155. Returned First Love (4)
Lee Jun-woo leaned against the window, waiting for Aina.
Since the atmosphere seemed unusual, Aina cautiously spoke to Jun-woo.
"...Jun-woo."
"You're late, Aina."
When Aina called out to him, Lee Jun-woo turned his gaze.
He slowly approached Aina and said,
"Why are you so late? Weren't you just going to give her food?"
"How could I just give her food and leave? I had to talk with her too. That Saten girl has some surprisingly cute sides to her."
*Click—*
Aina entered the room and closed the door.
A room with just the two of them.
A moment when anything could happen.
Aina moved naturally toward the bed.
"My stuff was all over her room. You gave it all to her, right?"
"...It just happened. Saten needed it."
"You didn't just throw it away thinking I was dead?"
"Absolutely not."
Lee Jun-woo glared at Aina with firm eyes.
Jun-woo's gaze asserting his innocence was enough to make Aina laugh.
"Pfft, you've always been too serious."
"What?"
"I'm joking, you idiot. Come sit here next to me."
Aina sat on the bed and patted the spot beside her.
Lee Jun-woo sat next to her with a slightly flushed face.
He was too embarrassed about responding seriously to a joke.
"Even though you've changed, this side of you hasn't, has it?"
"...Stop it."
"Alright, your teacher is kind. I'll specially change the topic for you. The new topic will be... hmm... how about the Hero Party?"
The Hero Party.
She'd heard a rough explanation.
But she wanted to talk with her disciple about them after seeing and judging them with her own eyes.
"First... Luna. The Hero is kind. Her personality is fun too."
"She's noisy though."
"Is she?"
When she was working hard on research,
what would it feel like to hear the Hero's voice?
Aina imagined that situation and came to an answer.
"Now that I think about it, she is pretty noisy. But she's lively, right? It's good when she smiles. What do you think, Jun-woo?"
"She follows training well and is diligent. Sometimes noisy but fun."
"Isn't she pretty? Like, do you want to touch her or..."
"Think of her as my cousin. I don't have those kinds of feelings at all."
Lee Jun-woo answered firmly.
Having grasped his feelings about Luna,
Aina moved on to another person.
"Then what about Hare? I found her the funniest."
"...Hare is funny?"
"Yeah, why don't you think so?"
Hare shedding bean-sized tears after losing her uncle.
Imagining that scene again made the corners of Aina's mouth rise.
"You should have seen that... Anyway, I find her the most entertaining."
"Isn't Hare more cute than funny? Hare helps me the most."
Lee Jun-woo told her about everything Hare had done.
Helping with cooking, waking the children in the morning, running errands.
He explained all the ways she'd always helped him from the side.
Leaving out one important confession from the past.
*She must have changed her mind by now.*
Lee Jun-woo thought of that incident as a minor embarrassment, so he casually tossed the confession into the trash bin of his memory.
But Aina was trying to pull that memory back out of the trash.
"I think a bit differently than you. She's not cute—she wants to appear cute."
"To whom?"
"To you. She probably likes you."
"...That's nonsense. How would you know that?"
*I heard it directly though?*
That would prick her conscience too much to say.
Aina was satisfied with just reminding him that Hare was an option.
*...It hurts a bit to say this myself.*
Aina lay down on the bed and said,
"She likes you. Think about it seriously sometime."
"Why would I? And why do you keep saying things like that? The Hero Party and I don't have that kind of relationship. There's a big age gap too."
"So if the age gap was smaller, it would be okay?"
"...Why is the conversation flowing that way?"
Lee Jun-woo wasn't pleased.
He wanted to have a conversation with Aina after so long, but she kept summoning other people into the conversation.
Currently, Jun-woo's interest was directed only at Aina.
There was no way he'd like this kind of conversation.
"...Let's stop talking about the Hero Party now. We have a lot to talk about."
"But I want to talk about the Hero Party... I'm getting sleepy too..."
"Since you're saying that, I'm getting sleepy too."
*Plop—*
Lee Jun-woo naturally lay down beside Aina.
The moment their eyes met and their breaths could be heard reaching their hearts,
Aina's eyes widened as she sat up and shouted.
"Y-you bastard! What, what are you doing?!"
"You said you were sleepy."
