「Isn’t this a little too much?」
I said as I placed the large bag on the table and looked at Miyagi.
She’d come back a bit earlier than I expected.
But that was a good thing.
I’d been hoping she’d return as soon as possible, so I was honestly grateful.
Still, the bag Miyagi had handed me earlier was filled with way too much bread for just the two of us, so I couldn’t help pointing it out.
「Maika said the bread from this shop was really good, so I bought a lot.」
Hearing Utsunomiya’s name made my brows twitch.
Miyagi had kept her promise to “get something for us to eat” before coming back, and I hadn’t specified what that “something” should be. So technically, there was nothing wrong with her bringing back bread Utsunomiya had recommended.
But right now, I just didn’t want to hear her name.
「People usually eat bread for breakfast, right? It’s not really dinner food.」
I blurted out something that made it sound like I was just picking a fight.
Miyagi, standing just a few steps away with an unfriendly expression, replied with,
「You don’t have to eat it if you don’t want to.」
Her voice was low, and an awkward tension filled the small dining kitchen.
This wasn’t how I wanted the conversation to go.
It wasn’t the bread’s fault, or even Utsunomiya’s.
I was the one in a bad mood. And if things kept going like this, we wouldn’t get anywhere.
Calm down, I told myself.
「I’ll eat. I’m hungry, anyway. Hang on, I’ll get us something to drink. You want soda, right, Miyagi?」
Without waiting for a reply, I walked over to the fridge.
I took out the orange juice and soda and poured them into two glasses. Technically, we could just eat the bread straight from the packaging, but it wouldn’t feel like dinner that way, so I grabbed two plates from the cupboard.
I handed them over to Miyagi, then carried the glasses over to our seats and sat down.
Miyagi sat down on the other side of the table.
「You can pick whichever ones you want, Sendai-san.」
“Well, in that case…” I said as I picked out a ham and cheese croissant and a croquette bun1 and placed them on my plate.
「What about you, Miyagi?」
I asked, glancing over at her.
She had been staring at me the entire time, but then reached out and grabbed a sandwich filled with potato salad and a sausage roll for herself.
「Let’s eat.」
We said—not quite in unison, but our voices overlapped.
「Miyagi, did you end up telling Utsunomiya that we’re living together?」
Instead of jumping straight into the real conversation I wanted to have, I asked something that had been bothering me.
「I did.」
「What did she say about it?」
「Nothing.」
Miyagi replied curtly, taking a bite from her potato salad sandwich.
「You didn’t tell her about us, did you.」
There was no way Utsunomiya—who had always been so curious about my relationship with Miyagi—would’ve had nothing to say about us moving in together.
「I did.」
Miyagi said, still chewing her bread.
Her eyes stayed locked on her plate, like she didn’t want to look at me at all.
No matter how I looked at it, I couldn’t imagine she’d actually told Utsunomiya about me. But there was no point in asking Miyagi how she’d explained it. Even if I pressed her, I doubted she’d tell me the truth—and even if she did, it wouldn’t really matter. All knowing the truth would do was satisfy a bit of curiosity.
「… Is that why you were waiting for me today? Just to ask me that?」
Miyagi asked without looking up.
I took a bite of my croissant sandwich and swallowed before opening my mouth.
「No, that’s just something I wanted to ask first. I’ll get to the point—we need to set some rules between us.」
Miyagi looked up at that.
「Some rules?」
「Yeah. If we’re going to be living together, things’ll be easier if we have rules to follow, right?」
「You can come up with the rules on your own and just tell me about them later.」
Miyagi said, clearly annoyed, as she stood up, leaving her sausage roll untouched on her plate.
I’d kind of expected her to react like this.
Honestly, I hadn’t even expected her to sit down and eat dinner with me tonight, so part of me almost wanted to praise her for that alone. But if she ran off now, we’d just keep going in circles like this.
「Are you sure about that? What if I made it a rule that we have to kiss every day? Wouldn’t you have something to say about that?」
I asked, taking a sip of orange juice and setting the glass back down.
「Of course I’d complain about that.」
「Then let’s decide on some rules together.」
「… What kind of rules are we talking about? Do you have any examples?」
Miyagi asked as she sat back down, looking at me.
「Stuff like who takes out the trash, who cleans, what we’re doing about meals—things like that.」
To be honest, I also wanted to ask if it was still okay to kiss her like before, if I could still touch her.
I wasn’t satisfied with how everything I used to be allowed to do in Miyagi’s room was suddenly off-limits now.
But this wasn’t the time to bring that up.
Right now, we just needed to settle into a new, normal life together.
If we didn’t set these basic rules for living together, it’d just be too suffocating to go on like this as roommates.
「In that case, I want to make a rule that we’re not allowed to enter each other’s rooms without permission.」
Miyagi said quietly as she took a bite of her sausage roll.
「Well, it’s not like we’ve been doing that anyway, but I guess it’s better to make it a rule. Anything else?」
「Huh? Let me think…」
Miyagi muttered to herself.
While she was thinking, I suggested a few rules myself, and she added some too—though hers sounded more like personal opinions than actual rules.
Things like, it was okay to have friends over, but no one was allowed to stay over.
Or that we had to let each other know if we were staying over at someone else’s place.
As we came up with rules—some necessary, some not—a decent amount of time passed, and Miyagi eventually spoke up in a tired voice.
「That’s all the rules we need, right?」
I took a sip of my orange juice and looked over at Miyagi.
