Walking, walking, walk.
There are two of us and we walk in silence.
Silence is not my forte.
If there are two of us, I want to talk about something, and if itâs quiet, Iâm afraid Iâve offended them. I donât mind if Miyagi is angry, but I was the one who was wondering why I made her angry, but she remains to be silent and does not speak.
I should talk with a little caution.
What a reminder, but Miyagi doesnât speak, so I walk silently away from the bookstore.
I realized I should have gone home.
I shouldnât have thought of going to Miyagiâs house.
Under a dreary sky, I walked silently, feeling sorry for myself for being so thoughtless, until I arrived at an expensive-looking apartment building.
Sheâs willing to pay 5,000 yen for it.
The apartment building, which was magnificent enough to make me think of such a thing, was rather close to our house. It was about a 15- or 20-minute walk. I had no idea that this girl from the same class lived so close to us.
But it was obvious when I think about it.
We bumped into each other at a bookstore and walked straight home, so there was no way she far from her home.
ãIâm on the sixth floor.ã
Miyagi says as she gets in the elevator.
ãYeah, okay.ã
I wonât tell her that my house is close to here.
Itâs not something I would go out of my way to mention, and I have no intention of getting close to Miyagi, so thereâs no point in telling her.
I look at the elevator display and see the numbers change to four, five, six, and stop. I walk along, following Miyagi. She opens the front door at the far end and invites me in.
ãSit there. Iâll get you something.ã
ãDonât mind if I do.ã
Her room is about the same size as my room or even bigger. It was one of the rooms for a highschool student. It was clean and tidy, with a large bed and a bookshelf full of books like an idiot.
As I approached the bookshelf to see what kind of books were there, the door slammed open. I turn to see Miyagi placing a glass of clear liquid on a small table.
ãDo you read manga?ã
I asked as I looked at the spine of the book, Miyagi answered curtly,ãI read,ãand then suddenly said loudly,ãThatâs right.ã
ãIâll have you read me a manga. Sendai-san, come over here and sit down.ã
Saying this, Miyagi stood up. When I was still in the bookshelf, she tapped on the shoulder and said,ãLeave them away.ã
I sat down at the table and drank the clear liquid, which made my mouth shudder, if I wondered where all the talk about making it work had gone. Realizing that the sweet liquid was cider, I set my glass down.
I donât like carbonation much.
I was thinking that the usual members would not serve cider in such a situation when Miyagi sat down across from me.
ãRead this.ã
She handed me a manga with a well-dressed boy and timid-looking girl in the cover. I skimmed through a few pages and found that it appeared to be a romance comic.
5,000 yen just to read something like this?
I donât understand Miyagiâs thought process.
But as I was honestly turning the pages because I was told to read them, Miyagi said in a bored tone.
ãNo, not like that. Read it out loud.ã
ãRead aloud?ã
ãYes. Thatâs your 5,000 yen job, or rather, my order.ã
ãSo itâs not a job, itâs an order?ã
ãUn.ã
I donât know when work was replaced by orders, but itâs probably useless to ask why. Miyagi is not thinking deeply about it. She must be deciding in the spur of the moment or something.
ãI donât care if itâs a job or an order, but five grand for something as simple as reading a book?ã
I quickly proceed to talk my way home.
ãUn. But, read all the way to the last page.ã
ãOkayâã
If all I have to do is read the manga aloud, itâs a piece of cake.
I would casually reply and read out the toothy lines like âI love youâ and âYouâre the only one.â
If I had been asked to read out a novel, I would have been disappointed, but since it was a manga with few words, I was able to get right to it. However, I soon came to regret taking on the project so lightly.
ãâ¦â¦Isnât this book, too erotic?ã
After abandoning the task of reading the book and checking the storyline ahead of time, I found that the characters were nearly naked, whether I flipped through or not.
Half of the book was a bed scene.
And the dialogue is all about moaning and stuff like that.
The content is quite intense, and I wonder what is going on in Miyagiâs head, having such things read aloud.
Itâs not like I donât like erotica, but itâs not something I want to read up on. I mean, not many people would want to read it out loud. There was a fresh surprise that even a simple girl like Miyagi would read this kind of manga, but regret outweighed it.
ãItâs erotic.ã
Miyagi says simply.
ãAm I going to read this out loud down the road?ã
ãRead the whole thing out loud.ã
ãAre you listening to porn, by any chance?ã
ãItâs not my cup of tea, but I canât think of any other orders?ã
ãDonât you have to give me an order? If you got the change and the money I pay you back tomorrow, that would solve the problem.ã
I donât know why she donât want to accept the money but Miyagi is too much trouble. She is stubborn and difficult to deal with.
ãI donât care about the 5,000 yen, and I donât want it. Quick and read again.ã
She really doesnât seem to care about the money, and Miyagi rushes me.
I have no obligation to go along with this nonsense, but I donât want to take 5,000 yen from her, and I since I promised to work for 5,000 yen, I must fulfill that promise.
Yes, I am a problematic person in my own way.
ãââOkay.ã
More or some.
Something or other, one way or another, or something.
Iâm dizzy from the endless dialogue I donât want to say out loud.
What am I doing?
What am I being read in front of Miyagi, who I have never spoken to before, just because we are in the same class.
Absolutely, Miyagi is an idiot.
