Graduation Ceremony
Graduation Ceremony
A-ra and the Queens members finally entered the broadcasting station, greeted by the cheers of their fans.
The atmosphere inside the station was subdued since only reporters, station staff, and the boys from our class were present,
but the moment they stepped in, a sort of jostling for position broke out as everyone tried to get their interview first.
Despite that, A-ra and the members were responding to the interviews without letting any discomfort show.
Professionals really were built different.
No...
I guess that's just A-ra being A-ra.
Even in the middle of the interview, she kept glancing this way.
"Are your preparations for this world tour going smoothly?"
"Yes, last time there were songs we couldn't perform for you due to our busy schedule......."
People who come to see Queens' concerts enjoy their group songs, but they also love hearing each member's solo tracks.
So you could say their identity lies in having a slightly different format from your typical concert.
"So, what would you like to do once this world tour is finished?"
"I... would like to go on a quiet trip with my husband."
"Speaking of which, Miss A-ra, you were the first-ever idol to get married after a fiercely passionate romance, and at such a young age.
If I may ask another question, there's still practically no news about your husband yet."
"Actually, my husband is finally graduating tomorrow."
"Ohh... Congratulations on that."
I felt a cold sweat trickling down my back.
To drop a hint like that.
I couldn't even begin to imagine what would happen if it got out that I was A-ra's husband.
I'd be lucky if her fans didn't beat me to death.
"Song A-ra's husband is graduating tomorrow?"
"Ours should be the only school around here having a graduation ceremony tomorrow."
"Nah, you really think Song A-ra's husband goes to our school? If it were me, I'd have bragged about it all over town."
"fr lmao"
As it happened, it seemed our school was indeed the only one holding a graduation ceremony in the area.
Oblivious to my burning anxiety, the reporter continued throwing questions at A-ra.
"Could you perhaps tell us what your husband looks like, and what you liked about him?"
"Mmm... that's a question about privacy, so it's a bit difficult to answer..."
"I'll take this comment out of the interview, so could you possibly...?"
A-ra made a troubled expression, then glanced this way.
"Wait, you don't think she has an ideal type among us or something?"
"Say something that makes sense."
"If you were Song A-ra, who could have any man she wants, would you seriously like some average joe?
"Well, everyone other than Seong-hwan is just an average joe, I guess."
"Are you self-destructing?"
"I'm just stating facts."
Whatever the guys next to me were saying, I looked at A-ra and shook my head, signaling no.
Ah.
A-ra smirked.
When she made that face, it meant she was gearing up to play a prank.
I was going crazy.
A-ra walked toward me, while I stood there turning pale.
The male students were briefly flustered when A-ra suddenly approached,
but their faces turned as red as tomatoes, harboring a sliver of hope.
Then she stopped right in front of me and smiled once again.
I tried to act like I had nothing to do with her, pretending not to know her,
but A-ra wrapped her arms around mine, snagged me, and linked our arms together.
"This man right here is my ideal type."
"Haha, he's certainly a good-looking man. Still, isn't what you're doing right now a little risky?"
Right.
Even so, for a woman like A-ra to hug a male fan —
in this world, that could spark a sexual harassment scandal.
Okay, but this was still fine.
She just said I was her ideal type.
She hadn't revealed my identity or anything, and apparently, I was a pretty likeable type in this world,
so people would probably just assume she did it because of my face.
"Huh? It's fine. This person is my husband, you see."
Of course, my hopes were utterly shattered in less than ten seconds.
***
"A-ra Noona!! How could you just say that?!"
"It's fine, it's fine. Tomorrow's the last day we have to hide it anyway."
"Coming to school without a disguise and saying it in an interview are two different things..."
"Did you... hate it...?"
A-ra's eyes glistened with tears.
Had I been too harsh?
"No... I didn't hate it..."
"Then it's fine, right?"
"Haah... Yes, yes, do whatever you want, Noona."
"Oh yeah~"
Since graduation was tomorrow anyway, even if the kids at school found out, it would only be a headache for one day.
I just had to get through that one day.
I took off my school uniform piece by piece and hung it on the hanger.
Come to think of it, tomorrow was the last day I'd ever wear this uniform.
"Seong-hwan-a, will you do Noona a favor?"
"Anything. Is there something you want to eat?"
For A-ra to directly ask a favor of me — this was the first time since the jam lid incident.
I sat on the bed, pulling my tie loose as I looked up at her.
"Today... could you do it while wearing your school uniform?"
