Rendezvous (11)
After wrapping up our brief tea time, we finished getting ready and headed for the dining hall.
“Miss Su-ryeon, and Miss Ha-eun as well. You’ve arrived.”
“Good morning, Miss Chae-rin.”
“Yes, and to you too, Miss Ha-eun.”
Since I’d messaged Chae-rin before we left, she was already seated in the dining hall, chewing on a croissant.
It felt like ages since I’d last seen her, so I greeted her with a bright, welcoming smile.
I’d been fretting that she might confront me with a grave expression after hearing something from Su-ryeon, but her ordinary, unremarkable tone put those worries to rest. She answered just as she always did.
I let out a quiet sigh of relief and went to fetch my breakfast.
It was a buffet, and this morning the tables were laden with every kind of bread imaginable. I wasn’t particularly fond of bread, so I settled for a single slice of plain toast spread with strawberry jam and left it at that.
Carrying a plate that looked absurdly large for one modest piece of toast, I returned to my seat—only to find Su-ryeon and Chae-rin, who had been sitting with their heads practically touching, suddenly pull apart as if they had never been that close.
I looked at them with open curiosity.
“Were you two talking about something? You had your heads so close together…”
“No. It wasn’t anything important.”
Su-ryeon said that and rose to get her own breakfast. I watched her go, then turned to Chae-rin.
“Just as Su-ryeon said, it wasn’t anything that important. Idle chatter, I suppose.”
“I-Is that so…”
But Chae-rin’s reaction was scarcely different from Su-ryeon’s, so I simply nodded and took a bite of my bread.
Still, a flicker of unease stirred inside me. Lately, being dragged around by Yoon Seo-a had left me with far less time to talk with the two of them. If they had grown close without me, that would be a real problem.
Of course I knew neither of them had the cold personality to shut me out. But when it came to important conversations, they might still leave me out of them.
Somehow I felt left out…! Chewing my bread in a slightly gloomy mood, I felt Chae-rin lean toward me and whisper.
“More importantly, are you feeling all right? I heard you weren’t well yesterday.”
“Y-Yes?”
“They said you even had to go to the infirmary during class at the academy. Is that not true?”
“Ah, th-that…”
For a moment I wondered if Su-ryeon had told her, but thankfully it didn’t seem to be about that.
I gave an awkward laugh and said I’d just run a bit of a fever. Of course there had been a separate reason for the fever, but it wasn’t a complete lie.
Chae-rin looked at me for a moment, then said, “Well, that’s a relief, then,” and went back to her meal.
She wasn’t one to talk much during meals, so her quickly falling silent wasn’t unusual. Yet somehow it felt as if she were holding back something more she wanted to say.
Of course, that could just have been my imagination. I glanced at Chae-rin, then finished the rest of my bread.
After breakfast we quickly freshened up and set off for school.
Chatting about this and that as we walked, we soon reached the main gate.
“Oh my.”
“…Miss Yoon Seo-a.”
And there we ran into the very person I had hoped to see as late as possible. Yoon Seo-a’s surprised expression vanished in an instant, replaced by a smile as she spoke.
“Good morning, Miss Ha-eun.”
“Yes, good morning to you too, Miss Yoon Seo-a.”
“‘Miss Yoon Seo-a’? We promised not to call each other so stiffly, didn’t we?”
Had we made such a promise…? As I wore a doubtful look, Yoon Seo-a muttered with a dejected face.
“To pretend you don’t know now… Do you dislike me that much?”
“Is that even a question?”
“M-Miss Su-ryeon?”
I couldn’t exactly say no. I was still choosing my words when, unexpectedly, Su-ryeon stepped forward first.
When I called her name in a flustered voice, she even nodded at me as if to say leave it to her.
No, there was no need for that…. Whether I thought so or not, Su-ryeon continued.
“Think about the things you’ve done to Miss Ha-eun, Miss Yoon Seo-a. Is there any reason Miss Ha-eun should like you?”
“Hmm, Hong Su-ryeon, was it? How strange. I was clearly speaking to Miss Ha-eun, yet the reply is coming from somewhere unexpected…”
Yoon Seo-a’s smile vanished as she fixed her gaze on Su-ryeon, her lips hardening.
“How unpleasant.”
There was a bit of distance between them, but thanks to Yoon Seo-a’s superior height she was looking down on us.
The chill in her eyes would have been enough to cow most people, yet Su-ryeon refused to back down. She took another step forward and faced Yoon Seo-a head-on.
“Unpleasant, are you? I find it extremely unpleasant as well. All thanks to someone who dared to bully my friend.”
