My Japanese Childhood Friend Is Too Flirty

38. On the Matter of My Kissing My Childhood Friend Spreading Nationwide (3)

“……”

A piece of rice ball still in my mouth, I froze solid.

“You’re gonna sleep over at my place…?”

This is just, what the hell… unbelievable.

Because I was hungry, I chewed and swallowed whatever was in my mouth first, then rinsed my throat with the bottled water Aki gave me.

After that, I wiped my mouth and asked cautiously,

“…Why?”

Maybe.

It was unlikely, but.

I wondered if Aki wanted to get closer with me, and was just expressing it in such a roundabout way.

‘If, that’s the case…’

I had to prepare myself too, in my own way.

I couldn’t just sit here without any preparation.

So, I asked to try and gauge Aki’s feelings, but instead,

“Take a look at this, Woo-joo~chan.”

Aki held out his phone to me.

I looked, wondering what it was, and it was a news article. The title was [There’s no such thing as a light concussion. Ignoring it because you have no symptoms can have really scary consequences…?!] and the content was super long.

To summarize, it said [Even a mild concussion that wasn’t from a big impact shouldn’t be taken lightly. Even if symptoms are minor, the brain may still be damaged, so you need to watch out for secondary symptoms like headaches, dizziness, nausea, or loss of consciousness for at least a week. If those occur, you must go to the hospital immediately…] something like that.

“Did you read it?”

“Yeah, I read it all.”

In short, don’t let your guard down just because you don’t have symptoms. It was absolutely right.

After all, the scary thing is that diseases that appear where you can’t see them, not the ones that appear in visible places.

“See here, it says that even with a mild concussion, you need to be monitored at home for at least a week, right?”

“Yeah, I guess so?”

“But, Uju~chan, you don’t have any family to watch over you at home. Because your mom and dad are in the States.”

That was true too. My parents work at the Korean embassy in the US.

“What if, just what if. Uju~chan goes home alone like this… and suddenly, without any warning, you collapse. What do you think would happen then?”

“I don’t know….”

If you’re lucky, you’d wake up on your own, but if you’re unlucky…

Well, if you’re unlucky…

[SHOCK! Teenager Found Dead in Seoul Home, Left Untended for Months…!]

Or.

[The Terrifying Reality of Solitary Death: Students Are Not Exempt…!]

Or….

“….”

It probably wouldn’t end well.

A chill went down my spine and I quietly put down my chopsticks.

“I wouldn’t know for sure, but it would be a big problem, right?”

“Yeah, it would be…”

“Yeah yeah, that’s why Atashi (me) is necessary.”

Aki placed her right hand on her chest.

“With Uju~chan’s parents gone, the only person who can watch over Uju~chan’s condition is me. It’s only Atashi, isn’t it?”

“……Mmm.”

Every word was utterly correct.

Correct, but still.

Even so, sleeping over is a bit much, isn’t it…?

It’s not like we’re in middle school, still immature with each other; now, we’re both practically half-adults.

“Woo-joo~chan, you don’t like it?”

Seeing me hesitate, Aki reads my feelings from my expression and asks.

I scratch my cheek and shake my head.

“No, it’s not that I don’t like it….”

“Yeah, it’s not that you don’t like it?”

“……Are you sure it’s okay?”

I shouldn’t need to say the old line, ‘I’m a guy too’, should I?

We’ve already kissed.

I stared silently at Aki.

Aki, holding her sandwich, stared back at me. Then,

“……Heh.”

A smirk.

She raised only one corner of her mouth in a smile.

“Why? You think I’m gonna do something weird~?”

“……Huh?”

Something feels off about this.

Isn’t it usually the other way around?

The woman trying to come into a man’s place, she’s the one who should be thinking, ‘Is this guy gonna do something weird to me…?’

But, Aki, instead, patted me on the back and said this:

“Don’t worry, Woo-joo~chan! I won’t do anything at your place.”

“That, what I mean is…”

“……Not yet.”

“……”

I was speechless.

Completely dumbfounded.

Leaving aside the fact that me making the first move wasn’t even an option,

the way Aki looked at me, it was like she was looking at someone several steps below her.

‘Hey, I’m a guy too…’

Isn’t this like, completely beyond being cautious?

When you think about it, I was the one who initiated the kiss first.

“Woo-joo~chan, what do you want to eat for dinner?”

“Dinner…?”

“Yeah, dinner. I’ll buy ingredients when we go to your place later.”

Of course, Aki can act like this because she trusts me completely.

And I have no intention of betraying her trust, either.

Separately from that, it felt a little irritating how Aki was saying she’d sleep over at a guy’s place, where he lives alone, with absolutely, like *zero*~ hesitation.

“……Then, can you make me some spicy pork?”

“Spicy pork? I made that for you last time. You wanna eat it again?”

Aki was staying at my place because she was worried about me having a concussion.

But I’d already completely forgotten that fact, and I thought to myself,

‘……I’m a guy too, Aki.’

But it felt like she’d been forgetting that lately, so I was going to make sure she remembered this time around.

I had my own ulterior motives, and I needed to make her understand that if she approached me so carelessly, she could be in big trouble.

“Yeah, the one you made was good. I wanna try it again.”

“Ah, really? Hehehe, okay. Then I’ll grab my pajamas from home, then buy the stuff for spicy pork, and head over to Woo-joo~chan’s place!”

“…….”

See you later, Aki…….

* * *

5th period break.

I’d rested well and kept an eye on my condition, like the school nurse told me to, and there didn’t seem to be anything wrong.

I thanked the school nurse who even gave me some vitamins to help me recover, and then I shuffled back down the hallway to my class, 1st grade, class 2.

