Chapter 121
Chapter 121
Time crawled by.
It wasn't because Yu Ha-neul outright hated 'Sara.' Whatever else might be said, Yu Ha-neul did think of 'Sara' as a friend.
And it wasn't only because Sara had asked her to. 'Sara' was a presence who was always with Sara, and Yu Ha-neul didn't have any especially bad memories of their time together. She still wasn't sure what 'Sara' really thought of her. But whether it was simply her nature, or whether she only acted that way for Sara's sake, 'Sara' had never been particularly sharp with Yu Ha-neul when they were together.
...At least, that was what she'd thought.
The reason that thought now belonged to the past wasn't just because 'Sara's' attitude toward Yu Ha-neul had subtly changed.
It was because, through what had just happened moments ago, Yu Ha-neul had been able to glimpse a little of what 'Sara' was thinking.
Most likely, 'Sara' thought of Sara as—
"...You said she asked you to be friends with me?"
'Sara' cut off Yu Ha-neul's train of thought. When she turned her head, Sara was still looking out the window. She'd been terrified of the rides, and the haunted house had scared her just as badly, but apparently being up this high didn't frighten her nearly as much.
Well, it made sense. The person who'd shared those two experiences with her was Sara, not 'Sara.'
"Sara did ask me that, yes."
Not wanting to lose this particular verbal sparring match, Yu Ha-neul answered somewhat curtly.
She knew. She was aware that this attitude of hers wasn't especially good.
But even so, this was a rare chance to be 'alone' with Sara. It wasn't a very long time, but still—what a romantic place and moment this was.
In truth, 'Sara' had practically seen right through Yu Ha-neul's thoughts a moment ago.
There was a part of her that wanted to experiment a little, but honestly, more than that, she'd wanted to use it as an excuse to do... well, various things with Sara.
Lately, Sara had been gradually becoming aware of the concept of 'distance between friends.' She hadn't drawn any explicit lines, but their physical contact as friends had felt very natural recently. Even without being told, Sara was the one who naturally kept the right distance first, so stepping past that point required far greater courage.
Or some kind of 'justification.'
Yu Ha-neul had no desire to cross that line without justification and end up earning Sara's resentment.
So she'd thought of that incident in the classroom a while back.
She knew perfectly well that reenacting that exact scenario was incredibly underhanded too.
'Sara' didn't even like Yu Ha-neul in that way—she'd only acted that way purely to summon Sara.
Using that kind of action for 'sexual reasons' wasn't exactly an honorable thing.
"But 'friendship' can take a lot of different forms."
Still, Yu Ha-neul couldn't be honest in front of 'Sara.'
That was only natural. Whatever anyone else thought, Yu Ha-neul recognized 'Sara' as a different person from Sara.
If Yu Ha-neul wanted to, well, share love with someone—then, of course, that person had to be Sara, not 'Sara.'
The person Yu Ha-neul liked was Sara.
But this incident had thrown a major wrench into that plan.
If merely bringing their faces close together, not even a kiss, was enough to swap personalities, then what about anything that came after that?
"That's really too bad."
Just as she was sinking into that worry, 'Sara' murmured those words.
Yu Ha-neul shifted her gaze back toward her, but 'Sara' was still looking out the window.
And then, as if talking to herself, she continued.
"If every time you try to kiss her, the personality switches back to me, then even when you have your first kiss, you'll end up having it with 'me.' Looks like you and her can't do things like kissing."
"......."
That was an unmistakable provocation.
To be fair, if you thought about it calmly, those words applied equally to Sara and 'Sara,' who shared the same body. No matter how much 'Sara' liked Sara, the two of them couldn't do anything physical with each other. Mentally, maybe, but that was another matter.
That was the case if you thought about it 'calmly.'
"If you ever get married, I'd be coming along as part of the package. So marrying her means marrying me, too."
But Yu Ha-neul's head was far from calm right now.
"...Why are you going out of your way to say things like that?"
Yu Ha-neul asked, her voice stiff.
"......."
'Sara' didn't answer for a moment, then finally turned her head toward Yu Ha-neul, looked her straight in the eye, and spoke.
"Because I've gotten greedy, too."
"......."
At those words, warning bells went off in Yu Ha-neul's head.
Yes, she knew that So-hee and Su-a harbored similar feelings for Sara. She also knew that, for now, they were living together.
But those two, in the end, were standing on the same line of 'friendship' as Yu Ha-neul. So far, Sara had never once shown any kind of sexual interest in any of the three of them.
But 'Sara' was a little different.
She was the one who'd been with Sara from the very start. Even though they hadn't been able to exchange words or clearly grasp each other's situations at first, Sara genuinely cared for 'Sara.' That meant the kind of feeling Sara held was quite different from how she felt about Yu Ha-neul, So-hee, and Su-a, with whom she conversed as equals.
She knew perfectly well it was too soon to call that feeling 'love.' But she also couldn't guarantee that the feeling wouldn't eventually lead to 'love.'
On top of that, Sara and 'Sara' were, in the truest sense, together twenty-four hours a day.
"...Let me ask one thing."
"What?"
