A Secret Between Girls
Having finished Team Harmonize's afternoon training, Shine and I joined up with Rain and gathered in our room.
"So, how was training today?"
One, two, clap, clap. One, two, clap, clap. In the middle of our stretches, Rain asked with sparkling eyes, clearly curious about my training.
"It was nothing special," I replied, shutting my mouth.
"Jeff, your foot is pointing the wrong way."
"Ah, right." Correcting my stance at Shine's pointer, I spun my body around. As my vision swept past in a light spin, Shine and Rain came into view one after the other.
"Nothing special? I heard Victor went as your instructor."
"Yeah."
Clap! Raising her hands toward the ceiling, Rain clapped loudly. Even while keeping her body busy, her mouth didn't rest for a second.
"I've never seen Victor look after someone like that. It's super suspicious."
"What's so suspicious about it?"
"Victor isn't nice."
I stared at Rain in silence. Victor was nice. Sure, he played the occasional prank, but that was just his way of showing affection.
"Rain."
"Yeah?"
"Victor is nice."
At my words, Rain froze as if struck by lightning. Our gymnastics routine entered its final stretch. As our spinning bodies ground to a halt, Shine, Rain, and I all finished the routine in the exact same pose.
"Done!"
Now that today's stretches were over, it was time for milk. I headed to the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of cold milk. Rain and Shine naturally grabbed their cups and approached me.
"Which cup is it today?"
"Mr. Bear cup," Rain said, holding out her cup. Just as she said, a bear was printed on the mug. It was a bear wearing a hat and smiling brightly. The bear looked a bit too realistic, making it slightly creepy, but it was Rain's favorite cup. I poured the milk for her. Watching the milk glug down, Rain gulped it all down the moment the cup was full.
"What about Shine?"
"Rabbit cup." The cup Shine held out had long rabbit ears sticking up. It was a super cute, adorable cup that Shine and I used often. She had brought mine along too and handed it to me. Sitting down on the floor, I poured milk into Shine's cup and my own. Cold milk was always the best, no matter when you drank it. Gulp, gulp. Feeling the refreshing liquid slide down my throat, I smacked my lips and thought of cola. Ever since the cast on my foot was removed, Shine hadn't brought me any cola. I felt a little disappointed.
"Rain."
"Yeah."
"Did you bring it?"
"Are you sure Amy isn't here?"
"She said she was busy today."
Heading to the sink with my cup, I shrieked in horror at the conversation drifting from behind my back.
"Rain! Shine!"
"Yeah?"
"You're trying to read those manga again, aren't you?"
"Do you want to read with us, Jeff?"
Stepping on a chair to put my cup in the sink, I hopped right down. With a quick patter-patter of footsteps, I rushed straight over to Rain.
"Rain! Shine is getting weird because you keep showing her those strange manga!"
"I'm not weird."
"Shine, stay out of this."
"No."
Rain's eyes went wide, seemingly startled by my outburst.
"Strange...?" Rain's voice trembled, sounding a bit hurt. Her tiny tongue twitched slightly between her parted lips.
"Uh, well... it's just..." I didn't mean to judge someone else's tastes. But if those tastes were having a bad influence on Shine, that was a different story.
Rain protectively hugged the little chick bag on her back. Judging by her behavior, she had definitely packed the manga inside.
"Jeff, it's not strange. The manga Rain brought is really fun."
"I know, Shine. The manga is fun. But the content is..."
"Jeff, the content isn't strange either. You know it too. Those books are about family."
Shine said as she stepped closer to Rain. Rain, who had been shrinking back, instantly perked up with a triumphant look when Shine took her side. She proudly thrust her chick bag forward, squeezing its belly. Every time her hand pressed the chick's stomach, its beak popped open with a squeak.
"Yeah! It's not weird at all."
Rain teased me, sticking her little tongue in and out. I was utterly flabbergasted. For a full-grown adult, she acted like a complete child. Seeing her behave no differently from Shine or me made me seriously question her actual age.
"Rain, take out the manga."
"Okay. I couldn't bring many because I can't let Amy catch me."
Rain sat down on the floor and reached her hand into the chick's mouth. After rummaging around inside its belly, she pulled out three volumes of manga. Just like the ones we saw last time, the covers featured pretty girls. Shine naturally took the books and held them out to me.
"Let's read together, Jeff."
"I..."
"It's not weird, is it?"
"Well, no, but..."
Shine approached my hesitant self and forced the manga into my hands. Fidgeting with the book, I glanced at Rain to gauge her reaction. She didn't seem to care about what had just happened at all, opening her book with a delighted expression.
"Shine, the one she brought this time is..."
Sharing a hobby you loved with someone else—that was undoubtedly a wonderful thing. Right now, Rain had found the perfect companions to share her hobby with. Seeing how incredibly happy she looked, I couldn't bring myself to say anything more. With a small sigh, I shuffled over and sat down beside them.
