I calm my heart, which is bouncing like when I walk fast.
Iâve been in this room many times, but Iâm a little nervous today because Miyagiâs appearance is different from usual.
ăStand there and take off your clothes.ă
Miyagi points to the front of the bed and says in a flat voice.
ăMy clothes, you mean this?ă
I pull on my cardigan and ask Miyagi, who is standing next to me.
ăYour t-shirt and your skirt too.ă
ăNot just my cardigan and t-shirt?ă
I ask back.
I had guessed that the phrase âtake off your clothesâ would refer to the cardigan and the T-shirt I was wearing underneath, but I hadnât expected it to include the skirt.
ăI said, your skirt too.ă
ăDoes that mean I should only wear my underwear?ă
ăYouâll let me know if there is anything else?ă
ăâŚNo, I donât. Do you turn off the lights?ă
ăIâm not turning it off. Just stand there and take off your clothes.ă
Miyagi says quietly.
The curtains are closed, so we cannot be seen from the outside. The room is neither cold nor hot. But that doesnât mean you can take off your clothes and say, âOkay, is that so.â
I have taken off only my top in front of Miyagi, but I hesitate when asked to take off my skirt as well.
This is not a very good punishment.
I exhale slowly and look at Miyagi.
She doesnât look like sheâs joking about taking off my clothes.
ăYouâre not going to take off your clothes, Miyagi?ă
ăItâs a punishment game that Sendai-san does, but thereâs no way Iâm taking it off.ă
ăIâm the only one taking off my clothes, and itâs really embarrassing.ă
ăItâs a punishment game, so embarrassment is good enough.ă
I didnât call to tell her I would be late, and I didnât kiss her when I knew she was begging for it. I can think of reasons for Miyagiâs bad mood, but neither of them should have been enough to make me take off my clothes.
ăSendai-san.ă
Miyagi said, not hiding her irritation, and looks at me.
Maybe her mood wonât get better until the punishment is over.
Itâs not like Iâm going to take it all off.
I tell myself and stand in front of the bed.
ăIs it okay here?ă
ăYes.ă
ăJust out of curiosity, what do you want to do by taking off my clothes? We have a rule about punishing each other within the bounds of common sense.ă
ăItâs not like weâre going to do anything that requires us to turn off the lights, so why not?ă
I donât know what she will do to me when I hear Miyagiâs words.
What I sometimes dream about.
When she asked me to take off my clothes, I thought for a moment that I wished that was what she meant. But Miyagi would turn off the lights when doing that kind of thing, and I donât think Miyagi would do such a thing now that she doesnât even allow kissing.
ăWhat is it that you have to do to turn off the lights?ă
ăWhat Sendai-san is thinking. I wonât do that kind of thing. Just take it off.ă
Well, yes.
Thereâs no way thatâs what the punishment is.
I take off my cardigan, fold it up and put it on the floor.
Miyagi stared at me.
She doesnât seem to be trying to be reserved, and her gaze is zesty, piercing and painful. There is no consideration for the feelings of the person being watched. I could have looked away or looked at her, but Miyagi kept looking at me as if the function of blinking was broken.
I put my hand on the hem of my T-shirt and exhale.
ăâŚWhat if I donât take it off?ă
What happens if I donât comply with the punishment?
I have the right to ask that much.
ăIâll kick you out of the room and never let you in.ă
I donât know if Miyagi understands how heavy that is for me and says it, but she says precisely what I wouldnât like to hear her say.
ăCan you remove your gaze for a moment or something?ă
ăSendai-san, donât you have no sense of shame?ă
Miyagi is terribly rude.
Even I have a sense of shame.
But if taking off my clothes would fix Miyagiâs mood, I would be willing to take them off, and from the moment I entered this room, I had no choice but to refuse. Miyagiâs words take away every option from me. I can only go towards the answers provided and cannot go against her.
I think something is wrong.
I know I am crazy, but like water flowing from top to bottom, I am flowing in the direction Miyagi wants me to go.
