Volume 7 Episode 01

The day after I touched Miyagi, she wasn't home.

The day after Miyagi touched me, she was.

She seemed awkward about it, but she stayed. Unlike Miyagi, I wasn't the kind of person who'd run away from home, so we were able to have breakfast together. We even promised we'd go somewhere during summer break. Before long, summer break arrived, and now a week had already passed.

The promise was still nothing more than a promise. To put it simply, I couldn't decide where we should go. It was my job to choose the destination, and while I had a few possibilities in mind, none of them felt quite right.

"Miyagi."

From where I lay sprawled across the bed, I gave the ends of Miyagi's hair a gentle tug. She was sitting on the floor, absorbed in a manga. Only the faintest point of contact connected my lazy, outstretched body to hers, yet even that was enough to make my heartbeat quicken.

"Sendai-san, what are you upto this whole time?"

Still leaning against the bed, Miyagi turned her back to me and lightly smacked my hand away.

I couldn't blame her.

In the roughly ten minutes since she'd come into my room, I'd already tugged on her hair three separate times.

"I was just thinking about how bored I am."

She didn't respond.

Her eyes never left the manga she'd brought from her own room.

I was grateful that everything from the day Miyagi ran away from home until the start of summer break had been so peaceful it almost felt unreal. Even so, I had my complaints about this version of Miyagi. Still, I couldn't exactly tell her to stop reading and look at me instead. Besides, there was no way I could compete with a manga when it came to keeping someone entertained. In Miyagi's personal ranking, I probably wasn't all that high.

"If you're that bored, read this."

She picked up one of the manga volumes stacked on the floor and set it on the bed.

"I already read that one the other day."

I nudged the volume toward the wall, then slipped my fingers back into Miyagi's hair.

It wasn't as though I had no feelings about ranking below a stack of manga, and it certainly wasn't that I didn't want to be the most important person to her. But for now, it was enough to preserve things as they were, where the girl who wouldn't even let me into her room after we'd become roommates would casually wander into mine for no particular reason.

Especially after thinking about the day we first did something in this room that ordinary roommates never would.

I'd be in trouble if she ran away from home again.

"You can always read it again."

Her indifferent voice drifted back to me.

"I'm tired of reading manga. Let's go somewhere."

"Sendai-san, you've spent this whole time playing with my hair instead of reading anything, so there's no way you could be tired of manga."

"Details don't matter. We promised we'd go somewhere during summer break, remember?"

"……Have you finally decided where we're going?"

For the first time since she'd sat down, Miyagi closed the manga in her hands and turned to face me.

"A hot spring trip."

"Right now?"

"Right now."

"I don't think this is exactly the right time to leave on a trip."

"Can't we just stay the night?"

It was still a little before evening, but lunch had been hours ago. If we left for a hot spring now, there'd be no chance of making it a day trip. Just considering the travel time, we'd have to stay overnight wherever we went.

"When we promised we'd go somewhere together, I don't remember agreeing to travel far enough that we'd need to spend the night."

Miyagi frowned openly, making no effort to hide her displeasure.

"We never agreed on how far we'd go, so going somewhere a little farther away should be fine, shouldn't it?"

"……Don't tell me you've already booked a place to stay?"

"I haven't made a reservation. But even without one, there should still be places with rooms available, right?"

"Sendai-san, you really are careless. Besides, even if there were places we could stay, there's no way I'd go. If I'd known 'going somewhere' meant a trip like that, I never would've agreed in the first place."

"I figured you'd say that."

I'd known what her answer would be before I even asked, but there was no harm in trying. It didn't have to be a hot spring, and I wasn't particularly attached to the idea of taking a trip. Still, I'd wanted to see if the small hope that Miyagi might actually say yes could somehow become reality.

Today, that hope had been crushed.

"Sendai-san, pick somewhere reasonable. Somewhere nearby, not a trip."

Her dissatisfied voice came with a new set of conditions limiting our destination.

"I have thought about places nearby too."

"Like where?"

"Hmm. I'm still deciding, so I'll tell you once I've made up my mind."

I'd considered all kinds of places, but none of them felt like somewhere we absolutely had to go. More than anything, I wanted to take Miyagi somewhere she'd genuinely enjoy. The problem was that "somewhere Miyagi would enjoy" was an impossibly difficult condition to satisfy, and the days kept slipping by while I failed to decide.

We'd already gone to the movies together before, so doing that again didn't feel very exciting.

Shopping was something I could easily do with friends from university, but Miyagi and I didn't have the same tastes.

I could always try following her hobbies instead, but that would probably just lead us back to another movie. I'd even thought about museums and exhibitions, but I had no idea which one would actually make her happy.

Normally, deciding where to go for fun wasn't something I struggled with.

The moment Miyagi became part of the equation, though, I couldn't stop second-guessing myself.

"We don't have to go anywhere."

Miyagi replied without much enthusiasm and reopened her manga.

Before her eyes could settle back onto the page, I gave her hair another light tug and stole her attention.

Just like last summer, Miyagi was beside me.

More than that, our relationship had moved further than it had a year ago.

I knew I should've been content with how things were and left well enough alone. But we'd promised we'd go somewhere together, and I couldn't simply accept her saying, "We don't have to go anywhere."

"Summer break's only just started, so there's no need to decide right away. Just give me a little more time."

Unlike when we were in high school, our summer break would continue even after September began, so there was no reason to rush. This year's summer was longer than last year's, and we'd have far more time to spend together.

"Sendai-san, you've got your part-time job too, so there's no need to force yourself to pick somewhere. If you're working..."

