Sendai-san sometimes said things in a way that made it hard to tell whether she meant them or not.

         So when she said that my new earrings looked good on me, I couldn’t tell if she really meant it. Her smile felt like it was trying to hide how she was actually feeling, and I couldn’t trust it.

         Not knowing what to say, I brushed my fingertips against the earrings and glanced at them.

         「I thought there’d be at least a little blood.」

         Even though I’d touched my ear, which had just been pierced, there was nothing on my fingers. I wasn’t entirely sure how it worked, but apparently piercing your ears didn’t make it bleed all that much.

         「Wait, did you bring this platypus here in case you did bleed?」

         Sendai-san picked up the platypus with tissues sprouting from its back and gave its head a small pat as she spoke.

         「Yeah.」

         I’d read online that ear piercings didn’t usually bleed, and Maika had said hers hadn’t either. Still, I’d brought tissues just in case something did happen. It turned out they weren’t necessary, though.

         「You’re such a scaredy-cat, Miyagi. And a total worrywart.」

         Sendai-san made the platypus wave its arms as she said that.

         「I wasn’t scared, and I’m not a worrywart.」

         「You were flinching the whole time I was piercing your ears.」

         「You looked even more nervous than I did, Sendai-san.」

         「Well, yeah. It would’ve been awful if the piercings ended up crooked.」

         Her gaze moved from the platypus to my ear, then she fell silent.

         「Why’d you suddenly go quiet?」

         「Can I touch your ears?」

         Before I could say no, she reached out her arm out toward me, and I smacked her hand away.

         「No. You’re not supposed to touch it right after they’ve been pierced.」

         「But you were just touching them yourself.」

         「I was going to disinfect them again, so it’s fine.」

         「Well, if you were planning to disinfect them again anyway, you should just let me touch them then.」

         「No. And why should I let you touch them anyway?」

         「I just want to make sure your earrings aren’t crooked. It’s fine as long as I don’t touch the actual piercings, right?」

         「You don’t need to touch them to see if they’re straight, right? They look fine, so there’s nothing to check, Sendai-san.」

         There was no need to confirm anything.

         A quick glance in the mirror was enough to show that they weren’t crooked.

         She was obviously just making up an excuse to do something weird. Sendai-san always did this kind of thing whenever I let my guard down.

         「Hey, Miyagi. Did you know?」

         Unsure if she’d given up on touching my ear, her tone suddenly softened.

         「What?」

         「They say it hurts more after you get your ears pierced than during.」

         「I know. I read that online, too.」

         「I see.」

         Sendai-san set the platypus down on the floor and took my right hand in hers. I instinctively tried to pull away, but she held on tighter and pulled me closer—and then something warm brushed just above my earlobe.

         I could tell right away that it was her lips.

         Her fingers gripped my wrist, tight enough to sting a little.

         But more than anything, I was focused on my ear. It felt a little ticklish, almost nice, and my heart was beating faster than before. It had been a while since I’d felt her like this.

         This was all Sendai-san’s fault.

         She pulled away for a moment, then pressed her lips against my ear even more firmly than before.

         Heat spread across my skin. My ear felt like it was burning.

         I shoved her away with my left hand, pushing at her shoulder as hard as I could.

         「Don’t do such weird stuff out of nowhere. You’ll get germs in it.」

         「I didn’t touch the piercing itself, so it should be fine. And it wasn’t something “weird.” It was a charm to take the pain away.」

         She said, referring to something she’d done before.

         But I knew it was something she’d just made up.

         It hadn’t hurt badly enough to make a fuss over. And even after she performed her little charm, my ears still stung.

         「Stuff like that isn’t actually going to make the pain go away, you know.」

         「Well, it’s not the kind of charm that works instantly.」

         「Stop making things up on the spot, Sendai-san.」

         「But you know my charms do work, don’t you?」

         The last time Sendai-san performed one of her “charms” on me, she’d said it would help me write the right answers on my entrance exams.

         Whether or not it had actually helped me pass… I wasn’t sure.

         No—realistically, it hadn’t been because of the charm. It was because I’d studied, and because Sendai-san had been there to help me, too. Her charm had probably had nothing to do with it.

         「You call it a “charm,” but it’s really just an excuse to do whatever you want, isn’t it?」

         「Then what do you want to do, Miyagi?」

         「Anything other than whatever it is you want.」

         「So if I said I didn’t want to cast a charm on you, does that mean you would do it to me instead?」

         「That’s not what I meant.」

         「Then stop arguing and let me do it.」

         Sendai-san tugged on my arm again. I nearly lost my balance, and I peeled her hand off my wrist.

