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Chapter 254
Miyagi's language is difficult — 254
Translated by KaiesV
Edited by KaiesV
「…I thought all I had to do was stay home?」
Within five seconds of calling her into the common space, Miyagi makes a disgusted sound.
「I’m going to make chocolate, so help me.」
「Why?」
「Because it’s February 14th.」
On the kitchen cooktop are the chocolates I bought for the occasion, along with the knives and pots for cooking them.
「You told me to leave it open today, but you didn’t ask me to help you make chocolate.」
「I didn’t tell you, but since you’re home, you should help.」
「It’s a hassle. Why don’t you just buy chocolate?」
「Well, I’m going shopping now, will you come with me?」
「I don’t want to.」
I can hear her denying my words, but it’s only been about an hour since I had lunch, so I have plenty of time to go out.
「If you don’t want to, help me. You have plenty of time. If you don’t want to go buy something, you can make it.」
It was predictable that Miyagi wouldn’t like it either. But if I backed down, there would be no point in having her vacate Valentine’s Day.
「You can make it on your own, so there’s no point in me going out of my way to help you, Sendai-san.」
Miyagi complains and kicks me in the leg.
「Because it’s more fun for the two of us to make it together. Also, you could give it to Utsunomiya.」
I do not want Utsunomiya to give the chocolates we make together. Of course, I don’t want anyone else to have them either.
But I thought that if there was some reason to make chocolate, Miyagi would break it.
I want to make and eat chocolates with Miyagi on Valentine’s Day.
The only way to do that is to put Utsunomiya’s name out there.
「…Sendai-san, are you going to give it to Komatsu-san?」
Miyagi looks at me as if she is solving a difficult problem.
「I won’t see Mio at my next part-time job and I don’t plan to see her for a while.」
The first chocolates I gave to Miyagi on Valentine’s Day as a high school student were “friend chocolates” for Umina and my friends. On the second Valentine’s Day, the “just in case” was removed.
And this year, for the third time.
It has become something that I give only to Miyagi and want to receive from her only.
It’s silly, but even though I know Miyagi doesn’t feel the same way I do, I still want to do the common and increasingly boring event of passing chocolates between us.
「I’m not planning to see Maika for a while either.」
「I see. But I want to eat chocolate, so let’s make it. Don’t you like truffles, Miyagi?」
「You’re making truffles?」
「If you don’t like it, I can get you something else.」
「…Truffles are fine. How do you make them?」
Miyagi approaches the sink and grabs a piece of chocolate.
「I chop the chocolate, melt it, make a ganache, and then put cocoa powder on it or coat it with chocolate. I’ll chop it up for now, give me a hand.」
I receive the chocolate from Miyagi and chop it into small pieces with a knife. When I have shaved about two-thirds of the chocolate, I hear Miyagi’s voice, who had been silently watching me work.
「Sendai-san. Chocolates sold in stores are made from cacao beans, right?」
「Yes, but… were you perhaps going to say you want to make chocolate from cacao beans?」
「Not really, but if you’re going to melt chocolate and make it, wouldn’t it be better to just eat it as is instead of going to the trouble of making it by hand?」
「It’s not fine. I’ll make truffles. Get out the whipped cream in the fridge.」
I can’t just let them eat the chocolate that I went to the trouble of buying to make truffles by hand. I give the next task to Miyagi, who brought the whipped cream without complaint.
「Heat the cream and bring to a boil, then turn off the heat.」
I tell her how much and how much heat to use, and leave the cream to Miyagi. After a while, I hear a voice saying,「I’ve turned off the heat,」and I add the cream to the bowl with the chopped chocolate and mix it in a circular motion with a rubber spatula. Then, have Miyagi back the finished product and place it in the refrigerator to chill.
「How long do we have to wait?」
Miyagi says in a bored voice.
「I’d say about thirty minutes.」
「Isn’t that long?」
「Then let’s ice it.」
「It doesn’t matter either way.」
When she replied in a curt voice and I wondered what to do, Miyagi spontaneously started washing the pots.
「Sendai-san, do you like chocolate so much that you make it by hand?」
「Not that I’m saying that, but it’s Valentine’s Day.」
「So you like Valentine’s Day then?」
「Mhm, it’s not that I like it, it’s just one of those events. It’s like Halloween or Christmas.」
「Sendai-san, you like those events, don’t you?」
I decide to ice the chocolate and take it out of the refrigerator and place it on the cooktop.
The shared space is filled with a delicious sweet aroma, appropriate for Valentine’s Day. But Miyagi’s question is not sweet. Her question,「Do you like it?」is a difficult question for me and I am not sure if the answer is correct.
There’s no need to get worked up just because someone asks you what you like, but I can’t stop thinking about the「things I don’t like」and the「things I do like」that Miyagi told me to make.
