Star Candy (1)
“What were you doing here?”
“Hold on, I can explain.”
“That girl student—is it Yang Bok-ja? I heard you were meeting her at night.”
Lee Yuha pointed at Renka’s back, still wedged in the firewall, and asked if it was Yang Bok-ja. ‘Ah.’ It was true that I had been with Yang Bok-ja when we first tried to break into the magic beast stable. After Renka suddenly appeared and Yang Bok-ja fainted, I ended up traveling with Renka instead… Still, Lee Yuha seemed to have only heard that I met Yang Bok-ja at night and assumed it was her.
‘Should I just roll with it being Yang Bok-ja?’
Being caught like this in the middle of the night, in such a secluded place—it would look like Renka and I were up to something suspicious to anyone who didn’t know the circumstances. That would be troublesome for me, but it would be far worse for Renka, trapped in the wall. For a proud Japanese noble girl to be seen in such an embarrassing state by her classmates would be an enormous humiliation. Maybe I should cover for her by claiming it was Yang Bok-ja?
While I was still debating, the one muttering “Hmm, doesn’t seem like Yang Bok-ja” was Song Byeong-o.
Song Byeong-o pushed up his glasses and continued, “Yang Bok-ja’s rear is a bit larger.”
Indeed, compared to the exceptionally developed Yang Bok-ja, Renka looked slender overall at a glance.
“Th-that’s right. And she wears those flashy shoes…” Hong Okrye added.
『Speak Korean, you Joseon bastards!』 Murasaki shouted.
Even from the back view of her lower half, it was impossible to mistake Renka for Yang Bok-ja. Moreover, from beyond the firewall came Renka’s voice: 『Sh-Shirabayashi-san? Are you still there?』 There was no way to hide that it was Renka.
Murasaki exclaimed in surprise, 『That voice! It’s that Japanese noble girl!』
“……So it wasn’t Yang, but the Shimazu lady?” Lee Yuha said, her brow slightly furrowed.
Song Byeong-o and Hong Okrye were equally shocked.
“Whoa! I knew it wasn’t Yang Bok-ja, but…!”
“B-Baek comrade, you’re doing this… with a Japanese noble girl…?”
What now? At this rate, I was going to be branded a perverted deviant who had been enjoying unspeakable acts in the basement of the school shrine—with a noble girl, no less. How was I supposed to clean up a situation where four people had witnessed it?
No excuse came to mind immediately, so I answered awkwardly. “Wait, listen. It’s just that—”
But the moment I started, Renka’s scream echoed from beyond the firewall: 『Ghost! Gyaaaah! Ghost! Shirabayashi-san!』
Only then did I remember something. ‘Oh, right. That was a thing.’
Even when I had planned to come here with Yang Bok-ja, we had used the ghost story as a cover. So I could just say we came to see the ghost with Renka. ‘Renka, perfect timing!’
I played along with Renka’s commotion. “That’s right! A ghost! We came to see the ghost!”
“……A ghost, you say?”
“Yeah! I heard there’s a ghost here, so……”
『Gyaaaaaaaaah!』
As if in response, another scream came from beyond the firewall. Then her legs kicked wildly as she cried out, 『Konpeito! Konpeito is……』
I had taught her the correct pronunciation of “computer,” yet she was still saying “konpeito” (star candy). With that final cry, her flailing legs went limp.
Her performance, complete with fainting, was flawless. 『Damn it……! You came to see a ghost?!』 Murasaki said. 『I thought you brought a girl to fool around! But a ghost? Why didn’t you invite me? I’m not scared at all!』
Murasaki pounded his chest and shouted. The others also reacted.
“……!”
“Th-there really must be something……”
“Good grief, ghosts in this enlightened twentieth century!”
Seeing Renka react so dramatically, they were convinced we had truly come to see a ghost. Whew, that worked out.
Secretly wiping away cold sweat, I asked them, “By the way, how did you guys find this place?”
I had come to see the computer in the basement, but why had they come all the way here?
Hong Okrye answered, “We were looking everywhere for you and happened to find the stairs in the warehouse next to the shrine……”
“Wait, you were looking for me? Why were you searching for me?”
Lee Yuha answered this question. “We were worried about you, so we came looking……”
“You were worried about me?”
When I asked back, Lee Yuha stepped closer and held out something she had been holding. “Is this yours?”
