Because of You
Three days. The long, grueling 72 hours of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday had finally come to an end, and with it, those embarrassing days were over. Unfortunately, contrary to Lee Hayoon’s wishes, that "end" did not include the relationship between Seo Woojin and Lee Jiyoon.
"..."
Her bedroom, empty and alone, felt strangely unfamiliar. Lee Hayoon let her hair down, lay back, and stared blankly at the ceiling. Her initial plan had been to make things easier for Jiyoon so she could let go of her feelings for Woojin, but... how did it end up with the three of them rolling around together? And in the end, she had even kissed him right in front of Jiyoon.
That was exactly why she couldn't fall asleep even after midnight. Well, to be fair, another reason was that she had spent until late into the dawn having sex with Woojin—who had stepped out for a bit yesterday—and Jiyoon, all three of them together.
Anyway, Lee Hayoon pulled her blanket up tight, leaving only her nose and eyes exposed, and pondered what she should do next. Let’s say the three-way encounter with Jiyoon was fine. Woojin liked it. Let’s even say the sticky, saliva-filled kiss with Jiyoon was fine. Woojin liked that, too. But if things kept going like this, her sister wouldn't just "get over her feelings and back off" as planned; she would likely cling to them even more shamelessly. Jiyoon didn't seem to have any particular aversion to watching them have sex, or even going a step further and joining in...
"Ugh..."
Of course, if she just told her, "Don't pretend you know me anymore," but with a bit more venom, she could probably put an end to this whole "Sister, lend me your boyfriend" incident. But it wasn't something she really wanted to do. It was the kind of thing Jiyoon would definitely twist into something weird, but that wasn't her intention at all. It was just... what should she call it? Maybe it was because she knew Jiyoon had drifted through high school without any real friends? Or because she feared that if Jiyoon grew distant from Woojin, she’d just go back to rotting away playing games, wasting her precious talent? ...Ah, and of course, she wasn't agonizing over this because having sex in front of Jiyoon as if to show off felt incredibly good. Absolutely not.
In any case, to summarize, it was something close to pity. She wasn't sure exactly what word to use, but that was it. But was it really acceptable to share her boyfriend with her younger sister for a reason like that? After all, he was hers...
Just as Lee Hayoon was spending her time in a staring contest with the unresponsive ceiling:
"Lee Hayoon, are you awake?"
"Eek...?!"
The door opened without a knock, and her gaze snapped toward it. Her heart nearly stopped at the sight of the ghost-white figure in the doorway, but fortunately, she recognized the voice, so she didn't throw any of the dolls nearby. She stared at Lee Jiyoon, who was dressed in pajamas, with wide, startled eyes, and then spoke in an annoyed, hushed tone—keeping the decibels low since the neighbors were likely sleeping.
"Hey, why are you here...!"
"Why am I here? Is this a place I can't come? It's not like I snuck in while you were having sex..."
"Yes, it is a place you can't come! Why are you entering someone else's room without permission...!"
"Then I'll ask for permission now. I came because I have something to talk to you about."
"...Talk? Talk about what? What is it?"
"You know, that thing. ...Seo Woojin."
"..."
Seo Woojin. As Hayoon stared at Jiyoon, her mouth shut tight, Jiyoon let out a light breath, stepped closer, and sat on the edge of the bed. It felt unpleasant, as if she were using her legs as a backrest, but since it happened all the time, Hayoon just sat up slowly.
"You have one week left, right? That... 'legal sex' period."
"...Calling it 'legal' makes it sound weird."
"It's not wrong. Besides, 'illegal sex' is more thrilling anyway."
"What kind of crazy talk... Sigh... So, what?"
"I was wondering if we could extend the period."
"..."
Are you insane? That was her first thought. But those words didn't come out of Hayoon's mouth. Again, she wasn't doing this because having sex in front of Jiyoon felt good and the afterglow was still lingering. Absolutely, definitely, 100% not. It was just... because Jiyoon must have a reason for coming here in the middle of the night to say something like that. She wanted to hear that reason.
"...For what reason?"
"You know why. ...Because I want to have sex with your boyfriend."
"..."
As expected, should she have just given her a good knock on the head instead of trying to have a lady-like conversation? Because she missed her chance, she just clenched her fists on the blanket. Jiyoon, smiling without a hint of shame, continued.
"Of course, I'm not asking to extend it for free. I've thought of something you'd like..."
"...Me? What could you possibly have that I'd like... ...Ugh...?"
Thump. Jiyoon climbed onto the bed. She climbed on top of Lee Hayoon. She pressed down on Hayoon's upper body, forcing her to lie back down.
"Hey, you... crazy... I don't like this kind of..."
"Oh? Really? You seemed to like it a lot just this morning."
"Th-that was because... Woojin was... ...thrusting so intensely..."
"Exactly. That's it."
"...?"
"Sister, you felt so much just from the 3P with me and Seo Woojin, didn't you?"
"..."
"You even had to come to my room to sleep together, complaining the whole time... You even soaked the bed, didn't you?"
Jiyoon, who rarely showed her smiling face, had been grinning quite often lately. She curled her lips into a smirk and whispered:
"If I don't help you, you won't be able to have sex like that... ever again, right?"
"...Are you threatening me right now?"
"Yep. If not for this, you'd just tell me to get lost, wouldn't you?"
