Friday afternoon.
The hallway after classes had ended was quiet.
Minjun was on his way back to the dormitory. It was the third day he had eaten lunch with Chloe. They hadn’t talked much. They ate quietly, then got up quietly. It wasn’t uncomfortable. Chloe’s habit of letting the very tips of her fingers touch the glass one last time when she set it down, and her habit of occasionally glancing toward his neckline while eating, only to lower her gaze when their eyes met, had become predictable patterns now.
‘Is this strange, or not?’
The moment he turned the corner, he heard voices.
They came from the end of the hallway, near the windows. Low, pressed-down voices. More than one person. There was laughter mixed in, but not the pleasant kind.
He slowed his steps.
Chloe was by the window.
---
Three female students stood in front of Chloe. The color of their badges showed they were in the same year. Their expressions were unpleasant. The three of them had formed a semicircle with Chloe in the middle. The only escape route was toward the window.
“Miss Armand.”
One of them spoke with a smile. She was the type whose eyes didn’t smile with her mouth. Her voice was sweet, and that sweetness made it all the more unpleasant.
“The results for this magic practice exam haven’t come out yet, have they? You know what’ll happen if we put in a word with the professor, right?”
Chloe did not answer.
Her back was pressed toward the window. Her shoulders had drawn in narrowly. Her neckline shortened, and her shoulders rose toward her ears.
She was holding her breath. The front of her uniform jacket remained taut. It was the posture of someone who had inhaled and was not breathing out. In that state, the line at the front of her jacket was held fixed, pulled tight. The shape of that jacket told him Chloe was holding her breath out of fear. Her fingertips hung at the side of her skirt, and the joints of her fingers had gone white.
Minjun saw all of it.
Chloe had been driven toward the window. Her back touched the glass. Her shoulders drew in narrowly, making her whole body seem smaller. In that posture, her uniform had changed. As her shoulders hunched in, the front of her jacket had changed. She was holding her breath out of fear. The front of her jacket remained taut. She had inhaled and was not exhaling. Her legs were stiff.
‘This is abuse of power. The structure is exactly the same as workplace bullying.’
He calculated for 0.5 seconds.
‘I’m Isabelle. If Isabelle steps in, how will they react? If it’s a higher-ranking noble, they have no choice but to back down.’
He walked over.
---
The girl at the front of the three turned to look. Her expression stiffened.
Minjun said nothing and stood beside Chloe.
He was right next to Chloe’s shoulder. The distance was close. The space was narrow by the hallway windows. When he stood beside Chloe’s shoulder, he could feel the heat coming from Chloe at a distance just short of touching his skin. They weren’t touching, but the layer of air between them was warm. Isabelle’s skin was cool, and the air on Chloe’s side was warm, so the difference in temperature drew a line in the air between the two of them.
Then he looked at the three girls.
All three avoided his gaze. Silence flowed.
“If you have business, say it. If not, leave.”
One of the three opened her mouth, then closed it. Then she turned around and left. All three of them left.
---
Beside him, Chloe exhaled.
Slowly, at length.
As her breath left her, her shoulders lowered. The shoulders that had risen toward her ears returned to their original position, and her neckline lengthened again. He could sense her whole body loosening a little. The strength also left her fingertips. Her curled fingers straightened, and the white tension over the backs of her hands disappeared.
And the front of her jacket loosened as well.
The front of Chloe’s jacket, which had been fixed in place, pulled taut until just a moment ago, returned to its original state as she exhaled. As the tension drained away, the line of the front also relaxed with it. From this distance, he could see the way it changed according to the rhythm of her breathing in and out.
Minjun looked at Chloe.
From up close, he could see her even more clearly than before.
Her green eyes looked at Isabelle. Their surface was trembling. It was the expression of someone in shock. The corners of her eyes had lowered slightly. Her lips were parted a little. The ends of her short blond hair reached just below her ears. Beneath them, her neckline was exposed. As she exhaled and her shoulders lowered, he could see the tension in her neck release with them.
Chloe’s ears were a little red.
‘She’s making a shocked face with that cute face.’
‘I still don’t know whether this reaction is coming from a woman’s point of view or a man’s brain.’
‘It must be because I’m tired. It must be because this hallway isn’t ventilated.’
“Are you all right?”
Chloe raised her eyes. When she raised her eyes at this distance, Isabelle felt the warmth of the air coming from Chloe’s eyes. Close. They were one step closer than before. He didn’t know when that had happened.
“……Why did you help me?”
Minjun thought for a moment. ‘Why did I help her?’
‘Just because. I don’t like seeing things like that. I hated people like that the most at work too.’
“Because I didn’t like seeing it.”
