「Sendai-san, this isn’t what you promised.」
Miyagi stops when she is about five minutes away from Utsunomiya’s house.
「What I promised?」
「You said you wouldn’t put it in a ponytail.」
「I don’t remember saying I wouldn’t.」
「You promised you wouldn’t. I’ve been telling you since before we left home, untie that hair.」
Miyagi, who had only let me hear her low voice since we left home near evening, tugged at my arm and wrinkled her brow.
Her eyes were sharp as she looked at my hair in a ponytail, and it was hard to believe that today was December 24th. It’s more fitting to be told that we are on our way to get rid of people who enjoy Christmas than to be told that we are on our way to our friends’ houses to enjoy Christmas.
Valentine’s Day, Halloween, and even our birthdays.
Miyagi doesn’t get excited on days when everyone else is unconditionally excited. I think the calendar in her mind is blank. It’s made to pass solemnly from January to December. So Christmas, which most people are so excited about, is just another day like yesterday for her.
「I’ll think about whether or not to put it in a ponytail, because that’s all I said.」
I correct my mistake with a white breath.
It wasn’t a white Christmas, but it was cold.
I may have made a mistake in wearing a skirt.
「Unfair.」
Miyagi makes the lowest voice of the day.
「It’s okay. If anyone asks about the earrings, I won’t tell them I got them from Miyagi.」
I won’t say that I disapprove of Christmas Eve spent with Utsunomiya and the three of us, but I’m not entirely dissatisfied. A ponytail is what I need to fold those not-so-good me up small and keep them in a drawer in my mind.
It is easy to fulfill Miyagi’s wishes, but I want to make sure that the blue stone that is my heart’s stronghold is visible for all to see.
「If Maika asks you, will you tell her you bought it yourself?」
「Yes. That’s why, don’t worry.」
A pat on Miyagi’s hand, which is attached to my arm, causes her brow to crease.
Apparently, I am not trusted.
「I’m not going to do anything that will embarrass you, Miyagi. I’m going to put you in a good mood.」
I gently touch the plumeria earrings on Miyagi’s ears.
「…it’s not very nice, but I’ll take it as a good thing.」
Miyagi says reluctantly, as if she really doesn’t want to say it, and walks away.
I want to say in front of Utsunomiya,「Miyagi gave it to me,」but I can’t say it, thinking about what will happen after I say it. If I break my promise, I’m likely to be told like a schoolboy that we’re on hiatus or that I’ll never speak to her again, and I’m sure she’ll actually do it.
I walk next to her so as not to be left behind.
After about five minutes, we arrived at a long, narrow apartment building and took the elevator down to the second floor. In front of this room, I pressed the intercom button and the door opened.
「Welcome. Come in, you two.」
We both returned「Sorry for intruding,」to Utsunomiya who greeted us and took off our coats and shoes at the entrance. Entering the moderately air-conditioned room, the three of us gather around a table with Miyagi in the center.
「Shiori, you’re not wearing a Sendai-dress today. You’re not wearing a skirt.」
Utsunomiya, sitting diagonally in front of Miyagi, says in a cheerful voice.
Waiting in a warm room, Utsunomiya herself is wearing a knit and skirt in Christmas colors. Her hair, a little longer than Miyagi’s, is also nicely set today with loosely curled ends. A quick glance tells me that she was looking forward to today, so I consciously keep the corners of my mouth turned up.
「I told you, skirts and Sendai-dress have nothing to do with each other. Also, it’s cold today, and there’s no way I’m wearing a skirt or such.」
I hear the same dialogue I heard this morning and I look at Miyagi in her corduroy pants.
I wanted her to wear a skirt, but I had no choice.
She’s a cold person and I don’t want her to catch a cold by forcing her to wear a skirt.
「Speaking of which, Sendai-san. It’s rare to see you with a ponytail, isn’t it? It’s a different image.」
Utsunomiya’s voice flew in from across to me, and I shifted my gaze from Miyagi to her.
