"Eh?!"
Shirai Mio—actress that she was—produced a perfectly genuine look of shock after hearing Sawamura Sayuri introduce herself.
Sawamura Sayuri was very pleased with the reaction.
"B-But… you look far too young, ma'am. Anyone would think you were Sawamura-san's older sister."
Sawamura Sayuri broke into a delighted smile. "You'll make me blush, saying things like that."
While Mio chatted with her, the System's voice drifted into her ear: "Curious—why is it that the host's mood spikes noticeably every time she encounters a married woman? Should this system take that to mean the host simply has a thing for married women?"
Mio couldn't be bothered to dignify that with a response. She did have a soft spot for the married-woman archetype, sure—but that was as far as it went. She wasn't about to actually make a move on someone else's wife.
Just as Sawamura Sayuri had predicted, Eriri emerged from the bathroom in under ten minutes, stepping into the living room with damp hair. She was wearing a thin set of pajamas, and beneath the loose fabric her already-subtle figure all but disappeared.
She was toweling her hair as she spoke. "Mom, what's for dinner toni—huh?!"
She froze when she spotted Mio sitting there in the living room, smiling back at her. "When did you get here?"
"Just a little while ago."
"Good. The thing you wanted is up in my room—come on up."
"Sure."
Mio said her goodbyes to Sawamura Sayuri and followed Eriri up the stairs to her room.
Eriri had briefly considered changing into something else, then decided against it. Mio already knew she was Kashiwagi Eri—there was no point putting on the composed ojou-sama act in front of her. This was easier.
She picked up the sample from her desk and handed it over. "I've gone over it several times and haven't found any issues, but take a thorough look yourself. If everything checks out, I'll give the go-ahead to start printing."
"Understood. Let me have a look."
Just as Mio took the booklet and was about to flip through it, the System's voice chimed in her ear:
"You've come all this way to visit a fellow enthusiast's home—wouldn't it be a shame to leave without doing something? Please find a way to get Eriri to push you down of her own accord before you leave. Succeed, and you may receive an Eriri series card or item reward. Fail, and you will draw a penalty card."
"Such a simple task—the host won't drop the ball on this one, surely~"
It really was simple. If she remembered correctly, she'd pulled off something along the same lines back when she had only just started interacting with Eriri.
The only wrinkle giving her pause: Eriri's current conquest rating sat at 22 points. Completing this task would likely push it to 25—right at the threshold where Eriri-related tasks jumped to the next difficulty tier.
She weighed it for a moment, then made up her mind. She'd complete it.
22 points was still relatively low. Even after crossing into the next phase, she should be able to manage it. If she started deliberately throwing tasks just to keep conquest ratings in check, she wouldn't last long at this rate.
With that settled, Mio quietly shifted her gaze to Eriri—and found Eriri already watching her.
Eriri narrowed her eyes—she wasn't wearing her glasses—and asked, "Something wrong?"
"No. It's just that besides checking the sample, there's actually something else I wanted to ask you."
That line landed with a familiar weight. Eriri remembered it well: the last time Mio had said something like that was when she'd asked for the kabedon, and the club president had walked in on them. Her instincts were screaming that whatever Mio was about to request was not going to be anything sensible.
On that instinct, she stood, walked to the door, turned the lock, then came back to face Mio. "All right. What is it?"
"I'd like you to push me down again."
"Didn't you just have me do that a while back?"
"That was ages ago. I've already forgotten what it felt like. Please—it really matters to me."
Eriri found the reasoning a little thin, but pushing Mio down onto the bed again wasn't exactly a hardship. She could manage it.
Fine.
She walked to the edge of the bed, gave her damp hair a small shake, and nodded for Mio to get in position.
"You're the best, Sawamura-san~"
Once Mio was set, Eriri pushed her down onto the bed with practiced ease and ended up pinning her there, the weight of her own body settling over Mio's.
It was an undeniably intimate pose, their faces uncomfortably close. Eriri could catch the faint, clean scent drifting off Mio's hair.
And that face. Annoyingly, almost unfairly beautiful—even Eriri found her gaze drifting there without meaning to.
"I-Is this… enough?" Catching herself staring, Eriri redirected her eyes to the bedsheet pattern and tried to focus on the stitching. Anything to redirect her thoughts.
But those thoughts had already surfaced. Strange ones, too. The kind she didn't have words for.
Why was it that being close to Mio always did this?
"Just a moment longer, please."
The task had already been completed—Mio said that just to let the scene breathe a little longer. She regretted it almost immediately. Because she noticed the way Eriri was now looking at her.
It was getting warm.
Mio had never forgotten that the [Overflowing Allure]card's effects could leak onto the people around her, nudging them toward certain… trains of thought. She'd originally assumed it only sparked idle daydreams, but she'd since realized it could influence behavior outright.
Like right now. Eriri's gaze was growing heated. She was slowly closing the distance between them. If Mio didn't step in, she'd kiss her.
Mio cleared her throat. "Sawamura-san—I think that's enough."
Eriri snapped back like someone had flicked a switch. She stared at Mio, who was now just inches away, and felt her stomach drop.
She'd been about to lean in. She'd actually been about to—
What on earth was wrong with her?
...