"Mm."
Haruno slowly opened her eyes — and found herself looking directly at Mio Shirai's perfect, sleep-soft face.
Wasn't she facing the other way when we fell asleep? How did she end up burrowed right into my arms? She checked the time on her phone. Five in the afternoon. For someone with extremely consistent sleep habits, sleeping this long was unusual.
It had been happening more often lately — specifically, whenever she slept beside Mio.
Holding Mio while she sleeps genuinely improves my sleep quality. Not that she'd say that out loud.
If I could, I'd honestly love to hold her like this every single day. Too bad there's a certain little brat camped out at her place — otherwise I'd have moved in and refused to leave ages ago.
She set the phone down quietly and studied Mio's face from close range. They saw each other constantly, but she rarely got to observe her like this — guard completely down, completely unaware.
Even she had to admit: Mio was really pretty. The kind of pretty that made even another girl's heart do something inconvenient.
The doorbell rang.
Haruno climbed out of bed and hurried to the door without a moment's hesitation.
It was Yukino.
Since the falling-out with their family and Yukino moving out on her own, she rarely came over voluntarily and rarely went home. Haruno had planned to drop the gift off tonight — she hadn't expected Yukino to show up first.
She ushered her in and asked, "Yukino, what brings you here? Is everything all right?"
Yukino pulled a prepared gift from her bag and handed it over. "I was in the area. Merry Christmas."
"Thank you. I have yours ready too — it's with my driver. I'll have it sent over later. Have dinner with me tonight? It's been ages since we've eaten together."
"All right."
"Oh — New Year's is coming up soon. Even if you don't want to go home, you should at least drop by."
"Mm."
"It's Christmas — didn't you go out with friends?"
Yukino gave her a cool look. "I don't have friends."
As she said it, Mio briefly crossed her mind. But she wasn't sure what category Mio fell into.
Haruno sighed in mild exasperation. "So go make some. Being alone all the time is boring~"
"I don't see the need."
She was just trying to think of what else to say when Haruno's bedroom door opened, and Mio emerged.
Hair disheveled. Clothes askew. Eyes still heavy with sleep. Everything about her screamed just woke up.
She yawned lazily as she stepped out. "Senpai, you just vanished the second I woke up~"
She stopped.
In the living room: Haruno. And sitting across from her — Yukino Yukinoshita.
Mio's expression went rigid.
She laughed awkwardly — twice — and then said, "Um, Yukinoshita-san. I was just. Sleeping. With your sister. That's all. Please don't misunderstand."
The moment the words left her mouth, she regretted them.
That sounded so much worse than whatever the truth was.
She would never have said that if she'd been properly awake.
Beside her, even Haruno was wincing. That explanation is worse than no explanation.
Yukino, for her part, was mildly surprised — but only mildly. In her mind, her sister and Mio Shirai were already a couple, and it was Christmas, so running into Mio here wasn't exactly shocking.
"Good afternoon, Shirai-san." Yukino greeted her with complete composure, as though nothing unusual had occurred.
Mio, now fully awake and increasingly aware of her current appearance, found the first available excuse and disappeared into the bathroom.
She emerged minutes later looking like her usual composed self.
But before she could say a word, Yukino stood up. "I won't intrude further if you have a guest."
"I'll have the driver pick you up tonight."
Haruno didn't try to stop her. She saw Yukino out, then turned back to Mio — who was looking thoroughly embarrassed.
"Kouhai, you've caused quite the misunderstanding with my little sister. What are you going to do about it?"
"I don't know," Mio said, looking away, scanning for an escape route.
There was only one exit — directly behind Haruno.
Fine. Whatever. Mio gave up entirely and flopped onto the sofa like a dead pig with nothing left to fear from boiling water. "I'm right here. Do whatever you want."
"...Fine. This one's partly on me too."
Haruno sat down beside her — and for once, made no move to tease her. She was thinking about Yukino's reaction.
That was far too calm. Seeing a classmate walk out of her sister's bedroom looking like that, and barely reacting?
That was strange. No matter how you looked at it.
"Kouhai, do you want to join Yukino and me for dinner tonight?"
"Probably not a good idea. After what just happened — wouldn't it make things worse?"
"Or it could be a good opportunity to clear the air?"
"I'll find Yukinoshita-san and explain another time. It's getting late, I should head back~"
"Wait."
Mio had braced for more stalling. Instead, Haruno reached into her bag and produced a small gift box.
"Christmas present."
"Ehh?! I didn't get you anything, senpai."
"Then kiss me, and we'll call it even." Haruno tapped her cheek.
"Sure."
In the split second before Haruno could even register surprise, Mio leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek.
Then she stepped back, gift in hand, expression serene. "Thank you for the present, senpai. I'll head out now~"
Haruno reached up and touched her cheek slowly.
She genuinely hadn't expected Mio to actually do it.
Then again — that was probably exactly why Mio had done it.
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