Chapter 38
Chapter 38
Yu Ha-neul felt the world spin.
Sara was beaming up at her without a trace of hesitation. Enough to make Yu Ha-neul wonder if Sara had any idea what she'd just said.
Well, fine. She couldn't honestly claim she'd never sat on a friend's lap before.
If the other person was a same-sex friend, a certain amount of physical contact was normal. Linking arms, hugging, even sitting on someone's lap now and then. If a friend had a mischievous streak, they might even pull overtly sexual skinship as a joke. Usually it was clearly unserious, obviously just messing around. Even the sort of clingy, hanging-off-your-arm thing Yu Ha-neul herself had done to Sara on Saturday; that was possible too, just for a moment. Anyone would brush past it without a second thought if it was a close friend.
But—
The reason that kind of skinship felt like nothing was because there wasn't the slightest trace of attraction involved. If you had even a little interest in the other person—no, actually, regardless of interest, if the other person was simply the opposite sex, that kind of behavior would instantly be misunderstood.
Right. The person in front of her now, the one saying it was fine to do exactly that, wasn't the opposite sex.
She wasn't the opposite sex, but... that it was Sara was the problem.
What the hell did she eat wrong...?
The thought started, and then Yu Ha-neul's mind screeched to a halt.
Ah.
Right.
Yu Ha-neul remembered Saturday: sitting across from Sara, eating the couple's menu, feeding her all sorts of thoroughly terrible ideas. The urge to grab her own head in her hands seized her.
That was it. That was obviously it.
Sara, who'd lived like a bird in a cage, had never had a friend to teach her about personal distance between people. She'd had no way to learn the subtle boundaries you naturally pick up while growing up.
And Yu Ha-neul had exploited that exact gap to strip away Sara's suspicion toward her.
Sara had probably gone home and searched for information about physical contact between friends. Probably saw pictures of people sitting on laps. Though the photos she'd have found were more likely a bunch of friends clowning around in a pile than one person tenderly holding another.
...It was all Yu Ha-neul's fault.
There might be other factors, or Sara wouldn't be pulling this in the middle of class.
Sara tilted her head, still smiling at Yu Ha-neul.
"......."
Yu Ha-neul flicked her gaze toward the teacher. He was staring this way, unable to say a word. His face was clearly telegraphing that he'd never expected Sara to act like this.
Even so, he wasn't reprimanding her.
What that attitude signaled was unmistakable. The teacher was ignoring Sara. Just like all the other students did.
She looked back down at Sara.
Yeah. Maybe Sara was asking Yu Ha-neul for help right now. Trying to do something, anything, to normalize her position in a school that openly ignored her. To break out of her isolation.
...And in the process, the weird ideas about personal distance that Yu Ha-neul had planted in her head just happened to surface.
This is my fault.
Yu Ha-neul thought it. She swallowed dryly. Sara, seated, had pushed her chair back as far as it would go, as if she'd been waiting to make it easy for Yu Ha-neul to sit.
Sara's uniform skirt wasn't all that short. She hadn't had it taken in tight like some of the other girls.
But sitting down, the skirt rode up just slightly with her body, and her white knees pushed forward. The curve of her thighs was faintly visible beyond.
...Sit on that?
The classroom's attention was already fixed on Yu Ha-neul. Every pair of eyes was on her, like nobody even considered looking away.
Yeah. This is my fault.
Yu Ha-neul thought it.
If only she'd taught her properly on Saturday. Sara wouldn't be acting like this. Yu Ha-neul squeezed her eyes shut.
Yeah. This is my fault.
It's my fault, so—
I'll take responsibility!
And she accepted Sara's offer.
"......Nn."
A small sound escaped Sara's lips, probably from suddenly taking a person's full weight.
Slowly, Yu Ha-neul settled her weight onto Sara's thighs. Then straightened her back just slightly, leaning in. She could faintly feel Sara's body heat through their clothes. Contrary to how thin Sara looked, her body was unexpectedly soft. Maybe all that effort to get her to eat since last week had paid off a little?
The sensation of Sara's body against her back was stark. Through their clothes, yes. But maybe because of that, the subtle contours felt even clearer.
"......."
Yu Ha-neul's heart started pounding like it was about to burst out of her chest.
"R-right, let's begin the lesson......."
The teacher, who'd been gaping at them this whole time, snapped to his senses and spoke hurriedly. At his words, the rest of the class startled back to awareness too.
The classroom filled with the sound of pages flipping open.
Normally, hardly anyone would be paying attention to the lesson, but not now. Every student in the room had a book open and was staring intently down at it.
...If Yu Ha-neul's guess was right, and Sara's goal was to draw the entire class's attention—
Then right now, the plan was working perfectly.
