CH 129

Sendai-san sometimes says things that I cannot decide whether they are true or false.

So I don’t know if what she said when she saw my earrings and said「It suits you,」was true. Her smile seem to only hide her true intentions, thus cannot be trusted.

I can’t find the words to reply to Sendai-san, so I touch my earrings and look at my fingertips.

「About the blood, I thought there would be at least a little bit.」

When I touch my newly pierced ear, there is no blood on my finger. I don’t know what the logic is, but it seems that piercing an ear produces very little blood.

「Could it be that this platypus was for when there was blood?」

Sendai-san takes a tissue-grown platypus from the table and pats it on the head.

「Just in case.」

When I was researching how to pierce, I read that there was very little blood, and Maika said there was very little. Still, I brought a tissue in case something happened, but it didn’t seem to make a difference.

「Miyagi is pretty scared and worried.」

Sendai-san says while twitching the platypus with her hand.

「I’m not scared, nor that I’m worried.」

「You were scared when I drilled the hole.」

「Sendai-san looked more worried than me.」

「Well, yeah. And they say it’s not good if you don’t open it straight.」

Sendai-san’s gaze shifts from the platypus to my ear. Then she falls silent.

「Why did you get silent all of a sudden?」

「Can I touch your ear?」

I didn’t say it was alright, but her hand reaches out and I slap it.

「You can’t. They say it’s not good to touch it right after it’s pierced.」

「Miyagi, you touched it earlier.」

「It’s okay, I’ll disinfect it later.」

「If you’re going to disinfect it anyway, I can touch it.」

「I’m not okay with that. More importantly, why should I let Sendai-san touch me?」

「I want to take a good look at the piercing to make sure it’s in place, and if I don’t touch the piercing, I can at least touch your ear a little bit.」

「You don’t have to check, it’s a straight hole and it’s done right, so Sendai-san doesn’t need to see it.」

She doesn’t need to touch it to confirm it.

She can tell just by looking in the mirror that it is straight up pierced.

She can only think that wanting to make sure is just an excuse to do something bad. Sendai-san always does strange things if I’m not careful.

「Miyagi, did you know?」

Sendai-san, perhaps having given up on touching the ear, makes a rather gentle sound.

「What is it?」

「I heard that piercing is more painful after being pierced than when piercing a hole.」

「I’ve looked it up, so I know.」

「I see…」

Sendai-san puts the platypus on the floor and grabs my right hand. I pulled my right arm back and it was pulled back with quite a bit of force and touched something warm above my earlobe.

Sendai-san’s fingers dug into my wrist.

It hurts a little.

But I’m more concerned about my ears. It was Sendai-san’s lips that are touching me, and for the first time in a long time, the sensation is a little ticklish and pleasant. My heart beats faster than before.

It’s Sendai-san’s fault.

Her lips separate, and this time they press hard against each other.

My ears are hot.

I press Sendai-san’s shoulder with my left hand as hard as I can.

「Don’t do anything strange all of a sudden. I’ll get germs on it.」

「I did it where you don’t have a piercing, so it should be fine. And it’s not weird, it’s just a spell to make it stop hurting.」

Sendai-san utters a phrase that I have heard several times in the past. That, which she made up on her own, is nothing more than a cop-out. It’s not enough pain to make a fuss, but my ears still hurt even now that she did the spell.

「And that doesn’t make it hurt any less.」

「It’s not a quick-fix spell.」

「Sendai-san, stop saying random things.」

「My spells, you know they work.」

I can write the correct answer.

Sendai-san said so and did a “spell.”

However, I don’t know if the spell helped me get into college. No, it was not thanks to the spell in the usual sense. Because I studied. And because Sendai-san taught me to study, and I don’t think the kiss that I called a spell had anything to do with it.

「That spell is just doing what Sendai-san wants to do, isn’t it?」

「So what does Miyagi want to do?」

「What Sendai-san does not want to do」

「I don’t want to do the spell—— is what would I say, does that mean Miyagi will spell it out for me?」

「That’s not what I’m saying.」

「Then you should let me do the spell.」

Sendai-san pulls my hand from her grasp. My body leans in and I force her hand, which is stuck to my wrist, to peel it off.

