Volume 5 Episode 07

 Nice to meet you.

After exchanging the customary greetings, thirty minutes pass, and the body that had felt as though it were hardened with concrete loosens a little. My senior said that being a tutor is not as difficult as one might imagine, but anything you do for the first time inevitably makes you nervous.

The tutoring part-time job, which began as planned after the consecutive holidays ended, does not proceed as smoothly as when I was teaching Miyagi.

I don't know how far I should go with conversation unrelated to studying, nor do I know what kind of distance I ought to maintain. My senior told me to simply act like a teacher, but I reached today without having any clear image of what a teacher is supposed to be.

The first student to whom I introduced myself was Hanamaki Kikyou is a third-year junior high school student, and right now she is staring at her workbook so intently from the opposite side of the table that it seems as though she might burn a hole straight through it.

I drink the barley tea her mother served me.

It feels nostalgic.

After school, Miyagi used to prepare barley tea for me as well.

"Teacher."

Hanamaki-san raises her face and looks at me.

The word "teacher," which I had never been called before starting this tutoring job, tickles me and leaves me feeling unsettled.

"Was there something you didn’t understand?"

When I glance at the notebook on the table, it's filled with neat handwriting. From these thirty minutes alone, I have learned that Hanamaki-san appears to be good at studying and doesn't seem to need a tutor at all. Her mother asked me to teach her for the high school entrance exams, but there didn't appear to be anything to worry about.

"There isn’t anything I don’t understand, but why are you working as a tutor, Teacher?"

My eyes meet those of Hanamaki-san, who looks straight into a person’s eyes when she speaks.

She has short hair and looks energetic, yet her voice is calm. Unlike Miyagi, she tucks her hair behind her ears. However, the way she wears her uniform, strictly following school rules, is the same as Miyagi.

"Hmm."

I let out a small sound and think.

It would be easy to answer, "for money," but as a teacher, that does not feel quite right.

"Maybe because I like teaching things to people."

"Did you often teach people how to study?"

"To a friend."

I don't think that word truly fits Miyagi, but I cannot tell the truth as it is at my part-time job. I evade the issue with a commonplace phrase and ask a question to keep her from prying further into that "friend."

"Are you the type who teaches others, Hanamaki-san, or the type who gets taught?"

"I’m the type who gets taught. I used to have my older sister teach me a lot."

Hearing words I would rather not hear, I take a sip of barley tea. The accomplished older sister, and the reasonably capable me.

When we were children, both of us were doted on by our parents, but once the difference between my sister and me became clear, their affection was directed solely toward her. Our parents’ attitudes created a rift between us sisters, a rift that has still not been filled even now.

Well, but.

Now I can think that it was a good thing.

If we had remained the same kind of family we were in childhood, I surely would not have ended up living with Miyagi.

I lift the glass and wash the memories of my family down into my stomach along with the barley tea.

"You’re not being taught by your older sister anymore?"

"She went to a high school with a dormitory on a sports recommendation."

"I see."

I place the now-empty glass on the table.

Hanamaki-san seems cheerful, but she does not look particularly athletic, so I cannot easily imagine her older sister from her. Still, such details are trivial. What matters more is that the atmosphere in this room has softened.

A certain amount of tension is not necessarily a bad thing, but if it continues without end, it becomes exhausting.

Hanamaki-san and I are not that far apart in age.

Even so, since I don't know where we share common ground, we continue studying while exchanging small, not especially meaningful remarks within the slightly softened atmosphere.

Twice a week, ninety minutes each time.

I think it will take a little longer to grow accustomed to being Hanamaki-san’s tutor. Even so, once we have become just a bit more comfortable with each other, the ninety minutes pass, and the tutoring session comes to an end.

I greet her mother, go to the entrance, and put on my shoes.

Hanamaki-san, who is not much shorter than me, bows her head and says, "Thank you very much." Then she smiles brightly and sees me off.

Come to think of it, since we started living together, I don't think I have seen Miyagi smile. Miyagi never smiled much in front of me to begin with, but during high school I would occasionally catch her smiling at school. Now that we attend different universities, there is no such opportunity. I think it would be nice if Miyagi smiled in front of me the way Hanamaki-san does.

I walk back along the same path I came by, feeling slightly tense, board the train, and think that simply going home makes me feel at ease.

Hanamaki-san is quick to understand things and does not require much effort.

She is completely different from Miyagi, who lacks straightforwardness.

