"Mio, is there no breakfast today?"
Sengoku Chihiro looked at her with the eyes of someone's last hope. She'd had quite a bit to drink last night—head pounding, mouth dry, stomach loudly protesting.
She had been counting on Mio's cooking to fix all of that.
"Sorry, there was a small situation this morning. Breakfast and lunch are both convenience store today."
"...Huh?"
The light went out of Chihiro's eyes. She looked like a salted fish who'd just been informed the ocean had been cancelled.
Before Mio moved in, three meals a day had meant eating out or buying something mediocre from nearby. That had been fine. Manageable. But Mio's cooking had quietly become a pillar of her daily existence, and her standards had risen accordingly—to the point where convenience store fare now felt like a genuine personal tragedy.
And here I was, thinking Mashiro's dependence on Mio was getting a bit concerning.
Clearly she was in no position to judge.
"Helping Mashiro bathe took a bit longer than expected this morning—couldn't be helped. No breakfast or lunch today, but there's a big dinner tonight. Look forward to it~"
At the word dinner, Chihiro shot upright like a salted fish who'd just found water. "Can I invite—"
"Already texted Hiratsuka-sensei and Haruno-senpai."
"Mio, you absolute angel—"
The last shreds of professional dignity were the only thing stopping Chihiro from throwing her arms around Mio right then and there.
She had an early morning meeting, so she grabbed her jacket and headed out with an enthusiastic wave. Left to themselves, Mio finished blow-drying Mashiro's hair, then grabbed their convenience store breakfasts and lunches on the way out.
About fifteen minutes later, they arrived at the school gates.
Mio attracted attention wherever she went—she'd made her peace with that long ago. Add Mashiro walking beside her and the effect doubled. Years as a professional actress had conditioned her for exactly this kind of thing.
But today something felt off.
She stopped mid-step and turned around. The boys she'd caught sneaking glances at her scrambled to look elsewhere all at once.
Mashiro tilted her head. "Mio, what's wrong?"
"I keep feeling like someone's been watching me."
Mashiro looked at her. Steadily. With complete sincerity.
"Mio is very pretty. I like looking at you too."
Mio's heartbeat did something unauthorized. No conquest rating increase followed—which was probably the one mercy the system had to offer right now.
Mashiro wasn't wrong, though. The feeling was vague. Sometimes instincts were right on the money; sometimes you were just imagining things.
Mio shook it off and tugged Mashiro along.
She didn't look back.
If she had, she might have caught the figure stepping out from around the nearest corner—Yukinoshita Yukino, wearing a slightly mortified expression.
From the moment Mio had walked through the school gates, Yukino had been quietly observing her. She wanted to understand who this person was—the one who might or might not be involved with her sister.
Then Mio had suddenly turned around, and Yukino, thoroughly caught off-guard, had scrambled behind the corner like a complete amateur.
In hindsight, not scrambling would have been considerably less suspicious.
Fortunately, Mio hadn't noticed.
...
Back in her classroom, Mio dropped into her seat and started working through her convenience store breakfast before class.
Yuigahama Yui slid over almost immediately, curious. "Mio, why are you only eating now?"
"Overslept, no time to cook. Convenience store it is." Mio took a resigned bite.
"If you don't mind, I can split my bento with you at lunch."
"Yui, I love you~"
"D-don't say things like that so casually, people will get the wrong idea!" Yui looked away, something pink creeping into her cheeks.
Mio blinked.
Yui was acting a little strange today. She kept avoiding eye contact. Mio hadn't picked up on it at first—but with the perception-boosting cards she'd been stacking, it was hard to miss.
While Yui was distracted, Mio stuffed the remainder of her bread into her mouth in one decisive go and leaned forward into Yui's space.
Yui startled back half a step, then looked at her.
Mio stood there with both cheeks puffed out to maximum capacity. Ridiculous. Unbearably cute.
"Mio," Yui said, exasperated, "could you please try to maintain some semblance of a ladylike image? Since when does a beautiful girl eat like that?"
"I don't really care about image," Mio said, swallowing heroically. She grinned. "Yui doesn't mind anyway. Right?"
Yui went very still.
Does she mean...?
Is she saying she doesn't care what other people think... only about what I think of her?
That was way too much of a stretch. She knew that. But her face went warm regardless.
Mio watched Yui turn pink over nothing in particular and tilted her head.
What did I even say just now?
...