Around this time last year, I would’ve been in the middle of spring break.

         But this year, there was no such break for me, and now I was just drifting through these vague days.

         I didn’t know what to call this period between my high school graduation and my upcoming university entrance ceremony. I wasn’t sure what to call myself either, now that I’d graduated but hadn’t quite become a university student yet.

         I let out a sigh and looked around my room, now filled with cardboard boxes on the floor.

         This wasn’t how I imagined things would turn out.

         I had originally planned to attend a local university and commute from this apartment, but now I was leaving the prefecture to go to the same university as Maika.

         Even then, I’d planned to live in a dorm. But that plan changed too, and now I was preparing to move out of this room.

         Since I was going to a university outside the prefecture, I had no choice but to move a bunch of things, but I didn’t think it would be this much.

         Instead of a dorm, I was going to be living with Sendai-san, which meant I needed to bring more than I would’ve if I were moving into student housing.

         My room was now filled with cardboard boxes. I was supposed to buy larger furniture after moving, but even then, I already had too much I wanted to bring.

         Honestly, the whole thing was a pain, and if it were up to me, I wouldn’t be packing at all.

         My father suggested hiring movers to help, but I didn’t want anyone touching my stuff, so I had to pack everything myself.

         But no matter how much I packed, it felt endless.

         Not that it was surprising or anything, considering I’d started packing before I even decided what to bring. And since I wasn’t sure what I’d need in my new place, I couldn’t help it.

         「What should I do with these books?」

         I stood up and walked over to the bookshelf.

         It wasn’t realistic to bring all of them with me.

         I knew I’d probably end up buying new ones after I moved too, so I should only bring the books I absolutely wanted to take with me.

         But even so, it was hard to choose.

         There were so many I wanted to reread.

         This room wasn’t going anywhere, so anything I left behind would still be here when I came back. But the thought of not being able to read them until then made it hard to leave any behind.

         「If only I could take everything with me…」

         Even though they were just books, I felt guilty leaving them behind.

         If I’d decided to stay here, I wouldn’t have to choose what to take and what to leave. I wouldn’t need to pack at all.

         But that wasn’t the future I chose.

         So now I kept sorting, figuring out what to take with me and what to leave behind.

         I stared at the spines of my books.

          “I’ll bring this one,” I said, picking up the book on the far right of my shelf.

         Then, I said the same thing as I grabbed the book next to it.

         “I’ll leave this one behind,” I said about the next book over.

         It was a depressing process.

         As I kept going through my books like this, I couldn’t help but feel like, someday, Sendai-san might decide to leave me behind too.

         We were going to be living together for the next four years.

         But there was always the chance we wouldn’t even last that long.

         I gave myself a soft slap on the cheek.

         Just the thought alone made me anxious—even though we hadn’t even started living together yet.

         But still, there was something more important than worrying about the future right now: packing.

         I took the first few books I’d picked out and placed them into a cardboard box.

         Then I repeated the process—deciding what to bring and what to leave—and continued to fill up the box.

         After a while, my hand paused over a particular manga.

         「… Oh, this is the one I made Sendai-san read to me the first time she came over.」

         It was pretty erotic and not something you’d normally read out loud.

         When I’d ordered her to read it to me, she’d protested, but went along with it anyway.

         That day had been the start of me buying her after-school time for five thousand yen.

         I pulled the manga from the shelf.

         I still hadn’t decided if I’d bring it or not, but for now, I set it on top of the box that held the crocodile tissue case.

         「Maybe I should take a little break for now.」

         I hadn’t made much progress at all.

         Even though I didn’t have time to waste, I just couldn’t find the motivation to keep packing.

         I sat down on the floor and spotted a photo album that had been left out.

         It was filled with printed versions of the best photos of my childhood that had been taken with digital cameras and smartphones – carefully chosen and neatly organized.

         Inside, there were photos of me as a baby, with my mother.

         My first birthday—with my mother.

         My second birthday—with my mother again.

         I hadn’t opened this album in a long time, but I still remembered what kind of photos were inside.

         There were pictures from my first day of school, my graduation ceremonies, and my school entrance ceremonies. My mother had been in a lot of them, too.

         But at some point, she stopped appearing in the photos.

         Eventually, my father, who only showed up now and then, disappeared as well.

         From then on, no more photos were taken, and no more pictures were printed.

         And I stopped opening the album.

         After hesitating for a while, I placed the album on top of a box.

         It didn’t make sense to pack something I likely wouldn’t look at.

         If I kept stopping like this, I’d never finish packing and things like this were only weighing me down even more.

         「It’s such a pain trying to decide what to bring.」

         I also had one of Sendai-san’s blouses in my room and still hadn’t decided what else I wanted to bring with me.

         But there were still a few days left before the move.

         If I packed everything up now, I wouldn’t have anything to wear tomorrow.

         I slowly stood up, then flopped down on the bed.

         This room full of cardboard boxes felt suffocating.

         I just wanted to be done with it all already.

         I let out a sigh and picked up the black cat plush sitting beside my pillow.

         I gave its head a pat and spoke to it.

         「… Do you want to come with me?」

         The black cat plush didn’t answer.

         Sendai-san, who had given me this black cat plush as a Christmas present, would probably say something if she were here—but the plush stayed silent.

         If only it could talk to me, even just a little, maybe it would lift my mood.

         But no matter what I said to it, it never responded.

         I put the plush back in its usual spot and closed my eyes.