Flip, flip. Tiny fingers turned the pages of the manga. Pretty art, pretty dialogue, and a refreshing background. The plot itself was nothing groundbreaking, but it was fun. And it gave me a strange, ticklish sensation. Wearing a complicated expression, I stroked the cover of the book.
"How is it? How is it?"
"What do you mean, how is it..."
"The story! What did you think?"
"It's just..."
I recalled the plot of the manga. It was a slice-of-life story about an older sister who excelled at everything and a slightly lacking younger sister. The older sister did everything flawlessly, while the younger sister felt a deep sense of inferiority watching her. Yet, the older sister felt suffocated by the pressure of daily life. She had to be perfect. Always better than her sister, always better than everyone else. Eventually, unable to bear the weight, she snapped. Honestly, the daily events that unfolded from there were really entertaining. In fact, they were incredibly good. The turning point where the younger sister's inferiority complex began to morph into something else was truly the highlight. Curious about the next volume, I stole a glance at the book Rain was holding and answered.
"Well... it's actually pretty good."
"Right? I knew you'd think so!"
Smacking my lips, I handed the manga back to Rain. Taking it from me, she immediately offered the next volume she was holding.
"You're curious about the next volume, aren't you?"
"Uh... yeah." Taking the book from her, I nodded with a slightly awkward expression. Clutching the manga, I hesitated before slowly opening my mouth. The tiny tongue inside my mouth refused to move easily. If only I had a cola right now, it would be so much easier to speak.
"I'm sorry."
"Huh? For what?"
"For what I said earlier. I want to apologize for speaking so harshly about your book. I'm sorry, Rain."
I clasped Rain's hands tightly as I apologized. Staring blankly at my face, Rain's eyes began to dart around in sheer panic. Her lips mumbled incoherently, and her cheeks flushed a light pink. In the end, she pulled her hands out of my grip and stammered out a reply.
"Ah... yeah. It's fine!"
Rain took a step back. Then, as if startled by her own reaction, she took another two steps back. Standing quite a distance away from me, she placed a hand over her chest and let out a soft sigh.
"Jeff, you're really nice..."
"Nice?"
"Yeah... other people don't really apologize."
Rain sat back down, stroking the manga with a wistful look on her face.
"That's right. Jeff is nice."
Shine chimed in, nodding in agreement with Rain. And she didn't stop there.
"And cute."
"And cool."
"And..."
Shine hesitated, searching for the next word. I had never been more grateful for her slightly limited vocabulary. As Shine continued to babble embarrassing compliments, I rushed over in a panic and clamped my hand over her mouth.
"Shush."
"Mmh."
Shine obediently nodded and went back to focusing on her manga.
"Hey, Jeff."
"Yeah?"
As I took my hand off Shine's mouth and sat beside her, Rain crept closer and spoke in a hushed tone.
"Should I bring more next time?"
Without a word, I opened the manga in my hands. Scanning the pages as they flipped lightly, I gave a nod.
"Only when Amy isn't around..."
Only when Amy isn't around. At my condition, Rain let out a delighted laugh and threw her arms around me. The sudden weight sent my body toppling backward.
"Rain... you're heavy."
Straddling me, Rain refused to loosen her grip. I shot a pleading look at Shine for help, but she was completely absorbed in her manga, seemingly oblivious to my gaze. The cover of her book was a bit suggestive.
After hugging me in silence for a while, Rain suddenly scrambled up in a panic.
"No!"
It was a shout bordering on a shriek. Rain snatched the manga from my hands and grabbed Shine's as well in one swift motion. Startled by her sudden movement, Shine's eyes went wide.
"Amy's footsteps!"
Amy's footsteps? I strained my ears, but I couldn't hear anything of the sort. Making a huge fuss, Rain stuffed the manga back into her bag and chucked the chick bag straight into the pile of my stuffed animals. The chick sailed through the air and landed perfectly camouflaged among the plushies.
About thirty seconds later, as if by magic, the door swung open and Amy walked in.
"You girls have been behaving, right?"
Amy said, immediately scanning the room. Her sharp gaze swept across the entire space. I silently glanced at Rain. She was incredibly tense—so much so that anyone could tell she was hiding something. I grabbed Rain's hand and pulled her behind me. Catching on to my intention, Shine helped push her behind our backs.
"What were you doing?"
Amy took off her jacket and walked toward us. Rain's trembling was getting worse by the second. Desperately racking my brain for an excuse, I blurted out at the top of my lungs:
"Gymnastics!"
That was it. We were doing gymnastics. Shine, Rain, and I simultaneously snapped into our starting stretches.
"Oh, my."
At the sight, Amy pulled out her phone.
"Start!"
And so, our second gymnastics session of the day began.