What Touches and What Collides
When Hoeyeon stirred awake, Gayul spoke.
"Awake, are you?"
"Huh? Oh—sorry, I must've dozed off. I was looking after you last night, and…"
Huh?
Hoeyeon stretched with a yawn at the bedside, then lifted her head—and found Gayul looking down at her.
"…Gayul?"
"Who else would I be?"
The fact that the words didn't sound arrogant at all confirmed it was definitely Gayul.
"You're awake."
"So I am. Have I been asleep for several days?"
"Four."
"And you kept watch at my side the entire time."
"Not the entire time… Arang and I split it."
"You have my thanks."
"It's only natural."
"And how many people fail to do even what is natural?"
"…That's not the point."
"Perhaps not."
Gayul chuckled softly and patted the space beside her on the bed with her palm.
"? What?"
"Will you not come up?"
Hoeyeon averted her eyes.
"Isn't it about time to eat?"
"A little while longer won't hurt, will it?"
She had a point.
Hoeyeon rose awkwardly and sat on the edge of the bed.
"You won't come to my side?"
"…This is close enough."
"You truly do know how to lift a person's heart and set it down again."
Gayul laughed once more, soft and low.
"But you are right. It is enough… because you keep your promises."
"……Promises?"
"I will not permit you to say you have forgotten."
A conversation from a narrow room in the pleasure quarter rose in Hoeyeon's mind—along with the memory of pressing her lips to the back of Gayul's hand.
"N-now? Here??"
"What is the problem? It is clean, it is quiet, and both of us have clear heads."
Gayul's voice carried the usual teasing lilt she always mixed into such topics—and yet it was earnest.
…Always?
Could she really call it always?
For a while after they first met, yes, it had been always.
Whenever Gayul spoke of such things—of sex, affection, lust, desire, attraction—she always laced her voice with a tone of teasing, of playful mockery.
The exceptions that rose in Hoeyeon's mind numbered two.
One was the day Hoeyeon had taken Gayul's ear into her mouth, and the morning after.
And the other was the very moment of the promise Gayul was speaking of now.
"Alright. Let's do it."
Hoeyeon said.
"Wh—what?"
Gayul made a sound of fluster utterly unlike her usual self.
"Just now, Hoeyeon—what did you say?"
"I said let's do it. Kiss."
Hoeyeon pushed herself up from the edge of the bed and climbed fully onto it.
And rather than settling into the spot Gayul had indicated beside her, she straddled Gayul's thighs, bringing their faces level.
"Y-you…"
Gayul's expression. The color flooding her face red. And her trembling voice.
I knew it.
All of it confirmed Hoeyeon's theory.
Gayul was skilled at pushing first—but terribly weak when she was the one being pushed.
No—she teased first precisely because she was insecure. That way, she always seized the initiative.
"Why are you just sitting there?"
At a distance where the slightest tilt of her head would bump their noses together, Hoeyeon smiled—and Gayul dropped her gaze, avoiding her eyes.
A shiver raced up from the base of Hoeyeon's spine.
It was by no means a lie that Gayul teased and seduced and mocked first. That, too, was part of who she was.
But Gayul's true self was what she had been in those two moments that rose in Hoeyeon's mind—quietly bowing her head, shy and trembling.
The shiver climbing from her tailbone melted into a sweet, tingling heat.
Gayul lifted her gaze again.
Those blue eyes wavered and shook, and still she tried desperately to look straight at Hoeyeon.
"…Come to me."
And watching Gayul gently, slowly bring her lips closer, Hoeyeon remembered.
That even in that shy, trembling true self, Gayul had always spoken the whole of her heart.
When she had turned her back and offered thanks for the praise of her ears.
When, in the dark, she had been promised a kiss for next time and still held out the back of her hand, asking for at least this much.
Shy and trembling—and yet Gayul had always been brave.
Hoeyeon searched for any reason she ought to refuse the lips of the woman drawing near, and nothing came to mind.
—Love well. This seems a good thing, love.
Instead, words brushed through Hoeyeon's mind. Like an adult smiling and giving a child the gentle push to step forward, those words pushed her on.
And so Hoeyeon moved toward Gayul in turn.
Between them, lip met lip.
It was sweet. There was no way actual sweetness had touched her tongue.
And yet it was sweet.
Their lips met for a moment and parted, and Gayul was right there before her eyes.
Hoeyeon cupped Gayul's cheeks in both hands. This time she wanted to kiss her properly, and so she held her.
In Hoeyeon's hands, Gayul trembled.
Then she parted her lips softly and closed her eyes. She entrusted herself to Hoeyeon. Her breath was sweet. And this fierce heartbeat—whose of the two was it—
"Senior Sister Hoeyeon!!!!! Food's ready!!!!!!!!!"
A voice thundered through the house, and Yujeong came barreling toward them with a clatter of footsteps.
"Ah—ah! Coming!"
