Chapter 9: …I know, right. Why are you so pretty?

After lunch and the end of class, the school day was quickly coming to a close.

“Take care, Chaea.”

“Goodbye.”

With a bright smile, Enubi waved her hand, now once again friends with Chaea.

She had initially thought Chaea looked a bit tough when she frowned or grumbled.

‘She’s cute.’

Chaea found herself wanting to get closer to Enubi, charmed by her captivating smile.

“Do Hyunwoo, make sure you look after Chaea properly.”

“I’m already doing that.”

Hyunwoo nodded slightly. It was impossible to care for her more than this.

‘I don’t even think I’ve been sleeping properly, with her next to me every day.’

He thought he’d get used to it over time, but Chaea’s role as his cushion was always hard on his heart.

“See you tomorrow.”

After giving a casual goodbye to Enubi, he started heading out of the classroom.

“Chaea, if you feel sick, call me, okay?”

Enubi hurriedly added.

‘That was the real purpose.’

Hyunwoo stared at Enubi, who turned her head quickly.

“Do you have my number?”

“Um… I think so?”

Enubi was, of course, Chaea’s close friend. While she had some level of familiarity with Hyunwoo, since Chaea was always with him, they weren’t close enough to text each other directly.

• Are you going to ask Enubi? I can pass the message.

Since Chaea was always there, there wasn’t really a need for a separate contact system for emergencies.

“Huh, I don’t have it?”

“Well, it’s fine now that you know it.”

After exchanging numbers for the first time in two years, Enubi waved her hand dramatically.

“Make sure to contact me if anything happens. Chaea, if Hyunwoo bothers you, let me know.”

“I’m not bothering her.”

“I’ll let you know. Don’t worry.”

“…Yoo Chaea?”

Hyunwoo looked at Chaea, who nodded nonchalantly, feeling baffled.

‘Isn’t it me who’s being bothered?’

Every morning, he wakes up with his arm buried in a soft mass of flesh. Some might envy that, but physically and mentally, it was quite a painful task to suppress his desires each morning.

“Just kidding. Let’s go, Hyunwoo.”

With a mischievous grin, Chaea pulled on Hyunwoo’s hand.

There was no man who wouldn’t feel a flutter when someone like Chaea smiled at them.

‘She knows she’s pretty, doesn’t she?’

With his body stiff and his gaze fixed ahead like a block of stone, Hyunwoo walked down the stairs, his thoughts swirling.

“ot.”

Chaea let out a sudden exclamation.

“Are you okay? Is something wrong?”

“Huh? No, no. I just had a good idea.”

“Suddenly?”

It was out of nowhere, but it was a familiar sound.

• I have a good idea, Hyunwoo.

• What is it?

• I’ll eat the last piece of meat.

…Do whatever you want.

Before her memory was lost, Yoo Chaea had the strange talent of making nonsensical comments in a serious tone without any expression.

Wondering if she was returning to her past self, Hyunwoo asked again.

“What’s your good idea?”

“Let’s look around the school.”

“Why?”

“I thought maybe I’d remember something if we looked around. Tomorrow’s back to regular classes, and there will be a lot of students, so it might be awkward to wander around.”

“Ah.”

“Oh.”

This time, it actually sounded quite reasonable.

‘Today is probably the only chance we have.’

The opening ceremony wasn’t a day when students were eager to go home. Teachers were people too. If they had a shortened schedule, they would want to leave early.

It meant the time to freely explore the soon-to-be-empty school was coming.

“But you’re not exactly comfortable moving around, are you?”

“You can carry me, right?”

“…What did you just say?”

“You said you’d carry me in the morning.”

“That was because you looked like you were in pain.”

“Do I have to be in pain for you to carry me?”

“Why are you talking like that…”

“Ugh.”

Before Hyunwoo could react, Chaea pressed herself into his arms again. She grabbed his waist tightly and tilted her head back.

The space between them was so close that they could feel each other’s breath. Her small face, with delicate and well-proportioned features, was in full view.

Her violet eyes sparkled.

Their breaths intertwined, and the warmth of her skin brushed against him.

Her glossy lips caught his attention.

gulp.

Unconsciously, Hyunwoo swallowed hard and lowered his voice.

“What if someone sees us like this?”

When his face was buried in her chest, he had thought it was hard to endure, but looking at her this closely was even more difficult.

“There’s no one around right now. And so what if someone sees? We’re childhood friends.”

“Then we don’t look like childhood friends…”

“Why stop talking?”

Hyunwoo clenched his mouth shut. It was hard for him to speak out loud that they probably looked more like a couple to others.

Fortunately, Chaea didn’t push the matter further.

She smirked softly and whispered.

“Consider this an advance payment for me carrying you.”

“What?”

“You like me carrying you, don’t you?”

“Only you like it. You’re always the one clinging to me.”

“Yeah. I like it.”

Hyunwoo sighed again.

‘Don’t think weird things, Do Hyunwoo. She just likes being carried… but wait, isn’t it a bit strange to like being carried too?’

His mind was racing, analyzing the meaning of her words.

Chaea’s eyes subtly drooped.

“Don’t you like being close like this?”

“…I didn’t say I didn’t like it.”

Why was she suddenly making a face like a pitiful puppy? He hadn’t done anything wrong, but she made him feel guilty for no reason.

“I’m glad. Then you’ll carry me, right?”

“Fine, but let go of me for a second.”

Since he had already allowed her to be in his arms, there was no way he could refuse.

He thought it would be better than having this embarrassing face-to-face moment, so he knelt down.

“Alright, get on.”

