"Mashiro, I didn't expect you to have a talent for gaming outside of drawing." Mio pretended to be amazed.
Having read the source material, she obviously knew Mashiro was naturally gifted at games. Plus, earlier at karaoke, Mashiro hadn't done anything except research—so Mio wanted to find an activity they could both enjoy. That's why she'd brought her to the arcade.
When they'd played that shooting game earlier, Mio had felt like if it weren't for the gun prop being too heavy to hold with one hand, Mashiro could've gone full dual-wielding and blasted through the entire game solo.
Unfortunately, the arcade was pretty far from the apartment. Mio was thinking maybe she should buy a game console to keep at home. Or find this world's equivalent of Steam.
That way, whenever Mashiro wanted to play, she could just come over. And if she got tired, she could crash right there.
Ahem.
Reeling in her wandering thoughts, Mio looked at Mashiro warmly. "Mashiro, anything else you want to play?"
Mashiro glanced at the time, then said flatly, "Want to play a lot... but need to go back and draw."
"You're only ever this disciplined when it comes to drawing."
After a small quip, Mio led Mashiro out of the arcade.
By now, the sky outside was starting to darken. As they walked back, Mio asked, "I remember there's a yakiniku place around here with pretty good reviews. Do you want yakiniku, Mashiro, or would you rather go home and eat my cooking?"
Hearing that, Mashiro showed a rare hint of inner conflict.
"Alright, no need to agonize over it. Tonight, we're eating yakiniku at home—and I'll be the one grilling." Why does that sound like some kind of death flag?
"Mio... is the best." Mashiro leaned close to Mio once more and kissed her on the cheek.
"Huh!?"
Mio stared at Mashiro, slightly dazed. This time, she hadn't asked Mashiro to kiss her.
"Host's heart rate increased. The host's conquest rating with Shiina Mashiro increased by 1 point. The host's conquest rating with Shiina Mashiro has now reached 25 points. Task difficulty and rewards have been upgraded."
Her conquest rating had already increased by 2 points when she completed the task earlier. Now another point.
Mio had only been in this world for less than two weeks, and already two people had conquest ratings over 25 points with her.
What am I supposed to do if this keeps up?
Seeing Mio suddenly freeze in place, Mashiro asked, a bit puzzled, "Mio, what's wrong?"
"N-Nothing. Let's go buy some meat."
"I also want chikuwa cake."
"We still have ingredients at home. I'll make it for you."
After buying plenty of meat and other ingredients for grilling, they returned to the apartment loaded down with bags.
For convenience, Mio headed straight to Chihiro's place. The moment she walked in, she noticed an extra person on the living room couch—someone very familiar.
Hiratsuka Shizuka saw Mio come in and grinned. "Shirai, I'm here to mooch dinner again~ You don't mind, right?"
"I definitely don't mind you mooching food. I just want to remind you both—we have school tomorrow. Try not to drink too much tonight, okay? You're not getting any younger. Maybe it's time to find a boyfriend or girlfriend."
She didn't dare say that last part out loud, though. She valued her life.
Nine PM.
After enjoying a satisfying yakiniku dinner and making chikuwa cake for Mashiro, Mio could finally sit down and get some serious writing done.
She'd thought about it for a long time and decided to bring over the Honkai story.
Yeah... she really wanted to see pretty girls slurping noodles. She also really wanted to see this story adapted into an anime.
Ugh, why had she become so twisted? Long long long.
It's definitely that certain company's fault.jpg
After mentally sealing away those weird meme images, Mio got serious and started typing.
As time ticked by, just as Mio was getting completely absorbed in the joy of writing, the doorbell suddenly rang.
She reflexively checked the time—it was already 1 AM. At this hour, no one except Mashiro would be ringing her doorbell, right?
Even though she had a pretty good idea who it was, Mio still cautiously peeked through the peephole first. Sure enough, there stood Mashiro in her pajamas.
"Mashiro, you're still awake this late?" Mio opened the door, curious.
"Don't know why... can't sleep alone."
Hearing that, Mio immediately understood what she meant. Too bad there wasn't a task triggered right now—it would've been a perfect finisher.
Wait, no. Tasks might give decent rewards when completed, but every completed task also meant she was one step closer to becoming someone else's girlfriend.
So... tasks really shouldn't show up if they could help it.
Shaking off those scattered thoughts, Mio let Mashiro into her room.
When Mashiro saw Mio's computer still on, she walked over curiously and looked at the densely packed text on the screen. "Mio, writing a novel?"
"Yeah, just messing around. I haven't finished it yet—I'll let you read it when I'm done. It's a super positive, uplifting story. You'll definitely love it, Mashiro."
Mashiro keenly noticed that Mio's smile right now felt... different from usual. Kinda weird.
But before she could think much about it, Mio herded her onto the bed. It was already this late—if she didn't let Mashiro sleep now, waking her up tomorrow would be a nightmare.
Pushed down onto the bed by Mio, Mashiro said in her flat tone, "Mio, you're too hasty. I'm not ready yet."
Mio didn't even bother responding. She just turned off the light. Mashiro obediently burrowed into the blanket and snuggled right up against her.
Right now, Mio could clearly smell the faint, pleasant scent coming from Mashiro.
"Sleep."
"Mm."
Mashiro nuzzled even closer into Mio's embrace. Once she was completely pressed against her, she closed her eyes contentedly and soon fell into steady, even breathing.