Interlude. Why? (1) (Revised)
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I cannot understand.
Why Lua, who did nothing wrong, had to quit school.
Why people hated Lua so much.
What the reason is for her name being dragged through places like the internet, and why they gave her nicknames like 'Witch' and whatnot.
From the moment Soi first met Lua, she considered Lua her younger sister. Soi knows that, in reality, Lua was born first. So, technically speaking, Lua should be treated as the eonni.
But when she looks at her quietly, she just can't feel like she's an eonni.
Rather, she's the kind of child she wants to step up and protect, hug, and dote on to her heart's content.
So, from the first moment she saw her until now, she had always thought of her as a younger sister.
"......."
She had expected something to change in the classroom where Lua had disappeared from.
Maybe the kids would take some time to think, realize what they did wrong, and end up missing Lua?
Because Lua's empty seat was so big.
Lua, who always held her hand and walked to school with her, wasn't there. There was no Lua to smile awkwardly when Soi made a joke, and no Lua who felt soft and pleasant when she hugged and petted her.
Even if the kids didn't like Lua that much, once they returned to their daily lives and realized something had gone wrong, wouldn't they be able to get along again even if Lua quietly started attending school again?
......That day never came.
For the first few days, quite a lot of kids were absent. Refusing to go to school or whatever, it seems they said they couldn't go to school because they were scared after what happened.
The broken window was fixed the very next day, and the place where the bird's blood had stained was completely wiped away and gone when she arrived at school.
The seats that had been sparsely empty slowly filled up as time passed. After about a month, there were no kids who weren't coming to school.
Except for Lua.
And all the kids who started attending school again would glance at Lua's seat and let out a breath.
As if it were a relief that Lua wasn't at school.
Why?
Soi wanted to ask.
Why? Why on earth are you making that face?
You were close to her. You said she was cute and petted her and hugged her. Some of them even knew her since elementary school. Since you've known her for so long, don't you obviously know that Lua isn't the type to have bad intentions?
But why now?
For the next two weeks, Soi didn't say a single word to the kids in her class.
That was Soi's own way of being considerate.
She felt like if she spoke to them, these emotions would come pouring out. Especially in front of the kids she had been exceptionally close with since elementary school, she felt like she would really pour out words of resentment.
"Soi."
But perhaps they couldn't read Soi's thoughts, as time passed, kids started talking to Soi.
"Hey...... do you want to eat lunch together?"
"Why?"
Soi asked, tilting her head.
Why?
Why are you talking to me? After what happened.
"U-uh?"
As if they hadn't expected Soi to say that, the kid who spoke to her stepped back slightly.
Soi was always smiling. She was the Soi who would go around greeting everyone, as if determined to make everyone in her grade, no, even other grades, her friends, and would end up getting close to them.
As if they were bewildered by such a Soi looking up at them with no expression.
That might be the case.
Because there was almost no one who 'openly bullied' Lua.
There weren't many kids who talked behind her back as if wanting her to hear. Most just acted as if Lua wasn't there after this and that happened.
And now that Lua had truly disappeared, it was as if they thought it was okay to get close to Soi, so they approached her just like this.
"Why?"
So Soi asked again.
Because she really didn't know.
To Soi, a friend is just a friend. Without the concept of being especially closer or less close, just a friend.
And she couldn't understand just abandoning such a friend in an instant.
You could ask for the reason. If you knew it wasn't Lua's fault, you could at least think it was a pity.
But, why.
As if everything they had known until now was nothing. As if Lua were a Villain.
Suddenly changing their attitude.
"Why?"
"U-uh, that, well......."
When Soi asked again, that girl was even more flustered.
You should have just asked Lua instead.
If it were Lua, she definitely would have agreed.
Soi remembered the expression on Lua's face when she talked with Jihye and Mirae. Lua's expression when talking about games or anime was a truly incredibly excited one.
Even if it were a bit awkward, she definitely would have happily stood up and gone to eat together.
"No."
To that kid who couldn't give any answer in the end, Soi replied like that.
In the end, it meant that for all those kids, Soi was okay, but Lua was not.
