A Request Made with Courage
As far as I knew, Wa Sol and I had a date planned for today. Yet for some reason she had brought Gyu-ri along—and Gyu-ri looked completely drained.
Something was definitely wrong…
“…”
With both of them keeping their mouths shut, what was I supposed to say?
“W-well, let’s go inside somewhere first. Want to head to that café we went to last time?”
We couldn’t just stand around outside, so I led the two of them to the café we’d visited before. Maybe because dinner hour had already passed, there were more people than I’d expected.
“Hmm… both of you want the same things as last time, right?”
A silent nod.
Wa Sol nodding with a gloomy face, and Gyu-ri holding up her tablet with “Nod” written on it in the exact same gloomy mood.
But Gyu-ri… did you really need to write that?
I returned to the table carrying my americano, Wa Sol’s chamomile tea, Gyu-ri’s apple-yuzu tea, and a waffle I’d ordered on a sudden craving for something sweet.
Up to that point neither Wa Sol nor Gyu-ri had said a word.
Well, Gyu-ri never spoke in the first place.
“Let’s start with this. Eating something good should help a little.”
“…Yeah.”
Whatever had happened, something was clearly wrong. Wa Sol quietly sipped her chamomile tea… kept sipping… and still sipping… wait.
She just downed the whole thing in one go.
“Haaah.”
She set the empty cup down after three seconds flat, looking for all the world like someone who’d just shotgunned a beer. Watching her, Gyu-ri tried to do the same with her apple-yuzu tea… only to give up because it was still too hot.
I’d seen that kind of thing a few times on stream, but seeing it in real life was… no. Focus on Wa Sol right now.
“Feeling a little calmer?”
“Yeah. At least my head isn’t completely blank like a minute ago.”
“That’s good. You okay too, Gyu-ri?”
Well, yeah—you ordered something pretty hot and tried to chug it…
Wa Sol shot Gyu-ri a look that said I can’t even stop you and passed over her own cup, now nothing but ice.
“Here, suck on this ice. Don’t bite it—just roll it around with your tongue.”
Wa Sol let out a short sigh, then carefully fished a piece of ice out with the straw and held it near the rim of the cup, just as requested.
Why write it on the tablet first and then open your mouth…? I was starting to get tired of silently roasting her all by myself.
Was that supposed to represent a little hum of contentment? Once the ice seemed to help, Wa Sol relaxed a little and turned back toward me.
“…Sorry. This was supposed to be our date.”
“It’s fine. I get to see Gyu-ri after so long too. I’m happy.”
Gyu-ri’s mood seemed fully restored; she was starting to radiate that same bright energy as last time. But even someone as high-energy as Gyu-ri had gone that dark…
Just what the hell happened?
“Curious?”
“Huh? Well… yeah, of course I am.”
“You’re not going to ask?”
Wa Sol leaned toward me, looking up with that particular expression.
That was the signal.
“Then… what happened?”
“…After the meeting, I got into a fight with Bian.”
“Ah…”
So Bian really was part of Utopia. I’d been about ninety percent sure, but now it was confirmed.
I could roughly guess why they’d fought. The cause was… probably me.
So there was no need to dig into that part.
Ah. Gyu-ri didn’t know.
About Bian and me.
Wa Sol looked at me with a face that clearly asked, Do we have to tell her? I hesitated for a second, then nodded.
“Bian and I… we were each other’s first loves.”
Gyu-ri’s eyes actually blinked just like the emoticon for a moment. Then, still silent, she started tapping away on the tablet.
It was kind of amazing.
How could the one person who never spoke still feel like the loudest one at the table?
“Well… we’ve already been through a little chaos once. Last time when I was eating with Gachi, Bian showed up out of nowhere…”
Whatever had gone down at the company, Gyu-ri nodded in understanding.
Wa Sol was rolling the straw stuck in her empty cup between her fingers, clearly thinking about something… then she snapped the plastic straw clean in half.
No—she didn’t just bend it. She actually broke it.
“Wa… Sol?”
“Grrrr.”
The girl who’d been gloomy just moments ago was now grinding her teeth and shredding the broken straw into pieces.
“No, seriously—shouldn’t I be the one who’s allowed to get mad here!?”
