"Mio, where are you going?"
Yui watched her stand up after lunch with curious eyes.
"Thought I'd drop by a few other classrooms. Want to come?"
Yui shook her head. She had a few friends in other classes, but not many—and she'd never really gotten into the habit of wandering over to visit. She was curious though. Mio was more of a find a flat surface and nap on it type after meals. Whatever was going on today, it wasn't nothing.
Mio said her goodbyes to the riajuu (social normies) squad and slipped out.
...
Class 1-J.
The school's honors track. Top-scoring students, returnees from abroad, future exchange candidates. By most metrics, a transfer student like Mashiro should have ended up here—but Mashiro had been placed in Class C, probably because Chihiro was her homeroom teacher and Mashiro needed someone to actually look after her.
Mio arrived at the door.
The room noticed her immediately. Most of the class did.
Among those who turned: Yukinoshita Yukino.
Yukino went momentarily rigid. Did she notice me watching her? Is she here because—
No. Mio was heading toward the far corner where one of her acquaintances sat. Just dropping by to chat.
...Right. I'm overthinking this.
Yukino relaxed marginally and observed from her seat.
It was genuinely a little impressive. Mio had been at this school for barely over a month. And she'd already made friends here—in a class that wasn't hers. From what Yukino had been able to gather, they were all girls. She'd heard more than one of her classmates say something along the lines of: If the person I was dating was Shirai-san, I think I could handle it, even if we're both girls.
It was hard not to notice. Mio had a pull to her that was difficult to articulate.
As if on cue, Mio tilted her head slightly and glanced toward Yukino's side of the room.
That feeling again.
Mio was fairly sure now where it was coming from. Yukinoshita Yukino.
Which was strange. They'd never interacted. Mio had specifically been making sure of that.
She filed the observation away and started drifting, naturally and unhurriedly, toward Yukino's side of the room. Her hand slipped into her pocket. Her fingers closed around a coin.
She let it drop.
The coin rolled, wobbled, and came to rest at Yukino's feet.
Yukino picked it up. She turned and extended it without a word.
Mio looked at the coin in Yukino's palm. Then at Yukino's face—ice-cool, composed, waiting.
She didn't reach for it.
Come on. Just one line. You don't even have to be nice about it.
A beat passed. Then another. The air between them went oddly still. Yukino's brow twitched.
"What," she said, "are you hesitating about?"
—
Something seemed to freeze.
And then the familiar chime cut through it.
"Congratulations, host! Task complete! Yukinoshita Yukino's conquest rating with the host has increased by 3 points. Please select your reward~"
Three cards appeared in the panel:
[Yukinoshita Yukino's Diligent Study] Increases the host's learning efficiency. One of the Yukinoshita Yukino series.
[Yukinoshita Yukino's Household Mastery] Increases the host's domestic skills. One of the Yukinoshita Yukino series.
[Yukinoshita Yukino's Culinary Arts] Increases the host's cooking ability. One of the Yukinoshita Yukino series.
Three Yukino-series cards in a single drop—and notably, none of them carried the usual "slightly" qualifier. Based on Mio's experience with the system, that meant the actual improvement would be meaningful.
She didn't deliberate long.
[Diligent Study].
Sure, she could already memorize any textbook she picked up. But learning wasn't limited to textbooks. Compounding efficiency over time could only be a good thing.
She made her choice.
The world resumed.
Mio blinked, putting on her best mildly-confused expression. "Oh—this is mine? I didn't even notice I dropped it." She took the coin from Yukino's palm. "Sorry about that. I hesitated because I thought you were trying to give me money."
"Why would I give you money?"
"No reason," Mio agreed pleasantly. "But if you happened to think I was cute and wanted to give me some anyway, I wouldn't say no."
Yukino looked at her. Blank face. No response.
Mio wasn't bothered.
"Anyway—I'm Shirai Mio. You're Yukinoshita Yukino-san, right?"
"That's correct. Is there something you need?"
"Not especially. I've just heard your name from your sister a few times, and some classmates have mentioned you too. We've never actually talked, so I figured now was a good chance."
Before Yukino had appeared in her system panel, Mio had been actively keeping her distance. Now that things had shifted—and given there would almost certainly be more tasks ahead—she needed to start building some kind of foundation.
Yukino, for her part, found the girl's direct, unabashedly bright-eyed manner a little difficult to process. She was used to people keeping their guard up around her.
She kept what she knew off her face and tilted her head.
"You know my sister?"
"Mm-hm. Haruno-senpai drops by Chihiro-sensei's place pretty regularly—I live right next door. That's how we met."
"I see." A pause. Then: "May I ask—what exactly is your relationship with my sister?"
...