Story About Buying My Classmate Once A Week

Valentine’s Day had passed and the three remaining chocolates were long gone. Not that I wanted to eat them again, but it would have been nice to have a couple more.

I like sweets and I can never have enough of them.

But it doesn’t have to be made by Sendai-san. If the food tastes good no matter who made it, it was fine, and if it’s not extremely bad, I don’t mind if it does not taste good.

The same goes for the dinner that Sendai-san said she would cook for me. I don’t care if it is delicious or not. Once it was in the stomach, it’s the same as any other food… Well, the word “cook” was just something Sendai-san said, though I don’t know if she really intended to cook it or not.

I heard the teacher’s voice in the distance, pressing on my stomach area.

I looked at the clock stuck on the blackboard and saw that not much time had passed since the class had started. At least I have to wait another thirty-five minutes for our lunch break.

「Next, Miyagi.」

The teacher called out to me in a voice that sounded like a sleepy incantation from a video game. I heard it in the sky above me, but I knew I had to read my textbook.

I stand up and hold my English textbook.

I am not going to do a job where I have to be able to speak English. I have no intention of leaving Japan, so it doesn’t bother me if I can’t speak English, but English classes come mercilessly, and the teachers guess.

So, I read the textbook out loud, unwilling to do so.

My voice breaks as I see a word I’m not sure I’ve seen before mixed in the words I remember. The teacher complements me in places, but I am not sure if the pronunciation I am saying is correct.

「That’s enough, sit down. Miyagi, you should take the class a little more seriously.」

The teacher says in a troubled tone. But I didn’t think I would be able to understand English if I took the class seriously.

「Okay, Sendai. Continue.」

With a “yes,” Sendai replies and stands up.

She straightens her back and begins to read the textbook.

The voice that flowed without stagnation was clear. The words of the textbook were spoken without any misinterpretation or stuttering. If we were to write, Sendai-san’s would be in written form, while mine would be in unreliable block letters written by a child.

She handles most things with ease.

I sigh as I look at my textbook.

I can’t figure it out.

Her hair is brownish and she wears makeup. Her skirt is shorter than usual. Sendai-san is protected by the teachers even though she does not follow the school rules. In the first place, she says she is a neat and tidy person, but I highly doubt if it was neat and tidy to wear makeup or to bite people’s feet.

But no matter much I think about it, my circumstances will never change, and I will never be able to do everything as good as Sendai-san.

I flipped through my textbook.

After a while, Sendai-san’s voice trails off and I hear the sound of chalk sliding across the blackboard.

The notebooks are lined with letters copied from the blackboard without thinking, and long, long hours pass. The teacher took five minutes out of my lunch break to finish class, and I quickly pulled my phone out of my bag.

I send a message before my friend Maika comes from the very back of the classroom.

The recipient is Sendai-san, and the content is set.

『Come to my house today.』

The reply came quickly, and my after-school schedule was filled.

If I eat lunch at the cafeteria and take afternoon classes, I will quickly run of things to do at school. When I said goodbye to Maika, who said she was going to take a side trip, and headed home, I received a message from Sendai-san saying,『I’m almost there.』While I was tossing around in bed, the intercom rang and Sendai-san came to my room.

「Sorry to keep you waiting.」

Sendai-san said, taking off her coat and blazer and sitting down in front of the bookshelf as a matter of course. I place a 5,000 yen bill on her head and leave the room. With a clatter of my slippers, I head for the kitchen.

I put two glasses together, took a bottle of cider from the refrigerator, and poured it. When I brought it into the room, Sendai-san was lying on the bed with her own face.

She is lying down sloppily, and there are three manga piled up next to her. I put my glass on the table and pull a manga from the bookshelf, as I always do. Then, I turn the pages of the book I’ve read so many times.

There is not that much variation when it comes to orders. Sendai-san in this room is like my servant, but there is a limit to what I can do because of certain decisions. And I didn’t always want to do terrible things to her, nor did I want her to do anything different.

So time passes quickly.

I read a manga or two.

The only sounds in the room are the turning of pages and the fan heater spitting out hot air.

As I pick my third manga, I hear Sendai-san’s voice.

