Something was about to happen.

          She was probably aware of it too. Nonetheless, she brought the brown-colored lump towards my mouth. As if she were simply following instructions written on a manual, she let the chocolate touch my lips, and as if I had no choice but to see my plan all the way through, I bit down on Sendai-san’s finger along with the truffle.

          「Miyagi, that hurts.」

          Sendai-san spoke, as if reciting words as if she were reading them off a script. Although the words were being said out loud, it didn’t sound like there was any hint of emotion behind them.  

          Well, that was only natural.

          I wasn’t even biting that hard yet.

          Little by little, I put more strength into my canine teeth in hopes of being able to leave visible marks behind.

          As my teeth sank into Sendai-san’s finger, the chocolate was melting away on the tip of my tongue, making it seem like her finger tasted deliciously sweet. Wanting to finish off the rest of the truffle, I dug my canines even deeper, causing her to try and push me away by my forehead.

          「Hey, I said that hurts.」

          This time, it didn’t seem like she was lying, and I could hear the emotion behind her voice. She also put more force into the hand that was on my forehead.

          「Let go.」

          Sendai-san had no right to order me around.

          So I chose not to listen to her.

          Instead, I bit down even harder.

          It seemed like it was getting too painful for her – she repeated her demand that I let go, and finally managed to pull her finger out of my mouth. Only the remnants of the chocolate were left in my mouth, to be swallowed as they melted away.

          Although we were not friends, the friendship chocolate that she made was delicious. She probably did not intend for her friendship chocolate to be consumed this way, but it worked well in my favor. I mean, in the end, chocolate was meant to be eaten. As long as we got there in the end, it didn’t really matter how we got there.

          But when I looked over at the person who made the chocolate, her smile had disappeared completely.

          「Get me a tissue.」

          Sendai-san spoke in a voice that sounded lower than usual.

          My tissue box, which had a cover in the shape of a crocodile, was sitting across the table from me. If anything, Sendai-san was closer to it.

          Looking at her finger, I could see cocoa powder and chocolate smeared on it.

          It wasn’t like she absolutely needed a tissue to clean it off.

          I ignored Sendai-san’s request and ran my tongue along her index finger. This was probably making it harder than it needed to be, but as the person who dirtied Sendai-san’s finger in the first place, I had to be the one to clean it off as well.

          「Miyagi.」

          I pretended I couldn’t hear her voice as I pressed my lips against the bite marks I left behind and licked them. I made my way to the second joint on her finger and sucked on the base of it. Then, I kissed it, which made a sound that was barely audible. Sendai-san trembled slightly for a moment in response.

         「Hold on. That feels disgusting.」

          Her voice sounded flat.

          However, I was sure that Sendai-san was feeling the same things I had, back when she was doing these same things to me.

          It was disgusting, but there was also something more to it.

          I felt like I could hear exactly what that feeling was behind the sound of her flat voice, so I pressed my tongue against her finger again. But the sweet taste of chocolate that I was expecting had faded away.

          Human skin felt unlike anything that had ever entered my mouth before. It wasn’t hot or cold; human fingers didn’t taste very good, either.

          But even so, this was the happiest I’d been all day.

          I started stroking my tongue against her thumb.

          Just like I did with her index finger, as though there was chocolate to be licked off, I slowly moved my tongue around. Sendai-san expelled a small sigh.

          「Miyagi, you’re screwing around too much.」

          She pushed me away with a strong shove as she spoke, and her thumb left my mouth. Then, I grabbed the crocodile-shaped box that looked like it had tissues growing from its back and threw it at Sendai-san.

          「Do you think it’s fun doing things like this?」

          Sendai-san stared at me as she wiped off her fingers.

          「Of course.」

          When I answered her with a smile, she pushed the crocodile back to me.

          「Seriously, what kind of a hobby is this?」

          「Eating humans isn’t my hobby, though.」

          「Don’t bite me, then.」

          Sendai-san said, sounding dumbfounded as she took a sip of her soda.

          「That seriously hurt earlier. Couldn’t that be considered a breach of contract?」

          「It wasn’t violence. And you did the same thing to me before, so just bear with it.」

          「I didn’t bite you nearly as hard. I seriously thought you were going to bite my whole finger off.」

          「Well, I was only trying to eat some chocolate, but other things just ended up happening.」

          「Are you going to eat any more?」

          「What do you want me to do?」

          「…… Do whatever you want.」

          Sendai-san said, as if she wanted me to just throw the rest away.