“Hmph. The academy really is wonderful. Seeing someone who normally wouldn’t even be able to speak to me shooting her mouth off like this…”
“Indeed. Meeting unpleasant people I wouldn’t normally have to face means the academy, with its diverse cast of characters, is good for gaining experience.”
Watching them trade barbs without yielding an inch, I unconsciously grabbed Chae-rin’s sleeve and muttered.
“…W-What do we do, Miss Chae-rin?”
“Indeed. What do we do?”
“This isn’t the time to be so calm about it…!”
“But inserting myself between them would be difficult. One is a friend who shares the same dormitory, but she’s still a young lady of the Upper Class. The other is a young lady of the Upper Class of a far higher rank. If a commoner like me got involved, I’d just end up as the shrimp crushed in a whale fight.”
That was true if you thought about it ordinarily! As I fretted, Chae-rin glanced my way and said,
“Actually, if you think simply, it would be resolved if Miss Ha-eun stepped in.”
“M-Me?”
“If you look closely, both of them are fighting over Miss Ha-eun, aren’t they? So if you mediate, Miss Su-ryeon would probably back down obediently.”
“And Y-Yoon Seo-a?”
“That would be up to her…”
True, Su-ryeon was my friend, so if I asked she would swallow her anger and step back. But Yoon Seo-a was so willful.
We had made a promise yesterday, but whether she would honor it in this situation was uncertain.
Still, I couldn’t leave them like this. The argument was happening right by the main gate, so the stares from students arriving for school were already stinging.
If the commotion grew any louder, a member of the Conduct Management Department watching us might approach. Then we would have no excuse if we got demerit points for causing a disturbance.
I couldn’t let that happen. Never mind Yoon Seo-a—I couldn’t stand by and watch Su-ryeon get demerits because of me.
Resolving myself, I strode forward, slipped between them—more precisely, shielding Su-ryeon with my back—and said,
“B-Both of you, don’t fight here. You might get demerit points, you know?”
“Miss Ha-eun, do you think I’d be afraid of something like demerit points?”
“Yes, of course you wouldn’t. Your maternal grandfather is such an important person, after all.”
“M-Miss Su-ryeon…!”
At Yoon Seo-a’s words, Su-ryeon’s open sarcasm made me flinch and look at Yoon Seo-a.
Her already expressionless face had hardened even colder, looking terrifying.
If this continued, something bad was going to happen. I quickly called out.
“S-Seo-a! Let’s go into the classroom and talk first!”
“Miss Ha-eun?”
“…Very well. Since you’re pleading so earnestly, I’ll grant it this once out of consideration for your sincerity. But I do want to say this much.”
Yoon Seo-a looked down at Su-ryeon with emotionless eyes.
“If you mention my maternal grandfather one more time, even if you’re Miss Ha-eun’s friend, the aftermath won’t be pleasant.”
With that, she turned as if she had no more business with us and headed into the academy. I let out a sigh of relief at her retreating back—only for Su-ryeon to shout as if the calm had never been.
“You’re the one who shouldn’t torment Miss Ha-eun even once more, or I won’t let it slide either!”
“Miss Su-ryeon…”
Calling her with a voice mixed half with gratitude and half with reproach, Su-ryeon muttered sulkily.
“Until now, I’ve just stood by because Miss Ha-eun kept saying she was fine. I thought that was respecting her wishes. But not anymore. Knowing a friend is being bullied and still standing by isn’t respect—it’s irresponsibility.”
So please don’t stop me from stepping in now. Faced with Su-ryeon saying that, I fumbled for words, then hung my head.
“Thank you, Miss Su-ryeon. For getting angry on my behalf.”
That was all I could say. As Su-ryeon and I stood in silence for a moment, Chae-rin, who had been watching from a step away, looked at her phone and said,
“I’m sorry to rain on your nice mood, you two, but if we don’t pass through the main gate soon, it’ll be a dangerous time.”
“A-Ah. I-Is that so?”
“Yes. And a Conduct Management Department member is glaring daggers at Miss Su-ryeon.”
“Ah.”
Probably because of that last shout. Sure enough, when I turned to look where the Conduct Management Department member was standing, they were staring this way with intense eyes.
This… we’ve definitely been marked, right? When I sent Su-ryeon a look that said as much, she gave an awkward smile.
“Shall we… go for now?”
“Let’s.”
We hid our faces behind our bags and hurried through the main gate. Not that it mattered—our faces had already been fully seen.
And the moment I parted from the two of them and was about to enter Class 1-D, I was grabbed by Yoon Seo-a and dragged into the bathroom.
More precisely, she wrapped an arm around my shoulders and carried me in as if embracing me.
“Ugh.”
Shoved into a stall in an instant, I looked at Yoon Seo-a as she closed the door and stepped inside.
Her still-expressionless face looked thoroughly furious.