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Chapter 237: Miyagi is right next to me — 237

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

I got out of the bath and dry my hair.

I went to the front of Miyagi’s room and knock on the door twice.

「Are you awake?」

There was no answer from inside, but soon the door opened to reveal Miyagi, who, like me, was wearing a sweatshirt instead of pajamas.

「What?」

「Happy New Year.」

「I already heard that.」

「I don’t care how many times I have to tell you that.」

「…Happy New Year.」

Miyagi, seemingly having no choice, returns the same words, kicks me in the leg, and asks,「What do you want?」

「I told you to talk some more. I’ll let you choose my room or your room, Miyagi.」

「I don’t have anything more to talk to you, though.」

「If we don’t have one, we can just keep our mouth shut. It’s the first day of a new year, so why not do something out of the ordinary?」

「Is the first day of January really that special? It’s just like any other vacation. Convenience stores and family restaurants are open.」

Miyagi said in a “tsuntsun” voice and kicked my leg again.

「It’s the first day of the year, and generally speaking, it’s a special day. Even if it’s not a special day, it’s a vacation, and I think it’s okay to stay up late. In the meantime, let me in the room.」

「Why should I let you into my room, Sendai-san?」

「Then, come to my room.」

I smile, and Miyagi glares at me. But when I tug on her arm, she comes to my room without complaining.

She is just in a bad mood.

She sits down next to me, but there is not the slightest hint of a smile on her face.

「Sendai-san. I’m sleepy.」

Her unfriendly voice echoes in my ears as I lean back against the bed.

「If you’re sleepy, why don’t you sleep here?」

「Your bed, there is no place to sleep because of the penguin. I’m still going back to my room to sleep.」

「Pen-chan is supposed to sleep on the floor today, so don’t worry.」

I picked up the penguin lying on the bed and sat down holding it. I pat the stuffed animal on the head and look at Miyagi, who pats the penguin on the head and chides me.

「That poor thing.」

「I love it every day, and I think it will forgive me today.」

The penguin was given to me by Miyagi and I take good care of it. It won’t be offended to the extent that it has to sleep on the floor, and if it has a problem with the floor, I can put it on the table or on the chest of drawers.

「If I go to sleep here, what will you do, Sendai-san?」

Miyagi says as she tugs on the penguin’s hand, or perhaps I should say feather.

「If Miyagi sleeps, I’ll sleep with you.」

「Where?」

「Next to you.」

When I replied, Miyagi made a blatantly disgusted face.

「We’re just going to sleep, you don’t have to look like that.」

「You always break your promises to just go to bed, don’t you, Sendai-san? You haven’t forgotten that Noto-san came to my seat today because you broke your promise, have you, Sendai-san?」

「Not today, it was already yesterday.」

「I’m not talking about those details. I’m talking about the terrible things Noto-san has done to me.」

「I know that. I’m sorry.」

I can only apologize if she brought up yesterday, but that wasn’t a fun event for me either. I felt terribly depressed because I knew Miyagi would be leaving, and I had a hell of a time wondering what they were talking about. That’s me in the dust of jealousy, the kind of me that makes me want to throw away my part-time job, pull out Miyagi’s hand, go home and ask her what she was talking about, the not-so-good kind of me.

That’s not something I want to be reminded of on New Year’s Day.

I put the penguin on the floor and shake Miyagi’s hand. But the hands that held them quickly separated, and Miyagi tried to stand up.

I grab her sweatshirt and call out to her, wanting to go back to my room.

「Happy New Year.」

「That, how many times you’re going to say it?」

「No matter how many times. When I say Happy New Year, it makes me happy to hear you greet back.」

Last year today, the year before, and the day before that.

I don’t remember my family wishing me a Happy New Year back. If I told my friends, they would say the same thing, but it would be like a chime that rings when you press it, not something meaningful.

That is why I am happy to hear back from Miyagi.

She says it over and over just for me, and it’s not like anyone else’s words. She wouldn’t say Happy New Year if she didn’t want to.

It is enough for me and I don’t think I want the same word from someone else anymore.

「…Happy New Year.」

Miyagi said tediously and let out a small breath. Then she peels off my hand grabbing her sweatshirt and blurts out,「I’m going to sleep.」

「You can sleep here.」

I want to spend more time with Miyagi, who returns my greetings for me. I strongly want her to stay here, but Miyagi takes the penguin in my hand and stands up.

「That’s mine, though.」

If Miyagi insists on going back to her room, I can’t stop her from doing so, but I don’t want her to take the penguin with her. It’s a replacement for Miyagi, and if that isn’t here, she has to stay in my bed.

「That’s Sendai-san’s camp over there.」

Miyagi places the penguin on the pillow and points to the wall side.

