/
Chapter 156
I don't want Miyagi to know about this — 156
Translated by KaiesV
Edited by KaiesV
Miyagi put her shoulder on me but didn’t hold my hand, so I held her hand.
She didn’t complain, and we watched the movie while holding hands.
It’s tempting to increase the area of contact, but if I do anything unnecessary, the shoulders that are clinging to each other and the hands that are holding each other’s will probably fall away, so I continue to watch the screen maturely.
The film is a typical love story, not boring but lacking something to make it interesting. Still, Miyagi watches without saying a word, so I do the same and watch the people moving around in the tabletops. Before I knew it, the rumbling of thunder had died down and time passed quietly.
「What else do you want to watch after this?」
I ask as I watch the screen approaching the end roll.
But there is no response.
I looked next to her and saw that her eyelids were closed for too long to blink. We had been watching a movie for nearly two hours, so it was no surprise that she felt sleepy.
I think it’s time to put Miyagi to bed.
But the only bed she would sleep in in this room is mine, and I don’t think Miyagi would be honest enough to use my bed. If I told her to go to bed, she would go back to her room.
If possible, I hope she doesn’t speak.
I hope she was still in this room.
On the other hand, I can’t leave a sleepy Miyagi like this.
「Miyagi, you can go to sleep if you’re sleepy.」
Reaching out with my free hand to the tablet and touching the screen, the main character stops in a strange pose and I hear a sleepy voice next to me.
「I’m alright.」
「You’re half asleep.」
「I’m not sleeping. I’m awake.」
「Can you watch the movie all the way through?」
「…I’m going back to my room.」
The answer was as I had expected, and I put some strength into the hand I had joined before Miyagi stood up.
「I’ll remember your promise, so use my bed.」
「It’s fine. I’m going sleep in my own room.」
Miyagi, who looked sleepy, says clearly.
I don’t understand why she didn’t want to sleep here, but I didn’t want to let her go back. I don’t know how to get Miyagi to stay here, so I put more pressure on our joined hands.
「…How long is the “now” for Sendai-san?」
She put “now” in front of the promise I made to the earring that I wouldn’t do anything strange, but it seems that Miyagi will not leave that “now” ambiguous.
I choose my words carefully, because if I give the wrong answer, Miyagi will walk out of this room.
「Until Miyagi leaves this room.」
The hands that were holding each other run away.
But Miyagi doesn’t get up.
「Let’s watch the movie then.」
As I add the words, I hear a small voice from next door.
「For how long?」
「Until morning.」
「…I’ll borrow your bed.」
She blurted out and lay down on the bed that Miyagi had been using as a backrest.
I dim the lights and turn on the nightlight.
I plug the earphone into the tablet and press the play button. The main character, who had stopped in a strange pose, begins to move, and the story begins to move toward the end roll. But I can’t follow the story because I’m worried about Miyagi behind me. The movie is just flowing. Most of my consciousness was in my back and I couldn’t move my body.
I can’t let it bother me.
I think so, but it doesn’t work.
The muscles in my back tingle.
I take a small breath in, and as I slowly try to let it out, I feel something hit my back. I took off my earphones and turned around to find that what hit me was my pillow, and Miyagi was sitting on my bed, thinking I was already asleep.
「Sendai-san.」
「What is it?」
「Do you really remember what you promised?」
Miyagi says, as if to confirm.
「It’s okay. I remember it.」
When I tell her clearly so that she can sleep with as much peace of mind as possible, I hear a small voice.
「…If I use half of your bed…」
「If you use it, in Miyagi’s way, this room is my camp.」
「But the bed is my camp…」
「Why is that so?」
When I asked her back, Miyagi hit me with a pillow.
「Sendai-san, you said I could use it. So, the bed is my camp, and you lend me half of it, Sendai-san.」
It seems that the ownership of the bed, which I told her she could use, had somehow been transferred to Miyagi.
However, ownership of a bed is a trivial matter. More than that, I am surprised that I was allowed to sleep next to Miyagi.
「Are you sure you want to use half of it?」
「If you don’t like it, just watch the movie.」
Miyagi says plainly and lies down with her back to me.
「I’m going to sleep.」
I turn off the tablet.
Miyagi uses half of the bed on the wall side, and I slip into the empty space.