There is no doubt about it. She is a perverted fool.
As I recall, her grades areââ
I wonder what her grades are.
I donât know much about Miyagi.
ãSendai-san, keep your voice down.ã
My attention turns away from the book, and Miyagi notes.
ãItâs not something you read out loud.ã
ãThereâs no one here today, so itâs okay to read out loud.ã
Even if itâs okay there, itâs not okay here.
Today is the worst, itâs not my lucky day.
I canât find my wallet and she make me read pornographic manga.
While complaining in my mind, I had to read it aloud, even wheezing exactly, I had to quench my thirst with soda, which I didnât want to drink.
ãSurprisingly, youâre not very good at this, youâre like a stick. I thought you were good at this kind of thing because you play along with them.ã
ãIâm a neat and tidy girl, so Iâm playing around. Also, I donât play around.ã
I need to correct Miyagiâs rude remarks.
ãYou do that kind of thing because it makes you look good with men.ã
ãI told you thatâs wrong.ã
Acting neat and tidy at school is not for the guys to like me. Iâm just trying to get the teacherâs attention.
ãPeople say you look innocent, but youâre actually playing around.ã
ãThatâs the image you have of me.ã
I didnât know that the group to which Miyagi and the others belonged thought I was playing around. Or rather, that was the rumor. It was a fact that I am not happy about.
ãAnd thatâs the end of your orders?ã
I ask Miyagi, tossing aside the disgraceful rumors.
ãFinished.ã
ãWhat do I do now?ã
ãYou can go home or not. Do whatever you want, Sendai-san.ã
ãThen, Iâm going home. And can I borrow the rest of the manga? It was pretty interesting.ã
It says first volume on the spine, so there must be second volume. Iâm not a fan of reading it up, but I am curious to see the rest of the manga itself. But Miyagi said something different from what I expected in a voice devoid of any affection.
ãNo.ã
ãUgh, petty. Why donât you just lend me a manga?ã
ã5,000 yen.ã
ãWhat? Are you going to charge 5,000 yen just to rent one manga? It would be cheaper to buy it myself.ã
ãWrong. Iâll give it to Sendai-san.ã
ãHaah?ã
The unexpected words made me sound dumb.
ãYouâre buying them for 5,000 yen each, after school, Sendai-san. So you can read the rest when you come here.ã
Buying a classmate for 5,000 yen is too much to be true.
She gave me some incomprehensible order to read aloud an erotic manga earlier, and itâs not surprising that she said she was looking for my body.
ãNo, Iâm not selling myself. I mean, what are you going to do with me? Sex? Isnât 5,000 yen too cheap for that? Also, Iâm not interested in women having sex with other women.ã
I was quickly wound up with a proposal I hadnât considered.
ãWhat am I going to do, Sendai-san? I donât intend to do anything like that with you?ã
ãThen, what is it? What are you going to do with me for 5,000 yen.ã
ãOnce or twice a week. Come to my house after school and listen to what I say. Just like today.ã
Miyagi looked at me without smiling.
ãYou mean Iâm going to do reading of an erotic manga?ã
ãYes, thatâs one thing, and Iâd like you to do my homework or something like that.ã
ãWhatâs that? Uh, Iâm your handyman?ã
I donât like being asked to sell my body for 5,000 yen, but I also donât like being told to do a homework for 5,000 yen.
But I donât think itâs a bad price to pay for doing homework for 5,000 yen.
ãWait, thatâs wrong. Iâm going to give you an order, and youâre going listen to it.ã
ãAn order of what? I donât want you to hit me, and I definitely donât want to have sex with you.ã
I really donât know whatâs going on in Miyagiâs head, so I canât predict what she will say. So, in the meantime, I declare that I will not sell my body.
ãI donât like violence either, and I have no intention of getting into relationship where I would have sex with Sendai-san.ã
ãIf I said didnât want to, would you ask someone else to do it?ã
ãI wonât. Iâll pay you 5,000 yen to let me order you to do something, you really thought Iâm crazy for saying it like that.ã
No, no, the current situation is already strange enough.
I have already inputted that âMiyagi is a dangerous personâ in my mind.
But that doesnât mean Iâm not interested. I buy magazines I donât want to read to get into a good mood in order to talk to my group in school. It seems to me that something more interesting is about to happen than just doing that.
ãWould you be okay with me?ã
ãIt wasnât a nice idea, but it just happened.ã
ãWell, fine then. Youâll give me 5,000 yen for one order to pass the time. We canât do it in holidays, but after school.ã
If it happens there, it happens here.
I donât want to be forced to read an erotic manga, but that seems the upper limit of the command game, and itâs not a bad idea to go along with it for a little bit.
I am also interested in Miyagi as a person.
I want to know what this strange girl will order me to do. Besides, if I really donât like something, I can just turn in the 5,000 yenââ I donât think she would accept it, though.
ãThen, itâs a deal. Also, I wonât talk to you at school, but can I contact you on my phone?ã
ãThatâs fine.ã
I accepted Miyagiâs proposal lightly, knowing that I might regret it again.
We then exchanged contact information and left her room.
I waved to Miyagi, who ritually walks me to the entrance of her apartment building and I head home.
It was not raining.
I looked up at the sky, which had been gloomy, and before I knew it, the clouds had disappeared.