Anywhere Door (6)
I picked at my food, and once I was done, drowsiness began to settle over me. Just what had I even been through in the span of a few hours...
"Haaah..."
"Na-ho, you sleepy?"
"Yeah. I already feel exhausted today, somehow..."
"Wanna nap for a bit?"
Yu-ra said it while patting her own thigh. Tall as she was for a girl, her thighs looked just as solidly built, packed with muscle and flesh in equal measure.
Those would definitely be cushy...
In the end I couldn't win against the temptation, and laid my head on Yu-ra's thigh. The gravity of those thighs had simply pulled me in.
"You have to stay still. I'm ticklish."
"Yeah... just for a bit. Excuse me..."
The give of her thigh, softness braided with spring, dragged me straight under. I caught a glimpse of Yu-ra looking oddly excited, but she was always like that anyway...
Lim Yu-ra swallowed.
Her classmate Oh Na-ho lay with her head in Yu-ra's lap. The name was a little mortifying, but even looking as another girl, her friend was beautiful. Those red lips parted, breathing out in small, sweet puffs. Glossy black hair spilled long, sliding over Yu-ra's thigh and covering it.
"You must've been really tired..."
Falling asleep this carelessly, of all things. Then again, they said beauties slept a lot. If that saying was real, it had been coined for Oh Na-ho. As she gently combed Na-ho's hair down, her worries melted away like snow.
Oh no. I just want to keep touching it.
That silky hair, without a single dry strand, was addictive. And what shampoo did she even use?
Yu-ra sniffed. A sweet, fragrant scent wafted up in a warm rush.
But for all that beauty, Na-ho's day seemed just as eventful. Around them, girls from class had their eyes narrowed to slits, looking ready to snatch Na-ho up like a rat. The boys, too, were ignoring the girls who'd fallen for Arthas and sneaking glances at Na-ho alone. And Yu-ra herself was no exception.
I'll be the one to protect Na-ho.
They'd only happened to run into each other at the dorms — a friend of barely a few hours. And still Lim Yu-ra thought she would do anything for Oh Na-ho. If she could just always see this beautiful face from beside her.
...What am I even thinking. It's not like she's my boyfriend.
Was it because she was the first friend Yu-ra had made at the Academy? Or because the moment she'd first seen her, she'd thought she was too pretty, and wanted to get closer?
"Mmngh..."
"Hnh..."
Na-ho stirred, as if a little uncomfortable. When that faint moan brushed against her thigh, a strange feeling stirred in Yu-ra.
Come to think of it... she was acting weird in the auditorium earlier.
A voice that belonged in a dirty video had come out of Na-ho's mouth. Yu-ra had been so flustered at the time she couldn't do anything. If she'd just kept her head a little better then...
As she was chewing over that regret, she sensed someone approaching.
"Ah... hey, Lim Yu-ra?"
"...Huh? Who?"
"Oh, nice to meet you. I'm Han Jin-hyeok, same class."
"Nice to meet you, Jin-hyeok. What's up, though?"
Lim Yu-ra looked him over. His gaze kept sliding downward, not at her. It was so blatant she couldn't possibly miss it.
"I asked what you wanted."
"Ah... just, y'know, let's be friends. You're that girl, right? The... the boxer who commands a fire spirit. I saw you at the entrance exam."
"Yeah, that sounds like me."
"I was in the same exam hall then, so..."
So what?
"That's fate, right...?"
"We're classmates, so I guess it is. More importantly, Na-ho's sleeping right now. Keep it down."
"Ah... yeah."
Wanting to guard Na-ho's sleep a little longer, Lim Yu-ra drove Han Jin-hyeok off. He seemed satisfied with even that brief conversation; she watched him go back to his group, smiling.
"Mmm..."
"You up? Sleep a little more."
"Huh...?"
But Na-ho woke up anyway. Yu-ra felt so bad. She sat the half-asleep Na-ho up and smoothed out her tousled hair.
"Mm... thanks."
Na-ho's voice was faint, as if she'd already drifted off again in that short time. Lim Yu-ra smiled brightly.
"I should be the one thanking you."
When I woke up, lunch period was already winding down. Yu-ra's thigh still had the imprint of my hair.
...Hope her leg doesn't cramp.
Feeling guilty, I asked casually.
"If your leg's gone numb, want me to massage it?"
"Nah, I'm fi— actually, it is a little numb. Go ahead."
"...Okay."
Wouldn't most people refuse this kind of physical contact at least once? Or did that mean we'd already gotten that close?
I quietly reached out and grabbed Yu-ra's thigh.
"Whoa... it's so springy."
"Heh... I work out a lot."
"Yeah, I can tell. Your shoulders are broad too. What do you do?"
"Boxing! My dad ran a boxing club."
Boxing, huh. With that height, her reach would be long. She'd probably be pretty good. Ah, but if boxing was her main thing...
"Then we won't be in the same weapons class. That's a shame."
"Yeah, it is. You're on the magic application track, after all."
I kneaded my friend's thigh in silence for a bit, until my arms started to ache. This damn Strength 11 body.
"Huff, huff..."
