How to Talk to Boys (6)
"I won, so I can do whatever I want, riiight? You promised."
"...Ha."
Yeah.
I'll be honest.
I, Yojora—it's already been at least ten minutes since the alcohol wore off and I came back to my senses.
"C'mon, Sua-chan."
"...Huh?"
"You watchin'? There's one more thing I wanna teach you..."
Was it while Woojin was comforting Sua-chan, telling her she'd worked so hard? I'd been happily curled up in his arms without a thought in my head, and then it hit me all at once—why am I in this guy's arms?
I kept turning it over, and even the messages I'd sent him came flooding back. I didn't say a word, but cold sweat poured down me from the sheer tension.
I mean, I'd worked so hard, day and night, playing the femme fatale so my real feelings would never, ever, ever leak out—and all it took was getting completely wasted for me to go gyaaaaah...
...Anyway.
What's done is done. Regret won't change a thing.
Decision.
I'll throw myself in and lay the groundwork so our Woojin can fuck Sua-chan as much as he wants. And me—well, I'll pretend to be drunk and enjoy it just a little. Really, just a little. Then later I'll act like the film cut out and I don't remember a thing.
"Boys, seeee... they like boobs a whooole lot, buuut... they really like kissing, too, you know?"
"...That's enough. Get down."
"Don't wannaaa."
Then, for the merit of offering Han Sua up to Master, maybe someday I'll get a nice little reward...?
Or maybe I'll get punished for doing whatever I pleased.
Well. Both of those are rewards, as far as I'm concerned. Doesn't matterrr.
Ehehe...
...A kiss is something you give to someone you like.
How is that supposed to be a way to make a guy friend?
I was about to say it.
"Mm... chu..."
Thump, thump—past the sound of a man and a woman mating, something wet and sticky slipped out, barely there and yet unmistakable. The sound of two adults happily tangling their tongues started spilling out right beside me, the exact same way.
Ah. No. Not exactly the same. A little louder than that. Pounding straight into my ears. Forced in.
"Chu... mmph... nnh..."
"......"
But... it wasn't as dirty as I'd thought. Maybe because they were so close. It was noisier than I'd expected, sure.
I wondered whether I even belonged in this room. In the end, though, I squirmed my butt against the sofa and peeked through the gaps between the fingers covering my face, drinking in the sight of the two of them.
Yojora had said so. Guys like kissing. As much as boobs. A lot. So I ought to study it, right? When I'd ever get to use it—whether I'd even get to use it on anyone at all—I had no idea.
"...Get down. Now."
"Pwah... Whyyy... You kiss me for a measly ten seconds and that's it?"
"Yeah. You smell like alcohol. I don't like it."
"That's why I drank orange juice toooo... Doesn't it kinda taste like a cocktail?"
"Cut the crap..."
My peeking eyes briefly meet Seo Woojin's. He's watching this side too. A deeply troubled look—like he's painfully aware of me sitting right there beside them.
Then he pushed Yojora's lips away with his palm and spoke.
"Han Sua."
"...Huh? Uh..."
"Don't take what she's saying seriously. Filter it. She's like this because she's drunk."
"...Okay."
I was already planning to. Letting someone touch my chest—well, touching doesn't wear it out, so I could let that much slide. A kiss is a different matter. Do you have any idea how many pure romance comics I've read? My first kiss is going to someone I like. No exceptions. A promise I made as a kid, and it still hasn't broken.
Even letting someone touch my chest is already a little difficult. The most I could allow is someone sneaking a look at my chest...
Yeah. Just that much. People stare no matter who they are, just from me walking down the street. If I compromise as far as I can, that's the limit.
"...Pwaha... You should listen seeeriously...! It's advice that'll stick, flesh and bone..."
"It's not happening, so stop and get down."
"Uuuh... you clueless, dickless bas— ...nngh?!"
Seo Woojin slips his hands under Yojora's arms and hoists her clean off the ground. Then he stands and, treating the pouting girl like a piece of luggage, stuffs her into the corner of the sofa.
...Does he lift Yojora like that in bed, too... Ah. So that's why she calls him Master...
Thanks to all the dirty comics I've been reading lately, my fantasies have gotten uncomfortably detailed. I flush because of it, if only for a moment.
"Don't worry about what she said earlier. Most of it was nonsense."
"Uh, okay..."
Leaving Yojora where she is, Seo Woojin closes the distance, sits down beside me, and speaks. Next to Yojora's endlessly bubbly voice, his is the gentle, weighty baritone of a health teacher. A voice that doesn't seem to have anything to do with the word Master. That kind of voice.
"Think about it normally. It's weird—letting someone touch your chest just so they'll be your friend."
"R...right..."
That voice quietly corrects every claim Yojora just threw out. Honestly, I'd thought it could totally be like that. To Seo Woojin, it must have sounded a little strange. Maybe because I've never made friends before...
"Once you're actually close, of course you'd let them touch your chest. But when you're not that close yet, it's fine to start with something much lighter than that. It doesn't matter."
"...Ah. Aha..."
Saying it, Seo Woojin had an incredibly gentle smile blooming across his whole face.
