Story About Buying My Classmate Once A Week

This action is not a big deal.
It’s an act that would’ve been done even if I weren’t here, and may be done next year or the year after. So I should give a commonplace smile, and I smile at them as they finish exchanging gifts without a hitch.
My gaze goes to the exchanged gifts.
One should have an apron in it, and I don’t know about the other. The apron was prepared by Miyagi, and apparently that is what Utsunomiya wanted, so the unknown gift probably contains something Miyagi wants.
I would like to know.
I want to know what Miyagi wants that I was never told about.
I thought so, but Miyagi put the present she had received, neither large nor small, on the floor and called me「Sendai-san.」
「I don’t know if you’ll like this.」
With an amiable voice, a long, thin object is offered.
「Thank you.」
I accept the gift with a smile and place it on the floor, and hand her the gift I have also prepared.
「This one’s for you.」
「Thanks.」
She didn’t smile back, but her voice was bright.
「For you, Utsunomiya.」
「Thank you!」
A bouncy voice responded and handed me a small gift along with the words,「I don’t know if this is something you would like, Sendai-san.」
「Thank you.」
「You’re welcome!」
「Well, let’s all open it together.」
「Okay.」
Utsunomiya said and started to carefully peel off the wrapping of the gift Miyagi had given her. When I looked at Miyagi, I saw that she was also about to open the gift Utsunomiya had given her.
I, too, look down at the gift I just received from Utsunomiya. I slowly peel off the wrapping to reveal a small jar of colorful dried flowers inside.
「Is this, a flower nail oil?」
「Yeah. Sendai-san, you have beautiful nails, so I thought you might like that.」
「I’m so glad I’m almost done with my current nail oil. I think it’s so cute that it has flowers in it.」
「I’m happy to hear that.」
Utsunomiya says, relieved, and continues,「Shiori.」
「Thanks for the apron. I wanted something like this.」
「Maika, I’ve been wondering about the cafe apron for a long time, are you sure you’re happy with it?」
「Yeah. If I’m using one at home, it’s easier to use an apron that covers up to my chest.」
As she said this, Utsunomiya placed an apron over her body.
It was cute but not too cute and simple, and looked as if it could’ve been a uniform for some store. It suits Utsunomiya well, and the discovery that this is the kind of gift Miyagi would give to a friend, and the fact that she knows Utsunomiya well enough to give something that suits her, has trapped me in negative feelings that I shouldn’t direct at others.
It’s not that I want an apron, but black ink drips in my mind, slowly spreading and invading me. I hate it when Miyagi is involved because it makes me feel terribly small-minded.
「Are you happy about that, Shiori?」
At the sound of Utsunomiya’s voice, I look at Miyagi.
「I’m glad because I wanted something like this. Thank you, Maika.」
「Miyagi, you wanted gloves?」
Out of the corner of my eye, Miyagi’s hands are wrapped in mitten-type gloves.
It’s cute.
The gloves and Miyagi are cute.
They are fluffy, smiling, and very cute.
I’m glad Utsunomiya’s gift was a pair of gloves.
「It was cold.」
「I see.」
It’s not that I don’t have thoughts about Utsunomiya being able to make Miyagi smile, and it’s not that negative feelings have disappeared, but I’m happy to see Miyagi smiling at me.
「Shiori, is it warm?」
「Yeah.」
「I’m glad. Can I open Sendai-san’s?」
Utsunomiya says happily.
「Go ahead. You two open it together.」
「With Shiori?」
「Yes.」
Smiling at Miyagi and Utsunomiya, Miyagi removes his gloves. Rustling, the two peeled off the wrapping and simultaneously shouted.
.
「Hand cream?」
「Yes. They are both close and matching. Different scents, though.」
What I gave them was a hand cream that is reputed to smell good.
I wasn’t comfortable giving the two of them matching gifts, and I wasn’t comfortable with the fact that what I gave them in front of Miyagi would remain in Utsunomiya’s house forever. So I decided on a hand cream.
Hand cream is gone after use and is safe and useful.
I think I am a boring person who tries to choose something bland at times like this, but I can’t suddenly change.
「Winter tends to make my hands rough, so I’m glad to have something like this. Thanks, I’ll use it starting tomorrow!」
I heard a voice from Utsunomiya that sounded like she meant it and I replied,「I would be happy if you could use it.」 Then I looked at Miyagi and saw her brow wrinkled.
「Did you prefer something that wasn’t a hand cream, Miyagi?」
When I call out to her, the wrinkles between her eyebrows disappear.
「No. Maika and I are matching, thanks.」
Her voice is unnaturally soft, and I think she may have failed.
I should have given her something more, something different.
I regret it, but this is the only thing I can give her now.
Her soft voice bothers me, but I can’t pursue it any further, so I grab the long, thin present Miyagi gave me.
「I’ll open it, Miyagi.」
I can’t imagine what is in it at all.
In the past, I have found a pendant in a long, thin object that she gave me, but I don’t think I will find such a thing here today. Slowly, carefully, I gently peel off the wrapping paper so as not to tear it and remove the contents.
「A pencase?」
The elongated gift is a long, narrow, simple pen case with a small black cat lounging on the end. Opening the zipper and looking inside, it seems to hold more pens and be easier to use than expected.
「I looked for a tortoiseshell cat, but all I could find was a black cat.」
「It’s okay, even if isn’t a tortoiseshell cat. I’m happy because I like black cats, they’re cute.」
I prefer black cats to tortoiseshell cats.
But if it’s not a black cat, if it’s a dog, a cow, a frog, in short, whatever it is that Miyagi gave me, I am happy. So I smile at Miyagi.
