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Chapter 67
I can't sleep because of Sendai-san — 67
Translated by KaiesV
Edited by KaiesV
The usual after school, the usual room.
Sendai-san does not unbutton the second button.
Today, her blouse is still fastened by the second button. I want to spend the same after-school time as usual, but I can’t relax because Sendai-san doesn’t do the same thing as usual.
It is obvious that the summer vacation was the cause, but since this is the second time we are meeting like this since the start of the new school year, I think it is time for Sendai-san to do the same as usual.
If she was aware of me in a strange way, I would be concerned too.
I can’t sit next to Sendai-san forever.
It may be a small thing, but I can’t even concentrate on my homework because I’m worried about one button. To begin with, I don’t want to do my homework. I’m just doing my homework to forget about the little things that inevitably bother me. And yet, there is no point in doing homework if I can’t even concentrate on the textbook in front of me.
「Today’s orders is?」
I hear a voice from across to me and look up.
Sendai-san’s notebook, where she usually does her homework diligently, is the same as when I saw her earlier. It remained mostly white and did not appear to have more text.
「Unbutton it.」
I utter an order to return the unusual Sendai-san to her usual self.
「Button?」
「The button of your blouse.」
「Lewd Miyagi.」
I got an answer I hadn’t imagined, and I think it’s over the top, even unbuttoning one of the buttons on my blouse. It is not a big order because Sendai-san will remove it herself, not me.
However, I realized that my words were not conveyed correctly to her, as she did not want to undo the button.
「That’s not what I meant.」
「What do you mean by that?」
「It means you don’t have to take it all off. It’s usually more erotic to think that if I tell you to unbutton a button, but it’s all of them.」
「You didn’t say you thought it was an order to take it all off.」
「I didn’t say it, but you thought it.」
When I folded my words, Sendai-san admitted,「Yes, but」and continued her words.
「So how many do I remove if not all?」
「One.」
「Just one?」
Sendai-san looks at me as if to remind me.
I told her to take off two things, but her didn’t.
The third button is fluid; sometimes it is allowed to be undone and sometimes it is not. I don’t know what kind of day it is today, but I don’t want it removed and I don’t think she will.
「I don’t know how many you want to remove, Sendai-san, but I don’t have to remove two or three.」
「If that’s the case, fine.」
When I said this, Sendai-san easily unbuttons one of the buttons.
「Is this okay?」
「It’s okay.」
Unlike at school, she is the usual Sendai-san I see in this room, wearing a blouse unbuttoned to the second button. But there is still a sense of discomfort, and it looks different from before the summer vacation.
I can’t stare at her, but I can’t take my gaze off her. I stare at Sendai-san as if looking for a mistake.
「What?」
Sendai-san sounds dubious.
Her reaction is the same as usual in such situations.
It is weird to not be able to grasp the true nature of the feeling of discomfort.
「Do you want me to do your hair again?」
The words spoken to me in silence are a hint.
Come to think of it, Sendai-san often had her hair untied during summer vacation.
Although Sendai-san is the one who braided my hair, which is set with my uniform, I was more likely to untie it during the vacation, so my memories no longer overlap well.
「Forget my hair, Sendai, untie your hair.」
「Why?」
「Why not? It’s easy enough to untie, right?」
“Yes, but,” says Sendai-san, untying her hair. Her hair, which is browner than mine because it has been braided all my life, is not straight. It’s like a gentle wave unlike summer vacation, but summer vacation and now blend together just fine in my mind.
「And then do it like you always do.」
No longer wanting to give orders, I throws the rest of her time to Sendai-san.
「What do you mean, like always?」
「Say something.」
「What do you mean by, anything?」
「Anything is fine.」
Without wanting to give any particular orders, I called Sendai-san.
But I couldn’t tell her that, and if I didn’t order her to do something, she would get suspicious. Even if I were to give an appropriate order, it is difficult to say it because any order would likely lead to the last day of summer vacation. There is a way to not call Sendai-san if there is nothing to order, but that method was not one I wanted to actively adopt.
So, anything that she speak is fine as long as she can consume the orders.
「You’re right–」
Sendai-san grunts as if she is trying to find a common topic of conversation that doesn’t exist. Then, after a while, she said,「Well.」
「Where are you applying to college? It’s not like you haven’t decided by this point in the year.」
The topic, which I don’t like to be exposed to, makes my brow wrinkle involuntarily.
Perhaps Sendai-san knows I don’t want to talk about this and is asking me about it.
「You told me to say something, Miyagi, so answer me.」
It’s just that it’s kind of hard to say because I just kind of decided, and a career path is nothing to hide. Besides, she will eventually find out, even if I keep quiet.
I mention the local university, regretting that I did not limit the topic.
「What about Sendai-san?」
I don’t want to hear it, but if I don’t, I can’t pause.
「An university outside of the prefecture.」
She said plainly, and Sendai-san added the name of the university.
「Are you serious about that?」
The college she mentioned is one that you can’t get into if you’re just a little bit smart. As far as I know, no one has ever gone there from our high school. I am sure that even Sendai-san will not be accepted.
「It’s a lie. I’ve been trying to get there, but it’s never going to happen.」
Sendai-san says with a smile.
「You were going for it.」
「I knew it was impossible, though.」
I thought she was joking, but the fact that she didn’t deny my words indicated that she really intended to take the way. I don’t know why she is aiming for such a university, but she is serious about attending prep school and maybe still wants to take it.
「I’m only telling Miyagi about this. Don’t tell anyone else.」
「I’m not going to say it. I mean, I don’t have anyone to tell.」
「…Yeah, right.」
The truth is, we don’t want this kind of thing.
We have enough secrets between us, and I don’t want any more. The more secrets I have, the heavier and harder it is to move. I feel as if I will not be able to go anywhere from in front of Sendai-san.
「Where do you actually take the test?」
When I asked in passing to dilute the secret I had heard, she mentioned another out-of-state university. This time, with the name of a university that Sendai-san would likely have been accepted to, I know that what she told me was true.
Nevertheless.
It was natural, considering her grades, and although I thought it was not so, I did not feel so good when she told me she was going to a university outside the prefecture from her own mouth.
I was concerned about the new secret I shared with Sendai-san, but now my mind is occupied even more with the university she is actually applying to. It is hazy, trying to scrape away the heart together with the mind.
「Hey, Miyagi. You should apply to the same college as me.」
As if it were nothing, Sendai-san pushes me to do something unreasonable. Given my grades, it’s not an easy college for me to get into.
「Don’t say such random things. There’s no way I can go.」
「That’s not true.」
「Where it falls down, I don’t want to bother taking it.」
「You don’t know if you’re going to fail or not until you take the test, and why not take the slip? You’ve been studying seriously lately, and I think if you work a little harder you can get there.」
「It doesn’t make sense for us to go to college together.」
「Maybe so, but you should go to a good college if you can.」
「Absolutely not.」
I don’t want to put in the effort to go to a good college.
Besides, the time I spend with Sendai-san is only until graduation.
That’s why, there is no way to go to the same college.
Even Sendai-san should know that.
It doesn’t matter to me that she is about to leave the province.
That’s right, good grief, I don’t care, not one bit.
「Enough about this, next order.」
I don’t have an order I want to give. But I don’t want to continue to talk nonsense about career paths on the sly, so I’m going to think of an order I can give right now.
「You still give the orders.」
「You’ll do it, so listen.」
「Whatever you want.」
Sendai-san said, not hiding the expression on her face that she had not spoken enough.