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As soon as she entered the room, Sendai-san apologized.
「That’s what we agreed to, so it’s fine.」
She said she couldn’t come on days when she had prep school, and I was the one who told her to come the next day in that case.
The message I sent yesterday was sent knowing that she could not come that day, and Sendai-san came to this house the next day as promised. The rules were followed, so there is no problem.
「Okay.」
I hand her the five thousand yen I have prepared on my desk.
「Thanks.」
Sendai-san replies shortly and pulls out her wallet from her bag and puts away a thin sheet of money. Then, coming next to me, she looked at the calendar on my desk and said.
「It’s almost Golden Week.」
「Spring break just ended the other day.」
「Was Miyagi doesn’t like vacations? You were in a bad mood before spring break.」
Sendai-san did not say why she felt I was in a bad mood. But she must be thinking of the day I poured cider on her head.
「There’s not that much to do on vacation, it’s just boring.」
I told her not why I was in a bad mood, but why I could not welcome the time off.
「Vacation, that’s good. Go play somewhere.」
I have plans for Golden Week.
Maika, Ami and I have an appointment to go out together. But I won’t bother telling that to Sendai-san. I knocked down the calendar and poked her in the arm.
「Sendai-san. Your arm, let me see.」
I didn’t order her to do so, but Sendai-san honestly holds out her arm. But the arm that was offered to me was still covered by her uniform.
She knows what I mean.
I strongly tell her that I know what is required of her, but she does not want to do it.
「The sleeves, roll them up.」
「Okay, okay.」
Sendai-san said in a heartless voice, unbuttoning the buttons holding up the sleeves of her blouse and rolling up her entire blazer.
I grab her arm.
It’s midway between the wrist and the elbow.
As I stared at the inside of her arm, Sendai-san said.
「Gone sooner than expected. Where’s Miyagi?」
As the saying goes, I can’t find any red marks I put on it.
「Gone quickly.」
「And the bruises on your knees?」
「Gone.」
Unlike the hickey that Sendai-san gave me, the internal bleeding from the blow to my knee took longer to disappear than the mark on my arm, but it is gone now. It’s gone now. The internal bleeding on my arms and legs have disappeared so cleanly that I can’t believe I had marks on them.
Sendai-san’s arms are the same as mine.
It’s as if the events that happened last week never happened.
I pats Sendai-san’s arm, which is still in my grasp.
It is smooth and comfortable.
——If I put my lips on this arm again.
If I give the command not to move her arm, I can put the hickey on again.
I squeeze the area where the hickey was.
Naturally, there is no trace.
I pressed the same spot again with all my strength in my fingertips, and she grabbed my hand.
「Are you going to put another mark on it?」
Sendai-san says, as if she had looked inside my head.
「No.」
I answered shortly and my hand was released and I touched the inside of her elbow.
Was it a bone, a muscle, or something?
It was something hard.
I touch it to check the sensation and stroke it down slowly.
I fold it back at the wrist and stroke it up to trace the veins.
「If you touch me too much, I get ticklish.」
Sendai-san said, moving her fingertips with a twitch. Still, she didn’t pull my arm back, so I continued to run my fingers over her soft skin.
In this way, I am not sure why I called Sendai-san.
Hearing Maika say something I didn’t know, I felt a tightness in my throat, as if I was suffocating. It wasn’t so much that I was angry, but I felt bad.
But now?
I raise my gaze.
In front of me was Sendai-san, with the same kind face as at school.
This is not the kind of Sendai-san I want to see.
Nails on her smooth arms.
Squeezing, I bury my fingertips in the skin.
「Your nails, it hurts.」
Despite saying so, Sendai-san did not brush my hand away.
「That guy in the men’s bus, was he cool?」
It wasn’t what I wanted to hear, but perhaps because I was still thinking about what Maika and the others had said, the boring questions popped out of my mouth.
「Why the men’s bus?」
「I was told.」
「Miyagi?」
「
You know what I’m talking about.」
I know that Mr. Sendai is this kind of person.
Sometimes I was a little mean to her and won’t do what I want unless I command her to.
I put a little more pressure on my fingertips.
Sendai-san contorts her face slightly and forcibly removes my hand.
「I turned him down.」
She don’t deny that a confession has been made, but only blurted out the result.
「Why?」
「Why, you mean. I don’t really like him, and even if we went out, I wouldn’t have time to see him.」
「You can make as much time as you want to see him.」
「But I only have prep school and I have time to come here.」
Sendai-san said cumbersomely and stroked the thin remaining nail marks.
「If you have time, no prep school, and no time to come here, would you go out with him?」
「No, I said I don’t like him. Besides, don’t worry, I’ll give priority to Miyagi.」
「I didn’t ask you to do that.」
I lightly kick Mr. Sendai’s leg as she smiles deliberately in front of me.
「Uwaah, that’s bad manners.」
「Not as much as Sendai-san.」
She unbutton her blouse and loosen her tie.
I don’t lie down now, but I don’t want to be told by someone who always lies down on someone’s bed so sloppily that you can almost see the inside of their skirt.
「You’re jealous of the boy on the men’s bus. I know you are.」
She said lightly, as if she had wings, and Sendai-san pulled down her sleeves and hid her arms. Then he sat down on the bed.
「I’m not, stupid.」
I could tell by the teasing tone of her voice that she didn’t mean it. But I would feel bad if I didn’t complain.
I just felt kind of bad because Maika knew something I didn’t know.
This is not jealousy.
I sit on the floor and use the bed as a backdrop.
Since that day when I let Sendai-san lick my feet after spring break, there has been something wrong with me. Sendai-san’s body heat that flowed in from the tip of my tongue remained inside me and did not disappear.
So we treated each other like a friend. Playing games with Sendai-san and talking about trivial things might eliminate the funny sensations that linger in the body. I thought so, but it was impossible to treat each other like friends.
Even now, yes.
I can’t talk to her like a friend.
What do I want to do with Sendai-san?
The more time we spend together, the less I understand.
The original purpose of just giving orders is being lost.
When I am with Sendai-san something invisible that sticks to my body increases and makes me feel uneasy in my chest. I feel restless and like I’m not myself.
Like the cider on the table, I wish all the uncluttered feelings would just pop and disappear.
I let out a breath and then look out the window.
The sky, which had been blue, had dimmed at some point.
I pull out a modern literature textbook from my bag and push it at Sendai-san.
「Order. Get off the bed and read this.」
「A textbook?」
With a curious look on her face, Sendai-san sits down next to me.
「Yes.」
I’m a little tired.
I took off my blazer and socks, removed my tie, and lay down on my bed.