The history of the world was written on the blackboard, and as usual, Tigerhashi was dressed in his distinctive blue attire. I wasn’t interested in listening to his lecture about the ancient rise and fall of distant nations, so his words were going in one ear and out the other.

         Things hardly ever went the way I wanted them to.

         Even when I issued orders intended to annoy Sendai-san, her irritation usually faded quickly, leaving me as the only one with unstable, wavering emotions that felt like they could vanish into thin air at any moment.

         That wasn’t the kind of result I wanted.

         I turned to the next page of my textbook.

         Sendai-san’s breath.

         Her sweet fragrance.

         The sensation of her soft ear and solid bone.

         Finally, the faint blush on her cheeks.

         I couldn’t help but fill my mind with the events of yesterday.

         I found myself unable to lock the memories of what happened yesterday away in a mental compartment. Because of that, my mind was now hopelessly filled with thoughts of Sendai-san.

         This is strange.

         I had done numerous things of similar nature to her in the past.

         I had given her hickeys and bitten her neck before. What I did yesterday wasn’t much different.

         Yet, the memory of it lingered in my head, growing more vivid by the second.

         That was all I could think about lately.

         Whenever Sendai-san was involved, nothing good ever seemed to come from it. Despite our arrangement beginning on a whim, our relationship had started to feel considerably heavy recently.

         I pulled the eraser that Sendai-san left behind in my room the other day out of my pencil case.

         The eraser that had been passed back and forth between us showed no signs of use.

         It wasn’t the sort of object that required anyone to go out of their way to return.

         Had Sendai-san not summoned me at school the other day, our connection might’ve ended then and there. We wouldn’t have ended up kissing, and my mind wouldn’t be so preoccupied with her when I should be concentrating on class.

         「Hey, don’t space out! Keep your eyes over here.」

         Tigerhashi’s words sounded as if they were aimed at me, causing me to apprehensively raise my head. However, it turned out that the one being scolded was actually a boy sitting three rows ahead of me, who’d also been asked to answer a rather challenging question.

         Oh, it’s not me today.

         Having escaped Tigerhashi’s wrath today, I pulled out another eraser from my pencil case and started erasing some of the writing on my notebook to look busy, even though there wasn’t anything that really needed to be erased.

         Meanwhile, the difficult question Tigerhashi had posed to the boy remained unanswered.

         I rewrote what I’d erased earlier, copying what was written on the blackboard. Then, I put the eraser that Sendai-san returned to me back into my pencil case.

         As the school day neared its end, the number of Tigerhashi’s targets increased, but miraculously, I managed to avoid becoming one of them today.

         As soon as homeroom ended, Maika came over to my desk.

         「Man, the weather forecast just had to be wrong today of all days, huh. I was really hoping that our sports festival practice would be cancelled.」

         She said with a disappointed tone in her voice.

         「I thought it’d be cancelled too. These joint training sessions¹ are such a pain.」

         Although the morning news had advised us to bring umbrellas, there was no rain outside, despite the overcast sky.

         「Did they really have to make us do it after school? Couldn’t they have just replaced a class with it instead?」

         Ami grumbled, casting a glare at the unyielding dry sky, while voicing her annoyance about having to participate in a joint training session for the upcoming sports festival.

         “I just wanna go home already,” she added.

         「Well, it’s not going to get cancelled no matter how much we complain about it, so we should head out before a teacher gets mad at us.」

         「Yeah, I guess you’re right.」

         I agreed, reluctantly resigning myself to Maika’s suggestion. Rising from my chair, I took my gym bag and joined them as the three of us exited the classroom together. As we walked down the hallway, Ami occasionally muttered phrases like, “I don’t wanna go,” and Maika would share the sentiment.

         However, despite her complaints, the weather remained unchanged, and we headed for the sports field.

         The school field, which was typically quite spacious, felt unusually cramped today due to the joint training session we were partaking in. Yet, somehow I managed to spot Sendai-san in the crowd without even searching for her.

         Her class didn’t seem to be lined up yet.

         However, considering that we were arranged by grade and class, it was practically inevitable that I’d eventually notice her since she belonged to the neighboring class. Likewise, spotting Ibaraki-san, who was standing beside her, was also unavoidable.

         Sendai-san was eye-catching, yet Ibaraki-san managed to stand out even more.

         Her distinctly dyed brown hair and noticeably disheveled gym uniform were impossible to overlook.

