I set one pair of chopsticks on the black cat rest and the other on the calico cat rest. 

            As I carried plates with sunny-side-up eggs, sausages, and sliced tomatoes to the table, I heard Miyagi call out to me.

            「Sendai-san, good mor—」 

            She cut herself off halfway through, then said, “Your hair…” 

            「Good morning, Miyagi. Is something wrong with my hair?」 

            「What’s with the hairstyle?」 

            「What do you mean? I just put it up in a ponytail.」 

            I smiled at Miyagi as she came out of her room, but she just stared at me without blinking.

            Of course, she didn’t smile back. Instead, her gaze stayed fixed on me—or more accurately, on the earrings I’d just started wearing yesterday. 

            「Why?」 

            Miyagi asked in an unusually serious tone as she walked over.

            「”Why”? Because I just felt like it. How do I look?」 

            Now that I finally had a mark I could show other people, I wanted everyone to see it. Showing it off wouldn’t really change anything, I knew that. Even so, I was happy to have something I didn’t need to hide anymore, so I’d put my hair in a ponytail today.

            「I’m not used to seeing you with a ponytail, so it feels a little unsettling.」

            She mumbled, then added, “I’ll help prepare the table.”

            As I watched Miyagi take a few bowls out of the cupboard, I gently touched the earrings she’d put in my ears yesterday.

            Sincerity, truth, affection, etcetera.

            Those were the words I’d found when I looked up what the gems in the earrings Miyagi had given me were said to represent. Still, I couldn’t imagine Miyagi picking them out with meanings like that in mind.

            I traced the blue stone with my fingertips.

            Sapphires were the birthstone for September.

            That was something I’d learned when I was picking out earrings for Miyagi, so there was no way I’d forget it. I remembered clearly that the blue stone was Miyagi’s birthstone.

            — I never expected those stones to end up in my ears, though.

            But in the end, only Miyagi knew what the stones really were since she was the one who bought them. I’d looked up different stones online and compared them, and I didn’t think I was wrong, but I still wanted to hear it from her just to be sure.

            「Table’s ready, Sendai-san.」

            Miyagi said as she set the bowls on the table and took a seat. I sat down across from her and replied, “Alright, shall we eat then?”

            「Let’s eat.」

            We said at the same time, though not quite in sync.

            I picked up my chopsticks from the calico cat chopstick rest and ate a slice of tomato. After that, I took a sausage and bit into it, then brought some rice to my mouth and swallowed them together. After that, I quietly called out to the person sitting across from me.

            「Miyagi, the stones in these earrings are sapphires, right? Weren’t they expensive?」

            I asked as casually as I could, and she answered curtly with,

            「Not really.」

            Miyagi didn’t deny it, but she didn’t confirm it either.

            Still, if the stones weren’t actually sapphires, Miyagi would’ve denied it right away and said, “They’re not sapphires,” in her usual grumpy tone.

            「I see. Well, thank you anyway. I’ll make sure to treasure them.」

            「Just so you know, it doesn’t mean whatever you think it means, Sendai-san.」

            「Like “sincerity” and “truth”?」

            「Yeah.」

            She replied, affirming what I’d said and confirming she was talking about what the stones were supposed to represent.

            「Don’t worry, I knew that already.」

            If the stones in these earrings were meant to have any sort of meaning, Miyagi would never say it out loud. The fact that she went out of her way to tell me it wasn’t what I thought suggested that it really didn’t carry that kind of meaning. Still, I had a hard time believing they meant nothing at all.

            After all, sapphires were Miyagi’s birthstone.

            Which meant this deep blue stone had to be some kind of substitute for her.

            I couldn’t think of any other reason why Miyagi’s birthstone would be in my ears instead of my own.

            「Since your birthday’s in September, how about I get you a pair like these as a present?」

            Miyagi, who had been cutting into her egg whites, stopped when she heard that.

            「I don’t want them.」

            She replied firmly.

            「But isn’t this your birthstone?」

            「There’s no point in me wearing them. Those earrings are meant to show that you’re mine. If you don’t like that, then give them back.」

            Miyagi’s words confirmed what I’d already assumed. Even though the earrings had no warmth of their own, it felt like I could still feel it through them.

            「I’ll make sure to always keep them on.」

            Miyagi hardly ever said anything nice to me, and she rarely looked at me with a gentle expression. So the fact that she’d given me a pair of earrings with her birthstone made me really happy.

            「Oh right, I never asked. Do these earrings suit me?」

            I already knew I wasn’t going to hear the answer I wanted, but I asked anyway.

            「… Do you think they suit you, Sendai-san?」

            「Yeah.」

            「Then that’s all that matters.」

            Miyagi said before taking a big bite of her sausage.

            She never said they suited me, but she didn’t deny it either. That was enough for me, so I bit into my sausage too.

            We finished the rest of our breakfast in silence.

            「I’ll clean up the table, Sendai-san.」

            Miyagi said as she stood up and gathered the dishes.

