Chapter 21 – What Is She Doing? (5)

“Uh, anyway. Why did you come?”

I asked to quickly skip the uncomfortable subject.

Lily Noona replied this time.

“I was curious about who that… Girlfriend was.”

“…My girlfriend?”

I knew they would ask, but I didn’t expect them to come specifically to ask that... Especially, so early.

No matter how many times I hypnotized myself, I still had insufficient imagination and muscle memory… I wondered if it would be okay to answer now.

“… Yes... You ran away after telling us you had a girlfriend… you didn't even hear us.”

Looking at Vienna who was still gloomy, I didn’t want to answer now. I had already made one slip of the tongue, but I thought I would make even more mistakes because of being drunk.

I was going to flesh out the lie a little more tomorrow.

Apart from her name being ‘Elza’ and a few personality traits, I didn’t even think of anything else.

If I had to answer now, I would have to make up things as they asked...

'Ugh, I'm not good at this…'

“… Can I answer you next time? It is too late now.”

“That’s why we came early to talk, but you came late.”

Vienna blamed me, while Luss spoke in a kind tone:

“… I’ve been waiting for you, can you tell me, Chis?”

I still felt guilty for hurting Luss because of a lie, so it was difficult to dismiss even this request.

“… Tell us quickly... Chis… has a girlfriend… We should know about her.”

Luss urged.

“… We’ll make sure she's not a weirdo, Starchis.”

Lily Noona added.

After taking a deep breath—

"Come on, tell me quickly-"

“-Elza.”

—I finally told them her name.

Their eyes focused on me.

“Her name is Elza.”

But Vienna who looked at me as others, turned her head again after a moment.

Lily Noona nodded slowly.

Luss kept muttering something.

“… Elza… Elza… Elza…”

Lily Noona asked. “…Pretty?”

“Yes?”

What was this first question? Wasn't it the kind of question that only men ask?

'Why don’t you ask first about how is her personality?'

Or did she have the same misunderstanding as others who asked if I invited these three to my party because of their appearance?

'Hey, when I look for my lover, I don’t care so much about looks.'

“Is she pretty? Your girlfriend?”

“Uh… Yes. She is pretty.”

“More than me?”

In response to Lily Noona’s question, I imagined Elza's face again and compared it to Noona's. It was not good to get caught just because of carelessness.

“No. Objectively, I think Noona is prettier.”

"Then why-"

“What about me?”

Luss interrupted Lily Noona, who was about to ask me something.

“Your Girlfriend... is she prettier than me?”

Now, Noona didn't seem as weird for asking about Elza's appearance first. It seemed like all girls cared about such things.

This time, I compared Elza to Luss in my mind.

Silky black hair and deep obsidian eyes... great height and long legs... Luss was also very pretty, to be honest.

“No, actually, objectively, the three of you are prettier than Elza.”

I didn’t want to talk much about looks, so I told them all at once.

The pressure that had been weighing down my shoulders seemed to be a little lighter too-

“But, what does that matter? It was enough for her to be pretty in my eyes.”

-but it doubled as soon as I uttered those words.

I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. The side effects seemed to come from drinking.

But in that state, I had to overwork my brain to come up with lies.

“That… Is that so… ?”

Lily Noona said. But it didn't look like she believed my words.

“… What does she look like?”

It was Luss again.

Well logically, when a close friend suddenly has a lover, anyone would be curious. So I understood Luss' curiosity a little bit.

Pink eyes and pink hair... I was trying to answer her question in my head first and then speak it, but it got caught in my throat.

Can I say this?

The more I spat out these specific lies, the more difficult the future would be; being too specific might cause several problems.

What if a pink-haired, pink-eyed Elza was real?

The odds didn’t make sense, but it was not completely impossible.

So can I...?

“Hey! Speak quickly!”

Vienna seemed to have already regained some of her previous nature.

I had no choice but to say something.

“She looks… Cute and pretty.”

“No, Chis. There are things like hair color, height, and breast size.”

What did she say?

“Are you really asking me about her breasts... really?”

“Why can’t you tell me that?” Luss asked, genuinely curious.

Awesome.

Even if I had second thoughts about lying, these three women wouldn’t give me a choice anyway.

If I couldn’t even tell her what Elza looked like, they’ll look at me strangely.

I couldn’t help but explain my imagination of Elza.

“Pi-pink hair… and I don’t want to talk about her breasts.”

It was not that I didn’t want to say anything, I hadn’t really thought about it.

