Spring break was going to be so much fun.

         I’d be able to spend a lot more time alone at home with Miyagi. Even if we weren’t doing anything, just being in the same room with her was enough to make me happy. And the thought that we might even go on another outing to the aquarium or zoo made me even happier.

         … Or at least, that’s what I’d thought. Thanks to that phone call from Mio, though, my first day of spring break was already off to a bad start.

         「Are you not going to eat, Sendai-san?」

         At Miyagi’s voice from across the table, I looked up to find her staring at me, a piece of toast slathered with butter and jam in her hand.

         「Huh? Oh, right.」

         I’d left the simple breakfast we’d made—consisting of ham and eggs—sitting untouched in front of me for a while.

         Meanwhile, Miyagi took a bite of her toast. Watching her eat, I took two bites of my egg whites before moving onto my own butter and jam toast.

         I had to tell Miyagi about the plans I’d made with Mio yesterday—or rather, the plans she’d made me agree to—and, if possible, convince her to hang out with Mio. Until I figured out how to deal with this mess, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy my spring break.

         「Hey, Miyagi, you don’t have that many plans for spring break, do you?」

         I poked at the yolk of my eggs with my fork.

         「I don’t want to go anywhere.」

         「I haven’t even said anything yet.」

         「From the way you were talking, it sounded like you were about to invite me somewhere, so I thought I’d tell you in advance.」

         「You don’t even want to go to the aquarium or zoo again?」

         「Not really. Besides, don’t you have work?」

         Disappointed by her response, I poked at the yolk until it broke, then took a bite of the ham that was now coated in yellow.

         「Yeah, but I thought I told you I wouldn’t be working that much this time around.」

         I’d brought it up with Miyagi just a few days earlier, so she should’ve remembered, but she still seemed unhappy about it.

         Just like during winter break, I had some shifts at the café lined up, but I had no intention of working so much that I wouldn’t have any time to myself. As for my tutoring job, that was practically over. Kikyou-chan had just finished taking her entrance exams, and all that was left was to wait for the results to come out. If she got accepted, there wouldn’t be anything else for me to do.

         I’d been asked to continue tutoring her once she started high school, but we hadn’t worked out the details yet. Plus, we wouldn’t be able to do that until we knew whether she’d passed or not.

         「We don’t have to go anywhere, but… I do have a favor to ask you, Miyagi.」

         I would’ve loved to go somewhere with her, of course, but right now, I had something more pressing on my mind.

         「… A favor?」

         Miyagi furrowed her brows before I could even explain anything.

         It wouldn’t have been too hard to come up with some random excuse to get out of my plans with Mio, but knowing her, she’d do everything she could to make me reschedule, even if I managed to cancel them this time.

         We had plenty of days off throughout the year, from Golden Week to summer vacation—even an ordinary Sunday. Any of them would be a perfectly good opportunity for Mio to come over.

         And if Mio was going to invade our space eventually anyway, I’d much rather get it over with sooner than later.

         「Oh, come on, don’t make that face. Hear me out first. So, Mio said she wants to come over and—」

         「Okay, just let me know when she’s coming over. I’ll make plans with Maika on that day so I won’t be in your way.」

         Miyagi cut me off before I could finish.

         「That’s not what I meant. I was going to ask you to be here when she comes over.」

         「Why? Isn’t Komatsu-san your friend, Sendai-san?」

         「Yeah, but she said she wanted to see you, too.」

         「Absolutely not.」

         The furrow between her brows deepened.

         Honestly, I wanted to frown, too, but instead, I forced myself to smile.

         「Come on, she’ll only be here for half a day or so. Can’t you just stay and hang out with her for a while?」

         I kept my tone cheerful, even as a voice in the back of my mind whispered, ‘I don’t want them to see each other.’

         The only person Miyagi needed to see over spring break was me. There was no reason for her to get all buddy-buddy with Mio. If I could, I’d have gladly accepted Miyagi’s refusal and told Mio right then and there that she wouldn’t get to hang out with Miyagi this spring break.

         But if I could just put up with it this once, my life at university might be a lot more peaceful from then on. It might not be perfect, but at least it’d be a step in the right direction. If I kept forcing them apart and coming up with flimsy excuses to keep them from meeting, I’d only damage my relationship with Mio, make her more suspicious, and give her a reason to start prying into my relationship with Miyagi.