I look down at the sludgy chocolate.
「…Do you like those events, Miyagi?」
「I’m not really interested.」
After I say this, Miyagi, who has finished washing the dishes, disappear from my presence.
「Where are you going?」
Without answering my question, Miyagi returns with a spoon in hand. And without hesitation, she plunged it into the bowl.
「Hey, Miyagi. What are you doing?」
Even though she should have heard me, Miyagi scooped up the chocolate and brought the spoon to her mouth.
「…Is it delicious?」
There’s no point in asking her to serve what’s in her mouth, so I ask her what she thought.
「Yeah.」
「Give me that one.」
I reached for the spoon that Miyagi is holding, but the desired object slips away.
「No. I’ve already put my mouth on it. If you want to scoop chocolate, you’ll need a new spoon.」
「We’re the only ones eating it anyway, so why not?」
「It’s not fine.」
「Then you’ll give me a direct taste.」
I bring my face close to Miyagi’s, who says nothing but stingy things.
She will know that I am about to kiss her, but she won’t close her eyes with a spoon. We put our lips together, but Miyagi’s eyes stay open, so I close mine instead. But before we can put our lips together, my feet was stepped on.
「I’ve tasted it so this should be fine.」
Boring.
Not interesting.
Last Valentine’s Day, I gave Miyagi a taste kiss to give her a taste. Then this year I should be able to give her a taste kiss for me to taste it.
I took the spoon from Miyagi and grabbed her arm. Then I scooped some chocolate with the handle end of the spoon and stuck it on Miyagi’s palm.
「You got chocolate on you.」
I can hear her disgruntled voice, but I don’t apologize.
I bring my face close to his chocolate-stained palm and slowly crawl my tongue over it. I lick off what is staining Miyagi’s palm and press the tip of my tongue against it.
It’s sweet.
Chocolate mixed with whipped cream melts and disappears on the tip of the tongue.
Miyagi strongly calls me「Sendai-san.」
She put more force than her voice into the hand that grabs my arm and lick it even though the chocolate is gone. It shouldn’t taste like anything, but Miyagi’s body heat is sweeter than chocolate, and our lips are tightly pressed together.
「Don’t act like a dog.」
Miyagi kicked me in the leg with a low voice, as if she was sending a pebble far away. When I had no choice but to look up, Miyagi said something boring again.
「I’ll clean your hand.」
「You can’t.」
Pull on the arm while holding on.
「Is this payback for what you said earlier?」
「Miyagi, you like this kind of thing, don’t you?」
I’ve done this kind of thing many times before.
That’s because Miyagi often gave me these orders.
So there’s nothing to get angry about now.
「…Sendai-san.」
Miyagi peels off my hand, which was still holding my arm, with a crunch.
「What?」
「…Did anyone want to give you chocolate for Valentine’s Day?」
Miyagi, who wanted to wash her hands, didn’t wash her hands and asked me something I hadn’t expected.
「By chocolate, do you mean friend chocolate?」
「No.」
「If you were talking about that kind of chocolate, there wasn’t any, but…」
「But?」
「Was there any for you, Miyagi?」
「There’s no way I have those.」
「Really?」
「It’s no use lying. I mean, I think Sendai-san is lying more than me.」
「I’m telling the truth.」
I answered shortly and handed the spoon back to Miyagi, which she quickly approached and swatted away.
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「Wait Miyagi, it’s dirty.」
Miyagi glared at me, as if she didn’t like what I had just said.
I took a step back from the sink and braced myself.
She probably do the same thing I did earlier.
And Miyagi doesn’t push a spoon with a bit of chocolate still on it at a spot that could get dirty. She should deliberately push it to a place where she doesn’t want it to get dirty.
I call out a small「Miyagi」and a dirty spoon is placed in the sink. When I relax my body in relief, Miyagi grabs my arm and bites my ear.
「Aww!」
My voice comes out reflexively.
My earlobe is hot from the teeth.
Her teeth are set so hard that they seem to be bitten off, making me hives. Miyagi’s behavior is always unpredictable.
My body can’t keep up with the unexpected action, and my sense of pain works harder than it should, but Miyagi’s body heat is close by, and I put my arm around her back to keep it locked in. But before I could hug her tightly, my earlobe was released and Miyagi left me.
「When are you going to learn the word “holding back”?」
「I’m holding back.」
「Even now?」
Miyagi didn’t answer my question, but looked at the chocolate in the bowl.
「Sendai-san. The chocolate, is it done?」
I let out a small gasp at the flat voice.
「Not yet, you know?」
Chocolate is neither too soft nor too hard to roll.
I looked at the chocolate in the bowl, as did Miyagi.