And if I really had a girlfriend, wouldn’t it be rude to mention the size of her breasts even if someone asked about it?

“I’m a girl. You can tell me, Chis.”

But Luss kept asking.

'Haah!' I sighed.

It looked like Luss didn't have any intention to skip this topic.

'Let's just answer her... She would keep asking otherwise.'

“They're fine. Is that enough?”

“What about the eyes?”

My heart was pounding in nervousness.

Even if I didn’t want to say the specific details, I couldn't help it.

“She has pink eyes.”

“How tall?”

“Haha, Luss, what painting are you drawing?”

I made a joke to divert the topic, but Luss looked at me with deep black eyes and asked again, ignoring my words.

“How tall is she?”

“…Compared to her... I'm only a head taller.”

Luss nodded at my words and began to mutter something on her own. Although I couldn't hear properly.

“…Pink hair, pink eyes, moderate breasts, moderate height… Elza.”

Vienna suddenly spoke from the side.

“It's said that girls with pink hair are lewd!”

“Ah, what are you talking about?”

“Is she genuine? How do you know she's not messing around with others?”

“Vienna.”

No. My Elza was not like that. She was a person with a pure heart, who only looked at me... According to her setting.

[Note: Vienna here is referring to how the same term is used for both 'prostitute' and 'pink lady' in Korea, and how the internet has many inappropriate images of pink-haired girls for the same.]

“Elza is not that kind of girl.”

When I said and acted a little firm... huh? She turned her head and-

“… I heard it’s only been 2 weeks since you met.”

-said those words.

That’s right. According to the setting, she was someone I met only two weeks ago, so I couldn’t figure that out.

With nothing to say, I just chose silence.

When I took my eyes off Vienna, my eyes met Lily Noona's sitting in front of me.

She seemed to be contemplating something, tapping her fingers on the table.

“Starchis, you talked about it so briefly back then, but can you explain everything from when you met to how you ended up dating?”

Then she narrowed her eyes.

“As Vienna said, it’s been ‘only’ two weeks since you both met.”

-Gulp

I swallowed.

If so far I'd been lying about basic things, now I had to come up with a lie that put a fictional character into reality.

If there was a part that did not mesh with reality in the slightest, the lie may be exposed.

I had to tread on thin ice here.

“So… when I was coming back after leaving Vienna to her church, we met for the first time. Do you remember that big tree on the way to my house from church? Near it.”

Eyes were drawn to Vienna who wiggled her fingers as if it was her fault.

“Who spoke first?” Asked Luss.

'I-'

Thoughts appeared as I tried to answer. I looked into Luss’ eyes and thought of her one more time.

Luss knew that my personality made me less likely to talk to strangers, she might even feel strange if I do.

… Just now, it was a bit dangerous.

“Eh, Elza spoke first.”

At my answer, Lily Noona spoke before Luss could.

“I’ve been thinking about it for some time, but it seems like you’ve already gotten a little closer... seeing that you call her Elza, not Elza ssi. She’s your girlfriend, but that doesn’t change the fact that you've only been seeing her for two weeks. Didn’t it take a long time for you to call me Lily Noona? Right?”

“Yes, Chis. I’ve been thinking about it for a while too. You didn’t talk to me casually until half a year of friendship.”

“Yeah, yes! You also let go of honorifics after drinking with me that day!”

As if the three were united, they tackled the unnaturally familiar speech I used for Elza.

I thought about it once in my head; Was it weird or not?

But it felt more strange to use a formal tone for my lover.

“She's my girlfriend, so we need to talk comfortably.”

“Huh!”

“…Ugh.”

Vienna and Luss made dumbfounded sounds.

Ignoring them, Lily noona spoke like spitting something.

“And?”

“Yes?”

“What happened after that? That bit – no, did she talk to you first?”

“Then, we talked to each other a little… So we became close. But the next day when I was coming back leaving Luss at her house, it was nice to see her again, so we just talked again.”

This time, the eyes were on Luss.

Every time they appeared in my story, attention was drawn to them. As everyone did, I also looked at Luss.

Then, as the silence grew longer, her eyes returned to me.

Oh!

I spoke:

“And after that, we kept meeting by chance after I dropped one of you guys off, so we kept getting closer.”

“Chis, isn’t it a bit strange?”

“Uh?”

My heart began to beat crazily.

“Isn’t it too much of a coincidence?”

Well, even if I think about it, this was a coincidence that made no sense. But it would be even weirder if we didn't meet often and became a couple after knowing each other for only two weeks.

