Until now, I had never gone up to the third years' classrooms.
Harun and Hazel had whined and groaned about how I needed to come and visit them, but I didn't go. Well, I couldn't go. It was because I always ended up playing around with Hestia, Cory, and even Hylli recently and time just flew by during break.
There wasn't anything special about the juniors' third year classrooms. It was just one floor above us so it just made my legs cramp.
Honestly, there was another reason why I didn't want to go. If I, as a first year, went up to a floor with only third years, I was going to get focused on and people were going to look at me. Thinking back to the singing incident, the dancing incident, and etc., I didn't want to be looked at.
I borrowed Cory's grape blanket and hid my face as much as I could. I acted like I was someone who was tired from studying instead of a first-year.
I moved like a spy and headed towards the third year yellow class. When I peeked into the classroom, Hazel, as expected, was in the center of attention amongst the girls in the class. As expected of my roommate unni, she was popular. I felt proud as I quietly called out to her.
My arms were filled with snacks I purchased from the student store.
Hazel looked at me with a mom smile and ran towards me.
"Shushu~ you're really here! Wow, I'm super touched!"
Hazel really seemed touched. Seeing that made my nose sting slightly. I thought to myself that I needed to visit more often as the other third year girls started surrounding me.
"Oh my, Hazel. Is she that cute roommate of yours?"
"Isn't she Shuraina from the first year swordsmanship course? The famous one?"
"Oh no, she's so cute!"
Hazel unni began singing praises of me.
"Our Shushu, she even made her own club and shot up the rankings~ And, uh, what else…..oh right! You ranked number one in the middle school finals, right? Your grades are super high in the swordsmanship classes where you're the only girl, too. And she wants to be the leader of the first order of the knights!"
I had just said that I wanted to become a knight, not that I wanted to be a knight leader. The leader position was just a title at most, and the pay was basically the same as regular knights…..
The girls' stares seemed to change at Hazel's compliments. There were some who gave me with contempt in their gazes, but most of them seemed to be in awe. I gripped the grape blanket tighter in embarrassment.
"See, look. How awesome is she? Look at how she walks her own path! That's so cool! She does everything she wants to."
I was worried at how exaggerated Hazel's compliments would be when the stories came back into my ears. It felt like I would hear stories about how I was aiming for world domination.
I was embarrassed at being the center of attention and was trying to get out of the classroom. My face was beyond red: it felt like it was on the verge of explosion. I escaped the crowd, using the restroom as an excuse. But the female upperclassmen all seemed to know that I was running out because I was embarrassed instead of desperate for the toilet.
When I escaped the yellow classroom, I could hear "Oh no, how cute..." and quiet laughter behind me. I moaned in embarrassment.
Once I escaped the cavern of Hazel's compliments, I decided to stop by Harun's blue class just because.
I once again hid my face behind the grape blanket and acted like a spy. Hmm...a spy.
"Parabam~ Parabam. Bam Bam bam. Badumdum tss."
Swoosh, swoosh. No problem in sight. Swoosh, swoosh.
I had, after checking to see that nobody was in the hall, excitedly began making sound effects to my movements until I felt someone looking at me. I immediately stood straight and walked formally. When I began hearing murmurs about what I was doing, I fake coughed once.
Please stop doing this, me. This is all because of my past life. I had dreamed about playing with my younger siblings in my past life recently, so I had been feeling childish. I wasn't usually like this, I promise.
I didn't enter the classroom, but peeked in slightly. Where was my older brother? I kept looking around. I had gotten kind of scared to go in after the compliment cavern. Then, I caught Yves in my radar. Thinking back, Yves was also in the blue class.
Yves never really came to school before. The only reason he attended was to gain information. Because of how many rich kids attended out school, it was easy to gain information and gain connections.
But after the guild had collapsed, he had begun to attend school normally. He didn't smile as much as before, and he didn't talk to others.
He calmly listened to class, then used the dorms if he wanted to, then went back to his residence if he had any work to do. Yves wasn't tied down by school regulations, and did as he pleased.
Yves was very close to the class door, where I was currently at. He was doodling a puppy on the top of his history textbook.
I quietly approached Yves and responded with a doodle of a snail.
When Yves saw the snail suddenly appear on his textbook, he looked up to see who was drawing on his textbook. Yves looked at me, hidden under the grape blanket, and enthusiastically welcomed me. Even though it wasn't too obvious.
"You came to see me?"
I shook my head at Yves' words. Yves seemed annoyed at my response.
"What is it then."
"...."
I wrote, "Please call older brother Harun for me." on his textbook. Yves read my words then briefly scowled.
"Your brother? Oh, the West family's eldest son?"
