I moved the black cat plush from beside my pillow to the bookshelf.

         The intercom rang just as I was replying to text messages from Maika and Ami.

         As agreed, I had sent a message to Sendai-san five days after we last met that said, 『Come over now.』

         So the person at the door was probably her.

         I checked the intercom and saw Sendai-san on the other side of the monitor.

         She’d shown up later than I expected.

         When I wrote “come over now,” I meant immediately.

         But she’d kept me waiting quite a while since I sent the message.

         After complaining to her through the intercom, I unlocked the apartment building’s entrance for her.

         A little later, the doorbell rang. I opened the front door and let Sendai-san in as she grumbled.

         「I did try getting here as fast I could, you know.」

         「You took way too long.」

         Even if I was hesitant about seeing her, if someone says to come over, that means come over right away.

         「I don’t think I could’ve gotten here any faster unless I flew over or something.」

         「Then you should’ve just flown over.」

         「If you can prove to me that you’re able to fly, then I’ll give it a try next time.」

         Sendai-san said, her expression annoyed as she took off her shoes.

         I let out a small sigh as I got ready to hand her a five-thousand-yen bill.

         The five-thousand-yen bill was payment for some of Sendai-san’s time, so I didn’t feel bad about giving it to her.

         But I couldn’t help wondering—

         What would happen if I didn’t pay her?

         Would she still be willing to come over?

         It was something I’d always wanted to ask her.

         I remembered that Sendai-san had once asked me, “What if I told you I didn’t need it?”

         Back then, I should’ve made her explain what she meant.

         I really wanted to know what she would’ve done if I’d actually listened to her that day and decided not to hand over the five-thousand-yen bill.

         「Sendai-san.」

         A relationship between us without a price attached.

         I tried to imagine something like that—something that could actually happen right now—and for a moment, it made me hesitate to give her the five-thousand-yen bill in my hand.

         But I quickly brushed the thought aside and held it out in front of her face.

         「Here.」

         As always, I felt the bill being tugged from the other end, and my fingers instinctively tightened around it.

         But before I could accidentally say anything, I let go.

         「Thanks.」

         Sendai-san said as she put the bill away.

         I had no value beyond that five-thousand-yen bill.

         If I didn’t properly compensate her for her time, then her time wouldn’t belong to me.

         And if her time didn’t belong to me, I wouldn’t be allowed to give her orders.

         And if she didn’t have to follow my orders, then there’d be no reason for her to come over to my place at all.

         「I’m going to get us something to drink.」

         I said, turning my back to her.

         「Okay, I’ll go and wait for you then.」

         Soon after, I heard the sound of a door closing.

         I walked down the hallway to the kitchen.

         I pulled out two cups and opened the fridge.

         Inside were two plastic bottles—one with less liquid than the other, and a brand-new bottle of barley tea I’d bought yesterday.

         I took out the soda and the fresh barley tea and poured them into the cups.

         Placing them on a tray, I returned to my room, where I found Sendai-san sitting in her usual spot.

         「Make dinner for us tonight.」

         I said, placing the cups on the table and taking a seat beside her.

         「Is that supposed to be today’s order?」

         If there was something I truly wanted in exchange for five-thousand yen, it would be to buy an unbreakable promise.

         If I could buy something like that, maybe then I’d be able to let myself trust Sendai-san.

         Then, even if we went to different universities, it’d be okay to meet up now and then, have a few meals together, hang out.

         But there was no way I could ask for something like that from her.

         And no way I could bind someone to me for life with just a five-thousand-yen bill.

         Besides, it wasn’t something I could order her to do while I was still trying to distance myself from her.

         「That’s right. It doesn’t matter what you make, just as long as you’re the one cooking.」

         Instead, I gave her an order that felt appropriately worth five-thousand yen, as I looked at her.

         「You’re saying I can make anything, but isn’t your fridge empty?」

         「It’s not.」

         「Then can I go and see what you have?」

         「Fine, but I’m coming with you.」

         I replied as Sendai-san stood up from the table, where her reference books were still spread out. We headed to the kitchen together.

         After flipping on the lights in the living room and kitchen, Sendai-san walked over and opened the fridge. She peeked inside, then checked the freezer and vegetable compartment before turning to face me.

