Chapter Text
To Yuha, Juun was the most hopelessly dense person in the world. And if she could add words to describe how foolish Juun was, oh… she would.
She was convinced she had made her interest painfully obvious by now. She had practically painted a giant sign over her head that said I LIKE YOU, and yet Juun had never once treated her like she was actually special.
The worst part was that they had known each other for so long that Yuha wasn't even sure when things had gotten this complicated.
She had known Juun since they were little. Back then, Juun had been the quiet, timid kid who would shrink into herself whenever she met someone new. She hated being left alone in unfamiliar places, so Yuha had always stayed beside her. She was the one who introduced her to other kids, dragged her into games, and made sure she didn't spend every school event hiding behind her.
And somehow, somewhere along the way, Juun had changed.
By the time they reached high school, she had become much more confident. She had her own friends now, her own circle, and even the courage to explore places without Yuha tagging along.
She supposed she should have been proud. Well, she was. Although sometimes she missed being the person Juun always needed.
Yuha was one year ahead of her, so when Juun became a freshman at the same high school, she had initially worried about whether Juun would be able to adjust. Thankfully, it didn't take her long. Within a few weeks, she already seemed perfectly comfortable in her new environment. Or Ana took the biggest role making Juun feel comfortable…
Their families were close, too.
Because Yuha and Juun had grown up together, their parents trusted each other enough that neither of them had any problem with the two of them going home together. It had become such a routine that nobody even questioned it anymore.
Every afternoon, they would leave school together.
Sometimes they would stop somewhere for snacks. Or they would argue over what to eat. Or Yuha would complain about her teachers while Juun listened.
Then, at the same intersection near their neighborhood, they would split up. Yuha would take one road. Juun would take the other. It had been like that for years.
And apparently, that was exactly the problem.
Because Juun was so used to having Yuha around that she had never once stopped to consider what Yuha actually meant to her.
And because Yuha talked about Juun so often, Stella had eventually become friends with her too. Not because Juun had particularly sought her out. Mostly because Stella felt like she already knew Juun from hearing Yuha talk about her every single day.
At this point, Stella was practically an unwilling expert on the subject. So, naturally, she was the first person Yuha went to when she needed to complain.
It was lunch break.
Yuha was sitting across from Stella in their classroom, glaring at her food. Stella watched her for a few seconds before finally asking, "So? Any progress?"
Yuha slowly looked up.
"What do you think?"
The sarcasm in her voice was enough to make Stella wince.
Right.
Of course there was no progress. A person's level of stupidity wasn't going to magically disappear overnight.
Yuha sighed and leaned back in her chair. "I swear, Juun is impossible."
"How impossible?"
"Completely."
"Give me examples."
Yuha didn't even need to think. "She does everything I tell her to do."
Stella raised an eyebrow. "Isn’t that… supposed to be a good thing?"
"Not when she doesn't realize why I'm asking."
Yuha started counting on her fingers. One.
"If I tell her to carry my bag, she carries it."
"Okay."
Two.
"If I ask her to come with me to the convenience store late at night, she'll actually come pick me up so we can go together."
Stella nodded slowly.
"Okay..."
Three.
"If I'm angry, she somehow knows exactly how to calm me down."
"Wow, that’s pretty-"
"And when I'm sulking, she knows how to make me stop."
Stella paused.
"That's actually-"
Four.
"And there was this one time I pretended to fall asleep on her shoulder."
"She didn't move." Yuha continued.
"At all?"
"Nope."
"Why?"
"Because she didn't want to wake me up."
Stella stared at her.
Yuha stared back.
For a moment, neither of them said anything.
Then Yuha threw her hands up.
"See?!"
Stella flinched. "See what?"
"How can she not realize I like her?!" Yuha nearly shouted the last part. Fortunately, there weren't many people in the classroom during lunch break, and the few who were there were too busy with their own conversations to pay much attention.
Yuha lowered her voice again, but her frustration didn't disappear.
"I'm practically chasing her at this point."
Stella couldn't help feeling sorry for her best friend.
She had watched Yuha's crush develop for long enough to know this wasn't some passing interest. Yuha genuinely liked Juun.
The problem was that Juun seemed perfectly content living in a world where Yuha's affection could be explained away as nothing more than childhood familiarity.
Stella tapped her fingers against the desk, thinking. "What if I try to sound her out?"
"I mean, I'll ask her some questions after school. Try to figure out what she actually thinks about you."
Yuha narrowed her eyes.
"You think that'll work?"
"Maybe...?" Stella shrugged.
"She might not look like she's noticed anything, but maybe she's actually hiding it. Maybe she likes you too."
Yuha nodded several times, hoping that it would be the case. And finally, a tiny spark of hope appeared in her eyes.
"Okay." She leaned closer. "Try it."
Then she sighed dramatically and dropped her forehead onto the desk. "Please. I'm exhausted. Help me."
Stella laughed. "Fine. I'll interrogate your girlfriend for you."
"She's not my girlfriend… yet. That's why I'm asking you to help me."
Stella grinned.
"Leave it to me."
Good news, Stella was about to discover something very important about Juun.
