CH 128

What I don't want Sendai-san to forget — 128

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

In my hand is a single paper bag.

The contents of the bag are the items that Maika and I bought together.

Yesterday, after I went to eat doria with Sendai-san, I wanted to give it to her, but I couldn’t. I’ve been wondering about it all day, and I still haven’t been able to give it to her after dinner.

I wander around the room and exhale in front of the bookcase.

A black cat is staring at me.

What should I do?

After thinking for a moment, I leave the room and look at the common space.

Sendai-san seems to be in her room, and I cannot see her.

I pick up the platypus sitting on top of the color box and knock on the door of Sendai-san’s room for the first time since I arrived here.

Tap, and tap, and tap for the third time.

I hear Sendai-san’s voice from inside, and the door opens.

「What’s wrong?」

「Let me in. We’re having the punishment game now.」

「As in now?」

Sendai-san looks at the paper bag and platypus I am holding as if she is lost.

「Now. It won’t take that long, and if you don’t want me in your room, come out.」

The clock I looked at before I left my room said it was just after nine o’clock, not the kind of time that says it’s already late. It’s early enough to go to bed and there’s at least time to play the punishment game.

The punishment game we are about to play is not that bad. It is just a matter of using the contents of this paper bag, and it doesn’t even take much time. It should be a simple matter to do one thing.

「My room is alright. You can come in.」

When she says this, Sendai-san opens the door wide. I think for a moment whether I should say, “Sorry for intruding,” and then silently follow her inside.

A bed and a small table.

A bookshelf and a desk.

The first time I entered Sendai-san’s room, it was different from the room I had seen in the past. There are fewer books and bookshelves, and the bed is a pipe bed. I had never been in her room as much as I am used to seeing, but this new room does not feel like Sendai-san’s room. There is so much discomfort that it makes my heart flutter.

「You can sit wherever you want.」

Sendai-san sits with her back against the bed.

I sit down next to her, wondering where to sit.

「Why’s the platypus with you?」

「For tissue.」

「I know it when I see it like that. Do you use it for the punishment game?」

「Maybe.」

「Maybe? What are you trying to do to me?」

「This is the punishment game.」

I hand the paper bag I brought to Sendai-san and place the platypus on the table.

「What’s this?」

「You can look inside.」

After saying this, Sendai-san opened the paper bag.

「Miyagi, is this…」

Sendai-san’s voice is lower than usual and he raises his eyebrows. She then lays out the contents of the paper bag on the table.

Piercer.

Disinfectant.

Cotton.

It was all about getting it pierced, and Sendai-san sighed once.

「…You don’t have to do this. I promised to do one thing, but not everything.」

「But we didn’t make a rule that piercings are not allowed, did we?」

「We certainly didn’t make it, but it’s a no-no to punish someone with a scar that will leave a mark on their body for a long time in the normal course of events.」

Sendai-san is not angry, but her voice is dismayed. But I expected this kind of response.

I grabbed a piercer from the table and forced Sendai-san to hand it to me.

「No. Get my ears pierced.」

「Even if Miyagi is fine with it, I don’t want to.」

「I don’t care if Sendai-san is fine or not fine with it. I’m the one doing the piercing.」

「…Eh?」

「Eh, it wasn’t that. That will be used for piercing my ears. Sendai-san, use that to pierce my ears.」

I knew that if I wanted to pierce Sendai-san’s ears, she would definitely say no, so I thought of a way to still hold her to her promise.

The answer was immediate.

Keep your promises to yourself.

My body is at my disposal.

Even Sendai-san would do as she was told, as long as the order was not to pierce her own ears.

「The punishment game is what supposed to I do, right?」

「Yes. So, listen to me. All you have to do is pierce my ears with this, it’s that easy.」

I point to the piercer I gave to Sendai-san.

「Isn’t that crazy.」

「It’s not that crazy.」

「Miyagi, you wanted to get pierced?」

「I don’t want to. I don’t like pain, and I’m not interested in getting pierced or anything.」

It really doesn’t matter whether she do or don’t do it, but it strongly impresses me that she doesn’t want to do it.

「Then why do you want to pierce them?」

「For Sendai-san not to forget her promise.」

「I don’t get it… What do you mean by that?」

Even I, who do not have a part-time job, know that if I start tutoring, I can easily schedule to get stuck. And I know that my commitments are easily moveable and can be put on the back burner.

I know it’s selfish, but I don’t enjoy being put off my commitments, and I don’t want my commitments to be forgotten whether I tutor or not.

So I chose to use myself to add just a little weight to the promise.

