Kyungsoo shaded his eyes from the sun as he and Yuwon stepped out onto the school grassfield. A line had been made in the grass, and targets had been set up in the distance for the archers. The archery team hadn't taken their places at the line, so Kyungsoo assumed that they still had some time before practice.

Yuwon had invited him to watch her practice, lamenting that they didn't spend enough time together, but Kyungsoo knew that she was nervous for her upcoming competition. Jongdae had track practice and couldn't make it, so he took it upon himself to be her moral support for this practice. 

Greeting her archery teammates, Yuwon lead them to an empty lane and set her bow and quiver down. Kyungsoo dropped the arrows that he had been holding inside the cylinder and squinted down across the field. The targets looked like puddles of colorful playing dough from where he stood.

"How do you see so far? They're so blurry."

"Sight is part of it, but if you really know what you're doing, then you could shoot a bulleye without a clear shot."

"Yeah, I'm not a superhuman, so I think I'll pass."

She chuckled and scanned the range before picking up her bow, an arrow, and pulling Kyungsoo forward. She stopped at the lane of another archer with light brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, and Kyungsoo thought that this person looked familiar.

"Seungwan-shi!"

Kyungsoo froze at that name. He knew that the mall worker who had started insulting him and his friends had gone to his school, but he hadn't known that she was on the same archery team as Yuwon, and he definitely hadn't expected to run into her here with Yuwon. He could tell that she froze upon seeing him too. She clenched her bow harder and didn't turn to look at Yuwon right away, her eyes trained onto Kyungsoo.

"Seungwan-shi, do you mind if I let Kyungsoo try a shot? I want to show him the basics, and this target is a bit closer than the others."

She looked from Kyungsoo to Yuwon, nothing betraying her emotions, though he saw that the dark circles hadn't lessened from under her eyes.

"Sure. I'm done cleaning it."

"Thanks! Okay, Kyungsoo, stand with one foot on the line."

He let Yuwon nudge him forward. As Yuwon fitted a bow and arrow in his hands and started explaining how to shoot it, he only half-listened because his mind raced with questions and thoughts. At the mall, Seungwan had come up to him, piling onto the rumors that crept at his heels, but would she do the same in front of Yuwon? Even with Yuwon here, Kyungsoo made a tempting target. To insult and bash and demean someone became all the more entertaining under the thrill of sneaking secrecy. How far would she push? How far was she willing to satisfy her reason this time?

He stole a glance towards her and found her gone. He looked behind him and saw her walking back to an umbrella stuck into the ground, covering a small cooler.  Was she not going to try today? Maybe his secret was safe for now?

"Got that, Kyungsoo?"

He turned back around to Yuwon, feeling a little guilty that he hadn't listened.

"Can you repeat that?"

"Aim with your eyes, ready your bow, draw the string back, close your right eye, aim again, and paint your face. Got it?"

"Uh..."

"Great. Now shoot it!" She stood back and pulled out her phone, pointing it at him. "I'm going to record your first ever arrow, and Jongdae's going to eat it!"

Kyungsoo chuckled and looked back at the target looming in the distance. He had to at least try. Squinting a little, he followed the steps as best as he could recall and let the arrow fly. It sank into the edge of the second outer ring, nowhere close to the center.

"WOO! Nice, Kyungsoo!"

"I didn't hit the center though."

"It's your first ever arrow, Kyungsoo. At least you hit the rings. Corners are disqualifiable, but you got it in the ring!" She skipped over to him, jumped to hook an arm over his shoulders, and turned the camera at them. "You see that, Jongdae? He shot his first ever arrow with my help."

She stuck her tongue out at the video, and Kyungsoo sputtered out a laugh, waving to the camera before Yuwon stopped recording.

"Just wait til Jongdae sees this. I can't wait to see his reaction."

"Are you using me as a means to make him jealous?"

"No..." 

He raised an eyebrow at her, but she just waved him away.

"You never try new things, Kyungsoo. I at least want this one to be on record. Besides, I'm sending it to your mom too."

He grew embarrassed at the thought but chuckled. His mom would probably be pretty excited to see him shoot an arrow.

A whistle blew, signaling the archers to get ready. Yuwon dashed over to yank Kyungsoo's arrow out of the target and took them back over to her lane. As she readied her equipment, a group passed by them, talking loudly about their predictions for a competition. Kyungsoo didn't turn to look at them, but he saw Yuwon narrow her eyes.

