“I want to keep seeing you even after we graduate, Miyagi.”

         It felt like I ended up saying a lot of things I didn’t need to say.

         Those words seemed unnecessary, and I had no idea how Miyagi felt hearing them. That uncertainty made it impossible to focus on studying again, so I wanted to leave early, but somehow, that didn’t happen.

         Instead, Miyagi started saying all sorts of unexpected things that somehow led to me staying the night.

         “No one else is home today, so just stay the night.”

         I had fully expected to get chased out. Instead, Miyagi said something so out of character that I was still waiting for her to suddenly claim it was all just a joke.

         I knew she’d called me over to talk about something. I also knew it wasn’t going to be anything good. Honestly, I’d braced myself for the worst—for her to tell me she wanted to end our arrangement before graduation.

         But now that things had taken such a strange turn, I couldn’t quite wrap my head around what was happening.

         「Sendai-san, close the refrigerator.」

         「Oh, sorry.」

         Miyagi’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts as I stood there, zoning out in front of the open fridge. I quickly closed the door.

         Neither of us had outright suggested it, but both of us seemed to think it would be better to eat first before getting back to studying. If we really wanted to, we could buckle down and focus, but shaking off the tension from earlier wasn’t easy. So, we ended up in the kitchen instead.

         That was fine with me.

         Except for one little problem—Miyagi’s fridge.

         「Once again, there’s nothing in your fridge, huh.」

         「Well, there are carrots in there.」

         I opened the vegetable compartment, and sure enough, there were a few lonely carrots rolling around in the otherwise empty space.

         「Is this the only vegetable you have?」

         「Well, I have these too.」

         I turned around with a carrot in hand, only for Miyagi to hand me a bag of potatoes. Then she pulled out a box of stew roux, and just like that, our dinner plans were decided.

         「… But there’s no protein, huh.」

         I wasn’t sure if Miyagi had these ingredients because she wanted to eat stew or if they were just what she happened to have lying around. Either way, it felt like something was missing.

         「By protein, do you mean meat?」

         「Yeah. Do you have anything else I can use instead?」

         I asked as I set some carrots and some potatoes on the counter.

         Making stew without meat wasn’t impossible, but it felt a bit lacking without any kind of protein.

         「What about this?」

         As I reached for a cutting board and knife, Miyagi walked over and held out a can of corned beef.

         「Oh, so you did have something good lying around. Alright, take a seat and leave the rest to me.」

         I wouldn’t go so far as to call Miyagi a hindrance in the kitchen, but she wasn’t exactly a great help either. The thought of her holding a knife made me uneasy—what if she cut herself? And if I let her handle the pot, there was no telling what she might throw in without asking. It was simply easier to cook alone than to spend the entire time worrying about her.

         Besides, the silence was more daunting than usual today.

         Without having anything to talk about, I couldn’t help but feel extra conscious of Miyagi’s presence. It made me feel like I’d have an easier time cooking if I kept her at a distance.

         I understood perfectly well why the quiet unnerved me so much.

         It wasn’t just because of the conversation we had earlier. The fact that I was staying the night made me feel incredibly restless. With Miyagi so close, I couldn’t stop my thoughts from wandering—what was she thinking? How was she feeling?

         Perhaps Miyagi felt the same way.

         She looked fidgety, like she was searching for something to say.

         Giving ourselves some physical distance, even for a short while, seemed like the right call. By the time the stew was done, I figured, we’d probably be back to normal.

         But Miyagi didn’t leave the kitchen.

         「You don’t need to help. Just wait over there.」

         I gestured toward the living room with my eyes while rinsing the potatoes, hoping she’d take the hint. Instead, Miyagi grabbed the potato I’d just finished washing right out of my hand.

         「… I’ll help.」

         Her voice carried a hint of irritation.

         But why?

         I had expected Miyagi to feel the same way I did, wanting to put a little distance between us for now. Instead, she seemed to be deliberately staying unusually close, and I couldn’t figure out why.

         「What did you want to help out with?」

         「Peeling the carrots and potatoes.」

         Miyagi said as she picked up a knife and began clumsily working on the potatoes.

