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Chapter 240
Sendai-san will be no different this year — 240
Translated by KaiesV
Edited by KaiesV
The ozoni was delicious.
The pasta for lunch was also delicious.
However, I cannot forgive the fact that broccoli was in the lunch salad.
「It’s no wonder I didn’t know that you don’t like broccoli, Miyagi. If you don’t like broccoli, just say you don’t like broccoli first.」
Sendai-san says dismissively and lets out a small breath.
「It’s your fault for not telling me you were going to put broccoli in, Sendai-san. If I had known you’re going to put it in, I would have told you I didn’t like it.」
「You said anything for lunch, Miyagi, right? Besides, I served tomatoes instead of salad, so forgive me.」
An uninteresting answer came back from next to me, and I tapped Sendai-san’s leg with the platypus.
If it had been a piece or two, I would’ve been willing to put up with it and allow myself to eat it, but there was a lot of broccoli in the salad. I complained about that and it’s true that she served tomatoes for me.
But I think it’s terrible because I had to eat half of the broccoli because she told me that I should eat it because it’s nutritious, because I’m not a child, and so on. I didn’t want to eat something I didn’t like from New Year’s Day.
「Tell me what you don’t like, Sendai-san. I’ll put a lot of it in next time.」
I take a glass of cider from the table and take a sip.
I was so angry that I really didn’t want to gather in Sendai-san’s room, but she forced me into this room. Thanks to her, I can’t complain enough about how much I complain to her. It’s not enough at all. She gave me half of the cream puffs we bought yesterday, but I don’t want to forgive her.
One of the things that annoyed me was that she made me go to the trouble of changing my clothes because it was New Year’s, and I would have preferred to just lounge around in my sweatshirt if I could.
「There’s nothing I don’t like.」
Sendai-san lies with a cool face.
But it doesn’t matter if what she just said is right or not for her. Sendai-san will eat what I tell her to eat even if she doesn’t like it, and she won’t eat what I tell her not to eat even if she likes it.
Normally I don’t dislike her like that, but not today.
It’s irritating and infuriating.
「Drink this.」
I hand the glass I was holding to Sendai-san.
It is half full of carbonated soda, which she had said in the past that she didn’t like.
「Drinking that, how much I will drink?」
「All of it.」
I answered shortly, and without hesitation, Sendai-san drank all of the clear liquid before placing the glass on the table.
「Miyagi, it’s time for you to get in a better mood.」
Her hand reaches out with a soft voice and I slap it back.
「You have to keep your promise to do whatever I tell you to do. If you do, you’ll put me back in a better mood.」
「What is it then?」
「You said that in the morning. Even if Sendai-san doesn’t remember, that right, I will use it when I want to.」
This morning, as I was about to go back to my room, Sendai-san offered me an exchange:「If you stay here, I’ll do what you say, Miyagi.」It was about listening to orders, and I remember it well.
「I’m all for keeping promises, but isn’t it time to give orders?」
Sendai-san readily accepts what she is ordered to do.
「I don’t want to give orders right now.」
If I’m going to give an order anyway, I’d rather exercise my right when I find an order that she doesn’t want to give than force her to create something here and there.
I am sure that Sendai-san will do whatever I say with a nonchalant expression on her face, but I would like to annoy her even a little.
「Well, you can do it whenever you want, Miyagi. If you don’t give the order now, give me your hand.」
「My hand?」
「I’ll cut your nails for you.」
「Mine?」
「Yes. Your nails.」
It’s usual for Sendai-san to suddenly say something strange, but cutting my nails is too unconnected.
I felt that there might be something behind it, and I wasn’t inclined to touch it.
「…Why did you suddenly want to cut my nails?」
「When I saw your hands in the morning, your nails were a little long, Miyagi.」
When she said this, I got up, even though I didn’t tell her she could clip my nails, and brought the case and put it on the table.
「What’s that?」
「You mean this, it’s nail clippers, emery boards, buffers, and——」
Sendai-san opens the lid of the case and begins to explain what is inside. Some of the items have unfamiliar names, but I know that they are for shaping and polishing fingernails.
「Are you going to use all of those?」
What’s in the case is not the big issue.
The problem is that there are too many different kinds of things in it. I thought it was just a little nail clipping, but apparently that’s not the case.
「I don’t think I’ll use all of them, but just in case. Miyagi. Give me your hand.」
「What a hassle.」
I don’t want to do anything, but I don’t intend to become Sendai-san’s toy.
「I’m the one who’s going to cut it off.」
「It’s going to take a long time.」
「It doesn’t matter if it takes a long time. We’re not going anywhere.」
「Why don’t you just go out?」
「I want to go out, but I’m not going without you, Miyagi.」
「I’m not going anywhere.」
「Then, give me your hand. If you don’t like it, suggest something else to pass the time.」
Movies and games.
Mangas and novels.
There are only so many things Sendai-san and I can do in this house to pass the time, and none of them are what I want to do on New Year’s Day. I don’t want to have my nails clipped, but since I am keeping Sendai-san, who wants to go out, at home, I feel that I should at least give her a little of what she wants.
「If you don’t spend much time on it…」
I blurted out and put out my hand, and Sendai-san grabbed my wrist.
Her fingertips slide down the back of my hand and continue to loosely caress my fingers. Then she stopped and stared at my fingertips.
She was supposed to be cutting my nails, but she kept looking at my hand.
「What?」
When I called out to her, Sendai-san said,「It’s nothing,」and picked up the nail clipper.
