Chapter 7: Kawada Arena (3)

September was already nearing its end.
The scorching heat of midsummer that had been tormenting people was gradually dying down, and a cool season was approaching.

6 p.m., after the last class, Ancient Demonology.

Kawada Arena, a mixed-race girl with water-colored black hair and golden eyes like a barley field, quickly packed her bag as soon as the class ended.

Recently, she had been disappearing somewhere as soon as the class ended, which aroused curiosity among her friends.

The place she was heading to as soon as her day was over was,

‘Oh, I’m going to miss it!’

It was Chayeon’s tail.

Arena was quickly, yet carefully, following Chayeon, who was shorter than her but had absurdly fast steps.

After the sparring on that day, which was marked by humiliation and disgrace, Arena was blocking Chayeon’s path and throwing down a challenge whenever she had a chance.

“Don’t underestimate me! Today is the day I’ll defeat you!”

For the first few times, Chayeon accepted her challenge. The expression on his face, which readily accepted, even looked somewhat happy.

The result was always Arena’s complete defeat.

Arena’s sword still couldn’t touch even Chayeon’s fine hairs.

Besides, for some reason, Chayeon’s skills seemed to be increasing more and more.

The gap was widening, not narrowing.

‘No way, is she growing in the meantime!?’

At first, she was shocked by Chayeon’s swordsmanship, which was increasing day by day, but soon she judged that it couldn’t be.

It was impossible to increase her skills to that extent in such a short time.

It was not an area that could be explained by the word talent.

Arena came to this conclusion.

‘She’s still hiding her skills.’

The more she thought about it, the more resentful she became.

To think that she had such skills and had been deceiving her so well!-Of course, Chayeon had never deceived her at all-

Chayeon’s acceptance of her challenge did not last long either.

Challenge when going to school in the morning, challenge during lunch break, challenge when the break time gets longer, challenge when the class is canceled, challenge after all classes are over, and even when she was running on the weekend, she suddenly blocked the road and asked how she knew,

“Jeon Chayeon! Today is the day I’ll take you down!”

…So it was a natural course for Chayeon to hate Arena.

From some point on, Chayeon was busy running away whenever Arena came into her sight. The monochrome witch outfit and pointy hat became the number one thing to avoid if he saw them.

Arena, who had been chasing Chayeon without thinking at first, realized that it was a waste of time and changed her strategy.

Follow Chayeon.

If she digs into his back, she might know the secret of his skills.

She had finally realized that challenging without thinking was like hitting a rock with an egg.

If you know yourself and know your enemy, you will win every battle.

She was thinking that she knew herself well, so now she just needed to know about the enemy.

It would be even better if she could find out Chayeon’s weaknesses as well.

Several days after reaching that conclusion, Arena was faithfully stalking Chayeon in the morning and evening.

But………

‘Waking up in the morning and jogging, then eating alone in the cafeteria and going to the academy, going back to the dormitory after class and then coming out for a run for a while at night and then going into the room and not coming out until the next day. When does she practice swordsmanship!?’

Chayeon’s daily life, which she had been watching for several days, was the same as if it were engraved on a plate.

Except for the time to eat or take classes, she was running outside, and otherwise, she was always holed up in her room.

‘More than that, is she a machine? Why is everything so regular, from time to diet? Doesn’t she meet anyone? Doesn’t she have any friends!?’

It was meaningless to follow her like this.

She didn’t know what she was doing in her room, but at least it wasn’t swordsmanship practice.

She didn’t get any plausible information about Chayeon, let alone her weaknesses.

The only thing she found out was that she had a regular life like a machine.

Looking at her lifestyle pattern, she was a model student, but she was always dozing off during theory class.

‘Shall I stop?’

She wasn’t getting anything and was wasting a lot of time.

Arena was slowly getting tired.

Anyway, today was obvious too. She would stop by the student cafeteria, eat, and go back to the dormitory alone.

It was when she was about to give up and turn around.

“Huh?”

Chayeon, who had been walking ahead, started walking in a different direction from the usual path, that is, the path to the cafeteria.

‘Where is she going? It’s not the way to the cafeteria?’

It was the first time since she started following her.

She didn’t know what kind of wind was blowing, but this was an opportunity.

Arena held her breath and followed Chayeon.

“Oh, you’re here just in time?”

“Teacher, you came out early.”

Under the clock tower on the path to the main gate, Seohee, who had arrived before Chayeon, greeted her.

A wine-colored blouse and a short black skirt made her body stand out, and a brightly smiling smile made her appearance stand out.

“Of course, it’s the day I’m dating our Chayeon, so I can’t make you wait~”

When Seohee smiled brightly and tried to stick close, Chayeon flinched and kept a distance.

“I’m just going to buy what I need and go back.”

“Don’t do that. Let’s stick together with Unnie until late at night today?”

Seeing Chayeon turning around, Seohee panicked and stopped Chayeon.

“Sorry, it’s a joke, it’s a joke. I’ll buy you just the clothes you need and send you back.”

Chayeon didn’t really intend to ditch Seohee, so she turned around again.

“You really don’t have to buy it for me. What you gave me last time is enough.”

“What are you talking about? You only bought four last time because you didn’t have time. One of them is sportswear. Now that you’ve become a cute girl, you have to dress up.”