"Kim Minhei is here."

Whatever sense of security he had managed to gather now fled him. He reached to massage his shoulder, calm his nerves. Assess the situation first then see how to keep away from them, he told himself. Chancing a glance, Kyungsoo spotted them walking down to another part of the field, where soccer goalposts had been set up. They turned their heads to him the second he turned back around. Since the archery and soccer areas were on opposite ends of the field, Kyungsoo was likely still safe. 

"Kyungsoo, are you okay?"

"Yeah. They're on the opposite side of the field. They're more people around too, so they probably won't be able to do anything."

"You're going to stay?"

He nodded. He came for his friend, and he wouldn't let the rumors stop him from being Yuwon's moral support.

"You have a competition coming up, so you need to practice. Don't worry about me."

Yuwon pouted a little but nodded. "Thanks, Kyungsoo. But if they so much as even look in your direction, they won't have eyes when I'm done with them."

He chuckled as she made the sign to gouge out their eyes, cut off their necks, and beat the pulp out of them all in one swift motion.

"As Jongdae says, tone down on the violence, Popeye."

"You know how old that show is? It's practically ancient, but Jongdae seems to really like it."

Kyungsoo decided not to let loose the fact that that had been Jongdae's first impression of human media and just shrugged instead. The whistle blew again, and he heard the coach shout for non-archers to head towards the tent. Waving a bye to Yuwon, Kyungsoo ducked under the tent, greeting the coach with a nod. The coach headed out towards the line, and Kyungsoo watched as arrows fired on whistle-blow. He kept an eye out for any stray soccer balls, but otherwise the practice rolled by. Yuwon scored three bullseyes in one round, and Kyungsoo let out a cheer from the sidelines. She looked surprised but turned in his direction and laughed.

When Yuwon still had fifteen minutes left of her practice, a cacophany of conversations neared the tent. Kyungsoo turned his gaze down to his waterbottle when he saw that it was a group of soccer people. He didn't know who was who in that quick glance, but he figured that he shouldn't chance making eye contact with any of them. They had almost all passed when a few of their shoes didn't leave his peripheral vision, lingering at the edge of the tent's shadow.

"He even looks scared."

Kyungsoo resisted the urge to face them. He unscrewed his water bottle cap and drank a sip.

"Does he not hear us? Does he really pretend that nothing is happening? Will he make some comment like, 'Must've been the wind?'"

"Want to try it out?"

Their conversation hushed into murmurs, so he couldn't hear their plan. He had to run while he still could. Getting up from his seat in the grass, he started towards the small umbrella half-way between the archer line and the tent, anxiousness jabbing at his steps to go faster. He had maybe three steps in when a force punted him in the back, flinging him forward. The grass broke his fall, and when he sat up and looked behind him, one of the girls was in the motion of bringing her foot back down. She looked at him. No, she watched him, like an observer recording an animal's behavior at a zoo, waiting for what he would do next, anticipating. 

"Hey, don't leave any evidence."

Kyungsoo swallowed at those words, reaching to massage his shoulder. He knew that voice from when she had 'apologized' to him for kicking the ball out of bounds twice. Kim Minhei turned her gaze, the end of pulling up in a smirk.

"Like when I kicked the soccer ball at him. No evidence left behind."

Kyungsoo shot to his feet, pushed himself forward, his gait somewhere between speedwalking and running. He needed to get away, but no matter how he turned or how far he dared to walk towards Yuwon, they followed at his every step, their voices chirping over his shoulder.

"Looks like he doesn't ignore the act, but he ignores you."

"How rude," one laughed.

"He's not even turning around now. He's probably too embarrassed."

"Hey, don't you think following your crush around is a bit creepy?"

"Oh yeah! Good one! Hey, does Jongdae know that you're just using him to get close to her? Poor Jongdae!"

"It's pretty pathetic. Why don't you be a man and go after her without the tricks?"

They all laughed at that last comment. Kyungsoo winced as something in his chest wrenched. The pain didn't last more than a second, but it had surprised him enough to jar him to a stop. The pain split itself into the feeling of wriggling worms, digging deeper, spreading along out and up his throat. He rubbed at it, trying to coax it back down, trying to pull in air to stop them from advancing. But the quiet attempts didn't fill him nor deter the feeling. He in a gasp, and only then did the wriggling start to subside.

"Oh, I thought he was going to say something."

"Me too. Guys, he's no fun."

