What’s done is done.

     Having awakened to my inner animal, I could no longer innocently live on as a human. I knew that things were beginning to get out of control.

     「Hey, Sera. Why’d you do that?」

     It was lunchtime. I was disciplining her right in front of the door on the rooftop.

     Ever since that day, she had begun coming to school wearing her collar every so often. I’d gotten used to checking if it was under her scarf. It was easy to tell without checking though, because on those days she’d call me out to somewhere deserted.

     Even though she had it on today, she had made an attempt to take her scarf off during class.

     I was able to stop her because I happened to be in the classroom at the time, but I was a bit afraid to imagine what might have happened if I hadn’t been there.

     「Perhaps because I wanted to be disciplined by you, Master?」

     「…Hm.」

     She was gazing at me with expectant eyes. If she had exposed the collar and leash right in the middle of class, her school life would have been flung into chaos. She may have done it under the assumption that I’d stop her, but it was still dangerous to do.

     What a bad girl she was.

     「Bad girls need to be taught their manners.」

     I touched her collar. I didn’t intend on the usual sort of discipline, though.

     「Just kidding. It was a close call, but in the end nobody saw, so I won’t be doing anything.」

     「…Huh?」

     「Let’s eat, instead. If we just sit around, lunch break’s gonna end.」

     I grinned and moved to take my bread out of its plastic bag. In that moment, her hand reached out and grabbed mine.

     She was surprisingly strong.

     「Is something wrong?」

     「…Scold me, Master.」

     「Why? There’s no reason to, you know?」

     I said that with a certain deliberateness. She stared at me, and then slowly moved her face closer to mine and began to lick at me.

     「Hey.」

     「I won’t stop until I’ve been scolded.」

     「…Sera.」

     I felt a tingle of excitement. My hands were one thing, but It felt strange to have my cheeks licked. Just as she declared, she kept licking at me with no intention to stop until I did something about it, and my cheeks got all soggy.

     Her red tongue came and went.

     I grabbed her leash.

     「You want it that badly, huh? You’re useless, Sera.」

     「…」

     「Do you really enjoy being disciplined that much?」

     「I love it. …So do it plenty, Master.」

     「Ahaha. …Everyone would be so disappointed if they knew that the Sorahashi-san was such a useless pervert.」

     And I was as useless as she was.

     She smiled as if she were melting. I’m sure I was wearing the same sort of expression. I’d always wanted to be the one to say kind words, to gently wipe away others’ tears and say things that warmed their hearts. Even so, showering them with meanness instead was just so much fun that it made my stomach churn.

     It felt as if my organs were all being crushed by a giant hand.

     What was this almost unpleasant sort of happiness that came along with a certain sort of pain? I remembered feeling this way once, when my parents celebrated my birthday along with me.

     Those faraway memories were drowned out by Sera’s expectant gaze right before my eyes.

     I didn’t care about the past anymore. As long as I could feel good now, that was enough for me.

     「You’re lucky I’m your master. I’m the only one that could accept and train a pervert like you.」

     I ran my fingers over her lips. They were so petite, soft, and beautiful. Her red tongue poked out from them and wrapped around my fingers.

     The sensation of someone else’s tongue was indescribably disgusting, yet comforting.

     「…Salty.」

     「Ahaha. Next time, I’ll put honey all over my hands.」

     「No, it’s fine. I like this.」

     Because she often licked me like this, I stopped using hand cream in the mornings. I hadn’t washed dishes by hand much recently either, so my hands weren’t as rough as they used to be. That made me happy, but also a little lonely.

     「The only one in the entire school who enjoys licking other peoples’ fingers like this is you. Have you properly reflected on your behavior?」

     「..Yes.」

     I felt my fingers becoming covered in a soft and squishy sensation.

     The sound of water, one different from the sound of it flowing out of a faucet, tickled my ears and made my brain all fuzzy. I had gone crazy. While she licked at my fingers, I used my other hand to feel her hair.

     「If you’ve reflected, then I’ll give you a reward. …So, here. Show me proof that you have.」

     That sticky sound of water echoed out. What would happen if someone were to come up here right now? What would that person think of this side of ourselves that we didn’t show to anyone else?

     Not that it mattered.

     I let her continue licking my fingers for a while, and then praised her as I always did. With a smile different than before, she rubbed her head against my hand. Just like a real dog, I thought. Even so, Sorahashi-san was still Sorahashi-san. Even though she was my puppy, she wasn’t really a dog.

     「By the way, Kurumi. What are your plans with your friends on Christmas?」

     She asked with a smile as she took her collar off.

     It was the same cute and innocent smile that I always saw during class.

     「Uhh, you know that one place that’s famous for its chandeliers? We’re gonna go see that.」

     「Oh, wonderful! I’ll be going to see the illuminations after my Christmas party.」

     The time that I spent time with my group was pretty different from the way her group spent their time.

