I sighed as I stood in front of the fridge.

         Before I knew it, today had become the last day of summer break, and Miyagi’s birthday was just around the corner.

         What am I going to do about the cake?

         If possible, I wanted to make it myself, but I’d never baked a cake before, and I didn’t feel confident doing it without some practice. Aside from making handmade chocolates for friends on Valentine’s Day, I rarely ever made sweets, and I’d never had anyone I wanted to bake a cake for in the first place.

         I knew I didn’t have to go through the trouble of making one.

         Still, I’d gathered all the tools and ingredients I needed for a practice cake anyway. But summer break was almost over, and I still hadn’t managed to make anything yet.

         「Well, even if I tried making a practice cake…」

         There was only one person I wanted to have taste it—and she lived with me.

         I didn’t mind if Miyagi found out I was making a cake—I wasn’t trying to surprise her or anything.

         The real problem was figuring out what to do with the practice cake.

         I wasn’t planning on making a large cake or anything, but even then, it wouldn’t be something I could finish by myself. I could just have Miyagi eat it with me, but that would mean feeding the test version to the very person I wanted to serve the real one to. And I didn’t like the idea of bringing out the exact same cake again on her birthday.

         「Maybe I’ll just buy one after all.」

         Whether the cake was homemade or not didn’t matter. The important thing was getting a round cake we could eat together. I needed to make sure Miyagi wouldn’t spend her birthday alone, and that we wouldn’t end up with leftovers sitting in the fridge either.

         I sighed and sat down in a chair.

         Cake aside, I still hadn’t decided what to get her for her birthday.

         I thought back to the slice of cake she’d bought me, and the cat-shaped chopstick rests I ended up getting the next day.

         I could tell she’d chosen that cake because she thought I’d like it, and I could tell she’d spent a lot of time picking out those chopstick rests too.

         Just like she’d done for me, I wanted to put the same amount of thought into her birthday as well.

         I glanced over at Miyagi’s bedroom door.

         She’d been holed up in her room since morning, saying she needed to finish the rest of her homework, and she hadn’t come out at all except for meals.

         I wish she’d come out already.

         I couldn’t decide on her present right this moment anyway, and if I wasn’t going to bake a cake, then I didn’t have anything else to do today. I could make other sweets with what we had in the fridge, but if I was going to make anything, I wanted to do it with Miyagi.

         Normally, I would’ve knocked on her door by now and asked her to come out, but since she said she was doing homework, I couldn’t bring myself to.

         I got up and took a cup from the cupboard.

         I poured myself some barley tea and took a sip.

         Then, as if my wish had been granted, I heard a door open and saw Miyagi walking out, heading toward the fridge.

         「Are you done with your homework?」

         「Yeah.」

         She answered curtly as she took out a bottle of soda, then asked,

         「What were you doing, Sendai-san?」

         Miyagi asked with a disinterested look as she set her cup on the table and started pouring soda into it.

         「I was just thinking about what to make for dinner.」

         I wasn’t about to admit I’d been debating whether or not to bake a cake for her, so I gave the safest answer I could.

         「Didn’t we just have lunch?」

「That was over an hour ago. It’s been a while already.」

         「… I mean, I guess.」

         The small talk naturally died off as Miyagi returned the soda bottle to the fridge, picked up her cup, and turned her back to me.

         「What are you going to do now, Miyagi?」

         「Nothing.」

         Miyagi didn’t turn to look at me.

         Now that she was done with her homework, I could follow her into her room, and she probably wouldn’t turn me away. But today, I wanted to do something else instead.

         「Then how about we bake some cookies together?」

         I didn’t dislike watching movies or playing games with her, but I wanted to switch things up every once in a while, too.

         「Cookies?」

         「Yeah, I thought maybe we could make some together.」

         「No thanks.」

         Miyagi answered firmly as she turned around.

         「Why not?」

         「I don’t like cookies.」

         「Huh? Even though we’ve had cookies together so many times before?」

         I didn’t need to bake cookies today—anything was fine. But this was the first time I’d ever heard Miyagi say she disliked them.

         And thinking back on it, there was no way she did. When Utsunomiya came over, she’d brought cookies for us to eat together, and Miyagi had gotten some for us before, too.

         「I started disliking them as of right now.」

         She muttered while drinking her soda.

         「Can I ask why?」

         「Why do you want to know?」

         「Not only is it rare to find someone who dislikes cookies, most people don’t suddenly decide they dislike them on the spot.」

         I answered Miyagi’s question while trying to figure out why she’d suddenly claim to dislike cookies.

         As I searched my memories, I thought back to the cookies I’d eaten recently. I’d eaten them the day after my birthday by myself. They were handmade cookies from the student I tutored, Kikyou-chan. I’d asked Miyagi if she wanted to eat some with me on my birthday, but she’d turned me down, sounding grumpy about it.

         Miyagi always seemed to be in a bad mood whenever my part-time job came up.

         She’d even asked me to quit before.

         「… There’s no particular reason for it.」

         She answered in the same low, sulky tone as always.

         To claim she disliked cookies—even though they were nothing more than a simple snack with nothing to hate…

         Could it be because…

         The thought crossed my mind, but I shut the thought down right away.

         But another part of me was starting to think it might actually be possible…

         That maybe she felt the same way I did when it came to Utsunomiya.

         Maybe Miyagi, the one who’d always insisted we remain roommates, was starting to shift into something that wasn’t just a “roommate” anymore.

         No—that was probably just what I wanted to believe.

         「Why do you suddenly want to bake cookies anyway?」

         Miyagi asked, her tone clearly annoyed as she set her cup back down on the table.

         「I just felt like it.」

         I wanted to ask more about why she’d suddenly decided she didn’t like cookies, but if I pushed her too much, she’d just run away. Even now, she looked like she was about to head straight back to her room without taking her cup with her.

         Before she could leave, I caught her hand. I brought her fingertips to my lips, and she stepped on my foot as if to say she didn’t like that one bit.

         「If it’s something you “just felt like” doing, then you don’t have to make any.」

         「Yeah, I don’t have to, but there’s no reason not to either. Come on, let’s make them together.」

         「I just said I don’t like cookies.」

         Miyagi glared at me and pulled her hand away.

         「Don’t worry, I’ll eat all of them.」

         「So why do I have to make them with you then?」

         「Okay, in that case, tell me what you want to eat. We can make that instead.」

         I didn’t mind swapping the cookies for something else.

         I kept talking, choosing words I hoped would keep her from walking away.

         「I’m okay with making anything. Just stay here with me. Once school starts up again, we won’t get to spend this much time together anymore.」

         I smiled as I picked up the cup Miyagi had left on the table and took a sip.

         The carbonation fizzed against my tongue before settling in my stomach.

         It was so cold I couldn’t even make out the taste.

         Even though it was something Miyagi liked, I could never bring myself to enjoy carbonated drinks.

         But I took another sip anyway, and then I heard her quietly ask,

         「… Fine. How are we going to make the cookies?」

         「I’ll look up a recipe right now.」

         I set the cup back on the table and grabbed Miyagi’s hand again before she could slip away, then picked up my phone.

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