Something Feels Off About Knowing Her Past (1)
The sunlight filtering through the large windows bathed the early lunch hour in a gentle glow. The scent of coffee—one I’d once thought might become addictive—softly wrapped itself around me. It was strange. I didn’t even like the taste of coffee, yet I found its aroma pleasant. What kind of contradiction was that?
The place where these thoughts crossed my mind was, of course, a café. Specifically, the same shop Se-rin and I had visited for parfaits not long ago. Last time, the person with me had left no room to leisurely look around, but seeing it again, the refined interior struck me anew. It really lived up to the princess’s seal of approval.
Unlike our previous visit when I’d chosen a deep, hidden seat to avoid attention, today I sat near the window on the outer side. On the table I claimed rested a single mug filled with hot chocolate latte. Yet there wasn’t a single trace of it having been sipped from.
The reason was simple: the person who ordered it—me—was in no condition to drink.
“You didn’t have to put it like that… Boss, that’s too harsh…”
I slumped forward, pressing my forehead hard against the table and let out a silent scream. But even that wasn’t enough to ease the frustration, so I rolled across the floor a few times for good measure. Anyone watching would probably wonder what on earth was wrong with me, but right now I had no mental space to care about other people’s eyes.
No matter how much I thrashed around, yesterday’s events refused to leave my head. What kept replaying was the memory of heading to the office after parting with Se-rin at the park. Hearing that the boss was still there despite the late hour, I went straight to her. When I demanded to know why Se-rin was quitting VTubing, she answered with brutal honesty.
“Nothing we can do about it. The other side brought it up first—they’re the ones who want to quit. Even if we tried to talk them out of it, it’d be pointless.”
“Why are you giving up so easily?! You’re the boss… you’re supposed to be the boss!”
It was, without a doubt, an incredibly pathetic thing to say. I had no real solution, no logical argument to persuade anyone. It was nothing more than childish whining—relying on an adult’s goodwill to somehow make everything better. If I’d been the one hearing it, I probably would’ve snapped back asking what exactly they expected me to do.
But the boss didn’t show any irritation. Instead, she calmly turned the answer back toward me.
“You know how it is, don’t you? Se-rin… is a princess. Once she decides she wants to quit, there are countless ways for her to make it happen. So honestly, it’s smarter to end things amicably without any ugly confrontations.”
“Ugh…”
“That’s why you should stop thinking about pointless stuff and focus on your own streams. Don’t let yourself get dragged into it.”
She said it lightly, then gave the top of my head a gentle tap with the edge of her hand. It felt like she was dismissing my concern for Se-rin as something trivial. Yet when I looked up, ready to say more, I caught the sadness in her eyes. My anger drained away instantly, replaced by a heavy, murky emotion with nowhere to go.
Come to think of it, the person who must have felt the most frustrated right now was the boss herself. During our trainee days at Unimori, she had been so genuinely invested in us. No matter how much she respected each member’s choice, there was no way a farewell like this would leave her unaffected.
So I couldn’t bring myself to say anything more to her. I simply went home like a good girl… and after a night of sleep, here I was—clinging to this table feeling half-dead.
“Ugh… I really don’t want her to quit…”
To be honest, I didn’t want Se-rin to stop being a VTuber. It wasn’t because her doing it benefited me in any way. Whenever she talked about VTubing, she looked genuinely happy. Having watched from the sidelines throughout our year as trainees, I knew exactly how hard she had worked. I simply didn’t want her to throw it all away so pointlessly. That was all.
But I didn’t have the courage to tell her that. Since I didn’t even know why she wanted to quit, anything I said would just be empty noise. It might even hurt her more.
No matter how I try to justify it, I’m just a coward…
Heh… The arrogant me from elementary school would’ve said exactly what I wanted without hesitation. Maybe the current me had regressed several levels in confidence since then. Of course, I’d lived with the attitude that there was nothing wrong with speaking the truth! Even if that mindset had caused me plenty of pain in middle school.
Looking at it that way, while my confidence level had dropped, my ability to read the room had risen by the same amount. Something like that.
Anyway, while I was groaning face-down on the table, the café door opened. A cold breeze from outside brushed faintly against the back of my neck.
Now that I think about it, it’s almost time for our meeting. She should be here soon…
The thought made me slowly lift my head. That was when my eyes met the girl who had somehow already taken the seat across from me.
Not expecting anyone to be sitting there, I jolted so hard my shoulders jumped. I recoiled backward with enough force to nearly slam into the back of my chair.
“Huk?! W-what the—?!”
“Ah, she finally looks over here. I was wondering when you’d notice.”
She wore a beige oversized t-shirt that slipped off one shoulder, layered over a navy sleeveless top. Black leggings and white shorts completed the look—a combination that made you forget it was winter. Her androgynous features could easily pass for a pretty boy with long hair at first glance, but she was unmistakably a beautiful girl.
Her identity was none other than Ju So-hui. The classmate I’d run into yesterday on my way from the park to the office—the same one I’d shared a class with in first year.
Wait, more importantly—when did she even get here? My heart was still hammering. I clutched my chest and asked,
“Uh, when did you arrive?!”
