"This part is really straightforward. You just need to plug it into this formula and it solves itself."
Looking at Mio leaning against her, earnestly walking her through the problem, Eriri found her mind drifting.
She'd only mentioned the idea offhandedly—she hadn't expected Mio to actually agree, let alone immediately pull her into studying without a moment's delay.
What surprised her even more was how good Mio was at teaching. Her explanations were clear, methodical, and easy to follow.
It was at that exact moment that Eriri felt something flick her forehead. Mio's voice followed right behind: "Don't zone out while we're studying."
"Mm." Eriri pressed her hand to her forehead and refocused on the textbook.
Normally, getting forehead-flicked by Mio would have warranted some form of retaliation. But right now, she really had been the one in the wrong.
Being around Mio, Eriri noticed, made her mind wander to strange places without meaning to. That was exactly why she kept losing focus.
Time and again, she'd be in the middle of studying when her gaze would drift to Mio of its own accord—as if the girl had some kind of gravitational pull on her attention.
She'd lost count of how many times she'd spaced out.
Gathering her scattered thoughts, Eriri forced her eyes back to the textbook.
Watching Eriri's frustrated little frown, Mio smiled with a hint of helpless amusement.
Yesterday, her study session with Yui had turned into a movie-watching marathon. Today, her doujinshi discussion session with Eriri had turned into a study session. Even Mio didn't quite know what to say about that.
Soon, it was noon. Eriri was still working through a problem when she heard a knock at the door. The door cracked open just a sliver, and Sayuri Sawamura's face appeared in the gap, peeking inside.
After making sure there was nothing inappropriate going on, she spoke up: "You two—come down, lunch is ready."
"Got it, be right there." Eriri answered, then instinctively glanced over at Mio.
"Let's leave off here for now. We'll continue after lunch."
At Mio's words, a small part of Eriri suddenly regretted asking for tutoring.
Still, there were benefits to having a strict teacher. She was genuinely learning—she just didn't know how much of this last-minute cramming would actually be useful come exam time.
Meanwhile, Mio hadn't forgotten about her tasks while tutoring Eriri. But after an entire morning, both counters still sat at zero. No progress whatsoever.
At least the tasks didn't have a strict time limit—they'd only be marked as failed after she left Eriri's house. That gave her some room.
After lunch, they headed back upstairs. Just when Eriri assumed studying would resume, Mio said softly, "Don't you want to take a nap, Sawamura-san?"
"I don't really have a napping habit."
"But you stayed up late last night. You should get at least a little rest—studying when you're well-rested is way more efficient."
"What about you?"
"As Sawamura-san's personal tutor, I'll naturally be napping right alongside you~"
Hearing this, Eriri narrowed her eyes. "You just want to sleep yourself and you're using me as an excuse, aren't you?"
Mio shifted her gaze away, putting on a guilty expression. "Of course not. You're overthinking it."
"Fine. I guess a short nap won't hurt." She punctuated the sentence with an involuntary yawn.
After they climbed into bed and lay down, drowsiness washed over Eriri almost immediately. She'd expected to fall asleep quickly, but the moment she turned over, she found Mio watching her with a gentle, tender gaze.
The sleepiness evaporated. She was suddenly very much awake.
By the time she squinted back at Mio through half-closed lids, Mio's eyes were already shut.
Had she imagined it?
Mio, for her part, still had her eyes closed—but she could see the System's counter. Her own flutter count for Eriri had just ticked from 0 to 1.
She'd been hypnotizing herself, trying to coax a genuine flutter out of her heart for Eriri.
She'd expected it to take a lot of effort. In practice, it turned out to be... not nearly as hard as she'd imagined.
She'd just almost gotten caught, though.
Making herself flutter for Eriri: easy. Making Eriri flutter for her: hard.
So far, Mio hadn't thought of a good solution.
She was even considering using "research" as an excuse—getting Eriri to push her down or do something to her.
But she had a feeling that Eriri, straight as she was, probably wouldn't flutter even if she went through the motions.
The thought of potentially failing the task made Mio sigh.
Still, she wasn't the type to give up easily.
If she couldn't finish the task this afternoon, she'd stay through the evening. An opportunity would come.
Since Mio hadn't slept well last night either, drowsiness crept in shortly after she lay down. She'd planned to keep using her acting technique to chip away at the task, but before she knew it, she'd drifted off completely.
Some time later, Eriri's long lashes trembled, and her eyes slowly opened.
The first thing she saw was Mio's face, impossibly close.
They couldn't have been more than ten centimeters apart. If she shifted forward even slightly, she could have kissed Mio without the slightest effort.
Wait—what kind of thought is that? Why am I thinking about kissing Shirai Mio?!
Whatever drowsiness remained vanished in an instant. Eriri edged back to put some distance between them, then let out a long, slow breath.
It was probably because she'd been half-asleep. That was the only explanation for such a ridiculous thought.
First of all, she was not gay. She simply thought Mio looked very pretty asleep. That was a completely normal, objective observation. Second, she was really, truly not gay—but Mio lying there with her guard completely down made Eriri feel like she'd just received a burst of creative inspiration.
After the brief brainstorm concluded, Eriri silently reminded herself one more time: she was not gay.
Once her heartbeat had settled, she carefully rolled out of bed and jotted down the ideas that had just come to her.
Perhaps stirred by the sound, Mio's eyes drifted open.
The first thing she noticed upon waking was that Eriri's flutter count had jumped from 0 to 2.
...