I watched as Sendai-san pulled books from the shelf and put them back. She had been doing this for quite a while now, per my instructions. Every now and then, she’d complain about the heat, but I chose to ignore it. It was surprisingly hot for mid-September, but if I lowered the AC any further, I knew I’d start feeling cold.

          I had ordered her to organize my bookshelf.

          It was a task anyone could do, but it wasn’t really what I wanted her to be doing. Still, I knew that if I gave orders recklessly, there was a chance things could go too far, so I had no choice but to stick with mundane tasks that couldn’t escalate. Lately, the orders I’d been giving her felt more like a formality than anything else.

          「Miyagi, where do you want me to put this?」

          Sendai-san turned around and showed me the manga she was referring to.

          「Just put it wherever you want to.」

          I answered from my spot on the floor beside the table.

          I did have my own way of organizing my books. Normally, I’d sort them by genre or keep my favorite ones within easy reach, but there was no reason to tell Sendai-san that. I’d asked her to organize my bookshelf several times before, and each time, her arrangement was practical enough that I didn’t feel the need to say anything.

           「That’s not exactly helpful.」

          Sendai-san complained as she put the book in her hands back on the shelf.

          She appeared to be really skilled at this, arranging the books like she was playing a puzzle game, fitting each one into place perfectly.

          She seemed like the type to be good at games, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

          As I watched Sendai-san, I thought back to the time we played a video game together.

          Then, my attention was drawn to her ears.

          In the end, Sendai-san didn’t let me pierce them.

          Ibaraki-san had her ears pierced, and many other girls did too. Although it was against school rules, piercings were quite common among students. Sendai-san seemed like the type who would get her ears pierced eventually, so she might as well have let me done it for her.

          But I wasn’t surprised that Sendai-san refused to follow this order.

          Just because I gave her five-thousand-yen didn’t mean I could demand literally anything from her.

          There were still limits to what I could ask her to do.

          I knew that, but even after a week had passed, I still wished I could have pierced her ears.

          「Oh, right. Have you figured out what you’re going to do about university?」

          Sendai-san asked without turning around.

          「What do you mean?」

          「If you’re interested in applying to the same university as me, I’ll help you with studying.」

          「I’m not interested.」

          Even if we ended up at the same university and spent time together as we do now, it would likely all end once we graduated. There’s also a chance Sendai-san might get fed up before then. If that were the case, it would be better to end things sooner rather than later. I’d rather be the one to call it off before she could, so it wouldn’t hurt as much.

          「I see.」

          Sendai-san spoke with a neutral tone while she continued to fill the gaps on the bookshelf.

          「But I’ll keep studying. I’ll have to take the entrance exam anyway, so I might as well put in the effort.」

          Everything I said was true.

          I used to have Sendai-san handle all my homework, but I was doing it all myself now. It wasn’t something I had been eager to do, yet I managed to complete today’s assignments that were on the table.

          「Even if we end up applying to different universities, I’ll still help you with anything you don’t understand.」

          「You don’t need to concern yourself with me, Sendai-san. Just focus on your own studies.」

          「I was planning to do that anyway.」

          Sendai-san answered without turning around.

          Her arms, exposed by her short-sleeved blouse, looked just as they did over summer break—untanned and free of any marks. It was difficult to believe she had walked all the way to my place.

          I had left a mark on her arm back when she was wearing long sleeves, but it had faded after just a few days. Piercings, on the other hand, would stay much longer. If I could leave a permanent mark where everyone could see, it would put my mind at ease, no matter who was with her.

          Sendai-san and I never talked at school, but I wanted something that would show part of her time belonged to me.

          ―― I never know when to give up, do I.

          I knew that no matter what I did, Sendai-san would never let me pierce her ears, but I couldn’t let go of the thought. I was acting no better than a child throwing a tantrum over not getting their way.

          「Okay, I’m done.」

          Sendai-san said as she turned around.

          Her arms, sticking out of her blouse, were as pale as always, and her ears remained unmarked. The bookshelf behind her was organized a little differently than I would have done, but everything was neatly in place.

          「So, has your class decided what they’re going to do for the cultural festival yet, Miyagi?」

          Sendai-san asked as she took a seat next to me.

          「Apparently, we’re going to be doing a café.」

          The teachers hadn’t said it directly, but there was an unspoken expectation that third-year students shouldn’t put too much energy into the cultural festival. They probably wanted us to prioritize studying for the entrance exams, but every year, some classes would ignore that and go all out anyway. This year, our class was one of them.

          「That sounds like it’s going to be a lot of work to prepare for and handle on the day of.」

          Sendai-san said with a hint of sympathy in her voice.

