CH 120

The norm for me and Miyagi — 120

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

「You know, isn’t this too much?」

I put the slightly larger bag on the table and look at Miyagi.

She came back earlier than I expected.

That’s good.

I’m grateful because I wanted her to come home early if possible. But the bag Miyagi handed me earlier, saying yes, contained too much bread for the two of us to eat, and I couldn’t help but voice it.

「I bought more because Maika said that the bread there was delicious.」

I hear Utsunomiya’s name and my temples twitch.

Miyagi kept her promise to “buy me something to eat” and I didn’t specify that “something.” So I had no problem if the bag she gave me contained bread that Utsunomiya said was delicious, but I didn’t want to hear its name right now.

「Bread is something you eat for breakfast or lunch, not at night.」

A few steps away, Miyagi, who is looking at me with a face devoid of any trace of affection, blurts out what can only be described as an accusation.

「Then, why don’t you just not eat it?」

Miyagi says in a low voice, and an air of disquiet hangs over the not-so-spacious dining room kitchen.

This is not what I wanted to talk about.

The bread isn’t to blame, nor is Utsunomiya.

What is bad is my mood, and we can’t discuss this at this point.

Calm down.

I tell myself.

「I’m hungry and I’m going to eat. Wait for me while I serve you something to drink. Miyagi, cider is fine for you?」

I go to the refrigerator without waiting for a reply.

I take orange juice and cider from inside and pour them into a glass. I could take the bread out of the bag and just bite into it, but that doesn’t feel like supper. I take two plates out of the cupboard and hand them to Miyagi. I carry the glasses and sit down in the chair, and Miyagi sits across the table from me.

「Sendai-san, you can choose whatever you like.」

Then, I put a croissant with ham and cheese and croquette bread on my plate.

「What about Miyagi?」

I asked Miyagi, who was staring at me, and she put bread with potato salad and a sausage roll on her plate.

「Itadakimasu.」

Though not in unison, our voices overlap.

「Miyagi, did you tell Utsunomiya that you live with me?」

Rather than going into the main topic out of the blue, I mention one thing that has been bothering me for a long time.

「I told her.」

「What did she say?」

「It’s nothing.」

Miyagi says casually, and she bites into a piece of bread with potato salad.

「You definitely didn’t tell her about me.」

There was no way that Utsunomiya, who had been concerned about my relationship with Miyagi, would not have said anything when she found out about this cohabitation.

「We talked.」

Miyagi munches on a piece of bread.

Her gaze is fixed on her plate, not even looking at me.

For what it’s worth, I don’t think she is talking to Utsunomiya about what happened with us. But there is no point in asking Utsunomiya how she explained this situation. Miyagi would not tell me the truth if I pursued the matter, and it wouldn’t bother me if she didn’t know the truth. It just satisfies my curiosity a little.

「…Is that why you waited for me today, because that’s what you wanted to hear?」

Miyagi asked without lifting her gaze. I bit into my croissant and swallowed, then opened my mouth.

「The Utsunomiya story is a preamble, now we’re getting down to business. Let’s set the rules now.」

Miyagi looks up at the sound of my voice.

「Rule?」

「Yeah, rules for living together. It’s easier to live if there are some rules, right?」

「Sendai-san can decide. Let me know later.」

Miyagi says in a tedious manner and stands up, leaving the sausage roll on the plate.

This kind of reaction is to be expected.

I was thinking that she might not even eat dinner with me, so I felt like praising Miyagi just for sitting across from me and munching on a piece of bread. But if we get away with it here, we will have to repeat the same life again.

「I get to decide? So you won’t complain if I make a rule that we kiss every day?」

I drink my orange juice and put the glass back on the table.

「Of course I’m going to complain about it.」

「Then get involved in the discussion.」

「…What are the rules, for instance?」

Miyagi sits back in her chair and looks at me.

「Like taking out the trash, or cleaning duty. Or how we’re going to eat, that kind of thing.」

I really want to know if I can kiss her like I have been doing, or if I can touch her body. I want to know those things. I am dissatisfied with my current life, which seems to have lost everything that was in Miyagi’s room. But perhaps I should not speak of such things yet.

We need to get used to a very normal life now.

It’s suffocating if we don’t have the necessary rules for sharing a room and being able to spend each day as roommates.

「Then I want a rule that you don’t go in my room without permission.」

Miyagi blurts out and bites into a sausage roll.

「I’m still not in it, but it would be better to have a rule like that. Are there any other rules you want?」

「Others? The others would be…」

Miyagi mutters to herself.

As she pondered, I suggested a few rules, and Miyagi offered what seemed to be her opinion as well.

We may invite our friends, but they will not stay overnight.

If we are going to stay out overnight, we must let each other know.