Well, a straightforward Miyagi would feel unsettling anyway.

While being rocked by the train different from the one I usually take, I think something rather rude. I pass through the ticket gate, walk the familiar road, climb the stairs to the third floor, open the front door, and step inside. Miyagi’s shoes are there, but she is not in the shared space.

My stomach lets out a small growl.

I told Miyagi I would be late, so she has probably already eaten. Still, even though I already know the answer, I knock on the door to Miyagi’s room to ask.

Once, twice, three times.

Miyagi comes out into the shared space, and before I can even peek inside, the door slams shut with a loud bang.

"Did you eat?"

I ask before she can say anything.

"I ate."

"What did you eat?"

"Cup ramen."

Miyagi answers in an irritated voice.

"You should eat proper food."

"What does it matter what I eat? I’m alone anyway. Was that all you wanted?"

"I’ll make tea. Want to drink together?"

It was not really my concern, but for now I decide to make it my concern. If she had not eaten dinner yet, I could have invited her to eat with me. Since she already has, I have to come up with another reason.

"Sendai-san, what about your dinner?"

"I’ll eat later."

"Eat first."

"Then drink the tea, Miyagi."

I grab the arm of Miyagi, who is about to return to her room, and pull her into a chair. While boiling water in the electric kettle, I open the refrigerator.

It isn't for Miyagi, yet even so, making something to eat by myself right now feels troublesome.

While heating water in a pot and warming up some retort stew, I serve Miyagi tea. Then I scoop rice onto a plate and pour the finished stew over it.

I think rice and stew ought to be served separately, but today I don't want to increase the number of dishes to wash. Since I am fairly tired from my first tutoring session, I decide to plate them together the way Miyagi used to in the past and eat it that way.

When I place the stew on the table and sit down, Miyagi says, "Hey," in a casual tone and continues.

"......So, what was the student like at your part-time job?"

"She was a good kid. It seemed like she studies regularly, and she was very polite."

"Hmm."

Miyagi responds, sounding uninterested.

"Also, she seemed pretty straightforward. Unlike you, Miyagi."

I exaggerate my tone as I say it and take a bite of the stew. After swallowing with a gulp and turning my gaze toward Miyagi, she lightly taps the table with her fingertips.

"There is no need for me to be straightforward in front of you, Sendai-san."

"Then in front of whom would you be straightforward, Miyagi?"

"Anyone except you, Sendai-san."

"I knew you would say that."

A straightforward Miyagi feels unsettling, yet at times I think that I would like to see a straightforward Miyagi as well.

For instance, a Miyagi who would show me her ears if I asked her to do so.

Unlike Hanamaki-san, Miyagi is hiding her ears again today. Her hair falls in the way, preventing me from seeing the piercing that she supposedly got for me to see. I suspect that she hides it at university as well, but if Utsunomiya were to ask to see it, she would likely show it without hesitation.

A sigh nearly escapes my lips, but I swallow it together with the stew.

After taking another bite, I open my mouth to speak.

"Miyagi. Since you went through the trouble of getting a piercing, why not wear your hair so that your ears show?"

Across the table, Miyagi furrows her brow.

Then, after making a face as though she is considering it for a moment, she tucks her hair behind her ear.

In surprise, I nearly drop my spoon and hurriedly place it down on the plate.

"Promise me, Sendai-san."

Miyagi steps right up beside me.

"What kind of promise?"

"Tomorrow, you make dinner, Sendai-san."

"...Alright. What do you want to eat?"

Instead of swearing on it, I reach out toward Miyagi and touch the piercing.

I want very much to kiss her ear, but the Miyagi standing before me now feels somehow different from the Miyagi I know, and I find myself unable to move.

"Anything you like is fine, Sendai-san."

While running through possible menus in my head, I reply, "Got it."

✧✧✧✧✧

Keeping the promise I made with Miyagi yesterday is not difficult.

Cooking dinner itself is no great task.

The problem is that I cannot decide on a menu.

I wander through the supermarket, looping around the aisles again and again.

Miyagi said to make whatever I like, but nothing immediately comes to mind.

"What should I do?"

Pork, beef, chicken.

I glare at the neatly lined rows of meat in the meat section. This is not something that should warrant so much serious thought.

Most likely, Miyagi’s words, "anything you like is fine," simply mean that anything will do. Whatever I make should be acceptable. Still, if I prepare something she does not eat, it would be pointless, and so I hesitate. Despite having spent a considerable amount of time with Miyagi by now, I still do not know her likes and dislikes.

