「What was the name of that cake shop Asakura-san mentioned the other day?」

         I asked Maika, who was sitting beside me, as I packed up my pencil case.

         「Are you thinking of getting some cake?」

         「Yeah.」

         The professor had already left the lecture hall, and with all our classes finished for the day, Maika and I were free to head home. But I wasn’t in any hurry to leave today. Sendai-san had work and wouldn’t be home until later, after all.

         I found myself hoping Sendai-san’s student would pass her high school entrance exams just so she could finally be done with tutoring.

         「Did something good happen?」

         Maika asked cheerfully.

         「No, I’m just kind of in the mood for something sweet.」

         「Something sweet, huh…」

         The lecture hall was abuzz with conversation now that the professor had left, yet Maika’s words still rang in my ears over the surrounding chatter.

         Sure, part of the reason I wanted to get cake was to thank Sendai-san for buying me a new lip balm, but I’d genuinely been craving something sweet lately, too. What I’d told Maika was the truth, so all I had to do was act as I normally would. I knew that, and yet I couldn’t help feeling a little uneasy anyway.

         「Mind if I come with you? Now you’ve got me craving cake, too, and I know where the place is, so I can show you the way. Oh, I also wanted to stop by a bookstore. Would that be okay too?」

         “Sure,” I replied, and Maika and I left the lecture hall together. We grumbled for a while about our upcoming exams as we headed toward the bookstore.

         「Argh, it’s so cold. What’s with this wind?」

         We hadn’t even been off campus for five minutes before Maika started complaining about the wind and shoved her hands into her coat pockets. Seeing me bundled up in a scarf and gloves, with barely any skin exposed to the biting cold, she added, “Maybe I should get a scarf, too.”

         「You should. They’re so nice and warm.」

         I said, clutching my scarf, which I’d told Maika I’d bought for myself. Before I knew it, it had become something I couldn’t do without. It kept me warm on freezing mornings and protected me from the cold winds in the evening.

         「Yeah, I bet. They seem like the ultimate defense against the cold. Ahh, I can’t wait for spring break. It’s too cold outside. I just want to laze around at home and do nothing.」

         「You said you weren’t going back home for spring break, right?」

         「Yep. Since I’m staying here, wanna hang out during the break?」

         「Didn’t you just say you wanted to laze around at home and not do anything?」

         「Those are two different things. So, how about it? Maybe we could invite Sendai-san and do something together.」

         The fact that Maika was bringing up a name she shouldn’t have been bringing up made it hard for me to say, “Sure, sounds good.” But I couldn’t exactly respond with, “No thanks,” either, so I settled for a simple, “Okay.”

         「Oh, right! Speaking of which, didn’t you mention you went to the zoo with Sendai-san?」

         I was secretly relieved to hear her change the subject instead of starting to make plans for what we’d do together over spring break.

         「Yeah, and we saw a shoebill there.」

         「Oh! Shoebills are so cute. I’d love to see one in person someday, too.」

         「Maybe we can go together next time.」

         「Sure, sounds good!」

         Maika had just managed to say the very words I’d been unable to bring myself to say moments earlier.

         Whenever Sendai-san came up, I always had to weigh my words carefully.

         But the weight those words carried had changed since high school. Back then, the five-thousand-yen bills I’d handed her had kept us tethered to each other, like an anchor that kept us silent. One of the rules we’d come up with together also meant we could never tell anyone about the things we did after school. Because of that rule, I had to keep everything I knew about her to myself.

         But now that we were in university, none of the rules we’d made back then still applied.

         What’s more, Maika even knew that Sendai-san and I were living together now.

         If I wanted to, I could tell her everything I knew about Sendai-san. And yet, there were still so many things I couldn’t bring myself to say, and even things I simply didn’t want to tell her. Everything related to Sendai-san was a private secret of mine, and I wanted to keep her all to myself.

         And I knew just how awful that made me.

         「Maika, if we went to the zoo together, what animals would you be most excited to see?」

         I asked cheerfully, as if to banish the image of Sendai-san that had popped into my head.

         「Oh, let me think… Definitely the shoebill, and maybe a tiger or a lion?」

         「A tiger or a lion… aren’t those kind of basic?」

         「Hey, they’re popular for a reason, aren’t they?」

         「I guess so. Then what’s your favorite animal in general?」

         「Hmm, probably squirrels? I actually used to have one as a pet¹.」

         Maika had answered all my questions without much hesitation.

         It had been the opposite with Sendai-san.

         Maika had a favorite animal, one she could name without a second thought. It wasn’t as if that was anything special, though. My questions hadn’t even been difficult, and most people could probably have answered them just as easily as she did.

         So the one that’s been acting weird is―

         I tugged at the end of my scarf. I shoved Sendai-san, who had somehow crept back into my thoughts, to the back of my mind and forced myself to keep walking, even though my legs felt like they might stop moving altogether.

         We headed to the bookstore, where Maika picked up two volumes of manga, while I bought myself a volume of manga and a novel. After that, we set off to buy some cake.

