I wasn’t enjoying this at all.

         The first thing that ended up being touched was my hair, which wasn’t supposed to be touched in the first place. Since it was in the way, Sendai-san pulled out a headband and smiled as she swept up my bangs and tucked my hair behind my ears, revealing my earrings.

         I knew my hair would get in the way when she started putting makeup on, so I had expected this. I could’ve said no and left her room before any of this happened, but I didn’t, so this was just the consequence of my own actions. I knew that, but even so, I furrowed my brows.

         「I’ve always wanted to try doing your makeup at least once, you know?」

         Sendai-san sounded cheerful. Unlike me, she was in a good mood.

         「Okay, let’s start with applying primer.」

         She pulled a small container out of her makeup case and spread a cream-like substance over my forehead and nose.

         It went without saying that makeup couldn’t be applied without touching my face, but even so, I felt she was too close. Our eyes didn’t meet, though. She had a serious look on her face as she worked, spreading the primer across my skin.

         I couldn’t relax.

         Not knowing where to look, I closed my eyes. As if she’d been waiting for that, she applied primer to the area around my eyes too.

         「Now, we move onto putting on foundation.」

         I didn’t know why she was narrating her every step, but I heard her rummaging through the case and pulling something else out. Then, she started patting foundation onto my face.

         It felt like I was turning into a sheet of drawing paper.

         Sure, they had fancy names like “primer” and “foundation”, but it still just felt like I was getting my face painted.

         All I had to do was sit there and keep quiet, which wasn’t that difficult, but it was dull. I wasn’t allowed to talk, and whenever I tried to touch my face out of curiosity, she told me not to. With nothing to do, the boredom weighed on me. Still, after a while, her hands finally stopped, and I opened my eyes.

         「That’s enough, isn’t it?」

         I looked straight at Sendai-san. She was staring at me with a serious expression.

         「We’re just getting started. What we’ve done so far was only preparation.」

         「I’m tired of this already. Just sitting here and doing nothing is boring.」

         I grabbed her hand before she could pull something else from the case.

         「Just bear with it a little longer.」

         「I don’t want to.」

         「Don’t say that. Give me ten more minutes.」

         「I’ll give you five.」

         Sendai-san let out a small groan as I released her hand. She stared at my face, then pulled something out of the case and told me to close my eyes, then open them, over and over. After feeling around my eyes and eyebrows, five minutes passed.

         「Come on. Isn’t this enough already?」

         「Five minutes wasn’t enough. I’m not finished yet.」

         She sounded frustrated.

         「But you promised only five minutes.」

         「Okay, fine. Let me just put on some blush and lip balm. Then we’ll be done.」

         I hadn’t agreed to anything, but she placed what looked like blush and lip balm on the table anyway.

         It wasn’t worth the energy to argue. Even if I got up and went back to my room, my face had already been turned into a used canvas.

         「Fine. Promise me you’ll stop after those two.」

         I hadn’t asked her to swear on my earrings, but she glanced at them before replying with a simple, “Got it.” Then she picked up a brush, bigger than the ones used in art class, and began dusting blush over my cheeks.

         Right now, it felt like she was drawing a new face on top of mine. The way she applied it seemed like a technique you’d learn in an art class, and I’d never been any good at that. My grades in art had always been low.

         「I’ll apply the lip balm on you directly.」

         Sendai-san said.

         But instead of the balm, I felt her fingertip touch my lips. Slowly, she traced them from one corner to the other.

         She moved slowly and gently.

         She’d done this before—many times.

         But Sendai-san wasn’t the kind of person who would touch my lips without a reason.

         My chest tightened, and I pushed her arm away.

         「Didn’t you say you were going to use the lip balm?」

         She quietly took her finger away, and in its place, she pressed the lip balm against my lips.

         My eyebrows twitched.

         I’d never liked lip balm. The sticky texture always bothered me, so I only ever used it when my lips were really dry. Right now, I just wanted to wipe it off. I wanted to swat her hand away, but instead, I clenched my fists and endured it.

         I didn’t want the balm to smear onto my hands, and I didn’t want to touch anything with it afterward.

         As my nails dug into my palms and my hands began to ache, Sendai-san finally pulled the lip balm away.

