Mari walked while looking at her phone. She had to read the information that Hana had sent her, saying there was a surprise event prepared.
“Red streetlight… here. Turn right? Five minutes? No, Hana has short legs. With my pace, it should take about three minutes.”
A park near a university area.
Even though it was the end of the year, with festive moods spreading all over Seoul, the atmosphere here was calm and leisurely. It was said that there was an event prepared by a little friend somewhere in this park.
It felt like a treasure hunt.
This wasn’t the first time Mari had participated in such a hunt.
“Hana is always serious, but sometimes she pulls pranks like this.”
Sometimes, when Hana visited her in the hospital, she’d hide a gift and make Mari look for it as a prank. It was a playful way of taking care of Mari, who always saw the same scenery and got bored.
There would be an apple in the closet, or a building model inside a drawer, or something would unexpectedly appear under the bed.
It was usually that kind of prank.
There was always a touch of artistic implication in the placement of the items.
It was what you could call dépaysement.
A surrealistic prank that added the unfamiliar to the familiar. After every prank, they would try to figure out which artist’s work it parodied.
“Hehe.”
Mari liked these pranks.
For Mari, who could memorize a scene after seeing it just once, discovering a prank hidden within a familiar landscape was a refreshing activity.
And she could also feel her friend’s consideration, creating a small shelter so she wouldn’t get lost in the flood of information.
“…..”
Perhaps this time…
It seemed like an outdoor version of a prank to celebrate her discharge from the hospital.
As Mari looked for the designated spot, her mind was simultaneously analyzing the prank.
‘I’ve never been to this place before. This isn’t a dépaysement with a familiar background, is it? If I had to describe it, it’s more like Trompe-l’oeil (a method of inserting unreal objects into realistic paintings). But whatever, I didn’t call it dépaysement in the first place…’
At the same time.
The passing scenes replayed in her mind. Even information she had seen before resurfaced.
People and red lights passing by her vision, Hana’s voice suggesting the year-end party, her own uneasiness, the appearance of people she had once seen, and the strange lights along the unfamiliar road.
All kinds of thoughts were swirling around in her mind at once.
It wasn’t anything strange.
This was normal for Mari.
“…Huh.”
As she walked, lost in thought, a blonde girl suddenly appeared in front of her.
Mari blinked and looked at her phone.
No matter how much she looked, it seemed like this was the place Hana had designated. But standing there was a blonde girl, sweating profusely.
The two of them stopped for a moment, staring at each other.
“….”
“….”
The blonde girl suddenly struck a strange pose, extending one hand. Her face was slightly flushed.
Mari found the sight odd.
‘Why is she taking such a strange pose, even though she’s embarrassed…?’
If Mari had some knowledge of subculture, she would have recognized that the blonde girl’s pose was a famous special-effects pose, but unfortunately, Mari was not familiar with that area of knowledge.
The blonde girl spoke with a slightly trembling voice.
“Heh, heh heh…”
“….”
“My, my appearance☆“
“….?”
“…”
It was an incomprehensible action.
What was she trying to achieve by announcing her own appearance…?
“….”
“….”
Mari thought for a moment.
Then she nodded and understood.
‘I see, something good must have happened. She’s having trouble controlling her emotions. I get that feeling sometimes too.’
Mari didn’t reach the conclusion that the girl had prepared an event.
She simply made a practical deduction.
Reaching her practical(?) conclusion, Mari quietly turned around to walk away.
Then, the blonde girl screamed to stop her.
“Wait, wait, wait?! Normally, when you take such a meaningful pose, don’t you think it’s a prank prepared by a friend?! Why are you making me so embarrassed?!”
“Uh, huh? My friend? One?”
“Y-You answered right away. You’re really firm.”
“Well, because I only have one friend.”
“Ugh, that’s so sad…”
“Why?”
“Huh?”
“If you have one friend, that’s enough, right?”
The blonde girl spoke with a suspicious look.
“Is that a pun…?”
“…!”
Mari opened her mouth in surprise.
She was impressed.
