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Chapter 174
What I want to do to Sendai-san for no reason — 174
Translated by KaiesV
Edited by KaiesV
It’s hot.
No matter how cold I am, it’s hot in the summer.
Just because it’s near evening time doesn’t mean it’s cooler, and I would rather stay home than go out of my way to buy ice cream in the heat.
But apparently, that isn’t the case with Sendai-san.
「Miyagi, you should walk a little faster.」
Sendai-san, who was walking about three steps ahead of me, stops and looks at me. She seems to be enjoying the event of going to the convenience store to buy ice cream, despite the heat, and her voice is cheerful.
「Even if I hurry, it’s too hot.」
「If you’re slogging along, you’re going to spend more time walking, and it’s going to get even hotter.」
Sendai-san pulls me by the arm and starts to walk. I followed her as if dragged along by her arm, but I couldn’t move my legs fast enough. I knew I could only walk sloppily, and Sendai-san, who had no intention of walking at a leisurely pace, held my hand.
We inevitably walked hand in hand.
Walking together like this reminds me of what Maika said,『Anything can be a date if two people who live together go together.』To reproduce Maika’s words exactly, the two people who live together are『two people who live together,』not『roommates』but walking hand in hand like this makes me feel like we are on something like a date.
「Sendai-san, I’ll walk properly, so let go of my hand.」
I am not concerned about what Maika said.
I also know that we are not dating.
But somehow I didn’t want to hold hands, so I waved our joined hands in a flourish.
「That’s fine. You don’t have to let go.」
The road to the convenience store.
Cicadas are chirping somewhere, just like in summer, and the occasional breeze is lukewarm. The shadows created by the street trees are modest and unreliable to escape the sun’s rays, and there is still time for the sky to turn red.
It was hot.
Both my hands and my body are hot.
I shake my hand again, wanting to let go, but it still won’t let go. But I still can’t let go of her hand. On the contrary, she squeezed me tightly, and when I was about to complain, Sendai-san suddenly muttered,『Oh, Mike-chan,』and stopped.
「Mike?」
「The tortoiseshell cat I told you about. Here, come here.」
Following Sendai-san’s gaze, I see a tortoiseshell cat that I saw with Maika, a cat that she and I went looking for and couldn’t find.
「Is that cat named Mike?」
「Mike is a tortoiseshell cat. I call her that on her own.」
When she said this, Sendai-san easily let go of my hand, which she didn’t let go of no matter how I tried, and squatted down on the edge of the sidewalk.
「Come here, Mike-chan」
The tortoiseshell cat stopped and looked at us. Then, she came up to Sendai-san and mewed briefly,『Nya.』
The cat doesn’t see me.
Sendai-san’s eyes don’t see me either.
A squatting Sendai-san strokes the cat, saying,「It’s been a long while.」Since I had been home most of the time since summer vacation, I guess she hadn’t seen the tortoiseshell cat that she often see on her way home from college.
「You look so cute today.」
Round and round.
Row around.
The cat clears its throat as if in answer to Sendai-san’s voice.
The tortoiseshell cat was much friendlier than when Maika and I found her. No, maybe she just misses Sendai-san, but in no time at all, she is lying on the sidewalk and letting her pet her belly.
Sendai-san’s hand moves back and forth over the tortoiseshell cat’s body. She keeps petting the cat as if she doesn’t care about me.
The tortoiseshell cat looks happy and seems to want Sendai-san to pet her all the time. But since Sendai-san will be with me throughout the summer vacation, the tortoiseshell cat shouldn’t see Sendai-san very often during the vacation.
「Hey, how long are you going to pet that cat?」
I have nothing against cats, but I don’t like the idea of being left alone all the time. It makes my heart flutter to see her interest shift to other things like this. The anxiety that has gathered from somewhere in my body makes me turn my attention to Sendai-san more than ever. That’s why, I’m even more concerned about what she does, which makes me more or less anxious.
「Why don’t you pet it too, Miyagi?」
It’s not the cat I want to pet.
But I couldn’t say that, so I bent down and reached out, and the tortoiseshell cat twitched her ears. I stop my hand for a moment to prevent the cat from running away, then try to pet it gently. But the tortoiseshell cat runs away before my hand touches her.
「Sendai-san.」
It’s not my fault, but I would call Sendai-san with an accusatory tone.
「That’s probably hatred of one’s own kind.」
「I, I’m not a cat.」
「I’ve said it before, but I think you’re similar. To the cat.」
「I don’t see the resemblance.」
I stand up and tug on Sendai-san’s arm as she remains crouched.
「Let’s go already. It’s hot.」
「Okay, okay.」
Sendai-san stands up and I take my hands off her.
The cat is no longer in sight.
With nothing to take my eyes off of Sendai-san, the surging feeling calms down.
Touching Sendai-san and being touched by her.
If I repeat such things over and over again, will my anxiety stay gone?
「Miyagi, it’s not safe to dawdle around.」
A tap on the shoulder and my consciousness turns to walking.
This time, my hand wasn’t held.
We walk at a brisk pace, stirring the stagnant, lukewarm air. In no time at all, we were at the convenience store, bought three days’ worth of ice cream, and headed back home. I walked faster than I went, but by the time I got to the refrigerator, the sizzling, sun-baked ice cream was soaked in sweat and looked like it was about to melt.
「Sendai-san, I’ll put all the ice cream in the freezer.」
I put the bag of ice cream in the freezer before I get an answer. But Sendai-san immediately opens the just-closed freezer.