「It’s Christmas, so I changed it up.」
「It really suits you, you’re really pretty.」
「Thanks.」
「Did you change your earrings too? Didn’t you say you were very attached to your old earrings?」
Utsunomiya’s gaze stung my ears.
Ahh, how could I not notice?
I make as soft an expression as I can and utter the lines I have prepared.
「I had a lot of feelings about it, but I wanted a new one, so I bought it.」
「Oh, really. What kind of stone is that?」
「Sapphire. I thought I’d live a life of integrity.」
There is no way that Utsunomiya would think that the sapphire was worn as a sign that I belonged to Miyagi, but it would be easier to avoid suspicion if there was a plausible reason.
「Integrity?」
「The stone language for sapphire.」
It’s not a lie.
Sapphire is the birthstone of September, the month Miyagi was born, but it also has the stone word for sincerity, which could be the reason why this blue stone is on my ear.
「Heh, that makes such sense.」
「I’m just trying to be a more serious college student.」
I answer without looking at Miyagi, though there should be no doubt.
「That makes it sound like you’ve never been serious.」
「I’m serious, very serious. It’s like, let’s be even more serious. And I like blue.」
I didn’t particularly like blue, but the earrings made me like it. I’m not lying, so I think I should be forgiven.
「Sendai-san, you look good in simple things like that.」
「Thanks.」
「Speaking of which, didn’t Shiori buy earrings? She was looking for them the other day when we went to watch movies.」
「Miyagi, were you looking for earrings with Utsunomiya?」
My voice comes out on its own.
I look at Miyagi, who is diagonally in front of me, almost wrinkling her brow, and she quickly looks away from me.
I slowly touch the blue stone on my ear.
Utsunomiya seems to know nothing about this earring.
The earrings weren’t given to me on the day she returned from the movie, and Utsunomiya’s words indicate that she didn’t choose them at that time. But given that Miyagi had taken the time to select the earrings, it’s not surprising that she had consulted Utsunomiya about them without telling her who they belonged to.
Miyagi said she didn’t want me to tell Utsunomiya who gave me the earrings, so I don’t think Utsunomiya should have anything to do with my earrings. And yet, the small fact that Utsunomiya knows that Miyagi was looking for the earrings makes me uneasy.
The earrings that manage me shouldn’t be mixed with anything other than Miyagi.
I get along with Utsunomiya, but I belong only to Miyagi.
「I wasn’t looking for it. That was just me glancing. Let’s get ready to go. Pizza’s supposed to be here soon.」
Miyagi says in a deliberately cheerful voice.
Perhaps Miyagi was looking at my earrings.
——To make the plumeria earrings I chose different earrings?
I ask myself the question and clench my hands.
I think it shouldn’t be that way, but I’m not sure. I can’t believe that Miyagi would ever make a different pair of earrings from the plumeria earrings I chose.
「Shiori, you’re too impatient.」
Utsunomiya’s voice is heard, followed by the intercom ringing.
「Oh, it’s there. Just stay still.」
Utsunomiya gets up and heads for the door.
I stroked the blue stone with my fingertips and looks at Miyagi.
「Your earrings, were you thinking of changing them?」
I ask in a small voice so that Utsunomiya, who is at the door, cannot hear.
「I’m not going to change this one. I was just looking at the earrings.」
Her curt voice responds, and I loosen my grip on my hand.
「I see.」
I pull my earlobes and look at the doorway. I see Utsunomiya holding what looks like a pizza and stand up.
「Need some help?」
I have some things on my mind, but I should change my mind now.
「Then I want you to get the juice out of the fridge.」
Utsunomiya’s voice echoes in the one room, which is not small but not spacious either.
「Okay—」
As I was getting juice out of the fridge as I was told, Miyagi arrived and in no time at all, tonight’s feast was on the table.
