[Part 61] The Things That Miyagi Does Despite Us Not Being Friends (III)

          Summer break felt a lot shorter this year than it did before.

          The reason for that was probably because I spent three days a week over at Miyagi’s place.

          Last year, I never would’ve imagined spending more time during summer break with Miyagi than with Umina and the others, let alone consider bending our own rule of “not seeing each other outside of school days.”

          Miyagi shut her textbook. Treating it as a cue, I asked,

          「Are you taking a break?」

          「Yeah.」

          She answered with a nod as she stood up.

          Two weeks had passed since I made omelette rice at her place, and during that time, we’d been proceeding with the idea that we were not friends, like bicycles with their brakes forcibly removed.

          We can never become friends.

          Going to the movies together and discovering that fact was a mistake. It made our relationship more ambiguous than it already was, and it became a convenient excuse for us to touch each other.

          Either way, that didn’t change anything about us studying together over summer break. The whole point behind the tutoring arrangement was so we could skirt around the rule of not being allowed to see each other on our days off, so our study sessions continued.

          「Here you go.」

          After closing the curtains, Miyagi handed me a five-thousand-yen bill.

          I wasn’t keen on taking her money, but somewhere down the line, accepting it became another one of our unspoken rules. So, all I could do was say “thank you” as I took it from her.

          It wasn’t like we did this during every study session, though.

          We only did this on days when we took breaks.

          Not that it was something we formally decided on, but we both knew what was going to happen next even without needing to say anything.

          I put the five-thousand-yen bill I got from her into my wallet before taking a seat on the bed. Just like always, Miyagi sat next to me, as if she belonged there.

          What we were doing wasn’t like what normal friends did, but that didn’t matter. We were just going to repeat what happened the day after we went to the movies – share a few kisses and she’d touch me a bit, almost treating me like an anatomical model. But since Miyagi opposed me doing the same to her, she would be the only one touching me.

          It really wasn’t a big deal.

          But I did make sure not to wear shorts to her room anymore.

          「Turn your head this way, Sendai-san.」

          I turned to face Miyagi, who had been gently pulling on my arm. When our gazes met, she added, “Close your eyes.” With no reason to defy her, I did exactly as I was told.

          The world went dark for a few seconds.

          Then, I felt something soft being pressed against my lips.

          The kiss lasted only briefly, seemingly shorter than the anticipation preceding it. As I tried to open my eyes, I heard a discontented voice remark, “I didn’t tell you to open them,” before she leaned in for another kiss.

          At some point, it became normal for our lips to meet, but even now, I still didn’t understand what made Miyagi want to kiss me in the first place.

          「Keep your eyes closed a little longer.」

          Miyagi said as she continued to kiss me again and again, like a playful dog or cat would do.

          As I grew more comfortable with the warmth of her lips, a sense of wrongdoing crept in. It wasn’t like I was expecting a pure and proper relationship with her, yet the thought of the five-thousand-yen in my wallet weighed heavily on my heart.

          Even so, the sensation of Miyagi’s lips pressed against mine felt so good, I couldn’t help but grab her arm.

          I tried to pull her closer to me, but all that did was cause her to turn her face away. Undeterred, I settled on giving her a peck on the check, prompting her to kick me on the leg in return.

          「How many times have I said this already? Stop doing things that are unnecessary.」

          「Have you said something like that before?」

          「I have.」

          Miyagi replied firmly as she shot me a glare.

          Miyagi was the only one who had the right to issue orders, not me. But despite that, I’d gone out of my way to initiate a handful of kisses against her wishes.

          「Well, even if you did say it before, does it really matter? It’s not that big of a deal.」

          I responded casually as I let go of Miyagi’s arm.

          I wasn’t happy about taking the five-thousand-yen bill from her, so I didn’t feel like obediently following Miyagi’s orders either.

          「It does matter.」

          Miyagi refuted, though she didn’t sound all that displeased.

          All of this was what we did during our breaks from studying, and it was probably just being used as a way to kill the time.

          I’m sure the only reason why we didn’t take breaks every day was because Miyagi would feel guilty about it if we did.

          Whatever we did together was only made possible because it was summer break.

          But all of this will be over by the time I come back next week.

          When the new semester begins, we’ll return to how things were when we met during the first semester.

          We had way too much time on our hands lately, which was probably why our relationship became so strange. We just weren’t used to having to spend so much time studying with someone who wasn’t a friend.

          「Sendai-san, you never reflect on your actions, do you?」

          Miyagi said while staring at me.

          「Of course I do.」

          「As if I’m going to believe that. Wait here for a bit.」

          Miyagi said as she got up and went over to her wardrobe.

          After rummaging through her closet, Miyagi pulled something out of it and turned towards me.

          「I’ll go over to you. Face your back towards me.」

          Miyagi instructed while holding a necktie in her hands. I knew exactly what was going to happen next. That tie was definitely not going to be used for its intended purpose.