At the words cute girl, Chayeon’s face turned into a sh*t-eating expression.

He had no intention of continuing to live as a woman like this.

“Take it when Unnie says she’ll buy it for you. It’s not something that comes every day?”

“…Okay.”

In fact, Chayeon was also thinking that the four tops and bottoms she had now, including the five school uniforms, were not enough.

It was annoying to have to do laundry about every other day to wear them in rotation.

The two left the academy’s main building and headed for the shopping district.

With a scale that could be said to be a self-governing district, this Jindal Academy had its own commercial district, so it was possible to procure most of the goods inside.

Chayeon had shopped with Seohee not long after entering the academy, and today’s outing was an extension of that.

Chayeon had no leisure activities other than exercise, so even if she bought daily necessities, she would buy almost nothing other than clothes.

He was tempted by various auxiliary equipment that would help him exercise, but with his current weak strength that couldn’t even handle his own weight, bodyweight training alone was enough, so he didn’t prepare them separately.

He had brought enough money with him when he came, but of course, Chayeon had no income now.

She heard that if she went up a grade, she would perform various tasks related to spirits or demons in the name of assignments and receive wages, but it was not something that applied to Chayeon, who was a freshman.

Therefore, most of the expenses necessary for life were being covered by Seohee.

Chayeon was grateful but also burdened.

She was a good person by nature, but even so, she didn’t know why Seohee was being so kind to her.

When they entered a store specializing in women’s clothing, the clerk greeted them in a clear voice.

Seohee walked to the display case as if she was familiar with it, and Chayeon followed behind with an awkward look.

“Chayeon, how about this? It would suit you.”

Seohee picked out one piece of clothing and held it up to Chayeon.

It was an A-line dress with a white collar and emphasized sleeves.

“I don’t like it.”

Of course, it was rejected.

“Why~ It’s pretty.”

Seohee complained, but Chayeon didn’t even blink an eye.

Her experience wearing skirts was enough with the school uniform skirt.

When she showed no sign of changing her mind, Seohee regretfully hung the dress back and then picked up a pair of other tops and bottoms.

“Then what about this?”

A light pink striped long-sleeved T-shirt and a white midi skirt that seemed more plain than before. That is, another skirt.

“I don’t like it.”

“Then how about this?”

“I don’t like it either.”

“Ah, this is pretty!”

“I don’t like that either.”

When she rejected everything, Seohee’s lips protruded.

“Chayeon is more picky than I thought. She doesn’t like anything.”

“Teacher, you only pick out skirts.”

The clothes she was picking out were all overly feminine.

“Chayeon’s calves are pretty, so skirts suit you well?”

“Teacher, please don’t forget that I’m a man.”

When Chayeon showed an atmosphere that she would definitely refuse, Seohee eventually gave up on dressing her up according to her taste.

After looking around a little more, she picked up unisex tops and pants.

Even then, her eyes couldn’t stop looking at the clothes she had picked out earlier.

“Is this okay?”

“Yes, well. It looks plain.”

She tried on the clothes to check the size and stood in front of the mirror, and it suited her very well.

She thought it was just plain when she looked at it, but when she actually wore it, the atmosphere harmonized well as if it were custom-made for Chayeon.

“Teacher, you have a surprisingly good sense.”

“Of course! Don’t you know if you look at me wearing it usually?”

Seohee said with a somewhat arrogant expression, but well.

Looking at her outfit, which was coordinated with somewhere dark colors even though summer had not been long past, Chayeon pressed down on the voice of her heart that was trying to come out.

It suited her very well, but that was because Seohee’s style was so good, not because her fashion was outstanding.

On the other hand, the clothes she picked out for Chayeon were exquisite one by one.

‘Is she the type who can’t pick out her own clothes?’

She swallowed those thoughts inside. Even if she did, it wouldn’t have much of an impact because her body was so good.

Seohee, who was quickly in a good mood when Chayeon showed a sign of liking it, headed to the cashier while humming.

She thought she was a mature and mysterious person, but when you look at her at times like this, she was just a kid.

By the time they came out of the store, the sun was already setting.

As the end of September approached, the sunset time became faster.

“Chayeon, you didn’t come after eating dinner, did you? Won’t you eat and go?”

Seohee, who came out of the store, said, pointing to a sushi restaurant nearby.

Chayeon, who liked sushi and was hungry at the right time, nodded obediently.

After finishing the meal, Seohee grabbed Chayeon once again, who was about to go back this time.

“Chayeon, aren’t you sad? Let’s go have cake at a cafe.”

“……I want to go back.”

It was already dark and late.

It was difficult to keep the same pattern as usual, but she still wanted to go back quickly and do at least a minimum amount of exercise. Besides, cake was a sugar bomb with only high calories, so she was reluctant.

“Just today! Can’t you hang out with Unnie just for today?”

Seohee grabbed her hand and stared at Chayeon with pleading eyes.

Her face was very close.

“Ah, okay. So, let, let go of me….”

Chayeon blushed and said in a voice that went in. Seohee, who saw that, shone her eyes and forcibly dropped her from trying to hug her.

It was a good thing.”

‘I’m going to kill you, really.’

Heukgu, who was quietly there and only came out at times like this, was really f*cking annoying.