Speaking in an exasperated tone, Miyagi shoved firmly against my stomach while I lay stretched out on the bed.

"I don't have that many shifts, so I'm free."

I still had tutoring sessions during summer break, but they didn't increase just because school was out. I had no intention of taking on more, either. I'd considered working extra hours, but I'd already decided it didn't have to be this summer. If I was going to increase anything, I'd rather increase the time I spent with Miyagi than the number of shifts I worked.

"If you're free, then pick up more shifts. It's too hot. I want to stay home."

My feelings failed to reach her.

As though I were nothing more than an oversized stuffed animal, Miyagi pushed against my stomach once again.

She wasn't wrong about the heat.

Beyond the lace curtains, the midsummer sun, the unmistakable symbol of the season, blazed mercilessly, making the sweltering heat obvious without either of us needing to step outside. The scorching days would no doubt continue for quite a while. Even so, if she insisted on staying home simply because it was "hot," we'd never end up going anywhere.

"I don't plan on taking more shifts right now. More importantly, isn't there anywhere you want to go, Miyagi?"

I asked anyway, even though I wasn't expecting an answer.

"You're the one who promised to decide where we're going, Sendai-san."

"That's true, but since we're going together, I'd like to hear what you think too."

"I already told you."

"When?"

"Home."

Miyagi answered in a slightly quieter voice, then this time gently stroked my stomach.

The sensation wasn't much different from when she'd been pushing me. Having her absentmindedly pet me through my clothes like some stuffed toy made me feel as though I wasn't much different from the platypus-shaped tissue box cover sitting beside her.

It was better than being bitten or kicked, and if there was even one part of me she liked touching, that alone made me happy.

Still, I couldn't help wishing she'd touch me like I was a real person instead of an object.

"Miyagi."

When I called her name, the hand that had been moving came to a stop. I climbed down from the bed, sat beside Miyagi, and reached out to her. My fingers brushed through her hair before I pressed a kiss against her earring, then quickly pulled away.

“Did you really need to kiss me just now?”

Her voice carried a note of dissatisfaction.

“I did. I promised I'd decide where we're going, so I swore on your earring that I wouldn't break that promise.”

“That isn't the kind of promise you swear on.”

“It makes me feel more certain if I do.”

When I smiled at her, Miyagi parted her lips as though she were about to say something. Since it was probably going to be another complaint about me, I slid my fingertips across her lips and stole the words before they could leave them.

She looked at me with her lips slightly parted. As I leaned closer, she frowned for a brief moment before quietly closing her eyes.

That was all the permission I needed.

I closed the distance and sealed her lips with mine.

I lingered against them before slipping my tongue into her mouth. Miyagi accepted me without the slightest resistance. The tip of my tongue found hers, and they intertwined with effortless familiarity.

Miyagi was always more forgiving during summer break.

She'd been the same last year, letting me touch her whenever I wanted.

I hated the oppressive summer heat, but if this season made Miyagi so gentle with me, then I almost wished summer would last forever.

I drew back, only to kiss her again, deeper this time, as though I wanted to become even more tangled up with her. Her lips and tongue were warm, soft, and impossibly comforting. Wanting to be closer still, I reached for her arm, but the skin beneath my fingers felt cool. Maybe the air conditioner had made the room too cold for her.

For a while, I simply savored the contrast that was Miyagi, warm beneath my lips and cool beneath my hand, before finally pulling away.

“You're kissing me too much.”

Miyagi muttered the complaint as she shifted a little farther away.

“If you'd let me kiss you even more, we wouldn't have to go anywhere.”

I didn't want to throw away the promise I'd worked so hard to get, but depending on the terms, I was willing to pretend it had never happened. We'd spent almost the entirety of last summer break indoors anyway, so staying inside again didn't sound bad at all.

“More... how much more?”

I cupped her cheek, then slowly let my fingers trail down to her neck.

“Not just today. The whole summer break. Everywhere.”

My fingertips traced the neckline of her T-shirt before lightly stroking along her collarbone. When I leaned toward her neck, Miyagi planted a hand against my shoulder and pushed me back.

“You swore you'd decide where we're going, so keep your promise.”

Apparently, Miyagi preferred going somewhere together over being kissed even more. She fixed me with a sharp glare.

“Miyagi, you're such a cheapskate.”

“I'm not.”

“You are.”

“...If it's not 'more,' then it's fine.”

Her voice was so quiet I might've missed it if I hadn't been listening so closely.

“Huh? What did you just say?”

I'd heard every word and understood exactly what she meant, but I couldn't stop myself from asking again.

“Miyagi.”

Even when I called her name, she remained silent.

To make sure I hadn't imagined what she'd said, I leaned in and pressed my lips against hers once more.

She didn't pull away.

But the moment I tried to touch her neck again after the kiss, she pushed me back.

“That's enough for today.”

Just as I'd thought, Miyagi was more forgiving during summer break.

And that version of her was unfair.

Whenever she accepted me like this, I couldn't help believing that her feelings were turned toward me.

I weighed the present, where a gentle Miyagi willingly let me kiss her, against the uncertain future that might follow if I ever forced myself to confirm how she truly felt.

There wasn't even a choice to make.

The Miyagi sitting beside me now, quietly offering kisses without protest, was far more precious than any answer I might uncover. I couldn't bear the thought of losing this by demanding certainty.

While I sat there in silence, Miyagi opened her manga and resumed reading.

The only sound in the room was the soft rustle of pages turning.

Remembering how cool her arm had felt beneath my hand, I reached over and raised the air conditioner's temperature by one degree.