图片区小说区另类电影

Chapter 104: Sendai-san is not always gentle — 104

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

I forgot to put on my alarm clock.

I don’t remember setting the alarm on my phone either.

But when I woke up on my own and moved my body, Sendai-san was next to me.

「…What the?」

I close my eyes once and then open them with all my might.

In my eyes, I can clearly see Sendai-san’s face as she sleeps peacefully.

My foggy mind traces the memory.

Yesterday, Sendai-san came to my house and we had dinner together.

She stayed the night.

Because I told Sendai-san that she should stay the night.

This memory is correct.

And I can also find a memory that I don’t want to admit is correct.

——Why Sendai-san is sleeping next to me?

It’s because I slept in the futon I laid out for her myself.

「My body, hurts.」

Perhaps it was because we slept side by side on the futon, which was too small for two people to sleep on, but our joints were almost creaking.

I let out a small breath before reaching out and tugging lightly on the bangs just beside me.

「Nhn—」

I can hear her mouth moving and her unspoken voice.

But Sendai-san does not wake up.

I touch her cheeks with my fingertips and stroke them down to the tip of her chin.

She didn’t even move, as if she was sound asleep.

「…Hazuki.」

I gently call her name, but she doesn’t say anything, so I pick up a lock of her long hair. I pull it close to my hand and touch my lips to the slightly brown hair that never offends me despite violating school rules.

I didn’t notice it yesterday, but the touchy hair smells just like mine.

I part my lips and move a little closer to Sendai-san.

She smells the same as me, not only from her hair but also from her body.

I am the only one who knows this Sendai-san who wears my clothes and smells like me. I think it is safe to say that she was my own personal Sendai-san. But I am sure that I will never see this Sendai-san sleeping again.

I reach out and touch the necklace chain from the neck of her sweatshirt.

The appointed day is approaching.

Winter break will soon be over, and even exams will soon be over. Tear up a few calendars and it will be graduation day in no time.

When that day comes, our high school life will be over and a new life will begin, even if I don’t like it.

I exhaled a small breath.

On the chain, Sendai-san twitches when I crawl my fingertips, and my heart almost stops. I hurriedly take my hand off the necklace and quietly slip out of the futon.

After getting dressed so as not to make a sound, I head for the kitchen.

I know what’s in the fridge without having to open it, but I open it just to check. After all, there is almost nothing in it.

I took a bread out of the freezer and stick it straight into the toaster. As I prepared plates and glasses and took out orange juice from the refrigerator, Sendai-san arrived before I could call her.

「Morning. What are you doing?」

Saying in a sleepy voice, Sendai-san, still wearing the sweatshirt, turns her attention to the toaster.

「Morning. You’ll know it when you see it, though.」

「Perhaps you’re preparing breakfast?」

「Breakfast if you don’t mind.」

「…Miyagi. I have prep school this afternoon, so I don’t want to get snowed.」

「If you don’t want to eat, say so.」

I lightly kicked Sendai-san’s leg for speaking rudely, then took out a piece of bread and put it on her plate.

「I’m kidding. Can I go get changed?」

Sendai-san says, tugging at the hem of her sweatshirt.

「You can’t. I’ve already toasted some bread.」

I put my plate on the counter table and return to get my orange juice and butter. Somehow, Sendai-san followed me and peeked into the refrigerator.

「The jam, isn’t it there?」

I heard a voice in my ear and I pressed Sendai-san’s forehead.

「I have some, but it may be expired.」

「Are you serious?」

「I have butter, this should be fine.」

Sendai-san looks more disappointed than necessary when I hand her the container I took from the back of the refrigerator.

「They would be delicious if you paired them together.」

「You’ll get fat.」

「Well, that’s true. So, what’s the expiration date?」

When asked, I checked the numbers on the bottle.

「Just barely made it through.」

With that, I also handed over the jam and closed the refrigerator. While I pour the orange juice into the glass, Sendai-san puts the butter and jam on the counter table. I took the glass and she was waiting for me in a chair.

After saying「Itadakimasu」in unison to the not-so-luxurious breakfast, I spread butter on the bread. I bit into a bite and Sendai-san looked at me as I finished spreading the jam on top of the butter.

「I’ll spread it if Miyagi wanted it too.」

The jam jar slides across the table to me.

I often see bread with butter and jam together at the store, but I am not in the habit of spreading the two at the same time.

Butter is butter, jam is jam.

Separately spread bread would suffice.

But Sendai-san looks at me expectantly, so I bite into the butter with a modest smear of jam.

The bread’s ears make a crunching sound, and the taste of milk and strawberries spreads in my mouth. As I crunch down on it, the saltiness of the butter and the sweetness of the jam mix well together.

「Delicious?」

「More than I thought.」

Next time I eat it, I can put a little more jam on it.

I answer with such a thought.

「That’s good.」

Sendai-san smiles and drinks her orange juice.