         「Hey, Sendai-san—!」

         Before I could finish speaking, she grabbed my shoulder.

         She leaned in, and her lips brushed against the top of my ear.

         This was the closest we’d gotten since we started living together.

         Ever since we began living together, Sendai-san’s lips had never come this close to my body—and I’d been careful to make sure situations like this didn’t happen. I’d done my best to keep a proper distance between us as roommates. But right now, she was so close, all of that effort was falling apart, and she was touching me.

         「Miyagi.」

         She said my name beside my ear.

         Her breath tickled.

         Her lips pressed against my ear again, and it started to heat up.

         She was too close.

         I knew I should move.

         But unlike before, I couldn’t bring myself to push her away.

         Then something else brushed against my ear—it was the tip of her tongue, lightly wetting my skin. Just like she’d said, she was being careful not to touch the piercing itself.

         Her tongue moved slowly, and I felt a chill run down my spine.

         It was ticklish and gross.

         She licked the surface of my ear, tracing it with her tongue, and my breath caught in my throat. But then, that uncomfortable feeling started to melt into something different—something that almost felt good.

         I let out a big breath and shoved her away by the shoulder.

         「Hey, Sendai-san! Back off.」

         I put more force into my hands, and Sendai-san finally backed off.

         We were still closer than we should be as roommates, but at least not close enough for her to kiss my ear anymore.

         I grabbed a tissue from the platypus tissue box nearby and wiped my ear.

         Then, I smacked Sendai-san’s thigh with the platypus.

         「Ouch.」

         Sendai-san said, as if to exaggerate the pain.

         「I told you to stop doing weird stuff like this. Roommates don’t do things like this with each other.」

         「Why not? Roommates can give each other charms, too, can’t they?」

         「Yeah, but not these kinds of charms. You seriously need to start acting like a proper roommate, Sendai-san.」

         「But you’re the one who—」

         She trailed off.

         「I’m the one who what?」

         「… You’re the one who asked me to pierce your ears, Miyagi.」

         「Yeah, but I never said you could do anything else.」

         I smacked her with the platypus again.

         「Ow.」

         「I’m the one who’s in pain here. Disinfect my ears again.」

         I handed her the cotton and disinfectant.

         She took them without a word, soaked the cotton, and gently pressed it against my earrings.

         Once she disinfected both, she pulled the cotton away.

         My ears felt cold.

         Unlike when her lips or tongue had touched them.

         It was so much warmer when she’d touched them earlier—

         I lifted my hand toward my ear again, but stopped halfway and balled it into a fist.

         「I’m going back to my room.」

         I put the piercing gun, disinfectant, and cotton back into a paper bag and stood up. As I did, Sendai-san tugged on my clothes.

         「Miyagi.」

         「What?」

         「I said it earlier too, but I really do think the earrings look good on you. They’re cute.」

         「You don’t have to flatter me. They’re not even meant to look nice or anything.」

         The earrings that I had bought along with the piercing gun were just basic studs meant to keep the holes open. I picked them for the material, not the design. They were medical-grade stainless steel—nothing about them was meant to be cute in the way Sendai-san was making them out to be.

         「Still, I think they look cute on you.」

         「Whatever you say.」

         I turned my back to her.

         I took one step. Then another. And then her voice stopped me again.

         「Wait, what about this?」

         I turned around and saw her holding the platypus tissue box.

         「Just keep it in your room, Sendai-san.」

         「But I already have my own tissue box.」

         I walked back over, took the platypus from her hands, removed the cover from the box, and handed the cover to her.

         「Here.」

         「You want me to use this on my tissue box?」

         「It’ll look better with it. But if you don’t want it, I’ll just put it back where it was.」

         「Okay, I’ll use it. Hand it over.」

         Sendai-san took the cover back from me and added, like she’d just remembered:

         「Oh, one more thing.」

         「What?」

         「Are you free during Golden Week?」

         It wasn’t something I expected her to ask, but I didn’t even need to check a calendar to give her an answer.

         「Yeah, but whatever you’re planning, the answer’s no.」

         「I haven’t even told you what it is yet.」

         「You were going to ask if I wanted to go somewhere with you, weren’t you?」

         「… Well, yeah.」

         「If you can come up with something else, I’ll think about it.」

         Sendai-san and I didn’t have the same interests. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure what hers were. We had different friends, different universities, and even liked different kinds of movies. Staying in together made more sense than going out.

         「Then make sure you leave some room in your schedule open. I’ll come up with something.」

         She said that as she gently patted the head of the platypus, now slumped over without its tissue box.

         「Okay.」

         I turned my back to her again.

         As I opened the door, she said, “Good night,” and I answered with the same.

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