A straight-cut dress, with thin lace socks adorning her ankles.
Chest padding, small pockets, and little black leather shoes.
When Sen Getsusa opened the door, Eriri was standing there exquisitely.
"Hi!"
The other girl gave her a look as gentle as Water, twisted her waist affectedly, and her moist, charming eyes still bore the faint traces of a clumsy imitation.
Bang.
Closing the door, Sen Getsusa looked back at her watch expressionlessly.
Bang, bang, bang!
Bang! Bang!
"Sen! Get! Su! Sa!"
"Open up! Are you crazy!?"
Click, she opened the door.
A furious Eriri, clutching her skirt and baring her teeth as she jumped around, yelled, "What are you doing!?"
"That's more like it..." Sen Getsusa stepped back to let her in. "I felt like I just saw a fake version of you..."
Eriri gave a subtle roll of her eyes, her flat chest heaving.
She was furious.
"School is about to start soon, are you still this busy?" Sen Getsusa thought the other girl had come to draw doujinshi again.
"That stage is already finished." Eriri sat obediently on the sofa, her voice exceptionally gentle today. "I came to play with you."
"Play with me?"
Sen Getsusa tilted her head. "Play what?"
The girl, pretending to smooth her hair, looked down and peeked at a tutorial on her phone screen.
'When the other party asks: Play what?'
'Put on a charming, smiling look, have your clothes half-open, and lean in.'
'Ask back: What do you think?'
'Note: Be sure to gaze into the other person's eyes while doing this.'
Eriri:... "What are you looking at so intently?"
The voice came from a very close distance.
Eriri looked up: Sen Getsusa was wearing an oversized shirt, her black hair loose, standing right in front of her—
Bending down to look at the screen in her hand.
"AAAAAAAAAA!"
"Haha, hahaha! It's not important! Not important!"
Waving her hands wildly, Eriri was completely unable to follow the so-called conquest plan from the website. After just two short attempts, she was already on the verge of breaking character... Sigh.
Dejected, utterly dejected.
"What's wrong?"
Sen Getsusa sat down next to Eriri on the sofa and asked with concern.
She thought the blonde little puppy was a bit strange today.
"No... it's nothing."
Being stared at by Sen Getsusa's eyes was truly a bit uncomfortable. Eriri stiffly turned her head, her body quietly sliding away to avoid the other's approaching limbs.
"I'm just bored, bor—yes, bored!"
Looking to the other side with her shoulders slumped, the girl gave Sen Getsusa the back of her head.
"Bored?"
Pata-pata.
Just as she spoke, Yuno Gasai walked out of the kitchen, carrying a plate of fruit.
"Sawamura-san?"
Greeting her and placing the fruit on the table, Yuno Gasai quickly bypassed Eriri and sat on the other side of Sen Getsusa, naturally taking Sen Getsusa's hand.
She looked at Eriri with a face full of concern.
Just like a married couple worrying about a Child throwing a tantrum.
"Sawamura?"
————
"What's wrong with you today? You've been acting weird all over."
Sen Getsusa skillfully wiped the mist-covered mirror with a tissue; in the reflection, long golden hair lay wetly against the girl's back, and beads of water still clung to her smooth forehead.
Sen Getsusa turned on the hairdryer, her palm lifting the ends of Eriri's hair as the warm air swept through with a whirring sound.
"It's nothing..."
The whisper was buried in the noise of the hairdryer as Eriri gazed at Sen Getsusa in the mirror.
She seemed to be focusing intently on taking care of her hair, blinking softly whenever a strand brushed against her.
I must be crazy... Having just finished my bath, I'm actually acting spoiled toward Sen Getsusa, letting her blow-dry my hair... Eriri, you must be out of your mind.
Whoosh—
Eriri's hair was very long; after blowing it for a while, the ends were still a bit damp. Sen Getsusa slowly straightened it from root to tip with a comb, her other palm following the comb, smoothing it down stroke by stroke.
Eriri's face grew even redder.
"Puppy, little puppy..." Sen Getsusa hummed a self-composed nursery rhyme, slowly and softly.
"Who's a puppy?"
"It's Eriri."
The comb passed through, and her palm rested on top of her head.
"Don't you look like one?"
Eriri's eyes wandered.
The human field of vision is very wide; when someone is very close but avoids eye contact, there's only one reason—they're doing it intentionally.
Eriri was doing exactly that right now.
She carefully pondered the manufacturing process of the lampshade overhead; then, her gaze bypassed Sen Getsusa to consider the dimensions of the bathtub; and then, continuing to bypass Sen Getsusa, she prepared to guess the prices of the scattered cosmetics on the sink... Her eyes traced a circle, but she simply wouldn't look at Sen Getsusa.
"Little puppy... la la la."
Eriri gave her own thigh a hard pinch.
Since she had come in halfway to help blow-dry the hair, Sen Getsusa was still in a very casual home state, her long white shirt messy and wrinkled, her face tinged with a faint red from the warm air.
Droplets splashed from Eriri's slightly damp hair, landing on the white shirt.
"Cough, cough, cough, cough!"
Eriri began to cough violently.
"What's wrong?"
Sen Getsusa patted her back, looking a bit worried. "You didn't... get sick, did you?"
"Don't want to take medicine?"
"Is that why you're hiding here?"
Childish as it sounded, Sen Getsusa believed Eriri was the type of person who would do such a thing.
"Cough! Sen Getsusa!"
"Hmm?"
Eriri's flushed face looked like soft, delicious jelly, and in her uneasy, jewel-colored eyes, strange emotions were churning.
She looked up, then quickly lowered her head again.
"Stop singing..."
Eriri said softly.
Sen Getsusa blinked. "Oh. But Eriri really does look like one."
"Especially when your hair is all wet."
"Is that so..." Eriri lowered her eyelids and, mimicking Sen Getsusa's tone just now, hummed a line as well: "Little puppy...?"
"That's right~"
Sen Getsusa pinched her cheek with a smile and corrected her lyrics: "It's not 'your' little puppy, it's 'my' little puppy."
"Is it yours...?"
"It's 'mine'."
I see... Sen Getsusa didn't notice Eriri's complex expression of wanting to speak but hesitating. She carefully picked up her towel, thoroughly dried the half-damp hair, and then combed it out strand by strand, letting it rest smoothly against the girl's back.
The gold appeared even more brilliant under the bathroom light.
Yuno Gasai stood outside the door with an expressionless face.
She had been standing there for a long time.
Barefoot, she deliberately avoided the light to prevent leaving a shadow as she quietly walked back to the hall.
On the sofa, a white point of light had been glowing inside a throw pillow for a long time; it was Eriri's phone, which she had forgotten to turn off in her rush to take a bath.
Her bare feet walked over softly, and after a moment, she stopped in front of the sofa.
The phone screen was currently on a manga interface.
Manga?
Switch, web page.
History.
"What is it like for a woman to fall in love with another woman?"
"Can a woman be with another woman?"
"How to confirm if you've fallen for someone?"
"How can I tell if someone likes me back?"
Snap.
The phone was turned off.
On the black screen, a distorted face was reflected.
-------------------------------
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