1. Miyagi has changed.
4. She started serving soda and barley tea.
7. Their usual routine has resumed... or has it?
Laden…Laden…
1. Plus, she even started chatting a little.
2. "That book was boring."
5. Feels like a stray cat that had never warmed up to me now lets me pat its head.
6. "It didn't have a happy ending at all."
7. "It kinda..."
8. It started the day I went to return the clothes.
Laden…Laden…
1. And so on that day,
2. For the first time, there was no 5,000-yen transaction.
3. It's been more than half a year since early summer.
4. In the end, I never returned the clothes; they're just sleeping in the back of my dresser...
5. Somehow, it ended up as a substitute for the 5,000 yen.
6. "What?"
7. It doesn't seem like I've tamed it, though...
8. Maybe I finally managed to get close...
9. To that super wary stray cat?
1. "Ah, right."
2. "So there might be days I can't come."
3. "I'm going to prep school now."
4. "...no big deal."
5. "Even if you come here later, it's okay."
6. "Prep school?"
7. "Yeah."
8. "I'm preparing for entrance exams, so there's no helping it."
1. "Then on days you have prep school, come the next day."
2. "If I come after that, I'd probably get back home close to midnight."
3. "Prep school ends pretty late, so it might be tough."
4. "Got it."
5. "Hmmm..."
6. Are my last chance to fit back into my family.
7. College entrance exams...
1. My parents only want a girl who's as outstanding as my sister.
2. If I can get into the college my family wants, I should be able to live the same life I had as a child.
3. "But..."
4. "Family and all that..."
5. "Maybe I don't care that much anymore."
6. "Getting into a top-tier college like my sister is impossible anyway."
7. "Why did I even apply?"
8. "At this point, it probably won't change anything..."
1. "Guh!"
2. "Does it hurt?"
3. "I just bumped it at school."
4. "...what was that, all of a sudden?"
5. "You've got a bruise."
6. "If you think it might hurt,"
7. "Why are you poking it?"
8. "...just felt like it."
9. "It doesn't hurt."
10. "But..."
1. "Hey, Miyagi."
2. "Did you know?"
3. "If you put a sliced lemon on a hickey, it fades faster"
4. "Sendai-san looks all pure, but is actually messing around."
5. "I didn't know, but is this one of those \"experts speak from experience\" things?"
6. "I'm not an expert."
7. "You still believe that rumor?"
8. "That's not it. I just remembered Umina talking about it."
1. "Bruises are internal bleeding, just like hickeys. So I thought maybe it'd work."
2. "You mean I should put lemon on this bruise?"
4. She said it faded,
5. Did ibaraki-san's hickeys fade faster with lemon?
6. But maybe it would have faded on its own. Some say warming or cooling it helps, too.
7. "I don't think it'd work."
1. "It's been about two days, so there's no point trying to get rid of it now..."
2. "Hey,"
3. "I want to try an experiment."
1. "Something like that."
2. "Sendai-san, first, take off your blazer."
3. ...an experiment? With lemon?
4. I have a bad feeling...
5. "Is this an order?"
1. "It's an order."
2. "Hurry up and take it off."
3. "Taking off the blazer is fine, but... first, I want to hear in detail what kind of experiment we're doing..."
4. "I'll tell you once the blazer's off."
5. "Of course, there's no way she'd tell me outright."
6. "Most likely,"
7. "It's something she feels guilty about, so she's hiding the details."
8. "But..."
1. "Roll up your sleeve."
2. At this point, it's not breaking any rules...
3. "Hickeys fade if you use lemon, right?"
4. "Seriously, why..."
1. "To see whether it's true or not,"
2. Once again, something I just can't understand...
3. "I'll test it on your arm, sendai-san."
4. "If it's on your arm, even if it doesn't fade, you can hide it with your blouse."
5. "It is."
6. "It's no problem."
7. "A huge one, no?"
8. "This experiment..."
9. "If it fails, I'll be in trouble."
10. Why leave a hickey and then try to get rid of it?
1. Is clearly an act meant to leave a mark on the body.
2. Leaving a hickey...
3. "It's not like I'd leave it in a place like this."
4. "It's fine, right?"
5. "What if it doesn't fade..."
6. "Licking or biting doesn't leave long-lasting marks..."
1. "Oh? Smack me?"
2. "If you leave a mark in a place like this, I'll smack you."
1. "You can have whatever persona you want, but..."
2. "Roll up your sleeve."
3. "You're different at school too, miyagi, so it's okay, right?"
4. "Sendai-san, you've forgotten your pure and innocent persona."
5. But...
6. There are reasons to refuse.
7. So I should be able to make miyagi back off.
8. It's a reasonable excuse, in line with the rules.
9. Like, it might show when changing for p.e.
1. What happens if I refuse, saying it's against the rules?
2. "Here, is this enough?"
3. “Sendai hazuki is pretty well-liked by everyone and doted on by the teachers.”
4. It wouldn't be strange if she suddenly says she's not going to pay the 5,000 yen anymore.
5. One moment I feel like she's keeping me at arm's length, then today she's weirdly close.
6. Miyagi's moody, so you never know.
7. That kind of me needs this.
8. I...
9. Need this.
1. And also,
2. A place that isn't my own home.
3. A place where I don't have to put on that façade.
4. Miyagi herself, someone I can be my true self around.
5. I need it all.