「Morning, Hazuki!」

         I was sitting near the middle of the noisy lecture hall, taking out my pen and notebook while absent-mindedly touching my ear, when I heard someone call out to me.

         「Good morning.」

         It was Mio, bursting with energy as always. She slid into the seat next to mine. A few people nearby stared at her, but she didn’t seem to notice or care.

         Mio was the one who helped me get my private tutoring job. She was friendly and easy to be around, but sometimes a little too carefree.

         Then again, her senior had been pretty carefree too.

         Mio’s upperclassman—the one who’d actually introduced me to Kikyou-chan’s family—was the type of person who called me three hours later than the time we agreed on.

         「Hazuki, did something good happen?」

         Mio asked. My fingers drifted to my earring.

         A small, round stud was secured to my earlobe.

         I knew there was no chance it had fallen off on my way to campus, yet feeling it under my fingertips made me feel reassured.

         「No, nothing in particular. Why?」

         I replied in my usual tone.

         「You were grinning to yourself, so I figured something good must have happened.」

         She said cheerfully.

         It wasn’t that nothing good had happened.

         I only said “no” because I didn’t want her to ask about it.

         The truth was, I’d been in a good mood since this morning.

         Miyagi let me apply lip balm on her, we walked to the train station together, and I was still wearing the earrings she’d given me.

         But there was no way I could tell Mio any of that.

         「Oh, that might’ve been because I was thinking about Cali. I ran into her on my way to the station this morning.」

         I gave her the safest answer I could think of, turning my grin into a normal smile.

         「Is that the cat you mentioned before?」

         「Yeah.」

         Cali usually only appeared when I was heading home from campus, so I definitely hadn’t seen her this morning.

         But this kind of harmless lie didn’t bother me—little things I’d say to keep my relationships smooth, pretending I’d seen something I hadn’t.

         Besides, Miyagi was basically like a stray cat herself, so it wasn’t even that far from the truth.

         「You sure love cats, don’t you?」

         Mio said warmly, then added, “They are pretty cute, though.”

         Then, she glanced over at my ears.

         「Whoa, are those earrings?」

         She sounded genuinely surprised.

         「They sure are.」

         「Hazuki, didn’t you say you weren’t interested in getting your ears pierced? Did something happen?」

         「I just changed my mind. That’s all.」

         「Huh, I see.」

         She didn’t sound convinced at all.

         She’d asked me several times before if I had any interest in wearing earrings, and every time I’d told her no, so I couldn’t blame her for reacting that way.

         Mio’s eyes stayed fixed on my ears.

         I didn’t like where this was heading.

         「Ohh, I get it. You found a boyfriend, didn’t you?」

         Mio said with a grin.

         「I didn’t.」

         「No, that’s definitely it. I mean, lately you’ve been—wait, no. You’ve always been so busy, and you kept turning me down whenever I asked you to hang out during summer break.」

         I knew this would happen.

         Even in university, half the casual conversations between students were about love, just like how it was in high school.

         It felt like if you cut any girl in half, the word “love” would come flowing out instead of blood.

         I didn’t mind listening in on those kinds of conversations, but I didn’t like being asked about love myself.

         Trying to explain Miyagi to anyone else would’ve been impossible.

         It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Mio, but I had no idea what would happen if I told her. And it wasn’t like I wanted to get that close to her anyway, so I had no intention of talking about myself more than necessary.

         「I’ve just been busy with work and some other things, so I really didn’t have time to hang out.」

         「You don’t have to lie. I’m not going to steal your boyfriend away from you or anything.」

         「That’s not what I’m talking about.」

         「Okay, in that case, here.」

         Mio said as she held out her right hand, like she was expecting me to hand something over.

         「What are you holding your hand out for?」

         「Show me your phone.」

         「Why?」

         「I just want to see if your boyfriend’s on your lock screen or not.」

         「I really don’t have a boyfriend, you know.」

         I said, lightly swatting Mio’s hand away.

         「In that case, you should come with us to grab a bite sometime. The guys keep asking me, “Where’s Hazuki-chan?” and I never know what to say.」

         「Come on, you don’t have to lie like that.」

         「I’m being serious. You really should come hang out at least once.」

         「Alright, I’ll think about it.」

         「That basically means you’re not interested, right?」

         「Yeah, not really.」

         I said with a laugh, and Mio sighed. Then she grabbed my shoulder with a mischievous grin on her face.