The second I heard Wa Sol’s outburst I shot a hand signal at Gyu-ri, who had already started tapping her tablet. When she looked at me I shook my head left and right: Don’t.
For now, just let Wa Sol finish.
“The person Gachi is dating right now is me! Even if they used to like each other a long time ago—no, especially because of that—she shouldn’t still be paying attention to him, right!?”
She looked at me with a face that clearly said Right?
Was reacting the correct move here, or was staying quiet better?
This time Gyu-ri backed me up. Following her lead, I stayed silent and simply waited for Wa Sol’s next words.
“She never even confessed and never contacted him, and yet I was the one who confessed first—and even got dumped once!”
That was a misunderstanding, though…
I almost jumped in with a correction but decided to let it slide for now.
“And on top of that, this so-called boyfriend of mine is an Adami, so of course Gyu-ri just adores him!”
Gyu-ri looked like she desperately wanted to say something, but somehow managed to hold it in.
“And then what!? She thinks I look down on her? …That’s not it… it’s not…”
Ah. Back into depression mode.
But what was this about Wa Sol looking down on Bian? That didn’t sound like her at all.
“I’m just… so… irritated. Everything’s irritating… I’m going to eat a ton today! I’m going to stress-eat everything! I’m going to get so fat!”
Hey, Gyu-ri. We’re just listening right now, remember?
No matter how unforgivable the comment might be, if you jump in now…
“This is the first time I’ve been this angry since that one date when Gachi secretly put in earphones to watch Eve’s stream.”
“Please don’t bring that up here!”
Ah. I said it out loud.
Gyu-ri started glaring at me with eyes I’d never even seen the first time we met. Those were definitely the eyes she used when looking at something pathetic.
“…Thank you.”
“Why are you two chatting amongst yourselves?”
Wa Sol looked back and forth between us as if demanding our attention. Gyu-ri and I both flinched and immediately snapped back into listening mode.
“Haaah, whatever. I don’t need any of it…”
But it was already too late for the girl whose mood had soured again. Wa Sol propped her chin on one hand and went back to pulverizing the already-broken straw into even tinier pieces.
…How was she even doing that? Cutting it with her nails?
It was almost like a box cutter had suddenly grown out of her hand; the straw kept getting sliced smaller and smaller. Watching it, I didn’t dare reach out…
But as her boyfriend I couldn’t just sit there.
I gently, firmly took both of her hands in mine.
“…”
Wa Sol looked up at me with her lower lip pushed out in a pout.
I forced the most natural smile I could manage and shot Gyu-ri a look.
Gyu-ri deliberately showed me the tablet with the words …Ah. written on it, then took Wa Sol’s other hand.
The two people who cared about her most were holding her hands one after the other. Her expression softened just a little.
“…You’re late. You should’ve held them sooner.”
“Sorry. I’m bad at reading the room.”
Don’t throw me under the bus there, Gyu-ri…
When Wa Sol pulled both hands into her own chest, ours naturally came with them. She held us like that for a moment, as if cradling something precious, then quietly opened her mouth.
“I’m… a really emotional, high-maintenance girlfriend, aren’t I?”
“Not even a little. If anything, I worry because you bottle everything up and try to endure it alone.”
Hey, leave that last part out.
I shot a subtle look at Gyu-ri for sneakily slipping her own desires into the message. She awkwardly avoided my eyes and did a little shoulder dance.
Honestly…
Wait a second—both of her hands are currently being held by Wa Sol. How did she type that!?
“Hehe. Okay. Then I want to stay like this a little longer.”
The piled-up emotions had finally loosened; her face looked peaceful now.
“…Thank you.”
The 96-point smile she gave us was so dazzling I almost got lost in it for a second.
I completely missed how Gyu-ri managed to type that one.
…Seriously, how? Do all the members of Utopia secretly have superpowers or something?
We spent a good while just soothing Wa Sol’s heart after that.
Then I heard a certain sound coming from Gyu-ri’s direction.
Grrrooowl!
Seeing Gyu-ri hide her bright-red face behind the tablet, Wa Sol and I both burst out laughing. Gyu-ri kept flashing angry emoticons at us in protest.
Thanks to that, the atmosphere finally swung completely positive.
As expected of Eve. That was exactly her charm.