「I’ll start with your thumb.」
Snap, snap.
The nails that were about to grow out are cut and shortened.
Thumb, index, and middle finger.
Part of me is cut off and becomes a good length.
I don’t remember ever having my nails clipped by someone like this, so I’m somewhat uncomfortable, and I open my mouth to fill the space between the sound of nail clipping.
「Why aren’t the nail clippers the conscious ones?」
「What’s a conscious nail clipper?」
「The kind you might use to cut the cord for a bomb in a movie or drama.」
「Bomb code? …Ah, I get it. Nipper-type nail clippers, right? I’ve never used those things because I’m afraid I’ll nail them too deep.」
Sendai-san said quietly as she clipped my nails and grabbed my left hand, 「Next, your other hand.」
Snap, snap.
The nail that is about to grow out from the thumb is cut again, and the nails of all fingers, right and left, are cut.
「I’ll get your nails in shape.」
Sendai-san takes an emery board, which looks like a giant popsicle stick, holds it up to my freshly cut nails, and starts shaving them. One by one, the corners of the nails are shaved and shaped.
「Sendai-san. Do you find it interesting to cut and sharpen people’s nails?」
「Rather. Shall I grow my nails out again for you?」
「It’s alright.」
「Does that alright mean I can do it again?」
「You know it’s not going to happen.」
「Unfortunate.」
A voice that doesn’t sound so disappointed is heard, adding,「Let’s leave the sweetbreads as they are.」
「We’re done.」
「There’s still more.」
Sendai-san takes out what she said earlier was a buffer and polishes the surface of my nails.
「It’s taking too long.」
「That’s alright. There’s nothing else to do.」
It wasn’t good, but it wasn’t enough for me to strongly refuse, so I let it go, and my nails were so shiny that I couldn’t believe they were my own, and Sendai-san picked up a bottle of nail oil, the contents of which were awfully low.
If it had been a gift from Maika, I could have said no and refused. But since I had never seen it before, I lost my timing to stop and she put nail oil on me.
My nails are carefully and slowly rubbed with oil so that the oil is absorbed into the skin as well as the nails, further reducing the contents of the jar, which were small to begin with.
Occasionally her hand would crawl to the base of a finger that didn’t need to be oiled, and her lips would press against the joint.
It’s like being enchanted, and I can’t stop it.
After applying the oil for so long that I probably didn’t need to spend so much time on it, Sendai-san looked up.
「All cleaned up.」
She says she’s satisfied and kisses the tips of my nails as if she’s putting the finishing touches on them.
「I’m tired.」
「It’s not over yet. I’ll cut your toenails, too, so sit there.」
Naturally, Sendai-san points to the bed.
「It’s already good.」
「It’s not good. Toenails are fingernails, too, so be a grown-up and let me get them cut.」
「Even if you’re going to cut it off, I don’t have to sit down.」
「It’s easier for me to cut if you sit down.」
Sendai-san’s smiling face is the same as usual.
She clips my nails.
Play
Unmute
There is no other reason to use the bed as a chair, I think.
Even though I think so, the act of sitting on the bed and licking my feet are tied together in my mind. Normal people do not lick people’s feet without being ordered to do so. No, they don’t lick people’s feet even if they are ordered to.
「Miyagi.」
Sendai-san looks at the bed as if urging me to do so.
I sit down on the bed quietly, as if I am thinking of something bad.
Inevitably, I look down at Sendai-san.
I have seen this scene many times.
It’s rare these days, but it used to happen reasonably often, and it’s not the kind of thing that makes my heart thump, yet it thumps.
Somehow Sendai-san stroked my heel without a nail clipper and slid her fingertips down to the soles of my feet. It was something she had done before when I let her lick my feet, and my heart thumped again.
「Don’t do anything weird, just cut my nails quick.」
Kicking Sendai-san’s knee to escape the hand clinging to my leg, she placed the nail clipper on my thumbnail without replying. She then proceeded to cut the toenails in the same way she had cut my hand nails.
Snap, snap.
The sound I heard earlier echoed in the room over and over again, and when she finished clipping all the nails on my right and left sides, Sendai-san kissed my toes without my asking. I can’t see her face very well, so I don’t know what she was thinking when she did this.
「You don’t have to do that.」
Sendai-san’s tongue crawls over the back of my leg, even though she must hear my words. Her hands roll up the hem of my denim and caress my ankles. A warm, moist tongue licks my ankle.
She licks up softly, and my heart races and my legs tense up. My lips press against it, and my ankle heats up.
Weird.
This is strange.
「Sendai-san!」
When I called harder, her lips left my ankle and a kiss was dropped on the tip of my foot.
「What was that all about earlier? I didn’t tell you to do this.」
「Hey, Miyagi. Let’s make a new promise.」
Sendai-san says to ignore my words.
「A promise?」
「Yes, a promise.」
「……I’m not going to.」
「Aren’t you going to ask what kind of promise it was?」
「It’s absolutely a weird promise and I don’t want to hear it.」
She is strange today.
She’s going too far to be explained by the fact that it’s New Year’s, so even her promises must not be good ones.
「Stingy.」
「I’m not stingy.」
I kick Sendai-san in the shoulder.
「Well, let’s make a normal appointment. Can we go to the zoo on the 4th? I don’t have a part-time job on that day.」
「Okay, but that promise you made earlier is still a weird promise, isn’t it?」
「Well, that’s fine. The zoo is set for the 4th. That’s a promise, okay?」
Sendai-san said cheerfully and kissed the back of my leg again.