*
Oh, if they don't look at us, what then?
Looking in this situation is basically announcing you're interested in what's happening.
And if they aren't looking, that just means they're clenching their teeth and ignoring us.
Either choice means they're aware of what's going on between me and Yu Ha-neul.
"......."
That said, now that we were actually doing this, it was a little embarrassing.
I mean... sitting on someone is the kind of thing that can be interpreted sexually in more ways than one. Though I did say it specifically counting on that.
Yu Ha-neul, who was going along with it, probably didn't actually believe that was my real intention.
"......."
The classroom was dead silent. Aside from the teacher up front, industriously scribbling something across the blackboard.
Even Yu Ha-neul was completely quiet.
...Which made sense, thinking about it. We weren't facing each other, so there wasn't exactly a way to hold a conversation.
"......."
It was only after a few minutes had passed that I could reassess the situation a little.
I was starting to regret it.
Right. Yu Ha-neul's height was similar to Ye Sa-ra's. Yu Ha-neul was technically a tiny bit taller, but the difference was negligible. So I hadn't worried about it much. But there was one thing I'd overlooked.
The obvious fact that Yu Ha-neul, with a healthy body, was going to weigh more than Ye Sa-ra.
On top of that, Ye Sa-ra's body still wasn't all that sturdy. I wasn't strong, so the longer this went on, the more I felt Yu Ha-neul's weight pressing down on me. Though I felt bad for thinking it.
"Yu Ha-neul."
The teacher up front suddenly called her name.
"Come up and solve this problem."
Yu Ha-neul sprang to her feet. She hurried to the front.
A chorus of sighs went through the room. Even the teacher looked a little relieved. Because the spectacle holding everyone's attention hostage had finally paused.
And I was relieved too.
To be honest, the blood hadn't been circulating in my legs for a while now. I was gradually losing feeling in the tips of my toes.
"......."
Now what.
I stared blankly at the back of Yu Ha-neul's head as she wrote out her solution on the board and worried.
But if I backed down now, it'd feel like losing.
If I just caused a scene for the sake of it, I'd be no different from the game's Ye Sa-ra. But having Yu Ha-neul back on my lap? The thought of enduring that until class ended was a little terrifying.
Clack.
While I was thinking, Yu Ha-neul set down the chalk.
"Good, well done. Now......."
The teacher spoke while glancing sideways at me.
"......Return to your seat."
Yu Ha-neul didn't answer. She turned around sharply. Then walked quickly toward where I was sitting.
Through the white glow, Yu Ha-neul's face looked rather stiff.
She stopped in front of her seat and stared straight at me.
...Was she mad?
Well, even if we're both girls, springing something this embarrassing on someone out of nowhere—yeah, I could see why she'd be upset.
I was debating whether to apologize when Yu Ha-neul suddenly grabbed my hand.
"Whuh?"
Yanked to my feet at a totally unexpected moment, I made a sound without meaning to.
And then Yu Ha-neul sat down in her own seat like normal.
Was she really mad?
Around us, another wave of relieved sighs began—
"Ah—?"
Yu Ha-neul, now seated, grabbed my hand again and pulled hard.
Plop.
And just like that, I dropped squarely onto Yu Ha-neul's lap.
...This was different from the position Yu Ha-neul had been in on my lap earlier.
Whether it was intentional or just the way I'd tumbled when she pulled me, I was sitting sideways on Yu Ha-neul's thighs.
Which meant, if Yu Ha-neul were absurdly strong, this was exactly the position where she could slip one hand under my knees, the other behind my back, and lift me into a princess carry.
"......."
I could hear people around us holding their breath. The teacher's face had gone even paler than before.
Yu Ha-neul stretched both arms forward and picked up a pen from the desk. Her right arm brushed past my back. Her left arm swept across in front of me.
My upper body was now neatly caged inside the circle of Yu Ha-neul's arms.
She leaned forward slightly to look at her book, and her hair skimmed past my face. A fresh scent drifted by—she'd probably showered before school and it hadn't fully faded.
My head spun.
...This was a completely different atmosphere from just sitting on someone's lap. Our faces were positioned so that we could look at each other anytime we wanted, and the slightest movement from Yu Ha-neul brought her face incredibly close.
No, seriously, no matter how I thought about it, this wasn't a friend-position.
Yu Ha-neul finished scribbling in her notebook and lifted her head. Her hair swept past my face again, and I saw her face in full light.
Yu Ha-neul was grinning like a little devil.
"......."
Okay. So that's how it is.
Whatever the position, Yu Ha-neul had clearly understood exactly what I was trying to say.
If we were drawing attention anyway, we might as well go all out.
...Fine. Fine.
So. Since it's come to this, let's ride it out until class ends.