"Huh?"
"I... I mean, today is the last day Seong-hwan-i is a student in the truest sense, right?
Tomorrow is graduation... so..."
So, it seemed A-ra was currently requesting some school uniform roleplay.
Mm.. I guess they did mix their bodies together since they were a married couple after all.
Huh? So does that mean my mind is a virgin but my body isn't?
What the... like a virgin slut or something...
A-ra's gaze intensified and her breathing grew ragged.
Those were the eyes of a woman who desired a man.
I couldn't be sure since I was originally a 'mo-ssol', but seeing that predatory look in her eyes, that was my guess.
"O..Okay, I get it, so just wait a moment. I haven't even washed up yet..."
"I actually prefer it that way."
"Well, I don't. And we haven't even had dinner yet."
"I'll take responsibility."
Just what exactly was she planning to take responsibility for?
Still, it seemed my body wasn't exactly opposed to it either.
That place was bulging, ready to burst like a hypertension patient's head, making my uniform pants look like a folding tent.
"Seong-hwan-i got excited too, huh?"
"Noo...Noona is the one who made it like this."
"Hearing you say that makes me happy, you know?"
A-ra began undressing me by unbuttoning my dress shirt one by one, and then stripped off not just my top but my bottoms as well.
And then A-ra too peeled off her blouse, layer by layer, tossing her clothes aside........
***
015B's 'Now Goodbye' resonated throughout the graduation ceremony.
Strangely, the atmosphere was quite different from the middle school graduation ceremony.
Maybe it was because, while a middle school graduation was a parting as you progressed to high school, a high school graduation was the parting of fledglings stepping out into the world?
It was a song I heard often, but my heart still felt heavy and tight.
There were students crying, and others trying their best to hold it in until the end.
They must have been that devoted to their high school lives.
And most of these people would never meet each other again for the rest of their lives.
Because that's what it meant to become an adult.
"As expected, I didn't get the perfect attendance award or the diligent attendance award."
Because I frequently left early or missed school entirely, I had never received them even once.
An award that you could supposedly receive once a year even without studying, and I couldn't get it even though I studied hard —
when I was little, I used to feel a bit sulky about it.
The representative graduate's address ended, and the tearful speech of our grade head teacher, who had led us since our first year, also came to a close.
The grade head teacher's words, saying she would never forget us for causing her trouble right up until her very last year before retirement, as she shed tears,
turned the students of the class where she served as homeroom teacher into a sea of tears.
Even kids from other classes who had no such connection were crying, so how much more so must it have been for them?
As I looked at the photo of our entire class and homeroom teacher taken together after all the proceedings were over, I too almost started crying.
Even if this was a different world,
the three years I spent over there and the three years I had spent here were virtually the same.
But that touching moment was shattered in an instant by what happened next.
When the entire graduation ceremony was over and everyone was taking pictures with their guardians, who should appear but A-ra.
"Whoa, what are the 'Queens' members doing here? Do they have family here?"
"This is my first time seeing an idol in person... Can I take a picture? It's a graduation ceremony, so it should be fine, right?"
"I dunno, you bitch. Go ask them yourself."
"You fucking bitch..."
And A-ra hadn't come alone; all the members except one came together.
For reference, I had met the members for the first time yesterday, so I didn't know what kind of relationship this version of me had with them.
Seeing A-ra walk this way holding a bouquet... how should I put it.
For an orphan like me, having someone who would give me a bouquet as a gift made me feel both happy and a bit sad.
A-ra stopped right in front of me, took her place, and held out the bouquet.
Then, with an incredibly gentle expression, she spoke.
"Seong-hwan-a, congratulations on graduating."
With that one line, I couldn't hold back my surging emotions and ended up hugging her, burying myself in A-ra's arms.
She was just stroking my head, but a commotion exploded around us.
"What the fuck... what's going on? What is happening right now?"
"Hey... no way Song A-ra's husband isn't that guy Yoo Seong-hwan... is it?"
"This is insane... but if that's true, it explains why he kept up an iron wall this whole time..."
Those were the only kinds of things I could hear.
An idol appearing in the middle of a graduation ceremony was amazing enough, but she'd come to her husband's graduation.
To be honest, even as the person involved, it sounded so absurd it was like listening to total nonsense.
"Congratulations on graduating."
"Thank you."
And the members who were behind her also gave me flowers,
but let's save their story until next time.
Because for now, I just wanted to be buried in the sentimentality of graduating and,
act like a child in A-ra's arms.