     「What time do you think you’ll be done?」

     「We haven’t fully planned out the details yet, but probably around seven?」

     「Hmm… unexpectedly early.」

     「Really? I think that’s a pretty normal time…」

     Maybe she thought it was early because she was used to spending her time at night.

     「Then when you’re finished up, let’s meet up at my house! I have a present for you!」

     「Hm. Wouldn’t it be better to do that the day after?」

     「Definitely not. It’s best to celebrate your birthday on the day it’s on, isn’t it?」

     「Is that so?」

     「It is. So make sure you come over.」

     「…Okay.」

     I didn’t know much about that because I rarely celebrated my birthday on the day itself, but seeing her so excited for it made me get a little excited for it too.

     We had our lunches and talked about Christmas for a while.

     When I returned to the classroom along with the ring of the bell, my eyes met with Yume’s.

     「Ah, Kurumi! Where’d you go? I was looking all over for you!」

     「Is something wrong?」

     「Yeah, something’s totally wrong! We haven’t had lunch together at all recently, and I was hoping today would be the day!」

     「Ah… My bad.」

     「You’ve been kinda strangely unsociable lately. Did something happen?」

     「Kinda.」

     「…Hmph.」

     She frowned in dissatisfaction. I’d recently been meeting up with Sorahashi-san during lunch and doing things that I couldn’t tell anybody else about, so I hadn’t had much time to spend with others. I hung out with them after school sometimes, but my time had definitely been diverted more toward Sorahashi-san.

     「…Oh, one sec. Kurumi, your hand.」

     「Huh? Ah…」

     This was bad.

     I tried to hide my hand, but Yume grabbed it before I could. She stared at my swollen fingers.

     Sweat trickled down my face.

     There was no way that this would reveal my relationship with Sorahashi-san, but my heart couldn’t help but begin to race. This was fine. As long as I didn’t blurt out anything unnecessary, there was no we she’d know that my fingers had been licked.

     「Look at these fingers. Could it be…」

     My heart skipped a beat.

     I looked away from Yume over to Sorahashi-san, who was in the seat next to mine. She stuck out her tongue as if to tease me.

     I felt like my heart was going to explode.

     It would be a huge problem if Yume found out, so I hoped that Sorahashi-san wouldn’t do anything strange. Even as I thought that, I couldn’t take my eyes off her tongue. There was definitely something wrong with me.

     「They’re so rough!」

     「Huh?」

     「Gosh. You always lend me your hand cream, so why don’t you use any on yourself?」

     「Uh…」

     「Gimme a sec. I’ve got something that you recommended to me the other day.」

     Having said that, she took some hand cream out from her bag and applied it to my hands. It was a little ticklish as she ran her hands over every inch of mine. I was glad that she hadn’t realized, but then I noticed that Mutsuki had been watching us since who knows when.

     「…Mutsuki? Is there something on my face?」

     「Nope. You’re as beautiful as ever.」

     「Huh. Is that so.」

     「Too much salt, right?」

     She sighed.

     「You shouldn’t get them wet so often.」

     I was shocked that Mutsuki could tell that much. I didn’t think she could tell they were being licked, though.

     「The same thing happened to me once when I went out playing in the snow too much. Be careful not to get frostbite.」

     「Ah, yeah…」

     「By the way, about those Christmas plans…」

     Playing in the snow, huh.

     Come to think of it, the snow was pretty heavy yesterday. How many years had it been since it’d snowed enough to pile up like this? I thought back to one time when Mizuki had built an igloo at home, but I couldn’t remember how long ago in the past that was.

     During those times when we were innocently playing around together, I’d never imagined that there would come a time when she wouldn’t even call me Onee-chan anymore.

     I sighed softly and looked out the window.

     The sky was dull and looked as if it was about to snow. I hadn’t checked the forecast for today, but maybe it would be snowing again. I was afraid that the trains would stop running if too much piled up. It was a pretty long walk from school all the way back home.

     I supposed it wouldn’t do to think like that.

     I saw something white fall softly from the sky. Before I knew it, several white lumps were coming down. It was definitely snow.

     「Hey, it’s snowing.」

     Yume said as she touched my hand.

     「It looks like it’s gonna be pretty heavy today. Wanna make a snowman on the way home?」

     「No, I wanna have a snowball fight.」

     「So barbaric, Mutsuki. I bet Kurumi wants to make a snowman too.」

     「So we’re going to play in the snow…?」

     「Yeah, I mean, might as well! Right, Mutsuki?」

     「Of course. It’s what high schoolers do.」

     「Really…?」

     Like usual, I couldn’t tell if they got along well or not.

     I wondered why I ended up in the middle of their plans in the snow.

     I looked out at the snow with a wry smile. It was so white and beautiful, but when it fell heavily enough to cover everything the eyes could see, it made me feel a little strange.

     I wondered how long Yume would keep putting cream on my hands.

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