Festival Date (1)
Maybe it was because of the festival, but the menu tasted way better than usual.
"Whoa, spaghetti and a whole chicken drumstick."
"Looks delicious."
Lua and I took our trays and got the spaghetti and drumstick separately. We also grabbed salad, drinks, and even the pudding that had been put out like a little dessert.
"School pudding always tastes a little different from any other pudding somehow."
I answered without thinking much of it.
"Isn't that just because the supplier's different?"
"Well, there's that too, but doesn't it just not taste the same when you eat it at school?"
Did it? I had no idea. Both just tasted good to me.
"You don't get it at all, do you?"
"Nope. I think both are delicious."
"Ugh… this T…"
"I'm an F, though?"
"Liar. I'm the F here."
That one I actually wanted to push back on.
"If we're going by looks alone, you're the T, not me."
"What did you just say?"
"Nothing, ma'am. I'm just a sea anemone. I didn't say a single word. That was a cat walking by just now."
"What are you even talking about."
Lua giggled and gave my shoulder a light punch with her fist.
I pretended to take the hit from that playful little jab, and then we started eating together.
The cafeteria ladies must have really put their backs into it today—the spaghetti was seriously good.
The drumstick, too, had been cooked for just the right amount of time and tasted fantastic.
The salad was excellent because the store-bought dressing was excellent.
And the fruit pudding? Obviously delicious.
By the time I'd cleaned my entire tray, Lua was still only a little past halfway.
When I finished and just sat there looking at her, she stared back with an expression of pure disbelief.
She finally swallowed the spaghetti in her mouth and asked in a voice that clearly said she could not believe this guy.
"……Is someone chasing you?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Why are you eating so fast?"
I hadn't been eating particularly fast, though.
"Aren't you just the slow one?"
"No. Absolutely not. You're just way too fast."
"Nuh-uh. I'm slower than my brother."
"Ugh… dragging family into this is a foul, isn't it?"
She glared at me, and the whole thing was so funny I started snickering. Lua clicked her tongue in annoyance and lightly poked me with her fist a few more times.
Ah, she was seriously hilarious. Lua Im.
While I was looking at that ridiculous Lua, I reached over and took her pudding.
"…What are you doing."
"I'm eating this."
"You're dead."
"I wanna eat it."
"You're actually dead."
We scuffled back and forth, having fun, until I finally returned the pudding to her.
It absolutely was not because the fork in her hand was terrifying. Not at all. Yeah. Definitely not.
After we finished eating, we went straight outside, brushed our teeth, and gathered back in front of the classroom.
For the record, once I was done brushing, I also pulled the vice class president and one of the helpers aside and gave them a quick rundown on a few things.
How long to microwave certain foods so they'd taste right, what to watch out for when using the microwave, which movies were worth watching.
There were only two files left anyway, so they could pick whatever they wanted.
"Jinwoo, I've always thought you're really good at teaching people."
"…Only the stuff I'm interested in. Anything I'm not into, I'm useless."
"For example?"
"Mm, I probably couldn't teach regular studying for the life of me."
"That kind of thing?"
"Yeah, that kind of thing."
We nodded and started walking forward together.
"So, where are we going now?"
"Hmm… yeah, where should we go."
We'd come outside together so naturally, but I didn't really have a solid idea of what we should actually do.
Seriously, what were we supposed to do?
After some mutual pondering, Lua and I eventually decided to open the pamphlet again.
Once we did, all kinds of booths appeared, and the two of us started browsing them and thinking about what to try.
And among those booths, one looked pretty fun.
"Lua."
"Hm? What?"
"Wanna go here?"
The place I pointed to was a booth out on the athletic field.
There were basically three big booths on the field.
Two of them were sports-related, and the other was a face-painting booth.
The one I was pointing at was the basketball club booth set up by the basketball hoops.
"They're doing a free-throw game. Hit a certain number and you get a prize."
"Ooh… what's the prize?"
"School supplies, apparently."
"A little underwhelming, but hey, free is free. Let's go."
"Yeah, let's go."
Lua and I headed over to the basketball club booth together.
When we got there, a few of the tallest guys in the entire school were running the place.
"Whoa… they're huge…"
"They're all giants."
The baseline height was mid-180s, and the tallest one looked like he cleared 190.
