Chapter 7. No, it's not that different? (6)
Honestly speaking, I thought Soi and Chaeyi would just do it once or twice and stop.
No, to be precise, I hoped they would.
How should I put it? Actually having Soi sit on my lap, or hugging Chaeyi, it did feel good. After all, hugging someone is a pleasant thing. Why, there isn't a person in the world who hasn't hugged a puppy or a kitten they were raising, is there?
At home, I often hug a doll and doze off, and back in our childhood, Soi had hugged me many times, too.
So, while I did like the feeling of a hug where you can feel a person's body heat.
The gazes full of questions that flew at us every time were a bit stinging.
And it wasn't just the hugging that was the problem.
"Um, hey, Soi?"
"Hm? Why?"
"Chaeyi?"
"Why, Lua-ya?"
On the way home from school.
As always, Soi and Chaeyi had taken their places on both sides of me.
But after that strange competition during lunch earlier, it seems it hasn't ended yet.
"Th-that, how should I put it. The posture."
What the posture is like right now is—
Soi and Chaeyi were each holding one of my arms and linking their arms with mine.
If it had just been one side, it would have felt like friends showing off their active friendship.
But with both sides linking arms, it felt somewhat like I was being escorted to the police station.
It felt like I would move forward on my own even if I didn't walk.
And since we were outside the school, people's gazes were gathering.
"Do you hate it?"
"Uh......"
"Lua-ya, do you hate it?"
When Soi and Chaeyi ask that in turns, I have nothing to say.
Because I know well what these girls' hearts are like.
"......No."
In the end, that was the only answer I could give.
Besides, I didn't actually hate it.
Being embarrassed and whether I emotionally like or dislike something are completely separate things.
In the end, all the way home, I had no choice but to feel Soi and Chaeyi's body heat.
In a little while, we'll all be wearing summer uniforms.
Then...... will it be like this with our arms exposed?
You might ask why I'm making a fuss over just arms, but it was quite an important matter to me.
If they stick to me this much, it's not just our arms touching. Besides, if they stick to me when it's hot, we'll get sweaty.
Shouldn't I come up with some kind of countermeasure before then?
Though, I couldn't actually think of any such countermeasure.
*
Chaeyi stayed at my house for a while, as always.
Since she was once in danger back in elementary school, it seems Cheong Hwirin doesn't pressure Chaeyi that much anymore.
Even though it seems she still nags her to study, well, she doesn't send her to academies to the point where she can't even interact with other kids like before.
Whether that's because she judged that it's better for her to get along with us, I don't know well since I don't meet her often.
"So, how was it?"
I was sitting blankly, lost in thought while hugging a rabbit doll, when Soi suddenly asked.
"Hm? How was what?"
"You hugged me, and you hugged Chaeyi, right? Which one felt better? Wasn't mine better?"
When you add a remark like that at the end, doesn't it feel like you're asking while having already decided on the answer, Soi?
"Wasn't Chaeyi's side a bit hard? No matter how good her hair texture is, there's a skull underneath it. No matter how much you hug her, it's not soft, right."
"......."
Hmm...... is that so......?
Actually, my heart was pounding so hard, and my face was burning up, so I didn't have the leeway to think about things like that.
"However."
Soi suddenly put on a stern expression and leaned her waist forward right in front of me.
Startled by the face that suddenly approached, I pulled back slightly, and only then did I manage to focus on Soi's face.
Soi, with her eyes narrowed, looked at me and said.
"No matter what, to allow your embrace to someone other than your eonni. This eonni cannot allow that."
"......Is that so?"
Since I didn't know how to answer, I ended up asking back without realizing it.
"Yeah. You've never hugged me like that, have you."
......No, you've never asked me to hug you like that either.
When we were young, she used to diligently carry me around in her small arms, and until Soi's body grew big enough to give an 'adult-like hugging feeling,' it was always Soi who hugged me; I had never hugged Soi.
Today was the first time that had happened.
"So, you have to hug this eonni like that too. That's fair, right?"
Soi said it as if declaring it confidently and straightened her waist.
Even though she's looking down at me, there's no pressure. Because it's Soi.
It's not that she feels like a pushover or anything like that. I have never once felt that Soi was a pushover.
Rather, 'friendly' would be more accurate.
Without the tension of school, in the house where it's just safe.
My heart relaxed for no reason, to the point where I could let out a small laugh at Soi's words.
Of course, separate from that feeling, I still didn't know how to start 'hugging.'
"Then, what should I do?"
I asked while wiggling my toes.
"First, you have to let that kid go for a moment, right?"
"Yeah."
At Soi's words, I moved the doll slightly to the side.
