I Suggested My Girl Friend from the Erotic Game Stay the Night
I let out a sigh so heavy it could have sunk the ground.
"Haaaaah…"
The moment I did, a sharp little jab stabbed into my side.
"…What is it now."
I rubbed the spot where I'd been poked and asked, and Lee Ha-rin justified her violence with a superstitious little proverb.
"Sighing lets your luck escape."
…If A-yeong had been next to me, she would have blown gently on the poked side for me instead.
That was the thought that crossed my mind—but unfortunately, A-yeong wasn't with us right now.
And for good reason…
That short message was all she'd left before skipping academy for the day.
She'd probably overdone it over the weekend, and the backlash had finally caught up with her today.
…Well, for A-yeong—who didn't even like exercise that much—to put on that kind of performance, she would have needed some pretty serious restrictions and vows.
I snickered alone at that thoroughly otaku train of thought, and Ha-rin must have found the laugh irritating, because she looked at me and muttered,
"…That's gross."
I never expected to hear that particular nuance in Korea instead of Japan—but maybe a girl's reaction to an otaku is the same no matter the nationality?
"Think you could try saying it in Japanese once? Like, kimochi warui?"
I asked Ha-rin with a fluttering heart—and she yelped and gave my shin a light kick.
"Would you stop saying weird things already! …I'm already stressed enough as it is."
At that, I carefully gauged her mood and asked,
"…What's wrong."
"…Hmph."
Like some textbook tsundere, Ha-rin turned her head away at first and refused to give me a proper answer.
"H-hey, Ha-rin-chan…"
"……"
"I was wrong, nya… Please forgive me, nya. Sob, sob."
"Ahaha… You are unreal."
I kept throwing out lines like that until Ha-rin finally couldn't hold out. She laughed with a nyahahang and looked at me again.
"You'll listen seriously, right?"
"Ah, I understa~nd, nya."
"…Hey."
"Yeah. I'll listen seriously."
Only then did Ha-rin hesitate a little before slowly starting to tell me what had happened last night.
"It's just… I might just be being too sensitive."
She laid that kind of foreshadowing first.
"Last night I was on the phone with Sa-ra, right?"
…She meant the blonde girl we'd helped at the movie theater last time?
I pictured that image and focused on the story.
"Then the call just ended, and I was about to get ready for bed when—"
Ha-rin's expression began to darken.
"Someone suddenly rang the doorbell."
"…Yeah."
"But I hadn't ordered any delivery at that hour… and there wasn't anyone who would just drop by, you know?"
Hearing her put it that way, a strange feeling started to settle in.
During the day would be one thing—but at night, someone who wasn't a delivery person ringing the doorbell…
"That is weird."
I answered like that, and Ha-rin's face brightened a little as she nodded.
"Right? So I got pretty startled."
She'd been sitting there wondering if she was just being overly sensitive—and my agreement seemed to fire her right back up.
"Even on the intercom, nothing showed up on the screen… and just opening the door right away was—"
"Absolutely not."
"Exactly. So I didn't open the door. I just stood still next to it, trying to figure out who it was. And then…"
Ha-rin clapped her hands hard—smack—and nearly shouted at me.
"They started pounding on the door, really loud, like this!"
Even now, just remembering it seemed to scare her; her body was trembling a little.
"…I was so startled I fell over and yelled, 'Mom!' you know?"
The story was getting so gripping I swallowed hard myself.
"And then…?"
Ha-rin imitated some man's voice.
"…Delivery."
Then her face flipped at once, and she started whining at me with a sulky pout.
"And that—! I never even ordered anything…"
Even thinking about it now still made her angry, apparently—judging by the way she stomped her foot down hard.
I soothed her a little and carefully asked, curious how it had ended.
"So what did you do?"
Ha-rin settled her excitement, caught her breath, and said flatly,
"When I told him I never ordered anything… he just said he had the wrong address and left."
Having poured the whole story out in one go, Ha-rin looked relieved—while I, having spotted something off, tilted my head.
"…That's strange."
At that second "strange," Ha-rin's face tightened again. She lightly caught my arm with her fingers and asked,
"Why, why? What's strange now?"
Looking at how anxious she seemed, I wondered whether I really needed to say something this uncertain and worry her even more—but,
"Just tell me!"
she begged with such a desperate look that I had no choice but to spill it.
"Doesn't something feel off to you about the story you just told?"
Ha-rin went blank. She seemed to replay what had happened to her, thought for a moment, then opened her mouth.
"…I don't know."
That was fair enough. It was extremely common for a third party watching from the side to spot what the person involved never noticed.
I didn't drag it out. I said it straight.
"When people order delivery, they often ask for it to just be left at the door, right?"
"…Yeah."
"But that guy rang the doorbell—and when you didn't come out, he pounded hard on the door."
"…Right?"
"Which means it was something he supposedly had to hand over face-to-face… so why wouldn't he show his face on the intercom screen?"
"……"
Something about it didn't add up.
If he was going to leave the package at the door, there was no need to wait for Ha-rin to come out. And if he truly needed to deliver it in person, there was no reason to hide from the intercom camera.
So why had that delivery guy deliberately kept himself off the intercom screen—only to start knocking and claim he had a delivery the moment he sensed someone approaching the door?
"…Well. It could just be a coincidence."
I said it that way, trying to keep the situation from getting too heavy—but Ha-rin's expression showed no sign of improving.
We were almost at her place now…
I glanced at the familiar building in the distance, then sideways at Ha-rin. She climbed the steps with a listless gait and carefully punched in the code for the shared entrance.
Beep-beep-beep-beep!
At the same time, the glass door slid smoothly open. Ha-rin looked back and gave me a short goodbye.
"…Thanks for walking me home again today."
It was the same line as always—so why did it feel so unsettling?
In the end, I couldn't overcome that unease. I carefully caught hold of Ha-rin.
"Hey. Just come up with me."
Ha-rin looked up at me with a downcast face, then quietly nodded.
"…Okay."
If she'd shrieked like usual and snapped, "Where do you think you're going!" my heart might have felt a little lighter.
But watching her walk so meekly, so heavily, toward the elevator only made me more anxious.
The elevator we rode together carried us to our floor in no time, and with a rattle the doors opened. Ha-rin and I stepped out at the same time.
I'd brought her this far—my plan was just to watch until her front door closed, then head home.
Thinking that, I stood and watched Ha-rin in front of her door.
Click—
She unlocked her door lock, hesitated a moment, then glanced back at me. She looked like she was about to say something, then shut her mouth and lowered her head.
…Why are you doing this.
Looking at me with that pitiful face makes even me go soft, you know.
"…Ha-jun."
And why drop the family name and call me so familiarly, all of a sudden.
"…Really, thank you for today. See you tomorrow."
When you say it like that, it feels like we won't see each other tomorrow…
All kinds of anxious thoughts started swirling through my head. As Ha-rin was about to step through the door that had just beeped open, I called her name short and sharp.
"Hey. Lee Ha-rin."
I had a lot of doubts.
I already had a girlfriend who was more than I deserved—was it really okay to make this kind of offer to Ha-rin, who was only my girl friend?
But letting her go like this…
"…What?"
To Ha-rin, who answered in a voice thinner than usual, an ominous premonition climbed through my whole body—like something terrible was about to happen.
I couldn't let her go like this…
If I sent her off like this… it would be just like that scene from the game I remembered.
For an instant, the Ha-rin standing in front of me overlapped with the Ha-rin from the game, wearing that pitiful expression—and words even I couldn't understand slipped out of my mouth.
"…If you're scared, just come sleep at my place."
I had just suggested my girl friend spend the night.