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Chapter 61
What Miyagi, who is not my friend, does — 61
Translated by KaiesV
Edited by KaiesV
This year, the summer vacation feels shorter than last year.
About half of a week.
I think the reason for this is that I spend three times a week in Miyagi’s room.
It never occurred to me last year that I would spend more time with Miyagi than I did with Umina and the others. There was no way I could predict the future when I would come to Miyagi’s room, even if I had to change the promise I made on the day I first came to her room that “we would not meet on our days off.”
I close my textbook and say the words that have somehow become my cue.
「Want to take a break?」
「Yeah.」
Miyagi answers shortly and stands up.
Nearly two weeks have passed since the day I made omelettes, and we continue to act not friends like bicycles with broken brakes.
I can’t make friends with her.
It was not good that we went to a movie together and had to admit that it was not a good idea. The fact that we have become unfamiliar objects that cannot be friends with each other is an exemption from touching each other.
Still, the rule of studying built into the summer vacation has not gone away. I need the construction of a tutor, which I used to override my promise not to see her on holidays, and I just continue to study.
「Here.」
Miyagi closes the curtains and hands me 5,000 yen.
It’s not something I actively want to receive, but before I know it, receiving it has become part of our rules, so I say「thank you」and accept it.
We don’t do this kind of thing every time.
The day we don’t take a break is the day we don’t do those things.
The days we take a break are the days we do those things.
It’s not decided, but it somehow happens that way, and one of us says the words to signal the other.
I put the 5,000 yen I received in my wallet and sit down on the bed. Miyagi’s fixed position is next to mine, and today she sits next to me again as a matter of course.
It is not a big deal to say that we are not friends. It’s just the same thing as the day after a movie, so it ends with just a touchy kiss and a little body contact, like touching a skeletal specimen. Miyagi only does that from me, and I am not supposed to do it from her because she says I can’t.
It’s really not a big deal.
I stopped coming to this room in shorts, though.
「Sendai-san, look this way.」
When my arm is pulled lightly and I looks at Miyagi, she adds,「Close your eyes.」I have no reason to disobey, so I do as I was told.
A few seconds after the world went dark.
Something soft hits my lips and leaves.
The time spent kissing is shorter than the time spent waiting for the kiss. When I open my eyes, I hear a disgruntled voice saying,「I didn’t say you could open them,」and she kisses me again.
I still don’t know why Miyagi wants to kiss me, although our lips overlap as a matter of course.
「Your eyes, keep them closed for a while.」
Then Miyagi repeats the kisses like a dog or cat coming to play.
The more comfortable I feel the body heat coming from her lips, the more I feel like I’m doing something wrong. I am not looking for a clean and right relationship, but when I think about the five thousand yen in my wallet, it feels like a cloud over my mind.
Still, the touch of her lips feels good, and I grab Miyagi’s arm.
When I pull her arms around me and bring my lips to hers, she turns her face away from me. But as it was, I pressed my lips against Miyagi’s cheek and I was kicked in the leg.
「I keep telling you not to do anything unnecessary.」
「Did you say so?」
「I said it.」
Miyagi says strongly and glares at me.
Miyagi has the right to give orders, not me. But I have kissed her a few times from me like this.
「It’s okay if you said it. It’s nothing.」
I let go of Miyagi’s arm and say lightly.
I do not feel comfortable accepting the 5,000 yen, and I cannot honestly continue to follow Miyagi’s orders.
「It’s not fine.」
I could hear her denying me, but she didn’t sound so grumpy.
Perhaps this is part of the break.
This is just a little extra time to kill.
Some days I don’t take a break because I feel guilty about Miyagi.
These things only happen during summer vacation.
It will end next week when I come to this house.
Summer vacation and all this.
Once the new semester begins, every day should be the same as the first semester.
It’s a funny thing because we have so much time on our hands right now. We just don’t know how to kill long hours to only study with someone who is not each other’s friend.
「Sendai-san, you don’t seem sorry.」
Miyagi looks at me, blurting out something.
「I am though.」
「All you do is lie. Hold on a second.」
Miyagi gets up and opens the closet.
She rummages through it and pulls something out, then turns to me.
「I’m coming to you, turn your back.」
Miyagi who says so has a tie, and I know from her words what is about to happen. The familiar uniform tie in Miyagi’s hand should never be used in the right way.
「Are you planning to go to school now?」
I ask without turning my back.
「I don’t go to school when I have no use for it, and it’s Sendai-san who uses this, not me.」
「Is there such a thing as an order?」
The 5,000 yen before summer vacation was for Miyagi to buy my time and give orders. However, the 5,000 yen that is now given after seeing a movie has a different meaning. I thought that beyond orders, there were things like kissing, touching, and such, and that Miyagi would exercise her right to give orders and do such things again today.
「What do you mean?」
「Orders to use a tie to tie me up.」
「Whatever the order is, it’s still an order. If you know what I’m going to do to you, turn your back quickly.」
Miyagi comes back next to me and taps me on the shoulder.
「You’re not going to change the way you use it?」
「If you don’t want a tie, I can get you a rope this time.」
「I’ll pass on that.」
Not that I want to be tied up, but I turn my back and put my hands behind my back. I have received 5,000 yen and I don’t think I can refuse now.
Besides, if I keep up this futile resistance, I really feel like I’m going to have to get a rope. It is ungrateful, but Miyagi has an unexplainable boldness.
Being tied up with a rope she went to the trouble of preparing is no joke. I don’t like the idea of starting a shady play. And I hate it even more that Miyagi seems to do such things without hesitation.
「You didn’t have to go this far.」
I call out to Miyagi, who has a tie wrapped around her wrist.
「Because I don’t trust you, Sendai-san.」
Along with Miyagi’s words, I can feel the tie wrapped around my wrists being tightly bound. But Miyagi doesn’t say enough is enough, or look at me.
I turn to her before I am ordered to.
「I haven’t told that you can turn around yet.」
Saying monotonously, Miyagi gets up and this time opens the wardrobe. Then she returns with a thin towel.
「Are you still going to do something?」
「You better close your eyes.」
I got an unanswerable answer, and the towel in Miyagi’s hand covered my eyes. Reflexively, my eyelids drooped and a towel wrapped around my eyes to put pressure on them.
「This is a bit much, don’t you think?」
She took away the freedom of my body to do unnecessary things.
I don’t want to welcome that idea, but I understand it.
But I am hesitant to pass on even the visual to Miyagi.
「If I don’t do this, Sendai-san won’t be sorry.」
「I’m being sorry now.」
「Too late.」
Miyagi says and ties the towel tightly.
「Wait, you’re tying it too tight.」
When I complain, the towel covering my eyes loosens. But I still can’t open my eyes, so I can’t see anything.
I could have expected to have my wrists tied, but I didn’t expect to be blindfolded as well. I think about whether this is within the rules, but I am not sure. But I do know that I have to accept the status quo.
「Don’t do anything weird.」
As I tell her to make sure, I hear her voice coming from close by.
「It’s just the same as always.」
Miyagi asserts.
But there is no proof of that statement.
When deprived of vision, everything seems unreliable, and just as before, I cannot trust Miyagi, who is supposed to be standing next to me.
「You can turn around now.」
I turn my body around, relying on the voice.
Of course, I cannot see Miyagi.
I suddenly feel like I’m alone in this room because I can’t see what I should see. I was inconsolable and tried to reach out, but my hand could not move as the tie only dug into my wrist.
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「Miyagi.」
There’s no reply.
After a short pause, what I thought was a hand flattened against my neck and I felt its body heat.