It Only Took One Day for My Classmates to Start Avoiding Me
It had only been a single day, yet my classmates were already treating me like a stranger. Or to be more accurate, they were outright avoiding me. I guess expecting things to feel “normal” with this kind of appearance really had been too much to ask. Even as my heart churned with unease, class continued on as usual.
“Underline this section.”
Today was business as usual for everyone except me. Only the teacher’s flat, indifferent voice rang through the classroom. I did as instructed, drawing a long line under the text and scanning the textbook with my eyes in time with the teacher’s words, over and over.
“Next page… let’s see, today’s the fifteenth, right? Number fifteen, read it aloud.”
The moment I flipped to the next page, the teacher glanced down at the lectern and spoke briefly. Since it was the fifteenth, it was number fifteen’s turn to read. At worst, the next one would probably be twenty-five.
“They’re absent.”
“Then how about number sixteen?”
That was the first real ordeal to hit me while I’d been thinking that and feeling relieved. The turn that came right after fifteen—exactly one number higher. My body went rigid at the completely unexpected call.
“Number sixteen? Who’s number sixteen?”
At the teacher’s shout, every pair of eyes in the room converged on me. Because my assigned number was exactly sixteen.
In a frantic rush, I grabbed my textbook and started to stand—only for the teacher, who had finally sensed the strange atmosphere, to speak up urgently.
“Ah, it’s you, Hyunwoo? Never mind, never mind—just sit back down.”
“…Yes.”
With that short reply to the teacher’s consideration, I slid back into my seat as smoothly as a soap bubble settling. At the same time, I pushed the tail that had risen with me back between the chair’s backrest. Unfortunately, the part of my tail that had already crept over the desk and beyond the backrest flopped right onto the face of the friend slumped in front of me.
“Mmph!”
“Ah, sorry…”
Startled by the muffled little grunt, I yanked my chair closer and apologized. The situation had reached the point where simply sharing the same space was a nuisance. Most of the problems came from this stupid tail. If I sat there spacing out, it would unconsciously sway. If I got startled, the fur would bristle. Things like that.
Things didn’t get any easier during break time. I have no idea where the rumor started, but students from other classes—and even other grade levels—kept peering into our classroom from the doorway and windows, trying to catch a glimpse of the guy who’d turned into a beast.
Even though the situation was uncomfortable, there wasn’t much I could do about it. If you ranked the invisible social hierarchy inside the classroom, I was somewhere in the lower-middle tier. Just your average otaku who spent every day talking about games and anime. Unlike the typical delinquents who could puff out their chests, cigarette dangling from their lips, and bark “What are you looking at? Get lost,” I had no such power.
All I could do was fantasize about what I would do if I had that kind of influence, bury my face in my desk, and wait for time to pass. I even lost the chance to hang out with the usual crowd I talked to about games and anime during breaks.
Lunchtime was the same story. As I stood in line at the cafeteria, nearly every student who walked past would stop and stare openly. With a shock of orange hair suddenly sprouting among all the black-haired heads, it was impossible not to stand out.
Still, I did my best to ignore the stares, gripping my tray tightly as I moved toward the side-dish counter.
“Wait, does that mean he won’t have to go to the military?”
“Beats me.”
“I wanna pull that tail so bad.”
“Don’t be a dumbass.”
I could barely block out the uncomfortable stares, but I couldn’t block my ears. The unfiltered voices kept pouring in. Everything from military service talk to wanting to grab my tail, pull my ears, or even use my tail as a cushion. The second I imagined some random guy burying his face in my tail, goosebumps exploded across my entire body.
Without thinking, I reached back and grabbed the tail I’d become conscious of. My fingers closed around the unruly rod hidden beneath all that fluffy fur. Then, as I instinctively scanned my surroundings with wary eyes, the chatter about me died out all at once.
The atmosphere was so uncomfortable I thought I might lose my mind.
After finishing my meal amid that silent war of nerves, I returned to the classroom in a hypersensitive state. I flopped down at my desk, turned my face toward the wall, and stayed there.
“Hey, Hyunwoo.”
“Huh?”
A voice suddenly called my name. The friendly tone made me lift my head. The person standing there was none other than our class president—the living embodiment of diligence and the homeroom teacher’s number-one errand boy.
I tilted my head, puzzled by the unexpected visitor. We weren’t exactly close, were we?
“The teacher wants to see you in the staff room.”
“Oh, okay.”
The question that had popped into my mind was answered immediately. It turned out to just be a simple errand. I gave a short reply and quickly stood up. Only then did I notice the noisy crowd I’d been trying to ignore. The hallway in front of our class was packed with students from other classes who had come to gawk.