「How about we have dinner together at least once a week?」
I asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.
「You’re okay with just once a week?」
「Yeah.」
「Well, if it’s just that, then sure, but…」
Her words trailed off.
However, Miyagi looked like she still had more to say, so I asked, “But?”
「Not just when you’re staying somewhere else—tell me if you’re gonna be late, too… That way, maybe we could have dinner together on other days as well. We used to eat together a lot, didn’t we?」
She mumbled, speaking quickly.
「So it doesn’t have to be just once a week?」
「If you don’t want to, then forget it.」
「No, let’s make it a rule. We can eat together on other days, too. So make sure you let me know when you’re coming home late as well, Miyagi.」
「… Okay.」
I hadn’t expected Miyagi to say she wanted to eat together more than once a week.
It was a small thing, but I was relieved she wanted some things to stay the same, even in our new life together.
「Alright. Then if either of us breaks a rule, we get a punishment.」
I wasn’t expecting Miyagi to break any of the rules, but just in case, I wanted to set something up to make it harder for her to ignore them.
To be honest, I didn’t mind if she broke most of them.
But I definitely wanted us to eat together at least once a week.
It might have seemed like a trivial rule, but it was something I wanted to follow no matter what—and I hoped Miyagi felt the same way.
「What sort of punishment?」
「Hmm, let’s see… Maybe the person breaking the rules has to listen to one thing the other person says?」
Technically, the punishment could’ve been anything, but if it was too easy, then it’d be meaningless. It needed to be at least somewhat troublesome.
「Fine, but don’t forget. You’re the one who’s always breaking the rules, Sendai-san.」
Miyagi said something rude as she stared straight at me.
Well, of course she has no faith in me.
Considering everything I’d done up until now, I could understand why she’d say that. But that didn’t mean I could just come out and admit I’d broken the rules before.
「Don’t worry, I won’t break them.」
I declared, finishing off the rest of my croissant sandwich. The ham and cheese blended together as it went down, and I reached for the croquette bun next.
「Hey, Sendai-san.」
「What is it?」
I asked, taking a bite of my croquette bun.
「The meals we’re going to eat together… who’s going to make them?」
「Well, we’re going to be eating together, so that means we’re going to be making them together too.」
I replied with what I thought was obvious, but Miyagi looked slightly annoyed.
「Oh, right. I also wanted to buy an electric kettle. Can you come with me to get one?」
I quickly changed the subject before she had the chance to change her mind about eating together.
「It’s not like you need to ask me. Just go buy one yourself.」
「I can’t just do that. It’s something we’re both going to use.」
「Fine. Buy whatever you want. I’ll pay you for my half.」
「You don’t have to. Since it’s something we’ll be sharing, I’ll just use that money.」
Miyagi frowned at my words.
「That money belongs to you, Sendai-san.」
「It’s our money.」
「I was the one who gave it to you.」
By “that” money, I meant the cash that had been sitting in my piggy bank—so technically, she wasn’t wrong.
I’d used some of that money when signing the lease for our apartment, though I hadn’t used all of it. Before we moved in together, I got that portion reimbursed by Miyagi’s family.
Well, that wasn’t all that surprising now that I thought about it.
Once they heard she was going to be sharing a place with someone else, there was no way her family wasn’t going to pay their share. Half of the contract-related costs had been properly refunded, and the money I’d spent was covered.
Even so, I didn’t want to use that money on myself.
But if I tried to return it to Miyagi, she definitely wouldn’t accept it.
So I decided I’d hold onto it and use it for our shared expenses instead.
Of course, Miyagi didn’t seem too happy about that.
「Well, that’s not the important part. I just want to go shopping with you.」
I gave up on an argument that wasn’t going anywhere and steered the conversation back to buying a kettle.
「What if I said no?」
「Then I’ll just have you boil water for me in a milk pan for the rest of our days together.」
I smiled as I said it, and Miyagi responded with a sour look.
「… When are we going shopping?」
「Tomorrow. Or do you already have plans with Utsunomiya?」
If I said “next week,” it would feel like everything we decided today would just fall apart, so I didn’t want to push the plans that far out.
「… I don’t, so tomorrow’s fine.」
Miyagi mumbled as she finished her sausage roll.
「Hey, Miyagi. Can you wear a skirt tomorrow?」
The air still felt a little awkward, so I threw out something silly to lighten the mood.
「No.」
「That was a pretty fast answer, don’t you think?」
「There’s no reason for me to wear a skirt, is there?」
「I just like seeing your legs, Miyagi.」
Ever since we moved in together, I hadn’t seen her wear a skirt once. I didn’t wear them often either, and I wasn’t wearing one today, but I still wanted to see her legs again.
Maybe it was because we’d spent so much time in her room in our uniforms that I’d grown used to seeing her in a skirt.
「I’m definitely not wearing one.」
「I figured you’d say that.」
「… Did you want to see my legs that badly?」
「Only if you’re willing to show them to me.」
I couldn’t tell her—not right now, at least—but I really did want to touch her legs again. No, it didn’t have to be her legs. I just wanted to be able to touch her again, the way I could back in high school.
It was enough to make me feel almost sad that she didn’t order me around anymore.
「You really are a pervert, Sendai-san.」
That was exactly what I expected her to say.
Still, it felt better hearing her say things like that.
- A croquette bun is a type of sandwich that contains croquettes stuffed between two pieces of bread (of your choice). ↩︎
Ave Lilium Translations 