“I’m not being especially nice to you. I just dislike situations like that.”
“Don’t misunderstand.”
Chloe slowly nodded. But the look in her eyes did not change. If anything, something more seemed to enter them. The corners of her eyes lowered a little further. Her lips opened, closed, then opened again.
The air between Isabelle and Chloe was warm. Neither of them moved. Neither side widened the distance first.
Chloe drew in a small breath. He heard it. At this distance, he could hear it. The front of her jacket pulled with that inhale. It seemed like she was about to speak. A word was just about to come out.
Minjun could not know what that word was.
---
Minjun was the first to take a step.
He did not look back. He only knew that behind him, Chloe remained unmoving for a while, because he heard no footsteps.
He pushed open the door leading out of the hallway. Afternoon sunlight poured in.
‘How did I end up turning the original heroine into this?’
He walked down the corridor. Afternoon sunlight entered through the windows. His silver hair caught the light and briefly brightened. The hem of his skirt swayed with his steps. Even while he had been standing beside Chloe earlier, this skirt hem had been there like this. Chloe’s skirt hem must have been the same. While the two of them stood side by side, the two skirt hems had quietly rested over their respective legs. Minjun processed that fact for the first time now.
‘Why am I thinking about this now? It’s the ventilation.’
---
Meanwhile, in the student council corridor.
Sylvia Kant happened to see that scene.
She saw Isabelle intervene. She saw the three girls withdraw. She saw Isabelle say something brief to Chloe and leave.
The distance between the two of them when Isabelle stood beside Chloe. How much space there had been between Isabelle’s shoulder and Chloe’s shoulder at that distance.
And—
Isabelle’s profile.
From the angle where sunlight entered through the hallway windows, her silver hair flowed down over her shoulders. The neckline visible from the side. The line on the opposite side of her neck revealed by the slight tilt of her head toward Chloe. The line of her collarbone exposed above her collar. The way light pooled over her collarbone while the area below slipped into shadow.
And Isabelle’s posture as she stood facing Chloe. The line of her jacket as seen from the side. When Isabelle spoke, the front of her uniform changed minutely with her breathing. When she inhaled and when she exhaled. Looking down at the file, Sylvia became aware of the fact that she had seen it from this distance.
“Day 5 — Confirmed one intervention toward Miss Armand. Reason unknown.”
Her pen stopped. She had written that the reason was unknown, but—
Sylvia became aware that she wanted to know that reason. For the time being, she decided to ignore that awareness.
Evening sunlight entered through the window. Sylvia closed the file and rose.
The way the front of Isabelle’s jacket changed whenever she breathed. That rhythm of inhaling and exhaling. Sylvia still could not erase it.
And Isabelle’s posture as she stood beside Chloe. The waistline visible from the side. The way the jacket narrowed at her waist. That posture that drew the eye even when she was only standing there. Sylvia gripped the file tightly.
She could simply observe again tomorrow.
That was the only reason.
---
That night.
Chloe sat by the dormitory window and thought about the hallway that day.
The moment Isabelle had stood beside her. The warmth she had felt at that distance. They hadn’t touched, but the layer of air had been different. Isabelle’s skin had been cool, and yet that coolness had somehow felt like warmth.
The way the front of Isabelle’s jacket had moved with her breathing as she stood beside her. Chloe had been able to see it at that distance. When Isabelle inhaled and when she exhaled. That rhythm had been felt up close. Chloe had seen it. She had not yet admitted that she had seen it.
A faint fragrance had come from Isabelle’s silver hair. It was not a sweet scent, but a cool one. For a fleeting instant, it had clung to the tip of Chloe’s nose, then disappeared.
‘She said it was because she didn’t like seeing it.’
‘She told me not to misunderstand.’
Those words kept replaying.
Her fingertips grasped the end of her own sleeve, then let go. Beyond the window, the sky was darkening.
The distance from when Isabelle had stood beside her seemed to still remain on her skin. The warmth created by Isabelle’s cool body temperature seemed to still remain over Chloe’s left shoulder.
Chloe still could not distinguish whether that was because of skin, or because of something else.
While Isabelle had stood beside Chloe, she had also seen the way the front of Isabelle’s jacket changed with her breathing. When she inhaled and when she exhaled. Chloe had been able to see it at that distance. Chloe had seen it. She did not admit that she had seen it.
And Isabelle’s back as she walked away. The rhythm of her skirt hem clinging and falling away. That rhythm remained in her memory. Even after Isabelle disappeared, that rhythm replayed behind Chloe’s eyes. It did not stop.
One by one, stars appeared outside the window. Chloe did not look at them. As though trying to remember the warmth remaining on her left shoulder before it vanished, she simply sat there.