Meeting the True Heroine
This was kindergarten.
Dragged along by Lee Hyeokho, I mostly just watched from a corner.
Honestly, playing soccer with a bunch of kindergarteners is a bit much…
I ignored the soccer and looked around at the kids nearby. Pink… blue… purple… True to the world of a romance comedy, their hair colors were all over the place, and even as little kids every single one of them was ridiculously good-looking.
Man, the kids in this world really won’t have any trouble getting married. …Or wait, since polygamy is legal, maybe some people still end up alone? …That won’t be me, right…?
Thump!
Right then a ball came flying toward the area behind where I stood. For little kids they sure packed a punch—it sailed pretty far.
I’ll just toss the ball back and stay by myself.
I stepped off the field, grabbed the ball, and threw it back to the kids playing soccer. Whew. Time to make a temporary escape.
Alone at last, I walked along the path. Unfamiliar field of vision, shorter strides—I tried getting used to all the different sensations that came with a body so different from my adult one.
So this is the kind of view I lived with when I was little. My own childhood… yeah, not something I really want to remember.
I shoved the unwanted memories out of my head just as two little girls passed in front of me.
The girl walking ahead had black hair and a red flower-shaped hairpin; she carried herself with a dignity that didn’t match her age. The girl following her had blonde hair. Like the first, she also seemed older than her years, but instead of elegance she gave off a stiff, rigid impression.
The moment I saw the black-haired girl I knew. That’s her. The child walking past me was the true heroine of the romance comedy who would end up with Lee Hyeokho—Saionji Mio.
According to the story, the two of them attended the same schools from kindergarten all the way through high school. But their relationship only actually began after they became high-schoolers. From elementary through middle school they never once shared a class. At that rate, the fact that they got together at all was basically a miracle, wasn’t it?
I glanced at Mio’s face for a moment.
Is she really a little kid? She’s a kindergartener and she’s this pretty… As expected of the true heroine of a romance comedy—she’s different even from childhood.
Saionji Mio had been my favorite character in the original work. Of course I was thrilled to see her in person and wanted to get closer, but I already knew her personality. Getting close wouldn’t be easy. So just being able to look at her was enough. Besides, a guy like me getting involved with her wouldn’t do her any good. She probably didn’t even like being stared at like this.
But still—I get to watch both of their stories with my own eyes? How am I supposed to hold back!! I never thought the day would come when I could watch them live!
Thinking that, I looked away from Mio. I was just about to head under the shade of a tree to sort out my thoughts when—
Someone grabbed my hand.
“Huh?”
Ah, not again. Mister just wants to be alone for a bit, kids… Why do they keep grabbing me? But who… wait? Why is she holding my hand…
The culprit holding my hand was Mio.
“…”
“Uh… your name is Saionji… Mio, right?”
Worried it would seem weird for a stranger to know her name, I glanced at the name tag on her kindergarten uniform as I asked.
“….”
She was the one who had grabbed me, yet she said nothing.
“Is something wrong, Mio?”
“You…”
She was taking forever to speak… And “you”? What kind of kindergartener talks like that? Was this the young-lady-from-a-good-family thing?
“You have eyes similar to my father’s.”
“……”
A brief silence fell. Then I put on a bright smile and said,
“Your dad!? Wow! Do I look like a grown-up!?”
I put on the act of a child that age. Sparkling eyes, exaggerated gestures, a loud voice. Acting was the one thing I had complete confidence in. In my previous life I had spent my whole life acting, after all. Had she noticed I wasn’t an ordinary little kid? Her instincts really were sharp.
“…?”
Mio tilted her head at my sudden change in demeanor. Whether she decided there was no point answering or truly thought she had been mistaken, she let go of my hand and spoke as she walked past.
“I must have been mistaken. I apologize.”
I watched Mio’s retreating back for a moment.
I just brazened it out with the acting and luckily she dropped it right away. More importantly, eyes like her father’s… I need to be careful with my expressions. Though the fact that a little kid noticed that is even more amazing.
Right then my eyes met those of the girl following behind Mio. Her name was Choi Yuna—Mio’s attendant and bodyguard. The master was Japanese, yet the bodyguard was Korean.
Yuna’s gaze was wary. I gave her a big smile and went on my way.
Starting off with negative favorability from the first impression? Well, as long as I got along with Hyeokho it was fine. I was satisfied just being able to watch the two of them. Why was it okay for Hyeokho when I said Mio shouldn’t get close to a guy like me? Because Hyeokho could suffer a little! He could take it!
