"Mashiro, stay home and behave, got it? I'm going to go bring Cake back."
"Cake. Want to eat." A spark of longing glittered in Mashiro's pretty eyes.
Mio reached out and bonked her lightly on the head. "The Cake I mean is the cat you're raising. Don't tell me you forgot."
It was Mashiro's cat in name, but the one who actually looked after it was Mio.
After all, Mashiro could barely take care of herself, never mind a cat.
"I didn't forget. I just suddenly want to eat cake."
"I'll bring some back for you on the way home."
"Yay!" Mashiro cheered—with all the emotional intensity of someone reading off a grocery list.
Having gotten Mashiro settled, Mio finally stepped out and headed straight for the Yuigahama house.
She'd already gotten a message from Yui saying they were back from the hometown.
Figuring Yui's parents would most likely be home too, Mio brought along the local specialties she'd picked up on the trip as a gift.
Before long, she arrived at the Yuigahama front door.
The instant Mio pressed the doorbell, the door flew open—as if someone had been waiting right behind it.
The one who opened it was Yui. She was clearly trying hard to keep her expression under control, but the moment she laid eyes on Mio, a look of delighted, helpless joy broke across her face anyway.
"Mio, long time no see."
"Long time? It's only been three or four days."
"Three or four days is plenty long for me."
If her mom hadn't been right there in the living room, she'd have wanted to throw her arms around Mio in a big hug.
Following Yui inside, Mio had barely changed her shoes when Cake came tearing out of some corner, ran right up to her feet, and started rubbing against her ankles.
"How come Cake feels like it's gotten a lot... rounder?"
At that, Yui said, a little sheepishly, "It probably ate too much back at the hometown. My grandparents adore it and were terrified it wasn't getting enough food. Sablé's about the same."
"Ah, that explains it."
Shoes changed, Mio went into the living room and greeted Mrs. Yuigahama.
"I was just wondering what Yui was doing standing by the door—turns out it was Mio-chan coming over."
In the past, Yui would've waved her hands frantically and scrambled for some excuse to cover herself. This time she didn't—she just looked at Mio with a faint shyness.
Feeling the weight of Yui's gaze, Mio really wanted to ask: was doing this right in front of Mrs. Yuigahama really okay?
Just then, as if something had occurred to her, Mrs. Yuigahama abruptly stood. "Oh dear, I almost forgot—the supermarket's got a sale today, and if I don't head out now all the discounted goods will be gone. You two chat, I'm off."
Mrs. Yuigahama was putting in a truly valiant effort with the act—but Mio, who'd been an actress before transmigrating, saw through her clumsy performance at a single glance.
This was obviously about creating some alone time for her and Yui.
Once Mrs. Yuigahama had left, Mio finally asked, curious, "Come to think of it, ever since I met you, I don't think I've ever once seen your dad around."
"Dad dropped us off and then went straight to the office for work."
"Your break's that short?"
"No, it's because something seems to have come up at the company, so his vacation got cut short."
"Oh right—can I ask what your mom's name is?"
Yui had no idea why Mio would ask such a thing, but she answered anyway. "Yuigahama Asuna."
At Yui's answer, Mio nearly lost her composure. She'd assumed "Yuigahama Asuna" was just a meme—never expecting it to be the genuine article. Which would make Yui's father none other than...
"Mio, why the sudden question?"
"It's just—I was simply a little curious, that's all."
"Oh."
Yui didn't think much of it. Instead she pulled out her phone and waved it at Mio. "Mio, want to see the photos I took back at the hometown?"
"Sure~"
Getting Mio's enthusiastic yes, Yui got up and came to sit right beside her, opened her photo album, and started sharing all the things she'd seen back home.
Yui's photography skills were honestly pretty solid—every shot looked great, enough that Mio half wanted to go check out her hometown herself.
Then Yui swiped down out of habit, and this time what came up wasn't a hometown photo—it was a picture of Mio, taken at school.
In it, Mio was resting her cheek on one hand, gazing off in some direction with a faintly bored expression.
Realizing her slip, Yui hurriedly swiped back, and said, a little embarrassed, "Th-that photo just now—I took it on a whim back then because I felt like it. You don't mind, do you?"
"Not as long as it's a flattering shot."
"Oh good."
Just as Mio was about to say something more, the System's voice suddenly piped up. "A secret crush—no wait, this is basically an out-in-the-open crush by now, isn't it? How can the host just sit there completely unmoved~?"
"Your task, Host: before leaving Yuigahama Yui's house, take the initiative to kiss Yuigahama Yui and hold it for five minutes or more. Success may earn you the Yuigahama Yui series card set or an item reward. Failure means drawing from the penalty card set."
"You've got this, Host~ A task like this should be no challenge at all for the current you, right?"
Get lost!
The task looked easy enough—but if she actually went through with it, wouldn't that be the same as giving Yui an answer?
If she could date Yui, fine. But with her own future a complete unknown, it was genuinely hard for her to give a straight, positive response.
No matter how she looked at it, this task could only be abandoned.
Snapping back to herself, Mio suddenly realized that somewhere along the line the distance between her and Yui had closed to almost nothing—she could even see the nervousness flickering in Yui's eyes.
Just as Mio was hesitating over whether she ought to pull away, Yui leaned in first.
After so long, the two of them kissed once more.
Mio had her guard up, but thanks to her constitution, under Yui's offensive she was routed like a broken army in no time at all.
She lost track of how long it lasted—maybe a few dozen seconds, maybe a few minutes—but at last the kiss came to an end.
Flushed crimson, Mio lay back on the sofa, breathing softly. It was just a single kiss, so why could it reduce her to such an embarrassing state?
"Host, I've got good news and bad news. Which would you like first?"
Still a little dazed, Mio couldn't even be bothered to pay the System any mind.
Getting no response from its host, the System didn't take offense. Its cheerful voice rang out again. "Good news: the kiss between the host and Yuigahama Yui lasted longer than five minutes."
"Bad news: Yuigahama Yui was the one who initiated it."
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