Chapter 16: Sendai-san is very familiar with it — 16
Translated by KaiesV
Edited by KaiesV
Spring break is not that long.
It is always over in a flash.
This year, however, it felt terribly long. I thought I spent the vacation the sa as usual, but the clock didn’t move very fast.
The distant April has co and gone, and it’s a new school year.
Today, I’m a little nervous.
My legs are heavy on the way to school.
I don’t talk to Sendai-san on campus, but I don’t know what should I look like when I see her. I don’t even know if I will be able to see her face because of the class change that cos with April.
I was fidgeting, unable to calm down.
New classes can be found on the roster posted at the entrance to the elevator.
A short walk through the school gate reveals a not-so-large white paper behind a crowd of people.
Inhale, exhale.
I took a deep breath inconspicuously and then checked the roster, and found my na among the nas I knew and those I didn’t know. However, Sendai-san’s na was not there.
I wasn’t expecting it.
I am not disappointed.
I muttered to myself and headed to the school building where the older students used to be a bit pompous. When I opened the door in my new class, I found Maika, whom I had t many tis during spring break.
「Shiori, over here!」
I raise my hand in response to Maika calling my na and walk to the seat where she was sitting.
「Morning.」
「Morning. I wonder what would I do if I was in a different class from Shiori.」
「 too.」
「Have you seen her? Ami’s in this year.」
Ami Shirakawa, who was in the sa class with in the first year but was separated in the second year, was also on the list. I looked for her to share the joy of being in the sa class again, but could not find her.
「I saw it. Have you not seen her?」
「Not yet.」
「I see.」
If Ami was gone, there was no one left in the classroom to look for. And yet, my eyes were trying to find Sendai-san. But there was no way I could find her. Since her na was not on the list, it would be strange for her to be here.
「Oh, did anyone want to be in the sa class with ?」
Maika looks at the seats around her, mimicking as I look around the classroom.
「(She’s) not here.」
「Well, are you looking for soone, aren’t you? Maybe you’re in the sa class as soone you like?」
Maika says chillingly.
「I’m not like that, and I don’t anyone like that. I was just looking to see what kind of people were here.」
「That sounds fishy.」
「No, it’s not.」
I exhale a small breath, reminding Maika, who looks at with suspicion,「It’s nothing then.」
If I am in a different class, I will not see Sendai-san again.
I think it might not be bad idea to follow the “small bet” I made during spring break.
It was not fate that led Sendai-san to co to my house. It was just a result of whim on coincidence. Since neither coincidence nor whim is likely to last for long, a class change might have been a breakthrough. Besides, it was hard to see Sendai-san after what I had done.
The reason why I feel a little depressed should not have any deep aning, just because the faces that I took for granted until the other day are not in the classroom. This is not a bad thing and not a reason to call Sendai-san out.
Ami cos to the new classroom, and a short ti later the teacher arrives. The first day of the new school year is over as soon as I finish the opening ceremony after listening to a sleepy story.
Maika and Ami invited to take a side trip, but I declined and head straight ho.
I lie on my bed in my school uniform and look at my phone.
Nothing has happened so much as to erase Sendai-san’s contact information in a small container. But it is no longer of any use.
I am sure she will soon forget about now that our classes have split up.
So I don’t have to contact Sendai-san.
Three days into the first sester, I had one or two things I didn’t like, and I couldn’t help but reach for my phone. But after five days, I didn’t have to look at my phone anymore.
It’s not uncommon for us to beco estranged when we are in different classes.
A week has passed since I decided not to contact Sendai-san, and I picked the manga I made her read when she first ca to this room.
I rember that day, I thought she was going to read the comic book smoothly, but she was horribly barbed. As I flipped through the pages in front of the bookshelf, it also brought back mories of how quiet she sounded with this line or how difficult it was to say.
I sigh and sit up in bed.
As I close the manga and place it back to under my pillow, the intercom rings.
No courier is scheduled to co.
No one is scheduled to make inquiries.
So, the person at the entrance must be a salesman or sothing. I decided to leave it alone and turn on the TV, since it’s not sothing I should bother to answer. But the intercom rings repeatedly.
It’s persistent.
I turned up the volu on the TV to the persistent sales pitch, and now my phone rang.
It was ringtone of a ssage, and I picked up my phone from the table. Looking at the screen, I see Sendai-san’s na and ssage on it.
『Pick up the intercom. I know you’re in there.』
The content of the ssage indicates that the person ringing the intercom is Sendai-san.
I send a ssage, and Sendai-san responds to it.
We didn’t decide to do so, but it beca sothing of a rule. That’s why, she had never sent a ssage before I sent it, nor had she ever visited on her own.
『I have to take care of sothing, so just answer the intercom.』
As I look at the screen of my phone in dismay, I receive a new ssage. Then the intercom rings again. The chi rings again and again, like a elentary school prank, and I turn off the TV and get up. When I went to the living room and looked at the intercom monitor, I saw Sendai-san’s image as expected. However, I don’t know why she is at the entrance, which I didn’t call her.
「What are you doing here?」
I speak through the intercom.
「You saw your phone. I need you to open this door.」
My heart thumps at the sound of Sendai-san’s voice, which I haven’t heard for a while.
But I have no intention of opening the door to her.
「I don’t want to.」
「I have sothing to return. Open it.」
「Sothing to return?」
「Yeah. That’s why, open the door.」
Sendai-san says in a exasperated voice.
Still, her expression remains the sa.
Perhaps it is because she is outside, but she is still the sa Sendai-san at school.
「What is that sothing you want to return?」
「The clothes I borrowed the other day. I washed them.」
The word “borrowed clothes” remind of this.
The day I wet her clothes with cider, I gave her clothes to wear ho instead. That’s right, I gave her clothes, not lent her. I am sure that I told Sendai-san that I would give it to her as well.
Well, she didn’t intend to take it, though she did declare that she “would return it” properly.
The needlessly law-abiding Sendai-san is a bit of a pain in the ass. I have no intention of asking her to return what I said I would give her, nor do I intend to retract my previous statent.
「I said you didn’t have to pay back.」
「You didn’t call , so I ca.」
「Why?」
「Because I didn’t want to leave this apartnt unoccupied.」
Sendai-san makes the point once and for all.
If it had been her friend, Ibaraki-san, she would have taken the money when I said I would give it to her, but it seems that Sendai-san is not the type of person who would take it. When I gave her 5,000 yen at the bookstore, we argued over whether to give it back or not.
「I told you before, I’ll give it to you. You don’t have to return it.」
Perhaps Sendai-san would not back down just like that.
What a problem.
Since we would never find a point of intersection even if we continue our discussion, I decided to hung up the intercom. But before I hung up, Sendai-san said sothing unexpected.
「Then, give an order.」
「…Eh?」
「I said, order to do it.」
「I don’t understand.」
「I don’t get clothes without a reason. So, if you want to give clothes, you can order to give clothes, and if you don’t want to give clothes, you can order to do sothing instead, like you always do.」
Sendai-san said that like it’s nothing.
Indeed, I was giving her an order in exchange of 5,000 yen. Given that, it is not so strange to exchange clothing for orders. But it is also aggravating to be told to give orders when asked to do so.
「Why should I give you an order for just a clothing? I said I would give it to you, so why don’t you just take it? Then go ho.」
「If I leave, I won’t co back, is that alright?」
I will hold Sendai-san back.
What I heard over the intercom was not that kind of confident voice. If anything, it was a voice that sounded beyond irritated and angry.
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