The Fox Falls Little by Little, and the Cat Boy
Lily Academy was a prestigious institution that drew the nation's most gifted talents and the children of wealthy households alike.
It covered every field of learning imaginable and had produced countless famous figures across every walk of life. Because of that, not only gifted young students but also anyone whose family had a little money dreamed of enrolling there to raise their household's honor.
When I first reported for duty at the Academy, I even saw a couple decked out in luxury brands bowing and scraping for all they were worth in the counseling office.
True to its name and reputation, the Academy occupied a vast stretch of land right in the heart of the capital, and it employed a full staff of highly qualified teachers—myself excepted. Naturally, the tuition was far from ordinary either.
Of course, the scholarship system was excellent. Anyone with real talent could attend Lily Academy even if their family circumstances were difficult…
And I had just learned, without meaning to, that Go Yeonhee was one of those scholarship students.
"Did you already know? That Yeonhee's family is having a hard time?"
"Mm… I've heard bits and pieces of rumors here and there, but this is the first time I've seen it for myself."
"…Rumors?"
Come to think of it, Dam Sia had said something in the faculty office too—that there were ugly rumors about Go Yeonhee. She had brushed it off as something she didn't feel right repeating herself, though…
"What kind of rumors?"
"Huh? Ah, no… I don't think it's the sort of thing I should tell you, Yeoeun."
"Even so, I think I need to know. If I don't, I might end up making some careless mistake. And anyway, it's weird that you know and I don't—I'm her homeroom teacher."
"Ugh…"
Kang Heeji looked genuinely troubled as she sank into thought. The dog ears atop her red hair folded flat, then perked up, then drooped all the way down.
"Haah…. Fine. You're right—it's not good for you to be the only one left in the dark, Yeoeun."
She took my hand and tugged me a short way off from the front gate, then pulled me into her arms and whispered close against my ear.
"These are all unconfirmed rumors, okay? Don't take them too seriously."
"Yeah, I know."
"So, uh… Yeonhee's dad drank and gambled and kept hitting the family, so her mom walked out. The dad died in a traffic accident last year. Their relatives won't answer the phone either, so Yeonhee and her little siblings are living without parents."
…For a rumor about someone else's family affairs, it was suspiciously detailed. That alone made it pretty likely someone had invented it out of pure malice. Or maybe scraps of truth that parents had quietly traded among themselves had trickled down to their kids and gotten inflated along the way.
Still, that much didn't seem so bad that she couldn't tell me. There had to be more.
As if to confirm my guess, Kang Heeji let out a small sigh and forced herself to continue.
"And once things got hard at home, Go Yeonhee started… um… going on paid dates… for living expenses…"
"……What?"
"I-it's only a rumor! There's no way she's actually doing that, right?"
Heeji shook her head with a thoroughly uncomfortable look, clearly as unsettled by the rumor as I was. She was right—it wasn't the kind of thing Dam Sia would ever have told me directly, even as Yeonhee's homeroom teacher.
Was that malicious rumor the reason Go Yeonhee wasn't coming to the Academy? If I put myself in her shoes, I wouldn't want to set foot on campus either while something like that was circulating.
So what was a homeroom teacher supposed to do to get her to come back?
It was far too hard a problem for a complete beginner.
"Whoa, a couple!"
Right then, a pure, innocent voice piped up beside us.
I turned my head. A small boy with gray hair and cat ears was pointing a finger straight at us.
"You're not supposed to make out in front of other people's houses."
"Th-this isn't making out—"
"Sorry. My noona likes this noona so much she just couldn't help herself."
"Wait…!"
Instead of letting go, Kang Heeji only tightened her arm around my waist and hugged me even closer. I squirmed with the sheer embarrassment of being seen like this by a child, but she showed no intention of releasing me.
In the end I gave up fighting and buried my flaming face against her chest.
This girl… she's ridiculously strong…
The sensation of being unable to overpower another girl with raw strength felt incredibly strange. And so did the feeling of leaning into her arms…
"By the way, did we really look like a couple?"
"Yep. Aren't you?"
"Nope, nope—we totally are. …Did you hear that? He said we look like a couple."
"……I don't know, you idiot."
At the cool, delighted smile spreading across Heeji's face, I hid my red cheeks and sulked for no good reason.
A couple… so Kang Heeji and I had looked like a couple.
Even though we're both girls? Like I was her girlfriend…
It was one thing for Heeji to tease me by treating me like her girlfriend. Realizing that we looked that way to other people too made being held by her suddenly, unbearably mortifying. But the only place I could hide right then was her embrace, so all I could do was press myself even deeper into her arms.
Her bright laughter rang out above my head, but I absolutely refused to look up.
"How well do you think we match? Out of a hundred points?"
"Q-quit it, Kang Heeji. Your teacher is getting angry."
"Really? I bet Yeoeun looks cute when she's mad. Can I see?"
"………"
There was no way I was breaking free by force, so I poured every ounce of my fury into my expression. Far from being cowed by her teacher's dignity, Heeji only burst into peals of laughter and finally let me go.