"...You okay?"
"Ah, no. Just..."
"You can stop if it's too much. My leg loosened up a while ago."
"Ah, yeah..."
I'd barely done anything and my own arms had gone numb. Granted, the spring in Yu-ra's thighs was no joke.
My thighs, though...
Soft. Squishy. Not like a person's body. More like marshmallows. I kept touching my own thighs at that strange sensation, then a wave of self-loathing hit me and I pulled my hands away.
"Na-ho, do your legs hurt?"
"Huh? Ah, no... just."
"Ah... okay."
Yu-ra's voice sounded somehow disappointed. Showing this kind of thing to a friend was a little embarrassing. I cooled my burning cheeks with a deep breath and thought.
Is it because my Sensitivity's too high... Get a grip, you idiot.
Even so, Sensitivity 81 was genuinely way too high. You'd probably need to be some fully broken-in red-light-district ace whore to hit this level. And putting it that way just meant I was already at that level.
Haah... if I don't actually watch myself, I'm done for.
In my past life I'd seen plenty of guys who went sex-crazy and tossed aside their homes and families. And at Sensitivity 81, you'd probably toss yourself onto the floor a few times over.
The silver lining was that my Magic was in the high 70s too. Maybe sleep had cleared my head a little, because a few memories came back.
First of all, I'd enrolled as a magic specialist.
Well, 78 was on par with knights and mages fighting on the front lines. Maybe that was the one number the developer bastard had put in with a shred of conscience. That left only 22 points until the Mortal Peak of 100. Whether through achievements, items, or training — raise it by just 22 and I could do all kinds of things with magic, like some archmage out of a novel or manga.
Hmm, what could I raise it with...
Arthas mainly used a sword and built Strength, so my memory of magic items and achievements was fuzzy.
Oh right, the Alumni Association title is broken as hell.
I'd been forcibly enrolled, but joining the Alumni Association gave you +10 Strength — as a body-modification-plus-achievement reward. That insane developer bastard.
Anyway, club recruitment time followed in the afternoon. They gave you two weeks, basically, and you had to join at least one of anything. First up were the established ones — the swordsmanship club, the mage club, and so on. Right now the mage club, which apparently half the Academy had joined, was pitching.
"Alright, alright — if you join our mage club right now, we'll give each of you freshmen one of these mana robes."
"Just a regular robe?"
"Not at all, freshman. This is a Temperature Regulating Robe — a little cooler in summer, a little warmer in winter. The effect's sneakily good."
"Oh..."
The club was huge, so they probably had plenty of funding to throw stuff like this around. I thought about what to do, then decided to hold off on choosing for now.
"If you're a magic specialist, you should join first thing. We can tell you about the headaches you won't learn in class, plus all kinds of practical tips. We hope a lot of you apply."
Club application forms were handed out to the class. Not dumped in a pile at the front row to pass around — that senior's magic floated the forms through the air and delivered them to everyone.
"Whoa..."
"What kind of control is that..."
"Ahem. You'll all be able to do this much, no problem."
Spellbound by the display, I filled out an application myself. When I brought it up, a senior I didn't know looked at me like they recognized me.
"Hey. So you're that girl."
"...That girl?"
"Yeah, the opening ceremony... well, anyway. You should be careful. Getting mixed up with that Arthas kid is going to be a headache."
"...I know."
I know all too well. The senior seemed to guess something, gave me a pitying look, and left the classroom. In my hand was the Temperature Regulating Robe they had pressed on me.
When I got back to my seat, Yu-ra asked with a curious look.
"You gonna join that one?"
"Yeah. You can join up to two clubs anyway. Want to do the other one together?"
"Yeah, let's! Honestly I was already planning to join the boxing club before I got here. The other one I'll do with you, Na-ho~."
Seeing Yu-ra so happy made me feel good too. For someone who'd been rotting in a shit company with no time to even see friends, it was a genuinely happy feeling.
...This might not be so bad.
Better than being an incompetent late-twenties office drone rotting in a shit company. Even if it was kind of fucked, wasn't living as an S-rank regional beauty better?
Anyway, club recruitment wrapped up after that. Yu-ra and I had an early dinner and headed back to the dorms together.
"Are we even allowed to wander around at night?"
"Apparently it's fine as long as you stay in the same dorm."
"Whoa... then can I come check out your room later?"
I nodded readily at Yu-ra's question. Then she seemed to remember something and pulled her phone from her pocket.
Ah... we have phones too, huh?
A convenience of civilization, possible thanks to the modern setting. I'd been so slammed with one thing after another I hadn't even thought about it...
It's in an inner pocket.
I pulled it out naturally and exchanged numbers with Yu-ra.
"Make sure you knock later."
"Obviously."
"See you later."
"Yeah!!"
After saying goodbye, I came back and sat on the edge of my bed. My face was reflected in the vanity in front of it.
"...I really am pretty."
I looked a little tired, but if anything that just made it more decadent. I was idly basking in my own vanity when I stood up to go wash, and in that instant—
"Haaeugh!?"
A sharp jolt of lightning raced down my spine, and I collapsed to the floor.