'Sara,' who had been wearing an oddly smug expression at Yu Ha-neul's stiff face, asked back.
"Do you think Sara can't hear what you're saying right now?"
"If she could, do you think I'd be talking like this?"
'Sara' spoke as if showing off.
"When I'm on the surface like this, the representative personality controls the body, but inside our consciousness, I'm far more dominant. Sara hasn't been in my body that long. I can easily hide our conversation from her."
Listening to her bragging tone, Yu Ha-neul silently nodded, then—
"...I see."
She said that.
"So that means—huh?"
'Sara,' who was about to continue her bragging, suddenly panicked when she saw Yu Ha-neul shoot to her feet.
And when she saw Yu Ha-neul advancing toward her, she got a little scared.
"Uh, h-hold on—"
She belatedly tried to get up and run away—
Unfortunately for her, the place the two of them were sitting was inside a cramped Ferris wheel car.
"Wait, what do you think you're doing?!"
She struggled, but 'Sara's' strength was far weaker than Yu Ha-neul's.
Their physical struggle was over in an instant.
They weren't really seated anymore. 'Sara' was lying on her back on the floor, and Yu Ha-neul was straddling her from above.
Sara's hands were pinned above her head, one on top of the other. And over both of those hands, Yu Ha-neul's hand pressed down, holding them firmly in place.
Judging by the way both of them were trembling, it wasn't a position that could last long.
But that barely mattered to Yu Ha-neul. 'A moment' was all she needed anyway.
"Y-you you you you! What are you doing?! You said you wanted to kiss her, not me!"
"Yeah, I did."
Yu Ha-neul nodded, her expression dead serious.
"But I got to thinking. When I tried to kiss Sara, you came back. So, by that logic, if I try to kiss you, won't Sara come back?"
"What kind of insane nonsense is that?!"
'Sara' shrieked and thrashed, but her soft stomach, devoid of any real muscle, lacked the strength to lift Yu Ha-neul off of her.
Yu Ha-neul's face loomed closer.
"And besides, what you said also means that if I kiss 'you,' it's the same as kissing Sara, right?"
Of course, if Yu Ha-neul's head had been calm, she might have thought of that but wouldn't have acted on it with such brute force. She would have been able to recall that even if 'Sara' was currently in control of the body, she'd yield the spot back to Sara before too long.
But Yu Ha-neul's head was far from calm right now.
In other words, she was incapable of objective judgment.
The glare in Yu Ha-neul's wide-open eyes terrified 'Sara.'
"Eeep...! Wait just a second...!"
Watching Yu Ha-neul's face draw nearer, slowly but surely, 'Sara' was aghast.
"I-I'm sorry! I admit I was wrong! I know I said some rude things! Okay? Let's think about this rationally, rationally!"
'Sara' practically screamed.
And she was right. The current situation was, for Yu Ha-neul, the moment just before her first kiss.
And for 'Sara,' it was also the moment just before her first kiss.
Even a girl who'd been confined and never properly received any sex education knew what a 'kiss' was.
...Which meant she at least knew it was something you did with 'someone you liked.'
That was why she understood just how dire this moment was.
The Ferris wheel was still a long way from completing its descent.
Yu Ha-neul's face closed the remaining distance, and just as her vision nearly filled with those deep pupils—
Right before their lips could meet, 'Sara' felt her consciousness slipping away from the body.
*
"......."
When I came to my senses, I was slumped limply against the Ferris wheel seat.
"Uh, uhhh...?"
Letting out that ungraceful noise, I barely managed to open my eyes and saw Ha-neul's face looking down at me.
She looked extremely worried.
"Wh-what happened...?"
I felt exactly as though I'd suddenly plunged into a deep sleep and then just as abruptly woken up again. Seeing that we were still inside the Ferris wheel car, it seemed not much time had passed since the moment Ha-neul had hugged me.
Had I fainted or something during that short span of time?
"I'm sorry."
Ha-neul abruptly apologized to me.
"Huh?"
When I asked, still unable to grasp the situation, Ha-neul continued, her expression laden with guilt.
"It seems like my theory was right."
"Uh... ah."
Only then was I able to understand the situation.
"Did you meet 'Sara'?"
"Yeah."
Ha-neul nodded.
Really?
...Yeah.
'Sara' answered, sounding distinctly displeased. If I could've seen her face, she probably would've been pouting.
That was definitely good news.
It had been a little startling when Ha-neul had suddenly clung to me like that, but at least one thing was certain: there'd be no need for her and me to sit side-by-side with Choi Na-kyung anymore.
It also meant that now, whenever Sara wanted to do something, she could come out to the surface.
"It's fine. It's a good thing."
"R-right?"
When I answered with a smile, Ha-neul finally lifted her head.
...Ah, but still.
If you keep experiencing a stimulating memory over and over, wouldn't the 'stimulating' part gradually get diluted?
If we eventually need an even more stimulating memory than that...
"......."
Well, that's probably not something to worry about right this moment.
Let's take our time and figure out a solution.
Feeling Sara radiating a constant stream of displeasure from deep inside my heart, probably upset about the sudden personality switch, I thought that to myself.