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Chapter 197: Miyagi\'s gaze — 197

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

「Morning, Hazuki.」

A little forward of the middle of the crowded lecture hall, notebook and pen at the ready and touching my ear, I was approached.

「Morning.」

Mio, who seems to have a lot of energy, flops down and sits next to me. Several people around me are looking at her, but she don’t seem to be bothered by them. Mio, who gave me the opportunity to start working as a part-time tutor, is friendly and easy to get along with, but she is rough around the edges.

Come to think of it, I remember that my senpai was also very random.

The senpai Mio member who introduced me to Kikyō-chan was the kind of person who would double her promise to contact me in three hours.

「Hazuki, did something good happen to you?」

At the sound of Mio’s voice, I check the piercing with my fingertips.

A small round thing is firmly attached to my earlobe.

Even though I know that there’s no way that I would drop it before coming to the university, I am relieved by the feeling of the earring from my fingertip.

「There’s none but, why do you ask?」

I answer in the same voice as usual.

「You’re smiling at me, so I thought maybe something good happened.」

Mio says happily.

It’s not that there were no good things.

If you asked me what the good things were, I would have said「none」because it would’ve been too much trouble, but today I feel good in the morning.

Miyagi let me apply her lipstick, and we walked together on the way to the station. I even wear earrings that Miyagi opened for me.

But I couldn’t tell Mio that.

「Maybe because I met Mike-chan on the way to the station.」

I spoke something bland and changes my apparently smiling face into an easy-to-understand smile.

「Is that the cat you told me about?」

「Yes.」

Mike-chan shows up on her way home from college, and we never see her on the way there. Even today, I wouldn’t have been there on my way to the station, but it’s trivial enough to pretend I saw something I didn’t see in order to maintain a smooth relationship. Besides, Miyagi is like a stray cat, so I don’t think it’s a big lie.

「You like cats, aren’t you?」

Mio said sincerely and continued,「They’re cute, but…」Then she looked at my ear and, a little surprised, said,「Is that a piercing?」

「Yes.」

「Hazuki, you said you don’t do piercings. What happened?」

「I just changed my mind.」

Mio makes an unconvinced「heeh」sound.

When Mio has asked me several times in the past if I don’t do piercings, I’ve answered that「I’m not interested,」so I can understand why the response would be subtle.

Mio’s gaze is focused on my ears.

I think it’s not a very nice flow.

「Ahh, okay. From your boyfriend, right?」

Mio smirks and looks at me.

「It’s not, I’m telling you.」

「No, it’s definitely from your boyfriend. You’ve been in a bad relationship lately, or rather, for a long time, aren’t you? You kept turning down my invitations during summer vacation because you were too busy, didn’t you?」

I knew this would happen.

Even as a college student, half of our chats were about love, the same as when I was in high school. If you cut a girl in half, the word “love” would flow out instead of blood.

I don’t mind listening to love stories, but I don’t like being asked to talk about it.

Miyagi is difficult to explain.

It’s not that I don’t trust Mio, but I don’t know what would happen if I told her. I don’t want to talk about myself more than I have to, because I don’t want to make in-depth friendships in the first place.

「I was really busy with part-time work and all that.」

「You don’t have to lie. I won’t take your boyfriend.」

「I’m not worried about that kind of thing.」

「Then, okay.」

Mio opens her right hand as if urging me to do something.

「What’s that hand?」

「Give me your phone.」

「Why?」

「I was wondering if you had a picture of your boyfriend on your lock screen.」

「I seriously don’t have a boyfriend.」

I slapped Mio’s right hand that was offered to me.

「Then let’s all go out for dinner sometime. I’m having trouble getting the boys to ask Hazuki to come over.」

「Don’t lie to me like that.」

「I’m telling the truth. Seriously, show your face once.」

「Eventually.」

「Eventually? You don’t want to come, right?」

「Well, no, but…」

When I said it with a laugh, Mio sighed deliberately. Then she grabbed my shoulder and chuckled.