「Thank you, I’ll cherish this.」
「Like that…」
It’s a relief that her voice is so close to the usual Miyagi.
「Now that the gift exchange is over, is it time to bring out the cake?」
To Utsunomiya’s voice, Miyagi replies,「Okay.」
「Utsunomiya, a cake is a whole cake, right?」
「Yeah.」
「Then, I’ll do the cutting.」
I get up and follow Utsunomiya. While Utsunomiya prepares the dishes, I warm up the knife. We both carry the cake along with the plates and forks. We don’t set up candles or sing a song, so we immediately divide the white cake with strawberries on top into three equal portions.
「Sendai-san, you are good at cutting… but isn’t these too big? Maybe it would’ve been better to divide it into six pieces.」
Utsunomiya says seriously, looking at the cake on her plate.
「Maika. Sendai-san, it’s very rough. You shouldn’t worry about it.」
「It’s alright, it tastes the same whether it’s big or small.」
We toast a second time and put our forks in the cake.
「Utsunomiya, you’re going home for winter vacation too, right?」
「Yeah. I’ll be back the day after tomorrow. You two aren’t leaving, are you?」
「I plan to work part-time at this former cafe instead of going home.」
「How nice, I wanted to visit the cafe again.」
「Return quicker, and you and Miyagi can come visit me.」
「I would like to, but it seems difficult. Shiori doesn’t intend to work part-time?」
「I won’t. I’ll be studying.」
Miyagi says once and for all and takes a bite of the cake.
「Shiori’s studying, huh? …Even if it’s like that, you need at least to take a break, don’t you think? Like going out and having fun.」
「I’ve got nowhere to go.」
「Eh, you know, there’s such a thing as Hatsumode.」
「It’s cold and I don’t want to go.」
「I wouldn’t mind going on a Hatsumode with Miyagi.」
I took a sip of orange juice and looked diagonally ahead, and Miyagi said,「I’m not going, I’ll catch a cold,」and took another bite of cake.
「You two have a disagreement. Will you two end up living together when you graduate from college?」
Utsunomiya chuckles at Miyagi’s curt attitude.
「Four years was the promise.」
Miyagi replies by sticking a fork into the strawberry.
Four years.
There is no mistake in that promise, but it’s not fun to be assured.
I take a large slice of plain white cake and bring it to my mouth. I chew it without tasting the smooth cream and soft sponge, swallow it, and then announce my hope as if it were nothing.
「For now. But if I think about rent and stuff, I don’t mind living with you even if you get a job. Well, if you get a job over here.」
「Sendai-san, are you going to take care of Shiori even if you get a job?」
「Why do I have to be taken care of?」
「It doesn’t seem like Shiori is taking care of Sendai-san.」
「I cook, I clean, I even take out the trash.」
Miyagi says it like a child bragging about her daily help, and then adds in frustration,「And I’m not being taken care of.」
「Is that so? Sendai-san.」
「Well, I guess so. If I lived alone, I’d probably skip the whole thing.」
「Sendai-san, you say things like that so easily.」
Miyagi says she’s not satisfied and takes one of the strawberries from my cake. Utsunomiya laughs at my panicked voice. Our not-so-special and quite ordinary conversation enlivens us, and time passes in a lively manner. After the round cake leaves no trace, we clean up and leave the Utsunomiya house in time for the train.
「Be careful out there.」
She called out to us and waved.
After laughing and saying, “See you next year,” Miyagi and I walk down the road at night.
A few months ago, something similar happened.
The night Miyagi ran away from home and I picked her up at her house in Utsunomiya, we walked down this road together.
As I slowly make my way to the station, I look up at the sky.
A cold wind caresses my cheeks and I exhale a small breath.
Ahead of my gaze, I can see some stars.
The day when I couldn’t see Miyagi’s face and walked only looking down seems more distant than the stars. Today is colder than that day, and Miyagi is closer than then. But I want to be closer to Miyagi. I want to be closer and deeper than Miyagi will allow me to be, and I want to be close enough to her to forget the cold.
「Sendai-san.」
Miyagi calls me out in a whisper and stops me in my tracks.
「What is it?」
「I didn’t mention it earlier, but you can use the pen case at college and at your part-time job.」
She clearly specify how to use the gifts in the bag.
「Is that where I work part-time as a tutor?」
「Yes. Use it properly.」
「
I take a step closer to Miyagi, who remains standing still. I open my bag, take out what I really wanted to give her today, and wrap it around her neck.
「I don’t want you to catch a cold, so I’ll give this to you.」
Saxe blue scarf.
Not the same as those blue stones, but the same blue.
Something that Utsunomiya wasn’t going to give to Miyagi if she gave the same thing to me.
Miyagi wrapped it up was cute and I was happy to give it to her.
「Why are you giving it to me? If anything, it’s you who catches cold, Sendai-san.」
Miyagi says plainly and looks at me.
「It’s Christmas today.」
「I already got the present.」
「I gave it to you, but I want to give that to you, too.」
「Why?」
「Miyagi, because I’m cold.」
When I put my hand, which is now cold from the night wind, against Miyagi’s cheek, she responds angrily that it is cold.
Miyagi pushes me with a gruff voice, “Sendai-san.” Then she begins to walk one or two steps, covering her cheeks with a scarf. I walk next to her as she hurries ahead.
「…Thank you, for this.」
I hear a muffled little voice, and then an even quieter voice adds,「I’m glad.」
「Eh?」
「If you didn’t hear me, that’s fine.」
「I heard you. I want to hear it properly.」
「Then don’t ask me back.」
When I said this, Miyagi slapped my arm as hard as she could.