Wear It for Me, Harang
"Happy New Year~!"
In our living room, my family and Se-ah's family called out New Year's greetings together.
It had been less than a month since we'd met Se-ah's family, but with Se-ah dropping by without fail every single day, and our parents getting together on weekends to chat about this and that, we'd grown close in no time.
"Harang will be starting at Cheongdaram Elementary School this time. Our oldest already goes there, and there's nothing else around here that comes close."
"Oh my, really? Our Se-ah's going there too this year. Aren't you lucky, Se-ah~ You'll get to go to school with Harang."
"For real!? Yes!!!"
At the news that Se-ah would be attending the same elementary school as me, my older sister—who'd been staring blankly at the TV—looked over at me with slightly widened eyes. Se-ah, meanwhile, couldn't contain her joy and threw her arms around me, bouncing up and down.
I'd known she had the power to control water. Watching her bounce around while holding onto me—who was relatively tall—I felt the difference between men and women in this world all over again.
"Dad!! Dad!! I wanna go play with Harang!! Give me allowance!!"
Still carrying me around like some oversized teddy bear, Se-ah marched over to her father and demanded pocket money with absolute confidence. Her dad let out a sigh and handed her a few bills.
Se-ah reached for them, thrilled—but someone else snagged the money even faster. Her mother.
"Honey! I told you not to just hand Se-ah money like that! Se-ah, you're going out with Mom today."
"Uuuugh!! No! No! I'm only going with Harang!!"
"No. Way! Harang hasn't even been out of the hospital for a full year yet!"
Se-ah's mother told her that I hadn't been awake from the hospital for long—but I got the sense she was trying to hide the real reason: that the two of us couldn't go out alone because I was a boy.
I'd found out last week that Se-ah still thought I was a girl.
As Christmas approached, Se-ah had shown up in an adorable reindeer outfit, giggling about how we were a bear and a reindeer—then announced she wanted to wear my bear coat and stripped the reindeer costume right off on the spot.
I'd panicked and told her she couldn't just take her clothes off like that, but Se-ah had just beamed and said it was fine between girls. Correcting her then and there would have embarrassed her, so I'd quietly let it slide.
When I told Mother about it afterward, she'd given me a wry smile, as if she'd already known, and explained that she'd spoken with Se-ah's mother and they'd agreed to keep it a secret from Se-ah for now.
I'd wondered why they were keeping it secret—but when I heard it was at Se-ah's mother's request more than Mother's, I could only nod.
"Se-ah, let's go with Mother and your mom."
Still held in Se-ah's arms, I tried to persuade her. If I wanted to go outside, Mother had to come with me—which was why I'd barely ever gone over to Se-ah's house on my own.
The moment I asked, Se-ah nodded with a bright face, as if the teary-eyed fussing had never happened.
Looking at her, I couldn't help seeing my little sister Seol-hwa overlaid on her. For some reason, both Se-ah and Seol-hwa agreed with almost everything I said and went along right away, and I worried it might be some kind of dependency—but just as I'd leaned on the Saintess in that other world, it was only natural for young kids to cling to a peer who seemed a little more grown-up than themselves.
That said, Seol-hwa seemed to think Se-ah was stealing me away from her, and she'd started showing a bit of dislike toward Se-ah.
I went up to my room, pulled on my favorite teddy-bear coat, and got ready to head out with Se-ah, Mother, and Se-ah's mom.
At the front door, Seol-hwa latched onto my pant leg and refused to let go—but Father scooped her up and forcibly peeled her off me, so we managed to get out in one piece.
Outside, Se-ah was so excited she grabbed my hand and started bouncing down the street as we walked. She nearly slipped a few times; I had to catch her.
"Ehehe~ Harang! That would look so good on you! Try it on! Try it on!"
Se-ah dragged me by the hand into a shop full of cute children's clothes, pulled out something that looked like an adorable little dress, and shoved it at me.
I shot Mother and Se-ah's mom a look that screamed help me—but they just nodded with faces full of mischief.
"Se-ah… I'd rather wear something else than this…"
"No. Harang, put this on."
