The Narrow Gate
A month and a half had passed since I enrolled at Private Acacia Academy.
I had been through a great deal, yet far less time had elapsed than it felt. Subjectively, three months should have gone by by now—yet only this much had actually passed. It was a pity, as far as I was concerned, but what could I do? Time was relative by nature. The stretch that had felt so long to me might have been vanishingly short to someone else.
"By the way, it's already mid-April. Time really does fly."
"It does."
That was Yoon Seo-a, sitting right beside me and leisurely lifting her teacup. I gave her a suitably agreeable reply and popped a bite-sized cookie into my mouth. It crumbled just right—neither too dry nor too sticky—releasing every bit of its flavor before sliding down my throat. The pastry shops that had set up shop here really were all excellent; that much never failed to please me.
"What about the other two?"
While I quietly laid waste to the assortment of sweets on the table, Seo-a asked after the two who were missing from our gathering—Su-ryeon and Chae-rin. I washed down the mouthful of pastry with tea, dabbed my lips with a handkerchief, and answered.
"Miss Su-ryeon and Miss Chae-rin went to the library. They said they had some books to borrow."
"Ah, so they're preparing for the exams."
"Yes, exam prep… Exams?"
What had I just heard? I blinked at her. Seo-a looked back at me with a faintly puzzled expression.
"Yes. The first regular examinations are coming up soon, aren't they? That's why they went to borrow books, no?"
"…Ah, haha. R-right. They went to prepare for the exams…."
"Don't tell me, Miss Ha-eun—you've only just realized the exams are right around the corner?"
"Haha…."
I averted my eyes at that, and Seo-a stared at me as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
Right. Private Acacia Academy was a properly registered educational institution. Just like any other academy or school, it was only natural that around this time of year they would hold the first regular examinations—in other words, midterms.
And yet, right up until the moment Seo-a mentioned it, I had completely forgotten. Even knowing that Acacia's academic standards were higher than other institutions and that the difficulty was considerable!
Of course, I had been keeping up with my studies steadily enough to follow the lectures, so even if the exams were tomorrow I could scrape by without failing. But merely avoiding a failing grade was not enough.
Exams at Private Acacia were strictly relative evaluations. Everyone knew that the higher the score you could manage, the better. And if those scores affected which class you were assigned to the following year, they mattered even more.
Once a class was assigned, it stayed fixed for the entire year—but if you performed well across the four exams held during that year, you could class-up when you advanced. Conversely, poor results could mean a class-down. As I said, the exams were relative, so no amount of effort toward a high score was ever excessive.
And I had only just remembered that such an important exam was mere days away. It was the sort of blunder that would have fully justified being called a complete idiot.
"Even you have your careless side, Miss Ha-eun. Forgetting about the exams—aren't you being a little too negligent?"
"N-negligent? And whose fault is that supposed to be…!"
Hearing it from Seo-a, however, was another matter entirely. I glared at her, bristling, and she merely shrugged as if she had said nothing wrong—an expression that was thoroughly irritating.
"You know better than anyone why I've been too distracted to remember the exams…!"
"I won't claim I contributed nothing, but I haven't been like that recently, have I?"
She said it shamelessly, and the worst part was that it wasn't entirely untrue—which only made me angrier.
Ever since Seo-a had begun treating me with a measure of respect, and our friendship had started to mix with the other two, she had largely stopped taking liberties with my body. At most she would secretly stroke my waist or give my rear a firm squeeze to startle me, or casually take my hand—comparatively mild teasing compared to the past.
…Was even mild teasing still teasing? The thought crossed my mind, but it wasn't something to dwell on right now, so I set it aside for later.
In any case, as she said, for about a week now Seo-a had not forced any demands on me. As long as I played along with her moods she seemed content to live ordinarily, and she had steadily built her friendships with the other two as well.
Perhaps thanks to her exceptional conversational skill, Su-ryeon and Chae-rin had begun, just as I expected, to gradually lower their guard around her. They still addressed her by her full name, but compared to the beginning, almost all hostility had vanished.
If Su-ryeon hadn't said what she did—if Chae-rin hadn't sent me a separate message saying not to worry because she had no intention of falling for Seo-a—I would still have been fretting instead of thinking about exam prep.
The thought made Seo-a feel suddenly hateful for no good reason, so I whipped my gaze around and glared at her. Seo-a, who had been sipping her tea, twitched an eyebrow.
"Why are you looking at me like that all of a sudden?"
"…I just felt resentful toward you for no reason, Miss Seo-a."
"Hmm. What an unfair accusation. I haven't done a single thing today."
Today, she said. So she was at least aware she had done wrong in the past.
While I was thinking that, Seo-a shifted her chair closer and moved in beside me. I stopped glaring and leaned away.
"W-why are you suddenly coming over here?"
"It's just the two of us right now, isn't it?"
"And?"
"Want to kiss?"
"What???"
Who asked someone if they wanted to kiss in the same tone as offering a cookie?
I recoiled in shock, but Seo-a had already closed the distance and clamped her hands on my shoulders, blocking any escape.
"W-wait a second! I haven't done anything wrong today, have I?!"
"You glared at me just now. That's reason enough."
"Friends glare at each other sometimes…!"
"Not at me."
What kind of rule was that…! I protested with my eyes, but Seo-a showed no sign of backing down.
Looking at it now, the glare was just an excuse—she simply wanted to do it. As that thought formed, her face slowly drew nearer.
