Friends
"Friend."
"Pardon?"
Even though I'd heard her perfectly clearly, I couldn't help asking again like some complete idiot.
Only moments ago she'd been radiating sheer dignity, and now I had to wonder if she was secretly dual-personalityed and her other self had just seized the wheel. There was no other way a person could change this drastically.
"I mean... what I'm trying to say is...! Ugh..."
She looked exactly like someone who had never known how to deal with other people, attempting for the first time in her life to make a friend.
No. That couldn't be. Someone of a princess's standing would inevitably have to interact with others whether she liked it or not. Even if she'd entered the academy the moment she came of age, that still meant nineteen years. Even setting the imperial princess title aside, there was no way anyone could go nineteen whole years without a single friend.
Which left the spectacle in front of me utterly inexplicable. Either a sudden playful streak had overtaken her, or she genuinely was dual-personalityed.
"...So... we... we are friends... right...?"
What I saw before me looked less like a tiger and more like a frightened cat. Her ears had flattened, and her tail had somehow curled in toward her body — body language so transparent even I, who knew nothing about animals, could read the anxiety pouring off her.
That said, this was still a golden opportunity. I'd been at a complete loss as to how to approach her, and now she herself was granting me permission. All I had to do was say thank you and step forward.
"Of course we're... friends."
Still, after addressing her so formally for so long, dropping the honorifics felt a little awkward.
"Right...?"
I knew asking this right after declaring us friends could be poison, but I was far too curious not to.
"Then... Hoyeon?"
The moment I called her name, she flinched slightly. I remembered her hating it not long ago for being too familiar, but now she only flushed without seeming to mind nearly as much.
Maybe she was simply catastrophically bad at expressing herself. I hadn't thought anyone could be worse than Anastasiya, but if my guess was right, Hoyeon might just surpass her.
"Uh, y-yeah?"
"...Have you ever met anyone you could actually call a friend?"
The look on her face as if she'd just been smacked in the back of the head made me wonder if I'd just asked something I absolutely shouldn't have. Like telling an ugly person they're ugly — some things you simply don't ask.
"..."
Fortunately it hadn't been a true sore spot. After a brief silence, she nodded.
Maybe this was her true face, and that cold, severe imperial princess was nothing more than a mask to hide this side of her. Assuming this really was her nature, of course. If it was, I could practically see the suffering of whoever had been charged with teaching her.
"Sorry if that made you uncomfortable. I apologize."
"Ah... n-no, you don't need to apologize!"
She said that, but the hurt was written all over her face. Anyone could see she wasn't fine, yet she kept insisting she was.
"No, I wasn't being thoughtful enough."
"Ah, uhh... stop it..."
Why did apologizing feel like I was doing something terrible to her? If I kept going I had a feeling something irreversible would happen, so I left it there.
And so we walked without being able to look each other in the eye. She seemed just as embarrassed, idly twisting a strand of her hair and staring off at the distant hills as we went.
After going so far as to declare ourselves friends, simply heading back to the dorms in total silence felt wrong.
"Did you have something you were planning to do?"
I tried to open up a conversation, but she didn't seem inclined to say much more.
"...No."
"Anywhere you were headed, then?"
"...No."
So we really were just going straight back to the dorms? Every so often she seemed to glance at me, but by the time I looked her way she'd already turned her head. Every attempt at conversation got shut down so cleanly that I started to regret asking about friends at all.
"So you're just planning to head back to the dorms like this?"
"Yeah."
Incidentally, she'd been cute enough when she was playing the superior, but she was far cuter now. I was genuinely curious how her parents had managed to produce a child like this.
Originally I'd planned to sideline her rather than pursue a route, but if she kept showing me this side of herself, conquest might jump to first priority over exclusion. If I succeeded, I might even be able to erase the Baek Empire's invasion entirely — and she happened to match my tastes perfectly. If I failed completely, of course, the invasion would simply be moved up with no room for debate.
So even if I failed, I'd have to handle her carefully enough that the invasion never happened. As I quietly revised my policy toward her, we arrived at the dorms before I knew it.
"...Haaaaaah."
The moment I said goodbye to Dogeon and stepped into my room, the strength left my legs. It was an undignified way to collapse against the front door, but I no longer had the energy to care about appearances.
He'd definitely called me his friend.
Friend, friend, friend...
The only person I'd ever thought of as a friend had been that hopelessly twisted guy from my original world, so the word still felt completely foreign. I'd always told myself that if I ever got someone I could call a friend, I'd be warm and keep starting conversations — but now that I actually had one, I felt like I hadn't managed even twenty percent of what I'd imagined. I regretted it.
But I had my grievances too. Dogeon suddenly asking if I had no friends had made me a little defensive, yes — but more than that, the sheer weight of the attention he kept sending my way was crushing. How could one person's interest weigh heavier than dozens of people's? It felt like being pinned down.