ăLike I said, I have feelings of embarrassment too.ă
With her eyes clinging to me, I take off my T-shirt. Then I take off my skirt as well and place it on the floor.
The lights are twinkling and Miyagi, who is looking at me, is clothed.
I feel uncomfortable standing there with only myself unclothed.
Miyagi slowly approaches me and turns the covers over.
ăSit.ă
Miyagiâs voice echoes in my head.
I wonder what the punishment is.
ăSendai-san.ă
Miyagi says, putting her hand flat on my neck.
Her hand is neither warm nor cold, but I can clearly tell that what flows into it is Miyagiâs body heat. I should have felt Miyagiâs heat like this many times in the past, but my neck stiffens as if I am feeling it for the first time, and I am aware of her hand.
Miyagiâs fingertips tighten and I sit down on the bed.
The lack of cloth to hide most of my body makes me feel as if my body is unreliable.
The hand on my neck slides down and caresses my shoulder.
I look up at Miyagi and she tugs at the straps of my bra.
ăI knew it. Take this off, too.ă
The straps are shifted and fall off my shoulders when I didnât say yes.
ăIâve taken off my clothes. Weâre done with the punishment, right?ă
ăWe havenât even started yet. This is preparation for the punishment game. Iâll take it off.ă
Miyagi puts her arms around my back like a hug. But she doesnât hug me, and as she says, she unhooks my bra. The underwear, no longer strong enough to hold it in place, easily lost its ability to cover my breasts, and I held my bra in my hands.
ăHey, Miyagi. I thought you were only supposed to take off my clothes?ă
ăHands off.ă
A voice in a bad mood descends.
She wasnât going to answer my question.
I would be happy to move my hand away, but I would like her to at least let me prepare my mind.
ăGive me a minute.ă
ăI donât want to.ă
I exhale quietly when she answered immediately.
ăThen, back off a little.ă
A little toe on Miyagiâs leg opens up a little distance.
I slowly move my hand away and remove my bra.
With a small exhale, Miyagi takes my bra and places it on top of my undressed clothes.
Miyagiâs gaze stung harder each time I lost the covering over my body.
Now I can clearly feel her gaze on my chest.
ăâŚArenât you looking too much?ă
I called out to Miyagi, who was looking at me unreservedly, and was met with a quiet voice.
ăSendai-san, you have a beautiful face and body.ă
I was amused by words I had not expected to hear.
Itâs rare for Miyagi to say something complimentary about me. I was worried that she might have hit her head somewhere, but in the first place, if she was in decent condition, she wouldnât have gone so far as to try to remove my clothes in a punishment game. But even if Miyagi is losing her mind, she says words she wouldnât normally say in a situation like this, which makes it even more difficult to make eye contact with her.
ăThank you very much for that. But Iâm embarrassed if you see too much of me.ă
My cheeks are hot.
Perhaps, theyâre also red.
ăItâs Sendai-sanâs fault for not calling and for not coming back earlier. If you say you wonât go to your part-time job tomorrow, I can stop now.ă
ăIâm going to my part-time job.ă
ăThen weâll continue. Lie down on the bed.ă
ăI thought you wonât do this thing where you have to turn off the lights?ă
ăI wonât do it, so just do as I say.ă
Miyagi approaches me and touches my ear.
Her fingertips softly caress the earring and leave.
I donât know what she is thinking.
Still, I have no choice but to do as she says.
I know there is no point in resisting.
As I slowly lay down, Miyagi climbed onto the bed and straddled me around the bottom of my stomach. Her fingertips stroked my earrings again and her face moved closer to my neck. And she can get her teeth up.
My heart is busy with Miyagi, who bites me without hesitation, even though she no longer even allows me to kiss her.
The warmth of her body is both delightful and painful.
I guess it was Miyagiâs consideration that she didnât bite my ear, but it hurt so badly because it was the first time in a long time that my teeth were set as hard as she could, and my neck was so hot that I almost forgot how to breathe. The grip of Miyagiâs shoulder on the skin, on the flesh, on the teeth that dig into me, relieves me of the pain.