「Let’s take a picture before we eat.」
When I approached Miyagi and Utsunomiya, Utsunomiya said,「Great,」and stuck with Miyagi. I smiled and picked up my phone, saying,「Miyagi, you’re in the middle,」before Miyagi started to say something bothersome about pictures being taken later or that she didn’t want to.
Flash.
A single photo of the three smiling people is saved on the phone.
I would rather have a picture of Miyagi today than keep thinking about these earrings.
「Well then, cheers!」
As I called out to them, two glasses poured with cider and one glass poured with orange juice collided and made a noise.
「I guess let’s eat.」
Utsunomiya said lightly and reached for the pizza. Miyagi and I also take a pizza on our plates, and the three of us say to each other, “Itadakimasu.”
Eat pizza, munch chicken, take pictures.
Miyagi casually glares at me as I capture Miyagi and Utsunomiya on my phone, snapping away between meals, but I don’t care. Utsunomiya is also taking pictures, and Miyagi would never complain if she pointed her phone at her now.
I wanted to spend Christmas Eve alone with Miyagi, but I think it’s not bad to get together with the three of us like this. I’m happy to have more Miyagi on my phone, different from the school festival.
「When do we exchange gifts? Before or after the cake?」
As more photos were taken and the feast on the table was almost gone, Utsunomiya looked at us, as if remembering.
「Isn’t it okay now? Yes, this is for you, Maika.」
Miyagi gives Utsunomiya the gift she brought.
“Thank you,” a cheerful voice echoes in my ears, and I cast my eyes down.
What we do is so commonplace that it would be strange not to have it, an integral part of the Christmas event. I have done this gift exchange thing many times in the past, and I know that this is something that has no deep meaning, but I don’t really want to see Miyagi giving Utsunomiya a gift.
Still.
I am grateful to Utsunomiya.
If this had not happened, Miyagi wouldn’t have prepared Christmas presents for me.
I let out a small breath and gently touched the earring.
「Sendai-san, this isn’t what you promised.」
Miyagi stops when she is about five minutes away from Utsunomiya’s house.
「What I promised?」
「You said you wouldn’t put it in a ponytail.」
「I don’t remember saying I wouldn’t.」
「You promised you wouldn’t. I’ve been telling you since before we left home, untie that hair.」
Miyagi, who had only let me hear her low voice since we left home near evening, tugged at my arm and wrinkled her brow.
Her eyes were sharp as she looked at my hair in a ponytail, and it was hard to believe that today was December 24th. It’s more fitting to be told that we are on our way to get rid of people who enjoy Christmas than to be told that we are on our way to our friends’ houses to enjoy Christmas.
Valentine’s Day, Halloween, and even our birthdays.
Miyagi doesn’t get excited on days when everyone else is unconditionally excited. I think the calendar in her mind is blank. It’s made to pass solemnly from January to December. So Christmas, which most people are so excited about, is just another day like yesterday for her.
「I’ll think about whether or not to put it in a ponytail, because that’s all I said.」
I correct my mistake with a white breath.
It wasn’t a white Christmas, but it was cold.
I may have made a mistake in wearing a skirt.
「Unfair.」
Miyagi makes the lowest voice of the day.
「It’s okay. If anyone asks about the earrings, I won’t tell them I got them from Miyagi.」
I won’t say that I disapprove of Christmas Eve spent with Utsunomiya and the three of us, but I’m not entirely dissatisfied. A ponytail is what I need to fold those not-so-good me up small and keep them in a drawer in my mind.
It is easy to fulfill Miyagi’s wishes, but I want to make sure that the blue stone that is my heart’s stronghold is visible for all to see.
「If Maika asks you, will you tell her you bought it yourself?」
「Yes. That’s why, don’t worry.」
A pat on Miyagi’s hand, which is attached to my arm, causes her brow to crease.
Apparently, I am not trusted.
