The time I had to spend at school was over. Unlike when I’d arrived and found my desk wrecked, nothing much had happened after that.
Until all the classes I took with Yu Inna—who had taken the seat beside me with my seatmate’s consent—came to an end, the being known as the school’s queen hadn’t taken any measures to harass me. Maybe she hadn’t interfered any further simply because it was only this body’s first day at school.
While I was sinking into my thoughts about having safely gotten through my first day, the homeroom teacher, who was holding the end-of-day meeting, looked at me with clear eyes.
“Then that’s it for today. Those who signed up for clubs, go ahead, and Erika, come to the faculty office for a bit.”
I’d missed school for three days, and since no one had kept calling me in, I’d been happily thinking they were just going to let it slide.
Sigh.
Unlike me, who stood up with a sigh to go to the faculty office, my classmates began chattering cheerfully as they prepared to leave school.
“Hey, PC café today?”
“We’re supposed to play a soccer match against Damseong High.”
“If you’ve got plans, can’t be helped. Let’s go together next time.”
Students leaving while making plans to play games.
“You’re going to tutoring again?”
“Yeah, my parents are so intense about it.”
“I’m going to the study room!”
“I have to go to academy too. Yesterday was so fun, though...”
“Tell me about it. If you ever skip tutoring again, let’s hang out! This time with Inna!”
“Okay!”
Students leaving to continue studying even after school was over.
“...”
And even students heading to their destinations without a word.
With most of the class leaving, only Yu Inna remained seated, waving at me as I headed for the faculty office.
It wasn’t because she hadn’t received any invitations that she was coming with me. The girls I had already dubbed the “Yu Inna faction” had asked her to leave with them, but she herself had refused, saying she would go with me.
Recalling her declaration that she would leave with me when I went home, I told her, “Wait for me,” then went to the faculty office.
I had already heard from Yu Inna where the faculty office was after saying I had lost my memory, so even though the homeroom teacher had gone ahead first, I was able to arrive there without trouble.
The faculty office door, which I’d thought I would never have reason to knock on again in my life.
After lightly knocking on it and opening the door, I was greeted by unfamiliar faces and the faces of teachers I had seen during class today.
Every single teacher had a face. During class, I’d already figured out that in this dating sim, teachers all looked like ordinary humans rather than black human-shaped figures, so I wasn’t surprised by the fact that people with “extra” written over their heads had faces. I simply sat down in the chair beside my homeroom teacher.
The homeroom teacher of Class 1, Year 2. In other words, my second homeroom teacher for my second year looked much younger than the other teachers.
One glance was enough to tell that this woman didn’t have much experience. Well, this teacher was an event, but also one of the heroines, so it couldn’t be helped.
Even though she must have been fairly young, the fact that she had passed the teacher certification exam and become a teacher meant she was capable. Whether that would be to my benefit or detriment, I couldn’t say.
“Um, would you like a cup of coffee? Or maybe something to drink?”
“No, my friend is waiting for me in the classroom.”
It was a statement meant to end the conversation directly and show that I wanted to return as quickly as possible to the classroom where Yu Inna was waiting. Even as a beginner teacher, she seemed to understand what I meant, because after taking one deep breath, she opened her mouth.
“Is there... something troubling you?”
“If there is, do I have to say it here?”
A place where the other teachers could listen in if they wanted to. Before I had this body, during my own high school years, school had been a battlefield.
A fierce battlefield where, if you lived carelessly, it wouldn’t have been strange to be framed at any time.
Having survived that place to the very end and graduated, I knew how dangerous it was to speak honestly in a place like this.
There were cases where students overheard conversations while coming to the faculty office, or cases where teachers close to certain students subtly spread what they’d heard.
It made you wonder how people like that could become teachers, but in this world, ability and character weren’t necessarily proportional.
“Ah, if that bothers you, shall we go somewhere else? Let’s go out with the friend who’s waiting.”
Perhaps she understood the words born from my abundant experience of war, because the teacher picked up the car keys and handbag on her desk and stood.
There are no secrets at school.
Having made my homeroom teacher stand up with a single sentence, on the grounds that I didn’t want counseling in a place where anyone could listen in if they tried, I rose and followed her.
...In truth, even if she asked me why I’d been absent, the information I knew was extremely limited, so from the beginning I had intended to have this conversation together with Yu Inna, who probably knew my circumstances best. I hadn’t necessarily meant we had to go outside.
But the teacher, who couldn’t possibly know all that, must have taken it at face value that I simply didn’t want to say anything at school and suggested going out.
She must have understood at least part of my intention and suggested bringing Yu Inna, the friend who had stayed by my side even after I caused that commotion.
...And if she hadn’t understood even part of my intention and had still said she’d bring Yu Inna along, then she would be trash.
The homeroom teacher told the other teachers she would be leaving first, then took my hand and led me out of the faculty office.
As I trembled slightly at the strange feeling of a woman younger than me guiding me in the form of an “adult,” the homeroom teacher confirmed that we had gotten some distance from the faculty office and turned to me.