Come to think of it, we made and ate French toast together during the summer vacation. In addition to that, many times Sendai-san has cooked for us at this location and we have eaten together. In retrospect, meals and Sendai-san are deeply connected.

Eating together is something we take for granted, and I think that if we stopped seeing Sendai-san, meals would become boring.

I eat alone in the morning and at night.

I have been doing so for years, and now because of Sendai-san, I have a strong feeling that I don’t want to go back to the old days.

I empty my glass.

I settle all the remaining toast into my stomach. The butter and jam mixed with the slightly burnt bread plugged a hole that was about to open somewhere in my body.

「I’ll wash it, and then you can get dressed.」

I told Sendai-san as I clear away the plates.

「It’s definitely going to snow today.」

「If you don’t want to change your clothes, you can go home right now dressed like that.」

「I still have time to get to the prep school, I’m going to go change.」

Sendai-san takes a quick bite of the chipped toast and stands up. Then she goes back to my room and I am left alone.

I laid down the plates and glasses used by Sendai-san and poured hot water.

While washing the dishes with a foamy sponge, I look at the clock.

A few more hours.

It doesn’t seem that much time has passed since Sendai-san came to this house yesterday, but in a few hours I will be alone again. I feel somewhat lonely because I know that someone who has been by my side all night will not be there tonight.

It was decided long before yesterday that Sendai-san was going to a prep school, and there was no way she would stay over again tonight. I know, but I feel like it would be very uninteresting for her to leave.

I wash all the dishes and turn off the hot water.

When I return to my room, Sendai-san is waiting for me, having even finished her makeup.

「I still have time, we should study.」

Sendai-san says, spreading out a reference book on the table.

「I’ll do it, but…」

「But?」

「No kisses for the rest of the day.」

When I sat down next to her and answered, Sendai-san gave me a dubious look.

「Why?」

Maybe she knows what I’m talking about, and she’s listening.

I think she’s too greedy to kiss me so much yesterday, saying it was compensation for teaching me how to study, and then demanding compensation again today.

「A count limit. I did for yesterday and today.」

「The number of times, I didn’t ask. How many times is that?」

「I won’t tell Sendai-san.」

「Why’s that? If I don’t know, I can’t do it within the number of times.」

「If I say no, it would be over.」

She unfolds her reference book and looks down at the lined letters.

I can’t answer that question because I haven’t decided how many times, and even if I did, Sendai-san would immediately break that promise, so there is no point. And if she kisses me like she did yesterday, something might happen and I never want to do that.

「Really, Miyagi is so selfish.」

「Even Sendai-san is the same way.」

When I answer without looking at her,「Well, I won’t deny it,」I hear from next door, and the conversation is cut short.

We studied quietly without talking, and in no time at all, it was afternoon and we were eating lunch together. Soon it was time for Sendai-san to leave, and I could hear her saying that she had to get going.

「I’ll send you all the way down.」

I tell Sendai-san with his coat and bag.

「It’s getting cold, so you don’t need to.」

「It’s alright. I’ll be right back.」

As I pulled a down jacket out of the closet and put it on, Sendai-san said,「Then, let’s go downstairs.」

We both walk out the front door and lock it.

We walk down the hallway of the apartment and get on the elevator.

As I opened the door leading outside through the entrance, a breeze blew in. As I craned my neck involuntarily, I heard a voice behind me.

「Cold—」

Stepping outside, it was indeed colder than I had expected.

My breath is not white, but the sun and clouds seem far away. The sky is tinted a pale blue, similar to the color of icebergs, and just looking at it makes me shiver.

「Just stay here. Thanks for letting me stay.」

After Sendai-san coldly puts her hands in her coat pockets, she adds,「See you.」

Usually we part ways like this and I go back inside the apartment.

But today, I grabbed Sendai-san’s arm as she was walking away.

「Miyagi?」

It’s not that there is something I forgot to say or that I have to say. I can’t think of any words to say because my hand just moved on its own and grabbed Sendai-san’s arm. Even then, I stare at Sendai-san, unable to take my hand away.

「Prep school, I’m getting late.」

Saying this, Sendai-san pulls her hand out of her pocket. Then she grabbed my hand, unable to let her go.

「I thought you were going to be late.」

「Yeah, that’s why I’m going already.」

She says she is about to walk away, but Sendai-san doesn’t walk away, nor does she let go of my hand.

「Miyagi, the next would be next year?」

Sendai-san squeezes the hand she holds.

「I intend to do so. I’ll call you when I set a date for you to teach me how to study.」

「Okay.」

I know this well, but Sendai-san cares about her studies, prep school, and doesn’t care about me that much. So I will be alone in that house again.

「See you.」

Sendai-san starts walking away.

「Bye.」

A hand waves in response to my voice.

Sendai-san’s back becomes smaller and smaller.

Although I was used to being alone, I felt terribly depressed at the thought of returning alone to the room where Sendai-san had been for so long.