I brushed the strap of her bra with my fingertips.

         The white shoulder strap seemed flimsy, as if it could be removed with the slightest touch.

         As I gently moved her bra strap to the side, I observed Sendai-san to gauge her reaction. While it didn’t seem like she was about to object, it was clear that my actions weren’t appreciated. However, she continued to remain silent.

         Letting go of her shoulder, I asked,

         「Aren’t you going to resist? 」

         「You ordered me not to move, but if you want me to resist, then I will.」

         In other words, if I hadn’t ordered her to stay still, she would be objecting to it.

         That was essentially what Sendai-san was saying.

         「If you want to resist, then just do it.」

         「I will if you break a rule.」

         「Isn’t what I’m doing right now against the rules already?」

         「Oh, for sure. If my uniform wasn’t all wet, I’d have beaten you up by now.」

         「So you’re saying you’re making a special exception today?」

         「Yeah. I mean, you said it yourself, didn’t you, Miyagi? That I’ll catch a cold if I kept my uniform on.」

         Even though taking off her clothes was clearly a violation of our rules, it seemed that it was fine as long as I had a reason for it.

         Oh, I see.

         So our rules weren’t that strict, huh.

         She was a lot more flexible and lenient than I had initially thought.

         How awfully convenient for me.

         「But I haven’t even paid you yet.」

         「Were you not planning to?」

         「I’ll give it to you later.」

         Not giving Sendai-san a five-thousand-yen bill was inconceivable.

         If she hadn’t been drenched by the rain, giving her the money would’ve been the first thing I did. Without it, Sendai-san wouldn’t come here anymore. As long as I paid her five-thousand yen, she would obey most of my commands.

         The strict rules we initially established were gradually becoming more flexible, adapting to the situation however we pleased. I was allowed to delay her payment, and today, she was even making a special exception for me.

         So there should have been no problem with me helping Sendai-san undress further. However, although I was the one who unbuttoned her blouse for her, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I shouldn’t go any further than this.

         I can’t do this.

         I hated how it felt like I had ulterior motives for wanting to take off her clothes.

         I hated the guilt it brought.

         But most of all, I hated that Sendai-san was allowing me to undress her without any resistance.

         She was always like this.

         She often placed the most difficult decisions in my hands, forcing me to make the choices. That’s exactly what she was doing right now. She wanted me to take charge of what would transpire from this point forward, as if she had nothing to do with it.

         Even though you obviously don’t want me to take your clothes off…

         I reached my hand out and pressed my palm against Sendai-san’s skin, just above her heart.

         「You’re so cold, Sendai-san.」

         I wasn’t sure if my heart was racing or not.

         But Sendai-san’s skin felt so cold that I momentarily mistook it for my own body temperature being high.

         「Yeah, because I got drenched by the rain.」

         Even without getting a closer look, it was evident that Sendai-san’s uniform was soaked and was robbing her of her body heat.

         Her cheek felt cold to the touch as well.

         It was the same with her lips.

         No matter where I touched her, she felt cold. When I instinctively withdrew my hand, she placed her own hand against my cheek.

         「But you’re pretty warm, Miyagi.」

         Her cold hand was now taking some of my body heat away.

         Come to think of it, Sendai-san touched me just like this back then.

         Back when we kissed.

         Her hands were much warmer than they are now. I recall it happened in May, but I can’t quite remember the exact date or even the day of the week.

         I wonder, if I were to kiss Sendai-san right here, right now, how would it affect the calendar I kept track of in my heart?

         I grabbed her hand that was on my cheek and pulled her closer to me.

         Although our lips weren’t quite close enough to touch, her pretty face was now directly in front of me.

         Our gazes locked.

         I tried moving my face a little closer to hers.

         But Sendai-san did not close her eyes.

         Having the memory of us kissing in my mind was fine, but I didn’t want to remember being rejected by Sendai-san, with her keeping her eyes open as I attempted to kiss her.

         I let go of her hand and shifted my focus downwards.

         Now unable to meet Sendai-san’s gaze, I opened the front of her blouse.

         I stared at her undergarments, knowing well that I wasn’t allowed to remove them.

         My heart began to react accordingly, and a small breath escaped me.

         I gently moved her shoulder strap aside slightly and pressed my lips against her chest.

         As I sucked on her skin, Sendai-san clutched onto my shoulders, but that was all she did. There was no attempt to push me away.

         Instead of marking the dates off on my mental calendar, I marked Sendai-san in red instead. Rather than residing in my memory, it should become a part of Sendai-san’s body.

         When I pulled my face away, there was a faint red mark left on her chest.

         Her damp skin clung to my touch as I pressed firmly on it with my fingertips. It was as if the only part of her body that felt warm to the touch was the red mark I’d left behind. I felt her grip on my shoulders tighten as I put my lips to her chest once more.

         「Weren’t you supposed to be helping me take my clothes off?」

         I looked up upon hearing the grumpy tone in her voice. Sendai-san had an unamused expression on her face.

         「I doubt the mark will stay on you for very long.」

         I replied, giving an answer that had nothing to do with her question, as if I were trying to come up with an excuse.

         「Look, it’ll disappear right away, so it’ll be fine.」

         The red mark I left on her wasn’t too dark.

         Most likely, it would be gone by tomorrow. Plus, I chose to leave it in a spot where other people wouldn’t be able to see it that easily. There was no reason for Sendai-san to be angry about that, or at me for not undressing her properly. However, for some reason, I was feeling uneasy in Sendai-san’s presence at the moment, so I backed away from her.

         「I’ll bring you a spare change of clothes.」

         “You’re just running away again.”

         That was what I expected her to say, but I managed to make my way back to my room without a word from her. I pulled out a spare change of clothes from my closet, rushed back to the entrance and pushed them towards Sendai-san.