「I’m not going to do anything that will embarrass you, Miyagi. I’m going to put you in a good mood.」
I gently touch the plumeria earrings on Miyagi’s ears.
「…it’s not very nice, but I’ll take it as a good thing.」
Miyagi says reluctantly, as if she really doesn’t want to say it, and walks away.
I want to say in front of Utsunomiya,「Miyagi gave it to me,」but I can’t say it, thinking about what will happen after I say it. If I break my promise, I’m likely to be told like a schoolboy that we’re on hiatus or that I’ll never speak to her again, and I’m sure she’ll actually do it.
I walk next to her so as not to be left behind.
After about five minutes, we arrived at a long, narrow apartment building and took the elevator down to the second floor. In front of this room, I pressed the intercom button and the door opened.
「Welcome. Come in, you two.」
We both returned「Sorry for intruding,」to Utsunomiya who greeted us and took off our coats and shoes at the entrance. Entering the moderately air-conditioned room, the three of us gather around a table with Miyagi in the center.
「Shiori, you’re not wearing a Sendai-dress today. You’re not wearing a skirt.」
Utsunomiya, sitting diagonally in front of Miyagi, says in a cheerful voice.
Waiting in a warm room, Utsunomiya herself is wearing a knit and skirt in Christmas colors. Her hair, a little longer than Miyagi’s, is also nicely set today with loosely curled ends. A quick glance tells me that she was looking forward to today, so I consciously keep the corners of my mouth turned up.
「I told you, skirts and Sendai-dress have nothing to do with each other. Also, it’s cold today, and there’s no way I’m wearing a skirt or such.」
I hear the same dialogue I heard this morning and I look at Miyagi in her corduroy pants.
I wanted her to wear a skirt, but I had no choice.
She’s a cold person and I don’t want her to catch a cold by forcing her to wear a skirt.
「Speaking of which, Sendai-san. It’s rare to see you with a ponytail, isn’t it? It’s a different image.」
Utsunomiya’s voice flew in from across to me, and I shifted my gaze from Miyagi to her.
「It’s Christmas, so I changed it up.」
「It really suits you, you’re really pretty.」
「Thanks.」
「Did you change your earrings too? Didn’t you say you were very attached to your old earrings?」
Utsunomiya’s gaze stung my ears.
Ahh, how could I not notice?
I make as soft an expression as I can and utter the lines I have prepared.
「I had a lot of feelings about it, but I wanted a new one, so I bought it.」
「Oh, really. What kind of stone is that?」
「Sapphire. I thought I’d live a life of integrity.」
There is no way that Utsunomiya would think that the sapphire was worn as a sign that I belonged to Miyagi, but it would be easier to avoid suspicion if there was a plausible reason.
「Integrity?」
「The stone language for sapphire.」
It’s not a lie.
Sapphire is the birthstone of September, the month Miyagi was born, but it also has the stone word for sincerity, which could be the reason why this blue stone is on my ear.
「Heh, that makes such sense.」
「I’m just trying to be a more serious college student.」
I answer without looking at Miyagi, though there should be no doubt.
「That makes it sound like you’ve never been serious.」
「I’m serious, very serious. It’s like, let’s be even more serious. And I like blue.」
I didn’t particularly like blue, but the earrings made me like it. I’m not lying, so I think I should be forgiven.
「Sendai-san, you look good in simple things like that.」
「Thanks.」
「Speaking of which, didn’t Shiori buy earrings? She was looking for them the other day when we went to watch movies.」
「Miyagi, were you looking for earrings with Utsunomiya?」
My voice comes out on its own.
I look at Miyagi, who is diagonally in front of me, almost wrinkling her brow, and she quickly looks away from me.
I slowly touch the blue stone on my ear.
Utsunomiya seems to know nothing about this earring.
