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Chapter 211
After Sendai-san — 211
Translated by KaiesV
Edited by KaiesV
The back of the hand hit with a bump.
The fingertips and hands that were grabbed.
It was only for a moment, but I felt Sendai-san’s body heat. But my hand never connected with hers, but with Maika’s.
「Miyagi, you’re walking too fast.」
Sendai-san, whose hands are not connected, pulls on my arm.
「Shiori, there’s no need to panic, the school festival won’t run away.」
I let go of the hand I was holding at the sound of Maika’s voice and「apologize.」
I was the one who rejected Sendai-sam’s hand, and that was not wrong. If we had held hands like that, the decisive moment that Maika took would’ve been different.
So, that was alright.
I should’ve thought so, but just a little, really just a little, I find myself regretting not having shaken off Sendai-san’s hand.
If Maika had seen me, though, I would have regretted it.
No, in fact, we might have been seen.
The moment Sendai-san’s hand grabbed mine was filmed, and Maika has a picture of it on her phone.
Thinking of this, I sigh in my mind, “Haah.”
If Maika had taken such a moment, she would have said something.
So, it’s okay.
I tell myself and look straight ahead.
I was looking forward to the school festival, but I was worried about the presence of Sendai-san. I have never had a bad experience with Maika and Sendai-san on the set, and when they are next to me, I get tingly to the ends of my hair as if something is about to happen. Hair that has the same scent as Sendai-san’s, dusty and burning——
Irritating.
It was really irritating.
Most of my memories are tied to Sendai-san regardless of my intention, and whenever I think of something, she pops into my head as if a switch has been flipped. It’s annoying because I didn’t call them and they come out on their own and interrupt my thinking.
「He—ey, Shiori?」
I hear Maika’s voice and pull my consciousness, which had been pulled by Sendai-san, back to the outside world.
「Eh? What?」
「You weren’t listening to me just now.」
It seems that Maika was talking about something while my consciousness was submerged in my mind.
「Sorry, I wasn’t listening. What did you just say?」
「I said, your skirt and makeup are unusual, Shiori. You don’t usually wear skirts or makeup. Is it because of the school festival today?」
I knew that’s where the story goes.
My temples ache from the turn of events as I had expected, and I brush my bangs back. I didn’t want to wear a skirt or makeup because I knew Maika would definitely say something.
「
It’s not like that, but.」
I want to tell her that I’m not in this state of mind, but in order to do so, I have to tell her why I am in this state of mind, so I can’t help but lose my temper.
「I picked out Miyagi’s skirt and did her makeup.」
I hear what I thought I didn’t want to tell her from next to me and involuntarily look at Sendai-san and she smiles at me. I wanted to kick her in the leg for saying what she didn’t have to say.
「Ah, is that so?」
「Isn’t she cute?」
For some reason, Sendai-san brags, and Maika stops and looks at me from head to toe.
「Yes, she’s cute. As expected of Sendai-san. It suits Shiori.」
「Because, you know, Miyagi.」
Somehow, Sendai-san said happily, and from the other side came a voice saying,「Really cute.」I reluctantly open my mouth to thank her for this situation, which, by all accounts, is the only way to thank her.
「
Thank you.」
「Shiori, come to the university again with Sendai-san’s dress code.」
「Eh, I don’t want to.」
Reflexively, I answered and took a step forward.
The university was one step closer, and Sendai-san and Maika started walking to join me.
「Why? It’s alright.」
Maika’s voice makes me glare lightly at Sendai-san next to me.
「Sendai-san, you always try to put your skirt on me.」
「You look good in the skirt. You look cute, but
」
I don’t want to affirm Maika’s words, although it doesn’t sound like she is lying.
「No, it’s not. Sendai Dress Code rejected.」
「Oh, well, Sendai-san. Next time, I’d like you to pick out my clothes.」
Maika’s voice rings louder in my ears than it should.
Pick out my clothes.
Those are words I would never say, nor they are the words anyone else is allowed to say. I’m the only one who can ask Sendai-san to do something, and she mustn’t follow any other words than mine.
No. That’s not for me to decide.
I have no right to stop Maika’s words, nor do I have the right to bind Sendai-san’s actions.
I should understand, but I don’t want to understand.
「If you’re okay with me.」
Sendai-san’s cheerful voice makes my heart ache as if it were being squeezed. I know that this is just a casual conversation between friends, and I know that Sendai-san is not the kind of person who would refuse this kind of thing, but my breath becomes thin and labored.
「Really?」
「Really, I mean it.」
Wanting to get away from the voices I hear, I take a big step and approach the college in a big way. I take one step and then another, trying not to walk too fast.
Entering the campus, which is bustling with the school festival.
I hear happy voices coming from next to me, and I reply with a few innocuous words, taking care not to reply too quickly.
I look at Sendai-san’s ears and see her neck.
There is what I put on there.
The piercing that will stay on her forever and the red marks that will disappear after a few days.
Either way, I want to touch her now.
I want to feel that Sendai-san is mine.
But I can’t touch the piercing where Maika is, and I can’t touch her neck.
Perhaps noticing my gaze, Sendai-san touches her neck.