         「I’ll be in my room, so come in whenever you’re done.」

         I said as I left for my room.

         As I took a seat on my bed, I stared at my hands, which had been dampened by Sendai-san’s wet clothes earlier.

         「Today feels a lot more different than usual…」

         I clasped my hands together tightly.

         Sendai-san seemed the same as usual but also somewhat different at the same time.

         The Sendai-san I knew wouldn’t sit back and accept what I had just done to her, even if I did have a reason for it. She would never grant special exceptions, nor would she allow me to leave a hickey on her chest.

         Sendai-san was acting strange.

         Or more accurately, something about her had changed.

         I wasn’t sure how she’d changed exactly, but there was something different about her.

         But she wasn’t the only one.

         I was the one who fabricated an excuse out of thin air to persuade her to remove her clothes.

         More specifically, I simply wanted to see her without her clothes on.

          ―― There was definitely something wrong with the way I was feeling.

         It was strange that Sendai-san didn’t resist me, and it was even more unusual how naturally everything unfolded.

          「I’m coming in, Miyagi.」

         Sendai-san said, despite not typically announcing her arrival, as she knocked on the door.

         「You don’t need to tell me that. Just come in by yourself like you usually do.」

         I complained loud enough for Sendai-san to hear me from the hallway as she entered my room while wearing my t-shirt and sweatpants.

         「Well, I guess I could’ve done that, huh…」

         Sendai-san was wearing my clothes as if they belonged to her. It was kind of refreshing to see her in something other than her uniform for once.

          Whenever I put on a t-shirt and sweatpants, they looked like basic loungewear on me, but on Sendai-san, they almost seemed upscale. I didn’t enjoy being reminded of the contrast in our appearances, but it was a reality I had to accept.

         I didn’t want to accept it, but I had no other choice.

         「Give me your uniform.」

         I said, my thoughts still cloudy, as I rose to my feet and extended my hand out.

         「What are you going to do with it?」

         「I have a dryer in my bathroom, so I was thinking about using that.」

         「Oh, that’d be a big help. I don’t really want to go home in a wet uniform.」

         She said as she handed me her uniform. Taking it from her, I headed for the bathroom.

         Everything felt off today.

         It was probably because of the rain.

         Things like this always seemed to happen when it rained.

         First, I placed her uniform on a hanger and hung it over the bathtub.

         Then, I started the dryer that was in the bathroom and took a deep breath.

         「Things will be fine. Nothing strange is going to happen anymore.」

         I mumbled to myself as I went back to my room and picked up the five-thousand-yen bill that was sitting on my desk.

         「Here you go.」

         I handed the bill to Sendai-san, who was standing in front of the bookshelf.

         「Thanks.」

         She said as she stuffed the bill into her wallet. And then silence filled the room.

         I was reading manga and Sendai-san was busy with her homework.

         These moments of silence used to bother me in the beginning, but I gradually became used to them. However, today was different. The silence felt suffocating, like it had wrapped itself around my body and was now strangling me.

         Sendai-san was doing her homework right next to me, and I was leaning my back against my bed as I read my manga.

         Even though we were just going about our usual activities, the atmosphere in my room felt stifling, and I had a strong urge to step out.

         「Hey, you know how you always give me a five-thousand-yen bill? Do you swap out other bills for them?」

         Perhaps Sendai-san was feeling the same way, seeing as how she stopped doing her homework and posed a question to me.

         「Yeah, I do. Why?」

         Well, I didn’t exchange them every time, but rather, I preferred to exchange several bills at once.

         I had settled on giving Sendai-san a single five-thousand-yen bill every time she visited, so I wanted to have them ready. Giving her a ten-thousand-yen bill and asking for change or handing her five one-thousand-yen bills seemed to emphasize the transaction aspect a little too much.

         「Oh, nothing. I think that’s kind of cute.」

         「Huh?」

         「I mean, you always go out of your way to exchange money just for me, right? Isn’t that kind of cute in a way?」

         Sendai-san said with a smile on her face. It felt strange to hear her words, especially since she was behaving differently from her usual self while wearing the same clothes I always wore.

         「Be quiet. You don’t need to flatter me like that.」

         「Hmm, but I think it’s better to express these kinds of things as loudly as possible. Wouldn’t you agree?」

         Sendai-san said, as if suggesting it was fine every once in a while, as she turned to look at me.

         「Oh yeah, come to think of it, are you not planning to attend a cram school or prep school over summer break?」

         「No, I’m not.」

         「What are you going to do about your studies?」

         「I’ll just finish whatever homework we get assigned.」

         「Well, of course, but that’s just the bare minimum. Aren’t you going to do anything else?」

         「No.」

         Deep down, I knew it would be beneficial to supplement my studies with something else, but I didn’t want to. Enrolling in a cram school or a prep school wasn’t appealing to me, and I didn’t have anyone who could tutor me over the summer either.

         「You better take your studies seriously. You’ve got an entrance exam you need to take at the end of the year, remember?」

         Sendai-san said with a serious tone in her voice as she poked my leg with the tip of her pencil.

         There wasn’t a lot of time left until the start of summer break.

         When I thought about the long vacation that was fast approaching, I couldn’t help but feel a little depressed.

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TL corner: Hi guys! If you like what you’ve been reading so far, please consider sharing this story! I don’t earn a single cent from this website (so if you see any ads, I would highly, highly recommend installing an adblocker), nor do I have any plans of monetizing it, BUT it does make me happy seeing others enjoy ShuuKura! You don’t have to share my blog specifically, just the Novel Updates page is fine! Hopefully with more attention brought to the story, it might one day get licensed for an English release and hit the bookshelves outside of Japan. Anyway, LOVE YOU ALL and I hope you enjoyed this part!

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