         「Okay, we’re done now. You can take that off too,」

         Sendai-san said, pointing at the headband.

         I did as I was told and slipped it off. Then, she handed me a mirror.

         「So, what do you think?」

         At her prompting, I looked into the mirror.

         I knew the face reflected back was mine, but somehow, it felt like I was looking at someone else entirely.

         When my gaze dropped to my lips, I noticed they were now the same color as Sendai-san’s.

         It didn’t suit me. Even though it was the same shade she always wore, it looked completely different on me.

         I knew I wasn’t supposed to touch it, but I still brushed my fingertips against my lips.

         They felt stickier than usual.

         Whenever I kissed Sendai-san while she had lip balm on, I never really minded the texture. So I didn’t understand why I found it so unpleasant when it was on my lips.

         「Come on, let me hear your thoughts, Miyagi.」

         Sendai-san urged, and I looked over at her.

         「… My complexion looks better.」

         「Well, yeah, there’s that too. But I want you to admit that you look cuter now.」

         「I feel like I look weird.」

         「You don’t look weird at all. I put makeup on you to make you cuter—so of course you look cuter now.」

         「It doesn’t really suit me, though.」

         「You look cute. Seriously.」

         Just like I thought, Sendai-san kept saying things that sounded like teasing. If she was actually serious, then she probably needed to get her eyes checked. And if her eyes were fine, then she should’ve just kept her mouth shut. I wasn’t used to hearing those kinds of needless comments, and having them thrown at me over and over sent chills down my spine.

         「Do you want me to teach you how to put your own makeup on?」

         I handed the mirror back to her.

         「No, I’m fine. I’m not going to wear makeup anyway.」

         「If you don’t want to do it yourself, I can always do it for you.」

         「I don’t need you to do that. You’re satisfied now, right? I’m going to take it off.」

         「Wait. Since you’re already wearing makeup, why don’t we go out for dinner today?」

         「I don’t want to. Besides, I already told you—I’m not going anywhere with you during Golden Week. And anyway, what would you do about this?」

         I said, touching her neck.

         The mark I’d left hadn’t faded completely.

         「… I forgot about that.」

         「It’s still pretty obvious.」

         That wasn’t exactly true. It wasn’t as noticeable as I made it sound.

         If she wanted to hide it, she probably could without much trouble. Still, the idea of her covering it up before going out left a bad taste in my mouth. I didn’t want her saying she’d hide it, and I didn’t want her actually doing it either. If anything, I hoped it wouldn’t disappear even after the break ended.

         「I guess we shouldn’t go, then.」

         With a sigh, Sendai-san leaned back against the bed. She touched her neck, even though there was no way to check for the mark just by feeling around.

         Her fingers covered the red spot, so I reached out and grabbed her hand.

         「What is it?」

         She looked at me, surprised.

         「Don’t move.」

         「Is that an order?」

         「No. But I listened to you today and let you put makeup on me, so now you should listen to me too.」

         I met her gaze as she continued leaning against the bed.

         I pulled her hand away, and the mark came back into view.

         She didn’t resist.

         I ran my fingertip along her lips.

         I didn’t mind the way the lip balm felt on her mouth as much as I did on mine. I’d never hated it when she kissed me.

         My finger slid from her lips to her chin, then moved down to the mark on her neck.

         I hadn’t given her an order to stay still, but Sendai-san didn’t try to stop me. I leaned in, bringing my face close to her neck. My lips brushed lightly over the mark, and I felt her throat shift as she spoke.

         「The break’s almost over, you know?」

         「I know.」

         That was why I wasn’t going to leave a mark where it would be visible.

         I undid one of the buttons on her blouse.

         Then I pressed my lips just above her collarbone, in the space between her neck and her shoulder, and sucked hard.

         Through the skin beneath my mouth, I felt the heat of her body—warmer than usual.

         「Miyagi, you’re going to leave another mark.」

Sendai-san tapped me lightly on the shoulder, and I pulled away.

         This one wasn’t as red as the last, and it was in a spot that was easier to hide, so there shouldn’t be a problem.

         But maybe the mark not being visible was the problem.

