I carried a convenience store bag in one hand and a brand-new key in the other.

         Sliding it into the lock, I opened the door and stepped inside.

         「I’m home.」

         My voice echoed through the empty apartment, unanswered. Of course, there was no one here to reply, but that simple fact filled me with quiet joy. So I said it again, just to savor the sound.

         Back in high school, I’d lived in a house full of people who never answered when I came through the door. I’d long since stopped expecting a reply, but each silence felt like something was being chipped away from me. The memories I cherished with my parents and older sister were still there, but over time, every unanswered “I’m home” made them harder to hold onto.

         Here, though, things were different.

         This new apartment—this space I’d chosen for myself—held no one who could hurt me like that. Hearing my own words echo back felt wonderful in a way I hadn’t imagined. Moving out had been the right choice, and from the bottom of my heart, I was glad I’d come here.

         Since moving in, I must have said “I’m home” countless times already, but I never got tired of it. I wanted to keep saying it, over and over, enjoying every moment in this quiet place that belonged only to me.

         But soon—around two o’clock—this apartment would no longer be mine alone. Miyagi would be moving in, and the thought of sharing this space with her filled me with a happiness even greater than the freedom of leaving my family behind. I’d been waiting for this day for a long time.

         「I’m home.」

         I mumbled again under my breath as I took off my shoes. The entryway was smaller than the one back at my family’s house, but somehow it felt like it fit me better. I walked down the short hallway and into the living room and kitchen. From the convenience store bag, I put away the soda and barley tea in the fridge, then set a sandwich, some orange juice, and my bag on the table. I sat down, letting my eyes wander over the room.

         All the furniture and appliances here were picked out by me, bought with money from my parents. I chose everything by weighing price against design, compromising when I had to, but I thought I’d done a decent job. Truthfully, I wanted to choose it all with Miyagi, but she brushed it off and told me to handle it.

         That was just like her.

         I took a bite of the sandwich. I wasn’t hungry, but I kept eating anyway. When I finished, I washed it down with some orange juice. Just then, my phone buzzed.

         It was Umina.

         『Can I stay over at your place during summer break? 』

         Ever since I’d moved here, she’d been sending me messages like that. Wanting to visit, wanting to hang out during Golden Week. My phone was full of those little attempts to tie my high school self to the person I was now. But none of it stirred anything in me. Still, I wasn’t cold-hearted enough to cut her off, so like always, I channeled my high school self and replied:

         『I have a roommate, so that’d be a little complicated.』

         I set my phone back on the table.

         What I wanted wasn’t a message from Umina, or the occasional one from Mariko. What I wanted was to hear from Miyagi, who almost never reached out after we graduated.

         Of course, that wish went unanswered. It always did. Miyagi only contacted me when she needed something.

         I let my head sink onto the table.

         Speaking of people who didn’t need anything from me, my sister had sent me a single message too.

         I sighed.

         She’d sent a pointless message saying, “Did you finish moving in?” and I’d replied with a simple yes. That was it. We’d barely spoken in ages, so I had no idea why she even bothered, and I didn’t care enough to find out.

         I sat back up, drained the last of my orange juice, and tossed the trash away. Then, I opened my contacts on my phone and brought up Miyagi’s name, trying to push away everything else.

         『Are you sure you don’t need me to come pick you up?』

         I’d already asked her once and gotten a no, but I couldn’t stop myself from sending it again. Of course, unlike Umina or Mariko, she didn’t reply right away. After five or ten minutes, a short message finally appeared on my screen: “I’m fine by myself.“

         I wasn’t exactly happy with that answer, but it was so typical of Miyagi. Still, just knowing she’d replied at all was enough to make me feel better.

         「I guess I have no choice but to wait for her.」

         I put my phone back down on the table and stood up.