The first side dish I ever made at Miyagi’s place was fried chicken.

At the time, I barely considered her preferences at all, which made deciding on the menu easy.

"...Fried chicken, huh."

Since Miyagi said it was delicious and ate it back then, it is a safe option.

I trace my memory a little further.

That day, when I had Miyagi cut cabbage, she sliced her finger, and it ended with me licking her blood. Miyagi truly makes me do the strangest things. No one else has ever tried to make me lick their blood since then. Only Miyagi draws that kind of behavior out of me.

I exhale softly and pull my drifting thoughts back to the matter of dinner.

Now that I think about it, Miyagi has served me retort-pack hamburger steak several times at her place. It was not just once, so she must like it to some extent.

I take a package of mixed ground beef and pork from the display and place it into my basket. Then I circle the supermarket again, adding onions and panko breadcrumbs. I take out my phone. The ingredients for hamburger steak are somewhat vague in my mind. It feels as though something is missing, so when I look up a recipe, I find that I am indeed lacking a few items. I add milk and nutmeg to the basket. There are eggs in the refrigerator at home, so I do not buy any and head to the register.

When I return home, Miyagi’s shoes are already at the entrance. She isn't in the shared space, so I call out in front of her bedroom door that I am making hamburger steak. A "welcome home" comes back immediately, but she does not step out. I put everything except the onions into the refrigerator, set a cutting board and knife on the counter, and begin finely chopping the onions to sauté them.

I place the ground meat into a bowl and knead it while chilling the bottom in ice water. I add salt, pepper, and nutmeg, kneading further, then mix in the sautéed onions, panko soaked in milk, and an egg, continuing to knead. As I knead the mixture endlessly, I nearly forget what it is I am making.

Hamburger steak looks simple, as though you only need to shape the meat and grill it, but in reality it requires quite a bit of effort. I regret slightly that I did not just buy pre-mixed hamburger patty meat. Still, I cannot stop halfway through, so I shape the mixture into patties and, like the chefs I see on television, toss them back and forth between my hands to remove the air.

Once I reach this point, all that remains is to cook them. I heat the frying pan, line up the patties, listen to the sizzling sound, cover the pan with a lid, and prepare a salad. When the hamburger steaks are finished, I call Miyagi. She comes out of her room and silently begins setting out plates and rice.

Yesterday, Miyagi suddenly made me promise something that hardly seemed worth swearing upon a piercing.

Dinner is not the sort of thing that requires a promise simply to cook.

I place the hamburger steak onto the plate Miyagi prepared and look at her. She does not appear especially happy or excited. I cannot tell what she was thinking when she asked me to make dinner.

"Where is the sauce?"

Miyagi asks while staring at the hamburger steak on her plate.

"I will make it now."

I pour ketchup and Worcestershire sauce into the frying pan and let it simmer lightly. I pour the finished sauce over the hamburger steak, carry the plate to the table, and sit down.

"Thanks for the meal."

Our voices overlap as Miyagi says it at the same time. There is no knife, so I cut the hamburger steak using my chopsticks.

The hamburger steak turns out fluffy and tender. When I cut into the edge, meat juices spill out, making it clear that it cooked better than I expected. When I take a bite, it tastes good enough to be served at a restaurant, and I feel like praising myself. Miyagi, however, says nothing.

"Is it good?"

I ask as Miyagi eats silently across from me.

"It is good. Do you like hamburger steak, Sendai-san?"

"Kind of?"

If asked whether I like it or dislike it, I would say that I like it. Still, since I did not make it because it is my favorite, my answer comes out vague.

"Why the question mark? Did you not make it because it is something you like?"

"Well, probably. Do you like hamburger steak, Miyagi?"

Thinking that I might finally be able to add hamburger steak to the list of things she likes, I look at her.

"Kind of."

She gives an answer whose truth I cannot discern and brings another bite to her mouth. I continue cutting the hamburger steak with my chopsticks and eating as well.

The conversation fades, and we eat in silence.

The hamburger steak, which took so much time to prepare, disappears into our stomachs in less than half the time it took to make.

"Sendai-san, what are you going to do after this?"

Miyagi sets down her chopsticks and speaks without looking at me.

"Review so I will not struggle at the next tutoring session. Or maybe preview? The student I teach is in junior high, but it has been so long since I studied junior high material that I have forgotten a lot. If I do not review, I will feel anxious."