「Wait, Sendai-san—!!」

The hand that should have peeled off grabs my shoulder.

Sendai-san moves closer, her lips pressed against the top of my ear.

It’s the closest she’d gotten since we’ve been here.

I had never had Sendai-san’s lips attached to a part of my body like this since we started living together, and I tried not to. More to the point, I made an effort to find a roommate-like position. But now, Sendai-san is so close to me and touching me that such efforts are rendered meaningless.

「Miyagi…」

She calls my name in my ear.

Her breath blows on it and tickles it.

Her lips are pressed against it again, and it’s warm there.

She’s too close.

It would be better to move away.

But I can’t push Sendai-san away like I did before.

Something different than lips touch. It is the tip of her tongue, and my ears are moistened. As what she said, she didn’t touch the earrings. I think she is being considerate.

When her tongue moves, it creeps.

It tickles and is uncomfortable.

Her licks caress the surface of my skin and my breath stops in my throat. Feeling better than sick, I let out my breath in one gulp and pushed her shoulders.

「Hold it, Sendai-san! Get away from me.」

If I put strength in both hands, the more I put, the more Sendai-san leaves. It still seems a little close to call her roommate, but not close enough to kiss my ears. I took a piece of tissue from the platypus she had placed near me and wiped my ear. Then I tapped Sendai-san’s thigh with the platypus.

「Ouch!」

Sendai-san is in exaggerated pain.

「I told you not to do anything weird. Generally, roommates don’t do these things.」

「Even roommates would at least do a spell.」

「I don’t do these spells. Sendai-san, you need to be a proper roommate.」

「But, Miyagi did——」

Sendai-san stops as she’s about to say it.

「What did I do?」

「…You said to have your ears pierced.」

「I said it, but I didn’t ask you to do more than that.」

I hit Sendai-san one more time with my platypus.

「It hurts.」

「I’m in more pain. Give me another dose of disinfectant.」

I gave Sendai-san a cotton ball and disinfectant.

She silently accepts them and soaks the cotton in the disinfectant. She then pressed a piece of cotton over the piercing.

Soon both ears were wiped and the cotton left.

My wet ears are chilly.

It is different from both Sendai-san’s lips and tongue.

They were much hotter when she touched them——

I almost touch my freshly disinfected ear and squeeze my hand.

「I should go back to my room already.」

The piercer, the disinfectant, and the cotton.

I put everything in a paper bag and stood up with it. Then Sendai-san pulled my clothes.

「Miyagi.」

「What?」

「Like I said, the earrings look good on you. I think it looks cute.」

「You don’t have to flatter me. This is the kind of thing that has nothing to do with design.」

The piercing attached to the piercer was to stabilize the drilled hole and was chosen for its material rather than its design. It was made of medical-grade stainless steel, I don’t think it is as well designed as Sendai-san says it is pretty.

「I think it’s really cute.」

「You don’t have to do that.」

I turns my back on Sendai-san.

After a step or two, I hear the voice again.

「Hold on. About this?」

I turned around to see Sendai-san holding a tissue with a platypus cover.

「Sendai-san can leave that in her room.」

「I do have tissues here, though…」

I walk back to her. I receive the platypus from Sendai-san, remove the cover from the tissue and offer the cover to her.

「Here.」

「You want me to put it on the tissues in my room?」

「It’s better to have something on. If not, I’ll put it back on.」

「I’ll put it on, so give it to me.」

Sendai-san accepts the tissue cover from me and adds,「One more thing.」

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「What?」

「About Golden Week, do you have any free days?」

She ask me questions that I didn’t expect to be asked at all. But I can answer without having to flip through the calendar in my head.

「I do, but I definitely don’t want to.」

「I haven’t said anything yet.」

「We’ll just go out or something, no?」

「Well, yes…」

「Just think about something else.」

Sendai-san and I do not share the same hobbies. I don’t really know what her hobbies are, but we have very little overlap in terms of friends and universities. Even the movies we wanted to watch were different. I think it is better to stay home together than to go out.

「Then leave something open. I’ll think of something.」

Sendai-san says, patting the platypus on the head, which has been deprived of its foundation of tissues.

「Okay.」

I turn my back to her again.

As I opened the door, she said good night to me, and I said good night back.