The barley tea remained untouched, condensation gathering around the cup.

         Miyagi hadn’t drunk a single sip from the second cup of barley tea she’d asked for, and she stayed silent.

         Our Sunday felt just like any other day, and yet at the same time, somehow different.

         「Oh right. When do you want to go out and shop for earrings together?」

         I brought up what I thought was a harmless topic, steering the conversation back to something I’d mentioned on Thursday.

         To be honest, I was still curious about the situation with Utsunomiya, but I wanted to turn my feelings in a different direction.

         「I haven’t decided yet.」

         Miyagi said, brushing the condensation from the cup with her fingers.

         「Oh, I see.」

         「We can just go whenever, right?」

         「Yeah, we can. What kind of earrings do you want, Miyagi?」

         「Weren’t you the one who wanted to decide for me?」

         「I do plan to pick them out, but I figured I should at least ask what kind you had in mind.」

         Her earrings were supposed to be a special reminder of the promises I had made to her, so this was something important to me.

         The piercings I’d opened, which had once felt like proof that Miyagi was mine, were no longer the same as they had been back then. But I wanted them to stay meaningful to me for a long time.

         That was why I wanted the earrings I gave Miyagi to be something bought with my own money, not my parents’ wallet.

         Miyagi wasn’t the type to want something so expensive that I couldn’t afford it with my wages, but I wanted to be able to buy her whatever pair she wanted, even if it was expensive. So I wanted to know in advance if there was anything in particular she had in mind.

         I knew that if I told her I would be paying with my own wages, she’d try to tell me I didn’t have to and attempt to back out, so I had no intention of letting her know.

         「… I don’t really have anything in mind, so I’ll just leave it up to you, Sendai-san.」

         Miyagi said coldly.

         「Okay, then let me see your earrings.」

         「Why do I have to show you my earrings?」

         「I just want to use them as a reference for what to get you.」

         Miyagi’s earrings were hidden by her hair again today. I already knew what kind she was wearing underneath, but I still wanted to see them anyway.

         「I’ll show you when we’re going shopping.」

         I wasn’t expecting a positive response from her, but I was still disappointed by it.

         After a moment of hesitation, I stood up and reached my hand out toward Miyagi.

         However, Miyagi pulled away before I could touch her hair. The sound of her chair legs rattling against the floor made me stop in my tracks. My hand, now with nowhere else to go, ended up on the table, and I let out a sigh.

         If it had been Utsunomiya asking, would Miyagi have shown her without a second thought?

         As I wondered about it, the feeling that had been simmering within me grew stronger.

         I wanted to touch Miyagi.

         Until recently, I would have just gone ahead, tucked her hair behind her ear, and looked at her earrings. But the memory of last week was still vivid, and Miyagi’s excessive reaction now made me hesitate.

         「You didn’t have to seem that surprised.」

         I tried to say casually with a smile on my face.

         I didn’t want to add any undue pressure to this otherwise calm atmosphere.

         But if things went on like this, I felt like I’d never be able to touch Miyagi again.

         「I’m not going to do anything weird to you.」

         I said, then reached my hand out slowly this time.

         Miyagi didn’t back away.

         For the first time in a week, my hand touched her with the actual intention of wanting to feel her. I had grabbed Miyagi’s arm when we were at Utsunomiya’s place, but at the time, I’d been focused only on getting her home, nothing else.

         Even though I was only touching her hair, my heartbeat grew so loud, I felt like even Miyagi could hear it.

         I was surprised at myself for feeling this nervous over such a trivial thing.

         I combed her soft hair with my fingers, then tucked it behind her ear. I brushed her earring lightly, feeling the firmness of the silver stud, before tracing her earlobe.

         Miyagi seemed like she was about to grab my hand, but didn’t.

         Our eyes met, but she didn’t complain.

         Seeing her not grab my hand when she normally would have, or her not launching into complaints like she usually did, made me feel that even though I’d touched her so many times before, what I was doing right now felt more special than usual.

         Taking advantage of Miyagi’s lack of resistance, my hand grew bolder.

         I slid the hand that had been touching her earlobe down to her neck.

         I caressed the side of her throat and trailed downward. Her smooth skin felt so good to touch, and memories of last week came flooding back into my mind. Remembering how Miyagi had sounded then made my chest tighten, and all traces of Utsunomiya vanished from my thoughts.

         I slowly made my way down to her collarbone.

         As I traced my finger over the bone, Miyagi’s body trembled slightly. Then, she finally grabbed my hand.

         「Don’t touch me anywhere other than my ears.」

         Miyagi said, tightening her grip.

         「Okay.」

         Miyagi pulled my hand away before letting go.

         I sat back down in my chair and stared at her.

         She still didn’t get up from her seat, nor was she shooting glares at me.

         And it made my heart beat faster than usual.

         These were just little things, but they made it feel like something was different from usual.

