That Day at Karaoke with Friends, After the 'Counseling'
After the counseling session ended, I dragged my exhausted body off the bed and began slipping into my school uniform piece by piece. Suddenly, a hand grabbed my collar tightly. When I turned around, I saw the teacher lying down, stretching her arm out toward me.
"Seon-ah, before you go…."
"Yes?"
"Kiss… me."
Since you did it with Min-ji—our homeroom teacher added. A kiss, huh. Now that the teacher and I had grown closer, did she want to try kissing me like Min-ji? Well, it wasn’t like I couldn’t do it. If I refused, it might even seem like I was playing favorites between friends.
I paused midway through dressing, leaned my upper body over her, and gave her a light peck on the lips.
"Hehe…."
Even that seemed to delight her. She touched her lips with her fingers and let out a silly laugh. It was hard to reconcile this with the scary teacher from earlier. Seeing her like this made me want to roll around in bed with her a little longer, but… I really needed to go home and rest.
"Teacher, I’m heading out now."
"…."
She didn’t respond to my goodbye. Instead, she just shook her head from side to side.
"Don’t call me teacher anymore. Call me Mi-na."
"…Yes, Mi-na."
I’d only ever called her “teacher” before, so maybe she’d felt some distance. After all, it was normal for girls to speak casually with teachers they were close to, using nicknames and acting cute. The moment I called her by name, she finally smiled brightly in satisfaction and waved her hand back and forth. Leaving the beaming teacher behind, I finally stepped out of the counseling room.
"Whew…."
I’d accidentally challenged her to a battle of wills midway through and had no idea how it would turn out, but it had resolved well. That was a relief. …Still, Pussy Education? I wondered if something like that would actually work on me.
Of course, punishing someone to engrave their mistake was a common teaching method. But in my case, getting my ass spanked wasn’t really a punishment….
"…Ugh."
When I firmly squeezed my still-burning backside, a sharp sting shot up the back of my neck. At the same time, a sweet sigh slipped reflexively from between my lips.
…If just grabbing my ass did this to me, how effective could that education method possibly be? But admitting to Mi-na that my body had masochistic tendencies was too embarrassing. Yeah, I’d keep it a secret for now… and think about it later.
After roughly sorting my thoughts and trying to leave the counseling room, I suddenly felt a gaze on me. I whipped my head around.
"…?"
But there was only an empty hallway. …What was that? I definitely felt something. Or maybe I was just imagining it. I tilted my head, scanned the corridor for a moment, then decided I’d been mistaken and started walking again.
What should I do at home? Maybe sleep in for once. Or playing games sounded nice too. …As long as it wasn’t the dating sim.
To get straight to the point, my plans for a peaceful rest completely fell apart.
"Ah, it’s Seon-ah!"
"Where, where? Oh, it really is her. Counseling must be over, huh?"
It was because of the girls from our class I ran into shortly after leaving the Academy. Jeong Ye-ji was calling my name, along with her close group of friends.
Since I still lacked common sense about this world, I hadn’t made any extremely close friends aside from Eun-jeong and Han-na to avoid making mistakes. So aside from Ye-ji, who I was a bit closer with, I only knew the rest moderately. I didn’t have any memories of hanging out with them, but… the exams were over, and they were welcoming me so enthusiastically. It would be rude to turn them down.
"Where are you headed?"
"We’re going to karaoke~."
"They said a new place opened in front of the station, so we’re on our way."
"Hehe, Seon-ah’s arm is so soft…."
One comment from me brought back ten in reply. It had been a while since I’d been in such a noisy atmosphere….
With that thought, I started walking down the street with both arms hugged by the girls, looking like a criminal being escorted away.
"How many of us are there anyway… huh? Class president?"
"…Is the class president here?"
While I was turning my head to count the group, I spotted the class president watching us from afar. What was she doing standing over there?
"Class president, over here! Let’s bring her too. What do you think?"
"Sure, let’s bring her. No objections, right?"
"I don’t mind."
After getting the girls’ approval, I turned back toward where the class president had been, but she had already vanished. …Where did she go so fast?
"She’s gone? Then let’s hurry…."
"Yeah, yeah. A day is short. The sun’s already setting."
"…Isn’t that the moon above your head right now, not the sun?"
"Ah, come on… You just don’t get metaphors, do you?"
When I stopped, the girls pressed their bodies even closer to my linked arms and whined. The soft pressure of their breasts squishing against me made my face flush bright red.
