After getting out of the bath and drying my hair, I headed to Miyagi’s room and knocked twice on her door.

         「Are you awake?」

         Instead of answering, the door opened, and Miyagi—wearing a sweatshirt and sweatpants as pajamas, just like me—peeked her head out.

         「What do you want?」

         「Happy New Year.」

         「You already said that earlier.」

         「Can’t I say it as many times as I want?」

         「… Fine. Happy New Year to you too.」

         Miyagi reluctantly wished me a happy new year in return before giving my leg a kick.

         「So, what do you want?」

         「I told you I wanted us to talk a little longer, remember? I’ll let you choose whether we hang out in your room or mine.」

         「There’s nothing left for us to talk about.」

         「Then we don’t have to talk. It’s the first day of the new year, so wouldn’t it be nice to do something a little different for a change?」

         「What’s so special about January 1st? It’s no different from any other day off. Convenience stores and restaurants are still open today too.」

         Miyagi said in a prickly tone before kicking my leg again.

         「It’s the start of a new year, so of course it’s special. And even if it weren’t, it’s still a day off. Isn’t it okay to stay up a little later than usual? Anyway, just let me into your room for now.」

         「Why should I let you into my room?」

         「Then come to mine instead if you don’t want to.」

         I said with a smile as Miyagi glared at me. When I took her by the arm, she followed me back to my room without another word.

         But she was still in a bad mood.

         She sat down beside me, looking no happier than before.

         「Sendai-san. I’m really sleepy.」

         She said in her usual blunt tone as I leaned back against my bed.

         「Then why don’t you sleep here tonight?」

         「You’ve got that penguin plush taking up the bed, so there’s no room for me anyway. I’ll just go back to my room and sleep.」

         「Don’t worry, the penguin can sleep on the floor tonight.」

         I picked up the penguin plush lying on the bed and sat back down with it in my arms. After giving its head a light pat, I looked at Miyagi. She stroked the penguin’s head and spoke as though she were scolding me.

         「Don’t you feel sorry for it?」

         「I shower it with plenty of love every day, so I’m sure it’ll let this one slide.」

         I treasured the penguin plush because Miyagi had given it to me. It wasn’t going to get upset just because I made it sleep on the floor for one night, and if that really bothered her, I could always put it on the table or on top of my dresser instead.

         「What are you going to do if I fall asleep, Sendai-san?」

         Miyagi asked, tugging on the penguin’s flipper.

         「Then I’ll fall asleep with you.」

         「Where?」

         「Right next to you.」

         I answered, and Miyagi looked at me with obvious displeasure.

         「Hey, all I’m going to do is just sleep next to you. You don’t have to make a face like that.」

         「’Just’ sleep next to me? You have a habit of breaking your promises though. Have you already forgotten how Noto-san ended up coming back to my seat earlier today?」

         「That wasn’t today. It was yesterday.」

         「That’s not the point. Because of that, I ended up having to put up with Noto-san.」

         「I know. I’m sorry.」

         All I could do was apologize for what had happened yesterday, but it hadn’t exactly been pleasant for me either. I’d spent what felt like forever terrified that Miyagi would leave at any moment and agonizing over what she’d been talking about with those two.

         It was fine for Miyagi to talk to other people, but watching her do it brought out an ugly side of me. It was the part of me clouded by jealousy—the part that wanted to just ditch work, grab Miyagi by the hand, drag her home, and demand to know what she’d been talking about. It wasn’t a side of myself I was proud of.

         This isn’t what I want to be thinking about on New Year’s Day…

         I set the penguin plush on the floor and reached for Miyagi’s hand, but she slipped free almost immediately and started to stand.

         Before she could head back to her room, I caught hold of her sweatshirt and said,

         「Happy New Year.」

         「How many times are you planning on saying that?」

         「As many times as I want. It makes me happy every time you say it back.」

         I couldn’t remember the last time my family wished me a happy new year. It certainly wasn’t last year, the year before that, or the year before that either. And my friends would wish me a happy new year back if I said it first, but their replies felt like canned, automatic responses. They didn’t really mean anything.

         And that was why hearing Miyagi wish me a happy new year made me so happy.

         Every time she said it, she was saying it just for me. That made her words different from everyone else’s. If she didn’t feel like saying it, she simply wouldn’t.

         Having her say it to me was enough. I didn’t want—or need—to hear it from anyone else ever again.

         「… Happy New Year.」

         Miyagi said, sounding a little annoyed, before letting out a small sigh. Then she peeled my hand off her sweatshirt and muttered, “I’m going to bed.”

         「You should sleep here.」

         I wanted to spend a little more time with the Miyagi who would wish me a happy new year over and over again, just for me. I wanted that from the bottom of my heart, but instead, Miyagi picked up the penguin plush from the floor and stood up.

         「Hey, that’s mine.」

         If Miyagi insisted on going back to her room to sleep, there wasn’t much I could do to stop her. But I didn’t want her taking the penguin plush with her. It was meant to take Miyagi’s place whenever she wasn’t here, and if she wasn’t going to be here, then I wanted it on my bed.

         「That’s your territory over there, Sendai-san.」

         Miyagi said, placing the penguin plush on top of a pillow and pointing toward the wall.