"Not somewhere that explicit, like your chest. Your hand, or your wrist. Or your shoulder... your feet... your hair... Petting would be nice, too."
"Then what Yojora said earlier, about chests..."
"She drank a ton and talked nonsense. Think about it. Have you ever seen someone on the street who lets you touch their chest?"
"...O-of course not..."
"Right?"
Now that he puts it that way, yeah. I give a little nod, and Seo Woojin lets out a soft laugh and rests his hand lightly on my head. A masculine hand, big, nothing like my small one. Even so, the fingers are slender and pretty. Much thicker than mine, of course. Thick enough that I drift into a bad fantasy and have to drag myself back.
"Like this. When you're not that close, you start with light skinship."
My head moves lightly under his hand. Soft, soft. The way my parents used to pet me when I was little.
But... something about it...
Is it because I'm a Mutant Transcendent? Being petted for the first time in nearly fifteen years—and gently, by a boy—strange thoughts keep bursting up, so I bite the inside of my lip, just a little.
Pet play... is that what they call it? There's a lot of it in Mutant Transcendent porn. Wearing a choker with your name on it, getting pulled along by a leash while you have sex... That kind of...
"How about it? Got the gist?"
Ever since I learned how to touch myself, the fantasies won't stop flaring. In the middle of them, Seo Woojin's gentle voice scatters my thoughts. At this point I understand it instinctively. If I want to make lots of friends, I have to be like Yojora or Woojin. And I... probably can't.
Hesitating, I look up at Seo Woojin and nod.
"Then shall we practice a little? We'll start with holding hands, one thing at a time..."
"Starting with hands...?"
"Yeah. This much, well—everyone does it."
"...I see."
Then the whole academy is too much. Just our class...? And only up through Woojin...
I was gloomily fidgeting the fingers half-sticking out from under my loose mocha sweatshirt when—
"...This is frustrating."
At some point Yojora had glued herself to Seo Woojin's back. Only her crimson eyes peeked over his shoulder as she spoke.
"What is?"
"......"
Seo Woojin asks, brow faintly creased. Instead of an answer, Yojora wears a smile so bewitching there's no other word for it. Out of habit she licks her lips once with the tip of her tongue and lets out a hnnn—a very Japanese little hum through her nose. All while staring straight at my chest. And pointing at it with her finger.
"...Sua-chan."
"...Huh? Me? I'm the frustrating one...?"
"You said you wanna make looots and loo~ots of friends, riiight...? I don't really get why, buuut..."
"...Yeah."
"Sooo then..."
Yojora, stuck to Seo Woojin's back, wriggles her way down. Then she stands in front of us in the same rumpled pajamas from before. For someone barely five-foot-three, she looks pretty dignified.
Except—
"Save the time you'd waste holding hands, and start with the naughty stuff..."
"......"
"......"
The words spilling from her lips were not particularly dignified.
In other words: what Woojin told me is the proper way. What Yojora wants to recommend is a shortcut. Rather than tediously getting closer one step at a time, use the method guys like and take the fast lane. Something like that.
...Sorry, Yojora. Thanks for saying it, but I'm too embarrassed. I probably can't. I'll just start the way Woojin said—petting my friends' heads and holding their hands.
"...Ha."
"......"
In the end Seo Woojin's sigh comes low. I stay silent too, honestly afraid Yojora will get sulky if I say what I really think.
"Sooo..."
"...Ah...?"
"Let's skip the elementary-school level...?"
Hehehe. Grinning, Yojora snatches the wrist of me sitting on the sofa and yanks hard with both hands.
What are you doing all of a sudden?! My arm's gonna come off, you idiot...
The thought lasts only a second. I half-rise, get pulled briefly into Yojora's arms, and then I'm spun around. She taps the back of my knees with her foot, and I drop to my knees right there.
"I should've tied up at least the ends of my hair, like Sua-chan..."
I don't know why, but Yojora kneels beside me. I meet the eyes of the girl whose long black hair is just about to brush the floor.
"...Ah. That reminds me."
"...?"
"Paizuri. Know what it is?"
"...Wh-what is that..."
Pretending I don't know what paizuri is—after seeing it dozens of times in dirty comics last night—playing innocent.
"...Enough. Just get up. Ignore Yojora."
"Whyyy...! I'm saying I'll teach her in advance what to do when she wants to make a 'close friend' later...!"
"......"
"And you're already close with Suaaa... If you just practice with her a little, it's good for both of you..."
Above my head, Seo Woojin's sigh falls, slow.
"...Hehe. Okay then, Sua-chan."
"Uh, uh?"
"...You're close with Woojin, so showing him your chest is fine, right?"
"......"
"Ah, maybe you're not even that close...?"
A giggle. Yojora's sweet little laugh.
"...Th-that's..."
"Aaaah~ so you weren't thinking of him as a friend. Just the health teacher..."
"W-we are close... Me and Woojin... We're really close..."
"Yeah?"
My voice trembles out of me. I meet the eyes of Seo Woojin as he glances down.
"...Heh."
Yojora wears a pretty smile, as if this whole situation delights her. I look at that smile.