「If you do something that puts a hole in someone’s body, you won’t forget what you did today. Every time you look at me, remember the promise you made yourself.」

There is a limit to what we can keep remembering, and we can’t remember everything that happened. But if I do something that is impressive in its own way, it will continue to be remembered. The fact that she should not break a promise should not be easily forgotten if it’s set with the act of wearing earrings. Therefore, the piercing must be put on my ear by Sendai-san.

「So, just remember that you broke your promise and be sorry.」

「Are you serious about what you said?」

「I did say it.」

「You should open it yourself. I don’t like the idea of forcibly piercing Miyagi, who doesn’t like it.」

「I don’t want to. Sendai-san should regret piercing my ears, which I don’t even want pierced. Feel bad about what you did.」

I hope that Sendai-san’s guilt will be a little greater.

She forced a hole and put a piercing in me when I said I didn’t want to.

I want to engrave that strongly in her memory.

「——I, I’ve never used these before.」

Sendai-san says with a sigh and opens the package of the piercer. She then pulls out the instruction manual from inside and begins to read it.

「Sendai-san, have you never opened it to Ibaraki-san or others?」

「I didn’t. Everyone opened it by themselves, and Miyagi was the first time.」

I’m relieved that it’s not an act I’ve done many times.

It would be a much more impressive act if it were the first time.

I, for one, explain the procedure to Mr. Sendai.

Disinfect and mark.

I tell her that I have gone through the whole process, although I think it is pretty much the same as what is written in the manual.

「I guess I disinfect it first.」

After saying this, Sendai-san disinfects my hair over my ears as per procedure. Then she pulled my earlobe as if to make sure.

「What’s the point of disinfecting if you touch it?」

I tap Sendai’s arm from behind.

But she won’t let go of my hand.

She keeps touching my ear.

「I’m getting ticklish…」

「I thought I’d enjoy the ears of Miyagi now before they get a hole in them.」

When she said this, Sendai-san slipped her hand that was touching my earlobe. Her fingertips stroke behind my ears and crawl up my neck.

The tickling increases.

What should have been just the tips of her fingers are pressed against my neck, down to the palms of her hands, and body heat flows in. Feeling that I was getting closer to Sendai-san, I pushed her shoulder.

「You need to disinfect it again.」

「Alright.」

Then Sendai-san wipes my ears with a wet cotton ball and holds a pen.

My ears feel so wet because of the disinfectant.

「About the piercing, which do you want to put them?」

「Any side is fine.」

「Then I’ll decide on my own.」

Sendai-san hesitated for a moment, then marked my earlobe with a pen. Then she picked up the piercer.

「Are really you okay with this?」

「I’m okay.」

It hurts.

It definitely hurts.

Maika said it didn’t hurt as much as she thought it would, but there was no way it wouldn’t hurt because a thick needle would penetrate her earlobe. And it’s scary because I can’t predict how much it will hurt.

I close my eyes tightly.

But no matter how long I wait, the pain never comes.

「Sendai-san, are you there yet?」

I open my eyes and ask.

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「Not yet, I really don’t know if it’s okay for me to do it.」

「You said you’d do it.」

「I’m really going to open it.」

In an unusually anxious voice, Sendai-san reminds me.

「Sendai-san, you’re getting annoying. Do it quick.」

I’m scared.

I’ll swallow those words in mind.

「Then, here it comes.」

With a word, the piercer touches my ear.

Closing my eyes and squeezing my hand, I hear a reasonably loud bang against my eardrums, causing pain in my ear. But the pain was fleeting and not as painful as I thought it would be. I was more concerned about the hives on my earlobes.

「I’ll open this one too.」

Cotton was pressed against my ear and it felt so refreshing.

Now I open my eyes and look at Sendai-san.

After the voice says, “Here it comes,” the clanging sound I heard earlier echoes again, causing pain.

Sendai-san exhales and places the used piercer on the table.

「Are you alright?」

Saying this, Sendai-san disinfects my pierced ears.

「It really hurt. My ears are still kind of tingling right now.」

I exaggerate the pain, which wasn’t that bad, and touch my ear. I feel something small and round against my fingers, and there is something behind my ear that wasn’t there before.

「Want to take a look?」

With a yes, Sendai-san hands me a hand mirror, and I look at my ear.

A small silver ornament.

They are not matching with Maika’s, but they have very similar earrings. The decoration, which I didn’t have before, makes me look different from usual.

「It feels strange.」

I touch my ear again and remove my gaze from the mirror, and my eyes meet those of Sendai-san, who seems to have been watching me.

「It suits you.」

I don’t know if she was serious or not, but Sendai-san chuckled as she said so.