Play
Unmute
ăMiyagi. You said earlier that you wonât do anything, right?ă
What I wanted was a kiss, not to be bitten in the teeth. The bite was brief and would not leave a mark, but it was too unexpected.
ăIâm not saying I wonât do anything, and even if I did, I think it would count as nothing, considering what Iâve done so far.ă
ăIsnât that too much of a stretch?ă
ăI got a picture of Sendai-san.ă
I say this in a light voice, and Miyagi comes face to face with me again.
Pitter patter, her lips clinging to the bottom of my collarbone.
They are pressed against me and sucked hard.
Then the lips separate, shift slightly, and are pressed together again, sucking hard.
Further down from the collarbone, the lips attach to the top of the chest.
She suck hard and then separate.
She didnât touch the same place.
She move away, stick together, and then stick to another spot.
Again and again, and repeating the process.
Miyagiâs lips give me little pains like sugar cubes. The horns collide, and with a sharp pain, her body heat enters, melting into the blood and traveling through her body. The marks left on the surface of my body still feel like lips, sweet, painful, and making me want more. The awareness that what she was doing now is strange diminishes.
Her lips go from my chest to its underside, pressing against the top of my ribs. She sucks hard, her teeth are set, and my body makes a small involuntary movement. She bites me so hard it hits my bones and grabs the sheets. The sweetness from her lips is gone, and only pain pierces my brain. The lips change places, sucking and teething, giving different kinds of pain.
The heat transmitted from Miyagi burns the skin and the nerves. I breathe in deeply so that my exhalation is shallow and my consciousness doesnât focus on her. Pull Miyagi close to me and remove her clothes, breathing so as not to deprive her of body heat.
I donât sense any intention in Miyagiâs actions other than to leave a mark.
She is solemnly doing what she is supposed to do, as she is supposed to do.
Miyagi is marking my body in such an unobtrusive manner that I feel as if she is doing just that.
The red marks grew in number, consuming me and soaking Miyagi.
ăMiyagiâŚă
I call Miyagi, who has a mark around the top of my stomach, but she doesnât respond.
She puts her lips on my body and lets go, as if it were her duty to do so.
I donât mind her marking me, but I donât want it to go on too long.
ăWhat is your purpose of doing these things?ă
Miyagi looked up when I asked, tugging lightly on her hair.
ăI just want to put it on.ă
ăYou can put on as many of these as you want, but theyâll soon disappear.ă
ăI know, but I want to put it on.ă
ăAnd, why is that?ă
Miyagi wrinkles her brow.
She stares at me, stroking her plumeria earrings.
ăâŚDonât break your promise to call me if youâre going to be late. You wonât forget if I mark all this.ă
With that, Miyagi removed her finger from the earring and stroked the mark that would have been on the bottom of my collarbone.
ăI thought you were going to make those promises, piercing you, Miyagi. Thatâs what you got pierced for.ă
ăSendai-san, I donât want you to swear to my earring, but you will never break your part-time job. I donât want you to swear on my earring to a promise you have no intention of keeping.ă
Miyagi says in her grumpiest voice of the day.
ăThen what about my ears? I gave them to you, Miyagi. Not only did I promise to eat the whole cake together, but I can promise something else.ă
ăYour ears are not enough. Sendai-san is all mine, not just your ears, so Iâll mark my promise wherever I want.ă
Itâs all mine.
My heart thumps loudly at these words that I thought I had misheard. I try to raise myself up to get a closer look at Miyagiâs face, but I canât get up from the bed because of the strong teeth on my collarbone.
ăIf you break your promise, Iâll mark it again like today.ă
Miyagi stroked my collarbone and slowly slides her fingers across it.
Even without being told, I immediately know what her fingers are doing as they crawl over my body. Miyagi is checking the marks she has made.
She stroked one red mark, slides her finger over it, and strokes the next red mark.
She does the same thing over and over again, and I sense nothing impure from her.
She mustnât be trying to ripple my emotions with her fingertips. But if her fingertips move, my emotions will have small swings. Miyagiâs âall mineâ voice lingered in my head, making me more clearly aroused than when her lips were trailing down my body.