         Just like how the sky changed colors between night and morning, it felt like the colors between us were changing as well. But I wanted a change that was more dramatic, something vastly different from how things normally were.

         If nothing had changed even after all we’d done together, then maybe there had never been any chance for change at all, no matter what we did. If things stayed the same between us, Miyagi would at least remain here as my roommate until we finished university. But if I tried to force a change in our relationship, she might run away again—and this time, never come back.

         「I’m going back to my room.」

         Miyagi said in a cold tone before I could decide what to do.

         「Wait.」

         「I don’t want to.」

         「Why not?」

         「Because it feels like you’re about to do something strange, Sendai-san.」

         Miyagi stood up from her seat.

         But I grabbed her arm before she could make her way back to her room.

         「What do you mean by “something strange”?」

         「Why don’t you put your hand on your chest and mull it over?¹」

         If I could put my hand on your chest, I’m sure I could figure out the answer right away.

         As that silly thought ran through my head, Miyagi’s sullen voice cut through my imagination.

         「Sendai-san. Let go.」

         I let go of Miyagi’s arm, but then grabbed her hand instead.

         「That’s not what I meant.」

         I knew that, but I just didn’t want Miyagi to go back to her room just yet.

         My feelings and Miyagi’s didn’t seem to overlap.

         But the reason we could still even be around each other like this was probably because I’d used the word “roommates” to describe us on Sunday. That word felt like such a restriction placed on me, but while I wanted to get rid of it someday, I was hesitant to do so now.

         All I wanted at this moment was to go back to the relationship we used to have.

         To be honest, I wanted to at least be able to kiss her, but doing that now would take just as much courage as approaching a random stranger on the street.

         After thinking for a moment, I chose to do something that Miyagi would probably let me get away with right now, and brought her fingers to my lips.

         Miyagi’s hand stiffened.

         「Would you consider this “something strange,” Miyagi?」

         She didn’t answer, but she didn’t try to leave either.

         Relieved that Miyagi was still here, I kissed her knuckles.

         Her fingers twitched slightly.

         I pressed my lips against them firmly, feeling more of the hardness of her bones than the softness of her skin.

         「Sendai-san.」

         Miyagi’s voice was sharper than any bone.

         It was best not to go further. I should be satisfied with just having kissed her, even if it wasn’t on her lips, and let it end here.

         I knew that—but I couldn’t stop myself. I started running my tongue over her fingers when her free hand brushed against my hair.

         Her hand, which normally would have grabbed or tugged at my hair, stayed put, and I cautiously pressed my lips against the back of her other hand.

         We’d done this many times before, back when Miyagi used to order me around.

         This much shouldn’t be a big deal.

         I pulled back for a moment, then pressed my lips to her hand again.

         I traced her smooth skin with the tip of my tongue. Miyagi tried to pull her arm away, even though this was something she had commanded me to do countless times before. I didn’t want her to tell me she didn’t want this today, so I held her hand tightly and gently bit her fingertip.

         She said nothing.

         I wished she would make a sound, even quietly, like she had last Sunday.

         I sank my teeth into her skin and touched the pad of her finger with the tip of my tongue. I lightly sucked on it, as if drawing blood from a wound, and Miyagi kicked my leg.

         「That’s enough, isn’t it?」

         I heard her mutter, and I released her finger. I looked up and saw a frown on her face.

         「See? You did end up doing something strange. You’re always trying to do these erotic things, Sendai-san.」

         「Do you think what I did just now was erotic?」

         「Am I not supposed to?」

         「Even though this was something you’d ordered me to do so many times before?」

         It hadn’t only been her ordering me around—Miyagi had done the same to me before, too. I never thought she’d start calling these things “erotic” now, not after everything we’d already done together.

         I’d heard that word from her before, but today it sounded different, as if Miyagi, like me, was tying what happened last Sunday to what was happening between us now.

         「You’re so annoying.」

         She said grumpily, stepping on my toes.

         She hit a pressure point, and it hurt more than I expected.

         「Does that mean you’d rather I never did this again?」

         I asked, pulling my foot free from under hers.

         「All I want is for you to reflect on your actions.」

         With that, Miyagi returned to her room without looking back at me.

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1. In case you were wondering why Miyagi suggests that Sendai place her hand on her own chest: in the original Japanese text, Miyagi says, “自分の胸に手を当てて考えれば,” which literally translates to, “Why don’t you place your hand on your chest and think about it?”
   “胸に手を当てて考える” is an idiom that just means to think about something seriously, so she isn’t literally telling Sendai to touch her own chest and reflect on her actions. She’s simply telling her to mull it over herself, or something like, “Why don’t you give it some serious thought?” But because Sendai’s next line alludes to wanting to touch Miyagi’s chest (breasts), I had to translate the line very literally… all to keep her dirty-minded joke intact. ↩︎

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