“Then I’ll wait in the parking lot, so go get your bag with your friend and come down... Ah, you don’t need a bag, so just come comfortably.”
As if she had only now recalled the obvious fact that I hadn’t brought a bag to school, the homeroom teacher hurriedly corrected herself, and I nodded.
While thinking that if she had told me to bring a bag, Yu Inna’s bag was also a bag, so I would have gotten in saying I had brought one, meaning there had been no need for her to correct herself.
*
Not everyone who is bullied is weak.
As an example, Kang Yujin, the homeroom teacher of Class 1, Year 2, could point to Erika, a student in her class with an exotic name and appearance, and also a student who had been in her class since first year.
Mysterious white hair like that of a fairy, an atmosphere subtly detached from reality, and finally, the only best friend acknowledged by Yu Inna, who had made many friends since middle school.
Because of that, at the start of first year, every student in the class had been desperate to get close to Erika. Even Kang Yujin herself, who as a teacher was supposed to show equal concern to all students, had wanted to befriend her, which said enough.
But that atmosphere lasted only a moment.
What Erika returned to the people who showed her such friendly goodwill was complete disregard.
She didn’t even properly respond to Yu Inna, her so-called childhood friend, so Yu Inna’s friends, who had tried to show goodwill toward Erika by following her lead, ended up fuming in frustration. Needless to say, the others were no different.
It was to the point where she herself was ostracizing everyone except herself.
Everything that happened after that was merely the students in her class treating Erika, who had ostracized them, with the same level of treatment.
Of course, it never developed into serious bullying. Not because the students were kind and good, but because all harassment toward her was reflected back.
Eraser crumbs or paper thrown at Erika’s head all returned to the heads of those who threw them, and fists or kicks aimed at her bounced off, limbs twisting as they struck the very people who had tried to hit her—an unreal situation.
Even Kang Yujin, her homeroom teacher, didn’t know exactly what kind of superpower caused it. There were many people who attended school after only revealing whether or not they had an ability, and Erika was one of them.
Because of that, even the negative attention called ostracism never reached her. With only Yu Inna clinging to her, Erika had slowly become isolated—until, as though she had suddenly learned “love,” she began taking a little interest in others after the summer break of first year, and by second year, seemed to be blending into the class in her own way.
If she hadn’t suddenly heard the news of Kim Haneul’s relationship and, as though having a seizure, threatened suicide unless they broke up, Kang Yujin truly believed Erika could have melted into the class.
So Kang Yujin had arranged this counseling session with the faith that, if she counseled her properly, Erika could return to being the girl she had been just a few days ago, moving in that positive direction.
Being absent for three days was usually reason enough to set up counseling, but the ultimate goal of this session was that.
To prevent Erika, who had been walking down a good path, from falling into despair just because the person she liked had been taken away, and from no longer continuing down the path of becoming a little more human.
For three days, Kang Yujin hadn’t merely waited for Erika to come to school. She had read books and watched videos, thoroughly preparing for the counseling.
She had also planned to invite Yu Inna, who had supposedly been bringing each day’s class materials to Erika’s house, in order to reduce any possible burden Erika might feel toward counseling.
And so, on the day of the decisive battle she had so thoroughly prepared for, the homeroom teacher of Class 1, Year 2 quietly wept tears of blood inwardly at the sight of the white-haired girl, the girl with long dark green hair, and the woman currently active as an idol all sitting in the back seat of her car.
‘How did it end up like this?’
According to Erika, when she was told to bring the kid waiting for her in the classroom, both of them had stood up in response. Even Han Yeseul, who was currently taking a brief break but should have been busy working.
Perhaps noticing Kang Yujin’s subtle expression, Erika, who had brought the two of them along, said that if she told her to send one back, she would. But Kang Yujin simply told them both to get in.
It was only natural. How could she say something so cruel as, “One of you isn’t the friend I told you to bring”?
And so all three of them got into the car’s back seat. Feeling as if she had become their chauffeur, Kang Yujin said, “Won’t one of you sit in the front?” The first to respond with “I’ll go” was Erika, but she was sitting in the middle, so she needed the other two’s consent...
And those two did not want Erika sitting in the passenger seat. They only spoke while each wishing the other would sit there.
“Shouldn’t a celebrity like you sit in the comfortable passenger seat? Honestly, you’re on a different level from us.”
“No, thank you for saying that much. The seat I find most comfortable is the one where I can be with my friend Erika, so I think it would be better if Yu Inna sat in the front.”
A fierce battle of nerves, each keeping the other in check. Listening to the struggle over who would become Erika’s best friend, Kang Yujin thought inwardly.
‘Maybe counseling wasn’t necessary after all?’
There were already two people who cherished Erika this much, so perhaps there had been no need to set up counseling.
...It was absolutely not because the students didn’t know manners and kept insisting on staying in the back seat.
“...I said I’ll just go up front.”
““No!””
Listening to the two girls shout as if they would rather die than let Erika go to the front, Kang Yujin effectively declared surrender.
“...Fine, girls. Just stay there...”
Experiencing the humiliation of, despite being a teacher, declaring surrender to her students, the car carrying them slowly began to move forward.