After deciding on everything from such seemingly necessary things to rules that I am not sure are necessary, not very long but not too short time had passed, and Miyagi said in a slightly tired voice.

「We don’t need any more rules, do we?」

I take a sip of my orange juice before looking at Miyagi.

「How about having dinner together once a week or so?」

I ask as casually as possible.

「Is once alright to you?」

「Yes.」

「That’s about as good as it gets, but…」

The words are punctuated there.

But Miyagi seemed to want to say something, and she asked,「But?」

「Let me know when you’re going to be late, not just when you’re staying out… Then we can have dinner together on other days. You ate together before.」

Miyagi says in a whisper, but quickly.

「Does it have to be more than once a week? We eat together.」

「If you don’t like it, don’t eat it with me.」

「I’ll make that a rule, so let’s eat together on other days. So let me know if Miyagi will be late too.」

“Okay,” her small voice replies.

I had not expected Miyagi to tell me that she wanted to have dinner with me more often than just once a week. It’s a small thing, but it’s a relief to know that even in our new lives, they want things to be the same as before.

「Then, Miyagi. If you break the rules, you’ll be punished.」

I don’t expect Miyagi to not follow the rules, but there should be an objective to make it harder to break the rules.

Most of the rules we make, we don’t have to worry about them being broken.

But I would like to have dinner with her at least once a week.

It’s a trivial rule, but it’s one that I want people to follow, and I hope Miyagi feels the same way.

「What do we do for punishment?」

「That’s right. What about listening to one thing the other say?」

The punishment can be anything, but if it is too easy, the punishment is meaningless. It needs to be troublesome to some extent.

「That’s fine, but don’t forget. It’s Sendai-san who breaks the rules.」

Miyagi is rude and stares at me.

Well, she doesn’t trust me.

Looking back at what we have done in the past, Miyagi’s words make sense. But I cannot honestly admit that I break the rules.

「Don’t worry, I won’t break it.」

I assure her and eat away the remaining croissant in one bite. The ham and cheese mingle and fall into my stomach, and I reach for the croquette bun.

「Hey, Sendai-san.」

「What is it?」

I bite into a croquette bun and look at Miyagi.

「When we eat together, who cooks the food?」

「We eat together, so we must cook together.」

When I answered as a matter of course, Miyagi gave me a terribly troublesome look.

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「Oh, right, Miyagi. I want an electric kettle, can I buy one?」

I change the subject so that Miyagi doesn’t start to say that we don’t eat dinner together after all.

「You don’t have to tell me that. Buy it on your own.」

「I can’t just buy it without permission. It’s a communal item.」

「Then buy it. I’ll give you the money.」

「You don’t have to. It’s for both of us. I’ll use that money to buy it.」

Miyagi wrinkles her brow at my words.

「That money is Sendai-san’s money.」

「That money is for the two of us 」

「That’s the one I gave to Sendai-san.」

By that money, I mean the money that was in my piggy bank, and Miyagi’s words are not wrong.

I used that money, not all of it, when I signed the contract for this room. But before I moved out, I returned from my parents in Miyagi.

Needless to say, it’s not a surprise when I think about it.

There was no way that Miyagi’s parents would not pay a penny when they heard that their daughter was going to share a room. A solid half of the money involved in the contract was returned to me and the money I spent was made up.

But I don’t want to use it for myself.

But if I said I would return it to Miyagi, there is no way she would accept it.

As a result, I am keeping that money to use for the two of us. Of course, Miyagi is not convinced.

「Well, I don’t mind either way. Let’s go buy it together.」

I’ll toss the issue that can’t be answered by arguing and return to the electric kettle.

「What if I said no?」

「Miyagi will be boiling water in the milk pan for me for a long time to come.」

When I smiled at her, Miyagi looked as if she was biting a bitter bug.

「…When do we go out to buy it?」

「Tomorrow. Are you meeting with Utsunomiya?」

I don’t want to get ahead of her appointment because if I say next week, it would be a waste of what I decided today.

「…There’s none, so it’s fine.」

Miyagi blurts out and eats the rest of the sausage roll.

「Hey, Miyagi. Tomorrow, when you wear a skirt…」

The awkwardness is still there, but the air is a little more relaxed, and he talks nonsense.

「I don’t want to.」

「Isn’t that too quick for an answer?」

「There’s no reason for me to wear skirt, right?」

「It’s because I like Miyagi’s feet.」

I can’t tell her now, and I don’t intend to, but I really want to touch Miyagi’s feet. No, if not her feet, I want to touch Miyagi as a matter of course like when we were in high school. I feel so much regret that I was no longer ordered to do so.

「Sendai-san is a pervert.」

I knew she would say that.

But I thought Miyagi was better for saying that.