「Sorry about yesterday.」

       As soon as she walked into the room Sendai-san started apologizing.

       「This was something we agreed on, so it’s fine.」

       I was the one who suggested that if she couldn’t visit after prep school, then she could come by the day after.

       Even though I knew she had prep school yesterday, I sent her the usual message. As long as she abided by the rules and promised to come over today, I had no complaints.

       「Here.」

       I handed her the five-thousand-yen bill that I had prepared on my desk.

       「Thanks.」

       Sendai-san pulled out her wallet and slipped the bill in. Then, she walked up next to me and glanced at the calendar sitting on top of my desk.

       「It’s almost Golden Week¹, huh.」

       「Even though spring break just ended.」

       「Do you hate vacations or something, Miyagi? You were in a bad mood right before spring break, too.」

       Sendai-san didn’t mention why she thought I was in a bad mood back then. However, I was sure she was thinking about the day I poured soda on her.

       「There’s not much to do over the breaks, so I find them kind of boring.」

       I answered without touching upon the reason for my bad mood. Instead, I explained why I wasn’t a fan of these long breaks.

       「Vacations are nice, aren’t they? Why don’t you go somewhere fun?」

       I did have plans over Golden Week, though.

       Maika, Ami and I promised to hang out over the break, but I didn’t feel the need to go out of my way to tell Sendai-san about that. I pushed my desktop calendar over and then poked her on the arm.

       「Sendai-san, show me your arm.」

       I didn’t call it an order, but Sendai-san did as she was told and extended her arm out towards me. However, she was still clothed in her school uniform.

       You know what I meant.

       She should have known exactly what I was asking for, but she was pretending that she didn’t. I reasserted myself.

       「Roll up your sleeve.」

       「Yes, yes.」

       Sendai-san responded listlessly while unbuttoning the sleeve of her blouse. After that, she rolled it up along with the sleeve of her blazer.

       I grabbed her arm, scanning the area between her wrist and her elbow.

       「It disappeared a lot faster than I thought it would. What about yours, Miyagi?」

       Sendai-san noted as I examined her arm.

       Just like she said, I couldn’t find the mark that I had left on her.

       「It was gone almost immediately.」

       「What about the bruise on your knee?」

       「That’s gone too.」

       Unlike the hickey Sendai-san left on me, the regular bruise on my knee took longer to heal. Now, both my arm and knee were fully cleared up, to the point where I could hardly believe they were ever scarred.

       Sendai-san’s arm looked about the same as mine.

       It was almost as if the events of last week never occurred.

       I gently stroked Sendai-san’s arm while still maintaining my grip on it.

       It felt smooth to the touch, which I found rather pleasant.

       ―― If I pressed my lips against her arm right now…

       As long as I called it an order, I could plant another hickey on her right now if I wanted to.

       I gently squeezed the area where I left the last hickey.

       Of course, there was nothing there anymore.

       As I repeatedly pressed on the same spot with my fingers, Sendai-san took hold of my hand.

       「Are you planning to leave another mark there or something?」

       She asked, as if peering into my thoughts.

       「No.」

       After my curt response, she released my hand, and I started touching the inside of her elbow.

       I wasn’t sure if what I was feeling was bone or muscle or something else.

       Either way, it felt hard to the touch.

       I gently ran my hand down her arm, as if trying to get a better sense of what I was feeling.

       I traced the blood vessels all the way to the wrist.

       「It kind of tickles when you touch me like that.」

       Sendai-san said, her fingertips twitching slightly. Nonetheless, she didn’t pull her arm away, so I continued to run my fingers along the soft surface of her skin.

       Doing this was making me forget the reason why I called Sendai-san here in the first place.

       Hearing something unknown from Maika made my throat tighten, and I felt like it was hard to breathe. It didn’t make me angry or anything, but it definitely wasn’t a pleasant feeling either.

       But how was I feeling now?

       I raised my head.

       The Sendai-san before me wore the same expression she did at school.

       This was not the Sendai-san I wanted to see.

       I dug my fingers into her smooth skin, my nails sinking deeper into her flesh as I applied more force.

