Taking off someone’s clothes wasn’t hard.

         If there were buttons, you just unfastened them. If there was a zipper, you just needed to pull it down.

         Anyone could do it—and of course, that included me.

         Sendai-san never tried to escape from my hands before.

         And even if she ever did, all I’d have to do was tell her she could do the same to me, and she would accept whatever I was about to do.

         I turned off the lights.

         There was nothing difficult about any of this.

         In the pitch-dark room, with not even a night-light to guide me, I reached out for Sendai-san and brushed against something I couldn’t quite tell apart. A T-shirt or a blouse—I wasn’t sure.

         Feeling my way through the dark, I slid it off her, and she started to take off my clothes in the same way.

         Before I could push her down, she pushed me instead, and my back sank into the bed.

         Sendai-san’s hand pressed firmly against my shoulder. I couldn’t tell if her fingertips were warm or cold, but she unhooked my bra and touched my bare skin.

         I wanted to see her face, but it blended into the darkness.

         No matter how hard I tried to focus, I couldn’t see it.

         Sendai-san’s outline and warmth felt like they might fade into the darkness, so I reached up and touched her, feeling her heat beneath my fingertips. As if making sure she really wasn’t disappearing, I slid my hand up her back and unhooked her bra. My hand found her soft chest, stirring up memories I’d kept buried.

         Her smooth skin felt exactly the way I remembered.

         And it felt good to touch.

         「Shiori.」

         Her slightly raspy voice echoed in my ears.

         As my fingers moved to touch her, Sendai-san’s hands moved too.

         She stroked my chest, then traced her fingers along my collarbone, down to my side—whispering my name over and over again.

         — How did we end up like this?

         My sense of reason was trapped beneath her fingertips, pulled wherever she led it, until I couldn’t think clearly anymore.

         The warmth of her touch spread through me, slow and steady, like sinking into a hot bath. The heat dulled my thoughts, loosened everything I tried to hold together, and a voice that didn’t sound like mine slipped out and dissolved into the dark.

         「Call me “Hazuki.”」

         She said—words I’d heard so many times before.

         「Hazuki.」

         I whispered, finally managing to say the name I’d never been able to before. The darkness seemed to grow heavier around us.

         In the pitch-black room, I couldn’t even tell where her hands were touching me anymore.

         I called out Sendai-san’s name, even though I couldn’t see her anymore, and she whispered, “Shiori,” into my ear.

         She kept saying it, again and again.

         I didn’t really know what I was feeling, yet somehow, it still felt good.

         Everything felt hazy and unreal, and yet it still felt good.

         Sendai-san’s voice in my ears, her hands on my skin—everything.

         It felt so good I wanted more.

         I wrapped my arms around her back and pulled her closer.

         With our bodies pressed together, everything was soft—until a sharp sound cut through everything.

         It was loud.

         So annoyingly loud that I couldn’t hear Sendai-san’s voice anymore.

         As I listened harder, I realized it was the sound of my phone alarm going off, and the pitch-black world around me was suddenly flooded with light.

         I blinked, rubbed my eyes, and slowly opened them again.

         The only thing in my room was the black cat plush—no one else.

         Of course.

         There was no way anyone else would be here.

         Woken up right on time by my phone, I tossed the black cat plush into the air.

         「… This is so annoying.」

         I caught the stuffed animal as it fell and let out a sigh.

         It was because Sendai-san kept saying weird things that I ended up having a dream like that.

         It had felt vivid, even if some parts were blurry.

         I’d had a similar dream the day she told me she was going to start working another part-time job at a café, but that had been more than a week ago.

         「Seriously, how annoying.」

         I repeated myself under my breath.

         Once, I could’ve brushed off.

         But I never thought I’d have a dream like this again.

         Why?

         Why was this happening?

         Why did hearing what she said that day make me start having dreams like this?

         “—Tell me if you’ve done it to yourself since then.”

         I was the one who’d asked that, and I did want to know the answer—but I never thought she’d actually give me one. I asked expecting silence, and she never should’ve answered.

         But because she did, the memories I thought had faded with time came rushing back, seeping even into my dreams.

         The feeling of Sendai-san’s hands on me.

         The feeling of my hands on her.

         The sounds I made, and the sounds I heard from her.

         Those dreams dragged those buried memories into the light, stripping away at what little remained of my fragile shell. It was as if the surface that once protected me was slowly being peeled back, and through the cracks, Sendai-san slipped inside.

         And once she’d found her way in, she didn’t stop—she began to take over the space that had once been mine alone, filling every last corner of me.

         I placed the black cat plush beside my pillow and sat up.

         「You really are such an idiot, Sendai-san.」

         Even though I knew I was only reaping what I’d sown, I still couldn’t help but blame her.

         If I didn’t, I felt like I’d start to lose myself little by little.

         I sighed and got out of bed.

         After leaving my room, I washed my face and brushed my teeth before coming back.

         Once I’d gotten ready, I set the black cat plush back on my bookshelf and headed into the shared living room, where Sendai-san—who hadn’t been there earlier—was now busy preparing breakfast.

         「Good morning.」

         I called out to her.

         「Oh, good morning.」

         She answered cheerfully.

         I looked at her.

         Her voice and her body—both were the same as in my dream.

         If I wanted to, I could reach out and touch her right now.

         Just like in my dream, Sendai-san wouldn’t slip out of my hands. And even if she tried to, as long as I offered myself in exchange—

         No.

         The Sendai-san standing in front of me right now was just my roommate.

         Even though I’d left a permanent mark on her ears, that didn’t change what we were. We had to keep things the way they’d always been and stay that way.

         But at the same time, I wanted to leave a mark on her right now—one that would fade.

         I let out a small sigh.

         It was Sendai-san’s fault my mind was so noisy and incoherent today.

         「What’s up?」

         She asked as I walked up beside her.

         「What do you mean, “what’s up”?」

         I said, pulling two cups out of the cupboard.

         「Well, you were staring at me, so I thought maybe something was on your mind.」

         「No, not really.」

         I replied curtly, setting the cups down on the table.

         「Well, anyway, I have work today, so I’ll be home late.」

         She worked Saturdays now, and one more day during the week.

         With those two extra shifts, Sendai-san was spending more time at her jobs than at home. It was only supposed to be like this until the school festival ended—about a month—but it still irritated me that more and more of her time was being taken up by things I didn’t know about.

         Her shifts always ended at the same time, and she always came home after. I understood that.

         Even so, part of me still wished she’d quit.

         「… I know. You told me that yesterday already.」

         I replied coldly to Sendai-san, who kept saying things I didn’t want to hear.

         「I did, but I figured I should say it again today. I don’t want to get punished, after all.」

         「You’ll get punished if you come home too late.」

         「Hey, you never mentioned that. What about if I text you in advance?」

         「No. It doesn’t matter if you text me. You’re just not allowed to be late at all.」

         I wasn’t actually trying to make new rules or punish her—I just wanted something that would keep her bound to me somehow.

         「Feels like I don’t even get the right to refuse that rule.」

         「You don’t.」

         「Yeah, I know.」

         She accepted it as if it were natural, and I poured orange juice into the cups in front of me.

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