181 - Story About Buying My Classmate Once A Week

Chapter 181 Today isn’t a particularly good day. Rain is pouring and thunder seems imminent, yet Sendai-san isn't around because of her part-time job. I wish she would take a day off just this once, but she's gone to her student’s house again. Both her tutoring job and students must be very important to her. I knew that Sendai-san wouldn’t take a break, but being alone makes me want to complain about her absence. Attempting to distract my mind, I decide to read manga, but the story doesn't sink in. Gaming doesn’t hold my attention either. In such moments, I find myself worrying whether the weather would worsen even further. Although it's about time for Sendai-san to return, there’s still no sign of her voice announcing, "I'm home." I pick up the black cat plush from the bookshelf and lay down on the bed. All these distractions, the bad weather—it’s all Sendai-san’s fault. I stroke the cat's back and place it on my chest. Even after several days, Sendai-san’s words, “What about me?” linger in my mind. The day I spoke with Ami and the others, Sendai-san yearned for words from me beyond just being roommates. But all I could offer were those words and a few that touched on our past. Sendai-san and I were people whose paths weren’t meant to cross. Even though we shared the same classroom, it felt like a boundary separated her group and me, never getting too close. Our relationship began and ended as just classmates by chance, yet here we are tangled together with “roommates” as our binding word. Even so, Sendai-san wished for me to express something new. Her presence has found a place within me that can no longer be erased. She marks my calendar without asking and tries to change me into something I am not. Perhaps there’s a better word than “roommate” for us, but I don’t know it yet, nor do I want to. I wish to remain roommates. Even after graduating college, always. If only this time could continue forever. If replacing 'roommate' with another word doesn’t fit us well, everything might fall apart. I pet the black cat’s head, kiss its nose, then lay it beside my pillow. As I close my eyes, ominous noises, possibly from the storm outside, make me tense. I don’t want to listen but I strain to hear. Yet, no sound resembling thunder reaches my ears. When I finally exhale and sit up, a sound from outside the door prompts me to exit the room and there, my gaze meets Sendai-san’s. “I'm home.” Sendai-san, who was just about to enter her own room, says softly. “Welcome back. Your hair is wet. Was the rain bad?” Before she can vanish into her room, I grab her arm, feeling her damp body beneath my grip, realizing it’s not just her hair but her whole body that’s wet. “The rain wasn’t too bad, but the wind was strong.” Her disheveled hair, as if to affirm her words, stood untamed, perhaps emphasized because she hadn’t braided it. What I thought was thunder might have just been the howling wind. “Miyagi, have you eaten?” “I haven’t.” “I’ll just change real quick, wait a bit, we’ll eat together.” “Why don’t you bathe first? Dinner can wait.” Though not drenched enough to drip water everywhere, being wet isn't ideal. “I’m hungry, bathing can wait.” “If you stay wet, you might catch a cold.” Last summer, Sendai-san once arrived drenched to my home. Though not in her uniform today, she's wearing a blouse, creating an uncanny resemblance to that day from the past. Back then she didn’t fall ill, but today she might. That's why she should bathe and change quickly. If she insists on staying like this, I might need to undress her just like that time. No, I didn’t completely undress her back then. But today, who knows. So please, just go take a bath. “I’ll dry my hair and change clothes, it’s fine.” “Go take a bath.” “It’s not that urgent; I’m not soaked.” Sendai-san smiles, raising the corners of her mouth as if to reassure me. I tighten my grip slightly, calling her name more firmly. She peels my hand from her arm and leans on the door. “What? Planning to undress me here if I don’t bathe now? Like that time?” Seems like she remembered the same incident as me. “What if I said yes?” “Well, maybe I'll strip Miyagi too then.” Sendai-san tugs on the hem of my T-shirt, exposing a bit of my side as if to say my actions would determine her next move. Whether she’s serious, though, is unpredictable. I don’t want to be stripped, yet I find myself wanting to unbutton her blouse this time, and further, remove the blouse and her bra—. No, this isn’t right. Lately, we've strayed too far from what roommates should typically engage in. “I’m not going to strip you.” It’s unnecessary. I know, yet my hands move involuntarily, unfastening one button on Sendai-san’s blouse. “...But I will leave a mark.” With that, I undo another button. “Where?” Ignoring her question, I unfasten two more buttons, opening her shirt just enough to expose her undergarments. “Miyagi, do you call this not stripping?” “Just three buttons, it’s not stripping.” What I’m about to do isn’t appropriate for roommates. But it’s too late. If I want this time to last forever, we shouldn’t step outside the bounds of being roommates, yet Sendai-san has already expanded that boundary, and this is what we’ve been doing all along. Moreover, we've already committed much more inappropriate actions. “Marks can be made without needing to unbutton.” “Would it be okay if they’re visible?” “I didn’t say it was okay.” She doesn’t refuse leaving marks, though. Thus, I press my lips against the now exposed skin. Sendai-san pulls lightly at my hair, though not hard enough to stop me from leaving a mark. Neither denying nor affirming, I suck on the delicate skin deeply, and upon slowly drawing back, a red mark blooms against her fair complexion. “Honestly Miyagi, you’re always quick to do things like this.” Sendai-san murmurs, caressing the mark I’ve just left. "Remember when you said it was okay for me to bite hard enough to leave marks that last all summer vacation? This is pretty similar, and I made sure it was in a place your students won't see when you go to work." "I appreciate the thoughtfulness, but it'll probably fade by the next time I work." "If it fades, I'll just give you another." I remove her hand from the crimson mark she’s touching and button up her blouse all the way to the top. "But even if you say you'll give me another, thanks to your consideration, it’s not visible without checking like this. You probably won't even notice." "Just let me know when it fades." "Why don’t you check yourself?" "It's a self-reporting system." "Alright then, it's gone." She grins mischievously as she says this, fixing her gaze on me with a teasing glint. Annoyed, I give her foot a playful kick. "No way it’s gone that quickly." "Why don’t you check?" Sendai-san undoes one of the freshly buttoned buttons and grabs hold of my arm. She mentioned that I quickly resort to doing such things, but those words suit her more. She often teases me, trying to blur the definition of the word "roommate." I take back my arm from her grasp. "Even without checking, I know it hasn't disappeared. So, either take a bath or change quickly. I don't want you catching a cold." "Okay, okay. I’ll go change." Sendai-san speaks in a voice lighter than the black cat plushie as she opens the door to her room.