“Moving without making a sound is my specialty. Occupational habit, you could say.”
“O-occupational habit…? Oh…”
I was momentarily thrown by her strange wording, but thanks to our conversation yesterday, I quickly understood.
Se-rin’s secret bodyguard… that’s what she called herself.
More precisely, she belonged to the Black Dragon Guard—the imperial covert protection unit passed down through generations. If avoiding detection had become second nature, that made perfect sense.
Of course, the idea that a girl from my class was suddenly a secret bodyguard felt so surreal it almost hurt to process. But since Se-rin was a princess, they must have kept the bodyguard’s identity hidden so she could respond without prior notice.
As if to prove it, So-hui pulled a card resembling a business card from her pocket and flicked it. It embedded itself perfectly into a nearby metal pole. Even if I wanted to doubt her, I couldn’t.
Wait, but how the hell did she do that? Wasn’t this supposed to be a normal world without superpowers?
My head was starting to throb again just thinking about it. So-hui gave me a quick once-over, then smiled brightly.
“Is that your usual going-out outfit? It looks really stylish and cute. Yesterday it seemed like you’d thrown on whatever was closest.”
“…Well, that’s because I did throw on whatever was closest. Thanks for the compliment, though.”
“Hmm…”
The reason we were meeting like this today was simple: she had contacted me saying there was something important to discuss about Se-rin. We weren’t particularly close, so normally I would’ve made up some excuse to decline. But when the princess’s bodyguard said it was important, I couldn’t refuse.
Besides, it might even offer a way out of this mess. It wasn’t like I was just coming here to hang out.
While I was internally making excuses I wasn’t even sure were for my own benefit, So-hui looked at me with a sly grin and let out a soft chuckle.
“You don’t have to put on any acts with me. I told you I’m her secret bodyguard, didn’t I? How could that young lady wander around the streets alone with such a sloppy disguise? It only works because I’ve always been watching from nearby.”
“T-that’s…”
“Which means I’ve seen everything. The way you let her push you around, all of it. When you suggested the yuri business back at the office, you were seriously intense. I almost fell for you myself~”
“Uwaaaaaah!”
Why was she watching that?! The reflexive shriek left my face burning. It felt like someone had found my secret diary hidden under the desk. Looking back now, that whole incident was such a dark chapter of my life that I couldn’t even remember what I’d been thinking. The fact that someone else had seen it made me break out in a cold sweat from sheer embarrassment.
But on the other hand, I was relieved it was only that much. I hadn’t noticed at all that a bodyguard had been constantly by Se-rin’s side. I had no bad intentions, but if I had… I probably would’ve been dragged away in seconds.
It was a fresh reminder that a person should always strive to have nothing to be ashamed of.
“You two didn’t seem especially close at school…”
“Well, we’re secret friends. Not that I’m bragging, but we’ve had this relationship for over ten years.”
Want proof? So-hui pulled out her phone, tapped the screen a few times, and showed me a photo of her and Se-rin standing side by side looking friendly.
…A tiny sliver of doubt remained, but it seemed her claim of being Se-rin’s bodyguard was undeniably true. Wait, but at this level, they looked less like bodyguard and charge and more like actual friends…
“By any chance, the friend who recommended that melodrama with all the spicy scenes…”
“Ah, that was me.”
“It was you?!”
I shot up from my seat so fast the chair rattled. Just remembering that movie made my face burn. Sitting next to Se-rin and watching those scenes had been pure torture! Realizing the culprit was right in front of me, anger surged stronger than the embarrassment.
But So-hui just laughed in a bright, boyish way and looked at me with teasing, relaxed eyes.
“It was good, right? That young lady is ridiculously weak to that kind of stuff. She’s got tons of knowledge in her head, so she acts all composed, but the moment things get real, she panics. That’s the type she is.”
“That’s…”
Thinking back, I had to admit she had a point. From our very first meeting, she’d closed the distance so aggressively I never knew how close she’d get. Even recently at the office, she’d touch my ears or shoulders without asking. Last time when she suddenly brushed my lips, I’d been so shocked I couldn’t even scream.
Yet she acted so relaxed, only to freeze like a startled maiden the moment someone pushed back. So yeah, being weak to spicy things made sense. It left me with… complicated feelings.
“…”
“Ah, don’t get jealous. She doesn’t approach me that way at all. Besides… no matter how pretty the face is, after ten years together you’ve seen everything there is to see. At this point she feels like family. Same age, but she’s basically a little sister to me.”
“I wasn’t jealous!”
Ugh, I hated how relieved her words made me feel…
I somehow suppressed any change in my expression and sat back down. I took a sip of the chocolate latte that had already gone completely cold, but So-hui’s steady gaze kept my emotions churning.
Maybe she decided it was time to get to the main topic. The playful look vanished from her face, replaced by careful seriousness.
“I told you yesterday, right? That I had something important to talk about regarding the young lady… that is, Se-rin.”
“…Yeah.”
She took a single steadying breath, then layered even more gravity into her voice.
“I’ll tell you why she can’t sing anymore. Help her not quit being a VTuber. The only one who can make a difference is you.”
It was, at least for me, an offer I had no reason to refuse.