“That… That’s why I said it at that time; Isn't it fate…? Ha ha ha.”

“You might think so, but it kinda feels weird to me.”

“… Yes?”

No, it feels weird to me too.

“Rather than fate, are you… not being stalked?”

My head froze for a while.

Why would someone stalk me? What did I have anyway?

Ugh, it was all my fault... my fault for lying.

“Chis, she did it to cheat you.”

“That’s right, Starchis. That may be true.”

“Break up. Starchis.”

All three of them worriedly said. They thought I met a strange person, so they must have felt afraid and frustrated. They were a bit cautious when they said those words, so I noticed it.

But everyone was so worried... and I felt sorry for them; because they were angry with my imagination.

This was why one shouldn’t lie.

Because things like these that stabbed their conscience happen often.

Still, I can’t stop now.

To grow the party and become an A-class hunter, I needed to take care of my body through rest.

“Ahaha, that's what you guys were worrying about? No. She is okay. I know this because I have met her.”

“Chis, you might think that because your… eyes are being blinded by love, but it’s not the way I see it.”

“Thanks for your concern, Luss.”

She bit her lips at my answer.

To change the topic, I spoke again.

“Anyway, then, I stayed up all night with Vienna and Luss, so I didn’t see Elza, right? Then, the day before we went to the dungeon, I went to the agency to take a quest, then I met her again and she confessed.”

“… So suddenly? Isn't this really weird? Wasn’t there some ulterior motive after all?”

But other than that time, there was no moment when I could receive a confession, and I couldn't confess to her because they knew how shy I was with new friends.

My mind ran as fast as it could to add a reason.

“…she knew it because she hadn’t seen me for a few days... Because I wasn’t there, she felt my preciousness.”

The three flinched suddenly.

All three together... It made my heart flutter.

What did I say wrong this time?

“S, Starchis. Yes, what does she like? What would she even know in two weeks?”

Vienna asked.

It was a question that made me feel a bit embarrassed to answer.

What would my imaginary girlfriend like? At the end of the day, she had to like any of my good points.

Face? No, not face.

I wasn't dissatisfied with my face, but it was not a face that could attract anyone. Well, at least that's what I understood when the three girls who were closest to me never felt any attraction. So I removed the face from my imaginary checklist.

Character? But I was lying like this and deceiving the party members...

Then, the body...?

“That… she said my body is nice…?”

Vienna jumped up from her seat.

“Hey!! That’s a completely lewd whore!!”

“Vienna!”

Startled by her wild swearing, I called her name.

She said, Oops, and sat down and mumbled something after turning her head.

“…It must be her plan…”

Vienna called Elza a slut and whatnot a few times, but my conscience stung every time I got angry; Elza was a fictional character, after all…

It was still difficult for me to get mad at the real Vienna because of a fictional character.

Maybe it’s because I felt that Vienna was my colleague and a friend, but Elza hadn’t settled in my heart yet.

I just decided to calm her down and change her mood.

What can I say… Ah!

“That’s right, Vienna, maybe it’s because you cut my hair before the confession, so she complimented me on how well it suits me. Thank you.”

This time everyone's gaze was fixed on Vienna.

“…Ah.”

But at my praise, Vienne suddenly stumbled and began to fall off her chair.

“Uh, be careful, Vienna.”

I caught her by both shoulders to save her from falling... Her whole body was trembling.

Before I could question her if she was okay, words poured toward me again.

“Chis, Vienna looks fine now. Let go.”

“Ah, yes.”

I continued what I was saying.

“Anyway, that's how I was confessed.”

“… Did you accept just like that? What does she even know about you! I know you better than Elza or whatever!”

The trembling Vienna again raised her voice.

“Well, it's because I had no reason not to accept it.”

“There was no reason not to accept it? Starchis, shouldn’t we be a little more careful?”

“Noona, as you all know, I’ve been single all my life. I also need to meet someone.”

-Tutu tu tuk

The table started to shake with a creaking voice.

Suddenly, I felt the pressure again and the hairs on my body rose on their own.

Lily Noona asked, looking at me with her fiery red eyes.

It was a slightly hushed voice.

“…Then… If you were confessed by anyone, would you have accepted it?”

That was not it.

I wouldn’t accept anyone's confession just because I was alone.

But I had to hide my true feelings. Because I had to give some legitimacy to dating in two weeks.

“Maybe?”

Support Author

Join Discord