「Why not? Let’s eat it.」
Sendai-san then takes the liberty of pulling out soda- and strawberry-flavored popsicles.
「It looks melted. Wouldn’t it be better to put it in the freezer once?」
「It’s not that melted.」
Sendai-san has no intention of giving up her popsicle and tries to go straight back to her room. I have no choice but to go with her to her room. As we both sat with her bed back to back, Sendai-san handed me a soda-flavored popsicle.
I ripped open the bag and bit into the sky-blue popsicle.
「I knew it was better to let it cool down once, right?」
After biting into my second bite, I complained to Sendai-san.
Though delicious, the popsicle is a bit soft and unstable.
「Well, it’s fine. Even if it’s a little melted.」
「It’s not fine. This looks like something you could take off a stick.」
「Well, let’s hurry up and eat.」
Sendai-san said and bit into her popsicle with her big mouth. I have so many things to say, but I just bite into the popsicle without saying a word.
It was hot outside, but eating ice cream like this made me feel glad I went to buy it. When I looked next to her, I saw a satisfied Sendai-san in my eyes, and I stared at her.
「Want a bite?」
I didn’t mean to prompt her, but a strawberry-scented popsicle is presented to me. I looked at the red popsicle, about a third of which had disappeared, and then returned my gaze to Sendai-san.
「Miyagi?」
She called my name and I grabbed Sendai-san’s arm. But I lick Sendai-san’s lips without biting the popsicle.
Sweet.
But I couldn’t really tell what it tasted like. I licked my lips again to make sure the popsicle really tasted like strawberries.
「It’s cold, Sendai-san.」
In the end, I’m not sure if it was strawberry flavor or not.
「
Well, were eating ice cream. But it’s not me you’re taking a bite, it’d be the ice cream.」
「If I’m tasting, it doesn’t matter which one I eat.」
「You said you’re done with kissing me, and it’s coming from you, Miyagi. Did you forget?」
「That wasn’t a kiss, that was a taste.」
Yes, I can touch Sendai-san’s lips because it isn’t a kiss.
Even if it was a kiss, the fact that the kiss is over only applies to Sendai-san, not to me.
「Then I’d like to taste of yours too.」
「You can’t.」
I stick a half-eaten popsicle to Sendai-san’s neck.
「Wai— cold!」
Sendai-san escapes from me louder than I expected.
The popsicle had nowhere to go and I bit down on her neck to keep her from going any farther.
The neck, which has been bitten many times, easily burrows my teeth into the skin. But I bite with an added or subtracted bite so that Sendai-san doesn’t push me away from her in pain, and I press my tongue against her.
The tip of my tongue, flattened against the air conditioner-cold neck, felt a sweetness that was hard to believe to be human skin. But the neck, which should have been soda-flavored with popsicles, tasted like something else, a mixture of Sendai-san’s smell and sweat.
「Miyagi.」
She taps me on the shoulder with a pop, and I let go of my lips. But I quickly bite down and slowly crawls my tongue up her neck. Sendai-san is no longer sweet. Still, I bit softly and pressed my lips repeatedly against the collarbone. Sendai-san doesn’t speak up as she did that day.
The day I touched Sendai-san myself is burned into my brain. The memory is so vivid that even if I wanted to forget it, I could not. I can clearly recall her voice at that moment, her body temperature, what was wetting my fingers, everything.
I want to see that Sendai-san again, who looked only at me and wanted only me. And I want Sendai-san to touch me as much as I do. But I also think it’s an act of too much communion with her and shouldn’t be repeated.
「Wait, Miyagi.」
Sendai-san strongly taps me on the shoulder.
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So I bite her shoulder just as hard.
The popsicle melts and falls onto my hand.
「Miyagi, the ice cream. It’s going to fall on the floor.」
As I continued to grind my teeth against her shoulder, pretending not to hear her even though I could, Sendai-san took my popsicle away and called me「Miyagi,」again. I reluctantly look up and see Sendai-san.
「Open your mouth.」
I hear a low voice, and when I open my mouth maturely, a popsicle is shoved into it. I have no choice but to put the melting popsicle away in my stomach and then wipe her hands with a tissue.
「I’m all sticky.」
It’s not a wet wipe, so she can’t wipe the popsicle clean off her hands.
「That’s right. I mean, Miyagi is acting so weird that even I’m getting sticky.」
Sendai-san, who had finished his popsicle, said in dismay.
「I’m a cat, so I can lick you, can’t I?」
「A cat?」
「You said hatred of one’s own kind when we went to the convenience store.」
「Like I said, why do you do these things when we’re eating?」
「You don’t need a reason for this kind of thing, do you? Besides, it looked like Sendai-san was going to do it if I left it alone, so I went ahead and did it.」
「Really, Miyagi, you’re an idiot. If you’re going to do it, do it when we’re not eating ice cream.」
Then Sendai-san puts her lips on my neck.
Her damp breath blows on me, tickling me and making me feel good.
But I felt that a good kiss from Sendai-san was already over, and if I allowed the kiss to continue, it wouldn’t end with just a kiss, so I pushed her body.
「Miyagi. Are you free the day after tomorrow?」
She didn’t complain, but asks about my schedule.
「I’m free, but
」
「Then, can we do this thing we agreed to go out the day after tomorrow?」
「It’s fine, but where are we going?」
「That’s for us to enjoy on the day.」
Sendai-san smiled happily as she said this.