Formal Speech and Casual Speech
The movie came to an end.
By then it was seven in the evening, and students had begun drifting out one by one into the darkened streets. Soye and I headed outside as well, of course.
"Did you enjoy the movie, Soye?"
"Yes, I loved it."
"Even though this was your fourth time?"
"Of course! What about you, sunbae? Did you have fun?"
Fun, huh.
It had been fun, I supposed. Though what I'd actually enjoyed wasn't the movie so much as Soye's face, shifting in real time with every turn of the story.
"It was fun."
"I'm glad."
Watching her smile that bashful little smile, I decided to tease her, just a little.
"Why are you glad?"
"Huh…?"
"It's not like you were the one who picked the movie."
Soye just blinked at my mischievous, teasing question, caught between answering and not answering — as if she simply had nothing to say. I was just thinking I'd been too mean, and was about to apologize, when—
"Still… if the person I watched it with enjoyed it, that's something to be glad about… isn't it?"
It was an answer so purely, hopelessly kind that it suited her angelic nature down to the ground. I felt like I was being purified just standing next to her. That's how good she was.
"Sorry. That was a pretty mean question, wasn't it?"
"No, it wasn't…!"
I gave her a small smile as she shook her head back and forth. Then I decided to toss her a topic I knew she'd care about, so she could enjoy the conversation a little more.
"This was your fourth time watching it, right? What part did you like this time?"
"This time?"
"Yeah. I figured the parts you find interesting might change a little with every viewing."
Her eyes went round at my half-guess, and she started nodding.
"Yes, that's right…! How did you know…!?"
"Hmm~ just a hunch."
"Woooow…."
Honestly, it was less a hunch and more a lucky shot in the dark. If someone can watch the same movie over and over and still find it fun, it has to be the kind of film that shows them something new every single time. I'd asked based on that assumption, but now I was being treated like some kind of fortune-teller, and it needled at my conscience. Was this what they called a guilty conscience?
"Actually, this time the part at the beginning where Chihaya works at the tavern really stuck with me."
"That scene seemed like it had a lot of meaning packed into it."
"Exactly! First of all~"
From there, Soye launched into a rambling, enthusiastic analysis of the film, pouring out every thought she had. I just nodded along and listened.
I feel a little bad saying this, but I didn't understand a hundred percent of what she was talking about. I had seen Sen and Chihaya's Spirited Away before, sure — but that was a separate matter. I hadn't been watching that closely today. Which meant I couldn't really respond properly to things like, That scene was so striking because~! or The meaning behind this moment is~
Even so, I did my best to listen and react, so that Soye, who was talking so happily, wouldn't wilt.
A few minutes later, she flushed red again, just like before, and hung her head.
"Ah… sunbae, I'm sorry."
"What are you sorry for this time?"
"I… I got a little too excited… and just talked and talked by myself…"
"I like listening to you talk."
"Really…?"
"Really. I don't lie about things like this."
I might not have understood every word, but I genuinely enjoyed listening to her. How could anyone dislike it, when Soye was smiling and telling you all sorts of things in that pretty voice of hers?
"You can talk as much as you want, Soye. It's not rude or anything."
She gave a small nod. Then she looked up at me and asked a question of her own.
"Um… Jaeha sunbae."
Soye, who had always just called me "sunbae," had just called me "Jaeha sunbae." I wondered if she had any idea how much that tiny change in address meant to me.
No. She wouldn't. There was no way she could know.
I nodded and looked at her, and she drew in a breath and let it out, as if steeling herself. What on earth was she about to ask, that she needed this much of a run-up and this much mental preparation? I was getting pretty tense myself by the time her mouth finally opened, but—
"…… Do you like movies, sunbae?"
The question that left those small lips was so trivial it caught me completely off guard. And at the same time, it was precisely because it was that kind of question that it felt so sincere.
"I don't dislike them."
"So you don't… like them, then…?"
Like them, huh. If she was going to put it that way, there was only one thing I could say.
"I'm not sure. I haven't really had many chances to watch them."
I don't dislike watching movies. If I had to say, I enjoy the time spent watching them, so I suppose you could say I like watching movies. But whether I like movies themselves, or just the time spent watching movies — I still don't really know. Before I came to this world, movies had been something of a luxury for me. Which is why I still can't tell if I love the medium, or if I just love the luxury of getting to sit down and watch one.
Soye mulled over my answer, then suddenly took a step forward and stopped right in front of me.
"Soye?"
I called her name, startled, and she looked at me with a very serious expression. And then—
"Sunbae, if it's all right with you…"
"If it's all right with me?"
It was a proposal so unexpected, and so moving, that I hadn't seen it coming at all. Whenever Soye trailed off and prepared to say something, it always seemed to be something that completely blew past my expectations — from asking whether I liked movies to suggesting we watch them together now and then.
I was startled, and I was happy. I tried my hardest not to let those feelings show, but the corners of my mouth kept wanting to lift. Some dignified senior I was.
I covered my mouth with one hand, cleared my throat, and did my best to get my smile under control. Silently grateful that it settled back down, I nodded at her.
"If you're all right with it, I'd like that too."
At my answer, Soye broke into a bright, radiant smile. It was a smile with a charm all its own, different from every other smile of hers I'd seen so far.
"Thank you so much…!"
Thank me? I was the one who should be thanking her. The fact that she'd made this offer — didn't that mean she'd come to see me as someone she could be comfortable with?
"I'm the one who should be thanking you."
"No, I should be more grateful…!"
"No, I should…"
"That's not true…! Do you have any idea how rare it is to find someone who'll watch movies with you…!"
"I'd have thought you'd have plenty of friends who'd watch with you."
The words slipped out without thinking. The moment they left my mouth, I regretted them. Soye, for all her cute looks and kind nature, was so painfully shy that she didn't have that many friends.
But she just laughed it off lightly, as if my slip-up didn't bother her at all.
"Surprisingly, I don't really have friends around me who like movies."
"Friends who share the exact same hobby are harder to find than you'd think."
"That's true."
She nodded, agreeing with me. Looking at her like that, I felt even worse for her — though I felt a little guilty thinking it. I wished she had more friends. People who shared her interests, her hobbies, people she could share happy moments with.
But for a Soye who had been created to serve this world's needs, friends like that were a luxury. She had been written as a losing heroine — slotted into the role of the quiet, kind, painfully shy cute underclassman.
Maybe that thought was what did it. In a way that wasn't like me at all, I spoke up, quite boldly and quite actively.
"…… If you ever want to watch a movie together, just say the word. I'll watch with you whenever I can."
"…… Really?"
"Really."
Soye smiled so brightly it was as if my words had made her genuinely, completely happy. She really is much prettier when she smiles like that. All of her expressions are pretty, but that smile especially so.
Satisfied with her smile, I saw her off as her bus pulled up. I thought we'd part ways without incident today, but then—
"Um, Jaeha sunbae."
"Yes, Soye?"
She got one last hit in on me before she left.
"Well then… I'll be going…!"
She bowed her head and climbed onto the bus, as if she had no intention of waiting for my reply. In the end, I could only stand there and watch the bus carrying her pull away, without having given her a proper answer.
Not that I had no way of answering. There was still a method available to me.
I turned on my phone, opened the Drama Club group chat, and started looking for "Yoon Soye." Her KokoaTalk account popped up the moment I scrolled down. I tapped it and sent her a private message.
That was my answer to Soye telling me I could drop the formal speech.