          「Oh, are you planning to head to school or something?」

          I asked without turning my back towards her.

          「Why would I go to school when I have no business there? Besides, I’m not the one putting this on. I’m going to be using it on you, Sendai-san.」

          「Are you sure you’re even allowed to issue orders like that?」

          Before summer vacation started, the five-thousand-yen Miyagi paid me bought her some of my time and the authority to give orders. However, since the day we went to the movies together, things changed. Her commands now seemed to serve as excuses to kiss or touch me. I had a feeling she was about to do it again.

          「Like what?」

          「You’re going to order me to let myself get tied up with a necktie, right?」

          「It doesn’t matter what the order is. At the end of the day, an order is still an order. If you already know what’s about to happen to you, then hurry up and turn around.」

          Miyagi said while tapping me on the shoulder.

          「So, you’re not going to reconsider how this necktie is going to be used?」

          「Fine. If you’re not happy about being tied up with a necktie, then how about we use some rope next time?」

          「I think I’ll pass.」

          Despite not wanting to be tied up, I turned my back towards her and put my hands behind me. She had already paid me, so it was a little too late to refuse her now.

          Plus, I felt like if I continued to resist her, she would actually prepare some rope for next time. Unfortunately for me, Miyagi was strangely decisive when it came to these things.

          It’d be a huge problem if she went out of her way to buy rope just to tie me up with it. I really didn’t like the idea of that, since it’d imply that she had suspicious intentions. And the fact that I could imagine Miyagi doing it without hesitation really irked me.

          「You don’t need to go this far now, do you?」

          I asked while Miyagi began to tie my wrists together with her necktie.

          「I do, since you can’t be trusted, Sendai-san.」

          Miyagi replied as she secured the knot around my wrists. However, she didn’t offer any further instructions like “This will do” or “You can turn around now.”

          So, I turned around without being ordered to do so.

          「I don’t believe I told you to turn around yet.」

          Miyagi said in a monotone voice as she stood up and walked to her dressed. She retrieved a towel from it before returning to my side.

          「What, was there something else?」

          「You should probably close your eyes for this.」

          Miyagi responded with a non-answer before covering my eyes with the towel she was holding. Reflexively, my eyelids closed. Soon, I felt the towel being wrapped around my head, pressing against my eyes.

          「Don’t you think this is a little too much?」

          I knew what she was trying to do. She wanted to take away my freedom of movement to make sure I wouldn’t do anything unnecessary anymore.

          I didn’t like the idea of it, but at the very least, I knew where she was coming from.

          Still, I was hesitant to let Miyagi rob me of my vision.

          「I had to do this, since you were never going to reflect on your actions otherwise.」

          「Look, I’ll reflect on them from now on.」

          「It’s a little too late for that.」

          Miyagi said firmly as she tightly bound the towel over my eyes.

          「Hey, that’s way too tight.」

          I complained, prompting her to loosen the towel around my head. But I was still unable to open my eyes, so I couldn’t see anything.

          I did expect her to bind my wrists together, but her blindfolding me came out of left field. This had to be against the rules, right? I wasn’t sure. Either way, I had no choice but to accept what was happening to me.

          「Look, just don’t do anything weird.」

          I warned her.

          「I’m only going to do what I usually do.」

          Miyagi declared, her voice sounding nearby.

          However, there was nothing to prove her statement.

          With my vision taken away, everything around me suddenly felt unreliable, as if I couldn’t trust anything anymore — especially not the Miyagi who had been right beside me moments ago.

          「Okay, now you can turn towards me.」

          Relying on nothing but my sense of hearing, I faced my body towards the sound of her voice.

          Naturally, I couldn’t see Miyagi at all.

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TL Note: Oh, the long awaited part 61. I know I disappeared off the face of the earth all of a sudden. I’ve been busy and burnt out, but I had like, a page of this part translated before I vanished. I’d always been meaning to get back to it, but with each day I put it off, the easier it became to neglect, and here we are in mid-February. Funny because I’d originally planned to get it done and have it released on my birthday, but uh, yeah, that was last month.

Anyway, for this part, I tried to break away from making the text “too Japanese.” I want to keep trying my hand at making the text seem more and more natural to English speakers instead of translating it 1:1. I guess that’s what localizing means. But I’m not saying I did a good job of it. We don’t often get things right straight from the get-go.

Oh, but I guess that does mean I’ll have to keep going. Hopefully, it won’t take another two-and-a-half months before the next release.

In any case, thank you all for reading and leaving comments. Believe it or not, I read through all of them (yes, I get emailed whenever people leave a comment or a like on these posts), and I appreciate all of you.

P.S. TO SPOOTHS: I DIDN’T REALIZE THE TYPO I MADE IN RESPONSE TO YOUR COMMENT FROM THE PREVIOUS PART, LOL. IT’S SO BAD. I’M SO SORRY.

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