Let's Join a Club
I drifted into the cafeteria with only half my mind still attached. My friends were already eating.
"You snap out of it?"
"What the... what is this...?"
"Something's off with him."
"Knew it. He's definitely possessed by the pork cutlet ghost..."
No matter how I dug through my memory, it was Cheese Cat. No mistake. And the exact same one she'd given me... a keychain.
"There are several ways to exorcise a pork cutlet ghost. The most effective, for starters, is to eliminate the pork cutlet."
"Oh yeah? That's my specialty."
"...Huh?"
"See? He's back in his right mind."
Minson pushed his glasses up with a slick little flick. In front of him, Daeho was chewing his way through a pork cutlet.
Mine.
"H-hey... why are you eating mine?!!"
"Hyunwoo. This is all your hyung's noble sacrifice, for your sake..."
"Y-you jerk...!!"
"Hmm. Clearly a mishap caused by his failure to recognize the possession... ugh, my cutlet...!!"
I hadn't actually gone weird. I was normal, and so were they — the usual squabbling, the usual day sliding along the way it always did. Which was exactly why I decided to shelve the worrying for a bit. If I didn't, even the cutlets I had left were about to get cleaned out.
"Hey, why are you eating now?!"
"Minson. Hyung's doing this all for you..."
"Ugh... forget it. Lee Hyunwoo, temporary alliance!"
"...Okay."
"W-wah...?! "
And so lunch ended in Daeho's defeat. The fight only stopped once he'd surrendered every last cutlet to us. Not that it mattered — he just went back for seconds later.
"Ugh... you never get sick of that?"
"I'm sicker of your glasses."
"...Drop it, man."
"Mmmmm..."
Once my stomach was reasonably full, the thoughts floated back to the surface. There was still time before Daeho finished eating. ...But this wasn't a problem thinking could solve. It had... already happened.
"Hey, Hyunwoo. So what'd you talk about?"
"...Huh?"
"Baek Seol. You went and talked to her, didn't you?"
"Huh? That's what this was?"
"......"
Daeho kept chewing his cutlet with a face that said he had no idea what was going on. Minson was another story. Sunlight through the window flashed across those square glasses of his.
"...No way. Did she turn you down?"
"......"
"Whoa... You confessed? The great Lee Hyunwoo?"
"I— I did not."
"Then what?"
"Uh... weelll..."
One sharp little blade from Minson. Not a word of it was true, and still I couldn't come up with a single thing to say back.
I couldn't just blurt out, "She's actually a vampire!" I couldn't tell them I'd followed her because I was afraid she'd report me to the police, that she'd somehow ended up inside my house, that she'd gotten soaked and miserable in a neighborhood she didn't know until she looked ready to cry... that I'd pulled about forty dollars from my wallet and told her to take a taxi, and that the Cheese Cat keychain had been her thank-you. I couldn't say any of that.
So I just...
"...She asked what club I was gonna do."
"Huh?"
It was a lie. But I didn't think there was a better answer. At least... not in the head I had right now.
"Uh, she said she was still thinking yesterday... so she couldn't tell me..."
"Hmm..."
"She asked what I was doing... so I said... the board game club..."
"Bummer. I thought it was a confession."
"Still, that's unexpected. First time I've seen her hang around anyone."
"......"
...He wasn't wrong. Even now she was eating alone, far off across the room. I couldn't picture it — her, actually getting close to someone.
...This time. A friend...
...
...I thought I could make one...
...
It wasn't that she looked bad with people, or that her personality was off, or that she smelled or anything. And yet she was alone. Strangely so.
Because she's a vampire... is that why...?
Fair enough. Even I'd have a hard time making friends. You can't go around broadcasting a secret like that. I felt like I understood the things she did, at least a little. Even so, not having a single friend...
"...It's just too sad."
"Huh? What's sad?"
"Say that all you want, you're not getting a cutlet."
"I wouldn't eat it even if you gave me one."
"So what club did she say she's doing?"
"...Huh?"
Minson said it while looking at her in the distance. At that, she quietly turned her head.
"Still thinking today, too?"
"W-well... yeah..."
"Bet she's doing Library Club."
"Library Club? Oh, now that you mention it, I think I've seen her in the library a few times?"
"...Library Club?"
"Yeah. She just reads during P.E., too."
Just in case Daeho was making it up, I told him to stake a cutlet on it. He put up the cutlet and swore it was true, so it probably wasn't a lie.
"Library Club..."
It was a very her kind of choice. The library was quiet, and you didn't have to talk. The board game club, on the other hand? By nature you had to keep talking. Most board games were nothing but conversation. So there was no way she'd sign up.
...I am absolutely not doing Library Club.
"Over capacity. Let's see... what's still got room..."
"What? Th-then... then the soccer club..."
"Full there too."
"......"
Time had passed, and club sign-ups were here.
Nothing had happened in between. I went to school like always, and she would give me the tiniest little wave, as if to say ...good morning..., and I would answer with an equally tiny, reluctant wave of my own. I went home like always, and she would flutter a small hand where the other kids couldn't see, as if to say ...bye..., and I would... reluctantly wave back. The same ordinary loop, over and over. Right up until every club I'd applied for came back over capacity.
"Th-then what's left...?"
"English newspaper reading, current events debate, cross-stitch."
"...Ah."
All of them were awful. Just hearing the names made me yawn, and then get irritated... I-I wasn't looking down on the other kids. They just didn't match my taste.
"Or Library Club."
"Library... Club?"
"Yeah. They've got plenty of spots."
"......"