         「Okay, fine. What about this—instead of going out to dinner, how about working at a café instead? Like, just short-term, though.」

         「Um, aren’t you switching topics a little too quickly?」

         「Don’t sweat the small stuff. Anyway, my club’s starting preparations for the school festival soon, so I’m not gonna be able to go to work much.」

         Mio—who definitely seemed more careless than simply laid-back—said, and this time it was my turn to sigh.

         「So… are you asking me to go to your part-time job for you?」

         「Something like that.」

         「Is that even allowed? Having someone else work your shift for you?」

         「It’s my relatives’ shop, so I’m sure it’ll be fine. And it’s only until the school festival’s over. Besides, they’d be more in trouble if they didn’t have enough people. I know I can trust you with it, Hazuki. And if that’s no good, we can switch it around—you do the festival prep and I’ll go to work.」

         Mio’s reassurance sounded anything but convincing, and right as she was finished talking, the lecture hall door opened and the professor walked in.

         The school festival was just a little over a month away.

         I wasn’t interested in helping with the preparations at all, but the part-time job did interest me.

         I had originally planned to take on another job besides tutoring during summer break, but I chose to spend that time with Miyagi instead. I still didn’t want to cut down on the time I spent with her, but I also wanted to start making time to prepare for my future.

         If I wanted to keep living here after graduating from university, I needed more money. Once I graduated, I wouldn’t be able to rely on my parents anymore—not that I had any intention of doing so.

         Even if Miyagi were to tell me she didn’t want to live together anymore, I wasn’t planning on going back home to my family. Of course, that didn’t mean I had any intention of giving up on the life I had with her now.

         Even if we never became anything more than roommates, I’d do whatever it took to keep living together.

         「Well, what do you think? If you’re not interested, that’s fine. I can always ask someone else.」

         Mio asked softly, right as the lecture was starting.

         「Can you tell me more about it later?」

         I whispered back in a voice just as quiet as hers, and she replied, “Okay.”

         I’d already planned on taking up another job during winter break anyway, so taking this one until the festival ended, as a sort of practice run, didn’t sound like a bad idea.

         The problem was Miyagi.

         She didn’t like the idea of me working.

         Even if she wasn’t happy about me taking on another job, I could still do it, but I had a feeling it wouldn’t lead to anything good.

         I brought my hand up to my ear. As I stroked my earring, I let out a quiet sigh.

         The professor’s voice echoed in the background, mixed with the sound of pencils scribbling across notebooks.

         I picked up my own pencil and slowly began writing in my notebook as well.

         Maybe because I was so lost in thought, the lecture ended before I even realized it.

         After class, Mio told me more about the part-time job, but I told her I’d give her an answer later.

         Once I finished the rest of my classes for the day, I headed home.

         The part-time job itself wasn’t anything special. I would be working at a café, and the pay was decent. I had no real reason to turn it down, but because I was so worried about what Miyagi would think, I couldn’t give an immediate answer.

         I wasn’t acting like myself.

         I couldn’t make decisions as easily as I used to.

         Miyagi’s presence in my life kept growing, and whenever I wanted to do something, she was always the first person who came to mind.

         I rode the train home and got off at my station. On the way back, I stopped to look around for Cali, but I didn’t see her—maybe because I’d lied about seeing her earlier, when I really hadn’t.

         I climbed the three flights of stairs and opened the front door.

         Miyagi’s shoes were there.

         I took a deep breath, removed my own shoes, and stepped into the shared living space.

         「I’m home.」

         I said as I noticed Miyagi pouring herself a cup of soda.

         「Welcome back.」

         She replied, staring at me intently.

         The lip balm I’d put on her that morning was gone—either it had worn off or she’d wiped it away, but there was no trace of it left.

         「There’s something I want to talk to you about, so can you come to my room after dinner?」

         「What do you want to talk about?」

         Miyagi’s voice lowered, as if sensing this wasn’t going to be a pleasant conversation.

         「I’ll tell you later.」

         「You can’t tell me right now?」

         「I want to be able to sit down and talk about it properly.」

         Miyagi didn’t reply. She simply drank from the cup of soda in her hand.

         The clear liquid swayed in the cup, then disappeared down her throat.

         She set the glass—still half full—on the table, and her eyes went straight to my earrings.

         It was a completely different kind of gaze from Mio’s, and it made my ears grow warm.

         All of a sudden, the worries I had about the part-time job didn’t feel important anymore, and as if trying to let the heat escape, I tugged lightly at my ear.

         「… Alright.」

         Miyagi answered quietly, her eyes still fixed on me.

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