ăMiyagiâŚă
I call her to check the mark on my chest.
There is no answer, but the waves that come and go grow louder.
ăHey, Miyagi. Stop this already.ă
Breathing is a little shallow again.
It reminds me of the word âinferiority complexâ.
Maybe thatâs what I should call the thick, opaque feeling I have inside me right now. Hot, murky, and unable to stay in one place, something comes up from deep within the body.
This feeling is not good.
Reason melts like a candy ball and makes me want to touch Miyagi.
What I have in me now are impure and insincere thoughts. Itâs a feeling that is out of balance with Miyagi, and I know it should be hidden somewhere today, but I want Miyagi to feel the same way.
ăI told you that you canât.ă
I grab Miyagiâs hand tracing the signs.
As it is, I want her to touch me more, both where the marks are and where they are not.
ăI donât like it when Sendai-san says no to me. Youâve always listened to me, so you should do as I say and be quiet today, too.ă
Miyagi bites my shoulder. Her teeth dig into my skin, and I let go of her grip at the sharp pain. Miyagiâs fingers check the mark on my chest. She stroked one red mark, her finger moves gently, and then moves on to the next mark. My body responds to Miyagiâs fingertips, even though she is only touching me as a doctor would inspect me.
This is not good, I thought.
My breathing is disturbed.
Itâs impossible even if Miyagi has no other intention. Even though I know sheâs just following a mark, my body, unable to hold on to my impure thoughts, is anticipating what comes next.
Her fingertips go to the top of the bulge and I feel the gaze intensely.
But Miyagi doesnât touch the part I want to touch the most.
Nerves gather in the center of the chest, even though I donât want to be aware of them, and they are changing in a way that Miyagiâs eyes can see.
I would like the lights to be turned off.
My breasts in Miyagiâs eyes should clearly convey the feeling of wanting to be touched.
I donât want to be seen.
It would be nice if what Miyagi and I want are in agreement, but it is unfair that only my feelings are known while there is a gulf between us.
I grab Miyagiâs hand again.
ăDonât move.ă
I can hear the discontent in her voice.
ăBecause itâs going to get bad. Isnât this enough?ă
ăI donât want to. Let go.ă
I was told to be strong and let go of her hand.
My reason is melting away and it feels good to have fingers sliding across my skin.
If all she touch was red marks, I want more marks.
No.
Donât think about that kind of thing.
But even though I tell her itâs different, she just run with my body. I canât stop it, and Iâm waiting for fingers that wonât touch me except to mark me.
ăMiyagiâŚă
A muffled voice comes out and Miyagi looks at me.
Her fingertips graze the spot he wants me to touch, and her lips make a new mark on my chest. The small mark takes root, bringing all of Miyagiâs body heat and breath deep inside me. The mark, which should have been nothing more than an internal hemorrhage and no different from an injury, discolored me from what I was and made me think of nothing but Miyagi.
Itâs different from the piercing that has remained all these times.
I want Miyagi because it disappears.
I want Miyagi so that it doesnât disappear.
ăMiâŚyagiâŚă
Iâm hugging Miyagiâs head.
I donât want to do this anymore.
I want her to touch me more properly.
ăSendai-san, let go.ă
ăWhyâŚ?ă
ăIâll end this now.ă
When she said this, Miyagi forces herself to look up, away from me.
ăThatâs unfair.ă
I pull on Miyagiâs clothes and pull them on.
I put my lips on her neck and crawl my tongue up her neck.
ăSendai-san, stop.ă
Miyagi calls me and presses her forehead against mine.
When I maturely let go of my lips due to the strength of her voice, Miyagi raised her body.
ăSorry.ă
I feel like I donât need to apologize, but I apologize for wanting to be allowed to touch Miyagi more.
I pull on Miyagiâs clothes and raise myself up. I pull her face close for a kiss, and I hear her grumpy voice.
ăIf you want to kiss me, donât apologize, just say it.ă
I didnât hide my feelings that I donât like Miyagi, but I push her on the shoulder.