         「This should be the place Asakura-san mentioned.」

         Maika said, stopping in front of a shop whose storefront looked more like a jewelry store than a cake shop. We stepped inside, and I followed close behind her. If I’d been alone, I would’ve turned around and gone straight home the moment I saw the fancy storefront and interior. But thankfully, Maika was with me.

         We browsed the display cases, where rows of cakes were laid out like pieces in a jewelry case.

         「They all look so good. I can’t decide!」

         Maika exclaimed excitedly.

         All the cakes on display looked delicious, and I could see why she was having trouble choosing. I’d already known exactly what I wanted before coming here, though: two slices of no-bake cheesecake.

         「Do you know what you’re going to get, Shiori?」

         「Yeah, cheeseca— Oh, wait. Do you know what kind of cake someone who likes cheesecake would hate?」

         「What kind of roundabout question is that? If they like cheesecake, why not just get them what they like?」

         「I mean, yeah, but…」

         It wasn’t like I was trying to mess with Sendai-san or anything.

         I really did want to get her cake she’d enjoy, and while I wasn’t entirely sure if no-bake cheesecake was her favorite kind, I knew I should just buy her a slice and be done with it.

         But at the same time, I couldn’t help entertaining the silly idea that if I gave her something she didn’t like, maybe even Sendai-san, who always dodged my questions about her preferences, would finally tell me what she did like.

         「Why not just ask her what she wants? It’d be a lot easier to ask her what she likes than to blindly try and figure out what she doesn’t like, right?」

         「Ask “her”?」

         「Oh, I just assumed you were talking about Sendai-san… Was I wrong?」

         「… No, you’re right.」

         Maika had a point, but asking Sendai-san directly was a dead end.

         She was the type to say she liked everything. The last time I’d asked whether she preferred no-bake cheesecake or baked cheesecake more, she’d simply said she liked both. She was always like that, never giving me a straight answer.

         「Maybe I’ll just get both the cheesecake and the shortcake.」

         Giving up on the idea of asking Sendai-san directly, I decided what to buy.

         「Okay, then I’ll go with the fruit tart and lemon pie.」

         Maika bought two slices of cake, while I ended up with four.

         After making our purchases, we left the fancy shop. Sendai-san probably still wasn’t home yet, but I said goodbye to Maika and headed home anyway.

         After getting off the train, I walked along the same path where Sendai-san’s beloved Cali, a calico cat, often showed up. When I got home, no one was there. I put the cake in the refrigerator, ate a simple dinner, then settled into my room to work on a school report. Not long after, though, someone knocked on my door.

         「Come in.」

         I called a little louder than usual, and Sendai-san stepped into my room.

         「I’m home.」

         「Welcome back. I left some cake in the refrigerator, so help yourself whenever you want.」

         「Wow, it’s not every day you buy cake. Did something happen?」

         「No. I just felt like eating something sweet.」

         「Have you had your cake yet?」

         「Not yet.」

         「In that case, let me make some tea, and we can eat them together.」

         Sendai-san said with a bright smile.

         「Sure, but what about dinner?」

         「I ate before leaving for work.」

         「Okay, then let’s eat the cake now.」

         Sendai-san and I headed to the shared living space together. Just as she’d said, she started making tea, filling our white electric kettle with water before switching it on.

         「Where’d you get the cakes from?」

         「Just check the packaging in the refrigerator.」

         At my suggestion, Sendai-san opened the refrigerator.

         「Oh, this place! I’ve heard good things about it.」

         「Have you had cake from there before?」

         「Nope. Mio was the one who told me about this place, though, so I’d been thinking of checking it out once exams were over.」

         I didn’t hate Komatsu-san, but she wasn’t someone I particularly got along with. Even if we had the same tastes, knowing I’d bought cakes from a shop she’d recommended was enough to sour my mood.

         At the same time, I’d bought the cakes to thank Sendai-san for getting me a new lip balm, so I should’ve been glad to have picked a shop she’d been wanting to visit.

         I knew that’s how I should have felt, but my emotions weren’t keeping up.

         「… Did Komatsu-san tell you which cakes she got from that shop?」

         I asked Sendai-san, who closed the refrigerator and began setting out plates and mugs.

         「I think she said she had the shortcake and a Mont Blanc?」

         「… Sendai-san, once we’re done eating, I’m going to give you an order.」

         「An order? Oh, right, from New Year’s?」

         On New Year’s morning, after we’d woken up in the same bed, she’d promised that if I stayed with her in her room, she’d obey any order I gave her. I’d held on to that promise all this time, saving it for just the right moment.

         「Yeah.」

         I answered curtly, reaching up to touch my flower-shaped earring.

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1. I don’t even know if this warrants a footnote, but I shall leave one anyway. Owning a squirrel as a pet is illegal in a lot of countries, and frowned upon in many others. In Japan, only a few species are illegal to own as pets, but the most common species you’ll see as pets are Siberian chipmunks (which is a bit uncommon for a pet choice compared to cats or dogs, but not so weird that people would go “WTF?”). Maika doesn’t specify the species of squirrel she owned in the past, but odds are (although this is slight headcanon territory, statistically speaking), it was likely a Siberian chipmunk. Remember, not all squirrels are chipmunks, but all chipmunks are squirrels. ↩︎

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Chapter debt: 73

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