September 2007
It was early morning.
“…!”
Mari woke up in her dormitory room, on her own bed. The dormitory wake-up bell hadn’t even rung yet, but her timing was as precise as ever.
—Tatak!
Her movements were as swift and graceful as a gymnast’s.
Beside her, in the next bed, her roommate Juri was still asleep. Her face had grown noticeably more mature. Since becoming a third-year in middle school, she had shot up in height, almost catching up to Mari.
Mari observed Juri for a moment.
– Height: 156.7 cm
– Hair color: A mix of sepia and red-brown
– Wears glasses often, leaving faint marks on the bridge of her nose
– Has a habit of twitching her pinky finger while sleeping
“….”
That was about all of Juri’s defining features.
Mari suddenly felt the passage of time.
‘Now, both Mija and Juri are quite a bit taller than Hana, who’s still at 133.4 cm. At first, the three of us were about the same height, but since we’re all growing, changes happen quickly. Even Hana has been looking more mature these days.’
Lately, Hana had truly begun to exude a girlish aura.
It had happened just recently.
Hana had brought a small bouquet to the studio.
— Mari, doesn’t this smell nice?
— Huh? Where did you get these flowers?
— I just… saw them on the way here, and they were so pretty, so I bought them.
— Hana… bought a bouquet?
— Yeah. They’re beautiful, aren’t they?
At that moment,
The expression on Hana’s face was unfamiliar yet captivating.
“…”
‘She looks so mature.’
But in terms of height, she hadn’t changed much since the day they first met in 2004 growing only about 2.1 cm.
Still, Wasn’t that part of her charm?
It made remembering Hana’s clothing size easier when helping her change outfits. In fact, several items Mari had secretly ordered were currently being shipped from Europe.
Like that,
The things that remained unchanged were also part of Hana’s appeal.
Like an artwork,
timeless and beautiful…
“….”
Suddenly,
A memory from New York surfaced in Mari’s mind.
“…It was happiness.”
Each day, she had turned her head to find a pajama-clad fairy beside her—those were truly blissful days. And when they wandered through quiet streets, Mari had been able to explain things with a newfound sense of confidence.
During the remaining exhibition period, Mari revisited the children’s psychological therapy center and worked as a play instructor. Listening to the children’s laughter, her sad memories seemed to fade into the distance.
She wanted to go to New York again.
“…”
Now, when she thought of New York, it wasn’t the cold river breeze that came to mind—it was only her memories with Hana.
For some reason, her heart started to race…
“Hana…”
…She missed her.
But she couldn’t see her. Mari’s precious angel had left for China on a one-month trip, saying, she’lll be back after studying.
As Mari was lost in thought,
she suddenly heard Juri mumbling in her sleep.
“Sss… Mmm…”
“…!”
Mari moved carefully so as not to wake her.
— Tiptoe, tiptoe.
Then, she quietly went into the bathroom to wash up.
This year, Mari was a first-year in high school.
Normally, middle school and high school students weren’t assigned as roommates. However, thanks to the dormitory supervisor’s understanding of Mari’s special circumstances, an exception had been made.
— “Well, Dormitory 7 is pretty flexible. If it works, why not?”
Even with familiar friends around,
being thrown into communal living for the first time had been a struggle for Mari.
Huh? I can’t go to the school workshop at night? But what if I suddenly get inspired?
— “Ahaha… Well, nothing you can do. You’ll just have to jot it down on a little memo.”
But thanks to Juri’s thoughtfulness, Mari gradually learned how to be considerate of others as well.
Little by little, she was learning how to live alongside people she felt comfortable with.
She was still clumsy at it.
But step by step, she was moving forward.
*
Break Time
Mari sat quietly in her seat.
“…”
Meanwhile, the first-year students in her class were murmuring among themselves. Even as they chattered about some topic, they kept stealing glances at Mari, who was slightly out of place among them. It was a strange atmosphere half interest, half indifference.
Eventually, they focused back on their conversation.
— What? A transfer student in the art department from Japan?
— Yeah, she arrived yesterday. Apparently, she’s an exchange student from some art high school in Tokyo… A second-year senior.
— Isn’t it normal to study abroad in your first year? What about college…?
— I don’t know, she must be crazy.
— Wow, that’s harsh.
— No, but seriously, who transfers to Korea in the second semester of their second year just because they think it sounds ‘fun’?! And on top of that, she’s been messing around in every classroom just for her own amusement…!
“…”
Mari paid no mind to the atmosphere around her and simply looked at her phone. A message had arrived from Jung Juim.
「Jung Juim: “The studio building renovations are taking longer than expected, so it’ll probably stay closed until the second week of October.”」
「Mari: “ㅎ”」
「Jung Juim: “I asked if they could speed things up, but they said it’s difficult…”」
「Mari: “ㅎ”」
「Jung Juim: “…I apologize, Miss. I’ll try to hurry them as much as possible.”」
「Mari: “?”」
Mari tilted her head.
“…??”
I sent ‘ㅎ’ as a way to say ‘good work,’ so why is she flustered?
Juri already told me that ‘ㅎㅎ’ feels too much like an old lady thing, so I switched it up…
But I’ve sent ‘ㅎㅎ’ to Hana so many times before…
Did she think I was acting like an old lady this whole time?
‘…I don’t like that.’
