20. A Gigolo-like Guy
20. A Gigolo-like Guy
The Academy's vacation was on the quiet side.
To be precise, the Academy during vacation, and summer vacation at that, was quiet.
It made sense, as the Academy was basically noisy when students were around, and it wasn't like winter break where the year was wrapping up.
Vacation was bound to be quite quiet.
"Noah, if you exercise without drinking water like last time, it's seriously dangerous, you know?"
"I've heard you enough. I'm going to drink. That's why I came here."
"Hmph, that's true. But I've told you ten times. I'm really glad you're actually listening properly now. Your teacher was so harsh last time. Something about hand-to-hand combat... you sweat so much, yet he wouldn't let you drink water. You really need to speak up about stuff like that!"
"It's fine. I won't die."
For once, the convenience store was noisy for a reason other than me.
To be precise, because of Noah and the black-haired girl talking in front of the drink fridge over there.
"..."
Noah usually visits me, so it's just that.
She was his childhood friend who came to the Academy with him.
Plus, she was the one who returned with him even though his teacher called him in the middle of vacation.
"Noah, how about this? They say it replenishes energy when you exercise."
"Hmm..."
"Or this? It has, uh... protein? They say it's good for your body, so if you eat it after working out, you'll get healthier?"
Naturally, it's normal for them to be close.
It was just awkward because this is the first time I'm seeing it properly.
"..."
It really was just that.
If anything, Noah visits my convenience store often.
I even thought it was weird that they hadn't come together even once until now.
Childhood friends, and I heard they're in the same class.
Different departments, though.
Anyway.
"Iris, what are you going to eat?"
"Ummm... what should I have? Can't you recommend something for me, Noah? I recommended that for you."
"Candy?"
"Hehe, shall we do that? We have quite a bit of time before lunch anyway. Eating candy while waiting sounds fine."
Watching from the counter, my thought was that she's very much a girl of that age.
Bright, cheerful.
The typical brightness of young kids who haven't been dulled by time yet was well-evident.
Did I have a time like that? Even if I asked, it's not like I had such a time, but I still felt that way.
It was different enough from that strange girl living in my house.
"Or I can eat something else. It's not for me to eat anyway, it's for you. It's right to match your taste."
"Heh, no way. You told me to eat this. I'm just going to eat this."
"That's fine too."
"Hehe, if I get tired while training later and want to eat, I'll give you one or two."
And anyone could see... even someone seeing them for the first time like me today would know the black-haired girl has feelings for him.
Maybe not deep love yet, but at least something more than friendliness was in her gaze.
"Boss-nim! Here's the payment. Please ring up the drinks and candy together."
"Ah, yes."
"Noah, it's fine to pay separately."
"Huh? No, you'll be struggling again soon because of that mean teacher. I'll help you out a little."
"...If that's the case."
They came to pay.
Honestly, I thought Noah would look at me or talk to me.
We knew each other, and he visited me so much, so I naturally thought he would.
But unlike that expectation, he didn't even make eye contact with me.
Honestly... I was a bit, very surprised.
He acted like that even when Vivian was around, so why not now?
Actually, I even started to suspect, or rather, felt almost certain, that I was just a smokescreen, a WWE act, and this was the real thing.
Of course, it's natural to prefer a fresh, cute, bright 17-year-old girl over a 28-year-old auntie.
"Hah..."
It was true that I was dumbfounded.
So much so that I let out a hollow laugh after they left.
He followed me around and showed signs of liking me usually.
Yet, in front of his childhood friend, the "official" position, he hides it.
"Tsk tsk... as expected."
In the end, he prefers younger women.
Yeah, that makes sense.
It wasn't like I was feeling miserable like a tragic heroine, I was just normal.
Just a bit, a tiiiiny bit dumbfounded.
It was natural, and if I were in his shoes, I would have preferred the childhood friend too.
Because, well, yeah, it's obvious.
Yeah.
That's how it is.
"A total gigolo."
I definitely wasn't feeling hurt.
##
"Noah, by the way, aren't there a lot of interesting people at the Academy, unlike our village?"
"Yeah. Never saw them in the village, it's fascinating."
They were taking a slow walk after leaving the convenience store.
Since there was time until Noah's training.
And because Noah had been busy recently, they hadn't spent much time together.
So they were walking and talking after a long time.
"The Boss-nim we just met is a Snow Woman, and among our department professors, there's a race like an Elf. It's always fascinating."
"If I had to pick, personally, I find Beastmen the most fascinating."
"Heh, true. It's a bit rude to call a person fascinating, but for people like us who came up from the countryside, it was so fascinating."
Iris usually avoided spending money, so she avoided the convenience store, but they stopped by because Noah wanted to visit before training.
Naturally, the conversation turned to Skadi, the convenience store owner and one of the demi-humans in the Academy.
She was quite famous in the Academy, even if she didn't care much.
"Her hair that shines like ice, her skin that's white like snow. It was so fascinating. Plus, she was super, super pretty?"
"..."
"Even as a girl, she was really pretty. Pretty? Ummm. Beautiful is a better expression."
"Was she?"
"Yeah, don't you think so, Noah? You're a guy, so it's even more so, right?"
Noah hesitated to think about Iris's question, which feigned innocence.
Actually, he wasn't showing it, but he was agreeing immensely with the country girl's words, and he wanted to praise 'Skadi-nuna' a lot himself.
He was just a 17-year-old boy, and it was natural for him to want to talk more about his interests.
"True."
"Eh, why is your reaction so boring? Isn't she pretty? Never mind her figure, just looking at her face and skin, it's really daebak, right?"
"I think she's pretty."
He deliberately shortened his answer.
Because he didn't want to let others know about Skadi if he could help it.
It was an Academy with many people, and he understood, even a little, that words get twisted and spread quickly when people get involved.
He didn't want his ambiguous words to cause unnecessary trouble for Skadi.
Actually, just a moment ago at the convenience store, even though he wanted to talk to Skadi like usual, make eye contact, and see the face of the person he likes, he didn't do it for that reason.
It's fine when they are alone, but at least when he's with someone close to him like this, he thought it was right not to.
"Ummm... I guess Noah's type isn't someone like the Snow Woman Boss-nim? Most of the guys at the Academy talk about that Boss-nim a lot."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, she's super pretty, and she doesn't treat the kids who visit her badly. Of course, we are customers. She doesn't discriminate based on status, treats everyone similarly, and she keeps the store open late even when she's tired during exam periods?"
"..."
Noah wanted to agree with Iris's continuing words and talk about what he knew, but he endured it as much as possible and just nodded.
Actually, besides that, he wanted to ask if there were other students interested in Skadi or if anyone had done anything weird.
He really wanted to ask about that, in case those kids knew what Skadi liked...
"Iris, let's rest over there and eat the candy."
"Ah, shall we? We'll exercise during training anyway. Yeah, that would be good."
"...Yeah."
The boy who thought it was right to endure thought that if the convenience store was open when training ended... he wanted to go see Nuna.
While not really paying attention to Iris's gaze looking at him from the side.
'...Nuna's expression was a bit bad at the end.'
He just had a thought that hovered on the edge of whether it was because he didn't greet her properly.
Either way, he was still a seventeen-year-old boy who lacked experience in many things.