But now that Gyu-ri was sulking, we decided to get her whatever she wanted. She puffed her cheeks out and declared:
I was a little surprised by the unexpected choice, but I nodded right away and stood up. When Wa Sol rose as well, Gyu-ri started rolling her wheelchair backward to follow—
Right at that moment, one of the other customers carrying a tray tried to pass behind her.
“Gyu-ri!”
I shouted without thinking and grabbed the handles of her wheelchair, stopping it just in time.
Thankfully the customer passed safely and Gyu-ri wasn’t hurt.
The problem was how close Gyu-ri and I had suddenly become.
I wasn’t an idiot. Even without Wa Sol saying it outright, I’d been carefully keeping my distance from Gyu-ri.
“…”
Even if it had been unavoidable, the sudden collapse of that careful distance left both of us speechless. Gyu-ri was so flustered she didn’t even type anything—just froze, clutching the tablet tightly.
I tried to step away from the wheelchair right away, but Wa Sol caught my sleeve.
“Wait. It’s okay.”
She walked around in front of Gyu-ri and met her eyes.
Then she gently took the hand that was still gripping the tablet.
“Gyu-ri, do you dislike Gachi?”
Gyu-ri shook her head vigorously side to side.
Honestly, I was relieved. If she’d even carefully nodded there, I might’ve been hurt… no, I definitely would’ve been hurt.
“Then does Gachi seem like a bad person?”
Side-to-side shake.
“Or do you think Gachi would go around telling everyone that you’re Eve?”
Side-to-side shake.
“Or… does being near Gachi make you uncomfortable?”
Side-to-side shake.
“…Do you want to get closer to Gachi?”
…A nod.
For the first time Gyu-ri moved her head up and down in answer to Wa Sol’s question. Something so simple made my chest tighten without warning.
“I want you two to get closer too. Honestly I think you already are, at least a little. Even though you’ve only met twice, sometimes you two chatter away more comfortably than I do with either of you, and it makes me a tiny bit jealous.”
I-is that so?
It was partly because I already thought of her as Eve, but Gyu-ri herself was just so naturally friendly that getting close hadn’t been hard at all.
“Still, I want the two of you to get along well. Do you know why?”
Side-to-side shake.
“Because Gachi is the kind of person you want to keep around. You feel that too, right?”
A nod.
“So I want Gyu-ri—one of the most precious people to me—to get along with him too. Not right this second or anything. Just… slowly. Let’s take our time getting closer.”
A nod.
“Then one last question… is there any reason Gyu-ri needs to be trembling right now?”
At Wa Sol’s gentle, careful question, Gyu-ri glanced at me for a second.
And then:
After that, she showed me a 98-point smile.
…As expected, Eve was still Eve.
My heart started pounding without permission.
“Don’t mention it.”
I wanted to let the joy explode right then and there, but I forced it down and answered simply.
If Wa Sol had asked me the same questions, my answers would’ve been identical.
Because…
I also wanted to get closer to this adorable little-sister figure named Gyu-ri.
“I kind of want that hamburger now. Ah, but my shoulders are weirdly sore… I don’t think I can push Gyu-ri’s wheelchair~”
Wa Sol said it as she stood up.
Whenever I heard that little “~” at the end, I always thought of Kiri. Well, of course—she was Kiri.
“Gyu-ri, is that okay?”
“Hehe. Then let’s go.”
Wa Sol glanced at us and slowly walked toward the entrance. I carefully took hold of the wheelchair and followed after her.
How’s the ride quality?
This was my first time pushing a wheelchair…
While I was fretting alone, Gyu-ri held the tablet up for me. She couldn’t twist her waist easily, so she just flipped the tablet upside-down over her head—it looked a little funny, but I held back the laugh and answered.
“What is it?”
I bent down so she could see me just by turning her head.
Gyu-ri gestured for me to come even closer. I made a face that asked if she was sure, but she just smiled easily and showed me the tablet again.
In the end I carefully leaned in.
When I bent lower, Gyu-ri herself leaned toward me.
Closer and closer, until her face was almost at mine.
And then, very quietly—her voice trembling just a little—she spoke.
…My mind went blank for a second.
The first real voice I’d ever heard from Gyu-ri… felt a little calmer than Eve’s.