I glanced at the lip balm from Sendai-san and found myself spacing out as I stared at it standing there on the table.
If she’d been at her private tutoring job today, she would’ve been home by now. But she’d also told me she’d be coming back later than usual, so she wouldn’t be back anytime soon.
It was probably best for me to go back to my room.
If I stayed out here in the shared living space like this, she’d think I was waiting for her.
But I didn’t feel like being in my room by myself today.
If I stayed near my bed—where I’d had that dream this morning—I’d probably start thinking about unnecessary things again.
I knocked the lip balm over with my finger.
Resting my head on the table, I murmured, “Sendai-san.”
I knew she wanted me to call her “Hazuki.”
But if I started using her given name, Maika would probably do the same. That had been bothering me this whole time.
I rolled the tube of lip balm back and forth with my hand.
It wasn’t like I wanted to shut Maika out or anything.
She was a precious friend—someone I couldn’t do without.
Still, there was a part of me with strange hang-ups about these small things, a part that wanted to keep Sendai-san away from everything else.
And no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t talk myself out of it.
It was exhausting.
I let out a sigh, and when I heard faint sounds from the entryway, I focused my ears. Footsteps came toward me.
When I abruptly straightened up my posture, the lip balm slipped from under my fingertips and rolled off the table. When I stood to grab it, I hit myself against it.
「Ow.」
The lip balm kept rolling even as I winced, and it finally stopped at the tip of Sendai-san’s slipper. She had come home at the worst possible moment.
「I’m home. And here—you dropped this.」
She picked up the lip balm. It looked like she wanted to say something else, but she only smiled instead.
「… Thanks. Why are you home so early, anyway?」
Of all people, she was the last person I wanted picking that up and handing it back to me.
「You said if I was late, there’d be a punishment waiting for me, didn’t you?」
Sendai-san said gently, setting her bag on the table.
「Yeah, I did.」
「Well, I’m here now, so that means I’m safe, right?」
「Why do you think that makes you safe?」
「Huh? I mean, you said it yourself, didn’t you? That I came home pretty early.」
I had said that, but what I meant was that she’d only come home earlier than I expected. If anything, she was still late. But if I tried to force a punishment on her, she’d definitely ask why the lip balm had been on the floor in return, and I didn’t want to deal with that.
「Since you got home earlier than I expected, I’ll let you off the hook today.」
「Glad to hear it. So, what were you doing? Don’t tell me you were waiting for me?」
She smiled softly and glanced at the lip balm in my hand.
「I wasn’t waiting for you.」
I kicked her in the leg.
「Ow.」
「Good. I made sure it hurt.」
I said bluntly. Sendai-san reached for the hand holding the lip balm, but I stepped back before she could grab me and kept talking to distract her.
「How was work?」
「It was okay. The manager asked if I had any interest in working there even after the school festival ends. I think they were just being nice, but it didn’t sound like a bad idea. I might ask if I can work there over winter break, but only if they’re still short-staffed by then.」
「You’re planning to work during winter break too?」
「Wanna work there with me, Miyagi?」
「I told you already, I’m not planning on working anywhere.」
「Yeah, I know. But tell me if you ever change your mind. If you want to work together, I don’t mind switching jobs and finding somewhere else for us.」
「I’m good.」
I glared at Sendai-san.
But she didn’t seem to notice, and she just stared back at me.
Our gazes met, neither of us looking away.
「What do you want, Sendai-san?」
I asked, her eyes still on me, and she smiled.
「What do you mean?」
「Well, you’re just staring at me.」
「You’re staring at me too, aren’t you?」
「No, I’m not… But I did want to ask you something.」
「What is it?」
Trying to get away from her gaze, I sat back down in the chair I’d been sitting in earlier and asked,
「Do you have dreams, Sendai-san?」
I didn’t want to bring up why I had the lip balm with me, and I didn’t feel like talking about work anymore either, but I also didn’t want Sendai-san to head back to her room just yet. So I brought up something else instead.
「Dreams? Like, the ones you see at night, right? Not dreams for the future.」
「Yeah.」
I did want to talk about dreams, but I hadn’t thought through what I was going to say, and I wasn’t sure if I could even ask what I really wanted to know. I wasn’t sure I was ready for it yet.
「I don’t have them every night, but I do dream sometimes. Like once, I dreamt I was eating salmon roe with a bunch of penguins.」
「Huh?」
I looked up at Sendai-san as she described a dream I wasn’t sure if I should call cute or surreal.
「Yeah, the penguins were about as tall as me, and we all gathered in an igloo to eat bowls of salmon roe and rice together.」
I hadn’t expected her to tell me anything close to what I wanted to hear, but her answer still surprised me—it was far more unexpected than I thought. I’d figured she would be the type to dream about more realistic things.
「Do penguins even eat salmon roe?」
「Hmm, I’m not sure. But they eat fish, right? So I wouldn’t be surprised if they ate salmon roe too. It’s pretty much the same thing.」
That sort of casual attitude was just like Sendai-san. It made me imagine her saying these random things even in her dreams, and while I did find that interesting, it wasn’t the kind of dream I was trying to ask her about.
What I wanted to ask was whether or not she’d ever had a dream similar to the one I saw today.
But if I asked her something like that, she’d definitely want to ask me the same thing in return.
「― What else?」
「What do you mean?」
「What else have you dreamt about besides penguins?」
I couldn’t bring myself to ask her what I actually wanted to know.
It wasn’t something I could bring up without thinking it through.
「Hmm, let me think… Oh, I’ve had dreams of petting cats before too.」
「What kind of cats?」
「I don’t remember. What about you, Miyagi? What kind of dreams do you have?」
The conversation was going nowhere.
If that’s the case, then let’s try this, I thought.
「… I’ve seen you in my dreams before, Sendai-san.」
「Huh?」
Sendai-san made a silly noise, like she was completely caught off guard.
「I had a dream where you told me to call you “Hazuki.”」
I told her part of what happened in the dream I’d had today.
Even if I couldn’t tell her everything, I could at least share a piece of it. And I wanted to see how she would react.
「… And did you?」
「I don’t remember.」
「Then say it right now. ― Shiori.」
Sendai-san’s gentle voice seeeped into me and pressed on a sensitive spot in my heart.
Using my given name at a moment like this was so sneaky of her.
It was unfair.
「I don’t want to.」
I answered curtly and stood up, but Sendai-san caught my arm and pulled me toward her. She leaned in, bringing her face close to mine as if it were natural. Our lips touched, and I pushed her away by the shoulder.
She released my arm, then slid her hand to my neck as she kissed me again.
The warm movement along my neck made me tremble.
Noticing that, her lips pulled back. She traced my cheek with her fingertips, then brushed my lips. The softness felt so nice that I tugged on her clothes, and she kissed my cheek—but that was all. She pulled away right after.
「I think I’m going to take a bath and go to bed soon.」
Sendai-san said with a smile.
「You’re going to sleep already?」
「Yeah. It was busy at work today, and I’m pretty tired.」
I tugged on her clothes again, unwilling to accept how easily she was giving up tonight. Still smiling, she said,
「What? Did you want me to kiss you more?」
「No, not that. I wanted to get in the bath first.」
I did want her to kiss me more, but I didn’t want to be the one to ask for it.
But I didn’t mean to be so cold to her about it either.
It felt like nothing was going the way I wanted today, and I hated it.
「Sure. Let me know when you’re done.」
Sendai-san said gently.
「Okay.」
I gripped her clothes tightly for a moment before slowly letting go.
Ave Lilium Translations 