A Certain Girl
It was an ordinary morning like any other.
"Mmmmmmmm!!!!!~~~~ I slept so well!!"
With a bright morning greeting to herself, the girl woke up, stretching her arms high overhead. Unlike most people who struggled to rise, she sprang out of bed in high spirits.
"Alright then—time for morning practice!"
It was only five in the morning, far too early for anyone else to be awake, but the lively girl took it as a given. She slipped into a light set of training clothes and headed out for track practice. Her parents were still asleep, so she quietly slipped through the front door. A slightly cool morning breeze greeted her the moment she stepped outside.
"Okay—today's practice starts now!!!"
Cheerfully hyping herself up once more, she began her usual jog to welcome the morning.
"Haaah... Today feels quieter than usual somehow. Ah! A squirrel!"
Her energy was so high it was hard to believe she had only been awake for twenty minutes. The unusually silent morning had briefly made her feel as if she were the last person left in the world, dipping her mood for a second—until she spotted a squirrel nibbling on an acorn. Instantly her spirits shot sky-high again.
After finishing her usual ten-kilometer jog and returning home, she was greeted by her mother and father, who had only just gotten up themselves.
"I'm back~"
"Welcome home. Go wash up quickly and eat breakfast."
"Yes~"
Her mother already knew her daughter went out jogging for exercise every morning, so this exchange had long since settled into a comfortable daily pattern.
"Phew~ Still feeling fresh today!"
After a quick shower following her run, her whole body felt fully awake, and her energy climbed even higher.
"Ugh... but I still haven't grown at all..."
The girl who had just finished her pleasant shower looked at her reflection in the full-length mirror in the changing room and felt a small wave of gloom.
At 150 cm with an A-cup so flat it was practically a cliff face, her appearance was closer to a child still in the middle of growing than an adult woman. On top of that, she had cut her hair short to match the senior she so deeply admired, which only made her look even more like a little tomboy.
"Nnnngh!!"
She pressed her small chest together with both hands in the mirror, managing to create the faintest of valleys, but the pitiful result only made her sigh in self-defeat.
"Hup!"
This time she tried posing like a model—one hand on her hip, the other lightly touching her hair—striking what she personally considered her sexiest stance. Yet the figure in the mirror still looked like nothing more than a kid playing at being grown-up.
"Haaah~ When the models do it in magazines it looks so sexy..."
It was a pose she had copied from the magazines she often read, but she could not capture even a fraction of the mature feminine allure those models possessed.
"It's fine! I can still grow! Another 10 cm! Or at least 5!"
She had been whispering this self-hypnosis to herself ever since middle school, yet six years had passed without the wish coming true. She remained stuck at her middle-school height.
In those six years she had grown a mere 0.5 cm—not even enough to turn a zero into a one—but she still refused to give up.
"Mom~ Milk, please~"
"Alright, alright, here you go."
Once she was dressed and stepped into the kitchen, her mother already had the milk ready, as if she had known. The girl downed the entire 500 ml in one go.
Her mother watched her daughter, who had been gulping more than half a liter of milk every single morning for six years without growing a millimeter, and privately thought the milk money was a waste. Still, she could not bring herself to say it to a daughter full of hope, so she kept the thought to herself.
"I'm heading out."
"Have a good day, Dad~"
"See you later, dear."
Her taciturn father left for work without much fuss while his wife and daughter saw him off. Though he never showed it, the daily send-off from his family gave him the strength to get through the day, and he left the house in a quietly good mood.
"I'm off too~"
"Alright, be careful."
Waved off by her mother, the girl left the house full of energy, already happy at the thought of seeing the senior she so admired today.
Though she still looked like she was growing, she was a college student. The moment she arrived on campus she headed straight for the track-and-field club room.
"Good morning!!!"
True to her lively nature, she threw open the door and greeted everyone with full volume, exchanging hellos with the seniors and classmates already gathered inside.
"Good morning, Dohee-sunbae!!"
Then she walked right up to the person she respected most of all—Dohee—and greeted her again.
"Yeah. Morning."
Dohee's reply was cool and curt, the complete opposite of the girl's own brightness, but the girl found that coolness incredibly adult and attractive, which only made her happier.