And even after I said I was fine, why did he keep apologizing and making me so embarrassed? Because of that, even when Dogeon kept trying to talk to me, I was too mortified to hold a conversation.
And above all else — him calling me Hoyeon.
Only Mom and Dad had ever called me that. Hearing someone else say it felt genuinely strange. Not bad, just... a lot strange.
"Huuuuh... haah."
In that case, I should try calling him Dogeon-ah too... right?
"Do..."
"..."
"Do...!"
Ah, no, impossible. The word stopped dead at the tip of my tongue. And the soundproofing in here didn't seem all that great — if I actually said it and the next room overheard, I might die of pure shame.
As I flopped around undignified on the bed, a single bead slipped smoothly out of my pocket. What was that again? Even as I tried to think, Dogeon's face flickered through my mind.
Oh, right. The bead Stephania had given me. She'd said something about wanting to have tea sometime, but I'd completely forgotten.
Stephania seemed like she wanted to be friends too... but something about her put me off. Dogeon didn't exactly look pure-hearted either, but Stephania was on another level entirely. Even setting aside those half-lidded eyes of hers, she looked sly. And that last look she'd given me had absolutely not been carrying any bright intentions.
...This world was originally a novel, so maybe she was one of those so-called crazy psycho characters? It was possible. Whatever the case, I didn't think I'd be hanging around with her.
I set the bead she'd given me on a corner of my desk, wrote in my diary to Mother, and loafed around on the bed for no reason until evening arrived before I knew it.
I knew the way well enough to go alone now, but food always tasted better with someone else than by yourself. And friends were supposed to eat together, right? With that thought I knocked on the door next to mine, but got no answer.
Wondering if he was asleep again, I turned the handle — and once more the door opened without any resistance. Did Dogeon just... forget to lock his door? Same with the lockers, for that matter.
No one was inside. What? So I'd been shadowboxing alone this whole time thinking Dogeon was next door?
I felt a little hollow for a moment, but not long after, Dogeon walked into the room carrying some kind of worn-looking scroll.
"...Ah. You're... here?"
"How on earth did you get in this time?"
He asked with such genuine shock that I had no choice but to answer.
"W-well, you hadn't locked the door..."
Are you serious? That was what his face seemed to be saying. Look, if the handle turns and the door opens, that's not my fault.
"Don't look at me like that..."
I mean it, stop looking at me with those suspicious eyes. When you look at me like that I start feeling like I actually did something wrong.
"Hoyeon."
"Uh, y-yeah?"
Even though I hadn't done anything wrong, my body stiffened on its own. Wait, friends are supposed to just wander into each other's places and raid the fridge without needing words, right? Right?
"Come out for a second."
I followed after him in a daze as he started walking. I was a little anxious about where we were going, but anticlimactically he just stopped in front of his locker.
"Try opening this for me?"
"...Alright."
I had no idea what he was thinking asking me to do this, but if he said so, fine. I pulled on the locker door without much thought, and of course it opened.
The moment it did, a rush of refreshing pure mana poured out, and for a second my expression eased — only for Dogeon to try opening my locker with a strangely serious look on his face. Of course it didn't open.
"Then, Hoyeon. Try opening this locker here too?"
"That belongs to someone we don't even know...?"
"It'll be fine. Just try it."
What do you mean it'll be fine? That completely belongs to a stranger. But I already felt a little guilty toward Dogeon, so I had no choice but to do as he said. And it was a friend's request, after all.
Amazingly, it opened just as easily as Dogeon's locker. What?
"...Don't tell me it's that."
"What's...?"
"No, nothing. More importantly — why were you in my room?"
What? Why make me open other people's lockers, put on that grave expression, then casually change the subject like nothing happened? I didn't have the courage to ask why, so I just answered his question.
"W-well, because we're friends... I thought we could eat together..."
"...Ah. Right. Let's do that."
We didn't exactly make small talk on the way, but we arrived at the cafeteria. Facing Dogeon, I found I couldn't say any of the things I'd rehearsed in my head.
This time I only put as much on my plate as I could actually eat, finished the meal, and we headed back. No matter how embarrassed I was, some things had to be done.
It was just calling his name. It wasn't hard. No — still not yet. I hesitated so long that before I knew it we were standing in front of our doors.
"Um... Dogeon...ah!"
"Yeah?"
Ah, I did it. My face felt like it was on fire.
"...N-no, I mean, good night!"
But he didn't seem particularly moved, just saying good night back and offering a casual goodbye.
The moment I entered my room I buried my face in my pillow. Still, I'd said it, and that felt good. Dogeon-ah.
More importantly... that day was coming soon, wasn't it.
...Well, it would work out somehow. For now I surrendered myself to sleep, still drunk on the sense of accomplishment.