Lick Me Up If You Can Novel (Completed) - Chapter 11

“Haaah.”

As soon as lunchtime arrived, Koi, who had rushed to the cafeteria, let out a deep sigh at the sight of the already long queue. After lunch, chemistry class awaited him. It was in the furthest building from the cafeteria, so he had to hurry.

Fortunately, the line moved quickly. In an instant, a queue formed behind Koi as well. He was moving forward step by step, waiting for his turn, when suddenly, someone smacked him hard on the back of his head.

“Ah!”

Koi instinctively screamed and almost stumbled forward but barely managed to regain his balance. Who was it? He turned around in a panic and froze in shock. The gang he had been diligently avoiding for half the day stood glaring at him. To be precise, only Nelson was glaring; his cronies were grinning, watching with intrigued expressions.

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

Nelson gnashed his teeth and spat out the words. The surrounding students glanced over and backed away. No one wanted to get involved in an unnecessary fight and suffer a terrible fate. He had experienced and known this enough times, but every time it happened, Koi felt an overwhelming sense of loneliness.

Could truly realizing he was utterly alone ever be an experience one could get used to? Pain never became familiar. Neither did emotional wounds. But Koi knew. This emotional pain would follow him until he died.

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

“Koi!”

Someone called his name. Both Koi and Nelson flinched. Nelson’s gang, who had looked first, gasped. Following them, Koi clearly saw everyone’s faces, including Nelson’s, turn pale and stiff. No way, Koi, who had turned his head last, half in doubt, opened his eyes wide.

It couldn’t be.

But no matter how many times he blinked, nothing changed. Ashley Miller stood in the front of the line, waving at him. In his wide field of vision, he saw Ashley say something to his friends standing with him and turn around.

Everyone stood still, but only Ashley strode towards them. The sight was so alien that Koi felt as if it were a scene from a movie, deliberately staged.

No one moved. Until Ashley stopped in front of Koi and Nelson. And everyone held their breath, watching Ashley raise his hand. Koi, too, watched, mesmerized and lost in thought, when Ashley smiled and spoke.

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

After saying that, Ashley grabbed Nelson’s wrist, which was holding Koi’s collar. Ashley, still smiling at Nelson, said,

“You need to eat quickly to prepare for the next class, don’t you think?”

He was speaking to Koi, but his eyes were fixed on Nelson. Ashley didn’t lose his smile, but Nelson was thoroughly intimidated.

The hand gripping Koi’s collar loosened, and soon Nelson stumbled back. Koi watched him retreat, his eyes darting back and forth as he looked at Ashley, then quickly turn and flee as if running away. His gang also hastily followed. The students, who had been silent until then, began to whisper and giggle.

Koi couldn’t believe the situation had ended so absurdly. Ashley hadn’t sworn or thrown a punch. He had just said a few words and grabbed a wrist, and Nelson had run away? That Nelson?

Still dazed, he looked up, and Ashley also looked down at him. At the always-smiling face, Koi’s cheeks suddenly flushed.

“Th-thank you.”

When he stammered, Ashley simply tilted his head as if it was nothing. In fact, it really was nothing. He had just walked a few steps and said a few words, that was all.

But Ashley Miller would never know how tremendous that was for Koi. That someone had stepped forward to help him in such a situation, and that it was none other than Ashley Miller, was extraordinary. Koi couldn’t believe that this big star had helped a commoner like himself.

Could this all be a dream?

He confidently slapped his cheek hard. Smack, a sound rang out, and as he hastily rubbed his stinging cheek, Ashley’s eyes widened in surprise.

“What are you doing?”

“Oh, no. Nothing.”

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

“Let’s go, lunchtime will be over soon.”

“Huh? Me?”

When he asked in confusion, Ashley, who had already turned, smiled like sunshine again.

“Of course, you, Connor Niles.”

Koi blinked, then hastily followed Ashley. He almost ran to keep up with Ashley’s long strides, his mind still blank.

Ashley took my side, saved me, and even asked me to eat lunch with him. Ashley Miller, to me.

And this time, he even called my name correctly.

That wasn’t all. Ashley’s friends, who had been waiting, casually greeted Ashley and Koi when they returned.

“Hi.”

“Hi!”

Waving lightly or nodding their heads in greeting, they naturally continued their conversation. Koi couldn’t believe he was among the six members of the ice hockey team. That he, who always ate alone, was now standing with the six most popular people in school—who could have imagined this was real?

If an angel had appeared last night before he fell asleep and told him this would happen, Koi would surely have thought he was a devil, not an angel. How else could such a fraudulent thing happen?

Surrounded by six figures similar to or slightly smaller than Ashley, the outside world was completely invisible, and even a thick shadow fell over his head, but it didn’t matter. He wouldn’t mind never seeing sunlight for the rest of his life! Koi thought happily.

“Go to the front, Koi.”

While he was still dazed, Ashley subtly pushed Koi forward. Koi was surprised again to realize he was the first among the group to get his lunch.

Was today my birthday?

Maybe he will die tomorrow. Seeing as he had used up all his luck in his life like this, perhaps the Grim Reaper felt sorry for him and gave him a day full of good things.

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

The six laughed boisterously, constantly changing topics and chattering away. Having friends was enjoyable. Koi thought, blushing, and listened intently.

“I just don’t understand.”

One of them grumbled, saying he had been scolded terribly by his father the day before because of his grades.

“Babies, you know, they get praised just for eating and sleeping? Even my sister’s baby, he just lies there and poops, and everyone says he’s doing great and loves him.”

Haaah, he let out a deep sigh and complained.

“I want to go back to that time.”

“It’s not much different from now, is it?”

At the casual remark from another guy, Koi almost spat out the vegetable juice he was drinking. What was surprising was that no one else reacted as strongly as he did. It was as if this kind of conversation was common. The first guy asked seriously,

“Why do they get angry now?”

Ashley, with a sandwich in his hand, replied.

“You have to consider the audience’s perspective, watching the same show for over 10 years. Besides, the admission fee keeps going up.”

Unlike Koi, who almost spat again, the others nodded as if it made perfect sense. The guy who had spoken first protested, feeling wronged.

“You’re really mean.”

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

“What’s that on you?”

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

“Huh? Me?”

When he managed to ask in a trembling voice, the guy who started it all nodded, saying, “Yeah.”

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

The moment he heard that, Koi’s face turned pale, and he hastily clutched his ears. Oh no! He fell into a panic, but the other guys had already started shouting loudly from all directions.

“What? Your ears move?”

“Where, where?”

“Can you move your ears?”