There was no way out… Realizing I had nowhere to run, I gave up and closed my eyes.
It wasn't as if she was groping my chest or slipping a hand lower—it was only a kiss. We had already pressed our lips together any number of times; one more wouldn't change anything.
I steeled myself thoroughly and waited for the approaching lips.
Click-clack, click-clack.
The faint sound of dress-shoe heels reached us from a distance. The moment I heard it I snapped my eyes open and shoved Seo-a hard away. It only forced her back a few steps, but it was enough to put space between us.
Seo-a, pushed back, stared at me as if she couldn't believe she had been refused and murmured,
"Miss Ha-eun?"
Before I could answer, the door burst open. Both our gazes swung toward it.
"…What is this atmosphere?"
"M-Miss Su-ryeon. Could you come in first? The books are heavy…!"
"Ah, yes."
Su-ryeon appeared with an armful of books and looked back and forth between Seo-a and me as she spoke. Behind her, Chae-rin struggled in with her own load and asked Su-ryeon to go ahead; Su-ryeon stepped inside but still kept a suspicious eye on the two of us, glancing from one to the other.
She lingered especially long on Seo-a, who was standing rather than sitting, then set her books on the table.
"So, what were the two of you doing that had Miss Yoon Seo-a on her feet?"
"Nothing much. It had been a while since we were alone, so I simply intended to deepen our friendship a little further."
"Deepen your friendship… Well, I'll let that pass."
At Su-ryeon's words, Seo-a tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, dragged the chair she had moved back to its original place, and sat down. Then, as if nothing had happened, she refilled her cup from the teapot and took a sip of the steaming tea.
Su-ryeon watched her for a moment before turning to me.
"Come to think of it, Miss Ha-eun—aren't you preparing for the exams?"
"Ah, um… Embarrassingly enough, I only just realized a moment ago that the exams are soon."
"What? You only just realized? How is that even… Ah."
Muttering in disbelief, Su-ryeon suddenly seemed to understand something and whipped her head around to stare at Seo-a. Seo-a crunched into a jam-smeared rectangular cookie and gave a little tilt of her chin in response to the look—a gesture that roughly meant What? It was rather rude, but Su-ryeon didn't particularly mind. Their hostility had softened a great deal since the beginning, yet the two still maintained a prickly relationship; it was only natural.
"Leaving Miss Yoon Seo-a aside—will you be all right, Miss Ha-eun? There's only three days left until the exams."
"Mmm… Honestly, I may have to aim just for avoiding a failing grade."
The failing line was usually set around fifty points on average, but in severe cases it could go as high as sixty, so even with three days left I couldn't simply skip studying. As I had said earlier, I had been studying all along, so I might scrape past a fail even if I sat the exam tomorrow—but scraping by was still worse than clearing it comfortably.
If possible, I wanted to class-up next year and end up in the same class as Su-ryeon and Chae-rin. While I was thinking that, Chae-rin—who had set her books down and was massaging her arms—spoke up.
"Then how about we study together for the remaining three days?"
"Study together… You mean gather and study as a group?"
"Yes. Tomorrow happens to be Friday, and the two days after that are a holiday."
So the exams were on Monday. I calculated that automatically, and Su-ryeon clapped her hands with a smile.
"That sounds wonderful! We can review while teaching each other the parts we don't know, and a gathering outside of tea time somehow makes my heart race."
"For Miss Ha-eun and me, it's more of a survival gathering."
"Haha…."
I answered Chae-rin awkwardly. As she said, the two of us commoners had to struggle just to maintain our current class at minimum. Experiencing even one class-down would seriously hinder academy life.
The biggest loss would be the living stipend. Being able to hold tea times like this might eventually mean depending on Su-ryeon or Seo-a. Su-ryeon was one thing, but I absolutely did not want to accept help from Seo-a. While I was thinking that, Seo-a—still savoring her tea—spoke.
"Then how about coming to my room after classes end tomorrow?"
"Your room, Miss Yoon Seo-a… You mean Acacia Hall?"
"Yes. It's quiet there, and it can accommodate several people. It's spacious enough that we could even stay and study right up until the exams."
"Hmm, a study sleepover… That isn't bad, but…."
Su-ryeon glanced at Seo-a and hesitated. Going to Seo-a's room naturally gave her plenty to worry about, and she was probably curious about the ulterior motive behind the offer as well. Still, it was undeniably a good proposal. In the end Su-ryeon gave up thinking alone and looked at Chae-rin and me.
"What do the two of you think?"
"I'm in favor. I'd rather study without interruptions if possible. Besides, I'm curious about the layout of Acacia Hall."
"And you, Miss Ha-eun?"
"I…."
I glanced sideways at Seo-a and hesitated.
The things that had happened in Seo-a's room still felt as vivid as yesterday; I worried my body might freeze up the moment I stepped back inside. And if that made Su-ryeon or Chae-rin start asking questions again…
But setting all of that aside, Seo-a's proposal was exactly what we needed.
"…I'm fine with it too."
"Then let's do that. Miss Yoon Seo-a, that works for you?"
"I was the one who suggested it—why would I mind? Though I'd like to invite one more person to the study group. That won't be a problem, will it?"
"We're the ones borrowing the space, so we don't mind… but could you tell us who it is?"
"Someone Miss Ha-eun knows well, so there's no need to worry."
At that, Chae-rin and Su-ryeon's gazes both turned to me—but as far as I was concerned, it was unfair.
The only people I knew were the ones already here. Who on earth was she talking about?