It had been thirty minutes since I’d introduced myself and exchanged greetings at my new job, and the tension in my body finally began to ease. Mio’s upperclassman had told me that being a private tutor wasn’t as hard as I was making it out to be, but doing anything for the first time always made me nervous.

         Just like we’d planned, my part-time job as a private tutor began after Golden Week ended. But it wasn’t going as smoothly as when I used to tutor Miyagi.

         I didn’t know how much small talk was allowed, or how close I was supposed to get to the student. Mio’s upperclassman had said I should imagine being like a teacher, but I didn’t have a clear image of what that meant for me—and before I could figure it out, the first day arrived.

         My student introduced herself as Hanamaki Kikyou, a third-year middle schooler. She was sitting across the table from me now, staring so hard at her workbook it looked like she might burn a hole through it.

         I sipped the barley tea her mother had brought for us.

         It reminded me of how Miyagi used to serve me barley tea after school.

         「Sensei.」

         Hanamaki-san looked up and called out to me.

         Being called “sensei” felt a little strange and made me a little uneasy—it wasn’t something I’d ever been called before starting this job.

         「Was there anything you didn’t understand?」

         I glanced at her notebook. Her handwriting was clean and organized. In the past thirty minutes, I’d already realized Hanamaki-san was more than capable when it came to studying—honestly, she didn’t seem like someone who even needed a tutor. Her mother had asked me to help her prepare for her high school entrance exams, but from the looks of it, there wasn’t much to worry about.

         「No, I understand it just fine. I just wanted to ask—why are you working as a private tutor?」

         Hanamaki-san looked straight at me as she asked, her tone calm despite her bright, active appearance. Her short hair was neatly tucked behind her ears—unlike Miyagi’s—but like Miyagi, she wore her uniform perfectly by the book.

         「Hmm…」

         I mumbled, unsure how to answer.

         Part of me wanted to say, “I just needed the money,” but I knew that wouldn’t be appropriate to answer with.

         「I guess… it’s because I enjoy teaching people.」

         「Do you tutor a lot?」

         「Just my friends, mostly.」

         That wasn’t really the right way to describe what Miyagi was to me, but I couldn’t explain that while I was on the job. I quickly started talking about something else to steer the conversation away from having to talk about it.

         「What about you, Hanamaki-san? Do you prefer being taught, or do you like teaching others?」

         「I like being taught. My older sister used to help me study a lot.」

         I took another sip of barley tea at the mention of something I didn’t really want to hear.

         It brought back memories—of my older sister who could do everything, and of myself, who could only do things well enough.

         Our parents used to treat us both equally, but once our differences became clearer, most of their attention went to her. That shift created a distance between us that had never really gone away.

         Still, maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing.

         If they’d continued to dote on me the way they did before, I probably wouldn’t be living with Miyagi now.

         I drank more tea, trying to swallow the memories along with it.

         「Does your sister still help you now?」

         「She lives on campus at a high school she got into on a sports recommendation.」

         「Oh, I see.」

         I set my empty cup on the table.

         Hanamaki-san didn’t seem like the athletic type, so it was hard to picture what her sister was like—but that didn’t really matter. What mattered was that the tense atmosphere had finally started to lighten.

         I wasn’t terrible at dealing with awkward silences, but I didn’t want to be stuck in one for the whole session.

         We weren’t that far apart in age, but I still didn’t know what we had in common. So we just kept working through her assignments, chatting here and there about small things.

         I was going to be doing this twice a week, ninety minutes each time.

         It would probably take a little more time before I got used to being her tutor, but just as we were starting to warm up to each other, our time was up.

         After saying goodbye to her mother, I headed to the front door.

         As I was putting on my shoes, Hanamaki-san—who was around the same height as Miyagi—bowed politely and said, “Thank you,” smiling brightly as she saw me off.

         Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen Miyagi smile once since we started living together. I couldn’t help but think how nice it would be if she could smile like that, too.

         I got on the train and headed home.

         Hanamaki-san was smart and easy to talk to.