         「… Are you setting up a boundary?」

         「Yeah, so you better stay on your side of the penguin.」

         She said in a grumpy voice before adding,

         「And I mean it.」

         「Okay.」

         「Alright, then go over to your side first.」

         I wasn’t sleepy, but if I said I wanted to stay up a little longer, Miyagi would probably just go back to her room, so I did as she said. I turned off the air conditioner, climbed into bed, and slipped under the comforter.

         I set the penguin between us, where it now served as our boundary line, then let Miyagi have the pillow. Miyagi came over, lay down beside me, and turned off the light with the remote.

         「Are you really going to sleep?」

         I asked, turning over to face Miyagi.

         「Yep.」

         She answered curtly.

         「What about watching the first sunrise of the year?」

         「I’m not doing that.」

         Miyagi’s voice dissolved into the darkness, and silence settled over the room.

         I closed my eyes.

         Then I opened them again.

         In the darkness, the only thing I could make out was the silhouette of the penguin plush beside me.

         I wish I could just move this thing out of the way.

         I pushed the penguin halfway beneath the comforter. With the back of Miyagi’s head now in view, I reached out and ran my fingers through her hair. It was as black as coffee without milk or sugar, so dark it looked as though it could melt into the darkness around us.

         Miyagi curled up as if she was trying to get away from me.

         「… Sendai-san.」

         She murmured quietly.

         「What is it?」

         「Ever since we started university…」

         Miyagi began, but her voice trailed off, and silence settled over the room once again.

         No matter how long I waited, she didn’t continue.

         「What were you going to say?」

         「It’s nothing.」

         「No, tell me. Now you’ve got me curious.」

         「It really wasn’t anything important.」

         Miyagi said, pulling the comforter closer toward her as she moved farther away from me.

         She was so close to the edge of the bed that I thought she might fall off, so I grabbed hold of her sweatshirt.

         「If it wasn’t anything important, then why not tell me?」

         I said, giving her sweatshirt another tug as if urging her for an answer.

         「… I was just going to say that, ever since we started university, you’ve probably had a bunch of people ask you out. That’s all.」

         She mumbled.

         「Ask me out?」

         「Yeah. To eat and stuff.」

         「… Wait, did Mio or Noto-senpai say something to you?」

         What Miyagi was saying now was something she’d never normally bring up. The fact that she’d brought it up after insisting several times that she wanted to go to sleep meant there had to be a reason, and the only one I could think of was that Mio or Noto-senpai had said something to her.

         「Not really.」

         「They both just like to exaggerate.」

         I wasn’t sure what Miyagi had been told, and I doubted she’d tell me no matter how much I pressed her. But I could more or less guess. From the way she said it, one or both of them must have mentioned how popular I was at university, or how I’d been invited out to eat a few times.

         「Well, it’s not like it bothers me or anything.」

         Miyagi replied in a low voice.

         But no matter how I looked at it, she didn’t sound like someone who wasn’t bothered. An ache tightened in my chest, but at the same time, my heart fluttered as well.

         Miyagi was bothered because of me.

         And what’s more, she was bothered because other people had been inviting me out.

         My heart was pounding.

         It was almost as if Miyagi had just told me she liked me, and it made me unbelievably happy.

         「Look at me, Miyagi.」

         I called out to her in the gentlest voice I could manage.

         「No.」

         「Forget whatever you were told yesterday. I’ll never belong to anyone but you, Miyagi.」

         I said, as though making a vow, placing a hand on her back.

         But she pulled away from me. I tried to catch her by wrapping an arm around her waist, but she immediately brushed my hand aside.

         「I never said you could come into my territory.」

         Miyagi turned to face me with a rustle of the covers and pushed the penguin, which was halfway beneath the comforter, toward me.

         「Then why don’t you come into my territory instead?」

         I took the penguin and set it against the wall, then grabbed Miyagi’s hand. Keeping hold of it, I guided it to the blue earring in my ear, pressed it there hard enough to make my ear ache, and said firmly,

         「Only you are allowed to keep me under your control, Miyagi.」

         I didn’t need anyone but Miyagi.

         She was the only one I would ever let into my heart.

         「… Are you lying?」

         「I’m not.」

         I let go of her hand, and Miyagi brushed her fingers over my earring as though testing the truth of my words.

         In the darkness, her fingertips crept down my neck, slid across my sweatshirt, and came to a stop over my heart. She pressed her palm against my chest, and my heart pounded so hard it felt as though she could hear it.

         「Swear it again.」

         「I will never belong to anyone but you, Miyagi.」

         I enunciated each word carefully, making sure Miyagi heard every one of them.

         But before I could lean in and kiss her earring, Miyagi moved closer instead.

         I felt her breath brush against my neck, and my body tensed.

         Then something warm and soft pressed against my skin and gently sucked at it.

         I let out a small breath at the warmth against me, but it was almost immediately followed by a sharp sting.

         Miyagi’s way of swearing a vow was never gentle.

         Her teeth sank into my neck, biting down hard as though carving this moment into me.

         I instinctively grabbed hold of her shoulders.

         Even then, her teeth remained buried so deeply in my skin that I had to bite my lip to keep from making a sound. Struggling to breathe, I tightened my grip on her shoulders. Only then did she finally ease her bite, and the tension drained from my body.

         「I’m going to sleep now. Good night.」

         Apparently satisfied, Miyagi spoke in a quiet voice.

         「Good night.」

         I answered, and once again, she turned her back to me.

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