"You are so serious even though it is just a part-time job."

"Even if it is a part-time job, you still have to take it seriously, right?"

"Hmm."

Miyagi said it in a tone that sounded uninterested, then took the barley tea out of the refrigerator.

She set a glass in front of me as well, but the tonk sound it made when it struck the table was louder than usual, and I could tell that Miyagi was not in a very good mood.

"Thanks."

There was no response to my thanks.

She sat down across from me without saying a word.

"You should get a part-time job too, Miyagi."

"I won't."

The curt reply came back immediately, and the conversation broke off once more.

From the flow of the exchange, I could more or less guess why her mood had soured.

The topic of part-time jobs was a bad choice.

Yesterday as well, after we talked about part-time work, Miyagi had started acting strange.

"……After I finish cleaning up, can I go to Sendai-san's room?"

Miyagi suddenly said.

There was no context at all.

Worse still, it contradicted what I had said earlier.

I had told her that I was planning to review for my next part-time shift afterward.

Having her come to my room would clearly be inconvenient.

"Sure, okay."

My mouth moved without hesitation, voicing words entirely different from what I had been thinking.

"Then I'll clean up."

Miyagi stood up, holding the plates and glasses.

This is strange.

But I cannot refuse her.

I can always study after Miyagi goes back to her room.

I can do it on the train, too.

The sound of dishes being washed echoed through the shared space.

The words "I'll help" never left my mouth.

Even though this is not the first time Miyagi has come into my room, I still feel nervous.

The clattering sounds felt unusually loud, so I stood up, and Miyagi walked straight up to me.

"Done."

"Are you coming to the room?"

"I'm going."

Normally she would say something like, "If you don't want me to come, then I won't," but today she did not say anything like that.

When we returned to my room together, Miyagi sat down next to me as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

But after sitting down, she fell completely silent.

Perhaps she had no intention of talking at all. With a troubled expression, she picked up the dictionary that had been lying on the desk, placed it on her lap, and began flipping through it.

"What is wrong with you, seriously?"

I spoke to Miyagi, who had asked to come to my room of her own accord and yet was not saying a single word.

"What do you mean by 'what is wrong'?"

Miyagi lifted her face from the dictionary.

"I'm asking why you're in such a bad mood."

"I'm not."

You absolutely are.

Her voice is low, and she refuses to look at me.

She does not seem like someone who chose to come to this room willingly. Her mood is that terrible.

She did not look particularly cheerful during dinner either, but now her bad mood is on an entirely different level from then.

"Don't you have some kind of business here?"

When I asked, an even lower voice answered me.

"Am I not allowed to come if I don't?"

"You are allowed, but if you're going to come, you could at least be in a good mood."

"I'm not in a bad mood."

Once Miyagi gets like this, she becomes stubborn.

Even when she is clearly in a bad mood, she refuses to admit it, and the conversation runs in parallel lines that never intersect.

It's not rare for her mood to keep worsening while I remain completely unaware of the reason, but since she came to my room of her own initiative, I wish she would soften her attitude at least a little.

"If you're really not in a bad mood, then smiling a little wouldn't hurt, right?"

I will not say "like Hanamaki-san," but it would not kill her to smile for me.

Today I kept the promise I was forced into unilaterally about making dinner, and I am also spending time with Miyagi even though I changed my review plans, so I think I at least have the right to ask her to listen to me a little.

"I'm smiling."

Miyagi declared it, but her expression could only be described as thoroughly displeased.

"You're not smiling at all."

"I am. ……At university."

That does make sense, I think.

I know that Miyagi smiles in places other than here.

Back in high school as well, I saw her smiling many times at school.

In our second year, when we were in the same class, I saw her smiling in front of Utsunomiya, and in our third year, after we were placed in different classes, I caught glimpses of her smiling in the hallway.

Miyagi always smiles when I am not around.

Even now, she is probably smiling in front of Utsunomiya just like she did back then, and the thought irritates me.

"I mean smile here, right now."

Miyagi and I attend different universities.

If she does not smile here, I will never get to see Miyagi’s smile the way I used to.

If I am going to see it at all, I would rather see her smiling in a good mood than sulking in a bad one, and if possible, I want her to smile for me.

"I can't smile if there's nothing funny."

"A small grin is easy enough. Come on, lift the corners of your mouth."

I pressed my finger against the corner of Miyagi’s lips and pushed upward.

The dictionary slipped from her lap and hit the floor with a soft thud.

