Hoping for a Reversal
***
Not long after I put the Samdanbong into Lee Narin’s hands, Han Sia was successfully subdued.
And now she was rubbing the spot on the top of her head where she’d been struck, reflecting on her sins.
Of course, Narin hadn’t hit her hard enough to actually injure her, but it had still been enough to bring Han Sia back to her senses.
“No... I didn’t mean for it to turn out like this. I just wanted to show you that holding something close makes you feel better...”
Apparently, Han Sia had originally planned to give Narin a teddy bear and then explain the effects of hugging.
Whether she truly meant it or not, she wore a deeply apologetic expression, but Narin didn’t seem particularly interested in hearing her out.
“Narin~ You were surprised, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Sia probably didn’t have any bad intentions... She just gets a little too emotional sometimes, so don’t hate her too much and let’s all get along!”
“...I’ll consider it conservatively.”
Narin, who had just been struggling against Han Sia’s hugs, was now in Yu Somi’s arms instead.
Of course, Somi didn’t breathe hotly and give off that dangerous air the way Han Sia did, so from Narin’s point of view it was probably much more reassuring to be held by Somi...
Still, Han Sia, who had been hit with the Samdanbong the moment she tried to hug Narin, had to look a little dejected.
But since she’d been spouting filthy little lines like “I want to take you home” and “I want to raise you at my house” at Narin ever since a moment ago, I figured it was all self-inflicted.
...
On top of that, with the relatively petite Narin and the much more generously built Somi pressed together like that, there was no way they looked like they were even in the same grade.
.
.
.
After the brief uproar caused by Han Sia’s rampage was finally brought under control, the event where everyone got to promote the birthday gifts they’d prepared for Narin began again.
And naturally, I stepped up as Han Sia’s turn came around, first explaining the merits of the Samdanbong.
“I didn’t just grab any old Samdanbong at random. Since the user was you, I picked one that was lightweight and the right length.”
“Right. It did seem light. The one I already had was prepared for fighting intruders to the death, so it was practically closer to a steel club.”
“So you were planning to beat an intruder to death...”
“If the Samdanbong you gave me had been heavy, I would’ve hesitated to hit Han Sia earlier, but it was lighter than I expected, so I was able to swing it without worrying. If you all come visit this house again, it might end up being more useful than you think.”
She said that while holding the Samdanbong I’d given her and glaring fiercely at Han Sia.
Narin’s expression made it clear that if Han Sia pulled something like that again, she’d smack her with the Samdanbong without hesitation, and it almost felt like watching a fierce beast...
Well, no, not quite.
It was more like a cat with every hair on its body standing on end.
...
For some reason, it felt like I’d used Han Sia as a real-world test subject for the Samdanbong, which was a little strange.
Still, if Narin’s evaluation of the Samdanbong had improved even a little, I guess that was good enough.
.
.
.
My next turn was Song Changwon, who had brought an unreleased tea set as Narin’s birthday present.
Without any extra explanation, Changwon expertly used the tea set and poured tea for everyone according to the number of people present.
All he’d really done was put hot water and a tea bag into the teapot and let it steep, but...
Did rich young masters learn the etiquette of serving tea at home or something? When Song Changwon’s crisp, polished motions were combined with the luxurious tea set, I couldn’t help feeling like I was receiving an absurdly gracious treatment far beyond my station.
In truth, when it came to making a tea set seem appealing, what mattered most was the fragrance of the tea and the appearance of the utensils themselves.
Which meant that simply brewing and pouring the tea by hand was enough to show off the important parts.
So instead of explaining it at length, Song Changwon had probably chosen to demonstrate it directly.
“The fragrance is pretty nice. As for the taste, it seems like fairly ordinary green tea. Still, I think it’d go over well if you served it when friends came over.”
“I’m glad you like it. I don’t have much room to speak, considering I messed up your social life at school, but... I hope you make plenty of good friends here.”
Judging by the nuance in Song Changwon’s words, Narin probably hadn’t had the easiest time with her classmates at her previous school either.
For a moment I wondered how she’d managed before transferring here, but then I remembered that the period likely overlapped with the time her parents had died, and immediately decided to shove the thought out of my head.
.
.
.
Since this whole “birthday gift merit-promotion time” had originally been Yu Somi’s idea, she looked positively keyed up the moment it was her turn, as if she had a great deal she wanted to say.
“As for this manga, putting the art and story aside for a moment, I brought it because I thought the characters would fit Narin’s taste! There’s this female character named Mo☐Jiana who belongs to a race with naturally exceptional physical abilities, but she grew up as a slave from a young age, so she’s a pretty pitiful kid. She joins the main character right from the beginning of the story and... (omitted) But this girl is also insanely beautiful, and she mainly uses martial arts, so the moment I saw her I thought, ‘Ah! This is exactly the kind of character Narin would like!’ and then... (omitted 2) And look at this! Aren’t the illustrations and character designs so clean and pretty? I’ve been obsessed with this series lately too, and when I practice digital drawing, I’ve been training by sketching characters from this manga...”
