Chapter 14
Even before sharing lunch, the fifth graders hadn’t been on particularly bad terms.
Of course, while not unfriendly, they could hardly be called close—children would just say what they needed to say and leave.
As if the first day’s lunch was an exceptional case, in the afternoon classes, Espers and Guides were completely separated.
I don’t think it was my imagination that even the Espers seemed awkward with each other.
“Are they usually this quiet with each other?”
Wondering about this, I asked Yoon Cheong.
Yoon Cheong nodded, as if this wasn’t something he’d just seen for a day or two.
They only spoke when necessary, and they were cautious with each other even during guiding.
I could clearly see how they kept their distance from each other.
“Were they like this from the beginning?”
“Yeah. It’s not particularly uncomfortable.”
Even when attending school outside, Yoon Cheong didn’t talk much with others to begin with.
He would naturally answer when adults asked questions, but with classmates, he would just respond when they approached him.
Since I sat next to him, Yoon Cheong paid attention to me, and I also deliberately engaged with him because I knew what he would become in the future.
You might not sense anything strange since you prefer being quiet, but I do, you little Esper kid.
Though you’re bigger than me now.
They approach using names as if they’re close, but I can see it.
I can see how they carefully contain their power before approaching.
If even Espers do this with each other, how much more cautious must they be when approaching Guides?
Somehow, it made sense why those who approached with smiles would still carefully hold hands during guiding.
After the regression, I hadn’t mingled much with other classmates because I was busy looking after Yoon Cheong and Ji Yeohoon, but I still prided myself on maintaining decent relationships.
I played with them, and I was popular enough to receive cheers during sports festivals.
It means I was moderately popular in the class, enough to borrow supplies from anyone when I forgot mine.
Of course, having Yoon Cheong as my seatmate was a big reason.
He was popular, but since Yoon Cheong didn’t talk much, people would relay messages for him through me.
It happened because there was an Esper among regular people.
But at School 3, where there were only Espers and Guides, Yoon Cheong was no longer a special case.
“I’ll have to do something for these kids’ social skills.”
“…Huh?”
“Help me, Yoon Cheong.”
“…What are you planning to do?”
If they’re awkward, I need to help them overcome it.
After observing for about two days, I found the answer.
As newly manifested kids kept transferring in, the class grew bigger before they could become friends.
It might be fine if all the kids were outgoing, but these are fifth graders who are only physically big, and they probably became more withdrawn after hearing cautionary advice about their abilities before entering.
Eventually, they developed habits of maintaining their own space, swept along by the awkward atmosphere of the class.
At least Yoon Seong-jin was preoccupied with the food I gave him, and Yoo Ji-ae approached me for guiding.
Except for these two, everyone seemed to have similar levels of social skills.
Kids should grow up acting like kids.
Having watched Yoon Cheong and Ji Yeohoon since first grade, I couldn’t just stand by and watch.
“Let me see what the problem is. Can you go see what they’re doing over there?”
“The group of kids?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll go check.”
They spent extremely little time together.
This was true for both Espers and Guides.
After sending Yoon Cheong, I contemplated how to bring them together.
If I had known it would be like this, I would have audited some early childhood education classes.
Yoon Cheong returned and reported that the groups of Espers were all doing different things.
One group was silently using their phones individually, while another was discussing the dinner menu for tonight.
The Guides were also each doing their own tasks separately.
When asked if the afternoon classes always went like this, Yoon Cheong nodded.
“They don’t do anything together?”
“No. Sometimes they watch each other manifest their abilities, and if someone’s condition deteriorates, they ask for guiding over there.”
Since they only communicated out of necessity, they didn’t feel the need to become friends by learning what each other liked or wanted.
I was convinced this wasn’t a phenomenon limited to our class.
Since no one noticed anything strange, the teachers probably just let the children keep their distance from each other.
To get along well, you need to argue sometimes, clash sometimes, and sweat together.
* * *
The next day, from the morning, I prepared neatly folded papers in a box for drawing.
“What’s this?”
“Just draw one and look at it secretly.”
I considered doing a Secret Santa activity, but couldn’t assign it to children whose range of movement was limited to the dormitory, classroom, playground, and cafeteria.
It was the result of thinking that if getting to know each other was too difficult, I should at least make them clash.
“People with an O mark are police.”
“…?”
Seeing their confused expressions, I smiled somewhat wickedly.
Let’s start the game.