“Ooooh…”
“She’s actually really pretty?”
The moment I stood and started moving, they began murmuring in awe as if they were watching a wild animal at the zoo or openly critiquing my appearance. All this attention just from walking to the staff room. That morning I had only wanted to hurry home, but now even the thought of going back made me anxious. At least on the way to school I’d only run into people on similar schedules. On the way home, students from other schools would be flooding out too, right?
‘Should I just ditch and go home now?’
The shame I would feel in the future crept up on me, bringing with it a sudden impulse. While I wrestled with the thought, my feet carried me to the door of the staff room. I carefully turned the handle and stepped inside. Right on cue, the teacher looked up and beckoned me over.
“Ah, Hyunwoo. Come over here for a second.”
I approached without a word. The teacher, still seated, spoke in a cheerful tone.
“So, I got a call from your mother. She said you need to go to the hospital right after class ends, so head straight out as soon as the bell rings.”
It was a one-sided announcement that my mom had called and that I had to leave for the hospital the moment class was over.
“My mom called?”
“Yep.”
I’d wondered why they’d called me all the way to the staff room. Apparently the teacher had just been on the phone with her.
“When class ends, skip the homeroom session, grab your bag, and go straight there.”
“Ah… yes.”
After delivering the message, the teacher went back to preparing for the next class. So in the end, it looked like we really were going to that dermatologist after all. I had to hand it to my mom—her stubbornness was on another level.
Time passed, the rest of the classes dragged on, and the moment the final bell rang I bolted from the classroom like I was escaping. The other classes were still waiting for their teachers. This was the one and only moment I could slip away with the least amount of shame. I sprinted toward the school gate with everything I had, desperate to get out even one second faster.
‘Fuuuuuuuck—!’
A silent, desperate scream echoed only inside my head. Thanks to that, I managed to avoid running into too many students and made it safely back to the neighborhood near my house. Of course, I still passed plenty of middle schoolers and adults who were already out and about since their day had ended earlier.
After all the twists and turns, I finally reached home.
“Oh, you’re back? That was fast. Let’s head out right away.”
Waiting for me was my mom, who had already nearly finished getting ready to go out. No, if we leave now we’re definitely going to run into the kids from school…
“Mom, can’t we rest for just a little bit first?”
“Do you have any idea how crowded the hospital gets? If we’re late we won’t get seen on time! Hurry up and drop your bag so we can leave.”
Despite my pitiful resistance, Mom stubbornly pushed forward. She waved her arms, insisting that we’d miss our slot if we were late and that I should just put my bag down and go.
“Hurry!”
“Agh, come on, just let me rest for a little—”
“Eeeh—?”
Even when I made my most desperate, sullen face and threw my final tantrum, Mom just narrowed her eyes sharply and shoved my shoulder. Seriously, that damn dermatologist isn’t even going to be able to do anything! Do you really want to watch your son die of embarrassment?!
Despite all my internal screaming, Mom dragged me out anyway. And since she wasn’t exactly a fast walker and the hospital was within walking distance… my current appearance ended up completely exposed in the middle of a busy afternoon downtown filled with pedestrians.
“Hey, is that some kind of game cosplay?”
“No idea, but isn’t she embarrassed…?”
“Mom, look at that tail!”
“Come here.”
Thanks to my big ears, I could hear every whisper around us with painful clarity. My already-broken spirit twisted even further in real time. If it had only been bent at a forty-five-degree angle by lunchtime, now it felt like my insides were being wrung out like a pretzel. I think I used up an entire lifetime’s worth of resentment toward my mom in that single afternoon.
I kept my gaze fixed on the ground as much as possible while walking. The hospital we were heading to was the dermatology clinic I had visited constantly as a child. Because of the atopic dermatitis that had plagued me back then, the doctor still remembered my name.
Contrary to Mom’s constant complaints that the place was always packed, the waiting room was surprisingly quiet.
“See? I told you if we came right away there wouldn’t be many people.”
She immediately flipped her earlier statement. Rather than argue, I kept my mouth shut. The nurses began whispering among themselves at the sudden appearance of a beast-girl.
After registering at the desk and stepping into the examination room, the doctor—who had been greeting us with a warm smile—abruptly froze mid-sentence.
“Oh my, welcome… what?”
His friendly expression hardened into a stiff mask that practically screamed What the hell is this? Of course he was shocked. Instead of the familiar face he expected, a full-blown cosplaying beast-girl had walked in.