Bad news, it wasn't what either of them expected.
After spending half of lunch complaining about how hopelessly dense Juun was, Yuha had finally come up with another excuse to spend time with her.
She was going to ask Juun to walk her home again. Which meant Stella had a new mission.
To find Juun. Then, ask a few innocent questions. Lastly, figure out what was going on inside that girl's head.
And, if possible, push her in the right direction.
For the sake of her best friend, Stella went outside her class earlier to stand by near Juun’s class. And when the final bell rang, Stella spotted Juun standing outside her classroom. Perfect.
She immediately walked over, deliberately making it look like they had just happened to cross paths.
"Oh, Juun?"
Juun turned around.
Her expression brightened when she saw Stella. "Hi, Stella unnie."
"Perfect timing. You're heading home already?"
Juun nodded. "Yeah. But Yuha unnie asked me to accompany her, so I'm going to pick her up from her classroom."
Stella's eyes lit up. There it is. She could practically see the fishing rod materializing in her hands. She had bait. Now she just needed Juun to bite.
"Awwwww, look at you," Stella teased. "You're even going all the way to her classroom to pick her up? You know, you could've just met her at the school gate."
She waited. Like fishing, which requires patience and good timing, Stella was doing just that, waiting for Juun to respond.
Because surely, that was enough.
Juun blinked, like a realisation came to her. And her expression brightened as if Stella had just given her an extremely useful piece of information.
"Ah..." She nodded.
"You're right."
Stella tilted her head, "I’m… right?"
"Yeah. I should just ask her to meet me at the gate."
Juun immediately pulled out her phone. Stella's hand shot out and smacked the back of it. "No!"
"Eh?" Juun startled.
"N-no, I mean..." Stella forced a laugh, desperately trying to recover from her own terrible idea.
"Just pick her up from her classroom. You know... it's nicer."
Juun stared at her for a second, then slowly nodded. "Okay."
"See? Problem solved."
That was close.
She had almost accidentally ruined Yuha's entire plan.
"Come on," Stella continued quickly. "You can walk with me to my classroom. Yuha's there anyway."
Juun nodded and followed. They had only walked a few steps when Juun suddenly spoke. "Stella unnie."
"Hm?"
"Has Yuha unnie told you anything lately?"
Stella stopped herself from turning too quickly. Her heart gave a little jump. Oh. So this was what Juun wanted to ask about. Maybe Yuha had finally gotten through to her. Maybe Juun had started noticing!!
"What kind of thing?" Stella asked, keeping her voice casual.
Juun looked uncertain, as if she wasn't sure whether she should bring it up.
"Recently..." She paused. "I feel like Yuha unnie has been acting strange."
Stella's eyes widened.
YES.
She had noticed.
She had actually noticed.
Finally.
Stella kept a poker face, but inside, no one knew how loud and messy it was.
"Strange how?"
Juun started counting on her fingers.
Stella immediately noticed. She almost stopped walking.
That habit...
She glanced down at Juun's hand.
One finger.
Then another.
Stella internally screamed.
Oh my God! These two really are the same.
Apparently, Yuha had passed down her habit of counting things to Juun simply by spending too much time around her.
Juun continued, completely unaware of Stella's internal crisis.
"She keeps asking me to carry her bag."
One finger.
"And she asks me to walk her home."
Two.
"Sometimes she insists that I walk her all the way to her house before I'm allowed to go home."
Three.
"And whenever she wants to go to the convenience store, she asks me to go with her."
Four.
Stella's expression was practically covered in subtitles.
YES.
YES.
THAT'S IT.
THOSE ARE ALL THINGS YUHA DOES BECAUSE SHE LIKES YOU.
She had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from grinning.
Juun was finally noticing.
Finally.
After years of Yuha practically throwing herself at her, Juun was finally beginning to wonder why Yuha always wanted to be around her.
Stella could already picture the confession. Yuha would finally get the person she had been hopelessly chasing. She was so proud of herself. This was going perfectly.
Juun suddenly stopped counting. She looked at Stella.
"Stella unnie..."
"Yeah?"
"Do you think..."
She hesitated.
Stella leaned closer.
"Do I think what?"
Juun frowned slightly. Her expression was genuinely worried now.
"Do you think Yuha unnie has a stalker?"
Stella stopped walking.
...
"A stalker." Stella repeated, she couldn’t even believe she said it out loud.
But Juun nodded several times, dead serious. She had simply taken every single obvious romantic gesture Yuha had made... and interpreted it as a potential public safety concern.
"Stella unnie?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think I should tell her to be more careful?"
Stella smiled. If you want to know, it was the smile of someone who had reached the absolute limit of human patience.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because..."
Stella took a deep breath. "...I think you should just keep accompanying her."
"Okay."
"And pick her up from class."
"Okay."
"Walk her home."
"Okay."
"Go to the convenience store with her."
"Okay."
Stella smiled sweetly.
"Just keep doing everything you're already doing."
Juun nodded again.
"Got it."
She seemed relieved. Stella, meanwhile, looked toward the classroom where Yuha was waiting. She could already imagine the conversation.
Yuha, your crush isn't dense.
She's just an idiot.