"O-okay… Let’s go quickly."
In the end, I gave up on the class president and headed to the karaoke with them. It would’ve been nicer if there was at least one other loner….
Licking my lips in slight disappointment while walking through the busy streets, I felt the gazes of passersby focusing on us. Well, the girls from the Academy really were incredibly pretty. Aside from tomboyish me, they all had visuals you’d normally only see on TV or smartphone screens. The average for dating sim characters was like that, but it must feel different to people actually living in this world.
…Even so, being dragged along like this was still incredibly embarrassing.
"Hey, girls. Can I have my arm back for a second…."
"No way."
"Where do you think you’re running off to?"
I couldn’t stand the stares anymore and tried to subtly pull my arm free, but it only made the girls holding onto me even more vigilant. …Your breasts are literally pressed against my body now. Doesn’t that bother you? Or was this just normal life for popular kids?
The life of a popular kid that this loner was experiencing for the first time was unbelievably uncomfortable….
After walking briskly through the bright daytime streets, we finally reached the karaoke parlor. But when we arrived….
"All the rooms are full?"
"Yes…."
"We walked all the way from the Academy!"
"What do you mean ‘all the way’? It was only a few minutes."
"Soyeon, you really have no sense! This is when you’re supposed to use the sympathy strategy!"
The girls’ grumbling voices surrounded me in stereo. As expected, this popular-kid atmosphere really didn’t suit me….
My blank gaze happened to meet the female part-timer who had been glancing at me. Right after that—
"Is there really no way to get a room?"
"Um…."
The part-timer seemed to think for a moment, then said “just a second” and dashed down the hallway. A short while later, she returned with a triumphant expression and guided us deeper inside.
What? I thought there were no rooms? The question was answered when I overheard the male students grumbling as they walked out from the opposite direction.
"Ugh, seriously. They offer service time and then pull this?"
"They said they’d give us extra service next time."
"You actually believe that?"
"…The part-timer’s cute. What else can we do?"
Hmm… It looked like the part-timer had gone out of her way to clear a room for us. I felt a little guilty that the girls’ fussing had caused trouble.
"If you need anything, please use the intercom."
"Yes! Thank you~!"
The part-timer quickly gathered the scattered trash, bowed politely, and left. …I should buy her a drink later.
"Seon-ah, hurry and sit here!"
"Huh? Oh, sure…."
I followed the girl pulling my arm and plopped down in the middle of the sofa. The moment I sat, the girls slid into seats all around me as if they’d been waiting.
"Seo Na-eun, you’re so sneaky."
"Hehe… First come, first served."
"…So annoying."
Watching them playfully growl over me was cute enough to make me smile, yet… it also left me with a strange sense of regret. These girls were acting this way because they felt close to me as a friend. But with a man’s heart inside, I couldn’t help thinking how much better it would have been if this situation had happened between opposite sexes….
Of course, it was a spoiled delusion about a situation I never would have experienced if I hadn’t possessed this body in the first place.
"Oh, right. Eun-jeong invited us to her place this weekend. Did you see?"
"Yeah, I’m really looking forward to it. What do I do? I’ve never been somewhere like that before…."
"Forget that. Let’s go shopping together before the weekend."
…What was this about?
"Eun-jeong said she’d hang out with you guys?"
"Wait, Seon-ah, you didn’t see it?"
"See what?"
"Just check the class group chat."
At her words, I pulled out the phone I’d stuffed in my skirt pocket. Eun-jeong had posted that since exams were over, we should go to a private beach this weekend and was checking who could come.
…A private beach? What the heck? Anyway, I replied that I’d go. The moment I sent the message, a private chat from Eun-jeong popped up.
I couldn’t possibly tell Eun-jeong what had actually happened during counseling, so I was relieved it passed without issue. But “have fun”? What did she mean by that? Had I said I was going out to play?
"Seon-ah, stop looking at your phone and let’s have fun already."
"Ah, right."
I put my phone away and sat quietly. One of the girls picked up the microphone and started singing. Oh… she was pretty good. She sang a funky song, swaying her head to the rhythm. I gave her a small round of applause. Eun-jeong was a great singer too. It was a shame she wasn’t here. Being from a chaebol family, she probably had to go through strict checks or something today. …Han-na was the same type as me and never came to karaoke anyway, so she was out of the question.
Hiding my slightly bittersweet feelings, I stared blankly at the sparkling lights in the dark room when suddenly—
"Hng…?"
I felt a hand lightly grab my chest.