         「You said you didn’t hate it when I touched you, right, Sendai-san?」

         「Yeah, but isn’t this a little past just ‘touching’?」

         「Don’t sweat the little details, Sendai-san.」

         I buried my face in her neck and lightly bit down where I’d just left the mark. Then I ran my tongue over the spot.

         Out of all the days we’d lived together, this was the closest I’d ever been to her.

         She smelled really nice.

         Even if I used the same shampoo, I doubted I’d smell like her. Even if we wore the same makeup, we looked nothing alike. She was smarter, prettier.

         No matter how much I copied her, we’d never be the same.

         I sank my teeth back into her skin. As I bit down harder, I could feel her skin give beneath my teeth.

         We were different, but doing this made me feel closer to her. Then I heard Sendai-san say it hurt, so I stopped. I licked the faint marks I’d left behind, then trailed my lips up to just under her ear.

         She grabbed me by the arm.

         「Is this supposed to be a punishment?」

         Sendai-san asked, as if the thought had just occurred to her.

         「No, it’s not.」

         「Then what are you doing?」

         It wasn’t an order.

         It wasn’t a punishment either.

         All I wanted was to leave a mark that wouldn’t disappear—something like a piercing. But since she wouldn’t let me pierce her ears, this was all I could do.

         「Does it matter?」

         Now that university had started and she was about to become a part-time tutor, there were more and more parts of Sendai-san I didn’t know.

         I wanted to put myself somewhere in the middle of those unknowns.

         And I felt like it was okay for me to leave at least a small mark on her.

         「It does. Why are you doing this?」

         Sendai-san asked, pressing for an answer even though she’d usually let it go by now.

         But no matter how many times she asked, I didn’t want to tell her.

         It was because she was going to be doing things I wouldn’t know about, in places I didn’t know.

         There was no way I could say that out loud. Even if I told her the truth, she’d probably say that wasn’t a good enough reason to leave a mark on her.

         I pressed my tongue against her neck again.

         Her skin felt warmer than usual.

         I moved my mouth back to just beneath her ear and sucked gently. I wasn’t sure if I left a mark, but I licked her earlobe anyway and pressed my lips to it.

         It was cooler than her neck.

         It felt nice.

         「Hey, Miyagi. Things might get a little dangerous if you keep this up.」

         She said, gripping my arm tightly.

         Still, I kept licking her earlobe, and then bit down softly.

         She pulled me closer, wrapping her arms around my back.

         「Don’t do that.」

         I tried to push her off, but her voice came right next to my ear.

         「You were going to keep going, weren’t you? Then let me do a little of what I want, too.」

         「Let go of me.」

         Her arms only tightened.

         「I won’t do it again, so let go.」

         I pushed her harder this time, and finally managed to slip out of her arms.

         「Miyagi, you really shouldn’t do stuff like that so easily.」

         Sendai-san said, touching just above her collarbone.

         「I don’t want to hear that from you, Sendai-san.」

         I wasn’t the only one who touched others without permission.

         Sendai-san touched me too—and would even kiss me. Considering that, she had no right to complain, no matter what I did.

         「Miyagi.」

         Sendai-san called out to me and let out a sigh.

         「What?」

         「Do you want to go out for dinner sometime?」

         I hadn’t expected her to ask that, and to my own surprise, I answered with, “Sure,” before I could even stop myself.

         I didn’t mind going. But it annoyed me how easily she pulled that answer out of me.

         「Okay, it’s a promise, then.」

         Sendai-san said, grabbing my arm before I could even start to complain.

         The distance between us disappeared in an instant, and her lips brushed against my ear, over my hair.

         Then, she kissed my earring.

         「How can you just do that so easily?」

         「It’s basically like a pinky promise.」

         「Then why didn’t we just use our pinkies?」

         「You’re the one who said your earrings are supposed to help us remember our promises, right? So it’s fine, isn’t it? If I don’t swear on them properly, we might forget our promise.」

         Sendai-san spoke like it was the most natural thing in the world. But I realized something wasn’t right.

         「Wait. That’s not how it works. These earrings are for you to remember the promises I make—not for me to remember the promises you make.」

         「Don’t sweat the small stuff, Miyagi.」

         She said as she fastened the buttons I had undone earlier.

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