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Chapter 234
Last day of the year with Sendai-san — 234
Translated by KaiesV
Edited by KaiesV
「Sendai-san, you liar.」
Under the streetlight, I complain to the one next to me.
「Sorry.」
「I don’t accept your sorry. Noto-san still came.」
「I was able to stop Mio. Senpai is a customer, so it’s indeed a bit of a stretch to force her to stop. But I’m glad Miyagi didn’t leave. Thank you.」
I hear a gentle voice and press Sendai-san’s arm.
She is in a good mood now that her part-time job is over.
Annoying.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
When either Mio-san or Noto-san came, I was supposed to leave Sendai-san and go home alone, but the reality is different.
「I couldn’t go home even if I wanted to. Noto-san wouldn’t let me go home, saying she would stay with me to kill time until Sendai-san’s part-time job was over
 I told her I wasn’t waiting for Sendai-san, but she wouldn’t stop talking. That person, she talks too much.」
Promises that weren’t pledged to my earrings.
So Noto-san came to my seat.
I squeezed the end of my scarf.
In winter, night comes early.
The sky is painted dark after the sun has set, and it is colder than when I left home. My shoulders shiver as I feel as if my breath is going to freeze and fall to the ground.
「It’s better if you talk. If you don’t talk, I get worried that you don’t like what’s going on.」
「That’s not the issue.」
Noto-san was a casual person, unlike her scary-looking appearance, but all the questions she asked me in a fun way were difficult to answer, so I think it wouldn’t been better if she had kept her mouth shut, even if it would’ve been awkward.
In the first place, I had not expected to be talked to by Sendai-san’s senpai in that cafĂ©.
Speaking of unexpected, Mio-san was also unexpected.
I knew that if I went to the café, I might talk to a friend of Sendai-san, but I had never thought that someone so cheerful and with such a strange sense of distance could be her friend. I had expected to see someone like Ibaraki-san, who seemed to be the top of the school caste, so my expectations were not met.
「Sorry. They both made too much noise.」
「I won’t go to that cafe anymore.」
I blurted out and went one step ahead of Sendai-san.
But I can’t leave her behind.
Soon she comes up next to me and makes a soft, gentle sound.
「Don’t say that, come again. And I was glad you came today.」
「I’m not going back. I just wanted to eat cake today.」
「Still, I’m happy and come back for more cake.」
「Sendai-san, you don’t feel the least bit sorry for breaking your promise.」
I exhale with a gasp.
Today is not a good day.
I’ve learned a lot of things I didn’t want to know.
I don’t think I want to know any more about Sendai-san. But I am the one who wants to know more about what I don’t want to know, so I walk without looking at her face as she walks next to me.
They say the stars look beautiful this season, but I don’t have time to look at them. If I had time to look up at the sky, I would walk home faster.
「I’m feeling sorry. I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise.」
I hear a serious voice and I take my hand off the edge of my scarf and push her shoulder. But Sendai-san pushes my hand back with her shoulder, bringing us closer together.
「Miyagi
 What were you talking about with Noto-senpai?」
Sendai-san grabs my coat.
She pulls me lightly and my walking speed slows down.
「About you, Sendai-san
 she said that if you wanted money, tutoring pays more per hour than working at the cafĂ©, and that you should get more tutoring jobs.」
Even though I was only speaking what Noto-san told me, I felt a tingling pain in my chest.
「
Sendai-san, are you going to increase the number of your part-time jobs?」
「Hmmm, well. Let’s talk about that later.」
「I don’t want to talk about it.」
If she want more part-time jobs, she can increase them on her own.
I told Sendai-san that she could work part-time at at the café during the winter break, and I think she can do whatever she wants with her part-time tutoring job.
The part-time job is something she won’t give up, something I accept most of the time, and I won’t change my opinion, so discussion is futile. I’m just frustrated that she won’t listen to me even though she is mine.
I wish I had left earlier.
Then I wouldn’t have had to ask her this.
The part-time job Sendai-san does is terribly uninteresting to me, but that doesn’t matter to her.
I know that very well, but I keep hearing the same thing over and over again.
「Well, let’s talk about something more fun now, shall we? Shiori-chan.」
Sendai-san says in a joking tone and pulls on my coat.
Her voice is awfully bright, and I can tell she wants to change the subject.
Continuing to talk about part-time work will not do me or Sendai-san any good. I peel her hand from my coat and follow the conversation that changes direction.
「It’s weird to call me that, and you need to stop.」
「Then, Shiori.」
「Not that as well.」
The name Shiori reminds me of Christmas night.
That night, Sendai-san whispered Shiori many times, disturbing my thoughts and melting my reason.
I don’t want to forget, but I don’t actively want to remember either. As I continue to ruminate on Christmas night, my name and that day are firmly tied together and cannot be untangled. It’s so bad that every time Sendai-san calls me Shiori, I remember what was done to me, become conscious of it, and want to touch her. If I could, I would like to let the memory of that day sink deep into the recesses of my mind.
「I want to call you Shiori.」
I push her arm when I hear her unusually begging.
「You can’t. It’s not about that. It’s New Year’s Eve and it’s boring because of Sendai-san. Do something about it.」
「Is it my fault?」
「It’s definitely Sendai-san’s fault.」
「So how can I make you feel happy, Miyagi?」
I almost say, “Answer all the questions I’m about to ask you,” but swallow.
Mio-san asked me if Sendai-san was popular in high school, but was she popular in college as well and had someone ever confessed to her?
Noto-san asked me if we were living together, but what does that mean?
Asking such a question will only get me more boring answers. And it is going to sound like I am terribly conscious of Sendai-san.
「
I don’t know, and I don’t need to feel like I’m having fun.」
New Year’s Eve is just one day of the year.
It’s not a special day, and it hasn’t been a very fun day up until now, so it’s just as well that it’s boring. It should be better to melt everything into the dark sky and make it invisible than to say something unnecessary and make it even more depressing.
「Since we’re here, let’s have some fun. For example, let’s count down the days together. It would be like New Year’s Eve, wouldn’t it?」
Sendai-san says in a cheerful voice as she pulls me up, as if to say, “I’m being swallowed up by the night.”
「I don’t know what’s so fun about countdowns.」
「Nhn, then why not stay up until morning and watch the first sunrise of the year?」
「I don’t want to, I’m getting sleepy.」
「If you wanted to sleep, you could go to sleep, buy a snack at the convenience store, and stay up until you can stay up. Miyagi, you have nothing to do, right?」
When I say decisively, Sendai-san grabs my arm and increases the speed of our walk. It is a speed that fulfills my wish to go home as soon as possible, but I did not want to be dragged along.
It’s really annoying.
It is true that there is nothing to do, but please don’t decide my future plans without my permission, or at least let me decide how fast I want to walk.
「Miyagi. Is there anything else you’d like to do, I’m listening to requests?」
「
None.」
「Then, it’s settled. New Year’s Eve in my room.」
Sendai-san’s bright voice echoed in the night sky, making me feel a little warmer.