「Uhh, Miyagi, don’t you play games?」

「Sometimes, but…」

「Like the ones where the good-looking guys hit on you?」

Without taking her eyes off the manga, Sendai-san said.

「I don’t do that sort of thing.」

「Heeeh. I thought you liked that kind of thing because you read a lot of romance manga.」

I like romance manga, but that is not reflected in games. If I want to play a game, it should be role-playing game. I would rather play a game where I follow someone else’s life rather than being the object of the game.

「You think I only play nerd-ish games anyway.」

「Are you not?」

Sendai-san looks up from her manga and smiles wickedly.

I stand up without answering it.

She acts as if she is standing above me, although I don’t think she is aware of it. If it was her position at school, there is no mistaking it. But here it was different, so her attitude was not very interesting.

「Do my English homework.」

I took out my English textbook and printouts from my bag and spread them out of the table. But Sendai-san was still lying on the bed.

「When I’m done reading this.」

「Do it now.」

「Miyagi’s stingy.」

When she said that, she reluctantly sat down across from me. Then she took out a printout from her bag and began to solve the problems.

「I wish you had directly written it on mine.」

「I’ve been telling you this for a while, but I can’t do it because they’ll know I wrote it in my handwriting.」

「You should copy my handwriting.」

「I don’t want them to be angry with me when they find out. Besides, any order that involves the school is a breach of contract.」

Me and Sendai-san are meeting after school.

We are doing something together.

I promise not to give any orders that would reveal such things.

That’s why, although Sendai-san’s words are correct, I think she could easily imitate my handwriting.

She could do it, but she doesn’t want to.

I guess that’s how it is.

I poked Sendai-san on the cheek with a sharp pencil.

「What?」

「Lick it.」

It’s boring to watch Sendai-san solving serious problems, so I’m just passing time.

Across the table, face up, I touch her lips with the knock button of the mechanical pencil. Then I slide the pen from the edge of her mouth. As I slowly traced it, Sendai-san licked and bit it without hesitation.

「I don’t really like this kind of thing.」

I pull out the pen of her mouth.

「What do you mean?」

「You do things I don’t ask you to do.」

The command was lick, not bite.

All I wanted her to do was lick.

「Sendai-san, do you like being told what to do? You seem to enjoy it.」

「Do I look I’m having fun?」

I wouldn’t say that she was happy about it. But, at least she didn’t look like she didn’t want to do it.

Sendai-san had never disobeyed my orders before.

That is what I wanted, but now it doesn’t seem like I am getting what I want.

「——I’m not gonna be able to see it.」

I force the pen into her mouth. I poke her tongue with the knock button, and move it to scratch her upper jaw. And when I pulled the pen as I did, Sendai-san scowled and a grim crease formed between her brows.

「Look at me like that.」

I have never felt this way about a friend.

But, Sendai-san is not my friend, so I can think like this.

「Miyagi is a pervert, I knew it.」

Sendai-san tried to take the pen from me, saying in a low voice that I don’t hear at school. But I dodge and smile.

「Maybe you’re right.」

At school, Sendai-san, who does not make a single disgusted face, looks blatantly disgusted.

Sendai-san, who is nothing but a good person, disappears.

Sendai-san, whom no one knows, is here.

I think I love this moment so much.

I poke the back of Sendai-san’s hand with the tip of my mechanical pencil.

「Hey, that’s dangerous.」

Sendai-san sounds miffed. When I embedded the nib so far into her skin that the lead broke off, I heard her say,「Ouch!」

I take the pen out of Sendai-san’s hand, pull out a piece of tissue from the crocodile box and wipe the wet knock button.

「Hey, are you going to cook dinner for me?」

I confirm the truth of the words she had uttered on a whim that day.

「You don’t want to eat it right?」

Sendai-san said in a cold voice and let out a small breath. Then she closed her eyes once to calm down and looked at me.

「But, I’ll make it if you order me to.」

Saying this quietly, Sendai-san brings spelling out English words on a printout.

I pay her 5,000 yen and give her an order.

But I don’t order her to cook dinner.

Orders are used for something else.

I ran my pen over the printout to imitate the beautiful letters she had written.