If she could turn back time, she would have recalled all those messages in an instant.
“Sigh…”
Mari let out a deep breath and muttered, Not easy. Then, she quickly sent another message to Jung Juim, explaining that she had meant it as a ‘good job.’
— SLAM!
“!?”
“!!”
“!!!”
The classroom door burst open.
The first-year students, who had been chatting loudly, scrambled back to their seats, thinking a teacher had arrived.
— chop, chop, chop, chop…
However, the person who entered wasn’t a teacher.
It was a second-year Japanese girl with short hair.
And not just any second-year—she was the very topic of their conversation.
The first-years’ eyes grew wider and wider in shock.
“…What the heck…?”
“…”
— chop, chop, chop, chop…
The infamous Japanese transfer student stood at the front of the classroom, holding a plate and a pair of chopsticks.
On the gray ceramic plate was a steaming mound of white rice.
And then…
She poured natto over it and started stirring with her chopsticks.
— chop, chop, chop, chop…
The sticky natto mixed thoroughly into the white rice.
Then, she spoke.
In an incredibly fluent blend of Japanese and Korean.
“Hi, domo. My name is Yamada Saeka. Nice to meet you, first-years. Yoroshikune. For some reason, my classmates won’t talk to me… so I came to hang out.”
“…”
Her voice and attitude were cool.
But what she said was half-insane.
“Oh, this is my breakfast. I can’t focus if I skip breakfast. But I was so busy today that I ended up missing my meal.”
What on earth were you doing during dorm breakfast time?
Yamada pushed a tray of rice toward them and said,
“Do you guys want some?”
“Ah, no, it’s okay.”
“You’re shy, huh?”
Yamada nonchalantly stirred his natto and ate.
“Yum…”
-Chop, chop, chop, chop…
The thick, lingering stench of natto mixed with a bizarre conversation…
It was unbearable.
Eventually, one of the first-year students bravely spoke up.
“P-please leave, senpai.”
“Oh?”
Yamada let out an impressed sound.
“In Japan, no one has ever told me that. But I guess it’s different in Korea? As expected from the country of Haruko and Hana—such boldness.”
“!”
The moment Mari heard the name “Hana,” she instinctively looked at Yamada. In her mind, she quickly tried to deduce who he was talking about.
‘Japan, Haruko—Hana was paired with Mija in the workshop, right? Did they meet there? And earlier, when he mentioned the rumors, he said it was “fun”…?’
“…!”
Mari finished piecing everything together in an instant, and a chill ran down her spine.
This natto-eating lunatic had transferred schools just to follow two girls he randomly met at a workshop because they seemed “fun.”
At the same time, a slight sense of crisis set in.
‘Could it be that Yamada-senpai transferred because of Hana…? Well, if I saw an angel as adorable as Hana, I’d probably transfer too. Anyone would.’
In reality, outside of the art world, there weren’t many people who would genuinely be drawn to such a little kid. No matter how much of a beauty she was.
In fact, the real lunatic here was Mari, who found such thoughts completely natural. But she wasn’t aware of that—she just kept a wary eye on Yamada.
Yamada gave a blank nod and said,
“In that case… fine. How about this? Hana will ask a question in German related to the suspicious Golden Lion Award. If you answer it correctly, I’ll leave.”
“W-wait, what?!”
Yamada then spoke fluently in German.
—Name the German writer who won the Golden Lion Award.
…say.
But the first-year students couldn’t understand a word.
“W-what did you just say?”
At that moment,
Mari stood up and answered.
“…Gerhard Richter.”
“Oh, impressive.”
Yamada chewed his food thoroughly and spoke again in German.
“_?”
“Albrecht Dürer.”
“_?”
“Ernst Ludwig Kirchner.”
“…”
Yamada swallowed his food and looked at Mari with a smile.
“…Heh. So, this place already has a guardian.”
“Leave, as you promised.”
“Alright, alright. This place is really fun. I like it. I’ll drop by from time to time.”
“…”
Just then, the front door of the classroom swung open again.
—Creak!!
The one who entered was Yumi-ja, a third-year in middle school. She looked at Yamada and shouted.
“Yamada, you idiot! What kind of nonsense are you causing here?!”
“Long time no see, Haruko. I transferred because I was bored. Glad to see Korean schools are fun. I was actually thinking of barging into Goto’s school, but the Korean one looked more interesting…”
“Don’t be ridiculous!”
In the end, Yamada was dragged away by Yumi-ja. And silence fell over the classroom.
“…”
“…”
“…”
Mari, whose head had been heated up in the moment, quietly returned to her seat. Then, she lowered her head again.
‘…So, it wasn’t because of Hana after all.’
But the way people looked at her had changed slightly.
A newfound warmth was in the gazes of her classmates as they looked at Mari.
—A chaebol heiress fighting against a total lunatic…
—She must be really good at German.
—She’s already a professional writer and older than us, so she seemed hard to approach… Maybe I should talk to her?
From that day on, Mari started receiving greetings from her classmates, whether she noticed it or not.
“Mari unnie! Hello!”
“Uh, h-hi…”
“Unnie, do you want this?”
“Oh… thanks.”
And so, the villain Yamada’s invasions continued until Mari earned the nickname “Why.”
Each time, she fended him off, gradually solidifying her image as the shadowy protector of the high school.
It all happened while Go Hana was away in China.