Chapter 6. Friendship and Relationships (2)
Chapter 6. Friendship and Relationships (2)
Come to think of it, the clothes the two of us were wearing were the same.
Obviously, I didn't mean the nun's habit, but the clothes draped over it.
While I was stammering, Ria just paid with her own money and draped it over my shoulders. I did put my arms through and wear it, though.
The clothes Ria and I were wearing were both jackets that college students might wear as club jackets, but they didn't feel especially thick. Clothes that weren't bad for spring.
She probably picked a suitably dark color to match the dark-colored nun's habit—but the design was completely identical.
"Hm? What's wrong?"
When I was walking without saying anything, Ria asked that.
"Ah, no, I wasn't thinking anything weird."
"......Do you really need to tell me the fact that you weren't thinking anything weird?"
At my answer, Ria said that as if dumbfounded, and I got even more embarrassed for no reason.
Actually, there was something I was a little worried about.
Ria grabbed my wrist and pulled me along fairly often. It wasn't like she forced me to do something, and she seemed to control her strength when she grabbed me, since I didn't remember it ever hurting, but sometimes when I thought back on it later, it felt a little flustering.
Inside the convent, it was common to be careful about physical contact even between people of the same gender. It was a place where children lived together from a young age, and as that went on, there came a moment when they became aware of sexual desire, and sometimes there were kids who went off in a different direction.
In fact, as I grew up, I'd heard various rumors. Whether those things had actually happened, or whether they were just groundless rumors created by feverish kids whispering to each other, I didn't know either.
Hm, yeah. It definitely has an effect.
If I'd stayed inside the Church, I would have just kept thinking about the original novel—
"Hey."
"——!?"
Ria suddenly poked my arm from beside me, and since I'd been strangely conscious of it anyway, I ended up flinching in surprise. Still, maybe because I'd adapted somewhat by now, I was at least able to hold back a scream.
"Uh......"
Seeing my reaction, Ria hesitated for a moment.
"Um, sorry?"
"Ah, no."
I quickly shook my head.
"I was just thinking about something else for a second."
I'd just been spacing out and she suddenly spoke to me, so I was a little startled. That's all.
"But, why?"
"No, I saw a bubble tea shop over there."
Where Ria pointed, there was a cafe.
"Have you ever tried it?"
Not in this world.
Actually, I hadn't had it very often in my Past Life either. It wasn't that I disliked it, but it wasn't like I loved it enormously either, so I'd only bought it a few times.
When I shook my head, Ria's expression quickly turned into something like showing off.
"Then, let's go get some."
Ria said that and gently grabbed my wrist and pulled me again.
"Ah."
I couldn't refuse again and followed behind her.
Or maybe, I just didn't have any desire to refuse.
Because in the first place, this was the first time in this world that I'd gone out to have fun like this without worry.
Inside the Church, there was no one I could call truly close. The Mother Superior and the Priest did listen to me, but I could not go around like this with either of them.
I was a little flustered seeing eyes gather on us from around—but in the end, I went into the cafe with Ria and picked a drink.
Ria bought it this time too. I'd been so flustered that I hadn't been able to say I'd pay first.
Seeing Ria grin as she pressed the drink into my hand, I felt like she would have bought it even if I'd taken out my wallet.
*
Both drinks were probably black tea-based, but the two of us bought different things.
What I was holding was a purple bubble tea with a strong sweet potato flavor, and what Ria was holding was a brown sugar bubble tea that looked very, very sweet.
Walking side by side holding our drinks with our lips on the straws, I wondered what meaning the things I'd been worrying about even had.
Hm, this is a thought closer to a Buddhist temple than a church, but, well, anyway.
The sky was blue, and cherry blossom petals that were a little confusing whether they were white or pink drifted softly. A few flew over and landed on my head.
Ria, with a completely casual expression, gently picked the cherry blossom petal off my head and flicked it away.
Why is she acting like this today?
No, saying "today" might be a little wrong.
Throughout the time she'd been with me, Ria's attitude had softened little by little. Of course, that didn't mean she stopped teasing me, and sometimes we still bickered......
Could it be that Ria thought of me as a bit of a pitiful kid?
I'd lived my whole life in the Church, and I hadn't gotten to do the things kids my age would have done. I didn't even have a family.