"Whatever then. It's not even that big of a deal. He and Yuwon can get together for all I care. Two losers. Isn't that perfect?"

"Yeah, I don't know what he sees in her. Maybe it's 'cause she's popular."

"She practically has guys fawning over her, and she can't see that the worst one is always right next to her. She's so ing blind."

Kyungsoo turned around. The girls stopped, as if they had seen a statue move. Their mouths stopped moving, making those incessant sounds, and he took the chance before they started again.

"Yuwon isn't blind. She doesn't ask for the attention, and she's not heartless or rude to just turn people away when they ask her something. Don't speak as if you know her when you don't."

They were silent, staring at him with open mouths. Kyungsoo felt the slightest bit of pride at having surprised them. They thought that he wouldn't retaliate, but there were particular things he would never let slide. Then Kim Minhei let out one syllable of a laugh, sharp and quick.

"He's defending her because he likes her. He just wants to look strong in front of Yuwon's name, but he didn't do anything when she was actually there."

"No, I did."

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

"I didn't accept your apology."

Kim Minhei's eyebrows indented in confusion before she scoffed. Her eyes sidled to the ground though.

"What crap are you talking about?"

"When you apologized for kicking the soccerball into my head, you said sorry, but I never accepted it. I knew you weren't sincere, and so did Yuwon. That's why she confronted you and knocked down that fence. She was warning you."

Scarlet bled over her face, rage shaking her fists. She threw down the soccerball in her arms.

"She ing threatened me! In front of four classes! That was aiming for me, and you're just smug about your loser- crush getting away with it."

"She's not my crush, and she didn't have any evil intent like you did. She was telling you to back off."

She lunged. Kyungsoo threw up his arms, prepared to be tackled to the ground and punched and kicked, but he didn't fall. He didn't feel anything touch him. Only a whistle of wind and a dull thuk sounded. Peeking around his arms, he saw Kim Minhei on the ground, fear widening her eyes at the arrow lodged in the ground in front of her.

The grass crunched, and he turned to see Song Seungwan walking to them. Smoothly, cooly, she plucked the arrow out of the ground, swiping off the dirt and grass clinging around the tip. She shot Kyungsoo a glance. Regret, annoyance, and uncertainty mixed across her face, then they hardened into a steely chill as she turned to Kim Minhei.

"Do you mind? You're disrupting the archers."

"You— You just shot that at me? Were you trying to kill me?"

"Obviously not. If I was, this would be through you right now, but these arrows can't even kill. Would hurt though."

"You little !"

Song Seungwan plugged a finger into her ear.

"Your voice is worse up close. Stop talking, will you?"

"ing little—"

"Coach Song!"

Kim Minhei straightened as the coach turned from coming down the grass hill and looked towards them. She jogged over, and the soccer girls grew smaller and smaller in their stance.

"Seungwan, why aren't you practicing?"

"I got tired."

"Seungwan."

"Plus, these soccer people wouldn't stop being loud. I couldn't concentrate and neither could the others."

The coach raised an eyebrow but turned to the soccer girls.

"Coach Tang said you had a five-minute break, but five minutes has passed. Get back to your side of the field, ladies."

"Yes, Coach."

They gave their bows and scampered away. Kyungsoo breathed out the breath he didn't realize had stoppered in his throat.

"And you, Bae Yuwon's friend."

He straightened.

"Y-Yes?"

"I allow friends to visit practices if they're not distracting. If you're being loud too—"

"He wasn't," Seungwan said, giving him a glance. "He was trying to tell them to be quiet too, but they wouldn't listen to him."

Kyungsoo blinked for a moment, because did Seungwan just cover for him?

"Is that so? Then alright, but get back to the tent. I don't want arrows flying at you. And Seungwan, practice isn't over yet."

"Yes, Coach," Kyungsoo said.

Seungwan nodded, sighing as Coach Song walked towards the archer line. Kyungsoo shifted on his feet, glancing at Seungwan. He had to say thanks. She basically stopped him from being assaulted by a gaggle of soccer players and from being banished from archery practices. He took a deep breath and turned towards her.

"Thank you."

She looked surprised before looking away, plucking at her bowstring. She gave a small nod. They stood there for a moment, the awkward pugnent. Just as Kyungsoo couldn't take it anymore and was just going to announce his leaving, she sighed.

"Hey, can I talk to you?"

He tried not to let his face show too much bewilderment and nodded. Seungwan tapped her thumb nail into the arrow, rolling her lips together in thought.