The earrings weren’t given to me on the day she returned from the movie, and Utsunomiya’s words indicate that she didn’t choose them at that time. But given that Miyagi had taken the time to select the earrings, it’s not surprising that she had consulted Utsunomiya about them without telling her who they belonged to.
Miyagi said she didn’t want me to tell Utsunomiya who gave me the earrings, so I don’t think Utsunomiya should have anything to do with my earrings. And yet, the small fact that Utsunomiya knows that Miyagi was looking for the earrings makes me uneasy.
The earrings that manage me shouldn’t be mixed with anything other than Miyagi.
I get along with Utsunomiya, but I belong only to Miyagi.
「I wasn’t looking for it. That was just me glancing. Let’s get ready to go. Pizza’s supposed to be here soon.」
Miyagi says in a deliberately cheerful voice.
Perhaps Miyagi was looking at my earrings.
——To make the plumeria earrings I chose different earrings?
I ask myself the question and clench my hands.
I think it shouldn’t be that way, but I’m not sure. I can’t believe that Miyagi would ever make a different pair of earrings from the plumeria earrings I chose.
「Shiori, you’re too impatient.」
Utsunomiya’s voice is heard, followed by the intercom ringing.
「Oh, it’s there. Just stay still.」
Utsunomiya gets up and heads for the door.
I stroked the blue stone with my fingertips and looks at Miyagi.
「Your earrings, were you thinking of changing them?」
I ask in a small voice so that Utsunomiya, who is at the door, cannot hear.
「I’m not going to change this one. I was just looking at the earrings.」
Her curt voice responds, and I loosen my grip on my hand.
「I see.」
I pull my earlobes and look at the doorway. I see Utsunomiya holding what looks like a pizza and stand up.
「Need some help?」
I have some things on my mind, but I should change my mind now.
「Then I want you to get the juice out of the fridge.」
Utsunomiya’s voice echoes in the one room, which is not small but not spacious either.
「Okay—」
As I was getting juice out of the fridge as I was told, Miyagi arrived and in no time at all, tonight’s feast was on the table.
「Let’s take a picture before we eat.」
When I approached Miyagi and Utsunomiya, Utsunomiya said,「Great,」and stuck with Miyagi. I smiled and picked up my phone, saying,「Miyagi, you’re in the middle,」before Miyagi started to say something bothersome about pictures being taken later or that she didn’t want to.
Flash.
A single photo of the three smiling people is saved on the phone.
I would rather have a picture of Miyagi today than keep thinking about these earrings.
「Well then, cheers!」
As I called out to them, two glasses poured with cider and one glass poured with orange juice collided and made a noise.
「I guess let’s eat.」
Utsunomiya said lightly and reached for the pizza. Miyagi and I also take a pizza on our plates, and the three of us say to each other, “Itadakimasu.”
Eat pizza, munch chicken, take pictures.
Miyagi casually glares at me as I capture Miyagi and Utsunomiya on my phone, snapping away between meals, but I don’t care. Utsunomiya is also taking pictures, and Miyagi would never complain if she pointed her phone at her now.
I wanted to spend Christmas Eve alone with Miyagi, but I think it’s not bad to get together with the three of us like this. I’m happy to have more Miyagi on my phone, different from the school festival.
「When do we exchange gifts? Before or after the cake?」
As more photos were taken and the feast on the table was almost gone, Utsunomiya looked at us, as if remembering.
「Isn’t it okay now? Yes, this is for you, Maika.」
Miyagi gives Utsunomiya the gift she brought.
“Thank you,” a cheerful voice echoes in my ears, and I cast my eyes down.
What we do is so commonplace that it would be strange not to have it, an integral part of the Christmas event. I have done this gift exchange thing many times in the past, and I know that this is something that has no deep meaning, but I don’t really want to see Miyagi giving Utsunomiya a gift.
Still.
I am grateful to Utsunomiya.
If this had not happened, Miyagi wouldn’t have prepared Christmas presents for me.
I let out a small breath and gently touched the earring.