That wasn’t her intention, but it was a fresh perspective.
‘I guess it’s a pun combining the name “Hana” and the number “one,” but it wasn’t really a pun. I unintentionally turned my words into a pun with a single question… In the blink of an eye, the roles of the problem setter and the answerer were reversed. This girl might have the qualities of an aggressive critic.’
She probably had read so many dialogues that she could turn other people’s words into clichés.
This critical interpretation ability was definitely a talent.
Mari quietly gave a thumbs up.
“Impressive! You must read a lot of books!”
“…..?”
“Go to art museums a lot!”
“…?”
You will surely become a great critic.
If you build up your humanistic knowledge, your name will be elevated.
It was advice with that thought behind it.
The blonde girl muttered while brushing her hair.
“Ha, what Hana-chan explained was true.
You have to reason through the context after thinking twice…
If I miss even a bit of the flow, I won’t understand what’s being said.”
“Is your friend’s name Hana too? Are you Japanese?”
“Uh? Yeah… huh? No?”
“I see. So Hana isn’t your friend… but Hana is my friend.”
“No! No, I meant the Japanese one!
I’m Korean, for sure! My friend’s name is Hana!”
Mari gave a warm smile.
“That’s amazing. My friend’s name is also Hana.”
“No. There’s… there’s a reason.
Your… your friend Hana is my friend Hana.”
“Huh?”
“They’re the same person!!”
“Uh…?”
Mari tilted her head.
What does that mean?
Uncertainty of self?
Could it be about the collective unconscious shared by humans?
“Hana and Hana are the same person…?”
“…!”
After a moment of thinking,
after dozens of thoughts crossed my mind, I could come to a conclusion.
The Hana the girl was talking about and the Hana I was talking about were the same person—Go Hana.
Mari covered her mouth with a shocked expression.
“Is this… the event Hana prepared?”
“Did, did you just realize that now?!”
“I didn’t know!”
Mija screamed while holding her head.
“Oh my, I’m going crazy…!
Every time I speak, it feels like my brain is getting damaged…
but at least now I can roughly understand what’s going on.”
“Who are you?”
“You’re asking that quickly?
I shouldn’t have been so nervous just because you’re the granddaughter of a chaebol family…”
“Nervous?”
“Well, otaku tend to be cautious.”
“Ah! Otaku! I know!”
“Uh, uh? Did Hana tell you about it?”
“No, I learned it from Murakami Takashi’s works.”
“Murakami Takashi? He’s a manga artist?”
“He claims to be.”
“Uh…?”
“He’s an artist who tries to elevate otaku subculture into pure art.
He says there’s no boundary between commercial art and pure art.”
“Oh? Was there such a person?”
Then the answer was heard from behind Mija.
“Yeah, there is.”
Both Mari and Mija turned around.
“Hana!”
“Hana-chan.”
*
I gave a bitter smile.
We had just entered the warm café.
The conversation between the two was still going on, and of course, it wasn’t a pleasant one.
Mija rubbed her eyes and spoke.
“Well, when you see a little white kid speaking Korean, you instantly think, ‘Ah, something’s up.'”
“Really? Is that so? When you go to places like India or Africa, there are many white people who belong to minority groups.
Race doesn’t really define national identity.”
“Well, that’s true, but… I meant in the context of Korea.”
Mari gasped.
“Ah…! That’s right. We’re in Korea…! There are so many overlapping landscapes, I almost forgot.”
“Overlapping…? Wh-what do you mean…?”
“….”
I understood the reason.
“Being stuck in the hospital, your mind gets confused with overlapping memories, right?”
“Yeah!”
“Mari has such a great memory.
She tends to forget most things in her head and focuses on the present scenery.”
“Impressive!”
“So Mija was speaking from Korea’s perspective.
Usually, society has this unspoken consensus. The country you’re in is the standard…”
“I see!”
Mari looked at Mija and said,
“Welcome to Korea!”
“…..”
Mija looked over at us with a sulking face.
“Hana-chan, she’s a bit strange!”
“Heh, can we say she’s open-minded?”
