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Chapter 150
I want to be closer to Miyagi — 150
Translated by KaiesV
Edited by KaiesV
A glass of barley tea that won’t diminish and a glass with a drop of water.
Miyagi, who had not drunk the second cup of barley tea she had asked for, said nothing.
We are having a Sunday that seems the same as usual, but is somehow different.
「Ah, right. The earrings, when we’re going to buy it?」
I mention a bland topic, a promise that has been hanging in the air since Thursday.
I am concerned about Utsunomiya, but I want to take my feelings in a slightly different direction.
「I haven’t decided yet.」
Miyagi says as she wipes a drop of water from her glass with her fingertip.
「I see…」
「Anytime I want, you told me that, no?」
「I know. Does Miyagi have any earrings you want?」
「Isn’t Sendai-san supposed to choose it?」
「I’m going to pick one, but I thought I’d ask you what you wanted, just in case.」
The earrings are special to me because they remind me of my promise to Miyagi.
I want it to have a special meaning for me, even if it’s no longer attached to me at that time, as if it’s a sign that Miyagi is mine because I drilled a hole in it.
So I want to buy it with my own part-time money, not with the money in my wallet, from which my parents are the source.
Miyagi is not the type of person who would seriously want something so expensive that I can’t afford it with my part-time job money, but I want to know in advance if there are any earrings she want because I want to put the earrings I bought in Miyagi’s ears so much that I want to give them to her even if she tells me those things.
Of course I’m not going to tell her that I’m going to spend my part-time money, because of course I’m going to tell her that she doesn’t have to buy it.
「…Nothing in particular, and you can do as you please, Sendai-san.」
Miyagi says curtly.
「Okay, let me see your earrings.」
「Why should I show it to you?」
「I just thought I’d help you choose.」
Today, Miyagi’s earrings are hidden by her hair. I know what kind of earrings she has, but I want to see them.
「I’ll show you when you go to buy the stuff.」
I wasn’t expecting a good answer, but it’s too boring for an answer.
I hesitate for a moment, then stand up and reach for the Miyagi.
But before my hand could touch her hair, Miyagi pulled herself away. The legs of the chair rattled and I stopped before I could touch her. My hand, having lost its way, ended up landing on the table, and I let out a small gasp.
I wondered if Utsunomiya would make it easy for her to show her the earrings.
At the same time that I am concerned about such things, the feelings that have been smoldering in my heart grow.
I want to touch Miyagi.
Not long ago, I would have already touched Miyagi, put her hair over her ears, and looked at her earrings. But the memory of last week was so vivid that I was lost. And Miyagi reacted in a way that seemed excessive.
「You don’t have to be so surprised.」
I said lightly and smiles.
I don’t want to weigh down the seemingly calm air.
But I feel like I won’t be able to touch Miyagi for a long time if I don’t.
「I wasn’t trying to do anything weird.」
I’m now slowly reach out her hand.
Miyagi doesn’t run away.
My hand touches her for the first time in a week with the intention of touching her. I grabbed Miyagi’s arm at Utsunomiya’s house, but all I wanted to do at that time was to take her home.
Just the mere touch of her hair makes my heart beat so loudly that Miyagi could almost hear it.
I am surprised at myself for being nervous over such a trivial thing.
I brush her soft hair and put it over her ears. I stroked the piercing and felt the hardness of the silver it, then crawled my fingers up to her earlobe.
Miyagi almost grabs my hand and stops.
Our eyes meet, but she didn’t complain.
The fact that my hand that deserves to be grabbed isn’t grabbed, that it wasn’t rejected in a gruff voice, makes the act of touching, which has been repeated so many times, seem to have a different meaning than it did before.
My hands grew bolder, taking advantage of Miyagi’s lack of resistance.
I slide my hand, which had been touching her earlobe, down her neck.
I press my fingers hard against her throat and let them crawl downward. The smooth skin is pleasant to the touch and brings back memories of last week. My heart ached when I remembered Miyagi’s voice at that moment, and the Utsunomiya that had been sitting in my head disappeared.
Slowly, I touch her collarbone.
As I stroke over the bone, Miyagi’s body shivers a little and her hand finally catches me.