         There were two bedrooms right in front of me—one already mine, and the other reserved for Miyagi. She’d said whoever moved in first could choose their room, so I did. Not that it mattered much; the rooms were basically the same size with nearly identical layouts. The only thing that mattered was making it clear which one belonged to which of us.

         I opened the door to my room.

         My room still felt unfamiliar to me. It was filled with new furniture I wasn’t used to: a small bookshelf, a set of drawers, and a bed with comforters cheaper than the one I’d had before. Everything was simple, but the bed was different.

         It was the one thing I’d bought entirely with my own money.

         I’d decided to let myself stay under my parents’ care for the next four years, so I wasn’t paying my living expenses out of pocket. That also meant I hadn’t completely cut ties with them either. But at the very least, I wanted something of my own to sleep on.

         I had no plans to go back to the house my family lived in. Buying this bed was my way of renewing that resolve, and a way to feel like I was finally living as myself.

         I walked around the room once before sitting down on the mattress.

         There were a few things I’d brought from home—my books, my clothes, my mirror. But one important thing was missing.

         ─ A piggy bank that could hold up to one million yen.

         It had been in my old room ever since I bought it in my first year of high school, but it doesn’t exist anymore. Since there wasn’t any way to take money out of it, I had to break it open with a can opener¹ when it came time to sign the contract for this apartment, and from the moment I did, it stopped serving any purpose.

         But in its place, I was gaining something far more important—a new roommate.

         「This almost feels like a lie.」

         On the day we graduated, I had already signed the contract for this apartment and offered Miyagi an envelope with the invitation to move in. At the time, I honestly didn’t believe she would accept. I’d been pushy, maybe too pushy, and it felt only natural that she would turn me down.

         I stood up and paced around my room once more. The thought of Miyagi becoming my roommate starting today made me strangely restless.

         I paused briefly, then circled around again like a caged animal, before finally heading back out to the shared living area.

         I wasn’t usually this nervous, but when it came to Miyagi, I could never seem to act like myself.

         My phone sat silent on the table. No new messages.

         I turned to look at the two bedroom doors standing side by side in the hallway.

         I knocked gently on the one that would be hers.

         There was no reply, of course.

         Still, I opened the door and peeked inside.

         The room was bare, with no furniture and no boxes yet. It didn’t feel like hers at all.

         「I wonder what Miyagi’s going to bring with her.」

         I could easily recall her old room—I had visited often enough, once or twice a week, sometimes more. Bookshelves lined with manga and novels, many I had read myself, some I was still waiting on for the next volume or sequel. But she never told me what she planned to bring here, and I couldn’t get a clear picture of what this empty space would look like once it belonged to her.

         Miyagi was stingy like that, always keeping things to herself.

         I closed the door and went back to the living area, staring down at my phone again. Time seemed to move unbearably slowly. She never sent messages like “I’m almost there” or “I’ll be there soon,” and without them, even a single minute stretched out as if it lasted twice as long. I knew pacing the apartment wouldn’t make time go faster, but I couldn’t stop moving. I circled the dining area once before sitting down, still fidgeting.

         I hadn’t seen her since graduation, and I had been waiting for this day for weeks. Ten or twenty minutes should have been nothing, but my heart wouldn’t calm down.

         I stopped shuffling my feet and glanced at my phone again. To distract myself, I started searching for things we might still need for the apartment, making mental notes as I went, but nothing seemed to stick. The information slipped away as soon as I read it, and no matter how hard I tried, my head refused to hold on to it. With a small sigh, I gave the side of my head a light slap, as if to jog my memory, then drew in three slow breaths.

         And then—my ears caught a sound.

         The faint creak of the front door opening.

         I immediately stood up.

         Just as I was about to head for the front door, the one leading into the dining and kitchen area opened, and Miyagi stepped inside.

         I’d given her a key a while ago, so it didn’t bother me that she came in without ringing the intercom, but what did bother me was that she never gave me a heads-up. Any normal person would’ve at least sent a quick message like, “I’m at the station” or “I’m in front of the building.” I knew she wasn’t the type to contact me like that, but still, I couldn’t help wishing she had said something.