I nodded. I tried my best not to speak. The moment Harun heard my voice, he was definitely going to figure out who I was even at a distance. He'd definitely make a huge deal out of it. I didn't want my brother's friends crowding me as well. Female upperclassmen weren't too bad, but male upperclassmen felt like too much of a hassle. That would just be too exhausting.
Yves was aware that I had an older sibling, but he seemed to be surprised that I had actually visited.
He seemed annoyed about having to go over there, but soon stood up.
Anyway, it was weird seeing Yves wear the school uniform after seeing him wear basically the same suit every day. Before, he looked kind of like an adult, but now he looked like a boy. He really looked his age. Even if it wasn't that fake smile of his from before, it would've been nice to see him smile a bit brighter. That was the one thing that could've been better.
But he had changed a lot. I wiped my nose, feeling a twinge of pride.
Yves approached Harun. Harun, who had been laughing and chatting amongst his friends, cowered slightly. Yves hadn't even said anything yet. He really was the same as usual. He was my older brother, but. I didn't know who would ever want to date him. But I guess that part of him was kind of cute.
Instead of speaking, Yves just tapped Harun a few times and pointed at me. Harun oppa seemed curious, like, Huh? for a moment, until he saw me waving my hand. He looked touched.
With an invisible tail that seemed to wag behind him, Harun headed towards the hall where I was. Yves also came out with Harun and looked at me.
"What is it? What? Is it my birthday today? What happened for Shushu to come all the way here?"
"No, didn't you tell me to visit you in class before?"
Harun covered his mouth with his hands with an absolutely incredulous expression on his face. Then, he hugged me tight.
Yves, who had been watching the whole thing unfold, just looked shocked.
"Our Shushu, I'm so touched~ While you're here, should I buy you something tasty? Do you want to go down to the store?"
"I just came to visit. I saw your face so I'll be leaving now."
I handed the leftover chocolate from my previous visit to Hazel's class.
"If you need something to keep you awake during class, eat this."
Harun hugged me tighter and made sobbing noises. He wasn't crying.
"Heuk, hic. Heuk. Shushu... I'm so happy that I think I'm gonna die."
"If you die, I'll make sure to bury you well."
"Thaaaaaaanks...."
My brother's so overdramatic. Once I accomplished my mission, I tried to head out. Yves grabbed my wrist out of nowhere. Yves also blocked Harun from leaving.
Yves looked at me and asked.
"Why is Harun oppa while I'm just Yves?"
Harun seemed shocked at how friendly Yves' tone of voice was towards me. Harun shot me a look, seemingly asking when I became close to Yves. I avoided his gaze and barely responded to his question.
"Then should I call you Yves oppa?"
When I asked him a question in response, Yves had a strange expression on his face before nodding. Hey, I'm sorry, but that's too cringe for me so I can't.
"I don't wanna."
"Then what do you call Harun's friends?"
"I just add '-nim' behind their name."
Just like I called you when I first met you. You're better off than then, you know. Yves wasn't in my list of people to be wary of anymore.
"Then you're just calling your actual older brother 'oppa' only?"
I nodded. Harun, who had watched this whole thing with an exasperated look, suddenly seemed extremely touched by my words.
Yves blocked Harun as he tried to hug me and glared at Harun, threatening him.
"Sell me the right to be called 'oppa' like you. How much do you want?"
"Wh-, give you what?"
"I'm going to be Shushu's oppa."
Harun seemed extremely shocked. He looked as if the sky had suddenly fallen down on him.
"Hey, Yvnes. W-why are you s-suddenly acting like this!"
Harun vehemently rejected it. Harun seemed to be absolutely terrified by the air surrounding Yves, but responded promptly to every statement. Harun oppa, good luck fighting against Yves. I was also kind of shocked, but Harun's multitude of expressions were so funny that I just kept watching.
Yves put his arm on Harun's shoulder, then whispered something into his ear.
"Harun, think about it. You have blue hair and black eyes, and I have orange hair and silver eyes."
"So what!"
"I'm much more like her older brother. I even have orange hair."
Yves looked at me, seemingly waiting for me to agree.
"Isn't that right, Shushu?"
"No."
Yves ignored my response and continued to try and persuade Harun.
"Shushu and I even have a couple's tattoo together. The two of us are closer than you are with her."
"What? When did you do something like that with Yves? Yves, you bastard! Don't make Shushu do weird things!"
....what? Was he talking about the orange slice tattoo from when we formed the contract? To be honest, that was more like a symbol that just formed instead of an actual tattoo.
"Where is it! Shushu, let me see! Where did you do it?!"
Harun looked at Yves' and my face and arms to look for any trace of a tattoo. Yves lowered his head slightly and smirked.
"You can't find it."
"Why!"
Yves put his mouth near Harun's shocked face. Then, he delivered the final blow.
"It's on our butts."
T/N: YVES PLEASE