“Oops.”

Of course, there might not be much difference between carrying her and just hugging her.

gulp.

The soft, heavy weight pressed against his back, and he had to support her thighs to keep her from sliding down.

“Well then, let’s go.”

The only silver lining was that, while carrying her, he wouldn’t have to worry about his lower body being noticed.

“Where should we go first?”

“Maybe somewhere close? But am I too heavy?”

Chaea, who had asked him to carry her, suddenly looked worried.

“You’re not heavy at all.”

He barely swallowed the words about her being heavy in certain areas and headed toward the nearest music room.

“This is the music room.”

“Whoa. It’s way bigger than I thought. Did we have our singing assessments here?”

“Yeah, we did.”

“How was my singing?”

“You’re a good singer. Don’t you even remember that?”

“I remember you singing, though.”

“Of all things, you forget that?”

The more they talked, the more Hyunwoo couldn’t figure out how Chaea’s memory was tangled.

“Oh, wait, I do remember now! You hit a wrong note, and I laughed so hard.”

“…Yeah.”

Recalling the embarrassing moment, Hyunwoo quickly stepped out of the music room.

“Alright, let’s move on.”

“Already? Are you mad because I said you were bad at singing?”

“I’m not mad… Wait a second. I never actually said I was bad at singing.”

“Oh.”

Chaea flinched, realizing she had blurted out her thoughts.

“Hyunwoo, I don’t think people have to be good at singing.”

“That’s called making excuses.”

Given a chance to explain, she just went ahead and admitted it instead.

For a moment, he considered just going home, but—

“Haa… Anyway, your memory is coming back, right?”

“I think so.”

“Then let’s keep going. If your head starts hurting, tell me immediately.”

“Got it.”

He couldn’t let this chance for Chaea to regain her memory slip away, so Hyunwoo led her to the next classroom.

The school tour turned out to be quite productive.

“Wait, didn’t a fire almost break out here?”

“Yeah, because you didn’t handle the alcohol lamp properly.”

The science lab brought back that nerve-wracking memory.

“Oh? Didn’t we draw portraits of each other here?”

“They should be somewhere around here… Ah, found them.”

“Pfft. We were terrible at drawing.”

Arriving at the art room, they burst into laughter as they looked at the portraits they had drawn of each other.

“Hm… Nothing really comes to mind here.”

“Well, you never liked coding much.”

The computer lab didn’t yield any significant memories, but—

“Ugh…? My head hurts a little here…”

“What? Should we go to the hospital?”

“No… Just give me a second…”

As soon as they stepped into the gym, Chaea suddenly clutched her head in pain.

“Hehe… I remember now. I twisted my ankle during the sports festival, and you carried me just like this.”

“Now that you remember, we’re leaving.”

Hyunwoo practically stormed out of the gym as if he were about to sprint straight to the hospital.

“Haa… I’m really fine, Hyunwoo.”

“…Are you sure?”

“Yeah, really.”

Chaea’s condition improved quickly.

After going through so many places, one thing became clear.

“If we visit places with memories, my memory seems to come back!”

“Seems like it. I was honestly scared you might pass out again.”

Hyunwoo let out a relieved sigh.

That last moment when Chaea got dizzy had really worried him, but thankfully, today ended with her just regaining memories.

“Let’s head home. The sun’s about to set.”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

The school wasn’t that big, but as they went through each spot and talked about their memories, time flew by.

As Hyunwoo carried Chaea to the school gate, she lightly tapped his shoulder from behind.

“You can put me down now.”

“Let’s just go like this. Walking doesn’t have any real benefit.”

“I want to walk with you and hold hands.”

“…Are you doing this on purpose?”

“Hm? What?”

“Never mind.”

Hyunwoo set her down.

His childhood friend kept sneaking into his heart, making him feel like he might actually develop an arrhythmia.

‘…But this much should be fine.’

To be honest, he didn’t hate it.

If he were even more honest, he was actually enjoying it.

After all, he was putting in all this effort to help her.

Wasn’t this kind of reward only fair?

‘Chaea is totally the one making the first move here.’

Holding back his urges too much made dangerous thoughts start creeping in.

Like testing how far he could go while still staying within the bounds of being childhood friends.

Of course, his cowardly nature wasn’t going anywhere, so—

Squeeze.

In the end, all he could do was hold her hand a little tighter.

“Wow. Look at the sky, Hyunwoo.”

Walking home together, hand in hand—

“The sunset is so pretty, isn’t it?”

Chaea pointed at the sky with her arm still in a cast.

“…Yeah. Why does it look even prettier today?”

Hyunwoo, however, was looking at Chaea’s face bathed in the sunset’s glow.

“Did we always walk home watching the sky like this?”

“Not every day. Today’s just later than usual.”

“Then today’s special.”

“It’s always pretty, though.”

“Hm? What was that?”

Chaea turned to look at him, but Hyunwoo shook his head like nothing had happened.

“Nothing. Anyway, we should keep doing this.”

“Doing what?”

“Going to places with memories. That way, you can regain them.”

Chaea still had a cast, so it would be a bit troublesome for now, but once she healed, they could go to even more places and speed up her recovery.

“Yeah. I—”

“I’ll be counting on you from now on.”

“…You’re not expecting me to carry you again, are you?”

“Why, don’t want to?”

“It’s not that, but… all the time would be a bit much.”

“You said I wasn’t heavy…”

“For now, let’s focus on what we can do at school.”

“Are you changing the subject?”

As they chatted about what to do next and where to go first, their hands stayed firmly intertwined, fingers laced together.