In her hand was a leather glove—only the right one. It was the glove belonging to Lieutenant Aoki that I had lost.
“Oh! Where did you find this?”
“I picked it up at the bottom of the stairs while descending the well. When I saw it, I worried something might have happened to you.”
“Thanks. As expected, only you would do this.”
I took the glove and patted Lee Yuha’s shoulder with my other hand in gratitude. Lee Yuha avoided my gaze, lowered her eyes, and smiled softly.
“You keep dropping things everywhere you go.”
Hmm. Last time, I hadn’t dropped the shoe in front of the hermitage by accident—I had left it there on purpose.
After tucking the glove into my inner pocket, I glanced around at the others’ faces—Lee Yuha, Song Byeong-o, Murasaki, and Hong Okrye. It felt heartwarming. Whatever the reason, these guys had been worried when I suddenly disappeared and had searched until they ended up here by chance. In this chaotic world where I was alone, I had found comrades who cared about me.
‘You guys!’
And now that the situation had been resolved by claiming we came to see the ghost with Renka, both my and Renka’s reputations were safe. ‘Come to think of it, I should get Renka out too.’
Since Renka had gone so far as to pretend to faint, I had to play along. Pointing at her, I said to the others, “Guys? Renka seems to have fainted, so let’s pull her out first. I can’t grab her myself, so you girls pull from behind.”
“……Understood.”
“Uh…… got it. Nngh, looks like her belt’s caught.”
In the end, Lee Yuha and Hong Okrye grabbed Renka and, after much grunting, managed to pull her out of the hole. But once she was laid on the floor, Renka didn’t move at all. It seemed she had actually fainted, not just acting.
‘What? Was that not acting?’
Just in case, I checked her carotid artery with my fingers, but her breathing and heartbeat were fine.
Murasaki snorted. 『Pfft……! Looks like there really is a star candy ghost in there? Heh, to think this arrogant Japanese noble girl would scream like a little girl and faint—how amusing.』
Right. What exactly had Renka seen? Given that she actually fainted, it wasn’t acting. She must have seen something real. Just like how Yang Bok-ja mistook Renka for a ghost and fainted, Renka herself had seen something and mistaken it for a ghost, then fainted.
I peered into the hole where Renka had been stuck, but aside from the flickering lamp in the darkness, there was nothing else visible.
Well, even if she was the head of the Gyeongseong branch of the Shimazu family and a daughter of a proud ducal house, she was still a seventeen-year-old girl. Being stuck in the wall, unable to move, in the dark—she must have gotten scared and hallucinated something.
I said, “Anyway, if we want to see the ghost, we need to go inside. As you can see, the hole is small, so I was trying to have Renka go in and raise the firewall.”
It was impossible for me to enter. At the very least, one of the girls had to go in first and raise the firewall. But even for the girls…… Lee Yuha and Hong Okrye weren’t particularly large, yet Renka had an especially slender build. Even she had struggled to get through that narrow hole. So those two going in would be impossible…… Just as I was about to give up on the idea, my gaze landed on Hong Okrye.
‘Come to think of it, she does Taekkyon.’
She had entered the academy under the magic studies major with her lightning emission ability, but from our brief spar, her specialty was Taekkyon enhanced by agility-type physical reinforcement. It had only been a short exchange, but her body was incredibly flexible—she could kick her leg backward and all.
If it was Hong Okrye, she might be able to squeeze through that narrow hole like a contortionist.
“Hong Okrye.”
“Huh? Yeah? Baek comrade…… I mean, Baek Chulyeon. Why?”
“Want to go in? You just need to find the switch and raise it.”
I pointed at the hole as I spoke. But Hong Okrye recoiled in horror.
“N…… No way! Why do I have to go in!”
“Because you’re the only one who can. You’re incredibly flexible.”
“I-it’s scary…… The ghost……”
Hmm. Renka had screamed so vividly and even fainted, so she must have been convinced there really was a ghost. Even someone prepared to risk her life for independence would still be afraid of ghosts, apparently.
I approached her and whispered encouragement. “Hmm…… Well, it seems Lee Yuha still doesn’t know……”
“I’ll go in! I’m going in!”
Hearing my encouragement, Hong Okrye shouted bravely and approached the hole. But she wore a miserable expression.