       「Your nails hurt.」

       Sendai-san said, but she didn’t even attempt to shake them off.

       「Did you think that guy on the boys’ basketball team was cool?」

       I didn’t particularly care about the answer, but with Maika’s words still lingering in my mind I found myself unable to resist asking that mundane question.

       「Why are you asking about the boys’ basketball team?」

       「Someone confessed.」

       「To you?」

       「……. You know what I’m talking about.」

       I was aware that Sendai-san was this kind of person.

       Sometimes, she would be a bit mean to me and only do or answer things when ordered to.

       I applied a bit more pressure to my fingertips.

       Sendai-san’s face contorted slightly as she forcefully removed my hand from her arm.

       「I turned him down.」

       She didn’t deny being confessed to; instead, she shared her answer with me.

       「Why?」

       「Why? Well, it’s not like I had feelings for him or anything, and even if we started dating, I wouldn’t have the time to see him either.」

       「You “wouldn’t have the time to see him”, you say. Couldn’t you just make time for him?」

       「I mean, I still have prep school to attend. And then I have to come to your place.」

       Sendai-san stroked the claw marks I’d left on her arm with a hassled look on her face.

       「Let’s say you did have the time. You stop going to prep school, and you don’t have to come here either. Would you go out with him then?」

       「No way, I already said I didn’t have feelings for him. And you don’t have to worry, Miyagi, I’d give priority to you.」

       「I didn’t ask for that.」

       I gave Sendai-san, who was smiling teasingly in front of me, a gentle kick.

       「Wow, someone’s got bad manners.」

       「Not as bad as yours, Sendai-san.」

       She unfastened a button on her blouse and loosened her necktie.

       She wasn’t doing it at the moment, but I didn’t want to hear that from someone who could lie down so carelessly on someone else’s bed and look so messy that the inside of her skirt could be easily seen.

       「You’re jealous of that guy from the boys’ basketball team, aren’t you? Come on, you know it’s true.」

       Sendai-san’s voice sounded as light as a feather as she spoke.

       She unrolled her sleeve, covering her arm once again. Then, she took a seat on my bed.

       「Don’t be stupid.」

       I could tell she was just joking, but I couldn’t feel at ease unless I denied it.

       I only felt a bit uncomfortable because Maika had told me something I didn’t already know about.

       This wasn’t jealousy.

       I sat on the floor with my back leaning against the bed.

       Ever since the day I made Sendai-san lick my feet after spring break ended, I felt like something was wrong with me. The warmth of Sendai-san’s tongue lingered within me, refusing to fade away.

       As a result, I began treating Sendai-san like a friend. I played games with her and engaged in casual conversations, hoping that would dispel this odd feeling inside me. That was my plan, but in the end, I couldn’t bring myself to see her as a genuine friend.

       That was how I felt even now.

       I couldn’t bring myself to talk to her like she was my friend.

       In that case, what did I want from Sendai-san?

       It was as if the more time we spent together, the less I knew.

       I had forgotten the initial reason behind our arrangement.

       Whenever Sendai-san was around, it was as if there was something invisible clinging onto my body, leaving my heart restless. I felt uneasy and sometimes, I couldn’t even recognize myself.

       I wished my jumble of emotions could vanish, like soda bubbles popping and fading away into thin air.

       I took a deep breath as I stared out the window.

       Before I knew it, the blue sky outside had turned dark.

       I took out my contemporary Japanese textbook from my bag and handed it to Sendai-san.

       「This is your order today. Get off the bed and read this to me.」

       「You want me to read from a textbook?」

       With a puzzled expression, Sendai-san said as she sat down beside me.

       「Yes.」

       I felt a bit tired.

       I removed my blazer, socks, and necktie before lying down on my bed.

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1. Golden Week is a weeklong break that happens from April 29th to May 5th every year (though it may be adjusted by a day depending on which day it starts and ends that year). Although it’s not the longest holiday for students, it is the longest break for working adults in Japan. If you’re interested, you can read more about the history of it on the Wikipedia page I linked. ↩︎

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Credits to himi for proofreading and editing this part!

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