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Chapter 163: Sendai-san and the tortoiseshell cat — 163

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

She was still not there.

On my way home from college, I always look around to avoid becoming suspicious, but I had yet to see the tortoiseshell cat that Sendai-san had mentioned.

「I’m sure she’s not lying about the cat.」

I am tempted to think that there really are no cats in the neighborhood, but there should be no point in telling me such a lie. But then, there must be a cat somewhere, and the reason I can’t find the cat is because the cat doesn’t want to show itself to me.

Somehow, it’s annoying.

I think it is terrible that it show itself to Sendai-san but not to me.

I speed up my walk.

Up the stairs to the third floor.

I open the front door and take off my shoes.

There are no shoes for Sendai-san.

Naturally, there is no one in the communal space.

I am used to no one being on the other side of the open door because I am often home earlier than her.

It’s been that way since I was a child.

It had become the norm for me to say “I’m home” and not hear a word in return. Being alone was normal for me until Sendai-san started coming to my house, and I had forgotten how lonely it was.

But now I think I’m lonely when I spend a lot of time alone.

That is how much Sendai-san has entered my life.

The feelings she brings with her are feelings I never knew when I was alone, and that bothers me sometimes.

I sigh one sigh and go into my room.

I grab the stuffed black cat that is lounging on the bookshelf and dive into bed.

Today is a day when she doesn’t have a part-time job, so Sendai-san is coming home early.

The thought that she might come home petting a tortoiseshell cat makes my heart flutter.

I pat the black cat’s belly.

The feeling is different from Sendai-san’s.

In my hand is a stuffed animal, and Sendai-san is a human being.

She has a body temperature and her body is not stuffed with cotton. If I put my hand on her, her belly moves in time with her breathing, and if I press hard, she even complains. It’s more interesting than touching a stuffed animal.

If she would let me touch her again, I would touch her.

But I haven’t had a chance to touch it since then, so I am supposed to touch the belly of the stuffed animal.

I push the black cat’s belly.

Since there is no mechanism to make it squeal, nothing happens but the black cat’s body bends. Even if I stroke it gently, it would just look the same as usual.

「This is boring.」

I place the black cat on my own stomach and pet its head.

Sendai-san said she likes cats.

.

I have thought about it several times since the day I heard that, but I wonder if it makes sense that this stuffed animal, which came as a Christmas present, is a cat.

……There’s no way.

I look from my bed at the alligator on the tissue cover.

The black cat is a friend of that crocodile.

I remember Sendai-san saying so.

That’s all it is, a stuffed animal is just a stuffed animal.

Even if it meant something, I can’t even ask about Christmas presents now.

With Sendai-san, there are more and more things I want to know every day, but that’s all. Most of what I want to know cannot be known. Instead, something a little different than what I wanted to know is being input into my mind.

Sendai-san likes cats more than dogs, so much so that she goes looking for them.

That Sendai-san’s stomach feels more comfortable than when I touched it before.

New information that is not what I wanted is not much, but it does have the effect of reducing my frustration with what I cannot know.

I raise my body.

I have an assignment I have to do today.

I had an image that college students were always playing around, but that was not the case. Maybe it will be different when I am a sophomore or junior, but right now as a freshman, I have more to do than I thought. I thought I could just slack off and enjoy my college life, but I was very wrong.

I can’t slog around forever.

I prepare my laptop and turn it on without feeling like it. As I prepared materials on my desk and tapped on my keyboard, within 30 minutes I heard Sendai-san’s soft voice along with a knock at the door.

「Miyagi, are you there?」

I get up and open the door, and before I can open my mouth, she said,「I’m home.」

「Welcome back.」

「I’m hungry. Why don’t we cook and eat dinner early?」

「It’s fine.」

The many questions I wanted to ask never came out of the back of my throat, and the only words that came out of my mouth were the usual ones.

I walk out of the room and go next to Sendai-san, who is standing next to the table.

「About Utsunomiya, will she come as scheduled?」

「Yeah.」

The appointed day is the day after tomorrow, and Maika will come to this house on Sunday afternoon.

To be clear, I do not like the situation where Maika and Sendai-san are in the same space. Seeing them together spreads an unspeakable feeling, like when you drop paint in water. But it’s a promise I’ve been making for the last month, and I can’t refuse now.

「Sendai-san, don’t you ever say anything strange to her.」

I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I’m going to nail Sendai-san.

I don’t think she will touch me in front of Maika, but she might say something I don’t want.

「There’s no way I would say that. Don’t worry, I won’t say anything that will embarrass Miyagi.」

「Those words from Sendai-san are the most unreliable.」

「Shall I swear on your earring, then?」

When I said this, Sendai-san gently touched my ear.

Her fingers tickling my earlobe, I press her shoulder. But the fingers never leave my ears.

「It doesn’t have to be right now.」

「Why?」

Sendai-san strokes my earring and crawls her fingers behind my ear. I feel as if there is something other than an oath in her hands, and my heart beats louder. I know I am just too aware of her, but my nerves are focused on my ears.

I tell her she doesn’t have to swear, but Sendai-san brings her lips to my ear. Warm, fresh breath blew around the edges of my ears and I kicked her leg.

「That hurt.」

Sendai-san removed her hands from my ears and stepped back.

「I kicked you so hard that it hurt.」

「Go easy on me.」

「If I go easy on you, you won’t leave me.」

「Yes, but. Don’t I have to swear?」

「If you pledge now, you’re going to say it expires around the time Maika arrives, which is fine. Promise me Sunday morning.」

I will decide what promises to make and the date on which to make them. If I am not careful, Sendai-san will increase or decrease the contents of the promises without my permission.

「As usual, you don’t trust me.」

Sendai-san complains and opens the refrigerator.

「I’d trust you a little more if you had the cat.」

I trust her more than I used to, but I can’t trust everything.

「Is the cat a tortoiseshell cat in the neighborhood?」

I hear the sound of a refrigerator closing with a snap.

「Yes. I still haven’t seen it.」

「…I’m here for you, okay?」

Sendai-san looked at me as if she was troubled, as if she thought I was suspecting her. Then she said,「Shall we make omelette rice?」