──Shkkk.

“Oh? Joo-woo-joo’s here.”

“Woo-joo, did you go to the hospital?”

“What did the teacher say, did you get really hurt?”

My friends rushed over the moment they saw my face, bombarding me with questions in a single stride.

Their usual playful demeanor was gone, replaced by expressions of genuine, worried concern.

‘……Uh, this.’

I knew this was my chance to play it up, so I forced an even gloomier face than theirs and raised my head.

“Hey, you okay?”

“……The teacher said…”

A voice dripping with despair escaped my lips.

My low, somber tone resonated, drawing the eyes of not just my friends, but everyone in the class.

“It could be…a pretty serious illness.”

“……Huh? A serious illness?”

“What is it, what kind of illness?”

“Well, it’s….”

I glanced sideways to gauge their reactions.

The kids I wasn’t as close with were whispering things like, ‘Looks like he’s in bad shape…?’ or, ‘His face is so pale, he must not be doing well….’

My closer friends were silent, unable to speak, biting their lips with serious expressions, waiting for me to say something, and Dongho, the one who hit me with the ball, looked like he was about to die of guilt.

‘……Hmm, good reaction.’

That’s it.

That’s the right reaction….

Deep satisfaction bloomed inside me.

“Woojoo, is it too hard for you to talk about…?”

Jaehyun, not even considering he’d been tricked, asks me with a face so serious it’s almost comical.

“If it’s something like that, you don’t have to say it. I, I really won’t ask…”

“……”

See?

I’m telling you, my acting skills are top-notch.

But why, though? How the hell did Aki see through my act and trick me in return? Is there something you only know after knowing someone for a long time? Or maybe I was just too obvious.

“……W, Woo-joo.”

Dongho, who hit me with the ball, takes a step closer.

His expression is truly, beyond words, a death mask.

‘Hmm….’

This started as a half-joke act, but now I’m starting to feel a bit bad.

“There’s a diagnosis the teacher told me… wanna hear it?”

“Wh, what is it?”

“…….”

*Gulp.*

I heard someone’s Adam’s apple bobbing.

I let out the words I’d prepared.

“It’s a lie, you morons.”

“……Huh? What did you say?”

“I said it’s a lie, you morons.”

“……”

“……”

“……*pfft*.”

“……*Ya, you fucker!*”

Sungmin’s lion’s roar, from the guy I played basketball with.

Starting with that loud yell, my friends, realizing they’d been tricked, hurled curses and charged at me.

“Ah, *shit*, I thought you had some major disease or something!”

“Wow, *fuck*, I totally fell for it for a second. You son of a b*tch, huh? You *fuck*, you *fuck*!”

“Why are your lies getting better every day, you punk? You think you’re an actor? Why are you lying, you liar!”

“Ah, ah! Wait, wait, sorry, sorry…!”

“’Sorry’ ain’t gonna cut it, you asshole!”

“……So, you’re saying you’re okay?”

While everyone playfully beat on me, Kim Seungwoo, who’d been standing slightly apart, asked.

Since I was the one who pulled the prank. I pretended to let them get me a bit, then answered.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s nothing. Just a mild concussion, they said it’ll get better after some rest.”

“Ah, really? That’s a relief. I swear, when you got hit by that ball and collapsed, I thought you died.”

“Hmm, that bad?”

“Yeah, that bad, you fucker. You weren’t answering, so we all thought you died with your eyes open!”

Sungmin replied instead of Kim Seungwoo.

At Sungmin’s words, Kim Seungwoo and the others all nodded. It wasn’t just Kim Seungwoo or Sungmin who’d thought I was dead.

“……Hey, Kim Seungwoo!”

“Huh? What.”

“You, you! ……Since when did you get so close with her?”

Ham Jieun, who I didn’t even realize had come over, tugs at Kim Seungwoo’s sleeve as she speaks.

“Hmm? Maybe a week ago… but why?”

“Why, why? You forgot what I asked you to do…?!”

“……Oh, right.”

Kim Seungwoo stopped talking and glanced at me.

Judging by his look, he seems to have something he wants to say.

“Oh right. Now that I think about it, when Joo Woo-joo was in the nurse’s office earlier, her girlfriend went inside too, didn’t she?”

With that question thrown out, everyone’s gaze shifted in that direction.

“What, really?”

“Yeah, really. I was going to go in to see how Joo Woo-joo was doing when I saw her leave, but she didn’t come out even when lunch break was over. So I thought she was just really unwell and was helping her out……”

Sungmin trails off, looking at me.

And just like that, everyone’s eyes naturally landed on me.

“So now that we see this, that wasn’t it, huh?”

Everyone in class 2, except for me.

They all started looking at me with suspicion.

“……Hey, Joo Woo-joo. Is this true?”

“We were fucking worried, wondering if something was wrong……”

“This b*stard, he was cozying up with his girlfriend at that time? Just the two of them alone?”

“Hey, be honest. What were you doing with your girlfriend in the nurse’s office during lunch?”

“……”

Kissing.

“This b*stard, why can’t you answer? Hey, what were you two doing!”

“It’s obvious, fuck, they were kissing again, fuck. Like they did at the baseball field, sucking and making out. Fuck.”

“Fuck, some of us were stuck in a stinking classroom with just guys, fuck.”

“You piece of shit, you fucking…”

“……”

I should have just kept pretending to be sick.

Regret washed over me, but it was too late now.

“Joo Woo-joo, you need to put out your ankles and wrists, right?”

“…..Please be gentle.”

“Do you think I can, you b*stard?”

“You dog shit, fuck, just hold still!”

Ah.

I miss Aki…