         Before I could complain, though, there was something else I wanted to say first.

         「Welcome home, Miyagi.」

         I greeted her with a faint smile. She wore a hoodie and jeans I’d seen her in before, and she gave me a puzzled look.

         「Welcome ‘home’? Shouldn’t it just be ‘welcome’?」

         「This is your home now too, so I think ‘welcome home’ fits better.」

         The day she chose the envelope over the pendant, it was decided that this apartment would become her home. And ever since then, I’d been waiting for this moment—because I wanted “Welcome home” to be the very first words I greeted her with.

         「… I’m home.」

         I hadn’t asked her to, but Miyagi gave exactly the reply I’d been longing to hear.

         That made me really happy.

         I was so happy, I wanted to throw open the window and shout it for the whole world to hear.

         After all this time, the words “I’m home” had finally been answered with “Welcome home.”

         「Welcome home.」

         I said once more, and she replied once again with, “I’m home.”

         I told Miyagi to set her luggage down for now and offered to show her around the apartment.

         「This apartment’s not so big that I’d need a tour, though.」

         「That’s true, but it’s just common courtesy.」

         I smiled as Miyagi set her luggage down.

         「I guess if you want to show me around, then go ahead.」

         She said in a flat voice.

         She was always a little cold with me, so I didn’t mind.

         After showing her the changing room, the toilet, and the bathing area, we returned to the dining and kitchen space.

         「This is the dining and kitchen area. That’s about it for our shared spaces. Oh, and lastly, your room’s over there, and mine’s the one next to it.」

         「… Thanks. I’ll go bring my stuff to my room.」

         「Wait, before that—do you want something to drink? I bought some soda and barley tea.」

         「I’m okay.」

         She answered curtly, but I didn’t want her to leave just yet.

         「It’s been a while since we last saw each other. Why don’t we chat a bit? How have you been?」

         「I’ve been okay. Can’t you tell just by looking at me?」

         「Even if I could guess just by looking, I wouldn’t know for sure unless I asked, right?」

         「I guess you have a point there… How have you been, Sendai-san?」

         「As you can see, I’ve been fine too.」

         I smiled, but the conversation stalled.

         The dining and kitchen area fell silent, and Miyagi, looking a little troubled, twisted the strings of her hoodie around her fingers. This kind of silence—something that hadn’t been between us for a long time—felt strange, like I couldn’t just ignore it like I used to be able to. I tapped my fingertips on the table and looked at her. She undid the strings, turned her back to me, and said, “I’m going to put my stuff in my room.”

         「I’ve been waiting all this time for you, Miyagi.」

         I called as she walked away with her luggage.

         「You say that, but it hasn’t even been that long, has it? It feels like we only graduated a few days ago.」

         Miyagi said without turning around.

         「I moved into the apartment first, so it feels like it’s been a long time for me. The moving company’s supposed to be here around four, right?」

         「Yeah.」

         「I see.」

         The words faded quickly, and silence fell again. The atmosphere was starting to stagnate, so I tried to sound as cheerful as I could.

         「I’m looking forward to living with you, Miyagi.」

         Miyagi, who had still been facing away, turned around. She furrowed her brows and pressed her fingers to them before quietly saying,

         「… Looking forward to it, too.」

         With that, she disappeared into her room.

         A new place. An unfamiliar Miyagi. It felt like the road ahead wouldn’t be easy, but from the bottom of my heart, I was glad she had chosen the envelope that day.

---

1. Nowhere is it mentioned in the story that Sendai owns a piggy bank in the shape of an actual pig, so this is my fault. I’m used to calling any sort of money bank a “piggy bank,” but in reality, she probably owns a money bank that looks like this (in the shape of a can). They are functionally the same. ↩︎

---

< Previous Part | Next Part >