When I tried to refuse with an awkward smile, Se-ah's expression went cold and still as she made her demand.
Normally, if I said no or that I didn't like something, Se-ah would back off. But every so often, like now, she'd wipe away that playful grin and push hard when I refused.
The first time I'd seen it, the shift had been so extreme I'd briefly worried she'd been hit with some kind of mental magic—but the moment I gave in, she snapped right back to her usual bright, lively self.
I'd decided to just think of it as Se-ah's particular way of being spoiled.
And when she spoke like that, she never backed down no matter how many times I refused.
"Haa…"
I sighed, took the frilly little dress, and headed for the changing room.
Before stepping back out, I checked myself in the mirror—and hated myself a little for thinking it didn't look half bad.
I hated moving.
Because of Mom's job, our family moved a lot. Once, I'd yelled at Mom and Dad about having to leave all the friends I'd made at kindergarten, then cried in my room.
But no matter how much I cried, Mom and Dad didn't cancel the move. I ended up somewhere I didn't know at all.
The playground I used to play at, the supermarket we always went to, the convenience store—none of it was here.
I wouldn't get out of Mom's car.
Mom and Dad unloaded boxes and carried them inside, but I just kept my eyes shut, wishing that when I opened them again it wouldn't be this strange place—that I'd be back at my familiar house with my friends.
While they were hauling stuff, Mom and Dad suddenly started talking to someone else. Mom's cheerful voice made me feel so sulky that I looked outside—and there she was, chatting with some lady I didn't know.
I was this miserable, and Mom was happy. I hated that.
I decided to ignore Mom talking to the strange lady and just walk off. I climbed out of the car and started past her—and then I saw a teddy bear wriggling.
I'd never seen a teddy bear move before, so I grabbed it once.
The teddy bear turned around and showed me its face—and there was an incredibly, incredibly cute friend inside.
"Wow~!! It's a teddy-bear person!!"
The teddy bear's eyes were pretty—they were the same color as my hair. Its face was so cute and small I wanted to squish it over and over.
"Mom! Mom! Look, it's a teddy-bear person! A teddy-bear person!!"
Mom came over and hugged me, and I babbled at her about the super-cute teddy-bear person I'd just met.
By the time I finished telling her, the teddy-bear person who'd been right in front of me was gone.
"Mom? Where'd the teddy-bear person go?"
"That's not a teddy-bear person—that's our new neighbor! Next time you see them, you have to apologize for scaring them, okay?"
"A friend? My friend is a teddy-bear person!"
I didn't hate moving anymore.
Sorry to my old friends—but right now, my new friend was so, so, sooo much better!
Today, like every day, I went over to Harang's house next door to play.
I wanted to invite Harang over to our place so we could play and eat snacks together—but Harang had been sick in the hospital the whole time I was at kindergarten. That was why Harang couldn't go outside much, so I'd promised to come over every day instead.
I loved Harang so much—the way Harang hugged me, patted me, and did everything I asked. Sure, Harang scolded me sometimes too, but even that was so, so cute.
I asked Harang to put on the cute socks I was wearing.
"Se-ah, no matter how pretty your own clothes are, you can't just take them off and tell someone to put them on right away."
It was the same way Harang always scolded me—but something felt off. Harang's face was redder than usual. I could tell Harang was embarrassed.
"No. Wear them for me, Harang."
I said it—and then I was startled. My voice sounded weird.
Harang looked at me in surprise too, but I didn't want to say anything else.
"Wear them for me, Harang."
At my voice, Harang went red all the way to the ears, then took off the socks being worn and started putting on the ones I'd had on.
I was so, so happy.
I took the socks Harang had taken off and put them on my own feet. They were warm. It felt nice.
"Ehehe~ You're so cute, Harang! Kyaa~!!"
I loved Harang so much.
Mom told me girls shouldn't like other girls that much, but—
"Se-ah… why that… wait, do you like them?"
"Yeah! Ehehehe~ Harang, let's put our feet together—kyaa~!"
Harang was prettier and more lovable than any of the boys I'd ever seen at kindergarten.
I guess I like girls.