Chapter 165

” Seriously, if you can’t come to school, at least let me know.”

“Sorry, sorry. Starting next time, I’ll call you.”

The day right after Inna and Erica had their conversation, when Erica arrived at school, Inna was already surrounded by many friends, talking with them.

Since Erica didn’t know whose house Inna had stayed at, she hadn’t come by in the morning as usual and couldn’t provide breakfast, but…

Even though Erica hadn’t received any of Inna’s usual services, just seeing her safely in the classroom made her feel rather refreshed compared to yesterday.

“Excuse me.”

That being said, this and that.

The crowd of people was blocking Erica’s path to her seat, so she spoke up to people she didn’t even know. They glared at Erica and moved aside without even saying sorry.

A gaze laced with hostility, just as welcoming as the one greeting Inna. That kind of look wasn’t really surprising to her.

Erica made no effort to change their gazes, as much as they liked Inna, they equally disliked Erica.

They assumed her absence the previous day was because Erica must’ve done something to Inna, and since their assumption wasn’t completely wrong, Erica didn’t bother excusing herself.

The relationship between them was gradually worsening.

She was aware of it, but there was no way Erica, who couldn’t even remember all the extras’ faces, could improve the situation.

“Did you get home okay yesterday?”

“Yeah, thanks to you, I did. Looks like you did too.”

The girl who had silenced Inna’s usually noisy surroundings simply upon appearing, didn’t give Inna much attention compared to their goodbye the previous day.

Even while being friendly to Erica at school, Inna had set a rule not to exceed the level of a close ‘friend’.

Since Erica followed this rule of Inna’s, she didn’t say more and casually pulled out her phone, regardless of who was watching.

It wasn’t necessarily to use the phone, but a typical Erica-style courtesy – “I’m going to use my phone, so you can start talking again.”

Whether this could be considered as courtesy was debatable.

Among Inna’s circle, although there were no particularly favorable looks toward Erica who seemed to be ignoring everyone’s glares,

Inna was observing a woman who had come in with Erica, even though she had been warned not to get close to her.

Of course, this woman’s affection seemed directed at some other boy rather than Erica, so there was no risk of Erica losing any affection.

‘Annoying.’

Even though Inna herself would not invite Erica to stay at her place, it was impossible for her to look kindly upon the woman who took advantage of Erica’s moment of discord to let her stay over.

While being stared at intently by Inna, Han Ye-seul responded with understanding, and mouthed each word with kindness.

“As I should have managed this better.”

“Ugh-!”

“Where does it hurt?”

“Should I tell the teacher that you’ll be absent today instead?”

As soon as Inna gritted her teeth, the surrounding kids started chiming in.

However, since Erica was sitting right next to her, she had no real reason to go to the nurse’s office, nor any intention to tell them the real reason. So, Inna simply smiled kindly and shook her head.

Saying, “No, I’m fine.”

*

“Can’t I skip that? I just didn’t think anyone would actually offer to switch seats when I asked. I didn’t know they’d immediately switch places and come here. We’re not exceptionally close, right?”

There weren’t many teachers who were extremely strict about the lesson pace. With the upcoming vacation, quite a few teachers chose to show movies instead.

A boy who had wanted to grab Inna’s seats readily agreed when a girl offered to switch. This girl then sat next to Han Ye-seul.

Since it wasn’t too important which seat you sat in during movie time, the teacher didn’t comment when the students swapped places, making this possible.

As soon as the seat-switching was over, the movie began.

With the classroom quiet, the only sound should’ve been the movie coming from the television at the front.

Han Ye-seul voiced her words not out of carelessness but because her supernatural ability allowed her to speak without being heard by others.

[Can I speak too?]

“I’m careful to ensure our sounds don’t reach others, so feel free to speak.”

When Erica wrote a note asking if it was okay to speak, knowing this, Ye-seul agreed easily.

It wasn’t a difficult task for Han Ye-seul to ensure their conversations couldn’t be overheard by others, and writing back and forth was inconvenient for both parties.

“True, we’re close enough, but it’s not like we need to stick to each other like glue. And I need to stay close to you to help with your request.”

Although Erica had lost once to someone presumed to be a stalker, she remembered the terms of staying at Han Ye-seul’s house.

To cooperate in catching the stalker. No one knew how long this process would take—it all depended on the stalker’s patience.

But by provoking the stalker as much as possible, Erica could expedite the case, so she intended to close this request quickly.

“So does that mean, we greet each other but don’t go to the bathroom together?”

Han Ye-seul summarized this thought with a single sentence, a significant matter among girls.

It’s not about young kids not being able to use the bathroom alone because they feel safer in groups—it’s about reducing the chance of gossip when they leave.

“If I’m with someone, I don’t care who they are but they shouldn’t come with me to the toilet. And it’s the same when I go.”

“That means you don’t have any friends.”

So in this regard, both Han Ye-seul and Erica were privileged not to have to bring anyone to the bathroom.

Han Ye-seul was quite popular, but her popularity came more from being idol-like rather than friend-like, so she didn’t have any close female friends she’d bring to the bathroom.

Erica had friends introduced by Inna, but as she had mentioned earlier, she disliked the custom of accompanying or being accompanied to the bathroom.

And if Erica and Inna happened to fight, these friends would side with Inna.

“Anyway, I understand what you mean. But will she be okay with this? She seems to be burning with anger.”

When Han Ye-seul glanced at someone and spoke, Erica didn’t even turn her head. The heat she had been sensing from one direction was truly overwhelming.

“Didn’t you two reconcile yesterday? Is it really wise to fight again over such things?”

“No, she’s not that petty. And I’m doing this for the promise I made to you. I’m not stopping even if Inna gets upset.”

Since she had something from Han Ye-seul, the girl who gave priority to Han Ye-seul didn’t argue back and simply stared at a boy instead.

‘Sorry, I’m helping another kid right now. I’ll help you when I’m done with this.’

The boy who similarly prioritized, moving through the world constantly ranking everything, was someone who seemed strangely akin to Erica despite their quarrel only yesterday.

“…I understand. But if you keep ranking incidents, you might lose something important.”

“Then that’s just the way it is if you lose people over something like this.”

Though her eyes were rapidly flickering, Erica’s voice was completely calm, as if losing a person was of no consequence.

To the woman who could usually discern someone’s thoughts and emotions through their voice, Erica was an extraordinary girl.

She sounded calm when heard, but looking beyond her ability with just the n*ked eye, one could finally perceive Erica’s emotions.

Would you call this hiding emotions well?

Or failing to hide them well?

To a girl who, despite having the ability to read hearts, couldn’t affect Erica,

“Stop saying things you don’t mean.”

Holding an ability even though she had the power to read Erica’s mind, Han Ye-seul spoke as if she had seen her innermost feelings.