         Adorned with multiple piercings and meticulously manicured nails, she exuded an air of invincibility at school. She was always accompanied by a group of friends who appeared to share her style and demeanor, creating an impression that they belonged to an entirely different world from the rest of us.

         However, as I observed Ibaraki-san, who appeared to be having a good time conversing with some guy, I couldn’t help but feel that she and Sendai-san were an unlikely match.

         I had no idea why those two even hung out together.

         Back when I was just watching them from afar, the two of them seemed like friends that had a lot in common, but my impression has changed since then.

         Sendai-san didn’t seem to share the same interests as Ibaraki-san.

         「Hey, Shiori, what are you daydreaming about over there?」

         「Huh? Oh, I was just thinking about how nice it’d be if we could finish up quickly.」

         Maika tapped me on the shoulder, and I looked away from Sendai-san.

         「Finish up? If only. We haven’t even started yet. Oh, hey, is that Ibaraki-san over there? I thought she usually skipped these kinds of things.」

         「Maybe she’s worried it’ll affect her school record?」

         Ami said with a giggle.

         「You think she’s worried about it now?」

         Maika asked with a hint of curiosity in her voice.

         「Better late than never, right?」

         「Well, I guess that’s true. Oh, right, Shiori. Has anything else happened between you and Sendai-san since then?」

         Maika asked, her voice filled with anticipation, as she shifted her gaze from Ibaraki-san to Sendai-san. Ami chimed in with, “I wanna know too!” as she grabbed hold of my arm.

         The other day, Sendai-san had come to our classroom and looked for me.

         That incident had been quite a shock for Maika and Ami. Since then, they would always bring up Sendai-san in our conversations. Basically, Sendai-san – who had gone out of her way to look for me at school – had piqued their curiosity.

         I tried to fend them off by coming up with what I thought was a reasonable excuse, but the fact that they kept bugging me about her meant they weren’t convinced.

         Judging by the looks on their faces, it was obvious that they were hoping to hear something more dramatic.

         I couldn’t help but sigh.

         「What do you mean?」

         「Come on, you know exactly what I’m asking.」

         Maika replied, as if it was obvious that something had happened.

         「No way. Besides, it’s not like either of us have anything to do with each other.」

         「Hmm, really now?」

         Hearing Maika sound so certain in her words made my heart feel a little heavy.

         But only a little.

         It really wasn’t that big of a deal or anything.

         「Honestly, it would’ve been great if we could just wing the sports festival without having to practice for anything.」

         Maika grumbled as she crouched on the ground, seemingly having lost interest in talking about Sendai-san.

         「Right? They should’ve just cancelled practice today even if it’s not raining.」

         I replied as I glanced over at Sendai-san again.

         I didn’t know what they were talking about, but she and Ibaraki-san were sharing a laugh over something.

         I should’ve expected it, but she never looked my way even once.

         Ever since we became third years, I’ve found it increasingly difficult to manage the emotions I have towards Sendai-san.

         I had always believed that my feelings were going along at a leisurely pace, but before I knew it, they had accelerated to full speed, to the point where I was afraid I would crash into something. It felt like my sense of reason had been tossed aside and rendered useless.

         I needed to let go of these feelings towards Sendai-san. Otherwise, our relationship might end up becoming even more complicated. I knew what I needed to do. I knew it perfectly well, and yet, a part of me wanted to continue giving her orders forever.

         I wanted her to listen to me.

         To obey me.

         To submit to me.

         ―― This is so stupid.

         I gazed up at the sky.

         The first time I gave Sendai-san five thousand yen at the bookstore, the sky looked just as indecisive as it did now.

         At the time, the rainy season had just ended, so it’s almost been a year since then.

         What had I been doing at this time last year?

         I tried to recall, but my memory was hazy.

         「Hey, it’s time for us to line up.」

         Maika said as she poked me on the back, snapping me out of my daydream.

         Well, if there was one thing I did remember, it was that last year’s sports festival was pretty dull.

---

1. Sports festivals (体育祭/taiikusai – can also be referred to as 運動会/undoukai) take place annually at most Japanese schools, usually in the late spring or fall. All of the students in the school spend the day participating in various sporting events, competing against other classes. As such, some students like to practice in their respective sports beforehand. The “joint training session” (全体練習/zentai renshuu) is a schoolwide rehearsal to ensure that the event flows smoothly. There’s usually an opening ceremony and closing ceremony for the sports festival, so that’s likely included in their rehearsal as well. ↩︎

---

< Previous Part | Next Part >