There was no way to hold someone’s hand forever. Vacations were no different. No matter how much you wanted them to last, they always came to an end.

         The things I wanted to last always seemed to end the fastest.

         My mind was probably still stuck in vacation mode, because even as I walked into the lecture hall, it still hadn’t sunk in that classes were already back in session. Instead of finding the motivation to get through the day, all I could do was sigh. I’d hoped coming to campus early today would help, but it seemed like that had been for naught.

         「Ugh, I should’ve just stayed home today.」

         I wasn’t feeling so down that I wanted to bury my face in the desk, but I couldn’t help letting my thoughts slip out. Miyagi’s classes started today, too, so even if I went home now, there wouldn’t be anyone there waiting for me. Even so, I still wished I could be there.

         「Looks like someone’s having a hard time getting back into the swing of things. It’s not like you to say something like that, Hazuki. Did something happen?」

         Mio, who was sitting right next to me, asked, sounding more amused than concerned.

         「I just wish winter break lasted forever.」

         「What, you wanted to pick up more shifts or something?」

         「That too, but I also wanted more time to be able to just go out and do other things.」

         「Oh? It’s usually so hard to get you to hang out with anyone, so if you’re saying that, there must be someone in particular you want to spend more time with, right? Did you get yourself a boyfriend over winter break?」

         Mio’s eyes lit up as she leaned closer to me.

         She was far too interested in this sort of thing, which was rather problematic for me.

         Besides, even if I tried to play it cool, I doubted she’d believe me that easily.

         I gently pushed Mio, who seemed eager to pry further, away by the shoulder, putting some distance between us.

         「Mio, we worked so many shifts together, you should already know I don’t have a boyfriend. I just meant that I wish I had a little more time to go out and have fun.」

         I wasn’t lying when I said I didn’t have a boyfriend, but it would have been a lie to say there wasn’t someone I wanted to go out with.

         I wanted to go out with Miyagi.

         I wanted to spend more and more time with her. I wanted us to go out, have fun, and do all sorts of things together. There was so much I wanted to do with her that our short winter break hadn’t come close to being enough.

         「Really? Are you sure there’s no one special in your life?」

         「No, there really isn’t, so just drop it.」

         「Okay, okay, I’ll drop it. Oh, speaking of which, you mentioned something about going to the zoo with Shiori-chan, right?」

         “Shiori-chan.”

         Hearing the unpleasant way Mio addressed her, I felt my throat tighten, as though my next words might come out sounding annoyed, so I made a conscious effort to keep my voice a little brighter.

         「Yeah, we did go.」

         「So, where’s my souvenir?」

         Mio grinned and held out her hands.

         When we’d seen each other at work, I’d told her I was going to the zoo with Miyagi. I’d also made it clear, though, that I wasn’t planning on getting her a souvenir.

         「I’m pretty sure I told you I wasn’t going to get you anything.」

         「I was kind of hoping you’d forgotten about that. I mean, it would’ve been fine if you had, you know?」

         「I didn’t forget, and the zoo isn’t even that far from here, so there’s no reason to buy souvenirs in the first place.」

         「Okay, then show me some photos.」

         「What?」

         「I wanna see the pictures you took. You promised you’d show them to me, remember?」

         Come to think of it, we’d talked about it during a break at work. I’d promised to show her the photos another time, but I’d never actually gotten around to it.

         「Okay.」

         I took my phone out of my bag and opened my photo gallery. When I handed it to Mio so she could see the memories I’d captured at the zoo, she immediately let out a sound that I couldn’t quite tell was one of exasperation or something else.

         「Hazuki… Did you drag Shiori-chan to the zoo against her will or something?」

         Only Miyagi’s friends were allowed to call her by her given name, and Mio wasn’t one of them. Of course, neither was I, but that didn’t mean Mio could call her by her given name when I wasn’t even allowed to.

         I clenched my hands beneath the desk.

         「What? Of course not.」

         My throat stung at the thought that I couldn’t even call her by her name.

         I wanted to scold Mio for trying to act so familiar with Miyagi, but if I told her to stop calling her “Shiori-chan,” she’d definitely ask me why. And as someone who was nothing more than Miyagi’s roommate, I couldn’t come up with an excuse she’d believe. So I kept quiet.