On the turtleneck, her fingers pass over the mark.
My eyes meet Sendai-san’s, and I clench my own hand.
「It’s almost noon, so let’s eat something anyway. I’m hungry. We have quite a bit of time before the talk show, don’t we?」
In front of the school building lined with booths, Sendai-san stops to look at Maika.
「I’m hungry too, and I have plenty of time to spare, but are you sure you want to do this, Sendai-san? I mean, talk shows are for voice actors.」
Although high school and university festivals are both student-led, they are not the same. The school festival has a number of large-scale events that one wouldn’t expect to see planned by students, and people you see on TV take the university stage as a matter of course.
The talk show that Maika and I were looking forward to was one of them, featuring the voice actor who had voiced the manga I had always read when it was made into an anime.
「It’s okay. I’ve seen the animĂ©.」
「I saw that.」
Maika says in surprise.
「I borrowed the manga from Miyagi, read it, and was curious to see it.」
「You got tired of it halfway through and kept doing different things.」
I complain to Sendai-san, who is affable, fun-loving, and not mine.
Sendai-san doesn’t focus on me when we are both looking at something.
She grabbed my hand, kissed me, and talked to me while I was watching the anime, so I couldn’t get the story out of my head.
Even when we watched a movie during Golden Week, she kept doing things to me next to her that I didn’t want.
「Shiori and Sendai-san watch anime together, don’t they?」
「Because it’s more fun to watch them together than alone.」
「On the other hand, Sendai-san, you get bored easily when we watch movies together.」
Instead of kicking my legs, I push on Sendai-san’s arm.
「Not that I’m bored with it, though.」
Sendai-san pats my neck and smiles at me.
Even though her soft smile annoyed me, I couldn’t kick her legs or bite her like I usually do, so I gave Sendai-san’s arm another push, and Maika laughed.
「You two really get along.」
We don’t get along with each other.
I swallow the words that are about to fly out and say something different.
「I only saw it because Sendai-san wanted to see it with me.」
「Heh, is that so?」
Maika giggles and I slap her on the arm.
「It’s not fun to watch with Sendai-san because I can’t concentrate.」
「Hoh-hoh.」
Maika says in a theatrical tone.
「You must think this is funny.」
As I condensed a number of things I wanted to say into a single word and uttered it, I heard a crunching sound and my temples twitched.
「I got some good shots.」
I hear Sendai-san’s voice and look at her, she is holding up her phone.
「
Why are you taking pictures?」
Play
Unmute
「Eh, a memorial.」
「For what?」
「Commemorating the visit to your school festival.」
With that, Sendai-san turns the phone with my resentful eyes on it toward me.
I am not happy.
I didn’t need that kind of consideration.
「That——」
The words I was about to say were interrupted by Sendai-san’s voice, unable to be uttered until「turn it off.」
「Oh right, Utsunomiya. I’ll take your picture with Miyagi.」
「Take it, take it!」
Maika says happily and pulls and twists my arm.
Sendai-san’s phone probably shows me and Maika with our arms around each other.
I can’t say I don’t want her to take a picture of me now.
「Then, both of you smile.」
I hear Sendai-san’s bouncy voice and the corners of my mouth turn up.
It’s a common composition of friends taking pictures of each other.
Maika must have a big smile on her face, and I am pointing my awkward smile at her phone.
「I’ll take a shot.」
A crunching electronic sound followed Mr. Sendai’s voice.
Once, twice, three times.
——Too many times.
「Sendai-san, you’re taking too much.」
I moved away from Maika and approached Sendai-san who continued to take pictures. But before I could take the phone away from her, Sendai-san said in a satisfied voice.
「I got a cute shot.」
The phone is pointed at me and Maika.
「I look weird. Delete it.」
As I say this without pause, I hear Maika’s voice next to me,「You look so cute, like you’re having fun.」
「I’m not having fun.」
「Eh, Shiori, you’re not having fun?」
「
I do, though.」
「Then I will take a picture of Shiori and Sendai-san. When I’m done, you take a picture of me and Sendai-san.」
I don’t want to be photographed with Sendai-san
And I don’t want Maika and Sendai-san to be photographed.
But I can’t say I don’t want to because I can’t say why.
Dislike without a reason is only understood by Sendai-san.
I used to think of a smartphone as a useful thing, but today I can only think of it as something I want to wipe out from this world. I am filled with a feeling of resentment toward the people who created this object called a smartphone.
「Miyagi, your face is scary.」
「I’m not scary.」
When I reflexively responded to her words, Sendai-san crossed her arms as a matter of course.
「Wait a second. Sendai-san, get away from me.」
Earlier, I took a picture with Maika, arm in arm.
The situation was no different.
And yet, when I think that the person I am arm-in-arm with is Sendai-san, my heart starts to race. They sound like they have been running and running and running for a long time.
「It’s fine.」
Sendai-san is more attached to me than Maika was earlier.
I should say something, but I can’t say anything.
「Utsunomiya, take it!」
Oh right, my facial expression.
Sendai-san’s voice reminded me that Maika was watching me, and I hurriedly made a face that no one else could see.