Time dragged on like snooze.
It wasn’t particularly because Yoo Ha-neul disliked ‘Sara.’ Regardless of everything, Yoo Ha-neul thought of ‘Sara’ as a friend.
It wasn’t just because of Sara’s request. ‘Sara’ was a presence always together with her, and there weren’t really any bad memories while spending time with her. Yoo Ha-neul wasn’t quite sure how ‘Sara’ felt about her. However, whether it was because of her own nature or just acting like this for Sara’s sake, ‘Sara’ had never been particularly sharp with her.
…Or at least, that’s what she thought.
The reason it was in the past tense was that it wasn’t solely because ‘Sara’s’ attitude towards Yoo Ha-neul had subtly changed.
It was precisely because of that earlier action that Yoo Ha-neul was able to understand ‘Sara’s’ thoughts a little.
Perhaps ‘Sara’—
“…You asked me to be friends, didn’t you?”
Yoo Ha-neul’s thoughts were interrupted by ‘Sara.’ When she turned her head, she saw that Sara was still staring out the window. She was terrified of the rides and the haunted house, but being up high like this didn’t seem to scare her that much after all.
Well, it was Sara who enjoyed those two things, not ‘Sara.’
“Yeah, she did ask like that.”
Not wanting to lose the argument for some reason, Yoo Ha-neul replied somewhat bluntly.
Yeah, she knew. She was aware that her attitude wasn’t the best.
But still, it was quite a rare chance for her to be alone with Sara. It wasn’t a long time, but how romantic was this situation and place?
In fact, ‘Sara’ had almost seen through Yoo Ha-neul’s thoughts not long ago.
Part of her did have the desire to experiment, but truthfully, it was more about using that as an excuse to do… well, various things with Sara.
Lately, Sara had been gradually realizing the ‘distance between friends.’ Even though she hadn’t clearly drawn a line, skinship between friends had become very natural recently. Although unspoken, as soon as Sara acted appropriately, it required much greater courage to cross that line.
Or maybe a ‘justification’ as well.
Crossing that line without any justification would likely make her earn Sara’s resentment, which wasn’t something she wanted.
So, what she came up with was that incident from the classroom a little while ago.
She was well aware that recreating that incident as it was was quite a shameless thing to do.
‘Sara’ didn’t have any romantic feelings for Yoo Ha-neul, but acted that way solely to bring Sara closer.
Using that action for ‘sexual reasons’ wasn’t exactly honorable.
“But there are many other forms within the form of friendship.”
But first, Yoo Ha-neul couldn’t be honest in front of ‘Sara.’
That was natural. Unlike how others might think, Yoo Ha-neul recognized that ‘Sara’ was different from Sara.
If Yoo Ha-neul wanted to share that, of course, the subject had to be Sara and not ‘Sara.’
Because the person Yoo Ha-neul liked was Sara.
However, this incident had caused a big disruption in her plans.
If just bringing their faces close enough to kiss could change her personality, what would happen after that?
“That’s unfortunate.”
While she was deep in thought, ‘Sara’ muttered.
When she shifted her gaze back to her, ‘Sara’ was still looking out the window.
And she continued speaking as if to herself, almost in a monologue.
“Every time I try to kiss, if I turn back into ‘me,’ in the end, when I have my first kiss, it’s going to be with ‘me,’ right? You can’t kiss her.”
“……”
That was a blatant provocation.
In fact, when she thought about it coldly, it was the same for ‘Sara’ and Sara using the same body. No matter how much ‘Sara’ liked Sara, they couldn’t engage in anything physical. Mentally might be a different story.
Thinking about it ‘calmly’ was indeed true.
“What if we got married? I’d be going along too. If you marry her, you’d be marrying me too.”
But right now, Yoo Ha-neul’s mind wasn’t in a very calm state.
“…… Why are you saying that?”
Yoo Ha-neul asked with a slightly stiff voice.
“……”
‘Sara’ didn’t answer for a moment, then turned to look at Yoo Ha-neul directly and said.
“I grew a bit greedy.”
“……”
With those words, a red light lit up in Yoo Ha-neul’s mind.
Yeah, she knew that Sohee and Sua harbored similar feelings toward Sara. She was aware that they currently lived together.
However, unlike those two, ‘Sara’ was different.
She had been with Sara from the very beginning. Although they hadn’t exchanged many words or been fully aware of each other’s situations, Sara genuinely cared for ‘Sara.’ This meant the kind of feelings shared was quite different from the equal relationships Yoo Ha-neul had with Sohee and Sua.
She knew well that calling that feeling ‘love’ was premature. But there was no guarantee that it wouldn’t lead to ‘love.’
Moreover, Sara and ‘Sara’ were entities that genuinely stuck together 24/7.
“…Let me ask you something.”
“What is it?”