         She was the complete opposite of Miyagi, who almost never gave me a straight answer.

         ‘Well, it’d probably creep me out if Miyagi suddenly became honest, though,’ I thought to myself as the train swayed along a route I wasn’t used to. After getting off, I passed through the ticket gate and followed the usual path home. I climbed the stairs to the third floor and unlocked the door to our apartment.

         Miyagi’s shoes were at the entrance, but she was nowhere in sight.

         My stomach let out a quiet growl.

         I’d told her I’d be home late, so she’d probably already eaten without me. Still, I knocked on her door, despite already knowing the answer.

         Once, then twice, then three times.

         Before I could even peek inside her room, Miyagi opened her door, slammed it shut behind her, and walked straight into our shared space.

         「Did you already eat?」

         I asked before she could say anything.

         「I did.」

         「What’d you have?」

         「Instant noodles.」

         She muttered.

         「You should eat properly.」

         「Why does it matter? I was eating alone anyway. Was that all you wanted?」

         「I was going to make some tea. Want some?」

         That wasn’t what I was aiming for, but I played it off like it was. I’d been hoping we could eat together, but with that off the table, I had no other way to keep the conversation going.

         「What about your dinner, Sendai-san?」

         「I’ll eat later.」

         「You should eat right now.」

         「Fine. But at least have some tea with me.」

         Before she could turn back to her room, I grabbed her arm and pulled her to her chair.

         As the kettle boiled, I opened the fridge.

         I didn’t want to end up like Miyagi, but today, I didn’t feel like cooking for one.

         I filled a pot with water and dropped in a packet of instant stew. While it simmered, I poured some tea into a mug and handed it to Miyagi. Then, I scooped rice onto a plate and poured the stew over it.

         I knew it was better to eat them separately, but I didn’t feel like washing more dishes today. It was the first day of my first part-time job, and I was exhausted. So, I ate it the same way Miyagi had served it to me before.

         As I brought the plate over and sat down, Miyagi spoke up first.

         「… Hey, what’s the student you’re tutoring like?」

         「She’s a good kid. She seems to keep up with her studies, and she’s polite too.」

         「Is that so?」

         Miyagi responded flatly, like she couldn’t care less.

         「She seems pretty honest and straightforward too. Totally unlike you, Miyagi.」

         I said on purpose as I took another bite of my stew. After swallowing, I glanced over at her. She was tapping her fingers on the table.

         「I don’t need to be honest with you, Sendai-san.」

         「Then who would you be honest with?」

         「Anyone but you.」

         「Yeah, I figured you’d say that.」

         Even if the thought of Miyagi being honest with me felt kind of creepy, I still found myself wishing she’d be a little more straightforward sometimes.

         For example, I wanted her to show me her ears if I asked.

         Unlike Hanamaki-san, Miyagi had her ears hidden again today. Her hair completely blocked them, covering the earrings she’d gotten for my sake. I was pretty sure she kept them hidden at school too, but I had a feeling if Utsunomiya ever asked to see them, she’d gladly show her without hesitation.

         I nearly sighed, but instead, I took another bite of stew and swallowed the sigh along with it.

         Then I opened my mouth again.

         「Miyagi. You already went out of your way to get your ears pierced. Why not just leave them uncovered?」

         She frowned at me from across the table.

         She paused for a moment, like she was thinking something through, then reached up and tucked her hair behind her ears.

         I almost dropped my spoon, but managed to set it down on the plate like normal.

         「Promise me something, Sendai-san.」

         Miyagi said as she walked over to my side.

         「What is it?」

         「That you’ll make dinner for us tomorrow.」

         「… Sure. What do you want to eat?」

         I reached my hand out to Miyagi. Instead of making a promise on her earrings, I simply touched them.

         I wanted to kiss her ear—but I couldn’t bring myself to move. Something about the way she was right now felt different from the Miyagi I knew.

         「I want to eat whatever you like, Sendai-san.」

         「Okay.」

         I answered while running through a list of recipes in my head.

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