"Hm? Are you waiting for me?"
After club activities ended, Mio finished packing up only to realize Eriri hadn't left. She was standing behind Mio, clearly waiting for her.
Eriri avoided Mio's gaze and said quietly, "Something like that. I just wanted to ask—did you finish reading the manuscript I gave you?"
"I did. I thought it was pretty good. I especially liked the new ending you added."
Compared to last time, Eriri's revised work hadn't changed much plot-wise—it was still the everyday, yuri-tinged life of two girls—except now there was an ending, and she'd even tacked on an epilogue about the two leads living together.
Reading it had honestly made Mio squirm on her bed at the time.
At Mio's words, a faint smile tugged at Eriri's lips, quickly replaced by smugness. "Hmph, of course it's good. Just look who you're talking to~"
"Yes, yes, Kashiwagi Eri-sensei." Mio leaned in close to Eriri's ear and softly called out her pen name.
Feeling Mio's breath brush against her ear as she spoke, Eriri pulled back, flustered, then snapped viciously, "How many times have I told you—don't call me by my pen name outside of school!"
"Sorry, I forgot again."
Looking at Mio's utterly unrepentant expression, Eriri sighed. "Forget it. Are you coming or not? If not, I'm leaving first."
For all she said it, Eriri didn't look the least bit like she intended to leave first.
"Let's go, let's go."
Mio grabbed her bag and walked out of the classroom alongside Eriri.
"So, tomorrow's Valentine's Day. Have you decided who you're giving chocolate to, Eriri?"
At Mio's words, the first person to come to Eriri's mind was Mio.
Wait—why was the first person she thought of Mio!?
A flash of panic crossed Eriri's eyes. By all rights, shouldn't the first person she thought of be her childhood friend? It had to be because Mio was right there beside her—that was the only reason she came to mind first.
Yeah. That was it. Nothing more.
Noticing the odd look on Eriri's face, Mio leaned in, puzzled. "What's wrong with you?"
"N-nothing." A little tense, Eriri quietly picked up her pace—the only way to keep Mio from noticing the change in her expression.
Then again, Mio had helped her out plenty. Giving her a giri chocolate probably wouldn't hurt. She'd been so buried in her drawing lately that she'd completely forgotten Valentine's was even a thing—she hadn't even bought any chocolate. If not for Mio's reminder, she probably wouldn't have remembered until tomorrow.
"Don't walk so fast~"
Mio sped up too. Just as she caught up to Eriri and was about to say something, the System's voice reached her ear: "Host, please find a way to make Eriri say 'I like you' of her own accord before you two part. Success may earn you the Eriri Series Deck or an item reward; failure means drawing from the Penalty Deck."
"That's an awfully sudden mission. Where's the usual nonsense?"
"Doesn't Host dislike hearing it? So I skipped it this time. If Host wants to hear it, I can make it up for you now."
"Yeah, no thanks."
While Eriri wasn't looking, Mio turned her head and rolled her eyes right at the System.
Seeing Mio's expression, the System said in complete earnest, "That was a great face just now, Host. I'd suggest opening your mouth a little wider and making peace signs with both hands."
"And I'd suggest you picture it yourself."
With that, Mio stopped paying the System any attention.
The mission looked simple enough. If the target had been Mashiro, Mio could've finished it in under a minute. But this time the target was Eriri. Getting a tsundere who wasn't romantically interested in her to say something like that wouldn't be easy—though it wasn't exactly hard, either.
Mio rubbed her cheeks, then leaned in closer to Eriri. "Eriri, I've got a favor to ask."
The instant she heard "favor," wariness surfaced in Eriri's eyes.
Every favor Mio asked of her was bizarre—having her push Mio down or kabedon her—and they often got caught in the act. Was Mio about to ask her to kabedon her in the middle of the street this time?
Club activities had only just ended, and there were still plenty of students from their school around. If she actually did it, she and Mio would be the talk of the school by tomorrow.
Feeling Eriri's stare, Mio gave a wry smile. "What are you so nervous about? I just want to ask you to say one line."
"What line?"
"I like you."
"Eh!?"
Eriri froze. For a split second, she thought Mio was saying it to her—then she quickly caught on that this was a line Mio wanted her to say.
"C-can you just say something like that so casually?" Eriri stammered, her little face going red.
"I just want to know what it feels like to be confessed to. Please?" Mio hooked her arm around Eriri's and gently shook it.
"Don't people confess to you all the time?"
Mio was famously pretty at school, with a gentle personality that gave people the illusion that a confession was sure to succeed. So there was always someone confessing to her. Even Eriri, who wasn't in the same class, often heard about so-and-so's failed confession.
"Then let me be more specific—I want to know what it feels like to be confessed to by a girl."
"If I remember right, Sato-san from Class A confessed to you just the day before yesterday, didn't she? Isn't she a girl?"
"Then what if I said I want to know what it feels like to be confessed to by you, Eriri?"
Even though Eriri had half-expected Mio to say that, actually hearing the words from Mio's mouth still made her ears burn and her cheeks heat up.
Why did this white-haired little bitch want to know what it felt like to be confessed to by her? She didn't have some weird idea about her, did she?
Come to think of it, that really was possible—using "research" as a pretext to get Eriri to do strange things to her, when really she was trying to seduce her.
Wait—this might actually make good reference material.
No, now wasn't the time for that. What she needed to agonize over right now was whether or not to say the line.
······