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Chapter 153
Distance chosen by Sendai-san — 153
Translated by KaiesV
Edited by KaiesV
For me, June is neither spring nor summer.
I feel it’s too late to wear spring clothes and too early to wear summer clothes. I always wonder what to wear, but I am certain that the spring-colored skirt I bought after the graduation ceremony is not appropriate for this season, so I end up wearing a blouse and pants, which is not so different from what I usually wear.
I don’t even bother to choose an outfit that reminds me of that day, a skirt on a Sunday, so maybe this is just about right.
「Miyagi, did you find anything you liked?」
In front of a row of pierced earrings, Sendai-san says irresponsibly.
The store I was brought to seemed to deal in imported goods, and there were more other things than accessories. Still, there were a good number of pierced earrings, and when Sendai-san told me,「If there is one that Miyagi likes, I’ll go with it, so just take a look,」I looked at it but couldn’t decide quickly. Since Sendai-san said she would choose in the first place, I think she should decide.
「I don’t care which one you choose, Sendai-san, just pick one.」
「Are you sure any of these are acceptable?」
「I’m fine with any.」
I thought that if I was taken to a store with only expensive items, I would just go home, but many of the earrings in front of me looked like they could be bought without feeling guilty about it.
「Then, how about this?」
Sendai-san handed me a pair of silver earrings as if she had chosen them from the beginning.
「…Others are fine.」
Perhaps my brow is wrinkled.
The price wasn’t cheap, but not that expensive either.
But that’s not the point.
It was the design.
「You don’t like it?」
「I don’t hate it, I just think it’s too cute.」
In my hand is a small pair of flower earrings. Looking at where it was placed, I could tell from the description that it was a “plumeria” flower.
I think they look cute with a single flower in the ear, but they don’t suit me.
「Is that so? It’s simple and I don’t think it’s too pretty.」
「Different one would be better.」
「Okay. Then, how about this one?」
Sendai-san points to a golden earring.
It’s too big, and I don’t like the design or the price.
「I don’t like those fancy things. You deliberately chose something that I would say I don’t like.」
「You said you don’t care which one, so no other than these two. Pick whichever one you like better.」
Sendai-san looked at me with amusement.
Sure, I said,「I’ll pick one,」and「Any of them?」to which she replied,「Yeah.」I’m sure she would choose something different if I told her I absolutely hated it and begged her, but I’m a college student and it’s embarrassing to make a fuss in a store.
「…This one.」
I give Sendai-san a pair of small flower earrings.
「I’m going to get some, stay around here.」
Sendai-san said lightly and headed for the cash register.
I watch her back and then touch my ear.
An earring different from the one I just had selected hits my fingertip. I am a little sad to think that it will be a new pair of earrings, because those are the first ones that Sendai-san put in my ears.
I look at the earrings lined up without looking at them. I’m not that interested in earrings themselves, so I still don’t have anything that I want. Since I can’t find what I want by myself, I am happy with the earrings Sendai-san chose.
「I kept you waiting.」
As I was looking at the earrings in a daze, Sendai-san tapped me on the shoulder.
「What about the earrings?」
Sendai-san, who seems to be in a good mood, doesn’t have the earrings she was supposed to have bought. I guessed they were in her bag, but I just assumed she would give them to me right away.
「I’ll give it to you when we get home. Anyway, do you want to stop by somewhere?」
「We don’t have to stop by.」
「What about dinner? I mean, it’s still early for dinner.」
Usually, Sendai-san would have listed many other places we could stop by and decided on a new destination, but today she simply said,「Then, let’s go home,」and started walking. We returned the way we came, without detours, and were home by evening.
I open the fridge and pour a glass of barley tea and cider.
「I’ll bring it to the room.」
Sendai-san said as a matter of course and put the glass on the tray that he was going to put on the table in the common space.
「Is the room Sendai-san’s room?」
「Yes. I’ll give you the earrings there.」
「Can’t we just do it here?」
「Don’t you want to come to my room?」
I don’t dislike it, but I haven’t been in Sendai-san’s room since that Sunday. That makes my heart beat a little faster because her room is connected to the events of that day.
I don’t want to erase the memory, and I accept what happened that day, but the embarrassment is not diminishing. On the other hand, if I ran away from Sendai-san’s room, I would never be able to enter her room for the rest of my life.
「…I’m fine, but…」
Sendai-san smiles and holds the tray as I answer in a small voice.
I open the door and enter the room.
I see the bed and stop halfway in the middle of the room.
I think Sendai-san is sneaky.
She touched me unilaterally, and she should not be embarrassed like I am.
I knew she should have taken it in the common space.
「Sit there.」
Sendai-san taps me on the shoulder as I place my glass on the table, but I don’t want to sit down.
