CH 164

Sendai-san and the tortoiseshell cat — 164

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

My legs are heavy on the way to the station.

The reason is simple: that’s where I’m meeting Maika.

I look for a tortoiseshell cat to distract myself, but I can’t find it anywhere.

I didn’t think I walked that fast, but I arrived at the station in no time at all, and as I waited idly with nothing to do, I heard Maika’s voice.

「Shiori, did you wait?」

「I just arrived.」

「You don’t have to come and pick me up.」

「It’s close and you don’t have to worry about it.」

We’re not in a lost road from the station to the house, but it is safer to be picked up. I say,「Let’s go,」and start walking with Maika.

「How are you feeling?」

As I walk along, chiming in on Maika’s story, I hear a voice next to me that I can tell is concerned.

「Just feeling hot.」

I can’t tell her the truth, so I tell her the proper reason.

The thought of Maika coming to the house I share a room with Sendai-san makes me nervous and uncomfortable.

「Sendai-san, she was there today, right?」

Maika looks at me as I walk, picking my way through the shade.

「She’s there. She was all excited about making pancakes.」

Maika wanted to see Sendai-san, so she is waiting for us at home.

「Pancakes? Is Sendai-san a good cook?」

「I think she’s good.」

The food prepared by Sendai-san is always delicious.

I am sure that people other than me would have the same impression when they eat it.

But there is a little part of me that doesn’t want Maika to eat it. I feel small-minded, but I don’t know how to handle this feeling peacefully. Maika is an important friend and someone I want to remain friends with for a long time to come, but I hate myself for thinking this way.

「It’s a little exciting to be a guest when you think that that kind of thing has been prepared for you.」

Maika says happily.

I should feel as happy as she does, but it doesn’t work. I did my best to smile and look like I’m having a good time.

「You don’t feel like a guest, Maika is really a guest today, so be entertained.」

「Then I will.」

I hear a bouncy voice.

While we are talking about trivial things, my feet are still moving, and step by step, we are getting closer to the house.

It’s natural to approach her as we are walking toward home, but it would be nice if she would stay away. I feel a gravity that I don’t usually feel, so much so that I feel as if something is pulling me down.

In the morning, I had Sendai-san swear to my earring that she would『not say anything strange,』so I shouldn’t have to worry that much about her. Maika usually doesn’t say anything that would get people in trouble, so there’s no need to worry, but I don’t know today. She is strangely perceptive when it comes to things involving Sendai-san which makes me nervous.

Don’t worry, it’s absolutely fine.

As I was chanting like an incantation in my mind, Maika said,「a cat,」and stopped in her tracks.

「A cat?」

「Look, over there.」

Maika points the tip of her index finger a little further into the shade.

When I looked at the indicated place, there was indeed a cat there, and it was a tortoiseshell cat for all intents and purposes.

「You’re really there, cat.」

「Really, you say?」

「Sendai-san told me there was a cat in the neighborhood, but I had never seen it. It wasn’t even there the last time we went looking for it together.」

「You said Sendai-san were looking for this cat?」

Maika asks me back and I realize that I have said something that I didn’t need to say.

Sendai-san doesn’t seem like the kind of person who would go out of her way to find a cat, but it did happen. There is nothing that I would have trouble talking to Maika about.

It’s just a normal conversation.

I understand.

But when I talk about what happened between me and Sendai-san in front of Maika, I can’t keep my thoughts straight.

It’s not strange that I went with Sendai-san to look for the cat, but somehow I feel guilty about it.

「Yes. On Sunday, Sendai-san suddenly said that we look for a cat.」

Talk about it as if it were nothing.

「Shiori, do you always do that with Sendai-san?」

Maika doesn’t wait for me to say anything, but gets in the middle and calls for the cat to「come over.」But the cat won’t come.

It just stretch out perched in the shade.

I continue talking about nothing while looking at the cat.

「I didn’t. It just happened the other day. I had never seen that cat before.」

The cat’s ears twitched, though it probably did not respond to my voice.

「You guys seem to get along really well. I mean, that’s almost like a date!」

「I wouldn’t go on a date with Sendai-san. I don’t think I’d be looking for a cat on a date.」

My voice got a little louder, and as if in response, the cat stretched out on the sidewalk raised herself up. Then, it started to run.

「Ahh, it got away.」

Maika shouts and the cat runs off past us.

「I still wanted to pet it.」

With a disappointed Maika’s voice, we start walking.

It seems that cats don’t want to be petted by us, even though she let Sendai-san pet her.

It was a stingier cat than I thought it would be.

Not very affectionate.