ăI want to kiss Miyagi. Let me.ă
I wanted Miyagi to ask for it, but she is asking for it from me. I wonder how this happened, but there is nothing I can do about it.
I brushed my fingertips across Miyagiâs lips and calls herăShiori.ă
Our eyes meet,ăMay I?ăI asked, and Miyagi quietly closed her eyes.
I gently bring my face close to hers so she doesnât run away, and our lips meet. They are soft, warm and nice. We parted our lips and then reattached them, just as Miyagi had done when she made her mark on my body. I kissed her as many times as I had been unable to for so long, and when I set my teeth on her lips as if I were biting a peach, Miyagi pressed me on the shoulder.
ăItâs not enough. Shiori, kiss me.ă
When Miyagi tugs at my clothes as she has done in the past, I was stroked on the cheek.
I close my eyes and our lips meet.
But the kiss is only one, and soon we pull apart and I hear a small voice.
ăâŚHazuki.ă
Miyagiâs voice releases the clothes from her grasp.
ăEh? Just nowââă
Auditory hallucinations.
No, itâs not.
The moment our lips parted, I heard a voice that was so small I could have missed it, but I surely heard it.
The heat that had been smoldering in the depths of my body rose and then disappeared.
Once again.
I want her to say it again.
ăShioââă
All the words I was about to say were unspoken.
ăWah, hey!ă
My vision darkens as Miyagi pulls the futon over my head. I try to peel off the futon that has attacked me, but Miyagi catches me with the whole futon.
ăSendai-san.ă
The call becomes familiar.
ăI know Iâm being selfish, I know that.ă
Miyagi continues to speak in a small voice while hugging me with the futon.
ăBut Sendai-san suddenly started a new part-time jobâŚă
The voices coming from the other side of the world isolated by the futon seem to disappear, sucked into the futon walls if I am not careful, and I listen carefully to make sure I donât miss any words.
ăYou come into my dreams without my permission and call me names and does weird things, you know what I want you to do and ignore me, and a lot of things are not going well.ă
Weird things?
The voice was blocked by the futon that separated Miyagi and me, but I was not mistaken.
Miyagi did indeed say something strange.
I had heard that she had a dream, but I hadnât heard that it was a dream about doing something strange.
That is.
ăâŚItâs frustrating. Sendai-san, take responsibility and do something about it.ă
Before I could organize the words I heard, I was tapped on the futon with a plop and calledăShiori,ăwhich was strongly corrected from the other side of the futon asăMiyagi.ă
ăââMiyagi. What should I do?ă
ăI donât know.ă
ăTell me. Iâll do what I can.ă
ăI donât know what to do⌠I donât like empty houses.ă
Miyagi says in a whisper, and her hand loosens as she presses the futon down.
I turn my head to look at her.
ăSometimes Iâm a little late, but I always come home, so you wonât be alone, Miyagi.ă
I kissed her on the lips, telling her as I would tell a small child.
But she doesnât call me Hazuki anymore.
Miyagi stared at me and then got off the bed. Then she picked up my clothes, put them on the futon, and turned away.
ăIâm wearing itâŚă
A low voice is heard.
I donât want to be naked forever, so I put on the clothes she give me. Miyagi, who had been staring at me when I took off my clothes, did not glance at me this time.
I donât like that.
If she couldnât see me, she should have.
Thinking it was a pain in the ass, I told herăIâm dressed,ăto which she replied in a curt voice,ăGo back to your room.ă
ăWhat about the punishment game?ă
ăItâs already done.ă
Miyagi says, grabbing my hand and leading me out of the room. As I am driven out into the common area, I call out to her before the door closes.
ăMiyagi. If you donât like being home alone, come visit me at the cafe tomorrow. Or you can come with Utsunomiya.ă
I know that no matter how much I say, Miyagi will not come.
Still, I will tell her.
ăâŚIâll think about it.ă
The door is about to close and Miyagiâs clothes are pulled on.
ăOnce more, letâs kiss.ă
I didnât hear her say, ânoâ.
I pulled my face close and Miyagi closed her eyes.