Chapter 276: Time when Sendai-san is not around — 276

Chapter 276: Time when Sendai-san is not around — 276

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

I am used to being alone.

But being alone is boring.

The food doesn’t taste good, and because it doesn’t taste good, I can’t think of anything decent to cook.

I exhale a small breath, alone in the common space.

Retort curry and cup noodles.

I have cooked rice, but eating curry makes washing dishes a hassle.

「I’ll just have a cup noodle.」

I took one of the cup noodles I had bought and put it on the table. I boil water with the electric kettle that Sendai-san and I went to buy.

After college, Maika and Asakura-san disappeared to their part-time jobs. When I returned home, Sendai-san was not there and would not be back anytime soon. What I have is the same alone time I had in high school, and I know how to kill time like this.

I read books, play games.

I can study if I want to.

There are a lot of things I can do on my own.

In fact, that’s how I was killing time until just now.

I take barley tea out of the refrigerator and pour it into a glass. I take a sip, place it on the table, and prepare chopsticks and a black cat chopstick rest.

I wish I wasn’t hungry.

Cup noodles are not something I want to eat.

Such a feeling makes me strongly aware of Sendai-san in me, and makes me strongly believe that she is indispensable to me.

This is not good.

I squeeze my hand and open it.

Drink half a cup of barley tea.

Thinking about her in an empty house like this makes the back of my head hurt. I still can’t bring myself to care about something that used to be unimportant, like food, but is no longer important.

I look at the electric kettle and see that the water is boiling. I peel off the shrink film from the cup noodles and peel off half the lid as well. I pour the hot water into the cup ramen container, set the kitchen timer, and sit down in the chair.

Sendai-san, who should be across to me, is late from her tutoring job, so I can see what I normally can’t. I don’t want to talk to her, but the three-minute wait is long when I am alone.

I stroke my fingernails, which are starting to get long.

I continue to pull the index finger.

I try pulling the middle finger as well.

I squeeze my fingers and exhale.

I look down at the black cat chopstick rest.

I’m thinking that I might miss the always present tortoiseshell cat, when the kitchen timer rings and I eat a cup of noodles.

I don’t think it tastes good.

A meal that only fills the stomach is still boring.

When I sat down on the bed to answer, Sendai-san sat down next to me as a matter of course.

「What did you eat?」

「...Cup noodles.」

「Didn’t you say something like that yesterday? You should cook and eat, even if it’s not random.」

「It’s fine. It was just cup noodles.」

「Not good. It’s bad for you. Eat something more decent.」

「I’m alone, and I can’t be bothered to cook.」

「Then wait until I get home. I’ll make you something.」

「Sendai-san comes home late and I’m hungry.」

I’m not such a terrible person as to make Sendai-san, who works part-time, go out of her way to cook dinner for me, and I think she should leave me alone because even a cup of ramen will fill my stomach. Besides, if she care so much about my food, she doesn’t have to work part-time.

「I see.」

Sendai-san says quietly and looks at me intently.

「Miyagi.」

She calls me in a soft voice and smiles at me. I slapped her hand and she said happily,「You put on the lipstick,」to which I replied coldly,「What’s the matter with that?」

「You’re cute.」

Sendai-san only says what she doesn’t want me to say in these situations. I’m so annoyed that she doesn’t get her way that I grab my clothes and pull them on. I press my lips against hers and bite just enough to not hurt her.

「That hurt.」

Sendai-san says deliberately as I pull my face away from her. Then she pulls her lips together as if it were a rule to do so, and she push my body closer.

「Do it one more time.」

Closing the distance between us, Sendai-san whispers to me.

「I don’t want to.」

「Stingy.」

As if to deny the words heard, I kick Sendai-san in the leg.

What I want to hear from her is neither the word “cute” nor these lines.

「...In Sunday.」

I blurt out and kick her foot again.

「Sunday?」

「You don’t have a part-time job on that day, do you?」

As I ask the question, I regret asking it.

「I have none.」

Touching Sendai-san’s blue earrings.

My regret does not disappear.

Still, the words I wanted to swallow come out.

「...I’ll go somewhere with you.」

I blurted out and looked at Sendai-san, who looked like she was about to say,「Where?」I kissed her lips.