「…A boundary?」

「Yes. Don’t come over here from the penguins.」

She says in a gruff voice, and reminds me that「it’s absolute.」

「Okay.」

「Well, go ahead and get over there.」

Apparently, I still don’t have the option of not going to bed.

I don’t want to sleep, but Miyagi will probably leave the room if I tell her I want to stay up longer, so I decide to be quiet, turn off the air conditioner, and get into my futon. I handed over the pillow to Miyagi and put the penguin, which had taken on the role of a boundary line, where it had been.

「Are you really going to sleep?」

When I turn my body toward Miyagi and ask, I get a curt response.

「Yes.」

「What about the first sunrise?」

「I’m not going to see it.」

Miyagi’s voice melts into the darkness and the room becomes quiet.

I close my eyes and open them.

In the darkness, I see the outline of a penguin, not Miyagi.

——I would like you to step aside for a moment.

I put the penguin halfway under the covers. I get a good look at the back of Miyagi’s head and reach for it. I combed her hair, which seemed to assimilate the darkness as thick as coffee without milk or sugar, and Miyagi curled herself up to get away from me.

「…Sendai-san.」

Her small voice is heard.

「What is it?」

「After entering college——」

The words break off there, and the sound disappears from the room.

No matter how long I wait, I don’t hear Miyagi’s voice, and when I ask,「Where’s the rest?」I asked, to which she replied,「It’s nothing.」

「Say it. You’re curious.」

「It’s not a big deal.」

The quilt is pulled and Miyagi’s body is separated from mine.

Probably so close to the edge that I would fall off the bed, I grabbed her sweatshirt.

「If it’s not a big deal, say it.」

When I pull her sweatshirt hard enough to prompt a response, I hear a muffled little voice.

「I just thought that you must be invited to a lot of different things by a lot of different people.」

「Invited?」

「Dinner and stuff.」

「…Did you hear anything from Mio or Noto-senpai?」

What Miyagi said is something that she would never say to me. Since she went to the trouble of saying it after I had assured her that I was going to sleep with her, there must be a reason, and it couldn’t be anyone other than Mio or Senpai.

「It’s nothing.」

「They’re both overreacting.」

I don’t know what Miyagi was told, and I don’t think she would have told me no matter how much I asked, but I can guess the content. From the way they spoke, one or both of them must have told me that I was popular with them or that they were asking me out to dinner.

「I don’t really care.」

A low voice comes back from Miyagi.

It’s not a voice that I don’t care about, no matter how I think about it, so my heart aches deep in my chest. At the same time, I feel a little bit of a rush in my heart.

Miyagi cares about me.

That and the fact that I have been invited to various things by various people.

My heart thunders.

It’s as if Miyagi is telling me that she likes me, and it makes me happy.

「Miyagi, turn over here.」

I call her in the gentlest voice possible.

「I don’t want to.」

「Don’t worry about what was said yesterday. I belong to no one but you, Miyagi.」

I put my hand on Miyagi’s back and swears.

But her back escapes my hand. I try to put my hands around her waist to catch her, but they are quickly swept away.

「I didn’t say you could come into my camp.」

Miyagi moves fidgetily, turns to me, and presses the penguin half under the covers.

「Then, Miyagi must come into me.」

I take the penguin and put it by the wall and grab Miyagi’s hand. I let her touch the blue earring on my ear as it is, and I hold her hand so hard that it hurts my ear and say clearly.

「Miyagi is the only one who can manage me.」

I don’t need anything but Miyagi.

Only Miyagi can come into my heart.

「…You won’t lie to me?」

「I won’t.」

I let go of her grip and Miyagi strokes my earring as if to confirm my words.

In the darkness, her fingertips crawl to my neck, slide over my sweatshirt, and stop around my heart. The palm of her hand is pressed against it, and my heart asserts its presence with a thump, and another, as if it is about to be transmitted to Miyagi.

「Swear to me again.」

「I will never belong to anyone but you, Miyagi.」

Say it slowly so Miyagi can hear me.

But Miyagi comes closer to me faster than I can bring my face close enough to pierce the promised kiss.

Her breath blows on my neck and my body is strained.

Something warm and soft sticks and sucks on me.

I exhale a small breath at the body heat that is being transmitted and immediately feel pain.

The kiss of vows that Miyagi gives is not gentle.

Her teeth are set on my neck, and she bites hard as if she were carving them into her memory.

Unintentionally, I grab Miyagi’s shoulder.

Still, her teeth remain lodged in my skin so deeply that I almost scream, and I bite my lip. Unable to breathe properly, I put pressure on the hand that gripped my shoulder, and the teeth that had been clamped in the flesh slowly pulled away, relaxing me from my body.

「I’m going to sleep. Good night.」

I hear her small voice that seems to have come to its senses.

When I returned the good night, her back was turned again.