         I wasn’t particularly tired, but as I drifted in the darkness behind my eyelids, I started to feel a bit sleepy.

         My thoughts sank, then floated.

         Then, I heard my phone ringing.

         Once. Twice. Three times.

         The ringtone went on and on, like it had no intention of stopping. It just kept ringing.

         With no other choice, I opened my eyes, stood up, and picked up my phone from the table.

         I answered the call.

         「You’re so annoying, Sendai-san.」

         I muttered, seeing her name on the screen.

         「That’s kind of harsh. I was calling because I was worried about you.」

         「I seriously doubt there’s anything worth worrying about that justifies you calling me.」

         I sat down on the bed and tapped my toes lightly against the floor.

         「I was just worried you might not make it in time for the entrance ceremony.」

         「What are you talking about?」

         「Well, you know, I figured you might fall behind on packing and not get everything moved in time. Want me to come help?」

         There wasn’t much weight to Sendai-san’s voice, but it wasn’t lighthearted, either.

         I didn’t think she was that concerned, but she didn’t sound like she was joking.

         In any case, I let her know I didn’t need help.

         「There’s really nothing to worry about. I already booked a moving company, and I am packing right now.」

         「I see. Packing’s a pain, huh? I thought for sure you’d say something like, “Entrance ceremonies don’t matter anyway.”」

         She wasn’t wrong. Sendai-san could be oddly perceptive.

         Packing was a pain, and I didn’t really like entrance ceremonies to begin with.

         The entrance ceremony and graduation ceremony were the same—both connected the beginning and the end. That meant whatever starts must always come to an end, so I never really liked either of them.

         Just thinking about the upcoming entrance ceremony made everything feel dull. It was like I was being covered in gloomy clouds, as if nothing but heavy rain awaited me.

         「Oh yeah, did you ever end up telling your friends that we were going to be sharing a place together?」

         Sendai-san’s question only made me feel more depressed.

         「That’s got nothing to do with you, Sendai-san.」

         I hadn’t figured out how to explain things to Maika and Ami yet, so I’d just been telling them I’d be living in the dorms. I wanted to keep pretending that, to avoid talking about the fact that I’d be living with someone else. But since Maika was going to the same university as me, I knew I couldn’t keep quiet about it forever.

         If I told them I was sharing a place with someone, they’d definitely press me about who it was. That’s why I was still looking for some harmless excuse for how Sendai-san ended up as my roommate.

         「What about you, Sendai-san? Did you tell Ibaraki-san and the others about me?」

         I doubted I was the only one worrying about this.

         There was no way she could explain how we ended up living together, considering we’d never even spoken once while we were at school.

         「What do you want me to do, Miyagi?」

         「What do you mean by that?」

         「I did tell them I was moving in with someone, but I made up a fake roommate. Everyone else is staying local anyway, so it’s not like I really have to explain anything. But, you know, if I told them it was you, they’d probably find that amusing and start asking to come over and hang out. So, if you want me to tell them the truth, I don’t mind. What do you think?」

         Her tone on the other end of the line sounded the same as always—casual, with no trace of concern.

         「… It’s fine. You don’t have to tell them.」

         She was being unfair.

         I was the one who’d end up feeling troubled about Ibaraki-san visiting, not her. It felt unfair of her to ask me that when she already knew what my answer would be.

         「It’s not like you told your friends either, right, Miyagi?」

         「You’re so annoying.」

         Sendai-san really was unfair.

         In the end, I was the only one stressing over this.

         But for now, I could probably get away with not telling Maika and Ami about her. I could put it off just a little longer.

         「Well, I can’t help you with telling your friends about me, but I can at least help with the move. So if you ever need me, just let me know.」

         「I’m good with just the thought.」

         Packing felt like sorting through my memories.

         It was a huge pain, but I didn’t want anyone else touching them. I wanted to clean up this messy room on my own.

         「Miyagi.」

         Sendai-san said my name softly.

         「What?」

         「… I’ll be waiting for you over there, then.」

         Her voice was gentle through the phone.

         「Yeah.」

         There were so many things I was worried about.

         Living with Sendai-san came with a lot of worries—ones I didn’t even have to go looking for.

         But this was something I chose for myself.

         It might not all be good, but I knew there’d be fun times, too.

         Even if I still felt anxious, I didn’t regret choosing that envelope.

         「See you later, then.」

         Sendai-san said, and I answered with, “Yeah, see you.”

         With that, the call ended, and her voice disappeared.

         I picked up the black cat plush sitting beside my pillow.

         「How about you come with me?」

         I stood up, the black cat plush in hand, and looked around the room filled with cardboard boxes.

         Back on the day of my high school entrance ceremony, I never would’ve imagined a day like this would come.

         At the time, I wasn’t even sure if I’d even go to university. I thought I’d just spend the rest of my life in this empty home.

         But then, in July of my second year, thanks to a mix of chance and whim, Sendai-san started coming over to my room.

         Even in my third year, she continued to visit.

         Then came the graduation ceremony—the end of our arrangement, the end of any reason for Sendai-san to come over.

         Spring arrived in this room, and along with it, the last of my five-thousand-yen bills handed over to her, and the last of my orders.

         The time to part with this room—where Sendai-san had visited so many times—and the entrance ceremony were both approaching.

         But my time with Sendai-san wasn’t over yet.

         In fact, a whole new life was about to begin.

         This time, in a place where someone would always be there.

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