As the girl walked down the classroom corridor, boys kept turning their heads toward her. Her skin was pale and rosy, her hair as black as her pupils, and whether it was her face, figure, or presence, everything about her resembled some supernatural creature from another world. The girl placed a hand over the face of someone staring directly at her and tightened all five fingers. “Never seen a woman before? Where is he?” She didn’t need to say a name. Everyone knew who he was.
The person whose face she was gripping couldn’t speak and could only point toward a classroom. The girl shoved him against the wall and entered. With one glance, she found the person sitting in the farthest corner. He was alone there, while the other students’ seats were positioned much farther away. The space around him was unnaturally quiet.
The girl planted one foot against a desk and kicked it toward him. Just before it struck his chest, the boy blocked it with the book in his hand. He never raised his head. His eyes remained on the page.
“Did you throw away all my skirts?”
“Mm. I did.” The class bell rang at that moment. The boy kicked the desk back into place. “You know what you wanted to know. Go back to your classroom.” The girl kicked the desk toward him again. “You threw away the skirts I just bought too. You think that settles it?” The girl leaned over the desk and ran one finger upward from his Adam’s apple to his chin, staring at a handsome face so tempting it made her want to bite it. “Did you really throw my skirts away? Or did you take them for some other purpose? Don’t tell me you have some perverted hobby you haven’t told me about. That’s no good. Aren’t husband and wife supposed to be honest with each other?”
“Um… class has already started.” The teacher’s weak voice sounded. One was the school’s most savage student council president, while the other was the son of a school board member. He genuinely couldn’t summon the authority a teacher ought to have. The girl straightened. “Teacher, I need to deal with something. You don’t mind if I delay you for a few minutes, do you?” The boy stood too, pushed open the window beside him, lifted the girl horizontally into his arms, and threw her straight outside. “It’s dealt with. You can start class.”
“O-Okay.”
Although it was only the first floor, landing directly on one’s backside still hurt. The girl got up and glanced toward the classroom before deciding to find another time. Before leaving, she pressed her fingernails against the window. The boy glanced over and raised a hand to his right ear, but as her nails dragged across the glass, the piercing sound still made him frown slightly. The girl pressed a kiss against the windowpane and left.
Night quietly lowered its black curtain. The girl was about to leave the student council president’s office when she noticed light on the field through the window. From where she stood, she could only see the glow and nothing else. Carrying several new skirts she had bought that day, she went downstairs. This time, she needed to put them somewhere safer.
Whether out of responsibility as student council president or simply because she had nothing else to do, the girl went to the field before returning to her dorm. The light came from candles. A girl stood shyly inside a heart formed from candles while the person opposite her held flowers. In those days, candles and flowers already counted as extremely romantic. The girl reached into the front of her clothes, pulled out a cigarette, and placed it between her lips. The sound of her lighter startled the couple, who both turned toward her nervously. “President, we’ll clean everything up right away.”
The girl kept flicking the lighter, but it stubbornly produced only sparks and refused to catch. She threw it away and waved the hand holding her cigarette. “Carry on. Just lend me some fire first.”
“P-Please, use whatever you want. I think we’d better leave first.” The couple hurried away.
The girl crouched down, picked up one of the candles, and lit her cigarette. She raised her face toward the moon and breathed smoke into the air, blurring the moon behind it. Candlelight swayed and flickered around her breathtaking face. The night breeze felt so comfortable that she didn’t want to move, so she placed the bag containing her skirts beneath her backside as a cushion and sat cross-legged. Supporting herself with one hand behind her, she quietly watched the candlelight. She suddenly wanted to see that person. Her cigarette was nearly burned out when she heard footsteps. Turning her head, she saw someone approaching. She didn’t need light. His silhouette alone was enough for her to know who it was. As the boy came closer, he kicked away one of the candles beneath his feet, destroying the shape of the heart.
“You can even find me like this.” The girl flicked away the cigarette butt. The boy crouched beside her. The girl continued, “Perfect. I still haven’t finished talking about the skirts—” The boy abruptly kissed her, domineering and rough. Her hand caught the back of his neck while his arm wrapped around her waist. The fierce kiss lasted an entire minute before finally ending. The boy hoisted the girl up and stared at the bag on the ground. “What’s that?”
“New skirts.”
The boy loosened his hold, and the girl jumped down from him. She folded her arms. “What are you trying to say? I look terrible in skirts?”
He didn’t answer the question. “Just remember that you’re not allowed to wear them.”
“I refuse.”
“I reject your refusal.”
“My body belongs to me.” She rose onto her toes, leaned over his left shoulder, and whispered, “Trying to control too much won’t do you any good.”
“Then you’re mistaken. Your body belongs to me.”
“I lost to you last time and ended up marrying you. If you lose this time, what are you going to contribute to me?”
“I’m more interested in knowing what you still have left to lose to me.”
The girl thought for a moment, then seemed to come up with an excellent idea. “If I lose this time, how about we find somewhere on the field and do it? Maybe I’ll even get pregnant with your child.” Her tone made it sound like nothing more than teasing. He glanced at her without answering and moved one foot toward the bag on the ground, intending to kick it into the candles. The girl’s leg intercepted his first. “If you don’t tell me why, I’ll just keep buying more.”
“Why? Why don’t you ask those legs of yours?” His hand slid along her leg. “They’ve been getting more and more restless lately. Which man other than me are you trying to let see the scenery underneath?”
“I know what I’m doing.”
The pressure of the boy’s hand increased. “You know what you’re doing? I caught you flashing people three times just last week. Throwing away your skirts is barely even punishment. You shouldn’t have anything to complain about.”
The girl placed her hand over the back of his, threading her fingers through his. “What am I supposed to do? Your possessiveness is making my heart race.” She wrapped her arms around him. He kissed the corner of her eye. “Every bit of that scenery belongs to me. Nobody else gets to see it.”
The girl lightly kicked backward. The bag rolled toward the candles and slowly began to burn.
“Can’t you just behave yourself and say you love me very much?” The smile at the corner of her lips was steeped in moonlight.
“Don’t push your luck.” The expression on his face murdered the night.
The fire grew brighter and brighter, swaying more wildly. Their shadows merged together across the ground, like monsters and demons.
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