         「Even if we did hang out, I wouldn’t have anything to talk about with her, so no. Besides, what does Komatsu-san even want from me? Why does she want to see me?」

         「What does she want from you? Uh, hmm… I think she just wants to be friends with you.」

         Those words left a sour taste in my mouth and made my stomach twist. It wasn’t really Mio’s fault, but I still hated the idea.

         Miyagi didn’t belong to me, but she sure didn’t belong to Mio, either.

         The chances of that ever happening were practically nonexistent, but they weren’t zero. Just thinking about it made me feel sick, as if someone had forced me to chug a barrel of oil.

         Miyagi shouldn’t belong to Mio. She shouldn’t belong to anyone.

         「It’ll be just like when Utsunomiya came over last time, so please, can you stay home when Mio comes? I’ll do anything you ask.」

         As if to wash away the greasy feeling inside me, I took a sip of orange juice.

         「Are you saying I can order you to do anything I want?」

         「Yeah.」

         「Maybe you should stop selling yourself so cheap, Sendai-san.」

         「If there’s something else you want from me besides being able to order me around, I’m open to that, too. Anything come to mind?」

         「No, so just forget it and hang out with Komatsu-san on your own.」

         「That won’t do. Seriously, I’ll do anything you ask in exchange, so please set aside half a day for me.」

         As soon as I finished speaking, I heard a faint clink, like a fork tapping against a plate. It wasn’t loud, but it caught my attention. When I glanced at Miyagi’s hands, I saw a cherry tomato skewered on her fork. She was about to eat it, but then she let out a sigh.

         「… In that case, how about you come along when I hang out with Maika?」

         Her voice wasn’t particularly loud or quiet, but her words still rang in my ears.

         「You want me to hang out with you and Utsunomiya?」

         「Yeah, that’s the deal. In exchange for hanging out with Komatsu-san, you’ll come hang out with me and Maika sometime.」

         I couldn’t exactly say no, and it wasn’t like I didn’t want to go, either…

         Still, a small part of me felt uneasy.

         I knew it was just my own petty jealousy, and that Utsunomiya hadn’t done anything wrong. Besides, if I accepted the deal, I could settle this whole mess with Mio without any trouble.

         「You didn’t have to make it a trade. I’d be happy to hang out with you two anytime.」

         「No, I’m fine with treating it as a trade.」

         「Well, if you say so… Anyway, where are we going?」

         I asked, taking another bite of my toast as I looked at Miyagi.

         「We haven’t decided on a specific place yet, but Maika said she wanted your help picking out clothes.」

         Miyagi said, shoving the cherry tomato into her mouth and biting down as if it had personally wronged her.

         「Should I help you pick out some clothes too, Miyagi?」

         「No.」

         「Why not? I’ll pick out something cute for you. Come on, you should let me.」

         「I don’t need any more clothes, and I definitely don’t need anything “cute.”」

         「You always seem so upset whenever I call you cute. Do you just not like cute things?」

         「Enough about me. We’re talking about Maika right now.」

         She sounded irritated, so I carefully steered the conversation back to the topic at hand.

         「Right. I guess I’ll have to ask Utsunomiya what kind of clothes she likes later.」

         「— You’re going to talk to Maika?」

         Miyagi asked, her tone suddenly turning sour.

         「It’s hard to pick out clothes for someone else if I don’t know what they like. Anyway, when are you free?」

         「When am I free?」

         「Yeah, you know, to hang out with Mio?」

         I took a bite of ham while waiting for her answer.

         But Miyagi didn’t say anything. She remained silent as she nibbled on her toast and finished the rest of her fried egg.

         「So, when do you want her to come over?」

         I pressed her for an answer again, and Miyagi finally muttered,

         「As late into the break as possible.」

         「So, when would that be? Around the end of February?」

         「… In March.」

         「Okay, I’ll tell Mio you’re free in March, then. Oh, one last thing. Can you keep your schedule open for me on Niboshi Day?」

         「… Why are you calling it that? You could’ve just said February 14th.」

         「Don’t you remember? You were the one who called February 14th “Niboshi Day” back in high school.」

         I could still remember Valentine’s Day from our second year of high school.

         That was when she’d called it Niboshi Day while I was trying to give her friendship chocolate.

         「… You’re pretty awful, you know that?」

         「Even if that’s true, just keep that day free for me, okay?」

         Miyagi didn’t reply.

         But she was the type to openly protest whenever she didn’t want to do something, so her silence meant she didn’t mind.

         And just like that, I’d managed to get at least one thing to go my way over spring break.

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