「So, instead of a dinner party, why don’t you get a part-time job at a cafe? Short term.」

「I think you’re jumping the gun here.」

「Don’t worry about the details. I’ve got a school festival to prepare for at my club, and I’m not going to be able to go to my part-time job much.」

I sigh this time at Mio’s words, which seem to be more random than generous.

「Does that mean I should go to a part-time job instead of you, Mio?」

「I doubt that’ll be the case.」

「Is it okay for someone else to go to the part-time job?」

「It’s okay, it’s my relative’s store. It’s just until the end of the school festival. Besides, it would be more difficult without someone, and I can trust Hazuki to take care of it. If not, Hazuki can go and prepare for the school festival and I can work part-time.」

Mio’s light voice that doesn’t seem to be okay echoes, and as if following it, the door of the lecture room opens and the teacher enters.

In a little over a month, there will be a school festival.

Preparation for it is out of the question, but I am interested in a part-time job.

I was actually planning to do some part-time work other than tutoring during the summer vacation, but I prioritized spending more time with Miyagi. I don’t want to cut back on time with Miyagi now or in the future, but I also want time to use for me in the future.

I need money to live here after I graduate from college. I cannot and will not rely on my parents after graduation. Even though Miyagi is dissolving our relationship as roommates, I am not going back to my parents’ house. Of course, I have no intention of giving up my life with Miyagi and will do everything in my power to make sure we can live together forever, even if we are just roommates.

「What about a part-time job? If you don’t, I don’t mind. I’ll ask the other girls.」

The lecture begins and I hear a small voice from next door.

「In the meantime, tell me more about it later.」

I say in a small voice like Mio, and she replies,「Okay.」

I’m planning to get more part-time work during the winter break, so it’s not a bad idea to do something other than tutoring until the school festival as a prep exercise.

If there is a problem, it was Miyagi.

She is not comfortable with me working part-time.

If Miyagi doesn’t want to do it, I can still get a part-time job, but it shouldn’t be too good for me.

I touch my ear.

I stroke the earring and exhale quietly.

I hear the teacher’s voice echoing and the sound of my pen running over my notebook.

I too sluggishly grabbed a pen and lined up the words in my notebook.

Perhaps it was because I was thinking, but the lecture was over in a flash.

I will hold off on my reply when I hear from Mio about the part-time job.

I took all of my lectures for the day and head home.

The part-time job itself is not unusual. It was a waitress at a café, and the hourly wage was good. I had no reason to refuse, but I was too worried about Miyagi to respond immediately.

I don’t think it’s like me.

Things that used to be easy to decide are now impossible to decide.

Miyagi is becoming a bigger and bigger part of my life, and when I do something, I think of Miyagi.

I was shaken by the train and walked from the station, looking for Mike-chan. But Mike-chan doesn’t show up, probably because I lied about seeing Mike-chan, who I didn’t see.

Go up the stairs to the third floor and open the front door.

Miyagi’s shoes were there.

I take one deep breath.

I take off my shoes and go to the common space.

「I’m home.」

I call out to Miyagi, who is pouring cider into a glass.

「Welcome home.」

Miyagi stares at me.

I don’t know if the lipstick I applied to her lips this morning has come off or not, but there is not a bit of it left.

「I need to talk to you for a minute. Can you come to my room after dinner?」

「What are we talking about?」

Miyagi’s voice is a little low, as if she has a bad premonition.

「We’ll talk later.」

「Can’t we do that now?」

「I’d like to talk to you slowly. I’d like to do it later.」

Miyagi drinks the cider she has just finished pouring into a glass without replying.

The clear liquid shakes and disappears into her body.

The glass, half full, is placed on the table, and Miyagi’s eyes fix on my earrings. My ears heat up at the different look from Mio’s gaze. I almost don’t care about the part-time job, so I pull my ears to release the heat.

「…Okay.」

Miyagi replied quietly as she looked at me.