It seemed as though her mood might worsen even further, but since nothing I do is going to improve it anyway, it does not matter.

I forced her mouth into a smile with the finger I was pressing there.

Contrary to the corners of her mouth that I forcibly lifted, a crease formed between her eyebrows.

It looked less like a smile and more like an expression of faint irritation.

Miyagi grabbed my wrist.

My finger was pulled away from her face, and then she bit it.

Hard enough that I could feel her teeth against the bone.

I reflexively tried to pull my finger back.

But the finger she bit did not come free.

If anything, she clamped down even harder than before I tried to pull away.

"Miyagi, it hurts!"

My body froze from the sudden pain.

She was biting so hard that I thought she might actually break the bone. Even my temples throbbed.

"It hurts, I said."

I struck Miyagi’s shoulder, trying to make her release the finger she was holding hostage, but it remained trapped.

My small wish to make her smile kept being converted into pain.

Miyagi never holds back when she bites, but today it hurts especially badly.

I do not know what is driving her to do this, but she is biting with ridiculous force.

It hurts, it is hot, and my head is spinning.

"Miyagi!"

Forgetting any restraint because of the pain, I hit her shoulder harder.

Still, my finger remained between her teeth, and this time my hand brushed against her piercing.

To be honest, I felt like ripping the piercing out right then because my finger hurt so badly, but I only tugged at it lightly.

Her soft earlobe stretched, and the pressure of her teeth loosened.

When I pulled my finger away immediately afterward, her teeth released it cleanly.

"Stop eating people's fingers already. Wasn't the hamburger enough?"

A clear bite mark was left on the finger Miyagi had bitten. It hurt so badly that I would have believed her if she said she had it for dessert.

"If I'm going to eat, I'll eat something tastier."

Miyagi said the rude remark in a flat voice, grabbed several tissues, and roughly wiped my finger.

The pain flared up again.

"If you want me to laugh, then do something that would actually make me want to laugh, Sendai-san."

Miyagi returned the dictionary that had fallen from her lap to the desk and looked straight at me.

"It seems like nothing I do would make you laugh, so I'll pass."

I rubbed the finger that throbbed loudly enough to echo inside my head.

Even though I am used to the pain Miyagi inflicts on me, my brows still knit together.

"Then you shouldn't have done something so weird in the first place if that's how you feel."

"Yeah. I was stupid for trying to make someone who doesn't want to laugh actually laugh."

"If you understand that, then laugh in my place instead, Sendai-san."

Miyagi pressed her finger against the corner of my lips.

Just like I had done to her, she tried to lift the corners of my mouth.

Her finger moved roughly, forcing my cheeks upward, so I knocked her hand away.

"Look, I know it was wrong to try to force you to smile, but biting me and then doing the exact same thing back is really pissing me off. Isn't that enough already?"

"It's not enough."

Miyagi’s gaze drops to my finger.

It is the finger she bit, and sensing something ominous, I try to pull my hand back, but I am too late.

The finger marked with her teeth is caught by Miyagi.

"It hurts, so let go."

I tug the tightly gripped finger toward myself.

But instead of releasing it, she yanks it with enough force to tear it away, and I lose to the pain, ending up pulled closer to Miyagi.

"What is wrong with you?"

I ask while my body is still leaning toward her, but Miyagi does not answer.

"If there is something you want to do, then just say it."

When I say it firmly, Miyagi releases my finger.

Instead, she grabs the collar of my blouse.

Miyagi brings her face close to mine and stops abruptly at a distance where our breaths mix.

There are no words.

Our eyes meet, and then hers slide away.

Miyagi lets go of my blouse, and this time I grab her arm.

"And what about the rest?"

"There is no rest."

Miyagi replies curtly, shakes off my hand, and steps back by exactly the distance she had closed earlier.

"If there isn’t any, then make some."

"Sendai-san……"

The words that begin to leave her mouth stop short.

"At least finish what you are saying."

"Does Sendai-san have a continuation she wants?"

"If I said I do, what would you do?"

"If you do, then ask me for it. If you do, I will do it."

The throbbing pain that had lingered in my finger suddenly vanishes.

I grip Miyagi’s hand.

She does not try to escape, but she still refuses to look at me.

The continuation of what Miyagi was about to do just now.

Simply being aware of it makes the bitten finger feel unbearably hot, and I let out a small breath.

"Then kiss me."

I say it to Miyagi, who still will not meet my eyes.

"That is not asking."

