"Never heard of it."
Mio gave an experimental tug to free herself, but with her pathetic, weakling strength, there was no breaking out of Haruno's hold.
And Haruno said nothing—just watched her with a beaming smile, as if to say: No kiss, no letting go.
Like some kind of lady hooligan.
Mio let out a soft sigh and, in the end, leaned down to plant a quick muah on Haruno's cheek.
At that, Haruno obligingly released her grip.
Free once more, Mio stood at the edge of the bed and looked down at Haruno, still lying there. "And here I thought senpai was going to make me kiss you on the lips."
"Oh, I wanted to. But I haven't washed up yet, so I'm a little embarrassed. It'll have to wait till next time. Though I have a feeling next time will come pretty soon."
Seeing that confident smile on the woman's face, Mio couldn't shake a sense of foreboding.
She couldn't help asking the System, "If—if Haruno happens to figure out that I have a System, does that mean I get out of the ten-pull?"
"Host, you're already awake. Why are you still talking in your sleep?"
"Never mind, then."
At least the System hadn't made her do a ten-pull yet, which meant Haruno hadn't guessed about it after all.
But Mio still had the nagging sense that the woman had already gotten hold of a few important pieces of information.
Then again, even if she knew, what good would it do? She could hardly stop the woman from thinking, could she?
Tucking away her scattered thoughts, Mio said her goodbyes to Haruno and headed home.
The moment she got back, she spotted Shiina Mashiro coming out of her room, looking like she'd just woken up.
Just then, Mio was hit with a strange sense of déjà vu—like someone who'd snuck back home after a night out gallivanting, only to get caught red-handed by her wife.
Shaking off that weird feeling, Mio smiled at Mashiro. "What's got you up so early today?"
"My stomach's... hungry." Mashiro let out a lazy yawn, then padded off to the bathroom to wash up.
Mio, meanwhile, set about making breakfast.
By the time she'd finished eating and gotten ready to head out, it was already eight-thirty in the morning.
She'd arranged to meet Yuigahama Yui at nine, at the park where the two of them had first met.
After reminding Mashiro to behave herself at home, Mio finally left the apartment.
Before long she arrived near the park entrance—but there was no sign of Yui anywhere.
Just as she was about to head inside and find somewhere to sit and wait, she spotted a familiar figure on a bench not far off.
It was none other than Yuigahama Yui.
Seeing that Mio had noticed her, Yui waved her over.
Walking up to her, Mio checked the time. "When did you get here? Don't tell me you've been waiting a long time."
"I beat you here by about ten minutes, I think."
"Really?" Mio sounded a little skeptical.
"Really. If I told you I got here way early, you'd just lecture me again."
"Fine. So where are we headed today?"
When Yui had asked her out, she'd only mentioned the date itself—nothing about where they'd be going.
At that, Yui smiled confidently. "I've made thorough preparations. Just follow me."
"All right. Wherever you say we go, we go. Although—even if you took me to a love hotel, I wouldn't say no, you know~" Mio leaned in close to Yui's ear, her tone dripping with temptation.
She'd meant to catch Yui blushing, but to her disappointment, the other girl didn't react in any particular way.
Yui just shot her a sidelong glance. "Mio, if you're serious, I'll change our itinerary right now. We'll spend the whole day in a love hotel, researching exactly how two girls are supposed to do the things they like doing together."
"Um. I was just joking."
"I figured."
Yui had long since anticipated that answer, which was why she hadn't gotten her hopes up just now.
She'd seen through Mio a while ago: the girl loved teasing people in that shameless, flirty way of hers—but she had basically zero defense herself. All you had to do was play along, and nine times out of ten she'd be the one left flustered.
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"Here. This is the first stop of our date."
Mio tipped her head back to take in Tokyo Skytree towering into the clouds. She really hadn't expected Yui to bring her somewhere like this.
She'd visited once back before she transmigrated—if Mio remembered right, it was about three years ago, and she'd come with friends that time.
This was her first time since transmigrating.
"Since I've never been in a relationship, let alone on a date, I looked it up online a few days ago. A lot of people recommended this place, so I brought you here. I don't know if you'll like it." Yui sounded a little bashful.
The most important part: she figured she was less likely to run into anyone she knew here.
The last thing she wanted was to bump into an acquaintance—or worse, a love rival—in the middle of her date with Mio.
"This place is great. I love it." Mio wrapped her arms around Yui's. Maybe it was all the practice dates with Miura Yumiko, or maybe it was the System pushing her into the passive role so many times.
Whatever the reason, the Mio of now seemed to have gotten used to being on the receiving end—even kind of liked it.
Ahem!
As the area's landmark and a famous attraction, the place naturally drew no shortage of tourists.
Mio even caught the sound of Chinese being spoken here, something she hadn't heard in ages.
It stirred up an urge in her heart—when she had the time, she'd love to head back to China for a visit.
"Mio, what's wrong?"
"Nothing. I just suddenly felt like traveling somewhere."
"Do you like to travel?"
"Traveling lets you see scenery you'd never normally see, and meet people you'd never normally meet. Yeah, I like it a lot."
"Is that so." A thoughtful light flickered through Yui's eyes.
Seemed like, if the chance came up, she could go traveling with Mio sometime—ideally the kind of trip where it was just the two of them.
The weather was lovely today, not a cloud for miles, and the view from the observation deck was spectacular.
It was just a little high—high enough that even someone like Mio, who wasn't particularly afraid of heights, felt her nerves prickle, her palms going damp.
Beside her, Yui was busy plotting how to fake a fear of heights so she could grab Mio's hand—but before she could work herself up to it, Mio beat her to it and took her hand first.
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