         I couldn’t help but stare at her hands.

         「…What?」

         She sounded even more irritated than before.

         「Oh, nothing.」

         I just hadn’t expected someone who once managed to cut herself while slicing cabbage to so willingly take on this task.

         I swallowed the words on my mind and turned my attention to preparing the pot. When I glanced over, I noticed a row of potatoes with thick, uneven peels lined up on the cutting board.

         「Do you want me to cut the peeled vegetables?」

         「No, I’ll do it.」

         「Are you sure you’ll be okay handling that?」

         「Shut up, Sendai-san. I’ll get distracted if you keep talking.」

         I couldn’t shake the unease of letting someone who needed total concentration to cut vegetables handle the task, but prying the knife away from Miyagi didn’t feel like an option right now. All I could do was watch her chop the potatoes with slow, unsteady hands.

         After several heavy thuds, Miyagi finally arranged the unevenly cut pieces on the cutting board. I took them and tossed them into an oiled pan, stirring them along with the carrot pieces before adding the corned beef. Once everything was sautéed, I added water and left the mixture in a pot to simmer, carefully skimming off the scum as it cooked.

         The kitchen fell into silence again, an awkward tension lingering between us.

         Eventually, Miyagi broke it with a hesitant voice.

         「Sendai-san, I’m going to sit over there.」

         「Okay.」

         Now alone in the kitchen, I stared at the pot, its contents glaringly missing an onion, as I continued skimming off the scum.

         Miyagi hadn’t explicitly mentioned what university she wanted to go to.

         But I was now aware that what Utsunomiya had told me was correct.

         Even so, that knowledge didn’t change anything. Our relationship had a clear endpoint, and Miyagi seemed set on it. Nothing I said was going to change that.

         Still, I’d come to realize something: Miyagi enjoyed spending time with me. And maybe—just maybe—there was a small part of her that also wanted to keep seeing me after we graduated.

         For now, I’d have to settle for that.

         After finishing skimming the scum, I turned off the heat and added the stew roux.

         The white chunks from the box melted into the liquid, slowly thickening it into a creamy, pale sauce.

         As the stew simmered, Miyagi’s voice came from the living room.

         「Is it ready now?」

         「Almost. Can you get the tableware ready?」

         「Okay.」

         Not long after, Miyagi appeared with two curry plates of rice.

         「You didn’t need to serve rice. Could you grab plates for the stew instead?」

         「Yeah, I did.」

         「Where?」

         「Here.」

         She placed the curry plates with rice onto the counter.

         「… You know we’re having stew, right?」

         「Yeah, obviously. That’s why I brought these.」

         I looked between her and the plates, and I realized there was only one possible explanation for this.

         「Miyagi, do you… mix stew with rice?」

         「Huh? You don’t?」

         「You know that’s not normal, right?」

         「I’m pretty sure it is.」

         Our opinions didn’t seem to line up.

         Yet, for some reason, Miyagi was looking at me like I was the one completely in the wrong.

         「You’re supposed to mix curry with rice. Not stew.」

         「Isn’t stew a type of curry, though? Besides, there are fewer dishes to wash this way.」

         「That’s not really the problem here…」

         「Does it really matter? It’s all the same once it’s in your stomach anyway.」

         Reluctantly persuaded by Miyagi’s argument, we carried the curry plates—with stew ladled over rice—over to the counter table.

         「Let’s eat.」

         Miyagi said, and then started eating the stew as if it really was curry.

         「… Let’s eat.」

         I followed her lead, scooping up a bit of stew and rice with my spoon and bringing it to my mouth.

         It was my first time eating stew like this, but once I tasted it, I realized it wasn’t bad at all. Maybe going along with Miyagi’s idea wasn’t such a bad thing.

         I didn’t have any strong feelings about keeping the stew and rice separate, and since we were at Miyagi’s place, I was fine with adapting to her way of doing things.

         To be honest, I was just glad we could talk about something so trivial after everything that had happened today.

         But our light conversation didn’t last long.

         Before I knew it, silence had taken over again, leaving only the faint sound of spoons scraping against plates.

         The silence felt heavier than usual today.