「Don’t touch anything that isn’t my ear.」
She squeezes my arm.
「I know.」
She let go of my hand as Miyagi pulls herself to me.
I sat down meekly in the chair and looked at Miyagi.
She doesn’t get up or glare at me.
And my heart is clearly beating fast.
It’s a small thing, but different from usual.
We are changing colors little by little like the sky changes colors from night to morning. But I am also inclined to hope that the change will be dramatic enough to overtake the change.
If nothing changes after something like that, there is no opportunity for change anywhere. But if I stay the same, Miyagi will stay here as my roommate while we are a college students. If we try to force a change, Miyagi may run away again and never come back.
「I’m going to go back to my room now.」
Before I can settle my mind, Miyagi says in an unfriendly voice.
「Just wait.」
「I’m not waiting.」
「Why?」
「Sendai-san, you seem like you’re going to do something strange.」
Miyagi stands up.
I grab her arm before she goes back to her room.
「What kind of strange things?」
「If you put your hand on my chest and think about it.」
If I put my hand on Miyagi’s chest, I can think long and hard about it.
As I think about such foolishness, I hear Miyagi’s gruff voice.
「Let me go, Sendai-san.」
I let go of Miyagi’s arm and grab her hand.
「That’s not what I meant.」
I know, but I don’t want to send Miyagi back to her room like this.
My feelings and Miyagi’s feelings do not overlap.
Still, we can be together thanks to the word “roommate” we left on Sunday. It is a word that is constricting to me, one that I would like to lose someday, but I hesitate to lose it right now. However, I would like to return to a relationship where we can do what we have been doing. To put it bluntly, I want to at least kiss her. But to do so now would require the courage of talking to a stranger.
I thought for a moment, then chose one of several acts that even Miyagi would be willing to forgive me for now, and put my lips on her fingertips.
Miyagi’s hand tightens.
「Miyagi, is this strange?」
She didn’t answer, but she didn’t run away either.
I kiss the top of the second joint, relieved that Miyagi is right in front of me.
Her fingers twitch.
When I pressed my lips hard enough to feel the hardness of bone rather than the softness of skin, Miyagi said,「Sendai-san,」harder than bone.
I shouldn’t have to do more than this.
I should be satisfied with the kiss, if not the lips, and be done with it.
I thought so, but I couldn’t stop myself and crawled my tongue over her fingers and Miyagi touched my hair.
The hand that usually grabs and tugs at my hair doesn’t move. I cautiously press my lips against the back of her hand.
I have done this kind of thing many times in the past under orders from Miyagi.
It’s not a big deal for us.
I separate my lips once and put them together again.
Licking the smooth skin with the tip of my tongue, Miyagi tried to pull her arm away.
She’d ordered me around a lot and made me do this many times, but I don’t want her to say no today. I grab her hand tightly and bite her fingertips sweetly.
No voices are heard.
I wish I could make a small voice like I did last Sunday.
I press the tip of my tongue against the belly of the finger, with the teeth digging into the skin. Miyagi kicked me in the leg as I sucked lightly on her finger as if sucking the blood overflowing from a wound.
「That’s enough.」
I hear a low voice and release Miyagi’s fingers. I look up and see Miyagi with a wrinkled brow.
「I knew you were going to do something weird. Sendai-san, you do erotic things easily.」
「You think it's erotic now?」
「Shouldn’t you think about it?」
「Miyagi has ordered me to do this many times and has made me do it.」
Not only did I do it because she ordered me to, but Miyagi even did the same thing to me. I never thought that Miyagi would call what I have done so many times before “erotic” on this occasion today.
I have heard these words several times in the past, but when I hear them on a day like today, it sounds like Miyagi is saying that just as I connected last Sunday and the current act, so did Miyagi.
「I’m kinda ticked off.」
Miyagi made a gruff sound and stepped on my toes.
It hurt quite a bit because the force was transmitted with pinpoint accuracy.
「Should I not do this anymore?」
I ask as I pull my trampled foot out from under her foot.
「If you’re properly remorseful, that’s all that matters.」
After saying this, Miyagi went back to her room without looking at me.