Besides, I had no intention of getting deeply close. Just exchanging casual greetings and being in a position to give Hyeokho advice when he was struggling would be enough.
For now let’s go think alone in a corner. Ah, but what do I do? I don’t even know what my parents look like…
Recognizing my parents turned out not to be difficult. Why?
“Aigoo, did our Jihoo have fun?”
“Yeah!”
The moment kindergarten ended, the woman I assumed was my mother came to pick me up and immediately scooped me into a hug. Was it because this was a romance-comedy world? My mother was an absolute beauty too.
But being held like this at my age is a little embarrassing… I thought—only to notice plenty of other kids being held the same way. At least we were kindergarteners, so that was a relief. She looked to be in her mid-twenties? Being held by a woman not that much older than my previous self was way more mortifying than expected.
“Jihoo, see you tomorrow! Tomorrow we definitely have to play soccer together!”
“Yeah, you take care too, Hyeokho. Let’s definitely do it tomorrow.”
Yeah, no. How am I supposed to play ball with you guys at this age?
I gave a half-hearted goodbye to Hyeokho, who had somehow already started acting like my best friend, and left the kindergarten nestled in my mother’s arms.
As we stepped outside, a black sedan came into view. Of course the ones getting in were Mio and Yuna. Before climbing into the car Mio shot me a sidelong glance. Still held in my mother’s arms, I burrowed deeper into her embrace.
Waaah, Mama~ Mio’s scary. …Wasn’t I embarrassed earlier? I don’t know! Having Mio look at me is scarier!
She had been staring at me this whole time. Dodging Mio’s gaze all day had been exhausting. Acting like a little kid was no joke. Now I understood why forced high energy was so hard. I had been yelling like a child for hours—ugh.
“Jihoo, who’s that super pretty girl? It looks like she’s waiting for our Jihoo to say hello. Let’s greet her.”
“Okay! Bye, Mio~ See you tomorrow.”
With my mother’s assist I waved like a little kid and said goodbye to Mio.
Mio, who had been staring holes through me, blankly followed my raised hand with her eyes. As if entranced she started to raise her own hand to return the greeting—then froze. Looking suddenly shy, she dipped her head in a proper bow and hurriedly ducked into the car.
Come to think of it, someone like Mio would have been strictly educated in every form of etiquette starting with greetings. A casual hand-wave would have been unfamiliar and embarrassing for her.
And yet that same Mio had stared at me blankly and almost waved back without thinking. The fact made my chest flutter strangely, and it was a moment that reminded me all over again that even the mature-looking Mio was still just a little child.
Haah, why is our heroine so cute… How am I supposed to just watch? Haa, seriously, Hyeokho, your tax is times a hundred.
Once Mio disappeared into the car, Yuna following behind her also came into view. Yuna likewise started to wave, froze, then bowed with a reddened face and fled into the car as if escaping. She was so cute a laugh slipped out of me.
“Pfft, Jihoo, those two are too adorable~ Which one does our Jihoo like better?”
“I like both!”
When I was just reading the romance comedy Mio had been my clear favorite heroine, but meeting them in person completely changed my mind. Both of them were insanely cute. How could a master and her bodyguard both be that cute in the exact same way? Honestly, this was foul play.
“Hehe, Jihoo, that’s not it. Which one do you want to take as your bride more?”
“Bri…de?”
Mother…? Wh-what are you saying… Her words left me thoroughly flustered. Mio as my bride…? Mio was going to end up with Hyeokho. There was no way she would become something like my bride.
And Yuna—I honestly had no idea. In the original work she only appeared starting in high school, so she never showed this cute side; she only ever gave off a stiff impression. Because of that I had never even imagined Yuna getting married. She stayed by Mio’s side right up until the ending, after all.
Marrying Yuna…
For an instant the image of Yuna in a wedding dress flashed through my mind. Then the image of raising a child who looked like both of us… the image of waking up in the same bed with a beautifully grown Yuna just like in the original…
No! No! This is wrong!!! I absolutely do not have those kinds of thoughts about our Yuna!!! This is all Mother’s fault!
“Our Jihoo seems to be thinking really hard. Or maybe you’re planning to take both as brides? Hehehe.”
“Th-that’s not it!”
“Don’t worry~ If it’s our Jihoo, you can take both of them as brides!!”
“I don’t know! I don’t know! Mom’s a dummy!”
Mom really was a dummy. Making me have these weird fantasies was all her fault. I had almost turned into one of those weird people who start looking into piano academies for their future grandson just because they made eye contact with a girl once.
And so, nestled in the arms of my mother who kept teasing me nonstop, I headed home.