“Good.”
As if pleased with the answer, Reiji’s eyes curved very gently.
[“The contract is formed. Then I’ll look forward to seeing you next time.”]
Geuru, who had understood only the word “good,” raised his hand high and waved it from side to side.
“Okay! Then bye-bye, mister.”
“Bye-bye…….”
Reiji, who had been waving back, suddenly fixed his gaze on one spot.
“Why?”
“Is that child your friend too?”
At his question, Geuru tilted his head and looked in the direction he was pointing.
The child who looked terribly flustered while coming toward the potato field was definitely…….
“Uju?!”
Startled, Uju backed away and mumbled.
“Why, why are you here…….”
“Whaat?”
Geuru puffed up his cheeks.
That was what Geuru wanted to ask.
You said you were going to play with a friend! And a new friend Geuru didn’t even know!
Just then, Uju’s face went pale and he started running away.
“Ujuuu!”
Geuru chased after him, and Mephisto also shot after Geuru like an arrow.
And by the time Beilak looked back, Amakusa Reiji had long since disappeared.
*
‘Why is Geuru here? Isn’t he supposed to be at the sports day? Who was that man?’
Because he had run into Geuru so suddenly, his mind had gone blank and he had fled!
When he no longer heard the sound of pursuit, Uju hurriedly stopped and looked back.
‘What if he’s been caught by some strange man……!’
I have to protect Geuru.
But when he turned around, Geuru was standing still with his head bowed low.
“Geuru…….”
“……Why are you avoiding Geuru?”
“That’s…….”
“Is it because you got a friend you’re closer to than Geuru?”
“No, no! It’s not that!”
“I heard everything you said on the phone with that mister. You don’t wanna be partners with Geuru?”
“No, that’s not it! Haa…….”
The troubled look showed plainly on Uju’s face. If he had known Geuru was listening in on the call, he would never have said it like that.
It felt suffocating, as if both his head and his heart were tangled up in a hopeless mess of thread he couldn’t unravel.
He knew very well that he was acting unlike himself.
He had simply, truly simply, avoided it. As if doing that would let him escape.
But after running away like that, all that would remain was Dad’s and Geuru’s disappointment.
Avoiding things couldn’t get him anything.
In the end, Uju squeezed his eyes shut and opened his mouth.
“……I did it because…….”
“Hm?”
“Because I was embarrassed…….”
“What were you embarrassed about?”
Uju slowly opened his eyes and said,
“I awakened.”
“Really?!”
Unlike Geuru, who brightened at once, Uju bit down hard on his lower lip with a gloomy expression.
The child mumbled in a voice so small it seemed about to fade away.
“……I’m F-rank. So I was embarrassed.”
“Why? What’s wrong with that? Teacher said almost nobody awakens before entering school, and that it’s amazing.”
“Even so, compared to you or the hyungs, I…… don’t have any power. I didn’t want to show you that.”
The sports day was a place where Awakened could shine.
In fact, hadn’t the whole school been buzzing with expectations for the hyungs? The anticipation for S-ranks was so palpable he could feel it on his skin.
The people who had eaten lunch with him and chattered noisily were actually people that amazing.
S-ranks.
Compared to them, he was merely F-rank.
Even his only skill was a stupid-looking F-rank one.
Grow, Grow, Grow! (F): You can help crops grow well!
Today, he had come to secretly help Geuru’s potatoes grow.
Because the disappointed look on Geuru’s face when he said he wouldn’t participate in the sports day with him had stayed on his mind…….
Because even as an F-rank, he should be able to do at least that much…….
If he had known Geuru was eating in the garden plot, he never would have come.
And yet, because of his foolish choice, all he had done was reveal that he was F-rank.
‘I wish I just hadn’t awakened.’
Lately, Uju had wanted badly to be good at everything.
He hadn’t neglected his studies and had passed the preschool course, people said his acting was getting better and better, and he had worked hard raising potatoes with Geuru too.
All of it.
“Because I want to look cool to you…….”
Uju let out the words he had kept hidden in his heart.
Even pretending to know things in front of Geuru had all been because he wanted Geuru to think he was cool.
Just as he thought Geuru was cool.
Finding pictures of Geuru online, searching for articles about Geuru every day, buying Geuru’s merchandise and piling it up in his room…….
‘Though Geuru doesn’t do anything like that at all…….’
Huh?
Faced with the truth all of a sudden, the corners of Uju’s mouth trembled.
If you like someone, aren’t you supposed to do that?
Even a fan would do that much…….
His heart thudded wildly, as if someone were beating a drum in his chest.
In truth, up until now, Geuru hadn’t done a single thing that showed he liked Uju.
It had all just been the manager-hyung egging him on from the side.
Then what was this?
‘Does Geuru not like me?’
Really?
Trying to look cool, collecting merchandise, saving clips, saving pictures and looking at them every day…….
He was the only one doing all of that.
Wasn’t this as if he alone was desperate because he liked Geuru?
A chill ran up his spine, and the world began to spin before his eyes.
Unable to bring himself to look at Geuru, Uju lowered his head deeply.
‘Is that really true?!’
I liked Geuru all by myself, but I thought Geuru liked me and got smug about it?!
How horrifying.
Uju covered his mouth with both hands.
The truth he had suddenly realized was so embarrassing that he even felt nauseous.
“…….”
“…….”
Amid the brief silence.
Geuru suddenly shouted,
“Uju is pretty!”
Flinch!
Uju, who had been blinking blankly, flushed bright red like a ripe tomato.
“Huh?!”
Ignoring Uju’s reaction, Geuru counted on his fingers one by one.
“And you’re good at saying difficult words, and good at acting, and popular, and you know lots of things.”
“……Th-that’s…….”
So embarrassed that tears even sprang to the corners of his eyes, Uju opened and closed his mouth.
Those were nothing compared to what Geuru had.
But Geuru smiled brightly and said,
“Uju is plenty cool! You’re amazing!”
“…….”
I had always wanted to hear those words from you.
But when he actually heard the words he had wanted, he realized that wasn’t what he had truly been hoping for.
He wanted to reach somewhere deeper in Geuru’s heart. Just as he couldn’t hold back these feelings for him now.
“Do you feel better now?”
Rubbing his reddened face with the back of his hand, Uju said,
“……For now, it’s enough if you think that.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
Avoiding things really wasn’t like him.
Uju was the type with a fairly strong competitive streak.
He had made it this far after passing countless auditions. He knew from experience that just because he was behind now didn’t mean the result would be the same.
“—For now.”
As Uju firmly steeled his heart and nodded, Beilak, who had been standing beside them, shrank down with a whoosh.
Geuru let out a deep sigh as he looked at the tiny hamster, then put Beilak into his bag.
Every time Uju saw it, he let out a small sound of wonder.
After revealing that he was an S-rank to Uju, Geuru had also told him about Beilak.
Geuru, who could turn an SSS-rank monster into a hamster as if it were nothing.
‘As expected, Geuru is cool.’
Uju pressed his lips together.
“Then Uju, wanna go run with Geuru?”
“Sure, let’s go.”
Uju took Geuru’s hand and led him along.
Geuru trotted after him and chattered.
“We gotta try suuuper hard. Geuru wants to get a prize.”
“Yeah.”
Uju looked back at Geuru and smiled prettily.
“I’ll make sure we win.”
No matter how you feel right now.
Even if I’m behind for now, I can win everything.
I’ll make you think I’m cool, enough that your heart pounds before you even realize it.
That way, this time, for real, I’ll become your favorite.