LMI 11

“Haa.”

As soon as lunchtime arrived, Koi ran to the cafeteria, took a deep breath when he saw the long line that had already formed. After lunch, chemistry class awaited him. It was the furthest building from the cafeteria, so he had to hurry.

Fortunately, the line moved quickly. A line quickly formed behind Koi as well. He waited his turn, moving forward step by step, when suddenly someone hit him hard on the back of the head.

“Ah!”

Koi reflexively screamed and almost fell forward, but barely managed to regain his balance. Who was it? He was flustered and quickly turned around, then froze in surprise. The gang he had been desperately avoiding for the past half-day was standing there glaring at him. To be precise, only Nelson was glaring, and his cronies were watching with smirking, intrigued faces.

“You little loser, did you think you could avoid me forever?”

Nelson spat out through gritted teeth. The surrounding kids glanced over and backed away. No one wanted to get caught up in a pointless fight and suffer the consequences. He had experienced it enough times and knew it well, but Koi felt more lonely every time he was subjected to the same thing.

Could the realization that he was completely alone ever become a familiar experience? Pain never becomes familiar. The same goes for emotional wounds. But Koi knew. This emotional pain would follow him until he died.

It was when he was grabbed by the collar by Nelson and dragged away, feeling the despair that had been repeated countless times.

“Koi!”

Someone called his name. Koi, and even Nelson, paused. Nelson’s gang, who had turned their gazes first, gasped. Koi clearly saw everyone’s faces, including Nelson’s, turn pale. Could it be, Koi wondered with a mixture of hope and doubt, and finally turned his head.

There’s no way.

But no matter how many times he blinked, it didn’t change. Ashley Miller was standing in the line ahead, waving at him. In his wide-open vision, he saw Ashley saying something to the friends he was standing with and turning around.

Everyone stood still, but only Ashley strode towards them. The sight was so out of place that Koi felt like it was a scene from a deliberately staged movie.

No one moved. Until Ashley stopped in front of Koi and Nelson. And everyone watched, holding their breath, as Ashley raised his hand. Koi also stared blankly, as if possessed, as Ashley smiled and spoke.

“What are you doing? Come on, lunchtime is short.”

Ashley said that and grabbed Nelson’s wrist, who was holding Koi by the collar. Ashley, still smiling, turned to Nelson and said.

“You need to eat quickly to prepare for the next class, right?”

It was a remark to Koi, but his eyes were on Nelson. Ashley didn’t lose his smile, but Nelson was sufficiently intimidated.

The hand holding Koi’s collar loosened, and soon Nelson hesitated and backed away. Koi watched as he looked at Ashley with his eyes darting back and forth, then hurriedly turned around and ran away. His gang also hurriedly followed him. The children who had been silent until then began to whisper and giggle.

Koi couldn’t believe that the situation had ended so absurdly. Ashley hadn’t cursed or thrown a punch. He had only said a few words and grabbed his wrist, and he ran away? Nelson did?

Still with a dazed face, he looked up and Ashley was also looking down at him. Koi’s cheeks suddenly flushed at the smiling face he always saw.

“T-thank you.”

As he stammered, Ashley tilted his head to one side as if it was nothing. In fact, it really wasn’t a big deal. He had only walked a few steps and said a few words.

But Ashley Miller would never know how amazing that was to Koi. The fact that someone had stepped in to help him in this situation, and that it was none other than Ashley Miller, was the amazing thing. Koi couldn’t believe that this superstar had helped a commoner like him.

Could this all be a dream?

He confidently slapped his cheek hard. The sound of a smack rang out, and he hurriedly rubbed his tingling cheek, while Ashley’s eyes widened in surprise.

“What are you doing?”

“Ah, no. It’s nothing.”

He shook his head, still unable to believe it was real, when something even more amazing happened. Ashley pointed behind his shoulder with his thumb and said.

“Let’s go, lunchtime will be over.”

“Huh? Me?”

Confused, he asked, and Ashley, who had turned around first, smiled like sunshine again.

“Of course, you, Corner Niles.”

Koi blinked and hurriedly chased after Ashley. He ran to catch up with his large strides, but his mind was still blank.

Ashley took my side, saved me, and even said let’s eat lunch together. Ashley Miller, to me.

And this time, he even called my name correctly.

That wasn’t all. Ashley’s friends, who were waiting, greeted Koi and Ashley as they returned as if it were nothing.

“Hi.”

“Hi!”

They waved lightly or nodded, and naturally continued the conversation. Koi couldn’t believe that he was part of the six-member ice hockey team. He, who had always eaten alone, was standing with the six most popular people in school, could anyone even imagine that this was really happening?

If an angel had appeared before he went to bed last night and told him that this would happen, Koi would have definitely thought he was a demon, not an angel. Otherwise, how could such a fraudulent thing happen?

Being surrounded by six guys who were about the same size as Ashley or slightly smaller, the outside world was completely invisible and even the shadows above his head were dark, but he didn’t care. I don’t even need to see sunlight for the rest of my life! Koi thought happily.

“Stand in front, Koi.”

While he was feeling dazed, Ashley gently pushed Koi forward. Knowing that he was the first in the group to receive lunch, Koi was surprised once again.

Is today my birthday?

Maybe I’ll die tomorrow. Seeing as I’ve used up all my luck in my life like this, maybe the Grim Reaper felt sorry for him and gave him a day of good things.

Anyway, it didn’t matter. Koi felt excited, as if he was having a very good dream. He didn’t even feel his feet touching the ground. And the six of them naturally surrounded Koi and sat at the same table. He couldn’t possibly join in the conversation they were having, so he just perked up his ears and rolled his eyes, but he was still so happy.

The six of them laughed loudly and continued to change the subject and chatter. Having friends is such a fun thing. Koi thought, blushing and listening intently.

“I can’t understand it at all.”

One of them grumbled, saying that Father had scolded him a lot the day before because of his grades.

“Babies, they only get praised for eating and sleeping, right? My sister’s baby is like that, he just lies down and poops, but everyone says he’s doing well and they like him.”

Haa, he sighed deeply and complained.

“I want to go back to that time.”

Koi almost spat out the vegetable juice he was drinking at the other guy’s words, which he blurted out as if it were nothing. What was surprising was that no one showed such a violent reaction as he did. As if this kind of conversation happened often. The guy who spoke first asked seriously.

“Why aren’t you getting angry now?”

Ashley, holding a sandwich in his hand, replied.

“You have to think about the audience who have been watching the same performance for over 10 years. And the admission fee keeps going up.”

Unlike Koi, who almost spat out again, the other guys nodded as if they agreed without any fuss. The guy who spoke first protested, feeling wronged.

“You’re really bad.”

It was hard to hold back any longer. Koi’s face turned red as he struggled to suppress his laughter. Just then, one of the gang members saw him and blinked.

“What’s that on you?”

Suddenly, everyone’s attention was focused at once. Koi, who had been holding his breath to barely suppress his laughter, was flustered by the sudden attention and looked around.

“Huh? Me?”

He barely managed to ask in a trembling voice, and the guy who started it all nodded.

“Your ears are moving. How do you do that? Wow, I’ve never seen that before.”

The moment he heard those words, Koi turned pale and quickly grabbed his ears. What do I do! He panicked, but the other guys had already started shouting loudly here and there.

“What? Your ears are moving?”

“Where, where?”

“You can move your ears?”