“Not open-minded, I think the lid’s off…”
Mari tilted her head.
“Lid? Hana, what do you mean?”
“I compared the skull to a lid.”
“Ah, it’s a metaphor for how thoughts can scatter. Like still-life paintings?”
“Like the skulls in still-life paintings?”
“Yeah, and comparing someone’s personality to an object is what makes it even more fitting.”
Mija looked at us with a fearful expression.
“I… I can’t follow this conversation…”
“Isn’t it more fun than you thought?”
“…Yeah….I thought the granddaughter of a chaebol family and a genius artist would be something extraordinary….Ah, no, she’s extraordinary, but I didn’t expect her personality to be so… big.”
“So I told you. They’re just people with a unique personality.”
“Still… after hearing their background, I can’t help but feel nervous.”
“When that happens, just think of it lightly.”
“What… what do you mean?”
“Ah.”
“Ah?”
“Just think, ‘Oh, they’re just a weird person’… and erase any other traits from your mind. Then, just accept them with your heart.”
“What… what does that even mean?”
At that moment, Mari suddenly came up behind me and hugged me tightly.
In an instant, I found myself sitting on Mari’s lap.
At the same time, I also felt warmth.
“…I guess talking only to Mija makes me a bit bored.”
By the way…
I spoke to Mari.
“Is it okay to move like this all of a sudden? Does your arm not hurt?”
“Huh? I’m fine~ I’m used to it.”
“I see.”
“One.”
“Huh?”
“You’re warm.”
“They say younger people have higher body temperatures.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“I see.”
Mari gently pressed her cheek against my neck.
Her soft cheek brushed against me, adding more warmth.
It was almost like a puppy.
“It tickles.”
“Hehe.”
Then, suddenly, a strange noise came from the side.
It was Mija.
Mija suddenly jumped up and stood in a strange posture.
“Wh-what is this shamelessness?! You, you two, are you… like this?!”
“Why?”
“No, no, this isn’t right!”
“What do you mean? It’s just some skinship.”
“You guys, you, that’s…!”
“You’re overreacting. In America, this level of skinship is just playful.”
“No, no it’s not! What kind of America is in your mind?!”
“It’s the land of freedom, right? Friends can hang out together.”
Mari agreed with me from behind.
“Yeah! I’ve lived there for over 3 years!”
“…”
Mija muttered something, then gave up.
She had only stayed in America for two weeks, so there was no way she could argue back.
“I… I don’t know what’s going on anymore.”
“Just understand with your heart.”
And then, there was a sudden voice interrupting.
“With the heart? Then, I’m confident.”
“?”
“…”
“?”
Suddenly, a mysterious girl joined our table.
Mija and Mari looked at her.
At the same time, they burst out laughing.
“Fuhuh?!”
“…!”
The reason was that there was Juri sitting there with her hair loosely tied on both sides… with a hairstyle just like ‘mine’.
She even had a slightly ‘rin’ expression, clearly mimicking someone.
Juri lowered her upper lip slightly and let out a chuckling sound, resembling an old man’s laugh, showing a bit of her gums.
“…Heh.”
Just a second of acting.
The moment Mija and Mari saw her, they burst into loud laughter.
“Uhhhhhhh!”
“Fuhuhuh! You really look like one!”
“…..”
‘Was my smile like that? Was I that much like an old man…?’
It was a prank I had planned, but when I saw her imitating my smile through the eyes of a third party…
‘Something feels… uncomfortable.’
Juri laughed softly and greeted Mari.
“Nice to meet you, unni! I’m also one of Hana’s friends!”
“Uh…? Unni?”
“Yeah? You’re unni, right? Mari unni.”
“Uhhh…”
Mari seemed to be hesitating.
Juri chuckled and said,
“Should I just speak casually?”
“Yeah!”
“Nice to meet you, Mari.”
“Uh, yeah… me too.”
Mari unconsciously hugged me tightly, but I could feel that her hands were gradually becoming less sweaty.
Seeing that, I realized.
The tension was slowly being released.