As I was thinking about this, Maika looked at me and said,「About what you just said.」

「Isn’t looking for a cat on your day off like a date between two people who live together to pass the time?」

The cat runs away, the house gets closer, and Maika tries to get back to the story when we could be talking about something else. I am reluctant to do so, but if I forcibly change the subject, it will seem as if I have something to hide, so I answer back to the conversation that has been returned to me.

「I don’t think so. If Maika’s live-in partner asks her to go cat hunting, does that make it a date? I don’t think we’re on a date, I think we’re just looking for a cat.」

「If two people who live together go there, it’s a date, cat hunt or whatever.」

Maika responded immediately, adding that she doesn’t have such a partner, though.

「Oh, right, Shiori. Speaking of dating, Ami! I thought she said she broke up with her boyfriend.」

Sendai-san’s story ends there, and we walk along, talking about Ami, who remained alone in her hometown. Within five minutes from where the cat was, we reached the house and opened the front door. I took off my shoes and headed to the communal area with Maika, where Sendai-san was standing with a bowl.

「I’m back.」

When I call out to her, she responded with 「Welcome home.」

「Are you making pancakes now?」

「Yes. It tastes better freshly baked and waiting for you to come home.」

Sendai-san said as she cracked an egg and said to Maika,「Long time no see.」

「It’s been quite a while since the runaway incident, hasn’t it?」

Maika says sincerely, and Sendai-san laughed.

「You really helped me out that time. If there is another runaway case, please let me know.」

「I didn’t run away from home. I was just staying at Maika’s house for a bit. Don’t make it a weird case.」

That’s disturbing.

That was not so much an incident. I was just taking shelter at a friend’s house for a little while, and I was planning to leave soon. But the two are happy to make a little incident into a big deal.

「Here’s a souvenir」

After a brief moment of excitement, Maika hands a small bag to Sendai-san.

「Thanks. You didn’t have to worry about me.」

「It’s not a big deal. It’s just a cookie inside, the two of you must eat it.」

Maika smiles and looks at me.

I’d like to tell her that I’ll eat alone instead of the two of us, but there’s no point in telling her that.

「Thank you.」

I’ll say no unnecessary words, just thank you.

「I’m going to make pancakes now, why don’t you two go talk in her room?」

「Eh, let me help you.」

Maika looks at Sendai-san, who is mixing the contents of the bowl.

「I’m fine doing this alone. Utsunomiya, you want to see Miyagi’s room. Also, take Miyagi with you because she’s in the way.」

Sendai-san is so rude that I almost kick her leg, but I held back. In high school, I would have only been a hindrance, but now I am more useful than ever.

「Okay, I’ll take Shiori with me. Which room?」

I wanted to complain at least a little, but Maika pulled me by the arm and led her to my room.

I can’t compete with the two of them playing in tandem.

Somehow they are in sync with each other.

There was no way they had a meeting, but it was so smooth.

「It’s a little smaller, but the atmosphere is still the same as it was in high school.」

Maika says as soon as she enters the room.

「I’m bringing them as is, except for the big stuff.」

「Even the crocodile is here.」

「I brought them in. For now, just sit around there.」

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I called out to Maika, who was looking around the not so spacious room, and she sat down across from me.

We have already talked several times about this and that about living with others under one roof, and the only thing left to pique Maika’s curiosity is Sendai-san. So, without Sendai-san, the conversation continues not so differently from when I am at the university.

I hope the pancakes don’t burn forever.

But that is not possible.

Knock–knock.

Two understated sounds echoed at the same time the conversation was interrupted.

It is the sound of Sendai-san knocking on the door, and I leave the room once.

「Pancakes are done, what do you want to do?」

Sendai-sam asks in a calm tone of voice amidst the sweet aroma.

I do not want Sendai-san in my room.

That is because I don’t want today to be the first day when I can have Sendai-san in my room. If I’m going to put her in my room, which I haven’t done once yet, I want it to be on a day not today when Maika is there.

If possible, I would like to eat in the communal area, but I am concerned that Maika might think it strange.

While I was thinking about what to do, the door to the room opened and Maika came out from inside.

「What’s wrong?」

「I heard you made pancakes.」

Unable to think straight, I tell Maika, who thinks she is going to eat pancakes in my room, and she replies,「I’ll help you carry them.」

What am I going to do?

I can’t say she doesn’t have to carry it.

Stumped for words, I looked at Sendai-san, who said,「Oh, yeah,」as if remembering.

「Utsunomiya, would you like to see my room too?」

「I want to see it, but is it okay?」

「It’s fime. Then we can have pancakes in my room.」

Sendai-san chuckled.