"Your waist is so slim, kouhai~"
Haruno finished tying Mio's apron and promptly wrapped both arms around her from behind, looking deeply satisfied with herself.
Her own figure was nothing to be ashamed of—but maintaining it took discipline. Strict eating habits, regular exercise. Every time she freeloaded a meal here, she had to compensate with extra cardio afterward.
Then there was Mio. Small appetite, and from what Chihiro had mentioned, she basically never exercised. Haruno clearly remembered the look on Chihiro's face when she'd brought it up—teeth clenched, equal parts outrage and grief.
She could relate. Ever since Mio had moved in, Chihiro had put on a little weight. Haruno was honestly glad, in some abstract way, that she didn't live here. Her own situation would probably be no better.
As for Mio herself—she looked, objectively, like she was being teased. But she made absolutely no attempt to wriggle free.
She just let it happen. The warmth was nice. Haruno's hugs were soft and pleasant and Mio had learned a long time ago that she never came out the loser in these little exchanges, no matter how much Haruno tried to fluster her.
Still—dinner wasn't going to cook itself.
"Senpai," Mio said, "weren't you here to help?"
"Right, right, I'm helping~" Haruno laughed and released her, then fell naturally into her supporting role—handing off ingredients before Mio even had to ask.
Neither of them noticed the quiet pair of eyes watching from the living room sofa.
Yukino observed them.
After the initial display of affection, what struck her was the sync between them. Mio would reach for something, and Haruno would already be passing it over. No words needed. Just quiet, practiced coordination.
"Yukino." Hiratsuka's voice appeared at her shoulder. "You're staring so intently. What are you looking at?"
"Them. Cooking."
Hiratsuka followed her gaze toward the kitchen and hummed. "Huh. I never really noticed before, but watching those two cook together is... actually quite pleasant to look at."
"Two pretty girls in the same kitchen." Chihiro took a swig of her beer, sprawled on the couch. "Of course it is."
She hadn't bothered keeping her voice down. Even Mio, over in the kitchen, caught it. She turned around and flashed a sweet smile. "Chihiro-sensei, you're going to make me blush."
"Blush? You? Show me." Chihiro gave her a flat look. Living next door to this girl for as long as she had, she knew exactly what Mio's range of expressions looked like.
She'd never seen her actually blush. Not once.
She'd assumed, back when Mio first moved in, that she was the soft, fluffy type—the kind of girl you just wanted to pamper. And there was something to that. Sometimes Mio had this helpless, delicate quality that made you want to poke at her a little. But other times she was completely, unflappably in control. Like when she reminded Chihiro not to drink too much.
How to describe it. Unpredictable, maybe. Impossible to read.
A little gremlin in cute packaging.
Mio made a face at her, then turned back to the stove before her dish could burn. Priorities.
With Mio and Haruno working in tandem, dinner came together faster than usual. The spread was on the table in no time.
Mio had just sat down and picked up her chopsticks when she heard a familiar voice.
"Heeey, beloved host! Miss me~?"
"...I thought having the Bad Luck card was supposed to slow these down."
"That card hasn't leveled up yet, so its effect is still limited. Friendly reminder from yours truly—do not level it past three. I'd rather not watch the host die in a freak accident before she's gotten a single girlfriend."
Mio had, at some point, wondered whether tanking her luck hard enough would start producing Final Destination-style situations. Apparently that was a legitimate concern.
Figures. Penalty cards were penalty cards. Even the ones that seemed like they'd help you always had a catch buried somewhere.
"So what's the task?"
"Super simple this time! Before dinner ends, get Yukinoshita Haruno to feed you at least three times. Success earns a possible Yukinoshita Haruno Series card or item reward. Failure means drawing a penalty card."
"Easy enough, right~?"
"Yeah. This is the appropriate difficulty level."
She meant it, too—but she still opened the system panel and read through the task requirements carefully before exhaling in relief.
At least it wasn't Yukinoshita Yukino she had to get to feed her. That would have been a nightmare to engineer.
"Kouhai?" Haruno, sitting beside her, tilted her head. "You zoned out."
It had happened before. Haruno had noticed the pattern—Mio would sometimes just... go still for a moment, like something had snagged her attention from the inside. She always explained it as suddenly thinking of something.
"Nothing." Mio smiled. "I was just thinking—we made a lot of food tonight. Whoever that radiant young woman was who cooked all this, I could kiss her."
"Bold words from you." Haruno laughed—genuinely, unguarded—and before she could recover, Mio had already plucked a piece of meat from the dish and popped it into her open mouth.
Haruno chewed thoughtfully. "...Bold flavor from me, too. I cut that. It really is delicious."
Next to them, Mashiro looked up with wide, guileless eyes. "Mio. Do you want me to hug you and kiss you?"
Mio felt heat creep up her neck—which was new. She was fine one-on-one, but there were people watching right now. Even she had her limits.
The others had all become accustomed to Mashiro's non-sequiturs. Yukino, however, looked mildly thrown. She glanced at the blank-faced white-haired girl beside Mio.
She seems like someone similar to me, Yukino thought, and yet somehow she's also...
...quite the yuri energy.
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