Even the shortest guy was a little taller than me, which said everything.
"Hello, are you here to try the booth?"
"Yes."
"Please write your name and year here."
"Got it."
Lua and I both wrote down our names and years, then rolled up our sleeves.
"You get five free throws. Girls need to make two, guys need three, and you get a prize. You can try as many times as you want, so no pressure."
"Okay~"
"Understood."
I took a free-throw ball and bounced it lightly a couple of times.
And then…
—Swish!
—Swish-thud!
I sank the first one right away.
"One~"
Lua clapped beside me, and I looked at her and gave a little nod.
It was meant as a "I'm gonna go for it" kind of nod, but once I'd done it I felt kind of embarrassed.
"Umm… just get it over with."
My plan was to casually drop two more and bail.
Lua and I had both maxed our basketball practical evaluations, so free throws had naturally become one of our stronger skills.
I figured a perfect free-throw score would be no big deal.
…Of course, I only realized that was pure arrogance a second later.
—Thunk~
—Thunk~
"Auuugh, so close."
"Ease up on the power a little."
"But the first one went in cleanly~"
The basketball club guys were offering tips, but honestly none of it was really registering.
"Go, Jinwoo~"
Because Lua's cheering was a lot louder.
Buoyed by her support, I bounced the ball a few times and let it fly.
—Swish!
—Thonk!
The ball hit the rim, bounced up into the air, and then…
—Swish-thud!
Dropped straight through.
"Nice! Just one more…!"
I took the ball again, bounced it a few times like before, and…
—Swish!
Threw it.
It felt good. You could tell just from the arc.
—Swish-thud!
The ball was sucked perfectly into the hoop, and I clenched my fist in celebration.
"Congratulations~"
"If you make it on the first try, you're better than him, right?"
"Come on, sunbae. I'm pretty decent too."
"Doesn't seem like it?"
"Ah, sunbae…! I can make it on this hoop, I'm telling you!"
"Yeah, no~"
I was laughing at the basketball club's little banter when Lua stepped up beside me.
Then she rose up on her tiptoes and…
"Our Lulu-dan did so well. Lulu is very happy."
……She hit me with the kind of ASMR that could drive a person insane.
While I was actively melting from the ears and trembling, Lua smiled sweetly and picked up a ball.
"Sunbae, the girls can step a little closer. They don't have as much power."
"Okay~"
Lua casually moved forward and then…
—Swish!
—Swish-thud!
—Swish!
—Swish-thud!
She finished it in two shots flat.
She walked over to me with her sleeves still rolled up, looking extremely proud of herself, and all I could do was clap for her.
Apparently she liked the applause, because she flashed a victory V, and I had no choice but to acknowledge her.
You're the real number one. Lua Im.
Academics, sports, streaming—she was a complete broken character who was good at everything.
…Ah, but games. She was genuinely terrible at games. I was not yielding that one.
With our prizes in hand, Lua and I naturally headed back inside the school building.
We were planning to look around the indoor booths again when…
I spotted a booth I genuinely could not believe existed.
"Hey, Lua."
"Hm? What?"
"There's something interesting at a first-year booth."
"What is it?"
I pointed out one of the first-year club booths, and Lua blinked at me in clear panic.
Why?
Because the club booth was named "Subculture Club."
It looked like a club a bunch of friends had thrown together just to hang out, but it seemed like it could be pretty fun.
"We're going right now."
"No. I'm not going."
"Let's go."
"I don't want to."
"Let's go."
"I said no…!"
The reason Lua was reacting this strongly was simple.
The booth description also had the word "VTuber" in it.
Getting caught liking games or anime wouldn't have bothered her much. She wasn't really the type to hide that kind of thing.
But walking into a club that might have her own fans (and almost certainly did) was basically a death sentence for Lua.
So she was desperately opposed… but she needed to understand something.
If there was one thing I'd always beaten Lua at since we were kids, it was pure stubbornness.
Lua slumped her way over to the booth, and I just smiled brightly the whole way there as I dragged her along.
And the moment we stepped into the club booth, both of us saw it.
"…Jinwoo. Can I run away?"
A Lulu tapestry and a Lulu acrylic stand.
"Not a chance."
This place was heaven. Yeah.