On top of that, I was strangely isolated because of my position.
Maybe she'd found that version of me a little pitiful.
"......."
Probably, if it had been just about a month ago, I might have argued with Ria about her doing this. Because the character Lee Chae-eun that I'd only read about in books was a character with an incredibly strong personality.
She had fought fiercely with the Saintess who liked the same man, too.
If I hadn't known anything, I would have thought she was teasing me in some new way again.
But no matter how I thought about it, Ria, who had the kind of personality to bring me something to eat every time I used my power and collapsed, didn't seem like she'd brought me out here just to tease me.
So, I was even more embarrassed for no reason. Because I didn't know what to say to Ria.
If I had to put it into words, I should say "thank you." But that wasn't a word that came out easily.
Even though I knew, rationally and reasonably, that there was no better expression than that for continuing a relationship.
Tap.
This time, I was able not to be startled.
When I turned my gaze, Ria was holding out her drink cup toward me. About half was left inside.
"You've drunk about half of yours too, so let's swap."
"......."
At those words, I swapped cups without realizing it.
And I naturally started to put my lips to the straw—
No, wait, this.
I turned around, feeling like the word "indirect" something was about to come to mind, and Ria was already drinking the drink I'd handed over. With her lips on the straw.
Uh......
Is this kind of thing normal between girls? I don't really know. This was my first time living as a woman, and in the first place, I'd never had a friend this close.
No, besides, even if I'd had friends, I'd been in a situation where I couldn't go out and hang around together like this.
"Why? Don't like it?"
"Ah, no, it's not that."
Ria tilted her head and asked, so I looked at the cup in my hand again.
.......
Well, it doesn't matter, right? Since she didn't seem to mind at all either.
I started to move, thinking, am I thinking too much like an elementary schooler—
"Oh?"
Hearing that sound from Ria, I flinched and raised my head.
But there was nothing for me to make an excuse about.
Because what Ria was looking at wasn't the drink cup in my hand, but somewhere far away.
Not the sidewalk we were walking on, but across the road in the middle, far over on the other side.
There was Lee Si-yoon.
Not alone, but with a woman beside him.
Fortunately, that woman wasn't Glaria. It was Han Yu-ri, blushing in very modest clothing.
I reflexively grabbed Ria's wrist.
"Uh, hey."
If she'd wanted to, she could have just resisted with strength, but Ria didn't particularly resist my pulling. I took Ria and quickly went toward where the most people were and hid behind them.
There were people who looked at us suddenly approaching as if we were a little strange, but when we just walked, they didn't show any particular reaction.
......Though since our clothes were conspicuous, they did glance at us.
"......."
Ria looked at me with a slightly flustered expression, but I kept holding her wrist until Lee Si-yoon and Han Yu-ri disappeared beyond that field of view.
Han Yu-ri looked extremely happy. Lee Si-yoon also had a happy expression, but Han Yu-ri especially had that characteristic face of a girl in love.
I see. Since the cherry blossoms bloomed, of course there'd be an event like this. Even though it was still before the main story started.
......Once again, I felt certain in my heart.
It didn't make sense to deliberately try to split apart a relationship that already had that much of a connection even before the main story started.
They weren't holding hands or anything yet, but Han Yu-ri, with her hands demurely gathered in front of her and looking up at Lee Si-yoon, and Lee Si-yoon, blushing as if a little flustered by his childhood friend's strange femininity and moving his gaze here and there.
No matter who saw it, that was a scene of pure love.
Right. The heroine who appears first is the main heroine, and the main heroine is the one who deserves to become the true heroine.
Otherwise, wouldn't that just be one of the two: BSS or NTR?
After the two of them completely passed by near us, I strangely felt at ease, so I let out a long breath and put my lips to the straw of the drink in my hand.
Only after sucking up about two sips did I remember that Ria had been biting this very straw just moments ago, and I hastily pulled my lips away.
And I also remembered that I was still tightly holding Ria's wrist.
Ria was looking at me with slightly surprised, wide-open eyes.
"......."
I quietly let go of her hand and averted my gaze.
Hm.
This is a little awkward.
Inside my mouth, the characteristic slightly excessive sweetness of brown sugar lingered for a long while.