"Please kiss me. Is this okay?"

"It is okay."

Saying that, Miyagi steps closer.

But just before our lips touch, she stops moving.

The hand I am still holding feels as though it might pull away at any moment.

At times like this, Miyagi has no courage.

She does plenty of things I do not want and does them without hesitation, but when it comes to the crucial moment, she gets scared.

"You said yourself that if I asked, you would do it, so do it properly."

I press her to keep her word before she can retreat, and I close my eyes.

Miyagi’s presence draws near.

Her hand grips mine tightly in return, and our lips meet.

Lightly. So briefly that I can barely register her warmth.

After the kiss, Miyagi pulls away.

When I open my eyes, she has put a small distance between us, as if she is on guard.

I dislike that kind of attitude.

I do not want her to claim she fulfilled her promise with just that.

"Is that all already?"

When I ask, a cold "It is over" comes back.

"Do it again."

"No way. Sendai-san looks like you are thinking something strange."

The hand I had been holding is shaken off.

Even so, she does not leave my side.

Although she moves slightly farther away, when I edge closer she does not flee. She simply stays seated next to me.

Miyagi is behaving strangely today, completely out of character.

Normally she would bristle like a stray cat and keep me at a distance.

"……How is Utsunomiya doing?"

If we stay silent like this, it feels as though Miyagi will say she is going back to her room and leave, so I speak up.

But I have no idea what to talk about with today’s Miyagi, and I end up grasping for a topic from the few things we share.

"She is fine."

"You should bring her here."

"Why would I bring Maika here?"

"She is your friend, right? Just invite her."

"I won’t."

The response comes back exactly as expected, and the conversation I managed to start so awkwardly is cut off with ease.

Well, even if she really did bring her, I would be troubled.

Still, I want to know what Miyagi is like at university.

Surely Utsunomiya knows a side of Miyagi that I do not.

I know a side of Miyagi that Utsunomiya does not either, but I do not know how much of Miyagi remains unknown to her.

"Miyagi."

While searching for something to continue the conversation, I look at her beside me.

"Have you ever kissed Utsunomiya?"

Miyagi makes a puzzled expression.

But I want to know.

I am curious whether Utsunomiya knows how soft Miyagi’s lips are.

"Are you the type of person who kisses friends, Sendai-san?"

"I am not."

"Neither am I."

Miyagi, who does not kiss friends, just kissed me.

Even if I am her roommate, it is because I am not her friend.

We have never been friends, and I think that has been fine.

I touch Miyagi’s cheek.

Even when I bring my face closer, she does not seem to dislike it.

Since she will not close her eyes herself, I close mine and kiss her.

Again and again, I kiss her, making up for how little I could feel earlier.

I part her closed lips, slip my tongue inside, and go deeper.

I kiss Miyagi.

Our similar body temperatures blend together, and even when our tongues touch, she remains still, so I think she does not hate it.

Touching a place inside someone’s body that a friend would never touch makes me want to know even more about Miyagi.

When she bit my finger, my tongue touched her as well, and I felt her warmth.

But back then it only hurt and felt unpleasant.

Now it feels overwhelmingly good, and I want to keep kissing her like this forever.

I lean my weight against Miyagi.

When I try to push her down like that, she presses firmly against my shoulders and creates distance between us once more.

"Sendai-san."

She calls my name in a voice that is neither displeased nor cheerful.

"What?"

"……Quit your part-time job."

Words that do not seem as though they should follow a kiss, and then she tightly grabs my bitten finger again.

It hurts, and the heat rising in my body cools all at once.

"Why?"

There is no reason for Miyagi to tell me to quit.

I am the one working, and I am not causing her any trouble.

Of course, I have no intention of causing her trouble in the future either.

I stare steadily at Miyagi.

But she only maintains a troubled expression and remains silent.

"If I quit now, it would cause problems, and I actually like this job a lot, so no way."

Tutoring suits me far better than working at a convenience store or restaurant.

More than anything, the hourly pay is good.

If the shifts are short, I can spend more time at home.

"I know that."

Miyagi releases the finger she had been gripping.

"Then why did you tell me to quit?"

"I just felt like saying it."

She mutters the words, then takes my hand.

She is definitely acting strange.

Different from usual.

I want to know why she told me to quit my job, but if I ask, Miyagi will surely return to her room.

The warmth of our linked hands feels pleasant, and I do not want to let go.

So without saying anything, I squeeze her hand in return.