         「Are you going to be alone on New Year’s Eve this year, Miyagi?」

         I struggled to find a good topic to fill the void, but in the end, I blurted out something neutral and easy to answer.

         「No, someone will be home with me on New Year’s Eve.」

         「I see.」

         「You mentioned you were going to a shrine on New Year’s Day, right, Sendai-san?」

         Miyagi asked, recalling what I’d told her earlier as she took another bite of her stew.

         「Yep. Do you want to come too, Miyagi?」

         「Of course not. You’re going with Ibaraki-san, aren’t you?」

         「Are you saying you’d go if it weren’t for her?」

         「… No.」

         Miyagi denied my words curtly.

         I didn’t mind her attitude.

         Seeing her get grumpy over such a small joke made me want to tease her even more. I knew pressing her further would just sour her mood, and I’d end up regretting it, so I decided against it. Still, I couldn’t help but think it was cute.

         With this topic out of the way now, there wasn’t much else left to discuss. There’s only so much to say about our plans during winter break or the upcoming exams. It made me tempted to bring up subjects I knew I shouldn’t.

         「You’ve never let me stay over like this before… so why the change of heart today?」

         I knew Miyagi’s words were meant to be taken at face value and didn’t carry any deeper meaning.

         She most likely just wanted someone to have dinner with, or maybe she was starting to feel a bit lonely as the end of the year quickly approached. Perhaps it was something else along those lines. There was no way Miyagi had invited me to stay the night because she’d been expecting something else.

         Even so, I couldn’t help but be conscious of the idea.

         I started feeling like maybe I could allow myself to hope, just a little, so I wanted Miyagi to say something that would prove otherwise.

         「… I told you, I just wanted you to help me study, didn’t I?」

         「That you did.」

         「Then why are you even asking?」

         Miyagi responded coldly.

         I’d promised to help her study over winter break.

         But today, she’d just used that as an excuse to call me over. I wasn’t convinced that studying was all she wanted from me, but she wasn’t going to tell me any other reason.

         「Sendai-san, wash the dishes when you’re done.」

         Miyagi said as she stood up, her empty stew bowl in hand—I hadn’t even noticed she’d finished eating.

         「Yeah, sure.」

         I replied, watching her leave the living room and head back to her room.

         After finishing my stew and washing the dishes, I went to Miyagi’s room, only to find it empty.

         I felt a small sense of relief and let out a quiet sigh. Just then, the door opened.

         「You can take a bath first. Are you okay with wearing my sweats afterward?」

         Miyagi asked, opening her closet as she spoke.

         「Huh? Oh, uh, sure.」

         I stammered, giving her a vague answer.

         「Okay, then take this. A change of clothes and a towel.」

         She handed me a set of navy-blue sweats and a white towel.

         「Oh, the bath’s already heated?」

         「Yeah, I prepared it before we started eating. There’s a hair dryer and everything else ready for you too.」

         She wasn’t physically pushing me out of her room, but it felt like she was chasing me away, so I quickly made my way to the bathroom.

         There was a basket in front of the washing machine, so I placed the sweats in it.

         Oh, right.

         I didn’t bring a change of clothes, so I guess this is to be expected.

         On the day I’d come over soaked from the rain, I’d had to borrow her clothes.

         And there was that one time when I’d forgotten to bring my gym clothes to school and had to borrow some from a friend in another class.

         So wearing someone else’s clothes wasn’t that big of a deal.

         But for some reason, today, I felt so self-conscious about it.

         I couldn’t let it bother me.

         I knew it didn’t make sense to feel this way.

         I gave my cheeks a gentle slap to snap myself out of it, then removed the pendant I was wearing, leaving it on top of the sweats.

         As I started to undress, I felt a strange urge to glance behind me. I turned and found my own reflection in the mirror. I looked just as I always did, but somehow, today, I couldn’t bear to look at myself.

         Turning away, I spotted a hair dryer and a hairbrush sitting neatly on the sink.

         It should’ve been obvious, but I became acutely aware that everything here was Miyagi’s—not mine.

         I closed my eyes briefly, then opened them again.

         After letting out a small sigh, I opened the door to the bath.

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