I picked up the black cat plush from the bookshelf and brought it with me to my bed. It was time to go to sleep, but I wasn’t feeling that sleepy yet.

         I stroked the black cat plush’s head.

         Sendai-san hadn’t broken a single promise since we’d moved here together, but today, she broke one for the first time. That meant I now had the right to give her an order. Well, strictly speaking, it wasn’t exactly an “order,” it was just the right to make her do one thing I wanted her to do. But it wasn’t something I’d gotten fairly; it was a right I’d obtained rather forcefully.

         I sat the black cat plush on my chest.

         There were a number of things I could come up with for a punishment.

         But I could only choose one thing.

         Most likely, Sendai-san would do whatever I asked as long as it wasn’t anything too ridiculous. Up until now, she’d accepted and gone along with most of my orders. If I told her to lick my feet, she’d probably do it, and if I asked her to kiss me, she’d probably do that too.

         But she would only do it this one time.

         And for some reason, Sendai-san had been abiding by the rules pretty well since we moved here, so I had no idea when I’d get the right to do this again.

         Thinking about it like that, I wasn’t sure what to get Sendai-san to do.

         Maybe it was because we were roommates now, but it felt harder to decide compared to when we were in high school. It was like there were some things I wasn’t allowed to ask for anymore.

         But if that was the case, then what could I get her to do? No matter how much I thought about it, nothing came to mind.

         I picked up the black cat plush again and pressed it against the wall. Its nose brushed against the surface, and I quickly pulled it back.

         This sort of punishment system was nothing more than something we were just doing for fun.

         It wasn’t something I needed to think so seriously about.

         I should just be more casual about it.

         I knew that, but with how Sendai-san suddenly brought up wanting to get a part-time job—something I hadn’t heard anything about—it made it hard to relax and think lightly about it.

         I left the black cat plush by the wall and turned off the lights, curling up and closing my eyes.

         I wished she had told me earlier that she was thinking about a part-time job. When I asked her about it, she said it’d be a private tutoring job, and that she hadn’t decided yet whether she’d take it or not—but I felt like she would.

         And if she did, she’d end up tutoring someone else the same way she used to tutor me—with that same voice, sitting at that same distance apart, just the two of them, alone.

         I doubted she would do anything other than tutoring with her student, but still, I was unamused about the very thought of it.

         Ever since we started university, there were more and more parts of Sendai-san that felt unfamiliar to me. She rarely talked about her campus life, and lately, it felt like I only knew about half of her.

         I was sure she’d tell me most things if I really asked, but even if I did, I wasn’t sure I wanted to, since I couldn’t picture any of it anyway—unlike back in high school. The thought of her getting a part-time job, yet another thing I wouldn’t understand or be part of, was giving me a headache.

         I pulled the black cat plush under the futon with me.

         I’d been sleeping well recently, but tonight it felt like I wouldn’t be able to, so I started counting black cats in my head to try to fall asleep. One, then two, then a third. Instead of sheep, I imagined stuffed black cat plushies jumping over a fence.

         And as I pictured that, I started imagining Sendai-san as a private tutor.

         If she really became a tutor, there was a good chance she’d go back to her old ways and start breaking the rules again. If that happened, I’d have more chances to give her orders through our punishment system.

         But still, it irritated me knowing that if that were the case, it meant she would be prioritizing her part-time job. Her promises with me didn’t have to come first, but I wanted to make sure she never forgot them.

         Something to make sure Sendai-san never forgets her promises with me, huh…

         Maybe that was the kind of punishment I should be thinking about.

         As I kept counting black cat plushies in my head, I kept mulling it over. I wasn’t sure what kind of punishment it’d be exactly, but my mind was getting hazier the more I thought about it.

         After counting around three or four hundred black cats, I ended up falling asleep before I could figure out what I wanted to make Sendai-san do.

         I woke up five minutes before my alarm went off.

         Then, I went to eat the breakfast that Sendai-san had prepared for us today.

         She didn’t bring up the punishment at all.

         Before leaving, she said she’d be home late today—something about that meeting she mentioned yesterday that I didn’t really want to hear anything about. After I finished washing the dishes, I got changed and headed out too.

         It’d be nice if she didn’t end up getting the job.

         As the train rocked back and forth, I found myself wishing misfortune on Sendai-san.

         As her roommate, I felt like I should be rooting for her. But I couldn’t say it out loud. I was the one who told her to start acting more like a proper roommate, and yet here I was, not doing the same. I couldn’t help feeling disappointed in myself.

         After getting off the train, I walked to campus.

         I stepped into the lecture hall, spotted Maika, and sat next to her.

         「Good morning.」

         I called out to her, and she greeted me back.

         「It’s been a while since I’ve seen you look this tired, Shiori.」

         Maika might’ve changed her look since starting university, but her personality hadn’t shifted one bit. She was still as kind and attentive as ever.

         「I got too into the book I was reading and couldn’t put it down.」

         I couldn’t say that the reason I was unable to sleep was because of Sendai-san.

         I leaned back in my seat and looked at Maika.

         Her hair was a little longer than mine, tied back in a ponytail, with small accessories peeking out from her earlobes.

         「Hey, you said you pierced your ears yourself, right?」

         「Yeah.」

         「Did it hurt?」

         「Yeah, it did. Only for a moment, though.」

         「But it still hurt, huh.」

         「Well, it wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be, but I guess it depends on the person. Why? Are you interested in getting your ears pierced too, Shiori?」

         「No, not really.」

         Small accessories like that were cute.

         Watching Maika gradually get cuter made me feel like maybe it’d be okay for me to start putting a little more effort into my appearance too. But I hated pain, even if it was only for a second. If there was a way to pierce my ears without it hurting at all, maybe I’d consider it—but I wasn’t about to go out of my way to find out.

         I couldn’t stop thinking about earrings—probably because back in high school, Sendai-san had been so against the idea of piercing hers.

         Lately, I found myself linking everything back to Sendai-san, and it felt like I was constantly thinking about her.

         「Why not? There are a lot of cute earrings you could wear. We could even match.」

         Maika said as she gently tugged on my ear.

         「Hmm…」

         I took a closer look at her ears.

         The earrings were fixed in the holes of her earlobes.

         ‘If only promises could be bound like that, too,’ I thought to myself.

         But there was no way I’d ever get Sendai-san to pierce her ears.

         She’d gone along with most of my orders, but that was the one thing she flat-out refused.

         「Well, if you’re that curious, why don’t we go check out some earrings together? Even if we’re just browsing, it could still be fun. You free today?」

         I had nothing going on.

         Sendai-san was out meeting someone I’d never heard of before, so she wouldn’t be home early anyway.

         「Yeah, I’m free. Let’s go today.」

         I always had fun spending time with Maika, and I didn’t feel like being home by myself.

         Besides, chances were, Sendai-san would be having dinner with someone else.

         I didn’t know if I’d actually buy anything, but at the very least, I had plans to spend time with Maika once classes were over.

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