"..."
"What will you do? Sister?"
"..."
A long silence. A long time spent thinking. A long time spent weighing the options. Eventually, Lee Hayoon, the first to break eye contact in the staring contest with her sister, turned her head and muttered in a disgruntled voice.
"...If it starts feeling no different than when we do it as a pair, I'm kicking you out immediately..."
"...And if there is a difference?"
"..."
"If there's a difference, what will you do?"
"..."
"..."
"...I don't know."
To summarize the daily routine of a recent Academy infirmary teacher: Wearing the Academy uniform to go to school for the sake of the principal, who lived for the joy of cheering on young people the age of his son. Covering the uniform with a doctor's coat as soon as he arrived at the infirmary. Taking a walk inside the Academy while scanning the faces to see if there were any "preliminary heroes" he remembered. Accepting greetings from people who pretended to know him while sipping coffee from a vending machine. Enduring the persistent chatter of teachers who tried to act close to him, as if they had sick people around them. And.
"The laceration is quite deep. If you had gone to the hospital, you probably would have needed stitches."
"Ugh..."
"Are you okay...?"
Treating the students who had started getting injured quite frequently lately. "Hey, if you're not busy, could you hold the student's wrist right in front of you? He's quite heavy for me to lift alone." "Ah, yes."
In the middle of the No. 3 sparring arena, located right next to the Academy gym. I had walked there as if running at the news of an injury, and I began to treat the muscle-bound male student's body while clicking my tongue. It seemed this happened because of the sword strapped to the female student's waist... I wanted to say something like, "Even if it's sparring, shouldn't you at least control your strength?" but I ended up just swallowing the words.
Late April. It was the time when the Academy's midterm evaluations were just around the corner.
"There, are you okay now?"
"...Yes. Phew... This is fucking amazing... Ah, I'm sorry. My mouth is a bit rough..."
"It's fine. I've seen plenty of people with rougher mouths."
I heard that you had to finish the midterm and final evaluations with excellent grades to go learn at a decent agency during the break. It didn't have much to do with me, but they wanted to build up their skills as much as possible right now, so it couldn't be helped. If they didn't grind their bodies to the bone right now, when would they? On the other hand, how badly did Lee Hayoon fail her evaluations throughout her first year that she had to take remedial classes during winter break? I had that thought for a moment, then told them to try not to get hurt—conveying in a roundabout way that they shouldn't make me tired—and returned to the infirmary.
"......?"
There was a guest. And of all people, a guest I wasn't very close with. As soon as I opened the door, I stared blankly at the long, pale blue hair, then cleared my throat and walked to my seat.
"What are you doing here? Are you hurt?"
"..."
Baek Seoyeon. In short, the woman who was Yozora's friend. I sat in my chair, meeting her eyes as she finally stared at me without a word. Now that I thought about it, she could have turned around when she heard the door open, but I didn't ask why she had just stayed still. It was simply because it was a hassle.
"Where are you hurt?"
"..."
"Or, did you come here because you had something else to say?"
"..."
But since there was no answer to my questions, it was inevitable that I'd feel a bit frustrated. If she was worried about our conversation being overheard, I wished she would at least write something down. I handed her a pen, but Baek Seoyeon's gaze only touched the pen for a brief moment before falling away. There was no particular reaction. She just stared at my face, then lowered her gaze slightly, and sighed a few times. Only after doing things I couldn't understand at all did she speak.
"...My wrist hurts a little."
Quietly. She just spoke. This naturally raised the question of why she hadn't answered when I first asked where she was hurt, but I kept that to myself as well. It could have been the aftereffects of the high fever she had suffered yesterday. Or, as the student council president, she might just be tired. Either way, if I just treated her properly, she would leave the infirmary without any trouble. I tossed the pen that had been awkwardly handed to me onto the desk and carefully grabbed Baek Seoyeon's wrist.
"Which wrist? The right? The left?"
"...The left."
The left. Did she have something like carpal tunnel syndrome? I gently held her hesitantly extended wrist with one hand and checked the inside.
"..."
"..."
But contrary to Baek Seoyeon's words, there was nothing wrong with her wrist. Wondering if there was another cause, I checked her entire body, focusing on her wrist, but nothing particularly strange came up. That meant Baek Seoyeon had lied to me about her wrist hurting. Why?
"Hey, did you really come here because your wrist hurts?"
"...?!"
What reason could Baek Seoyeon have to come to the infirmary and lie? At most, she wanted to rest for a while under the guise of being sick—that was all I could think of. When I asked her directly, her shoulders flinched in surprise. Whatever the reason, it seemed it was a lie. On the other hand, I also realized that Baek Seoyeon was someone who was really bad at lying.
"...I really came because it hurt."
"Stop lying and just admit it honestly. It's easy to tell because the feeling is different between someone who's actually sick and someone who's fine."
"..."
"So, why are you telling a lie like this..., ...Ah."
No matter how I thought about it, there seemed to be no reason for her to receive a fake medical examination from me other than faking an illness. In the middle of pursuing her out of pure curiosity, Baek Seoyeon hurriedly pulled away from my grasp, and because she immediately ran out of the infirmary without answering, a dumbfounded sound escaped my lips.
"..."
It is a bit embarrassing to admit you're faking an illness when you're 22 years old. I was left with only that thought.