         It was better to keep quiet than to get bombarded with an endless stream of questions from Mio.

         「I mean, doesn’t Shiori-chan look like she’s in a bad mood in these photos?」

         I tried to block out the sound of that nickname I didn’t want to hear.

         The way someone addressed another person shouldn’t matter so much. After all, you couldn’t measure how close two people were simply by the way they called each other.

         Even though I hardly ever called Miyagi “Shiori,” let alone “Shiori-chan,” we lived under the same roof and kissed each other all the time. We’d even done more than that, so there was no way Mio could be closer to Miyagi than I was. It wasn’t even a fair comparison, and I knew that.

         So there was no reason for me to compare how deep our relationship was to anyone else’s.

         And besides, calling us “roommates” was good enough for me.

         「She just looks like she’s in a bad mood. She was actually having fun. Besides, there should be other photos in there where she looks a little happier.」

         Miyagi hadn’t exactly looked happy that day, but she did seem to be enjoying herself, which was a rare sight. Mio probably couldn’t tell from the photos she was looking at, but I was sure I had a picture of Miyagi looking like that somewhere in my gallery.

         — Or at least, that’s what I’d thought.

         Come to think of it, when I’d looked through the photos we’d taken after returning from the zoo, something had felt off. Miyagi didn’t look as happy in them as I’d remembered.

         I’d told myself it was probably just my imagination, but looking at them now, I wasn’t so sure.

         I glanced at the phone I’d handed to Mio.

         On the screen was Miyagi, looking not quite unhappy, but certainly not happy, either.

         Miyagi had seemed a little strange that day.

         She’d kept asking me which animals I liked, and she hadn’t acted like her usual self.

         Maybe there was something about me she wasn’t happy with.

         But what could it have been?

         I had no idea. And if someone else were to tell me I was just imagining things, I’d probably agree with them.

         「Umm, yeah, I guess there are a few photos where she looks like she’s having fun… Anyway, don’t you think you took way too many pictures of Shiori-chan?」

         Mio’s voice pulled me back from the sea of thoughts I was about to sink into.

         As if to cover up the anxiety that had been building inside me, I smiled at her.

         A smile could change the way you felt. If I smiled, I could convince myself I was happy. And for a little while, the worries that had been gnawing at me would go quiet.

         「You think so? Doesn’t it make sense to take a lot of photos when you’re at the zoo?」

         I replied cheerfully, but Mio just stared at me like I was some kind of exotic creature.

         「Yeah, but wouldn’t most of those photos be of the animals?」

         「I did take pictures of the animals, though. Like the penguins and the polar bear.」

         It wasn’t like Miyagi was the only thing I’d taken pictures of.

         「You did, but the number of photos you took of each animal is pretty unbalanced. Like, oh, what were those things called again? A sh… shorebird or something?」

         「You mean a shoebill?」

         I corrected Mio as she muttered to herself while swiping through the photos.

         「Yeah, that’s the one. Don’t you think you took way too many pictures of the shoebill? Is it your favorite animal or something?」

         「I didn’t even know they existed until recently.」

         「That’s what I thought, since I’ve never heard you mention shoebills before. So why’d you take so many pictures of it?」

         「Well, because I’ve come to like shoebills.」

         Shoebills were something Miyagi liked, and I’d come to like them, too.

         There were plenty of other things I’d never expected to grow fond of, but had because of her. Miyagi had introduced me to so many things I would never have cared about otherwise, and I imagined she’d continue to do so, bringing all sorts of new things into my life that I’d eventually come to like. But that was exactly why I’d found it so difficult to answer the questions she’d asked me at the zoo.

         Things like which animal was my favorite, or which one I wanted to see again the most.

         Even when Miyagi asked me questions like those, I couldn’t come up with answers that would satisfy her.

         Besides, I didn’t even understand why she’d felt the need to ask me those things in the first place.

         Why?

         Why does she even want to know these things about me?

         「I feel like that doesn’t make sense.」

         Mio said, echoing my own thoughts about Miyagi’s behavior, before adding, “Hazuki, you’re not actually interested in animals like the shoebill, are you?”

