I didn’t mind being touched by Sendai-san.

          But if I let her get away with one thing, she’d definitely push for more, so I couldn’t allow her to do whatever she wanted.

          Still, I liked the Sendai-san who was willing to make deals and listened to me without fuss.

          I sat down on an old chair in the corner of the music preparation room.

          「Lick my foot.」

          Sendai-san had heard me say this plenty of times before, but for some reason, she looked surprised.

          「Huh?」

          「Did you not hear me? I told you to lick my foot.」

          「… Here?」

          「Do it, and I’ll let you touch me.」

          Sendai-san rarely disobeyed my orders, but we had always done them at my place, so I wasn’t sure if she’d follow through at school.

          I chose this knowing she probably wouldn’t.

          Any order that Sendai-san would want to refuse would’ve worked, but I couldn’t think of any command that would make her hesitate like this one. If she didn’t want to go through with the trade, she’d have no choice but to give up, and this seemed like a simple way to make that happen.

          「We’re at school, not your place. You know that, right? Sure, not many people come here, but what if someone did see us? This is way too much, even for a trade.」

          Just as I expected, Sendai-san started listing all the obvious reasons why she wouldn’t go along with it.

          「So, does that mean you’re not willing to fulfill your end of the bargain?」

          When I asked, she glanced over at the door of the music preparation room, her eyes wavering like she was debating.

          While she hesitated, I decided to answer for her.

          「Looks like the trade’s off, then. We can agree on that, right? I’m heading home now. Make sure to come over right after.」

          Even if she had more to say, we could discuss it at my place.

          Even though she kept asking about things I didn’t want to talk about, I preferred handling it at home, where I could just order her to stop whenever I wanted.

          I got up from the chair and grabbed my bag from the floor. Just as I was about to leave, she called out to me.

          「Wait.」

          Before I could reply, she dragged the chair towards me.

          「Sit down. You want me to lick your foot, don’t you?」

          「Don’t force yourself to do it if you don’t want to.」

          「I’m not. Just sit down already.」

          「And what if someone sees us?」

          「I’ll just say you ordered me to do it, so it’s fine.」

          「That doesn’t seem fine at all.」

          「Whether it is or not doesn’t matter. This is what you asked for, right? Now sit down.」

          Sendai-san had hesitated just moments ago.

          The fact that she hadn’t given in right away showed this trade was pushing the limits of what she was willing to accept, yet she still agreed to go along with it anyway.

          If she was willing to go this far, whatever she wanted from me couldn’t be anything good.

          「… What is it you want from me, Sendai-san?」

          「I told you. I just want to touch you.」

          「That’s all?」

          「Yeah, it is. I won’t do anything that’ll upset you, Miyagi.」

          Sendai-san’s calm voice and steady gaze made it seem like she wasn’t lying, but I couldn’t believe she’d go as far as licking my foot just so she could touch me. Why would she even want something like that in the first place? What made her even want it? It didn’t make any sense. Plus, I doubted she was being serious.

          Sendai-san wasn’t looking at anything but me right now, and that was enough for me to set aside why she accepted the trade.

          With two buttons undone on her blouse, her necklace was visible, and just seeing it around her neck made me feel like she really did belong to me. I wanted her to keep looking at me like this until we graduated, and for now, she was. Thinking about that way, this didn’t seem too bad.

          「Hurry up and take a seat already, Miyagi.」

          Moreover, I was the one who suggested making a trade in the first place.

          I sat down on the chair out of my own will, not because she told me to. Slowly, she knelt down, taking off my indoor shoes and socks.

          The door to the music preparation room was closed, but as if feeling uneasy, Sendai-san glanced over at it, as if checking to make sure.

          There were no sounds of voices or footsteps in the hallway, just the quiet sound of Sendai-san’s breathing.

          Instead of using her tongue, she ran her fingers along my foot. Her touch felt ticklish, so I lightly kicked her leg.

          「Don’t do that. I told you to lick it.」

          In response, Sendai-san grabbed my heel, lifting my foot slightly and bringing her face closer. Something not as wet as a tongue pressed against the base of my toes, and I realized it was her lips. The soft sounds of her lips kissing my foot filled the air.