"J-just now your actions woke me right up! You, why are you lying next to me?! Go sleep in your room!"
"I don't want to."
"Wh-what?!"
This crazy disciple.
He's finally trying to devour his teacher.
Is this what they mean by "the student surpasses the master"?
Aina tried her best to calm her pounding heart and said,
"You've finally gone crazy, haven't you? Learning strange things while I was gone."
"...What did I even do?"
"J-just now you lay next to me trying to do something weird!"
"Me?"
*Ha—*
Lee Jun-woo let out a scoff as if dumbfounded.
He lay back down on the bed.
It was a very natural and confident posture.
"I just lay down because I was sleepy."
"There's no 'just' about it! You're talking nonsense. Want to receive some education after all this time?!"
"...Geez, what an imagination."
Lee Jun-woo sighed and turned over.
It felt as if Aina was the one who'd done something wrong.
*Anyone can see the disciple is at fault, right? So why is he talking like it's my fault?*
Am I the strange one?
Did the world change during the 10 years I was gone?
Aina was beyond dumbfounded—she was at a loss.
*That bastard didn't plan this too, did he...? It's hard enough just to stand still...*
Damn it.
She didn't want to get closer because she didn't want to leave regrets.
With her body in poor condition, she had no choice but to lie back down on the bed.
"...Trying to devour your teacher. Lewd disciple."
"What did I even do? I just lay down because I'm tired, and I just wanted to talk with you."
"S-sure you did. Then when the mood rises you were going to make a move!! Like before."
Like before.
At those words, Lee Jun-woo was visibly flustered.
"Why are you bringing that up now?"
"It's the same situation. Was it when you were in your early twenties? When you came into my room saying you were lonely—"
"D-don't say any more!"
"Kyaak—!"
*Whoosh—*
Lee Jun-woo sat up and covered Aina's mouth.
His face was red, his breathing rough.
He was clearly flustered, and his stiff expression had returned to the past.
Just like those happy times.
"..."
"...What are you looking at?"
Lee Jun-woo looked down at Aina and asked,
"That day."
"...What day?"
"The day that bastard Raul turned into a Demon King. What did you say at the end?"
"..."
Aina remembered those words.
The words she'd left at the end.
Those words that had tormented Lee Jun-woo for so long.
Aina remembered them, but couldn't dare speak them aloud.
*...It would obviously leave regrets.*
Someone who has to leave
shouldn't say such things.
Expressing feelings she realized too late—
that wouldn't be right for her disciple's sake.
Aina avoided Jun-woo's gaze and muttered,
"...I forgot."
"You forgot...?"
"I was trapped in the sealing stone for so long, I forgot. It's natural. It's been a whole 10 years, my disciple."
Aina avoided Lee Jun-woo's gaze.
Her heart was beating loudly, and her hands wanted his body, but
she restrained her emotions and didn't move.
That fact felt a bit sad, but
knowing the sadness of those left behind, Aina kept her mouth shut.
"Get off me. Trying to devour a teacher whose body isn't even well. You'll get sick if you eat wrong, you know?"
"..."
Lee Jun-woo got up from the bed after hearing Aina's words.
He seemed quite shocked by her saying she'd forgotten.
*...It would have been better to just die. Why did I seal myself...*
Aina, who had to watch that,
also felt heavy-hearted and pained.
That's why
Aina wanted to indulge in a small greed.
"...Disciple, what are you doing? Aren't you going to lie down? You have to sleep, don't you? You said you wouldn't do anything?"
"Right... I should sleep."
"You said you had a lot to talk about. Tell me those stories as a lullaby. I want to hear about you."
Lee Jun-woo lay back down on the bed.
The two continued their conversation as if nothing had happened.
"Right, what happened to that eye? Who beat you up?"
"...A Demon King. It became like this from the recoil of Non-elemental Magic."
"Ha, what did you learn from me to lose to some Demon King like that?"
The two talked warmly while looking at the ceiling.
Like before.
Teacher and disciple spent happy time talking about the past.
Harboring the same heart, having the same feelings, but
the two couldn't be together.
*If I sleep today, that's two days.*
Because the wall called death was absurdly high,
Aina held back her tears and used Jun-woo's stories as a lullaby.
A teacher never sheds tears in front of their disciple.