          「Yeah, it’s going to be such a pain. There are a lot of preparations that need to be made. Just thinking about it is making me depressed.」

          「Are you guys going to be making maid outfits too?」

          「It’s not supposed to be a maid café, so we’re not going to go that far.」

          「What a shame. I would’ve been there in a heartbeat if it meant being able to see you in a maid outfit, Miyagi.」

          Sendai-san said with a laugh, though she didn’t sound all that interested.

          「If we had decided on a maid café, I would just stick to working from behind the scenes.」

          I couldn’t oppose the idea since it was what the more popular students in my class wanted to do, but even managing a regular café was a lot of work. The thought of serving Sendai-san while dressed in a maid outfit was something I really didn’t want to deal with.

          「So, you’ll be working as a waitress?」

          「Yeah, we’re going to be taking shifts.」

          「Hmm, maybe I should pay a visit to your class after all.」

          「You really don’t need to.」

          「You say that, but I bet you actually want me to visit.」

          「No, don’t come.」

          Sendai-san sounded amused and like she was having fun, but it was likely all superficial.

          There were bound to be other classes from different grades running their own cafés. There was no reason for her to visit ours, especially since we had agreed not to speak to each other at school. It was obvious she was only saying it to tease me.

          I found this part about her incredibly annoying.

          「Anyway, my class is going to start preparing for it next week, so there might be a few days where I’ll have to stay late after school.」

          I couldn’t put up with all the nonsense Sendai-san was saying anymore, so I decided to tell her what I had to say.

          「Does that mean you won’t be asking me to come over until after the cultural festival is over?」

          「You’re still attending prep school, right? If our schedules don’t match up, then that’s just how it has to be.」

          With midterm exams coming up right after the cultural festival, we weren’t going to be making preparations every single day after school. Nevertheless, it made coordinating our schedules a lot harder than usual.

          「Got it.」

          Hearing her respond in her usual tone made me feel like my heart was being clutched and suffocated.

          Sendai-san had mentioned that her class was planning to put up some sort of exhibit for the cultural festival, but that didn’t mean they weren’t going to make any sort of preparations at all. On top of that, she still had to attend prep school on certain days.

          Since those plans were non-negotiable and Sendai-san likely had no intention of changing them, her replying with, “Got it,” was not surprising to me at all.

          I understood where she was coming from, but that didn’t mean I had to like it.

          With both preparing for the cultural festival and her needing to attend prep school, it was tough for us to line up our schedules.

          There’s a chance Sendai-san won’t be able to come to my room for a while.

            With just under two weeks until the cultural festival, our time apart would be short, similar to a winter or spring break. Given that we had managed without seeing each other for that long before, Sendai-san’s nonchalant attitude probably came from viewing this as a normal occurrence.

          So, it was strange that I felt sad at all, even if it was only for a brief moment.

          Maybe it was just all in my head.

          There was no reason for me to feel lonely over this, and it didn’t make sense for Sendai-san to feel that way either.

          「I don’t want to study anymore. I wish our exams were over already.」

          I said as I flipped through Sendai-san’s textbook on the table. Somehow, treating it as if it were my own helped me calm my agitated emotions.

          Everything seemed like such a bother that even wishing for the cultural festival and exams to disappear was starting to feel like too much work.

          「Hey, don’t flip through the pages without asking me first.」

          Despite Sendai-san’s complaints and the pokes from her pencil, I kept turning the pages of the textbook, until she gave me a sharp jab that made me pull my hand away.

          ‘What if we exchanged textbooks?’

          On days we had class, I could use Sendai-san’s textbook, but it was very different from mine. It was filled with notes, and her neat handwriting would make it obvious to anyone that it didn’t belong to me.

          Wait, no.

          Why am I even thinking about exchanging it with her in the first place?

            Maybe it was because, unlike before, we had spent the entire summer vacation together. I had gotten so used to Sendai-san’s presence that the thought of not seeing her for a while was making me feel sentimental. That was probably it.

            I silently observed Sendai-san as she concentrated on her textbook and notebook.

          She was wearing her necktie and had two buttons of her blouse undone, with part of her hair neatly braided just like usual.

          I reached over and tugged on her slightly loosened necktie.

          「I have one more order for you. Take this off.」

          「… Why? Are you going to tie me up again?」

          Sendai-san asked, her tone incredibly wary.

          「No.」

          Unlike piercings, swapping neckties wouldn’t leave any visible marks.

          It was incredibly strange that I even felt the need to exchange something with her at all, but I still wanted to do it.

          I needed something to hold onto, at least until the cultural festival.  

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