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Chapter 236: Miyagi is right next to me — 236

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

The time is almost over at 11:46 pm.

On the table, cleared of pots and puddings, are half-eaten potato chips and half-drunk barley tea and cider. And there’s Miyagi next to me with the bed on her back, neither in a good nor bad mood.

「Sendai-san, have you ever rang the temple bell on New Year’s Eve?」

After her unfriendly voice is heard, the sound of potato chips being taken out of a bag is heard.

「I don’t, but do you want to go to the New Year’s bell ringing?」

「It’s cold and I don’t have to go. I’m just asking because I thought that if you’re the kind of person who goes to Hatsumode, you’ve probably rang the temple bell on New Year’s Eve before.」

「All I’ve ever done is visit the temple and draw fortunes.」

「Hmmm.」

Miyagi eats a piece of potato chips, sounding uninterested despite having asked me himself.

What is wrong with her?

Miyagi silently ate the hotpot, came next to me and ate the pudding with me, and now we are talking about something unimportant.

That’s not all.

She came to my part-time job today without warning and left with me after I failed to keep my promise to stop Mio and Noto-senpai.

It really is crazy.

Miyagi is the kind of person who would never do something nice for me just because it’s New Year’s Eve. Weather it is fine or raining, she will kick and bite me with a grumpy face.

I reach out and touch Miyagi’s cheek.

Her brow wrinkles thinly, but she doesn’t run away.

I crawled my fingertips to her lips and kissed them as if to check the feeling. I touched the earring and kissed her ear as I did her lips, and then she pressed my shoulder.

「I’m not saying you can do that. Just be quiet and welcome the New Year.」

A low voice echoes in the room, but the pressure on my shoulders is not strong.

Unlike me, Miyagi doesn’t seem to feel that New Year’s Eve is special, but he accepts the fact that we spend it together in this room.

That makes me happy and brings me closer to Miyagi.

I kiss her again on the lips and transfer my body heat to her, who was called Shiori-chan by Mio and Miyagi-chan by Noto-senpai.

Both Mio and Senpai are interested in Miyagi, but it means something different from me. They shouldn’t want to kiss her like I do, nor do they want to touch her.

I am well aware of that.

They are just curious about what my roommate was like and just want to get to know her as a friend. But even though I know there are no other intentions, my heart is not broad enough to silently accept a scene where a new relationship is being created in Miyagi. It makes me want to untie the strings that Mio and Senpai are trying to tie to Miyagi and bundle them to someone I don’t know.

I still feel uncomfortable.

I get scared that Miyagi might go to a place I don’t know.

I think to myself that I am being selfish and boringly jealous, but I feel like doing something that Miyagi would only allow me to do to calm myself down.

The body heat transmitted through overlapping lips is comforting.

But it is not enough.

The tip of my tongue pokes Miyagi’s lips.

I want more of Miyagi, but her lips try to move away from me without opening. I grab Miyagi’s arm and pull her close, blocking her lips, which she opens to complain, and push my tongue in. I put my hand under the hem of her blouse and stroked her side, and when I tangled my tongue with that of hers, Miyagi, who couldn’t complain, bit me hard on the tongue and pushed me on the shoulder.

「Sendai-san.」

Her low voice calls my name.

「It’s okay to have a little bit. It’s almost the end of the year.」

「It wasn’t a little bit now. Like I said before, you’ve got to be quiet and welcome the New Year.」

Miyagi pulls my hand out of my clothes and pushes it to the floor.

「Then a kiss from you, Miyagi.」

「You already kissed me.」

「Miyagi didn’t do it for me. If you want to greet the New Year in a mature way, at least give me a kiss.」

「That’s annoying.」

A grim-faced Miyagi stands up. Anxious to leave the room, I grab Miyagi’s clothes. But she didn’t leave the room just to take the stuffed penguin I had on my bed.

「If you want to kiss so badly, just do it with the penguin.」

Miyagi sits back down next to me and presses the penguin against me.

I have no choice but to accept it, but I don’t kiss it.

The penguin is pleasant to the touch, but not as warm or soft as Miyagi’s lips, so it can’t replace hers. If I want to replace her, it is enough to do so only when Miyagi is not around.

I hold the penguin and check the time on my phone.

11:57 PM.

The year will soon be over.

「Miyagi, look at this.」

Display a large clock on the phone and show it to Miyagi.

