"I'm home."
Welcome back! How was the date?
Miura Yumiko had barely finished changing out of her shoes when her mother's words nearly made her lose her composure. She fired back immediately: "It was just hanging out with a friend, not a date!"
After saying that, she glanced back at her older sister standing in the doorway, pretending to admire the scenery.
What scenery could there possibly be at the front door? She was clearly trying to cover up something, and doing a terrible job of it.
Still, Yumiko was used to her sister's rotten personality by now, so she just shot her a fierce glare before storming off toward her room.
Only after watching her little sister disappear into her room did Yumiko's older sister carefully tiptoe inside.
Mrs. Miura took one look at her eldest daughter's guilty expression and asked with practiced ease: "What happened? Did you see something you weren't supposed to?"
"Ehehe, as expected of my mom—I did see some things I probably shouldn't have. But I promised Yumiko I wouldn't say anything. She'd definitely get mad at me if I did, so don't bother asking." With that, she followed her little sister's example and fled at the speed of light.
As the door clicked shut, Mrs. Miura shook her head with a helpless sigh. She didn't press the matter, though. If she had to guess, her eldest had probably spotted her youngest with whoever she'd been on a date with.
It's not exactly some scandalous secret. Why are they being so dramatic about it?
Meanwhile, back in her room, Yumiko let out a long breath of relief. She pulled out her phone, ready to send Mio a message, only to discover that Mio had already sent her a bunch of photos.
All of them were pictures they'd taken together today.
Looking at just how intimately close the two of them appeared in every shot, Yumiko hesitated for a moment—but ended up saving each and every one.
Only then did she message Mio to let her know she'd gotten home safely.
"Got it~ Next time you want to learn more techniques, just hit me up anytime! All it'll cost you is treating me to something yummy."
Looking at the cute sticker Mio had attached, Yumiko didn't even notice that at some point, a faint smile had crept onto her lips.
She even felt the impulse to ask Mio if she was free tomorrow. Her fingers were already hovering over the keyboard when she caught herself.
Yumiko rubbed her cheeks and silently reminded herself: what she had with Mio was a simulated date, not a real one. The person she liked was Hayama Hayato.
It took her a long while before she managed to sort through the mess of emotions swirling inside her.
After a moment's hesitation, she pulled up Hayama Hayato's contact and typed out a quick message: "Hayato, are you free tomorrow?"
It didn't take long for Hayama to reply: "Yeah, what's up?"
"I want to go shopping tomorrow. Can you come with me?"
"Sure. Want me to invite Tobe and the others? It'd be more fun with a bigger group."
"Let's skip that this time."
"Alright then."
"Nine-thirty tomorrow. Let's meet at the usual spot." The "usual spot" Yumiko was referring to was the same place she'd arranged to meet Mio—the park entrance near their school.
After locking down the time and place, Yumiko flopped lazily onto her bed. For some reason, she used to always get incredibly nervous whenever she asked Hayama out, but this time... her mood was unexpectedly calm.
Had the dates with Mio actually worked?
Wait—why am I thinking about Mio again?
Yumiko hugged her little shark plushie and rolled back and forth on her bed. Maybe it was because she'd just finished a date with a certain someone, but now Mio's beautiful face and that sweet smile of hers kept popping into her head uninvited.
Feeling like she couldn't let this go on, Yumiko quietly picked up her phone and opened her photo gallery. She'd originally intended to look at her photos with Hayama, but as she scrolled... she stumbled upon the pictures from her previous date with Mio.
So much for not thinking about Mio—she was instantly absorbed in the photos.
It wasn't until a knock came at the door, followed by her sister's voice — "Yumiko, time to come out for dinner" — that she snapped out of it.
"G-Got it!"
Yumiko instinctively hit the lock button on her phone. That white-haired girl was too dangerous. She'd gone and fallen down the rabbit hole again without even realizing it.
She was starting to seriously suspect that if this kept up, she might develop some kind of forbidden feelings for Mio.
Now that she thought about it... if she actually dated Mio, it would actually be kind of—
Whatever she was imagining made her cheeks flush with heat. What the hell am I even thinking?!
Shoving aside her wandering thoughts, Yumiko plugged her phone into the charger and rolled off the bed.
The lock screen that lit up showed a photo of her and Mio from today.
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Nighttime. Eight o'clock.
After finishing dinner and washing the dishes, Mio returned to her room like usual.
She flopped face-first onto her bed without a care for how she looked—her skirt flipping up and everything. Not that it mattered. She was the only one in the room.
Hugging the cat plushie Yumiko had given her, Mio pulled out her phone and navigated to Katou Megumi's contact.
She hadn't forgotten—she still had a task to complete.
While it was true that Megumi had been the one to invite her, Mio figured she should drop a subtle hint just in case Megumi forgot, which would mean a failed task.
But before she could even send a message, Megumi beat her to it: "Shirai-san, would meeting at nine-thirty tomorrow morning at the park entrance near school work for you?"
"Of course, no problem." Mio replied without hesitation.
"You hadn't brought it up at all. I was starting to think you'd forgotten."
"I wouldn't forget something I promised you, Shirai-san. Because if I did, you'd definitely stare at me with those sad, reproachful eyes—like I'd abandoned you or something. People would get the wrong idea."
"No, I wouldn't. I don't do that."
If she could, Mio would've preferred to have this conversation out loud with Megumi. But there was nothing she could do about it—sometimes tasks were just weird like that.
That said, her luck had been pretty good today. So far, not a single task had triggered.
If only that luck could carry over to tomorrow...
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