside the bathroom, set the clothes on top of it, and knocked a couple of times.
"Seolhwa. Towel and clothes are out here. I'll be waiting in the bedroom—just say when you're done changing."
—…Ah. Okay.
With that, I went back into the bedroom. Nothing to do while I waited, so I opened the window for a little air and stood there, letting the April breeze hit me. Out front, a tree was heavy with spring blossoms.
Cherry blossoms should be out soon.
The year before last I'd been buried in college entrance exams; last year I'd been learning voice acting. I hadn't managed so much as a single flower-viewing trip. This year was different. Outside of Friday through Sunday I had free time—I could go at least once.
Going wasn't the problem.
"…It's who I'd go with."
A girlfriend would've been nice.
"…."
The thought only soured my mood.
Rattle—
—Oppa, you can come out now!
I slammed the window shut—and right then, as if on cue, Seolhwa's voice floated in. I opened the bedroom door and stepped into the living room. There she stood, dressed in what I'd left out for her.
"Oh. The hem's a little… short, isn't it?"
"…."
The T-shirt I'd prepared had turned into a crop top that left her navel fully exposed. The culprit was almost certainly her chest. The kind of overwhelming development you didn't see on ordinary people had lifted the fabric up front, which left that much more of her midriff bare.
I found myself staring at the clean, straight line of her belly button—a really nice shape—and jerked my head away.
"S-sorry. Those are actually my sister's. It was the only thing here that might fit you…."
"Ah, so they're your sister's…. W-well, it can't be helped. I'm the guest, and you're the one lending them. It's fine if I just wear them."
"Want me to find you a pair of my shorts instead? I'm pretty sure I've got some somewhere."
"…My waist is twenty-one inches. Anything you wear would never stay up."
"Twenty-one inches…?"
I stared, unable to believe it. Seolhwa shuffled closer until she was right in front of me.
"Look. Between my waist and yours, the difference is about this much. Even if I cinched a belt as tight as it would go, they'd just slide right off, wouldn't they?"
"Yeah… you've got a point."
Standing face-to-face like this, her waist really was—without much exaggeration—about half the size of mine. With a gap like that, a belt wouldn't save anything.
"So I guess you'll just have to stay in those?"
"Yeah. Honestly the waist on these pants is a little loose too…. But my hips are big enough that they don't fall down. I should be fine for a little while."
"Ah. Right…?"
I forcibly stopped my eyes from drifting toward her waist.
…What's wrong with me?
Maybe it was because this was the first time I'd ever brought a girl home. Or maybe it was the pretty underclassman looking up at me with damp, shy eyes. Either way, my heart kept hammering, and useless images kept blooming in my head.
…If I stayed next to her like this, something weird was going to come out of my mouth. I pointed at the sofa in the corner of the living room.
"W-want to sit and rest for a bit? I'm going to wash up too. …I didn't really get a proper shower this morning."
The indirect mention of that morning's "incident" made her cheeks color; she shook her head vigorously, as if she felt a little guilty herself.
"Ah—yes. I-I'll wait…."
"…Yeah. Okay."
What she was waiting for, what I thought I was agreeing to—neither of us really understood the other, and we just nodded like idiots anyway. I steadied my breathing, gathered a change of clothes, and before stepping into the bathroom looked back toward her.
"Washer's out on the veranda that way. Detergent and softener are right there—just put in a reasonable amount. You know how to run a washer, right?"
"Yes, I do. …Ah, wait."
Still holding her laundry bundled in the big towel, Seolhwa came over to me.
"Shouldn't the clothes you're wearing go in too?"
"Mine can wait. Do yours first."
"N-no. Running it twice is a pain, and it'd just waste detergent. Hand them over. I'll wash yours with mine while you're in the shower."
"…Hmm."
Stripping for a female underclassman from the same department so I could hand her my clothes—mortifying. But she was offering out of kindness, and flat-out refusing felt a little wrong.
I stepped back behind the bathroom door, stripped down to nothing, wrapped myself carefully in a towel, and passed the clothes through the crack.
"Sorry. Appreciate it."
"Y-yes…."
Once I was sure she had them, I shut the door and turned on the faucet.
…Shhhhhhh.
Lukewarm water spilled over my head, and little by little the tension bled out of me. As it ran down my body, it almost felt like every scrap of physical and mental fatigue I'd been carrying was washing away with it.
"…Haa."
I just stood there under the spray—and then, all of a sudden, I noticed a strange scent filling the bathroom.
How to put it. It didn't smell like shampoo or body wash, but breathing it in made my chest tighten for no clear reason. Like someone had dribbled a little sweet honey across the bathroom floor and then turned on the water to dilute it.
I couldn't pin it down, but I knew I'd never smelled anything like this in my apartment before. Curious where the oddly pleasant scent was coming from, I opened my eyes.
"…."
Below my navel, my cock was standing hard and angry, twitching.
Something sharp raced up my spine—and without my noticing, I'd gotten completely hard.
…What the hell?
Getting hard off a smell. Was there actually something wrong with my head?
Staying in the bathroom any longer felt like a bad idea. I chased the noise out of my mind with a deep breath, squeezed out shampoo, and washed my hair. Then I worked body wash over myself with the shower puff and rinsed it all off.
From scrubbing clean to drying off took exactly five minutes. I changed into the clothes I'd set aside and carefully stepped out of the bathroom.
Except—what the hell. Seolhwa wasn't on the living room sofa.
"Seolhwa?"
For a second I thought she'd gone outside in that outfit. She hadn't. The noisy churn of the washer and the rustle of someone moving around were coming from the veranda.
"Ah. She went to run the laundry."
So why wasn't she coming back?
From the layout of the place you couldn't see into the veranda from inside, so I couldn't tell what she was doing—but fine by me. A little change of atmosphere, a little mischief. I killed the sound of my footsteps and crept toward the veranda to give her a scare.
One step. Two. Three.
As the distance closed, her presence sharpened. Under the washer's loud thumping I could hear her muttering to herself.
"Hnn, nngh, Oppa…."
…Oppa?
In this apartment, I was the only person she'd call that. Did she know I was coming?
Worried I'd been caught, I held even my breathing and pressed flat against the wall. Then I eased just my head around the corner and peeked into the veranda.
"Ah, hhk, hnn…. Hnn, hhk…."
Squish, squish—
"Hnn, ah, hh…. Oppa, hhk, Oppa…."
Squish, squish, squish, squish—
"…Oppa, ah, hnn, hnnngh, Oppa, Oppa. …Hnnnngh, hnn, hhk."
Squelch, fwet, fwet—!
"Haa, haaaa…. Hoo, hnn. Hoo, hnn…?"
"…."
"…."
Our eyes met.
"…."
"…Hic."
Seolhwa, buried in the scent of my underwear, went completely rigid.