I had no reservations about taking off my blazer.

          I mean, I’d done it many times in this room before.

          However, Miyagi had never asked me to take it off before.

          「Before we do anything, I want to know what sort of “experiment” this is going to be.」

          I felt like I could already guess what was going to happen in this “experiment”, but I wanted to confirm it before doing anything else. If I was right, nothing good was going to come of it… not to mention, it wasn’t exactly appropriate, considering the kind of relationship we had. 

          「I’ll tell you once you take your blazer off.」

          I knew you were going to say that.

          I let out a small sigh.

          Obviously she wasn’t going to answer me honestly. She knew she was up to no good – otherwise there would’ve been no need to hide it. However, if it was just removing my blazer then it didn’t break any rules. I did as I had been told, and placed my blazer on the bed.

          Her next order followed immediately.

          「Roll up your sleeves.」

          “Unbutton your blouse.”

          At least, that was where I thought the testing site would be, but apparently not.

          「But why?」

          I already had an idea of what she was going to do, but I thought I would ask, just in case.

          「You said that hickeys could be erased with lemon juice, right? I want to experiment on your arm and see if it’s true or not.」

          Sometimes – actually no, most of the time – Miyagi would say things that didn’t make any sense.

          She wanted to give me a hickey and then get rid of it.

          I already knew that was what she wanted to do.

          But I seriously had no idea why she wanted to do it.

          「You do realize that if this experiment fails, it’s only going to create trouble, right?」

          「That’s why I want to try it on your arm. You should be able to cover it up under your blouse, so I don’t see the problem here.」

          「Oh, no. There is a problem.」

          She would be leaving a mark on my body.

          Miyagi and I didn’t have that sort of relationship. The connection between us wasn’t like that at all.

          Sure, we’ve licked each other and bit each other before, but we’ve never left behind any long-lasting marks.

          But what she was asking for now was different.

          Even if it was hiding under my school uniform, if the lemon juice didn’t work, my body would be haunted by Miyagi’s mark for the foreseeable future.

          Needless to say, I was not into that idea.

          「I’m not doing it over here, so it’s fine, isn’t it?」

          Miyagi said as she casually brushed her hand against the side of my neck.

          Her fingertips slid down towards my collarbone. I had two buttons open on my blouse, so if she thought she could get away with it, she might have gone even lower. I wasn’t going to let her do that, though, so I swatted her hand away.

          「If you even think about leaving a mark there, I’ll beat you up.」

          「Beat me up? Sendai-san, I think you’ve forgotten that you’re supposed to be a “pure and innocent” character.」

          「You also act like a completely different character from what I see at school, so it’s fine, isn’t it? I can act however I want.」

          「Sure, I don’t care what kind of character you want to be. Just roll up your sleeves already.」

          Miyagi commanded as she grabbed my right arm, as if emphasizing that her orders were absolute.

          I had plenty of reasons to refuse.

          For example, the hickey would be visible when I change into my gym clothes for physical education.

          With that reason alone, I could’ve called foul on this order, and it probably would’ve been enough to get Miyagi to back down.

          However, I did exactly as I was told.

          I undid the button on my sleeve and exposed my arm to her.

          「Here. Is this good enough?」

          While I didn’t think our relationship was so fragile that it’d crumble over a single rule violation, I wasn’t sure if Miyagi thought the same. She was pretty capricious.

          I’d always felt like she kept me at a distance, but for some reason, she seemed closer than ever today.

          But just like her change in behavior today came out of nowhere, it wouldn’t be a shock either if she suddenly said she didn’t want to continue paying me five-thousand yen.

          “Sendai Hazuki is well-liked by her peers and teachers alike.”

          I needed a place where I could take that mask off, and just be myself. Miyagi’s home had become that for me – a place where I could be free from those worries. I needed it, and I needed Miyagi because of that.

          「Hmm, should I do it here?」

          Miyagi mumbled to herself as she poked my forearm. She’d set her sights on the space between my wrist and my elbow.

          「Do what you want.」

          「I don’t need you to tell me that.」

          I know.

          I replied in my head as she brushed her hand against the soft inner part of my forearm, as if she were preparing me for an injection.

          After a brief pause, she pressed her lips against my arm.

          However, it felt nothing like a prick from a needle would.

          Her tongue touched my skin, and she slowly began to suck on it.

          It didn’t make me feel anything in particular.

          Things like being licked or getting bit really drove home the feeling that it was someone else doing it to me, but not this.

          So this didn’t really seem like that big of a deal.

          All she was doing was putting her lips and tongue on my arm. It didn’t hurt at all.

          However, even though her lips and her tongue weren’t supposed to be that hot, I felt like I was burning up.

          「Hey, that’s enough, isn’t it?」

          I said as I pushed her head away.

          Miyagi lifted her head, and the skin that felt like it was being sucked up by her returned to its original position.

          「I think I did it correctly. I suppose we can call this a success.」

          When I lowered my gaze, I saw a red mark on my arm that was clearly visible.

          It didn’t look all that different from when I tried doing it to myself back when I was fooling around as a kid, and it looked pretty similar to the hickey that Umina had on her neck. However, the only difference was that this mark was made by Miyagi.

          I couldn’t help but sigh.

          Unlike when I was a child, I knew what these marks meant when they were left by other people.

          This sort of thing would appear often in the manga books that Miyagi liked to read. A red mark like this was a proof of connection.

          I attempted to wipe the mark off with my palm as if I were trying to scrub off dirt.

          If this was Miyagi’s way of claiming ownership of me, that’d be pretty troubling.

          Well, most likely that wasn’t her intention and I was just overthinking things… but I really didn’t like that she’d left something on me that would make me think of her every time I caught a glimpse of it.

          ―― I swear, if this thing doesn’t disappear quickly…

          As I continued to keep my arm warm with my palm, I asked:

          「So… You do have lemons at home, right?」

          「You’ve seen the inside of my refrigerator, haven’t you?」

          Indeed, I’d seen her fridge before, back when I made karaage for us.

          … And it was incredibly empty.

          So I already knew the answer to my question.

          I doubted she had any lemons.

          In fact, I’d already suspected it from the start.

          I squeezed my hand against the mark that Miyagi left behind.

          「It’ll be fine since you can conceal it under your uniform, right? Plus, you did say you could make it go away by using something hot or cold. Why not try experimenting with that instead?」

          Miyagi said as if she had absolutely nothing to do with this.

          I felt irritated.

          Incredibly so.

          I unrolled my sleeve and buttoned it back up.

          「Alright, Miyagi. You do it too. Take off your blazer and give me your arm.」

          「What is this? Are you giving me an order?」

          「It’s not an order. It’s just a request.」

          Since I was the one being paid five-thousand yen, I didn’t have the right to order her around.

          In that case, I had no choice but to pass it off as me asking for a request.

          「Is that the attitude you have when you’re requesting something from someone?」

          「Yep.」

          「Maybe if you asked me properly, then I’d consider it.」

          And why, pray tell, do I have to bow my head to you?

          Miyagi had no intention of conducting a proper experiment to begin with, and yet, she was the kind of person who’d frame it as one just so she could leave a mark on me.

          I shouldn’t have to lower my head to her.

          That was what I thought to myself.

         However, I did exactly as I was told and rephrased my request.

          「…… Please give me your arm.」

          If I was going to go down, then I wanted to drag her with me.

          And in order to achieve that, some sacrifices had to be made.

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Credits to himi for proofreading and editing this part!

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