Aaaah~ Dohee-sunbae looks amazing again today!!
She had cut her hair short and even tanned her skin to a coppery brown to match Dohee, yet she still could not come close to even one percent of the charm her admired senior possessed. The realization made her a little sad, but it also made her respect Dohee even more.
"I've got a lecture."
"Ah! Me too!"
"Alright. Let's go together."
"Yes!!"
Walking side by side to class while chatting about nothing important was the best part of the girl's entire day.
Mostly she talked and Dohee simply listened. Dohee rarely said much, but the way she nodded and answered whenever the girl spoke was more than enough to make her feel wonderful.
"See you at practice."
"Yes! Have a happy day today, sunbae!!"
After saying goodbye, the girl watched Dohee's retreating back with sparkling eyes, as if gazing at a prince.
Dohee-sunbae is seriously so cool!!
She was not the only one who felt that way. Whenever Dohee walked by, a few other girls would shyly greet her; when Dohee returned the greeting, they would squeal and gush among themselves.
Cool, chic, and yet so feminine...
It was not mere masculine appeal. Dohee had the kind of body that made every curve fill out exactly where it should and taper where it should, plus the solid muscle tone of an athlete. The result was a feminine charm more model-like than the actual magazine models, and she matched the girl's ideal of womanhood perfectly.
"Someday I'll be like Dohee-sunbae too!..."
In truth this girl would never possess a body or height like Dohee's, but her bright, positive nature still let her dream.
"You're staring at Dohee-sunbae again. Anyone watching would think you're in love~"
"I-I'm just respecting her!"
"Sure, sure."
While she stood there spellbound by her senior's back, a friend walked up and teased her in a resigned tone. Scenes like this were practically daily occurrences; among their classmates it was well known how much the girl admired Dohee.
And since the object of that admiration was Dohee, the others found it completely understandable and never thought the girl's behavior strange.
"Come on, let's hurry. The professor said if you fall asleep in class again he's giving you an F."
"Ugh... That professor's lectures are so boring though."
"What are you talking about? You fall asleep in most lectures."
The girl was not strong with academic subjects and never really adapted well to lectures, so her reputation among the professors was poor.
She had entered university as a track special-admission student in the first place, so lectures were not especially important to her. Still, she needed the minimum credits to graduate, so she squeezed her brain as hard as she could and barely managed to keep her grades afloat.
Despite her not-so-great head, she fought sleep with everything she had during the lecture. The moment it ended she headed straight to the club room for practice.
Wooooow...
When she arrived, Dohee had already changed into her track uniform. The highly revealing outfit left plenty of bare skin on display, and Dohee's charm practically overflowed. The girl found herself staring blankly without even realizing it.
"You're here?"
"Ah! Yes, sunbae!"
Only when Dohee spoke did the girl snap back to her senses. Flustered, she answered and quickly stripped down to change into her own track uniform.
Being next to Dohee-sunbae really makes the difference stand out...
They wore the same type of uniform, yet the volume and overall impression were worlds apart. Dohee's G-cup chest required a custom-made top just to keep everything compressed, while the girl had nothing that would bounce even when she ran, so her top did not even need sports-bra functions.
She sighed quietly to herself and began practice. Seeing the male students who had gathered just to watch Dohee filled her with a mix of envy and even deeper respect. That was how practice ended.
"Sunbae! Would you like to have dinner together?"
"Dinner? Hmm... Give me a second."
Wanting to talk with Dohee even more today, she invited her to dinner with a racing heart. Dohee thought for a moment, fiddling briefly with her phone.
"...Yeah. Let's eat together."
"Yes! Thank you so much, sunbae!!"
The sheer joy of eating alone with the senior she admired made her raise her voice without meaning to.
Dohee gave a small snort of amusement at the sight and, smiling as if she found it entertaining, headed with the girl toward a pasta place near campus.
The girl was nervous about her first meal with the senior she so respected, but Dohee chatted with her and gently eased that tension.
"U-Um, sunbae, I have something I'm curious about!!"
"What is it?"
"Sunbae, do you not do things like dating?"