「It’s kind of cramped.」
Soon a disgruntled voice is heard next to me.
It is like Miyagi where she complains even though I told her she could use half of the room, but I also think it is unconvincing.
「And it’s a single bed. Shall I get a double bed?」
「You don’t have to buy it. And I won’t sleep here anymore.」
I hear a very firm voice, as if she is awake.
「Then I’ll tell you a scary story every night from now on.」
「If you do that, I’ll never speak to Sendai-san again.」
「It’s just a joke.」
I immediately take back my previous statement, but Miyagi rolls my back and pulls the quilt as hard as she can. Inevitably, the quilt disappears from my body. It is a little hot rather than cold, so I don’t mind not having a quilt, but it would be boring to have Miyagi’s back buried in the quilt and out of sight.
I would rather look at Miyagi’s back and touch it than look at the futon anyway. More to the point, I would like to turn up the futon and sweatshirt, put my hands in them, and touch Miyagi directly.
But I can’t break my promise.
If I broke the promise I swore to the earring, Miyagi would be really angry.
Still wanting to touch somewhere, I flip the covers up a bit and grab Miyagi’s sweatshirt.
「Sendai-san, aren’t you going to sleep?」
A low voice is heard.
「I’m still not sleeping. Miyagi, turn around.」
「Why?」
「I want to kiss you.」
I say the words that Miyagi would not allow me to say.
「Not now.」
The words come right back at me as I expected, but with a softer denial than I had expected, I gently touch my back over my sweatshirt.
「Miyagi’s stingy」
「Being stingy is fine to me.」
There is no sign of Miyagi turning toward me. I tapped my curled up back with my fingertips, and Miyagi called me in a very serious voice,「Sendai-san.」
「What?」
「…About the earring…」
That’s where her words break off.
「What’s wrong with the earring?」
「Does it make sense?」
Miyagi says in a voice that I might miss if I don’t listen carefully.
「Make sense?」
「The earrings, they’re based on plumeria flowers, right?」
Questions are asked in response to questions.
「That’s right.」
「I looked it up in the language of flowers.」
「What did it say?」
「…It meant like grace, or a shy maiden.」
「Isn’t it perfect for Miyagi?」
「I don’t believe that.」
I hear a grumbling voice and I let go of the hand on my back and exhale.
I thought Miyagi might look up the language of flowers in plumeria. So the language of flowers itself has no great significance.
「Don’t worry about the piercing, it’s just to remind me of my promise, and it doesn’t mean anything more than that. Or should it have meant something?」
「…It doesn’t have to, but…」
Miyagi blurts out and falls silent.
I pat my chest as she doesn’t pursue the matter further.
Miyagi is not wrong.
To tell the truth, the earring do have a meaning.
To be precise, the meaning is not in the language of flowers, but in the plumeria motif of the accessory itself.
To wish your loved ones happiness.
The earrings on Miyagi’s ears have that meaning.
After liking the small flower earrings and doing some research, I came across the meaning of the plumeria motif in Hawaiian jewelry and chose them to adorn Miyagi’s ears.
But I don’t want Miyagi to know that it is something meaningful.
「Just think of it like a good luck charm.」
Learn more
Pause
Unmute
I said it like it’s nothing, and pulled the quilt that was left deprived and put it over my body.
Only I should know the meaning behind the earring.
If Miyagi knew the meaning, she would never wear them. Even if she realizes what it means, I will fake it and say I didn’t know.
「Miyagi, you must have been sleepy. It’s time for you to go to sleep.」
「Go to sleep, Sendai-san.」
「I’m going to sleep without you telling me.」
I have been thinking about the meaning of earring.
I can forgive Miyagi for not liking me, but I cannot forgive Miyagi for liking anyone but me.
It doesn’t look like there is anyone who likes Miyagi as of now.
I think if anyone should like someone like her, it should be me.
But if, someday, Miyagi should fall in love with someone other than me.
My heart is not wide enough to wish her happiness. That’s why, when I can’t wish for Miyagi’s happiness, I hope this earring will wish for Miyagi’s happiness on my behalf. At the same time, like the language of the plumeria flower, I wish I was the shy Miyagi who loves someone but doesn’t have the courage to confess it.
I pull on Miyagi’s sweatshirt.
「Good night.」
I told her in a small voice, and a small voice replied,「Good night.」