Even before I opened the refrigerator, I already knew I’d find nothing there.

          Standing in the kitchen, I let out a sigh.

          If Sendai-san hadn’t bought the ingredients last time, there wouldn’t have been anything for her to make karaage with.

          Though even if I did have the ingredients at home, I wouldn’t know how to cook it anyway.

          「What should I eat?」

          I muttered to myself quietly, as if I even had anything to choose from. There was only one thing I had at home that was simple to make.

          I closed the refrigerator and pulled two cup noodles from the kitchen shelf. I peeled the wrapping film off and opened the lid. Just as I was about to do the same for the second cup, I quickly realized there was no need to do so.

          「Ugh…」

          Earlier, I had come up with the eraser searching game on a whim. However, things felt a bit awkward between us afterward, so I ended up sending Sendai-san straight home. As we usually had dinner together on days she visited, my body moved on its own and I instinctively prepared enough for two people.

          I put the extra portion back on the shelf before returning to my cup noodles. I poured hot water from the kettle into the cup and set a timer on my phone for three minutes.

          In moments like these, I couldn’t help but notice how needlessly spacious the kitchen and living room were. It felt incredibly uncomfortable being by myself.

          Apart from my bedroom, it felt as though I was living in someone else’s home.

          I turned around and glanced at the television and coffee table that no one ever used.

          How long has it been since I last shared a meal with my dad?

          I tried to remember the last time, but I couldn’t recall it.

          I let out a sigh, feeling frustrated that I had no recent memory of it. Suddenly, a high-pitched noise from my phone startled me.

           「That surprised me…」

          Things like that were bad for the heart.

          Much like the things that Sendai-san would do.

          My heart nearly stopped beating when she decided to call me “Shiori” earlier.

          Only Maika and Ami ever used my given name. Until today, Sendai-san had never done so.

          Because of that, when she called me by my name out of nowhere earlier, I felt as if I couldn’t catch my breath.

          It wasn’t my fault I couldn’t come up with a response right away.

          I peeled the rest of the lid off on my cup ramen and brought the noodles to my mouth.

          「This doesn’t taste that great…」

          Cup noodles weren’t particularly delicious to begin with, but it would’ve tasted a lot better if someone else was here with me.

          Even Sendai-san would’ve sufficed.

          But Sendai-san was acting a bit weirder than usual today, so I decided to have dinner by myself.

          「What was up with her today?」

          Sendai-san always acted overfamiliar with me, but even more so today. There was something wrong with her sense of distance. She licked my fingers without being ordered to and then suddenly decided to call me “Shiori” out of nowhere.

          She kept touching me, almost as if she was implying she wanted us to become even closer, so I felt the desire to touch her too.

          As a result, I spontaneously came up with the eraser searching game.

          Something wasn’t right.

          Sendai-san was acting too strange.

          If she had behaved normally, I wouldn’t be eating dinner by myself right now.

          Something must’ve happened.

          If I had to guess ――

          I went and poured myself a glass of barley tea and placed the cup on the table.

          I ran my fingertips along my neck; the temperature of my hand that had just been cooled by the barley tea felt unusually cold.

          Most likely, Sendai-san knew what I did to her.

          That day, when she bent my textbook, I’d touched her neck with my lips.

          Ever since then, it seemed as if her actions were aimed at teasing me.

          She used to be quite obedient, but lately, she’d been on a rebellious streak and would always do things I never asked her to do. I didn’t want her to call me by my first name, and I disliked it whenever she acted without being ordered to.

          There were a few rules we came up with together.

          As long as my commands adhered to the rules, I could make Sendai-san do whatever I wanted, and she had to listen. If I wanted to touch her, I could tell her to let me. If I wanted her to stop being rebellious, I could issue that order as well. And if I really felt like it, I could even make her forget things, so it didn’t matter if she knew about what I did to her or not.

          But today, I couldn’t escape the strong feeling of awkwardness, as if we had done something we shouldn’t have.

          I took another bite of the ramen that was now getting cold and followed it up with a sip of barley tea.

          Unsurprisingly, it didn’t taste that good.

          But since I wasn’t eating it for the taste, I forced the rest of the noodles down before getting up.

          After cleaning up all the trash, I turned the lights off.

          The living room was so dark that I could barely make out the shape of my hand.

          I raised the hand that Sendai-san had licked earlier toward the now darkened light.

          I couldn’t really see anything, so I brought my fingertips to my lips instead.

          Of course, it didn’t taste like anything.

          I decided to go back to my room.

          「Oh right, my eraser.」

          I suddenly remembered something when I caught a glimpse of my open schoolbag.

          Sendai-san never gave my eraser back to me.

          「You should really remember these things…」

          I can’t do my homework like this.

          I wasn’t keen on doing my homework, but I figured I should at least get it done. However, thanks to Sendai-san, I couldn’t do it anymore. If things were going to turn out like this, I should’ve just made her do my homework for me.

          But Sendai-san had already gone home, so complaining wouldn’t bring my eraser back, and there was no magic I could use to make my homework finish by itself.

          Maybe Maika will let me copy her homework.

          Choosing to entrust my homework to Maika tomorrow, I decided to turn in early.

          When morning came around, I ended up stopping by a convenience store to pick up an eraser before heading to school.

          Although Sendai-san was just in the class next door, she never bothered to come by and return my eraser to me. She didn’t say anything even when we passed by each other in the hallway.

          However, we did agree that we wouldn’t speak to each other at school, so there was really nothing to feel disappointed about.

          If I was really curious about what happened to my eraser, I could just ask her the next time she visited. Moreover, I had a new eraser now. They were cheap and easily replaceable, so it wasn’t a big deal.

          Over the next several days, nothing significant enough happened for me to want to summon Sendai-san. I had gotten better at enduring minor annoyances, so I didn’t really feel the need to call for her either. However, by the time a full week had gone by, I couldn’t resist reaching out to her.

          After all, it’d probably seem suspicious if I just suddenly stopped calling for her.

          So, for the first time ever, I decided to send her a message without really having a reason to.

          『Come over to my house today.』

          Her reply came immediately.

          Since she had prep school today, she promised she would stop by tomorrow.

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Hey, so I’ve got a secret. I accidentally stayed up 24h at the time of posting this, so forgive me if there are any errors. ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა Viva la Fontaine!

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