That Special Day (2)
“…What?”
How was I supposed to react when the girl who only yesterday had shown the bashful demeanor of a shy young lady suddenly reverted overnight to the high-handed bearing of a princess?
“Why are you standing there gaping like an idiot? I told you to come here.”
Hoyeon was driving me forward with the clear implication that she would not leave me alone if I failed to obey. Whatever had happened the night before, she was still the one who held the upper hand, so I had no choice but to approach her, however hesitantly.
And from that point on, I truly had no idea how to explain what followed.
“…What are you doing? Hurry up and take it.”
In other words, after summoning me with a far more intimidating air than on the first day, what she wanted was for me to hold her hand. How was I supposed to take that?
“Ah… right. Hoyeon.”
When I took her hand, it was warmer and softer than I had expected—almost like the pads of a kitten’s paws.
Yet that plush sensation stood in stark contrast to the murderous atmosphere, as if a blade had been pressed to my throat.
“Address me as Lady Hoyeon.”
She really did seem to have a dual personality. There was no other way to explain how a person could flip so completely between the princess persona and the girl persona.
“…Understood, Lady Hoyeon.”
No matter how pretty she is, she’s still terrifying in princess mode.
Of course, even in that state she could occasionally be cute, but it was the same kind of cuteness you feel watching a tiger do something ridiculous. Cute or not, a tiger was still a tiger. One careless gesture and you would die on the spot. For now, the only option was to do as she said.
So, with the feeling of walking barefoot across a blade, I held her hand and walked. Somewhere along the way a sweet fragrance drifted toward us.
It was hard to believe it came from the cafeteria; neither yesterday nor the day before had any food scent been this strong. I couldn’t help wondering where the smell was coming from.
“…Lady Hoyeon. Do you smell a sweet fragrance from somewhere?”
It was definitely nearby, yet I couldn’t pinpoint the source, which only made it more distracting. Mixed into the sweetness was a distinctive animal musk as well.
As a beastkin she surely couldn’t miss such a characteristic scent.
“You’ve been talking far too much since earlier. I smell nothing. Keep walking.”
For some reason, however, she seemed completely oblivious. Everything about her so far had pointed to superhuman senses, so was her sense of smell simply underdeveloped?
According to the novel’s descriptions, beastkin’s strongest sense was supposed to be smell. But not every individual followed the rule. Just as not every elf was a racist, beastkin apparently had individual differences too.
In her case, hearing was probably her sharpest sense. The way she had clearly caught the sound of a growling stomach from high above made that theory plausible.
That aside, retrieving the status-window scroll that had been sleeping in a corner of the library had gone well enough—except it refused to work. Infusing it with mana produced no reaction whatsoever. I wondered if I had grabbed the wrong item, but after reviewing the description it matched perfectly.
So there had to be some unknown condition for activation.
Hoyeon’s gaze made it hard to think. She was staring at me so intently that even the densest person would have noticed.
I wanted to ask why she was looking at me like that, but she would almost certainly snap at me to shut up and keep walking, just like earlier, so I couldn’t.
Last night’s overly girlish side had been hard to deal with in its own way, yet it was still better than this.
Surrounded by that enigmatic scent and pinned under a predator’s stare, I had no choice but to hold her hand all the way to the classroom.
I didn’t dislike it, exactly, but her absolute dominance made things a little awkward. Getting closer like this wasn’t bad, yet I would have preferred a more equal relationship.
Something like friends.
Even after we sat down, the strange fragrance kept wafting over, making it impossible to absorb a single word of the lecture. If you mixed a sweet floral perfume with the body scent of a beast, it would probably smell like this.
And more than anything, Hoyeon’s tail kept brushing against my leg.
Whether she was doing it on purpose or completely unconsciously, I couldn’t tell, but from first period until now her tail had been steadily grazing my calf.
I didn’t want to provoke her today if I could help it, but this much at least needed to be said.
“Lady Hoyeon. Your tail has been touching my leg for quite a while. Could you please keep it still?”
She simply continued staring at me in silence, and I immediately regretted speaking up.
“Ah… did it? …Sorry.”
Contrary to every expectation, she actually apologized. The hostility from earlier had drained away, and her face looked faintly flushed, though she refused to meet my eyes so I couldn’t be sure.
Yes. Exactly like this would be perfect. Neither the overbearing princess nor the excessively meek girl—this middle ground was the easiest to deal with.
“No chatting during class, Student Han Dogeon.”
