A Young Lady's Predicament
The restaurant Su-ryeon and I had come to specialized in steaks. The owner had once been a chef at a four-star hotel, or so I'd heard, and it showed—the meat practically melted on my tongue.
I supposed it made sense that a place home to a young ladies' academy would have restaurants of this caliber. I leisurely worked my knife through the meat. Su-ryeon, by contrast, was trembling all over. She lightly pounded the table with her fist and whispered,
"Th-That can't be right! Bullying?! Bullying at Private Acacia?!"
"Nothing like that happened in your class, Miss Su-ryeon?"
"Of course not! We had students of more humble origins in our class as well, but no one ever picked on them!"
Humble origins? I looked at Su-ryeon with a baffled expression, but she didn't seem to notice and pressed on with her impassioned speech.
"And such base bullying—as a student of Private Acacia, I simply cannot tolerate it! We should report this to the Conduct Management Department or the Student Council at once...!"
"Reporting it wouldn't do any good."
"What? What do you mean...?"
"For one thing, there's no evidence."
True, there had been that sticky note stuck to my shoulder, but it was far too flimsy a piece of physical evidence to file a report over. Besides, it wasn't the kind of proof that could clearly identify who had done it.
At my words, Su-ryeon nodded with a dissatisfied look.
"...You're right. A single scrap of paper wouldn't be enough to pin down the culprit."
"And even if I did report that I'd been bullied on the very first day of school—do you really think they'd take it seriously?"
Given the ethos of Private Acacia, absolutely not. I'd be lucky if they didn't laugh at me for complaining about being bullied.
They would pressure me instead—asking if I, a young lady, couldn't handle something so trivial on my own, and suggesting that if I couldn't, I might as well withdraw from the academy.
This wasn't mere paranoia on my part. I had read the accounts of former young ladies who had been driven to withdraw in exactly that fashion.
So this was a problem I had to solve myself. Entirely on my own, without anyone's help.
"Well, they probably won't bully me too severely. This is still Private Acacia, after all. They won't stand for anything that would tarnish the academy's dignity. So at most, they'll stick defamatory sticky notes on me like they did earlier."
"Isn't that a little too optimistic...?"
Su-ryeon asked carefully. Her concern wasn't entirely unfounded. From what little I'd seen of Yoon Seo-a's personality, it was clear she wouldn't stop at such childish harassment.
Of course, even Yoon Seo-a couldn't resort to direct physical violence against me. That would leave marks on the body, and at that point even she would have trouble talking her way out of it.
So for the time being, she would almost certainly stick to testing the waters—the kind of underhanded bullying that went on at any ordinary school.
Well, I could endure that much without so much as batting an eye!
"Don't worry. I can brush off bullying of that caliber without a second thought."
"Hmm... If you say so, Miss Ha-eun, I suppose I have no choice."
"Come now, enough of this gloomy talk—let's eat! The meat is absolutely delicious, you know?"
"Huh? Oh..."
I held out a bite-sized piece of meat to the still-worried Su-ryeon. She seemed flustered for a moment, then accepted it with a faintly reddened face.
"I-It really is delicious..."
"Right?"
Watching Su-ryeon murmur her agreement with a little nod, I smiled contentedly and cut myself a similar bite-sized piece, bringing it to my mouth.
Mmm. This place might just become my favorite restaurant.
After finishing our meal, Su-ryeon and I wandered through the commercial district. The streets were filled not only with the two of us but with throngs of young ladies out enjoying their free time in groups.
I should mention this belatedly, but to gain admission to Private Acacia, one needed more than just a powerful backer or exam scores—appearance mattered as well.
A young lady was expected to be noble not only in status but in appearance, so of course looks factored into the evaluation.
That was why every young lady here was a beauty in her own right. Whether they walked together with a polite reserve born of still-awkward relationships, called each other by name with more relaxed expressions, or strolled arm in arm—every last one of them was stunning.
This place was a yuri paradise. I gazed at them with eyes full of wonder. This was exactly why I had enrolled at Private Acacia.
Granted, they were all wearing the same pure white uniforms with only the ribbons differing, which made things a little dazzling—but so what? They all looked like angels, and that was fine by me. As I was thinking this, Su-ryeon took my hand and spoke.
"Miss Ha-eun! Let's go check out that place over there!"
"W-Wait, Miss Su-ryeon. Even outside, we have to maintain our dignity...!"
Even if this was the commercial district, it was still part of Private Acacia Academy. The eyes of the Conduct Management Department or the Student Council were surely watching somewhere. But Su-ryeon paid my concerns no mind and called out,
"It's fine! They won't say anything about something this minor!"
"That's just a guess, though..."
"Anyway, let's go to that clothing store!"
At Su-ryeon's insistence, I shook my head in resignation and followed after her. The shop she led me to by the hand was, as expected, no ordinary store. It was a luxury brand so famous that merely mentioning its name outside would draw instant recognition.
But even a brand of that caliber carried price tags no different from ordinary clothing here at Private Acacia. Most of the shops allowed in this place had strong ties to current or graduated young ladies, which made such pricing possible.
A kind of service rendered in support of the young ladies, one might say. Charging money at all was more a formality than anything—an appeal that proper payment was being made.