            「Thanks. I’ll leave it to you, then.」

            After saying that, I went back to my room.

            I looked at my earrings in the mirror.

            Miyagi’s birthstone sat in the holes she’d pierced in my ears on my birthday.

            I brushed my fingers over the blue stones, finished getting ready, and then headed back to the living room.

            「I’m heading out first. I have work today too, so I’ll be home late.」

            I called out to Miyagi from the entrance before leaving the apartment.

            I walked to the station and caught the train, following my usual route to the university.

            Blending into the crowd passing through the entrance, I headed toward one of the school buildings.

            After stepping into the lecture hall I needed, I made my way to a seat somewhere in the middle toward the back.

            That was where I spotted Mio, and I sat down next to her.

            「Good morning.」

            I called out to her.

            「Good morning.」

            She greeted me back, but then paused with a small, “Oh,” as her eyes landed on me.

            「That’s rare. Seeing you in a ponytail.」

            She pointed at my hair in surprise before her attention shifted to my ears.

            「Oh, I see how it is. New earrings, huh? Did someone give them to you?」

            「I got them from my roommate.」

            「Liar. I bet you got them from your boyfriend, didn’t you?」

            Mio said with a grin.

            「I told you before, I don’t have a boyfriend.」

            「You say that, but you went out of your way to wear your hair in a ponytail today just to show off those new earrings. That means you must’ve gotten them from your boyfriend.」

            「That’s not it.」

            「Then what, you actually got them from your roommate? Wait, does this so-called “roommate” even exist?」

            Right after suspecting I had a boyfriend, she moved on to doubting Miyagi’s existence altogether.

            Mio had been bugging me about hanging out at my place for a while now, but I kept dodging the topic whenever it came up, so her reaction wasn’t surprising at all. I had no choice but to turn her down every time, since Miyagi would definitely be upset if I ever brought Mio over. But now, I finally had a way to prove that Miyagi existed.

            「I’ve got a picture of her on my phone.」

            I said as I pulled my phone out to show Mio.

            「You do?」

            「Yeah.」

            「Then why didn’t you show me sooner?」

            「Well… it’s complicated.」

            I brushed it off with a half-hearted excuse and showed her the picture I’d taken with Miyagi yesterday.

            「This girl’s my roommate.」

            「Hazuki, did you do something to her?」

            Mio said something completely unexpected.

            「What do you mean?」

            「She looks kind of angry.」

            She wasn’t wrong.

            The Miyagi in the picture looked like she was in a terrible mood. But to me, it was the expression I was used to seeing on her face. Her expressions and her mood didn’t always match, so I knew she wasn’t actually as angry as she looked in the photo.

            「I didn’t do anything to her. That just happened to be the look on her face when we took the picture.」

            It was hard to explain why Miyagi always seemed to look like that—or why she sometimes looked like she was in a bad mood even when she wasn’t.

            Besides, I doubted Mio would believe me even if I tried to explain it, so I gave up on convincing her that Miyagi hadn’t actually been in a bad mood.

            「So that was just the look she happened to have, huh? Well anyway, is she really your roommate?」

            「Is it really that hard to believe? We went to the same high school and all.」

            「Well, you know… you two just don’t look like you were part of the same friend group.」

            「We weren’t.」

            「And you still ended up being close anyway?」

            From how curious Mio sounded, I could tell this conversation was only going to get more troublesome if it continued.

            Human curiosity was tricky like that. One wrong move and a gentle breeze could turn into a storm.

            How do I change the subject?

            As I thought about it, I answered with a half-hearted, “Yeah, I guess.”

            「She sounds interesting. Let me meet her sometime.」

            Mio said excitedly.

            「Huh?」

            「You two don’t seem to have anything in common, so I’m curious what kind of person she is. Oh, why don’t you ask her to work a part-time job with you?」

            「You mean at the café your relatives run?」

            The conversation was jumping around way too much.

            It felt like I was being dragged from one end of the world to the other, and I could barely keep up.

            「Yep. Some of our employees are going home for winter break, so we’re looking for people to fill in. What do you think?」

            「I’m not sure if my roommate is able to work during winter break.」

            Miyagi had already said she didn’t want to work over the break, and I doubted she’d want to work with me even if it wasn’t during the break either.

            「Well, what about you then?」

            I did want to pick up a second job during the break, but there was something I needed to sort out before I could accept her offer.

            「Could you give me a few days to think about it?」

            「Okay.」

            Mio replied in a voice lighter than a feather.

---

The donation tracker is now closed!
Thank you all so much for your support.

I’ve been busy the last couple weeks, so I appreciate you guys for your patience as well. My chapter debt will continue to be tracked at the end of each part, so don’t worry.

If you wish to continue supporting me just for the hell of it, feel free to throw a few dollars my way by clicking here (this takes you to my Ko-Fi).

I will also continue to be open to commissions (feel free to DM me on Ko-Fi if you have any questions).

Chapter debt: 101

---

< Previous Part | Next Part >