          Frustrated that she wasn’t doing as I said, I pushed my foot to her lips, and something warmer and wetter moved to my ankle.

          「Is this good enough?」

          She asked, lifting her head.

          「No.」

          There was no way this was good enough. Sendai-san had been the one who ultimately decided to do this, so I couldn’t just let her do it half-heartedly and leave it at that.

          「Lick it properly. You’re just pressing your lips against it.」

          「I don’t think there’s that much of a difference.」

          「There is.」

          I reaffirmed my stance, and Sendai-san pulled my foot closer, biting down on my big toe. She seemed to hold back a little, but it was still hard enough to hurt. Before I could complain, she started licking the top of my foot, her tongue slowly trailing up to my ankle.

          The warmth of her tongue against my skin wasn’t unpleasant. The first time I made her lick my foot, I’d felt a bit disgusted—even though I was the one who made her do it. But there was also a sense of superiority that came with it, knowing that I’d made someone like her, who had nothing in common with me, obey my commands.

          This time, it was different.

          Her tongue slid over the bone of my ankle, sending a shiver up my spine. It wasn’t the disgust I’d felt before—it was something else. I pushed my foot closer, pressing it against her tongue, and she didn’t back away. Her warmth felt comforting in this chilly room.

          And yet, frustration rose inside me. Sendai-san accepted trades like this, but she wouldn’t fully submit to me.

          Why?

          Why was she going to a university outside the prefecture?

          She kept trying to get me to change my first-choice university, but she wasn’t willing to change her own.

          I knew the real reason Sendai-san was determined to go to a university outside the prefecture—it was because of her family. But it still annoyed me. She was willing to do things like this when we were at school, yet she didn’t even give what I’d said last time about staying here a second thought. Even though I understood her reasons, I still couldn’t accept them.

          That’s why I didn’t want to tell Sendai-san the truth. I’d told Maika I was applying to the same university as her, but with Sendai-san, I didn’t want her thinking I was doing it just to follow her. Still, I couldn’t help but wonder. If I did tell her, what would she say with those lips and tongue currently licking my foot? What would her gentle—but not always kind—voice say?

          「Do you still want me to keep going, Miyagi?」

          She asked, her words not answering the questions that were on my mind.

          「Keep going.」

          I said, giving her a gentle kick.

          She frowned briefly, but soon lowered her gaze.

          This time, it wasn’t her lips or tongue but her fingertips that brushed my ankle, gliding up to my calf. She lifted my skirt slightly, her lips moving to my knee, and then her tongue followed.

          Her tongue traced my knee slowly, adding just a bit more pressure now and then. It was different from before, and when I tried to pull away instinctively, she pulled my leg right back.

          A suffocating feeling crept into my chest, as if something had grabbed hold of my heart. Sendai-san kept licking my leg like she was wiping up a spill.

          ‘This isn’t good,’ I thought, and a memory I’d rather forget came flooding back.

          The last day of summer vacation, in my room, with Sendai-san.

          I held my breath and then exhaled slowly as the memories poured out.

          It was always like this whenever I let my guard down.

          The other day, when I ordered her to lick my finger, she hadn’t done it normally. There was something different in the way she did it, as if there had been a deeper meaning to it.

          「You can stop now.」

          I tried to push Sendai-san’s head away from my knee, but instead of backing off, she sucked on it and gently bit down.

          Back during summer break, it didn’t seem wrong to do these things with Sendai-san. It felt natural at the time, but now, I realized it wasn’t something we should be doing anymore.

          I was wrong to think it was okay to let her keep going like this.

          These feelings I had for her weren’t right.

          Her lips moved slightly above my knee.

          「Sendai-san, stop. That’s enough.」

          My voice wasn’t loud, but in the quiet corner of the room, there was no way she couldn’t hear me.

          But instead of stopping, she lifted my skirt just enough to expose the skin of my thighs. Her lips pressed against the inside of them, leaving warm traces on the skin that should’ve felt cold in this chilly room.

          The faint sound of kissing reached my ears.

          ―― We can’t go any further than this.

          As Sendai-san’s hand started to slide further up my skirt, I held her back by the head.

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