Somi just kept talking and talking.
And yet, even while she was rattling on about the work, she somehow managed to dodge the story and any major spoilers like a ghost, so I could feel the sheer determination in Yu Somi’s explanation: no matter what it took, she was going to get this manga series into Lee Narin’s hands.
“Ooh... It sounds fun. I only saw the blue-haired little boy on the cover of volume one, so I had no idea there was a character like that. I should start reading it today.”
In the end, Yu Somi’s scheme succeeded beautifully.
Now that I looked at it, she’d clearly been fixated on getting Narin to read manga that matched her own taste from the very beginning, and the whole birthday-gift competition going on here had probably never been in her eyes at all.
...
And there were two people here who hadn’t followed even a single thread of the conversation between Somi and Narin, both wearing baffled expressions.
“Uh... a fighting race? Are you talking about something like Dragon Ball?”
“I know the basics of famous webtoons and manga, but... I have no idea what those two are talking about.”
.
.
.
After everyone’s gift-promotion time ended, only Narin’s choice remained.
At first, I thought Han Sia’s giant black bear plush had taken the lead.
But the person who had prepared the gift had ended up self-destructing by lunging at the evaluator herself, so it was impossible to tell who had won.
On top of that, Song Changwon’s tea set was better than expected, Yu Somi’s manga had climbed in value thanks to her passionate sales pitch, and even my Samdanbong had proven its practicality by being used to subdue Han Sia, leaving Narin’s final choice lost in a fog.
So what would Narin choose?
“What I liked most was this teddy bear. Even if Han Sia jumped me, the bear itself is innocent.”
“Krrrk... so there was no twist after all...!”
Still, Han Sia’s giant black bear plush had an undeniable presence.
The tea set Song Changwon had prepared was a decent gift, unique mainly because it was unreleased, and Yu Somi’s manga could have been given for any occasion, not just a birthday.
Seen in that light, my Samdanbong had never really stood a chance from the start.
But Han Sia’s giant bear plush was so outrageous a gift that Narin probably would never have kept anything like it at home unless Han Sia had personally chosen it as a birthday present, and beyond that, it fit Narin astonishingly well.
Even if the person who gave it attacked the recipient herself, it was not the kind of item that could be brushed off so easily.
But... if Narin said it like that, then the winner of this event was Han Sia.
So with a slightly sour expression, she asked Han Sia,
“As promised, I’m willing to do your favor within reasonable limits. Did you already have something in mind?”
“Then will you come visit our house?”
“No.”
“...”
Like that was ever going to work, Sia.
You’d already told Narin several times that you wanted to take her home, tie her up, and raise her there.
At this point, your house had probably been branded in her mind as a place you could enter once and never come back out of.
Seeing her request rejected without even a second of hesitation, Han Sia looked briefly shocked.
But only for a moment; then, with the corners of her mouth curving slightly upward, she made another request.
“Then... how about pretending to be a cat for one day?”
“...Pretend to be a cat? I’m not sure what exactly you want.”
“Like adding ‘nyang’ to the end of your sentences... Anyway, just doing cat-like things. How about it? It’s not hard, is it?”
Han Sia wore a polished, saleswoman’s smile, as though she had no ulterior motives whatsoever.
But I knew her sales smile was just a mask to hide her true intentions, so when Han Sia wore that expression, I found it better to be suspicious one more time.
If I thought about the situation again, hadn’t she known all along that there was no way Narin would agree to a request like “take me home”?
In other words, Han Sia’s first request had just been a fake-out for this one, and the correct answer was probably that she’d been aiming for this from the start.
“If it’s that much, I don’t mind. Nyan.”
However, Narin, who had only recently transferred in, still didn’t know Han Sia very well, and in the end she walked right into it.
The instant Narin answered, Han Sia’s sales smile vanished, and in its place settled something much more honest, much less refined, and rawer with feeling.
“Ah! What a coincidence~ I happened to bring cat-ear headbands today... Do you want to try this too?”
“What? How could you possibly have brought something that’s still wrapped up and called it a coincidence?”
“Oh? Where did ‘nyang’ go? And if you’re pretending to be a cat, wouldn’t it be better to have a few props?”
Narin seemed to realize something was off only now, but it was already too late.
From the moment Narin said “nyang,” Yu Somi had become a machine that only said “cute,” and that bastard Song Changwon clearly wanted to see it too on some level.
At this point, nobody was on Narin’s side.
...
...Me? I was always on Han Sia’s side.
It wasn’t like I especially wanted to see Narin with cat ears, her expressionless face flushed red with embarrassment as she mewled like a kitten.
“...Fine. Nyan.”
“T-too cute!!! Narin, you’re way too cute! White cat ears to match Narin’s hair color? That’s the perfect choice, Sia!”
“I also happen to have a cat-tail clip in my bag today. Let’s add that too...”
“Haah... Just do whatever you want. Nyan.”
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