“Yes, I’ll be careful.”
The sour-faced teacher had openly called me out, but at least her tail stopped brushing my leg afterward, so I counted it a win.
One distraction fewer still didn’t mean the lesson was entering my ears. Still, I could at least form a plan for what needed doing.
Yesterday I had been too preoccupied with Hoyeon to spare the time, but starting today I would buy Exipri a piece of candy each day.
Cecilia and Gloria’s turns hadn’t come yet, so no need to think about them. Iris had vanished without a trace, so she was out of the equation.
For some reason Anastasiya had given me a scolding about valuing family, but we already had plenty of events together, so I wasn’t particularly worried.
Camilla would naturally form a connection during the baffling midterm physical exam—three days of wilderness survival—when we got stranded together, so there was no need to work on her in advance.
That left Exipri as the closest priority.
My wallet wasn’t exactly flush, yet I didn’t feel the least bit reluctant. Candy alone was enough to copy her affection points. How could that possibly feel wasteful?
Winning over Gloria, a late-game heroine, required me to personally kill demon worshippers or deliver them to her—the difficulty jumped that high.
Which made me wonder about Hoyeon’s difficulty level.
Judging by the side she had shown last night, she looked like an incredibly easy heroine who would fall with a single word of friendship. Judging by her usual demeanor, though, that didn’t seem right either.
It was ridiculous to try ranking someone after only three days, but maybe that was simply because the sense that this was reality still hadn’t fully sunk in.
When lunchtime arrived, she casually took my hand and began leading me somewhere.
Strange. The cafeteria is that way…
I stretched my senses to their limit, checking whether anyone was nearby. At the moment I could feel no one but Dogeon and myself.
Good. Here I can speak freely.
“Um, Lady Hoyeon? This isn’t the way to the cafeteria. Did you perhaps take a wrong turn?”
“…I’m sorry!”
“Huh?”
“When I said I didn’t smell anything this morning, that was a lie! That scent… is probably coming from me… Uuugh, I was so embarrassed I just said it wasn’t there… And for speaking so roughly, too…”
“Uh… Hoyeon? Slow down a little. You’re saying that smell is coming from you?”
The moment I first spoke to Dogeon this morning I had already felt a pang of regret, but going back on it would have made my own resolution feel hollow, so I had kept talking down to him. I felt terrible about that.
And when he mentioned the scent, it was obvious even to me that I had used way too much shampoo. That was also humiliating, so I had stubbornly denied it to the end.
Is it really okay to treat a friend this way just because of the difference in status? If someone declared friendship with me one day and then suddenly treated me like a stranger the next, I’d feel betrayed too.
I even treated him like a subordinate. He’s bound to hate me for it.
The self-loathing and guilt made me want to drop into a full prostration right then and there.
“Please don’t hate me…”
Keeping my head bowed and speaking in a voice that barely scraped out was the best I could manage.
Why can’t I keep my tail still even during class? Why do I keep making one stupid mistake after another?
Blaming it on heat doesn’t work—I’ve never been like this before.
“…Let’s calm down first. Breathe.”
In… out. I breathed as Dogeon said, but it didn’t help much.
“I was just curious where the nice smell was coming from. So it was you. I wasn’t trying to complain.”
Wait. That wasn’t what I expected at all. He thinks it smells good? My face burned with embarrassment. No—if he says he likes it, then what am I supposed to say? Honestly I’m happy, but…
“B-but… friends aren’t supposed to lie to each other… I lied, so—”
“Friends can lie to each other sometimes, you know.”
You’re… actually an incredibly kind guy, aren’t you? Declaring us friends yesterday, then brushing off today’s lie so casually…
Is this the kind of tolerance it takes to become popular?
“More importantly, earlier you were talking like a princess. Why are you suddenly speaking to me like a friend now?”
Ah. That.
…I can tell him, right? With this much understanding…
“Well… even if we’re friends, you’re a commoner and I’m a princess… right…? So… I was worried the other kids might spread weird rumors if they saw… Did it make you feel bad…? I’m sorry…”
“So that’s why. If a princess and a commoner acted too familiar, strange rumors would start, so in front of others you’d treat me like a princess… Is that how I should take it?”
“…Yeah.”
Hearing it put into words made it sound like I had unilaterally declared I would act superior whenever people were watching, and that left a bitter taste.
“Then the reason you brought me all the way out here is… to apologize somewhere no one else can see?”
“…Yeah.”
“In that case, could I ask you for one favor?”