Seeing Yoo Ha-neul’s rigid expression, ‘Sara’ asked back with a somewhat smug grin.
“Do you think that what you just said wouldn’t reach Sara?”
“If it had, would I be saying this?”
‘Sara’ replied boastfully.
“When it’s exposed like this, the representative moves the body, but in consciousness, I’m much more dominant. Sara hasn’t been in my body for long. Hiding the conversation is pretty easy.”
Hearing her boastful words, Yoo Ha-neul quietly nodded and said,
“… I see.”
“So— huh?”
‘Sara,’ who had been continuing her bragging tone, suddenly froze when she saw Yoo Ha-neul springing up.
And when she saw Yoo Ha-neul coming toward her, she became a bit frightened.
“W-wait—”
And as she tried to get up and run away, it was unfortunately too late because the two of them were in a narrow ferris wheel car.
“Wait, what are you doing?!”
Though she struggled, ‘Sara’ was much weaker than Yoo Ha-neul.
Their scuffle ended quickly.
Not quite sitting properly, ‘Sara’ lay on her back, and Yoo Ha-neul was positioned above her.
Both of ‘Sara’s hands were raised above, overlapping. And Yoo Ha-neul’s hands were tightly gripping them.
Seeing both of their hands trembling, it didn’t seem likely it would last long.
But it didn’t matter much to Yoo Ha-neul. It was only supposed to be a ‘moment.’
“You, you, you! What are you doing?! You said you wanted to kiss her, not me!”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
Yoo Ha-neul nodded seriously.
“And I thought about it, and since you came back when I tried to kiss Sara, maybe when I try to kiss you, Sara won’t come back?”
“What kind of nonsense is that?!”
‘Sara’ thrashed about, but her weak body lacked the strength to lift Yoo Ha-neul.
Yoo Ha-neul’s face got closer.
“And saying that means kissing ‘you’ is the same as kissing Sara, right?”
Of course, if Yoo Ha-neul’s mind were cool, such thoughts wouldn’t come out in such a brutish manner. Even if ‘Sara’ was in control of the body, she would have been able to think that she would return the seat to Sara soon.
But right now, Yoo Ha-neul’s mind wasn’t very cool.
Meaning, she couldn’t make an objective judgment.
‘Sara’ was extremely scared at the wide-open eyes of Yoo Ha-neul.
“Eep…! W-wait…!”
Seeing Yoo Ha-neul’s face slowly, but surely getting closer made ‘Sara’ panic.
“I-I was wrong! I was wrong! I know I spoke disgracefully! Okay? Let’s think rationally, rationally!”
‘Sara’ squealed as if she was about to scream.
Indeed, the current situation was just before Yoo Ha-neul’s first kiss.
And for ‘Sara,’ it was also just before her first kiss.
Even if she hadn’t received proper sex education while being stuck, she knew what a ‘kiss’ was.
…So at least she understood that it was something shared between ‘people who like each other.’
Thus, she realized how life-threatening this moment was.
The ferris wheel still had a long way to go before it fully descended.
As Yoo Ha-neul’s face drew closer and her gaze almost locked with those deep eyes—
Just before their lips were about to touch, ‘Sara’ felt her consciousness drift away.
*
“……”
When she came to, she was slumped in the ferris wheel seat.
“Ugh, eek…?”
Making an ugly sound, she barely opened her eyes to see Ha Neul’s worried face looking at her.
She had an extremely worried expression.
“W-what happened…?”
It felt like she had fallen into a deep sleep and then woke up again in the same spot. Judging by the fact that they were still in the ferris wheel, it seemed only a little time had passed since Ha Neul had hugged her.
Could it be that she had fainted for a short moment?
“I’m sorry.”
Ha Neul apologetically said towards her.
“Uh?”
When she asked, unable to comprehend the situation, Ha Neul spoke with a guilty expression.
“It seems my guess was right.”
“Uh… Ah.”
Only then did she understand the current situation.
“You met ‘Sara’?”
“Yeah.”
Ha Neul nodded.
Really?
…Yeah.
‘Sara’ answered as if she didn’t find it favorable. If she had seen her face, she’d likely be pouting.
That was definitely a good thing.
Although it was a bit overwhelming that ‘Sara’ suddenly clung to her, at least it was clear that she didn’t have to sit next to Choi Na-kyung.
Now if Sara wanted to do something, she could come out more easily.
“It’s okay. That’s a good thing.”
“R-right?”
When she responded with a smile, Ha Neul finally lifted her drooping head.
…Ah, but.
If she kept experiencing stimulating memories, wouldn’t those ‘stimulating’ parts gradually fade?
What if she ended up needing even more stimulating memories than this…
“……”
Well, that’s not something to worry about right now.
Let’s slowly come up with some measures.
Feeling ‘Sara’s’ unpleasant energy constantly bubbling from deep within her heart, she thought.