         「That’s not true. Anyway, I think that’s enough looking at photos.」

         I said, taking my phone back from Mio.

         There was no point in worrying about things Miyagi did that I couldn’t understand. She’d always been something of an enigma, often doing things that made no sense to me. It wasn’t unusual for there to be things about her I couldn’t make sense of.

         Yeah, that’s probably all there is to it. Just Miyagi being Miyagi.

         Either way, all I really wanted was to see her again as soon as possible.

         Just being together was enough for me. There were plenty of other things I wanted from her, of course, but more than anything, I just wanted to be by her side. And as long as I could be with her, I could overlook just about anything else.

         「Oh, yeah. Are you free today, Hazuki?」

         Mio asked cheerfully as I slipped my phone back into my bag.

         「Yeah, but I was thinking of heading straight home as soon as possible today.」

         「Ouch, you’re so cold. You didn’t hang out with me even once during winter break, either.」

         「But we saw each other plenty at work.」

         「I know, but come on. It wouldn’t hurt to hang out once in a while, right?」

         「I guess. As long as we don’t stay out too long.」

         I wasn’t particularly keen on making a detour on my way home, but I didn’t want to drift apart from Mio, either. So I knew it was for the best to meet her halfway.

         「Is there anywhere you want to go, Hazuki?」

         「I’m fine with going wherever you want.」

         「You know, I think it’d be nice to let you decide for a change.」

         「It’s not like I have anywhere in mind, though.」

         「You always say that. Well, I guess that’s fine. In that case, can I come over to your place? I’d love to see Shiori-chan again, too.」

         Mio said with a grin, and there didn’t seem to be any ulterior motive behind her suggestion. I could tell she genuinely wanted to see Miyagi again, but it wasn’t something I was particularly happy about.

         「My room’s kind of a mess right now, and Miyagi’s probably going to get home late, so maybe some other time?」

         In reality, my room was pretty tidy, and Miyagi wasn’t going to be home late at all.

         I didn’t want to lie to Mio, but I couldn’t let her come over either, so I felt like I had no other choice.

         「Okay, but remember to invite me over once you’ve tidied everything up. Preferably when Shiori-chan is around, too!」

         「I’ll do my best to clean up.」

         「Yeah, and do it as soon as possible, okay?」

         Mio replied with a smile.

         I gave her a faint smile in return, and shortly afterward, our professor came and began with their lecture.

         The rest of the day seemed to drag on forever.

         I sat through several lectures that felt like they would never end, went to lunch, then attended even more classes in the afternoon. Once I’d finished everything I needed to do at school, Mio and I went shopping together.

         I’d made sure to text Miyagi beforehand to let her know I’d be getting home a little later than usual. Afterward, Mio and I had dinner together, and she invited me to a live house to see a show with her, but I turned her down and headed home after we were done.

         「Sorry for getting home so late.」

         I called out to Miyagi, who was washing the dishes.

         「It’s fine.」

         「Have you eaten already?」

         「Yeah.」

         Her replies were curt, as usual.

         And, as usual, Miyagi was in an inexplicably bad mood.

        Of course, I liked it whenever Miyagi was happy and enjoying herself, but I preferred things the way they were now, without her constantly asking me questions I couldn’t answer. It just wasn’t like her to fixate on me so much.

         「I see. So, what are you going to do now?」

         「… Sendai-san…」

         「What is it?」

         「I’m going to touch you.」

         What is she saying?

         A bunch of question marks popped into my head as Miyagi, who had apparently finished washing the dishes, came over and placed her palm flat against my chest.

         「Um, what’s with the hand?」

         I couldn’t sense any ulterior motive behind her actions. Her hand remained still, resting gently against my chest through my clothes.

         「You don’t mind this?」

         「Not really. I was just a little surprised.」

         「… Is there anything you would mind?」

         Miyagi asked me a question I hadn’t expected at all.

         This wasn’t exactly the side of Miyagi I wanted to see.

         「I don’t think so.」

         Afraid that Miyagi would make things even more uncomfortable if she said anything else, I kissed her before she could continue.

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Chapter debt: 75

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Volume 1 of the official English translation has been released as of… today!

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Funny how that second volume releases on my birthday…

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