So, How Do I Explain This?
So, how do I explain this? Someone poked my side.
Poke.
Almost simultaneously, I let out a scream.
“Eek—?!”
My body should’ve been numb from the drugs… so why? It didn’t make sense.
Was it exempt from touch by this person? Why? How?
That’s even weirder!
More importantly, practical training was still going on—why was she here? She was the model student type. Ditching class mid-session wasn’t something a model student would do!
Did she follow me here?
No way—why would she? There’s no reason for that. No, that probability was way too low.
I froze for a moment, staring blankly at Ja-an.
Ja-an averted his gaze slightly.
“Sorry.”
“No, forget that—why are you here?”
“Curious?”
“…Curious?”
“Didn’t have anything else to do, so I dipped out midway.”
Didn’t have anything to do, so you left midway?
You’re not that kind of guy.
“You left midway, so why the convenience store…?”
“Passing by, saw you inside.”
“The side poke?”
“Han Ye-seo does it like this… got curious?”
The reasons were way too flimsy! Don’t poke someone’s side for something that trivial! Do you have any idea how sensitive I am?!
Seeing I was pissed, Ja-an scratched the back of his head.
“Who suddenly pokes someone’s side like that! Just talk to me normally!”
“S-Sorry? You said you’d gotten used to it before, so I thought it’d be fine.”
“I thought I’d gotten used to it too!”
It was a lie.
I hadn’t gotten used to it—my senses had just gone dead.
Han Ye-seo’s poke hadn’t registered at all.
But Ja-an’s had worked normally, if only for an instant.
That was the difference.
I couldn’t comprehend it.
Or rather, my brain seemed to be rejecting the very idea.
I casually paid for the lighter. Ja-an’s eyes followed my fingertips.
…He was suspicious, as expected.
Why buy a lighter right now, of all times?
More precisely, why just a lighter?
If I’d bought it with something else, no questions. But only the lighter? That’s what raised flags.
Should I grab cigarettes too?
No—he’d know from my usual smell and habits that I don’t smoke.
It’d only amplify suspicion if I bought something mismatched to cover up.
Best to play it natural. Keep up the act.
That was my answer.
Ja-an stared at my hand. Still watching.
“Why’re you buying that?”
“Old lighter ran out.”
“Yeah, not buying it.”
He chuckled as he said it.
That sidelong profile looked annoyingly good.
I knew he was handsome, but could he stop flashing that easy smile everywhere? From the other class kids to Class A—everyone’s eyes were on him.
Do you even know how much resentment the other guys hold against you?
Not that I expect you to, oblivious as you are.
I shot back curtly.
“Why not?”
“You don’t smell like it usually.”
“…Huh?”
“Not that you don’t smell—it’s more like… you smell like grass? Phyto-something?”
Grass? Phytoncide? That kind of vibe?
From a person?
I lifted my arm and sniffed.
Nothing.
“Dunno.”
“Your own body scent’s something you can’t detect.”
“…Ugh.”
Body scent, huh. Did becoming a beauty come with one too?
But no one else mentioned it.
Well, how many people have the social skills to bring up someone’s body scent to their face?
Ja-an steered back to the point.
“So why? Real reason.”
Lame lies would backfire. But admitting I had something to burn? Too many complications.
For starters, why was he tailing me?
We weren’t that close, right?
Friends at best—a little over a month.
We’d crossed some life-or-death lines together, sure, but skipping class to stalk me? Nah.
Ambiguous relationship, huh…
He’d even cut my hair at my place once. Han Ye-seo was there, but it felt kinda date-like.
Was simple curiosity enough for stalking? Definitely not.
I haven’t done anything to raise his affection, have I?
If anything, I’d tanked it.
Sweaty and gross, plus dead weight against monsters in Gangbuk.
From a dating sim player’s view, I’m the weak heroine who charges ahead anyway…!
The kind that drags the protagonist into crises! A total irritant!
Was I actually a huge bother?
Things that wouldn’t have happened to the original Ivy Lane kept piling up.
I couldn’t fathom how the canon Ivy handled these events.
Was I not using regression right?
I stayed silent too long, and Ja-an gauged my reaction.
“…Talking body scents—did I sound like a perv?”
“No, not that.”
“Good.”
Bringing up body scent did sound pervy.
It only didn’t because it was you. Have some confidence, Ja-an.
With that face, and this is the best you can do? Kinda disappointing.
Ja-an spoke again.
“So, what’s going on?”
“Nothing.”
“Not gonna tell me?”
“…Got something to burn.”
Impulse decision.
“What?”
“Just… an old thing.”
“Old thing?”
“Stuff from the facility… Seeing it creeps me out, so I wanna burn it.”
“Academy’s got an incinerator.”
Incinerator—for monster corpses and debris from training.
Class A couldn’t train on captured monsters. Real combat and growth came from practicals, but safe captures were mostly Type 3s.
Type 3s didn’t build skill no matter how many you killed.
So Class A kids sparred each other.
How to talk my way out of this.
Honestly, I’d forgotten about the incinerator.
No need or reason in the game—it didn’t exist there.
“Just…?”
“…Yeah, I get it.”
“Huh?”
“Sometimes you wanna burn stuff alone, away from prying eyes.”
No, I’m just torching a note and box.
You’re making it sound like cremating a battlefield buddy—not that serious.
—I wanna argue, but opening my mouth might backfire.
Anyway, that weird sensation since earlier.
Not hallucinations or anything… but eyes on us.
I flicked my gaze. Ja-an caught it instantly.
The part-time clerk asked timidly.
“Um… your total?”
“Oh, sorry.”
I whipped out my phone, paid, and turned back to Ja-an.
Squeeze. He pinned me to the convenience store corner with his body.
Caught off-guard, I was wedged tight between him and the wall.
I muttered softly.
“…What the hell.”
“You felt it too. The gaze.”
“Yeah.”
So not my imagination.
His senses were sharper than mine—probably real.
Someone was watching us.
Not tailing. A gaze this obvious meant no hiding intent.
If some scrub weaker than me was tailing, that’d be its own problem.
Ja-an whispered.
His low voice tickled my ear.
“What now?”
“…Dunno.”
“Wait it out?”
“Your call.”
More importantly, this position sucked.
Between the wall and his body—technically sitting on his thigh.
My short legs dangled.
Back when I was a guy, my feet would’ve touched easy.
Hit me again: I was in a little girl’s body.
Ugh. Infuriating.
Just say it. Ego bruise, but best option.
“This is uncomfortable.”
“Oh… sorry.”
“No other blind spots? Anywhere away from windows.”
The clerk was glancing at us.
Ah, I sighed. No need to hear—he was cursing us out.
Wasting his youth on shifts while we flirted away ours. Natural reaction.
…Wait, why’d I frame us stuck together as flirting, youth stuff?
I shook my head.
Ja-an asked.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
We stayed pressed like that a bit.
Soon, it broke.
Ding-a-ling. In stormed Han Ye-seo, face full of fury.
…The gaze’s source revealed.
So, how do I explain this?
Think I’m screwed.