The moment I slipped free, I became keenly aware of the heat flushing through my entire body. I clapped both hands over my bright-red face and whipped my head to the side.
The cat boy was staring right at me.
"Our house isn't a motel."
"W-where did you even learn a phrase like that…!"
"From TV."
Any TV that taught little kids filthy lines like that deserved to be wiped from the face of the earth.
"More importantly—do you live in this house?"
A shadow fell over me while I stood there flustered. I looked up and found myself staring at Kang Heeji's long, slender back.
She's shielding me…?
This rotten dog of a girl tormented her teacher however she pleased, and then the next second she was wrapping me up protectively like this. I drew a slightly shaky breath and stood behind her, clutching the hem of her clothes tight.
"Yes, I live here."
"Then do you know someone named Go Yeonhee?"
"That's my noona's name."
For a second my mind went completely blank.
So I had just been hugged by my own student and mistaken for a couple… in front of Go Yeonhee's little brother?
"Uh, um—what's your name?"
"Go Yeonjun."
"Yeonjun-ah, um… can you keep what you saw just now a secret?"
"Huh? Why?"
"Why… well…"
The moment I tried to come up with a reason, the words stuck in my throat.
In reality this whole thing was just a harmless misunderstanding caused by Kang Heeji teasing me. There was no need to beg him to keep it secret. Even if he told Go Yeonhee, we could just laugh it off—yeah, something like that happened—and that would be the end of it.
And yet here I was, acting like someone with something to hide—
That was when Heeji stepped in.
"We're a secret couple who can't get caught by other people. If you don't keep it secret for us, we'll have to break up. So… will you help us out?"
"You should never do something you're good at for free."
"…You saw that on TV too?"
Go Yeonjun bobbed his head up and down.
"Yep. And I want ice cream. Tangerine flavor."
"Yeoeun-ah, go buy some."
"O-okay!"
I clamped my arms around my large chest to keep it from bouncing and sprinted to the nearest convenience store. I grabbed every ice cream I could get my hands on, hurried back, and held them out to Go Yeonjun.
Our tiny negotiator beamed, clearly satisfied with my sincerity.
"I can share these with my noonas, right?"
"Of course. Um, more importantly… is your noona home?"
With a sweet tangerine ice cream already in his mouth, Yeonjun nodded.
"Yeonhee-noona isn't here, but Yeonji-noona is."
"You have another noona?"
"Yep. Yeonji-noona is fifteen. I'm seven."
Go Yeonhee was a second-year at the Academy… twenty-one. Quite an age gap among the siblings.
Anyway, Yeonhee herself didn't seem to be home. What now?
"Then… are your parents home?"
"…We don't have parents."
"Ah—s-sorry…"
So parts of the rumors about Go Yeonhee had been true after all.
It would have been better if I'd known all this before coming, but Lily Academy strictly limited even a homeroom teacher's access to a student's personal information—supposedly to prevent discrimination or favoritism based on background. The only reason I'd been allowed to learn the address and make this home visit was because I'd formally submitted Yeonhee's consecutive absences as grounds.
"It's okay. Everyone says that."
The way Yeonjun put on such a calm face, as if telling me not to worry about it, only made my chest ache worse. Had I once looked like that to other people, too?
"Yeoeun… seom?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's nothing."
I smiled and shook my head at Heeji's worried look, then crouched down in front of Yeonjun so our eyes were level.
"I'm Yeonhee-noona's homeroom teacher, and this tall, cool noona next to me is her classmate. Would it be all right if we came inside?"
"Hmm… you both seem like nice noonas, so—"
"Go Yeonjun, who are you talking to out there?"
A rusted iron gate whose paint had long since flaked away swung open with a creak, and a girl who looked like she had been cut straight from the attendance-book photo of Go Yeonhee appeared in the doorway. Phone in hand, she fixed us with wary eyes. This had to be the Yeonji-noona Yeonjun had mentioned—Go Yeonji.
Before she could call the police, I explained that we were here for a home visit and gave her a rough outline of the situation.
"Unnie Yeonhee hasn't been attending the Academy? But she leaves for school every morning…"
Go Yeonji's cat ears pricked sharply in disbelief. Beside her, Yeonjun asked in confusion,
"Huh? Yeonhee-noona hasn't been going to school?"
"Ah—no, it's not like that. It's just… they came because Unnie Yeonhee is doing so well at the Academy that they wanted to praise her."
"Really? That's our Yeonhee-noona for you!"
"Yeonjun-ah, go inside first. Put the ice cream in the freezer before it melts."
After shooing her little brother indoors, Go Yeonji let out a heavy sigh and pressed a hand to her forehead. Then she exhaled again—deeply—and looked back and forth between me and Kang Heeji. Something had clearly clicked for her.
"……Don't just stand out here talking. Come inside."
And with that, we took a step into the tangled ball of yarn that was the cats' household.
Completely unaware of what kind of incident that decision would spark tonight.