Looking around at the children who were turning their heads in confusion, I stood in front of the teacher’s desk and explained.
“If there’s nothing written, you’re a citizen. X marks are thieves. The time limit is until the end of today’s afternoon classes. The police and thieves must attract as many citizens to their side as possible. If the police catch a thief and vote for the thief, the thief can’t vote. Conversely, if a thief catches a police officer, the police can’t vote. You should try to hide your identity, right?”
After the afternoon classes, if there are more votes with police names, the police team gets snacks; if there are more thief votes, the thief team gets snacks.
And citizens, who make up the majority, can write two votes.
However, citizens must choose which side they’ll stand on at the end.
Even if you’re a citizen, if you end up on the losing team, you have to bring snacks.
As soon as they roughly understood the game rules, the children began eyeing each other suspiciously.
I wasn’t without concerns about whether they would follow along with me, having just transferred, but fortunately, they all seemed interested when I called it a game. Yoon Cheong also played along.
The children, absorbed in the game and snacks, began approaching each other urgently to form their teams.
Kids should become friends through play, of course.
“…But no matter who loses, everyone gets snacks, right?”
“That’s right.”
“The snacks will be requested from the school anyway.”
I nodded at Yoon Cheong’s remark.
Regardless of who won, the aim was to make them talk to each other and have conversations.
All the students in the class drew papers and started talking, eyeing each other suspiciously as if trying to figure out who was who.
I wondered what I should do and glanced at my paper.
Holding a blank paper with nothing written on it, I stepped into the crowd of students.
Perhaps because I had them draw papers, they seemed to think I was either police or a thief.
Since the game’s goal was just to get them to talk to each other, the rules were somewhat loose.
But the children who had never played such a game before found even these loose rules fun, laughing as they asked each other, “You’re not the police, right?” “You’re not a thief, right?”
“You’re not, right?”
“I’m not.”
“What are you not?”
“I wonder?”
Yoon Cheong tried to test me, but I shook my head, pretending not to know.
I didn’t lie.
He asked if I was not, and I answered that I was not.
I turned my head to check on the students.
Fortunately, they remembered each other’s names, and whether triggered by the forced game or not, some Espers and Guides mixed together and ate lunch together.
Maybe we should try more games or activities like this?
I spent the whole time searching on my phone for games that multiple people could play.
Throughout, not just Yoon Cheong but other students also approached me to check if I was police or a thief, and I firmly answered that I was neither.
Since they were still elementary school kids, they tried to confirm honestly rather than using their brains, so I already knew who was police and who was thieves.
The problem was that I couldn’t properly match the children’s names and faces.
I’m not the type of person who can memorize children’s names in just one day.
The outcome was decided after the afternoon classes.
Surprisingly, the thieves found the police and blocked their votes, and among the citizens, some sided with the thieves and gave votes to the police students.
“Ah, that’s unfair.”
“Bring something delicious for snacks.”
“You already knew, didn’t you?”
“No?”
Yoon Cheong was a police officer and couldn’t receive votes because he was caught by a thief.
The root of the problem was that he thought I was a thief and tried to catch me.
The next day after the game ended, the children appeared with their desired snacks, a bit awkwardly.
Some brought cookies, some drinks. Some brought bread, and others came with fruit.
“Yoo Ji-ae, so you like meat.”
“Yeah. It’s delicious.”
“Yoon Seong-jin? What’s this?”
“Jelly!”
“I know what it is, but did you bring this much?”
“Isn’t it not enough? We have a lot of people~”
Some even brought meals instead of snacks, but they got to know each other’s tastes and preferences, finding it fascinating and laughing together.
“What should we do this afternoon?”
“Do you have another game?”
The class children’s eyes sparkled, perhaps finding the previous day’s game enjoyable.
They were talking now, but thinking that kids should run around and play, I nodded.
“How about dodgeball?”
“Dodgeball? But that’s hard for Guides.”
“Espers can use only half their strength. And no using abilities.”
We can’t exclude Guides, and we can’t just have Espers play among themselves.
You need to become friends to develop fondness for each other, and that makes guiding better too.
When we started dodgeball, the Esper children who initially threw the ball very weakly seemed to get a sense of how much force Guides could withstand, and later threw quite powerful balls too.
“Espers are really good at physical activities.”
“Moon Soo-young, you didn’t get hit by an Esper’s ball, did you?”
“…Shut up, Yoon Cheong.”
Getting hit by a Guide’s ball—how mortifying.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