So I, too, could browse the store without any burden. Under normal circumstances, these items would have had four extra zeros on the price tag.
"Miss Ha-eun! Look at this!"
As I was looking at a price tag and imagining the original cost, Su-ryeon appeared and spoke up.
In her hands was an elegant-looking dress. She said it was the same one a model had worn in a magazine, though that meant little to me.
I had never been particularly interested in fashion magazines to begin with.
"Would you like to try it on? I think it would suit you perfectly, Miss Ha-eun."
"Me?"
"Yes!"
I accepted the recommendation for now, but it was a headache. Models were people about twenty centimeters taller than me, weren't they? If I put this on, I'd just look stubby.
But refusing for a reason that petty would have been too pathetic, so I changed in the fitting room and showed myself to Su-ryeon.
"How do I look?"
"Wow! You're so cute—I mean, so pretty!"
She was definitely about to say "cute," wasn't she? I looked at the sparkling-eyed Su-ryeon with a deadpan face, then sighed and turned to the mirror.
Yeah, I did look cute, admittedly. Long black hair cascading down to my lower back, gloomy-colored yet glittering violet eyes, and pale arms and legs peeking out from a yellow dress.
The original body was one thing, but this was a physique I'd cultivated specifically to get into Private Acacia. I'd exercised diligently to stay slim, and since being too weak would be a problem, I'd also worked in strength training here and there.
Though all that exercise meant my chest hadn't grown particularly large... Well, Mother hadn't been especially well-endowed either, so this was probably genetics.
"Let's walk around wearing this!"
"No, that would violate the school rules..."
While on the grounds of Private Acacia Academy, wearing the uniform was mandatory under any circumstances.
The only exceptions were moments like this—trying things on in a clothing store—or during the week-long leave allowed over break.
At my correction, Su-ryeon made a disappointed "Aww—" sound, but she soon accepted it and nodded.
"Then try this one on next!"
Of course, she immediately brought over another outfit.
And so I was dressed and redressed, and in turn recommended clothes to Su-ryeon as well. By the time I came to my senses, an elegantly wrapped box was sitting in my hands.
"Huh?"
When did I buy this...? As I stood there blankly, Su-ryeon emerged looking thoroughly satisfied, a box of her own in hand.
"Whew, that was such a fulfilling shopping trip. A luxury boutique really is a luxury boutique!"
"Y-Yeah..."
"Shall we try somewhere else next?"
Wait, that wasn't the end of it? I stared at Su-ryeon in shock. But her expression didn't change one bit as she led me along.
That is, until someone called my name.
"Oh? Miss Ha-eun?"
Was there someone here who would call out to me? I turned my head and found a familiar face.
"Senior Seo-hee?"
"Hehe. So you do remember me."
Senior Seo-hee replied with a smile, clearly pleased. Well, of course I remembered—we'd only met yesterday, and she was the Student Council Vice President. How could I forget?
I didn't say that out loud, of course. It would have been rather undignified. Instead, I returned her smile with a proper young lady's greeting and said,
"Of course. You're not just anyone—you're the senior who first granted me permission to use her name."
"My."
Senior Seo-hee looked briefly surprised, then smiled again.
"Hearing you put it so graciously makes me quite happy. By the way, is the young lady beside you a friend?"
"Ah, yes! I'm Hong Su-ryeon of Class 1-B. I'm Miss Ha-eun's roommate as well."
"I see. I hope you'll continue to get along well with Miss Ha-eun. She's a junior I hold dear, you know."
"O-Of course!"
A junior she held dear? We'd only met a day ago. Still, if Senior Seo-hee thought of me that way, it was good news for me—though I couldn't help but raise that silent objection.
"Are you out enjoying your free time as well, Senior Seo-hee?"
"No. I'm out on Student Council business. Making sure the newly minted young ladies don't cause any trouble."
Senior Seo-hee showed us the armband on her forearm that marked the Student Council, then continued.
"I hope both you, Miss Ha-eun, and Miss Hong Su-ryeon will spend your free time with dignity."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"M-Me too!"
I answered calmly; Su-ryeon replied in a slightly tense voice. I couldn't quite understand why she was so nervous.
"Hehe. Well then, I'll see you again later, Miss Ha-eun."
Having heard our replies, Senior Seo-hee walked off somewhere. Su-ryeon watched her go, then leaned in close to me and whispered,
"Miss Ha-eun! You're on a first-name basis with the Student Council Vice President?!"
"Yes, and?"
"'And?'?! Then if you told her about the bullying, she'd definitely listen! You're not just anyone—you're close enough to call each other by name!"
She only knew half the story. I shook my head and said,
"Even so, Senior Seo-hee and I have only known each other for a single day. If I asked for help right away under those circumstances, she would help me, of course—but we wouldn't be able to chat and smile casually like we did today."
She might think I was trying to use her power as Student Council Vice President. I didn't want to grow distant from Senior Seo-hee over something so petty, so I rejected Su-ryeon's suggestion.
"She gave you permission to use her name after meeting you yesterday...?"
Su-ryeon was stunned for an entirely different reason. You gave me permission to use your name the moment we met, too—why are you so surprised?
At any rate, though we ran into Senior Seo-hee along the way, we enjoyed our shopping in the commercial district without further interruption until curfew.
With no idea what tomorrow might bring at the academy.