         「Are you a big fan of potatoes and carrots or something?」

         「They’re okay. Why?」

         「You always have them. I figured maybe you really liked them or something.」

         「I don’t always have them. I just never know what kind of ingredients I’m supposed to buy, that’s all.」

         「You should just buy whatever you want to eat.」

         「I never know what I want to eat, though.」

         I usually just ate whatever was around.

         Because of that, even if I wanted her to make something for me, I never knew what to ask for. I didn’t even know what I wanted to eat.

         And since I’d never really been interested in cooking, I’d made it all the way to the end of high school without even figuring out what kinds of ingredients I should be buying.

         「Alright, then how about we go grocery shopping together? It’d be way easier for me to cook things for you if we had a plan in mind and just bought what we needed instead of making do with whatever’s lying around.」

         It wasn’t the greatest idea, but Sendai-san suggested it in a cheerful tone.

         Going shopping together and sharing the weight of the heavy bags.

         It was something I’d thought about just yesterday, but I never imagined those same words would come from Sendai-san’s mouth too.

         Hearing her say that made me feel like, maybe even after we graduated, we might end up standing in the same kitchen again someday.

         But that future was one that probably wouldn’t come true.

         「If you’re that set on it, then you can go and buy the ingredients. I’ll give you the money for it.」

         「Is there no way I can talk you into coming with me?」

         「Nope.」

          Being with Sendai-san made me afraid of going back to being alone. Technically speaking, even if she disappeared from my life, I wouldn’t really be alone. I had friends, and once I got to university, I’d probably make new ones too. But even so, I knew I relied on Sendai-san too much—so much that once she was gone, I’d probably feel like I was all alone.

         If I kept depending on her like this, I wouldn’t be able to stand on my own once she was no longer around.

         That would only make things harder for me, so I needed to start doing things on my own, by myself.

         「Well, in that case, we don’t need to change anything. You can keep buying the ingredients yourself, Miyagi.」

         Sendai-san sighed as she said that and made her way to the living room. Even though she wasn’t about to eat, she sat down in a chair by the counter table.

         「Also, wouldn’t it be better if you just hired a housekeeper or something to make your meals, instead of paying me to cook for you?」

         She asked casually, showing no intentions of going back to my room, so I had no choice but to go stand beside her.

         「I don’t like letting strangers into the apartment.」

         After my mother was gone, there was a period when someone would come by to cook or clean. I wasn’t sure if they qualified as a housekeeper, but I just remembered feeling uneasy having a stranger in the house.

         「I’m technically a stranger too, you know.」

         「Sendai-san, you’re―」

         I wanted to say special, but I stopped myself.

         That wasn’t something I could say so lightly.

         「I’m what?」

         Sendai-san asked with a grin.

         「You are a stranger, but it’s fine since we were classmates once.」

         「So does that mean you’d let other classmates in too?」

         「Does that matter? More importantly, have you decided on what to make yet?」

          Wanting to escape Sendai-san’s gaze, who looked like she still had more to say, I changed the subject.

         「I haven’t decided on anything yet.」

         「Then hurry up and think of something.」

         I didn’t really care what we had for dinner.

         If we were going to waste this much time on it, I’d honestly rather be studying instead.

         But Sendai-san seemed way more focused on figuring out what to make. She sat beside me, deep in thought.

         「Even if you tell me to hurry up… Well, I’ve already made stuff like curry and stew before. Hmm, maybe nikujaga¹? Oh, but you don’t have any onions.」

         Muttering to herself, she just so happened to mention something I actually wanted to eat.

         「You know how to make nikujaga?」

         「Is that what you want to eat?」

         「If you can make it, yeah.」

         「I don’t really know how, so I’ll need to go and look it up. Still, you don’t have onions, so I don’t know how good it’ll turn out.」

         「Then it’s your job to make it taste good without them.」

         I didn’t mind being short on ingredients.

         But I still wanted her to make something tasty even without them.

         「I’ll do what I can, but I can’t make any promises.」

         With that, Sendai-san stood up and headed into the kitchen. After checking what was in the fridge and looking through the seasonings, she mentioned she was going back to my room.

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1. Nikujaga (肉じゃが) literally means “meat and potatoes.” As the name suggests, it’s a Japanese dish that includes meat, potatoes, onions and various seasonings. ↩︎

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