Mio stared at Yumiko, utterly dumbfounded.
She hadn't misheard just now, had she? Yumiko had actually confessed to her.
Is it because we're still playing a couple? Is that why she said it?
As if she could see exactly what Mio was thinking, Yumiko said, her face dead serious, "I'm not saying this because we're on a mock date. I mean it."
"B-but I'm a girl."
"What about being a girl? Didn't you tell me before—as long as you like someone, gender isn't an issue?"
"Uh."
Mio really had said something like that. At the time she'd figured that, since it was Yumiko, she wouldn't take a line like that to heart.
She'd never imagined it would turn into foreshadowing.
But hang on—wasn't Yumiko straight? Why would she end up falling for her?
"I think Host could stand to look for the reason in herself." The System's voice suddenly chimed in, its tone positively dripping with schadenfreude.
Irritating as it was, the System had a point. Mio could roughly guess: it was because she went on dates with Yumiko so often.
In all honesty, she'd worried a little early on—worried she might accidentally turn Yumiko gay. But thinking it over, Yumiko had been in love with Hayama Hayato, so surely that would keep her from being turned.
And yet, here it was. The very thing she'd feared most had happened anyway.
"Um, can I ask—what's your reason for liking me?" Mio asked, treading carefully.
"You're worried that what I feel for you isn't really 'like,' aren't you? You don't have to worry about that. The moment I realized I'd developed feelings for you, I started thinking the whole thing through."
"Being with you makes me happy. When you're not around, I miss you. When we're sharing a room, my eyes keep getting drawn to you no matter what. And when someone brings up your name, I notice it even faster than you do. That should be enough to count as 'like,' shouldn't it?"
Originally, Yumiko had planned to wait until today's date was over, find somewhere a little more romantic, and confess to Mio then.
But since it had all come out into the open just now, she'd gone ahead and confessed on the spot.
"You don't have to give me an answer right away. Tell me whenever you've sorted out your feelings. In the meantime, I'll do my best to make you fall head over heels for me."
That said, Yumiko had a sneaking feeling that the one more likely to fall deeper was actually herself.
All at once, Mio felt the pressure bearing down on her. First Yuigahama Yui had confessed to her, now Miura Yumiko had done it too—and Shiina Mashiro had outright told her she liked her.
She finally understood it now: being liked by this many girls came with a weight this heavy.
In the other corner of the restaurant, Tobe nudged Hayama Hayato. "Hayato, don't you think the mood over there got kind of weird?"
"Enough. Hurry up and eat your food."
"You're not even a little curious what they're talking about?"
"Curious, sure. But if you go over at a time like this, I'm pretty sure Yumiko would kill you with a single look."
As if picturing some terrifying scene, Tobe finally clamped his mouth shut and buried his head in his meal.
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"Um, are we still continuing the afternoon date?" Mio watched Yumiko cautiously.
"Why wouldn't we? I've been looking forward to today's date for ages. Besides, you don't like leaving things half-finished, right?"
Maybe it was because she'd confessed to Mio, but Yumiko now seemed to have shed some restraint—both her tone and her actions had grown a good deal bolder.
"Um, can I ask when you started having feelings for me?"
"When was it?" Yumiko gave it serious thought, then said, "Maybe around our third mock date. Or maybe I'd already fallen for you by the second one, and just hadn't realized it yet."
Hearing Yumiko put it that way, Mio could basically confirm it: this was her own doing, no question.
If I'd known it would turn out like this, I never would've played the love guru and gone around drawing up game plans for Yumiko.
Then again—being with Yumiko really did feel pretty nice. Sometimes she even got so deep into character that it took her days afterward to snap back out of it.
I wonder how high Yumiko's conquest rating toward me would be if she got registered on the System Panel? Feels like it wouldn't be low.
"Does Host want to know Miura Yumiko's conquest rating toward you? I can register her onto the System Panel for you."
"Then go ahead and register her."
"You're sure? Once she's on the System Panel, there's no taking it back." The System sounded genuinely taken aback. It had only thrown that line out offhand—it really hadn't expected its Host to actually agree.
"I'm sure."
Taken aback or not, the System went ahead and registered Miura Yumiko onto the System Panel. In other words, from now on there was a chance Yumiko-related tasks would trigger.
And Mio took the opportunity to open the System Panel and have a look.
She wouldn't have known if she hadn't looked—but one look gave her a jolt. Mio discovered that Yumiko's conquest rating toward her was already as high as 45 points.
Mind you, this was without a single task having been done—and the rating was somehow already that high.
The way Mio saw it, it had to be because she liked being around Yumiko and so often played the part of her girlfriend. Drag that out long enough, and the conquest rating naturally crept up.
"Mio, are you spacing out?"
"N-nothing, I was just thinking about something. Where are we headed now?"
"That depends on where you want to go."
"I want to go somewhere with heating."
Since the date was still on, Mio naturally stayed in character as Yumiko's adorable little girlfriend.
Unlike before, though, where Mio had always been the more proactive one—now the one taking the lead had become Yumiko.
After thinking it over carefully, Yumiko said, "Then how about we go to karaoke? Feels like forever since I last got to sing."
"Sure."
Getting an affirmative answer, Yumiko grabbed Mio's hand outright and set off straight for karaoke.
For all that Yumiko looked endlessly bold, a closer look would reveal that her face and ears were tinged faintly red, and the hand gripping Mio's was sweating from nerves.
She'd been worried this whole time that her confession might make Mio put some distance between them.
Now it seemed she'd just been overthinking it.
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