「Why do I have to look at the clock?」

「I was wondering if you would like to see the New Year’s first moment together.」

I would like Miyagi to kiss me, but it would be a shame if the year ended with us arguing about this and that. I don’t know if I can touch Miyagi’s body, but I can kiss her after the New Year.

「I wouldn’t do a countdown.」

「You don’t have to, let’s watch the moment of twelve o’clock together.」

I put the penguin back on the bed and put my hand holding the phone on Miyagi’s thigh. I looked at her face and saw her brow wrinkled, but Miyagi said nothing and dropped her gaze to the phone. We stare at the clock. Time is ticking away, and there are less than fifteen seconds left until January 1st.

Miyagi does not count down as declared.

I count down in my mind.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

「Happy New Year.」

When I call out to Miyagi, she responds,「Happy New Year.」I pull my phone toward me and silently take one photo of Miyagi.

「I told you not to take pictures without permission.」

Her hand reaches out with a complaint and I hide my phone from Miyagi.

「It’s the New Year, so it’s fine.」

「That’s not a good reason.」

「Why not take at least one picture to commemorate the event? Since we’re here, let’s take another picture together.」

Miyagi, whose brow is wrinkled, says “No,” or “It’s not fair,” and throws a barbed voice at me, but I didn’t care. Just as the last day of the year is special, so is the first day of the year. It doesn’t mean I can do anything I want, but I think I should be allowed to do as much as take pictures.

「Miyagi.」

I pull her arms and making her closer.

Miyagi deliberately exhales and says,「Just one photo.」I pretend I didn’t hear and snap a picture of the two of us side by side. Three or four more pictures arrive, and in the meantime, several messages arrive. Miyagi’s phone also rings to announce the arrival of the messages.

「Hold on a second. I’ll just answer this.」

I call out to Miyagi, who replies「Me too,」and we both look down at our phones.

On the screen are words of congratulations for the New Year. The senders are my college friends, Utsunomiya, and Umina, who reply to each one with the same words.

「Mio and Noto-senpai said hello to you, Miyagi.」

The messages were, of course, from Mio and Noto-senpai. And there was a message addressed not only to me but also to Miyagi attached to it.

From Mio, “tell Shiori-chan Happy New Year as well.”

From Senpai, “tell Miyagi-chan Happy New Year.”

I didn’t want to say Shiori and Miyagi-chan, so I gave her the general message, but Miyagi looked difficult.

「…Tell them I said hello.」

I hear a low voice that made her sound troubled.

I can understand why Miyagi doesn’t want to be proactive and say hello.

They must not be her favorite type of people.

「I’ll communicate that to them now」

It’s not something I would go out of my way to tell them, but I will pass on Miyagi’s words to both of them. I get an immediate response, and Mio wants to talk to “Shiori-chan,” but I brushed it off as random.

「Ami says Happy New Year to Sendai-san over here, too.」

「Tell her we’ll talk again.」

「…Okay.」

Miyagi quietly replies and falls silent.

I don’t dislike lively types like Mio and Senpai. If the silence continues, I get restless wondering what she was thinking, so it’s better if she’s talking. Mio’s desire to get involved in everything can cause trouble, but I feel safer when she is that noisy.

However, it was different for Miyagi.

It doesn’t bother me to be next to her, even when she is silent or grumpy.

I enjoy the silence, even though I wonder what she is thinking.

I hold Miyagi’s hand, who doesn’t speak.

「Miyagi, do you want to see the first sunrise?」

「Are we going somewhere?」

「We’re not.」

「Is it the first sunrise of the year to see from home?」

「I don’t know. I don’t know exactly, but I don’t mind seeing it from home.」

「Isn’t that random?」

「It’s just fine if it’s random. Let’s find out the time and stuff, and we’ll see it together.」

「We don’t need to look. I’m going to take a bath and go to bed.」

Miyagi assures me, releases my clasped hands, and tries to stand up.

She wasn’t enthusiastic from the start about seeing the first sunrise, but I didn’t want to let her leave.

「Well, I’m going to take a bath later, too, and when I get out, can I call you to my room? Let’s talk some more.」

「I’m sleepy, and I’m going to bed.」

「I’ll wake you up if you’re asleep.」

「…Suit yourself.」

Miyagi said in a gruff voice that didn’t sound like it was the New Year.