As the doll, which had been warm from my body heat, was moved to the side, the spot where the doll had been became a little cold.
Soi knelt in front of me, just like Chaeyi had done at school earlier.
Like Chaeyi, she buried her face in my embrace.
And, by putting her weight towards me.
"Heh?"
Thump.
She pushed me over onto the bed.
Thanks to that, rather than burying her face in my chest like Chaeyi, it became closer to burying her face in my stomach.
Rather, that sensation tickled for no reason, so I ended up laughing slightly again.
"Hug me."
Because Soi said it as if whining a little, I was reminded of the old days for the first time in a while.
Of Soi when she was still very young.
When I was suddenly ambushed at school earlier, I was just purely embarrassed and mortified.
But seeing her like this, Soi has really grown up admirably. Without a single rough edge anywhere.
I worried several times whether Soi or Chaeyi would become corrupted because of me. Whether they would become kids who live dissolutely and bully others, like in that original novel.
At least the current Soi doesn't show any such appearance at all. Chaeyi too.
Of course, this must be normal. Because Soi and Chaeyi were not kids with bad natures to begin with. If there is no bad Seo Lua, naturally there is no reason for those two kids to become bad.
That means, isn't it proof that I am at least making slightly better choices than the Seo Lua of the original work?
"......."
I reached out and hugged Soi tightly.
"Hehehe."
Soi let out a playful laugh and leaned into me more.
The weight of Soi, felt softly on my stomach, proves Soi's existence.
At least that I am not alone.
I am a foolish person who trembles in fear even when others hug me or stroke my hair, planting unnecessary guilt, but even so, there are kids who like me this much.
Isn't that alone enough reason not to regret that I was alive?
......Is that thinking too far ahead?
Well, it's just thoughts inside my head anyway.
It probably doesn't matter. For now.
*
*
*
Lately, the kids in the same class as Soi and Lua have fallen into confusion.
There was a certain tacit agreement among the kids.
I mean, right after the 'Witch' invaded.
Because the reason that Witch invaded was Seo Lua, and the one who caused the teacher everyone likes to get hurt was also Seo Lua...... there was that reason.
But the reason they couldn't bully her openly was because the kid who protected them was shielding Seo Lua.
Besides that, there was also the fact that Soi's parents are famous Heroes.
But even so, it's not like there's no way at all. Even if they talked to Soi, they could choose not to talk to Lua. They could talk to Chaeyi, who often visits the two during break time or lunch, but ignoring Lua was an easy thing to do.
Perhaps because that didn't feel good, lately the two have been doing this and that to Lua—
"......Isn't that bullying?"
"Shh."
Someone said it quietly, and someone else urgently held a finger up to their lips.
That's understandable, because the actions Soi and Chaeyi were doing to Lua were...... in a form where they didn't know if they could dare call it 'helping' or not.
They crush Lua, who is sitting in her seat.
Then Lua, crushed underneath, trembles and blushes. Sometimes, there was even a slight moisture in the corners of her eyes.
But they aren't hitting her, nor are they saying harsh words.
The form itself is a hug after all, and when Soi climbs on top and sits like that, Lua even hugs Soi tightly from behind. Of course, she trembles, but looking only at the actions, it's a scene that could be called voluntary.
......In many ways, it's ambiguous to find fault with.
Chaeyi, for her part, buries her face in Lua's chest.
There are kids who playfully touch the chest area. But it's always just a brief touch, and it doesn't touch to the point where the other person is flustered and blushes.
But Chaeyi does it. To the extent of burying her face completely. If you're nearby, you can sometimes even hear the huff huff sound of her breathing.
"Pretend you didn't see it. Pretend you didn't see it."
While not to the extent of Soi, Chaeyi is also the daughter of the famous Hero Cheong Hwirin.
And she is also an Awakened who stood in front of the kids and helped them when the Witch invaded. So, if you only look at the appearance of those three and Lua's reaction.
It looks as if two awakened Superhuman girls are detaining another Superhuman. And very cleverly at that. In the most secluded corner of the classroom.
Perhaps because the position of 'Witch' was in the kids' heads, and the position of the kids who stood against that Witch was there, that interpretation might have become more solidified. Isn't it not really any different from bullying?
"......."
Come to think of it, that might be reasonable. Because bullying a Superhuman recklessly is no different from bullying someone who possesses a gun.
In the end, with various reasons overlapping, the kids who couldn't touch them directly anyway ended up in an atmosphere where they were even more reluctant to do such acts. Of course, Soi and Chaeyi didn't think that far.
......Lua might have been able to think about it, but Lua was currently so overwhelmed by the two that she didn't have the leeway to do so.
"Heh, heheh."
......She was just letting out those kinds of unidentifiable moans.