Let's think. Me, stammering over an English newspaper I couldn't read a single line of? Horrifying just to imagine. Current events debate? I'd obviously just buh-buh my way through it. ...Cross-stitch wasn't even worth mentioning. I'd probably die of embarrassment. So...
"...I'll do Library Club."
"All right, Hyunwoo's Library Club~"
"Ugh... my club..."
"Let's see, from our class... exactly three."
"Th-three...?"
"Seol, Hyunwoo, and Jiyu."
I'd already expected it, so I wasn't particularly surprised. One extra person was a little startling... but it wasn't anyone I really knew. Just a name I'd heard. She sat next to me, too.
...Same. Library Club...
...
Fwoosh. All at once a red haze bubbled up around her, the way sparkles trail after kids who giggle and chase someone around.
...Hobby. The same...
...
No. I like pictures more than words. Comics are easier than novels. In my entire life I have been to a library exactly... once. And that one time, Mom dragged me.
"Anyway, clubs are next Friday, fifth and sixth period. You know that, right?"
"...Yes."
"Then go do self-study, and bring Minson."
"What? Why Minson?"
"If I say bring him, bring him."
Tap. The homeroom teacher's pen knocked the crown of my head. Lightly. Just enough that I registered the hit. ...A nasty one, always leading with their hands. I was not going to grow up like that.
"Minson. You're up."
"Heh heh heh... At last, my hour has come..."
"...?"
"Hey, ignore him. He's got a bad case of eighth-grade syndrome."
"Our Occult Club welcomes you, always."
Minson's grand ambition. Crushed within ten seconds of reaching the teacher's desk, and finished off with a wail over failing to meet the minimum headcount. The teacher's bonus nagging — if you're unhappy, make some friends — came free of charge.
"My Occult Club..."
"I told you it wouldn't work."
"How many people do you even have, to be under the minimum?"
"...One."
"Besides you?"
"...Including me..."
"......"
Hmm. Ignore Minson for now. I ought to get my textbook out ahead of time. First period was morals...
"...Ah."
One Cheese Cat keychain, still dangling from the end of my bag. If it were up to me I'd rip it off this second, but it was a promise with her... wasn't it? Anyway. At first I'd been nervous the other kids would notice. Turned out they cared about me a lot less than I'd thought.
...Except her.
...Cheese Cat. One week...
...
She did that at least once a day. It had been a little embarrassing at first, but maybe I'd gotten used to it, because now it was just that. It wasn't like I'd hung it there because I wanted to... and there wasn't any special reason. To me it was only one slightly cumbersome keychain, swinging around.
"Hey, Ahn Jiyu. What's with this bracelet?"
"My boyfriend gave it to me."
"A gift? Out of nowhere?"
"Yep. Date yesterday. So cough up twenty cents."
"Ah... I shouldn't have said anything..."
The girls' chatter drifted from behind me. Maybe because it was homeroom, the teacher didn't say a word. Boyfriend this, boyfriend that — not exactly a fascinating story. Even so, the energy was weirdly high, so it was a little worth listening to.
"Pretty, right?"
"It is not pretty."
"Jealous."
"Ugh... why don't I have a boyfriend? This is so unfair I could die."
"I keep telling you to wear makeup. With a face like yours... hmm."
"Hey, why'd you stop mid-sentence?"
The center of the group was, unsurprisingly, Ahn Jiyu. Did her personality make her look playful, or did looking playful make her personality that way? The medium bob suited her really well. ...She was also quite pretty.
"No, forget that — look at my style. How is it? Is this a little better?"
"Sleeeepy..."
"Sua's saying she's sleepy. Keep it down."
"Ugh... Jiyu, you're so mean. You always hide behind Sua."
"Jiyu... my pillow..."
"Hang on, I'll get it out."
The zipper rasped. Jiyu reached for her bag, and there they were — keychains and badges plastered all over it. It felt less like a bag and more like a work of art. Every time I looked, it was kind of fascinating.
"Hm? What?"
"Huh? Ah, n-no, it's just... the keychains looked... p-pretty..."
"Right? My boyfriend gave me this one. Matching couple item."
"Jiyuuuuu..."
"Ah, sorry, sorry."
"......"
Even after that, kids kept gathering around Jiyu. If it were me I'd have collapsed from exhaustion ages ago, but she chattered without a single break. To a degree that was... kind of impressive.
But she's in Library Club...?
It didn't quite fit. Sort of like piling cookies on top of a bowl of rice. Not completely wrong, but... is this right? That kind of feeling.
...I should just stay quiet.
Club was only about two hours before I went home anyway. So I just had to kill the time. Reasonably...
"...No way something actually hap— hup?!"
I clapped both hands over my mouth in a hurry. Too late. The words were already out, and Jiyu tilted her head at me, so I whipped my face the other way. But on that side, she was looking straight at me.
...Boyfriend. A gift...?
...
...!!
...
Her gaze drifted quietly past my shoulder. For an instant her eyes went wide, like she'd seen something and been thoroughly startled. Then she started looking back and forth between our bags.
...W-wait... that's... uh...?
...
...Ah... no... that's not... that's not what it... meant...
...
She snapped her head away. Then, hood yanked low, she buried her face in the desk — so deep that no one could even look at her.
...Ah, we weren't caught. Not yet...
...
...So. I-it's fine...
...
I was thinking something similar. The other kids didn't care about us anyway. So if we just stayed like this... if we just stayed like this, it would be fine. Without doing anything weird.
"...Hm? They're the same?"
"......"
"......"
But.
The following Friday, fifth period, break. The first day of club. Ahn Jiyu caught us dead to rights, with nowhere left to run.