If they were those kinds of kids, then they were 'not okay' kids for Soi too.
When Soi answered like that and cast her gaze out the window, that kid fled from in front of Soi.
Not feeling like going to eat, Soi stared blankly out the window and fell into thought.
What is Lua doing alone at home? She wouldn't be crying or anything, would she? Did she eat well?
"Hey."
"......."
"Hey."
"......."
At the sound of being called twice, Soi turned her head while frowning.
The first thing that caught her eye was the vivid pink hair.
It was Chaeyi, who came in confidently even though it wasn't her class and she didn't have many friends now, and spoke to Soi.
"Do you want to go eat?"
At Chaeyi's words, Soi just looked up at her for a while, then soon shrugged her shoulders.
"Sure."
Only then did Soi stand up from her seat.
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The kids who used to talk behind Soi's back when she was with Lua, once Soi started spending more time alone with Chaeyi, actually shut their mouths in front of the two.
Are they averaging people out to think about them?
Soi, who usually goes around smiling brightly, and Chaeyi, who used to act all shy in front of Lua, both have faces that look very tough when they shut their mouths.
Furthermore, both of their parents are well-off. Since it's a school in a well-off neighborhood, the kids attending are also well-off in their own way, but actually, kids as well-off as Soi or Chaeyi usually don't come to this kind of regular school.
So, by comparison, Soi and Chaeyi are the ones who are stupid to mess with.
Lua, who always had a scared expression, was in between them, and since Soi and Chaeyi always had goofy, smiling faces toward such a Lua, they might have 'looked easy.'
But looking easy and actually being easy are completely different things.
So, whether the two of them made friends or not, if they just sat there occupying someone else's seat during lunch and casually looked at their phones, the owners of those seats had no choice but to avoid them.
"So, you know that girl. Seo Lua—"
"Hey, hey."
If someone happened to bring up a story about Lua.
The two's gazes would land on the kid who brought it up.
That expression is not just a simple blank expression.
It's an expression telling them to try saying one more word.
No, actually, even if they didn't need to say one more word, the two would stand up from their seats and go find the kid who was talking.
"Why, what were you trying to say?"
Soi asks like that while smiling.
It's the face from before she was at odds with the kids. The one where the desire to be friends with everyone was felt strongly.
But even with the same expression, the emotion felt is completely different.
"Did Lua even contact you?"
Chaeyi asks. She also has a brightly smiling face.
Unlike Soi, who at least had made that expression before, that expression of Chaeyi's was of a kind she had never seen in her life.
Where did she learn it? Even though she's smiling broadly, anger is burning in it.
"N-no......."
"Then why is Lua's story coming up?"
"U-uh, that."
Neither of them bothers to say more.
They just stare intently.
When they do that, the kids who receive that gaze realize.
Ah, these guys, they aren't the type to just stay still, they realize.
One is a kid who can be perfectly fine even after setting her whole body on fire. One is... although it was a meaningless ability if the opponent wasn't a Superpower user, she was still a kid who was said to be training consistently.
"Why, why? Can't I just bring up a story like that?"
The kid who tried to resist like that for no reason had no choice but to jump up from their seat the next moment.
Because when you get grabbed by the collar and pulled up, that's usually what happens.
"That's why I'm asking."
Soi asks while leaning her face in close.
"So, why?"
The classroom becomes quiet.
Soi and Chaeyi don't care how many gazes are stuck on them.
If the teacher hadn't come running in a hurry soon after, Soi might have gone one step further.
The story did get back to the home of the kid who was grabbed by the collar.
The parents of that house were furious too.
However, it soon quieted down.
It's not that Soi's mother, Yujin, did anything.
It was just that everyone knew that Lua had quit school, the reason she quit, and how much Yujin loved Lua.
If Yujin, who felt emptiness in everything, or Dohyun, were to even quit their jobs, what a huge loss that would be.
From people who knew nothing to the people in high places, there was no one who wanted that.
Looking at the big picture, it might have seemed like nothing had changed.
But at least, there were many who were aware of that fact. Because Yujin's friends, who have personalities very similar to Soi's, were not the type to just ignore it and pass by if Yujin was worried about such things.