          I didn’t want to be friends with her.

          The only connection we had was through money, and that was the only kind of connection we needed.

          So it didn’t matter what Sendai-san thought, I had the right to do whatever I wanted with her.

          That was how things should’ve been.

          But despite that, the next words that came out of my mouth were different from what I expected.

          「Do you want to have dinner?」

          「Sure.」

          Sendai-san answered immediately.

          Eating with two people was better than eating alone.

          Even if it didn’t change the taste of the food, having someone else to dine with made it feel like I was eating a real meal.

          I got up and headed for the kitchen. Without needing to be told, Sendai-san followed after me. I turned the lights on as Sendai-san took a seat at the bar that separated the kitchen from the living room.

          I grabbed a bag of french fries from the freezer and stuck it in the microwave. I prepared two plates and pulled a couple of ready-made Hamburg steaks from the refrigerator. When the microwave beeped, I took the bag of fries out and replaced it with the Hamburg steaks.

          That was about all the work that I needed to put in, and dinner was ready in no time at all. However, compared to the three minutes it would usually take to cook instant noodles, doing all of this took a bit longer.

          「It’s ready.」

          When I placed the plate of fries and the two Hamburg steaks on the table, Sendai-san happily said,

          「There are two portions, huh.」

          For some reason, Sendai-san made it sound like I’d gone out of my way to buy a Hamburg steak for her as well.

          「This is my father’s portion.」

          That was my intention today.

          I bought a Hamburg steak so my father could eat it.

          That was all there was to it. It wasn’t like I prepared it specifically for Sendai-san.

          「What’s your father going to eat, then?」

          Sendai-san asked without making any mention of my mother.

          「There are other things for him to eat.」

          The words that came out of my mouth just now weren’t true.

          The refrigerator was pretty much empty.

          However, my father rarely ever ate at home anyway, so it didn’t really matter whether it was full or not.

          「It’s fine, just eat it.」

          I said curtly as I sat down next to Sendai-san. As the words, “Let’s eat”, escaped my mouth, I heard the person next to me say the same thing in unison. But that didn’t make us any closer than we were a minute ago, so we proceeded to eat in silence.

          We didn’t have anything to talk about, but that wasn’t much of a problem.

          It was much less stressful than forcing a conversation anyway.

          I proceeded to chew on the Hamburg steak that was far more tender than Sendai-san’s fingers.

          The only sounds that could be heard between us were the various noises from our chopsticks and tableware.

          The Hamburg steaks and french fries gradually disappeared from our plates, and when everything was nearly done and dusted, Sendai-san opened her mouth.

          「Want me to make you dinner next time?」

          「What are you saying all of a sudden?」

          「You don’t want me to?」

          The truffles she made were delicious, so there was no reason to be suspicious of her cooking. However, there was no reason to have Sendai-san cook for me either, and I didn’t want her to do anything I hadn’t ordered her to do.

          My “orders” should be the only thing that constitute our relationship.

          「I don’t need you to make dinner.」

          「I see.」

          Sendai-san replied without a hint of discouragement in her voice as she brought another bite of the Hamburg steak to her mouth.

          Having eaten in silence, we finished off our meals in no time at all.

          The same thing happened when we ate cup noodles together right before winter break.

          I decided to leave washing the dishes for later, so we returned to my room.

          「Do you have any other orders?」

          「No.」

          「Okay, then I’m going back home.」

          Sendai-san put her blazer and coat back on before heading for the front entrance.

          「I’ll see you off.」

          The two of us exited through the door and got on the elevator.

          「The truffles were delicious. Thank you.」

          As I watched the numbers on the elevator display gradually make its way down from “five”, I gave my impressions of her gift and expressed my gratitude for it. I had that much common courtesy, at least.

          「You’re welcome.」

          I heard Sendai-san say as the elevator approached our stop. I walked her to the entrance. Sendai-san waved at me while saying, 「See you later. 」

          「Bye-bye.」

          As I called out to her like I usually did, Sendai-san turned around. Up until now, she had never turned around even once. And yet, she did so this time, replying with, 「Bye-bye」, as she waved at me again.

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Credits to himi for proofreading and editing this part!

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