「Where’s the earrings?」
「I’ll put it on for you.」
Sendai-san pulled me to the front of the table and forced me to sit down. Then she sat down next to me.
「I’ll put it on myself.」
「You could at least give me the right to put earrings on the people who bought them. Is there some reason you don’t want me to put them for you?」
「Because something isn’t right…」
I don’t want her to touch my ear because it might remind me of that Sunday.
That’s the only reason.
But I don’t want to say why because it would sound like I care about that Sunday a lot.
「If that’s such a good reason, let me put your earrings.」
Sendai-san says what I expected her to say and reaches out to me, so I brush her hand away.
「Then I’ll take the piercings off myself.」
I remove the piercing and place it on the table before Sendai-san reaches for it again. When I touch my earlobe, it is a little unreliable there, as it is no longer decorated.
「Can I put this on?」
Sendai-san pulls out a small bag from her briefcase and looks at me.
「Okay.」
「The earrings, do you want to take it out of the bag yourself?」
「Sendai-san, do everything.」
「Alright.」
When I said this in a light tone of voice, Sendai-san took out my earrings. Then she put my hair over my ears.
Her gaze pierced my piercing-less ear. Although I have seen my own unpierced ears many times, I am somewhat uncomfortable, perhaps because I am showing them to Sendai-san for the first time. It’s not as big a deal as showing a small hole, but it feels special.
Her hand touching my hair caresses my ear.
She touched the back of my earlobe, the part where the catch that held my earring was, as if to check it, and I grabbed Sendai-san’s arm.
「I thought you were going to put my earrings.」
「I’ll put it on you, but if you don’t have it pierced, it’ll look like this.」
Sendai-san removed her hand from my ear, saying sullenly.
「It’s not the first time you’ve seen it.」
Ibaraki-san and her friends had piercings when they were in high school, so pierced holes should not be uncommon for Sendai-san.
「Yes, but I’ve never seen Miyagi’s before.」
「You don’t have to look at it, just put it on.」
「Okay, okay.」
Sendai-san takes the earrings and slowly and carefully puts them on my ears. Her hand slightly touches my cheek, and her fingertips tickle the back of my ear, making my body almost move. After holding on for a while, I heard the sound of the piercing being snapped twice, and Sendai-san’s hand left my hand.
「I’ve put it on.」
「Here,」she said, handing me a mirror to look at myself, and I saw a small flower blooming in my ear. When I put it on, I was a little relieved to find that the silver-colored design was less conspicuous than I had expected. I still think it is too cute for me, but it is an acceptable cuteness.
「It suits well.」
Sendai-san pats her earring and says quietly.
I did not answer her, but said what I had failed to say.
「…Thank you for the earrings.」
「Much obliged.」
「Why you don’t want to get your ears pierced, Sendai-san?」
I push away Sendai-san’s arm to continue touching my ear and ask her the one thing I wanted to ask her.
When we were in high school, she wouldn’t let me get her ears pierced because it was against the rules, but those rules don’t exist anymore.
「Not that there is any reason. Well, maybe if there’s something to commemorate the occasion.」
Sendai-san stared at me, saying things that were different from back then.
「Can I go a little closer?」
When I keep silent, Sendai-san comes just a little bit closer to me.
「Your earrings, let me get a better look over.」
Without waiting for a reply, her hand touched my ear and her fingertips stroked the earring again, tugging on the earlobe.
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The part being touched is hot.
A shudder runs down the spine and stiffens from the neck to the shoulders.
When I pulled back a little, Sendai-san came closer than she had pulled back and put her lips to my ear.
“Miyagi,” a small voice called.
When I didn’t answer, she called again in my ear.
The soft, gentle name-calling tickles me.
Another kiss on the ear and the memory almost connects with Sunday.
She grabs my left hand and our fingers intertwine.
A tooth hit my earlobe and bit me lightly. Sendai-san’s body clung to me more than necessary, and she called my name again, mixed with her blowing breath.
「Sendai-san, wait…」
I push on the shoulder.
But Sendai-san doesn’t leave.
Her fingers crawl on my neck, and her lips crawl as if chasing me. Her body heat slowly moving over my skin felt so good that it almost made me breathe unevenly. She licked around the border of my neck and shoulders, and this time I pressed hard on Sendai-san’s shoulders.
「Did you hate it?」
Sendai-san says quietly.
「You’re way over your head.」
I untangled our fingers, which remained entangled, and held her neck with my palm.
「Miyagi.」
「What is it?」
「You look good in those earrings. You should wear them all the time.」
A regretful finger reaches out and I reflexively pull myself back. This time, the distance remains open, and the strength that had almost entered my body is released.
「I don’t have any other earrings I want to wear, and I’m going to keep wearing it even if you don’t tell me.」
I touched my own ear and then took a sip of cider.