"Yeeees!!!! Arang, you too—come eat!!!!!!!"
The door slid open with a rattle. Hoeyeon and Gayul emerged, clearing their throats, just as Arang—who had been sleeping in the next room—appeared as well.
"There is no need to shout so for this one to rise…"
With Yujeong present, she had concealed her fox ears and tail. Mid-yawn, Arang spotted Gayul, her eyes went wide, and she grinned.
"Thou art awake."
"Thanks to you, I slept well. You have my gratitude."
"Think nothing of it. 'Tis only natural."
"You two are truly splendid."
"? What dost thou mean all of a sudden?"
"Heh. I shall explain later."
"Very well, as thou wilt… Hoeyeon is awake as well—let us go… sniff sniff…"
Standing beside Hoeyeon, Arang suddenly wrinkled her nose.
"…A-Arang?"
Arang tracked the scent, then looked at Gayul.
"…Sniff sniff."
Then she looked at Hoeyeon, looked at Gayul, her gaze flicked to their lips—and she clicked her tongue.
"In heat the moment thou wakest."
"What—how dare you—!"
Gayul cried out, caught flat-footed for underestimating a Fox-kin's sense of smell.
Arang sighed.
"…Be gentle about it."
Then she turned her back and walked ahead in silence.
It was so different from the way she usually teased them about being a pair that neither of them knew what to say, and could only trail awkwardly after that retreating back.
"You're all here?? Oh—Arang, are you alright?"
"I am simply not yet fully awake."
And when Gayul sat at the table, she was surprised—in the best way.
It seemed Yujeong had cooked everything herself. Several side dishes were laid out, with a generous variety of meats and vegetables.
"I'm sorry the rice is old stock! I can't grow rice myself."
"What nonsense. This is excellent."
"Yujeong was always the best cook among us."
Hoeyeon, first to pick up her chopsticks, said.
"Ahaha, thank you, Senior Sister! You weren't bad yourself, though."
"Did you really have to put 'though' in front of 'weren't bad'? Okay, I don't have a comeback, but…"
Hoeyeon grumbled at Gayul's remark, but her chopsticks didn't slow.
"Hoeyeon—you said she is your junior disciple?"
"Yeah. Counting by the order we entered under our master, I'm number one and Yujeong is number two."
"Hm? That is the first this one has heard of it. Art thou not the most senior?"
"Ahaha… well, yes, but I quit pretty quickly. No talent…"
"Master was disappointed."
"Come on, she was just being polite."
Hoeyeon looked as though she had more she wanted to say, but she left it there.
"Come to think of it, Gayul must be curious. Running into Yujeong was pure chance."
"Oh? Is that so?"
"I knew this area was her hometown, but I just spotted a familiar face on the road out of nowhere."
"Oh, that's right! Senior Sister's face when she was carrying you on her back was incredible. Scarier than a tiger guarding its cubs, I swear."
"Oh my. Is that so, Hoeyeon."
"Thanks for putting us up, Yujeong."
"Huh? You're leaving already?"
Hoeyeon's words were half joke and half earnest, and Yujeong caught it.
"You can rest a little longer before you go. You've been stuck to Gayul's side the whole time—you and I haven't even had a proper conversation."
"Well, that's true, but…"
"First, should we not discuss it among ourselves?"
When Arang spoke, Gayul nodded as well.
"Indeed. We should."
"Come to think of it, Senior Sister."
Just as Hoeyeon reached for another side dish with her chopsticks, Yujeong spoke.
"There's one thing I'd like to ask of you… would that be alright?"
"Hm? What is it?"
"It's been a long time. I'd like to request a lesson—just one exchange."
The eyes with which Yujeong looked at Hoeyeon were more serious than Hoeyeon had ever seen them.
After quitting the sword and returning to her hometown, Yujeong had been living alone, farming.
Farming was not ordinarily work one person could manage alone, but she said she grew only the least demanding crops, and only enough to keep herself fed.
Even so, farming demanded great time and strength every single day.
Having the leisure to swing a sword should have been impossible.
That was why Hoeyeon had been so startled when Yujeong appeared wearing a sword.
Because that blade was worn as though swung every day—and at the same time, clean as though polished every day.
"…One exchange, you said?"
"Yes. One exchange. Please."
The swings you've made alone until now—how many thousands, how many tens of thousands of exchanges was that, Yujeong?
Hoeyeon drew a long, steadying breath.
This was not someone she could instruct with a half-hearted mindset.
"Any particular method or formality? Anything you want?"
"No. Anything is fine."
"Then—the way we always did it."
"Understood."
Yujeong drew a breath and set her hand on the hilt of her sword.
"I request one exchange of instruction, Senior Sister."
Hoeyeon likewise placed her hand on her hilt and answered.
"I request one exchange of instruction, Junior Sister."
The two of them bowed at the waist toward each other in formal respect.
And in the next instant, they collided.