chapter 78
77. Korea (1)
77. Korea
At her words that she would take it back, even if it took her time, I took a step back and said.
“Okay, I already did that.”
“…”
Then she didn’t object any more. It seemed like he cared about my hair the whole time.
“…”
Is it really strange…
***
And after a while.
“Shujinkoo-kun! What’s your head?!”
When I arrived at the playground, Satou Ichika found me and ran towards me.
She then looks at me and her eyes shine.
When I told her that I had decorated her Korean style once, she said with her eyes shining even more.
“It’s super awesome. It suits you well! Shujinko-kun!
She puts her hands together and covers her mouth, making an ecstatic expression.
“…”
Thank you for the response, but…
“Ah… Is that so..?”
“Yes, yes!”
“…”
She stared at me with her eyes shining… It was unbearable for me as well.
***
“I’ll see you!”
After that, after talking with us for a while, Sato returned to his group at the call of his friends.
And the sound of conversation.
“Ichika-chan, I don’t know anything about Korea, so I just have to trust Ichika-chan, right?”
“hehehe, are you finally seeing Ichika’s virtue?”
She puffed out her chest and spoke confidently at her friends’ questions.
“Leave it to me?!”
“”Ohh..!!””
The children playfully laughing and cheering at her answer.
They then started laughing and playing with each other.
And then, standing still and looking at them, I turned my head and said to Inazuke.
“Hey, they say he suits you well?”
Then she said what was so dissatisfying, she even smiled for some reason.
“…Still strange.”
“…”
Maybe it’s because I’ve been watching it for 10 years, maybe I like the familiar more.
***
Time passed again like that, and finally the time to depart came.
Then the homeroom teacher stood in front of everyone and started guiding the children.
“It’s a group activity, so be careful not to fall-“
And the story of the instructions that continued for a long time.
And then, as the story ended, as always, the last one.
“Shall we all shout together? YO!!”
“”YO!!””
“…”
Ha…
It was YO that I didn’t want to hear.
…I always feel it, but the sensibility of this world doesn’t seem to suit me.
Perhaps similar things are happening in all schools around the world.
“…”
Yeah, that’s right..G.
…No way.
“……”
No, that can’t be. Yeah, no way
I had a terrifying thought at the moment, but honestly, I thought the possibility was high.
…I decided to try my best to erase that thought.
Because the day I saw Korean students doing stuff like that in Korean… I thought I would go crazy.
“……”
So, after the teacher’s speech, we were trying to get on the bus while trying to get rid of our thoughts.
“…?”
From far away, I saw Akari-senpai running towards me.
She then, after a while she stopped in front of me. She caught her breath for a moment and looked at me.
“It’s good, it’s not late. Huh..? Junior… You changed your hairstyle…?”
And then her face turns red.
“…”
As I stared at her with an expressionless expression on her face like that, she lowered her head as if she was ashamed of herself and then spoke.
“That, that… You know, Junior, I haven’t seen you for a while now, so I wanted to see you like this…”
“Ah, yes…”
As I was confused by her story, she hesitated for a moment before holding out a box to me.
“…?”
As I was looking at what that identity was, she continued.
“It’s Japanese sweets… Eating with friends…”
“……”
According to her subsequent words, she gave it to her to share with the other children as she went.
“…”
I’m not even an elementary school student…
I was a little taken aback by her behavior, like a mother sending her elementary school children on a picnic…
“…Yes, thank you.”
But first of all, I decided to be grateful.
***
After receiving her wagashi, I got on the bus after that, and after moving on and on, I finally arrived at the airport.
Then, many of the children who arrived at the airport seemed a little curious about the airport they were seeing for the first time.
As expected, the children of the world in the anime centered on their homeland, most of them had never been outside their home country, so the airport seemed to be a fairly fresh experience for them.
“……”
It’s just an anime, regardless of what it is, is it natural that this is the case?
…Anyway, the children were fascinated by the sight they saw for the first time.
The feelings of such children were even more intense when they arrived in Korea after a while.
“Suge-…”
“Hey…”
After arriving at the airport in Korea, the children who came out were amazed with their mouths open.
Not only is it a new environment you are seeing for the first time, but around it is a language other than Japanese. In other words, it was because there were many Korean-speaking people.
And.
“Huh…”
Although the reasons are slightly different from those of them… In fact, surprisingly, I was also amazed at this sight.
While riding the bus to my accommodation in Gyeongju, it goes without saying that the landscapes of Korea I knew changed their color just like in the anime.
After arriving, a lot of people who were colored in the anime were using Korean.
Of course, it’s something I’ve experienced so many times in Japan… But still, I couldn’t dilute the sense of difference that coexisted in this familiarity, so I felt the same sense of wonder as when I first set foot in this world.
***
The first thing we did after arriving at the accommodation was to have dinner.
In Japan, we left in the morning, but the travel time was so long that it was already evening.
So after going to a nearby Hanok restaurant and having dinner, we started walking around Gyeongju like any other school in Korea.
I wonder how many Japanese people would be interested in Korea’s Silla, but the children seemed to be quite interested in what they didn’t know.
Buildings with a different feeling from the ones they had seen in Korea and Japan were stimulating their curiosity.
Hey, if you think about it again, it might have been a matter of course, as Koreans don’t know much about the Edo Shogunate, but they do a good job of sightseeing in Japan.
Anyway, the children who were so interested started to tour according to the guidance of the guide, and among them, there were some who showed unexpected reactions.
It was Iggyris Rico.
Contrary to the expectation that she would grumble like Osana Najimi, who was doing it next to her, as she was originally a Japanese Gukppong Kane, her eyes were shining brightly. .
“Hey…”
“Sugoi…!”
“There is a different charm from Japan, Najimi-chan..! Isn’t it?!”
“Chi, is Japan much better?”
“Ehehehe… That’s true, but…”
“…”
Even though it’s not comparable to Japan… Still, it was very strange for me watching him from the side.
***
The first day in Korea, where we toured several places as a group, passed by.
The second day.
On the second day, we woke up early in the morning and went to Bulguksa Temple, finally getting some free time.
Actually, it’s free time, but to be precise, it was half free time in groups of four.
However, this was unavoidable because it was to ensure minimum safety in other places.
Because of this, we had to put ourselves in a pre-arranged group anyway, so after a while we were ready to move.
For reference, my group consisted of me, Iinazuke, a skinny, strict-looking male student, and a normal-looking female student.
I don’t know why Iinazuke is involved… Well, it was good because recently, other than his innocence, his cravings have almost disappeared.
On the contrary, I could say that this composition was not bad for me.
The reason is that the last day, when I was forming a group in advance at the academy, the grouping with Osana Najimi, which I had been longing for, was successfully completed.
Because of her trying to eat the same group while looking at me, I know how much she had to go through high school fighting until the last minute… Even now, when I think of him, cold sweat flows naturally.
Thanks to that, an impurity intervened in the process, but as I said before, it wasn’t that bad.
By the way, where did the Osana Najimi that I excluded go? She entered the same group as in the original work.
I mean, that group with Osana Najimi, Toyoda, Kurutta, and Igiris Riko.
“Hmm…”
Of course, even if I gave them a chance to choose again, I never intended to be in the same group as Osana Najimi, but the fact that that group was formed like that put me at a disadvantage to some extent.
The downside was that the possibility of the same thing happening in the original work was quite high.
As an example, I would be able to cite the trivial incident with Irigis Riko, and the confession of Osana Najimi.
But I wasn’t worried, but rather cheered him on.