"Senpai, I'm back."
Mio returned to Haruno's place carrying a bowl of vegetable congee.
By now Haruno had done as Mio said and was lying in bed, though she still broke into that familiar smile the moment she saw her.
It was just that her haggard complexion made the smile look a little heartbreaking.
"Kouhai, you can just set the congee down over there. I'll get up and eat it in a bit. It's already getting late—hurry off to class."
"I took the day off."
"Eh?!" Haruno looked at Mio in surprise. She really hadn't expected Mio to take the day off for her sake.
Mio scooped up a spoonful of congee, blew on it gently a few times, then held it to Haruno's lips. "I couldn't bring myself to leave you here all alone."
"No, wait—actually, it's more that I wanted an excuse to slack off, and Senpai getting sick handed me the perfect one."
After swallowing, Haruno said, "Kouhai, your delivery's a little too flat. There's no tsundere flavor to it at all."
"Well, if there's no flavor, there's no flavor. I'm not a tsundere anyway."
And so, between bits of idle back-and-forth, Haruno finished off the whole bowl of congee almost without noticing.
Once Mio had cleared away the dishes, she came back into Haruno's room with a fever reducer and a cup of warm water.
"All right, next up, Senpai, take this medicine and get some more rest. We'll see if you're doing better by noon—and if you're not, then it's off to the hospital to see a doctor."
At that, something seemed to occur to Mio, and she asked curiously, "Senpai, your family must have a private doctor, right? Why not just call her over?"
"I was going to, originally. But now that my kouhai's here, I've got no interest in inviting a third wheel."
"Fine, fine. Then rest up, Senpai. I'll be in the living room—call me anytime you need anything."
"There's something I need right now."
Mio, who had already risen to her feet, sat back down at Haruno's words. "What do you need?"
"I can't fall asleep by myself. How about my kouhai keeps me company and sleeps with me?"
"Huh?"
Mio shot Haruno a strange look. For the life of her, she couldn't figure out what Haruno was after by inviting her into bed.
But before Mio could puzzle it out, Haruno's voice came again. "On second thought, never mind. I'm still sick, after all—it wouldn't do to get you infected too."
"If you don't mind, Senpai, I'll stay here in your room."
"Mind? How could I possibly mind?"
Just having Mio nearby was more than enough for her. She'd surely have sweet dreams.
Permission granted, Mio pulled a chair up beside the bed and sat down, then bowed her head to look at her phone.
She had quite a few messages waiting—from Yuigahama Yui, from Miura Yumiko, and even Kato Megumi had texted to ask whether something had come up, since class was about to start and she still wasn't there.
By the time Mio had replied to everyone, she looked up to find that Haruno had, at some point, fallen asleep.
Gazing at Haruno's sleeping face—and just as Mio was thinking how rather cute it looked—the System's voice suddenly sounded in her ear. "Yukinoshita Haruno's Affection Level toward the Host has increased by 1 point."
"You scared me half to death. I thought you were about to spring some Task on me right now."
After all, the only person nearby at the moment was Haruno, which meant any Task it triggered would inevitably be Haruno-related.
Triggering a Task when the other party was perfectly healthy was one thing—but with Haruno sick, it was better not to trigger anything at all.
"Don't be so tense, Host. Have a little faith in the power of [The Unfortunate One]. Triggering a Task isn't nearly that easy."
"Let's hope so."
Noticing Mio's flat reaction, the System couldn't help asking, "This Affection Level gain—why isn't the Host the least bit surprised?"
"Because I just gave it some thought. Having a girlfriend like Yukinoshita Haruno wouldn't actually be so bad. Under those circumstances, an Affection Level bump is perfectly natural. What's there to be surprised about?"
"I suppose that's true. It's just that when the Host goes quiet, something feels a bit lacking."
"Lacking a bit of fun to poke at, you mean?"
Called out, the System let out a little "ehe~" and then vanished completely, as though it had never been there at all.
With the System no longer chattering in her ear, Mio couldn't help but yawn. After a moment's hesitation, she ended up leaning forward onto the edge of Haruno's bed, and soon drifted off to sleep herself.
She had no idea how much time passed before Haruno slowly opened her eyes.
Having Mio around really did make all the difference—even while sick, she'd had a wonderful dream.
As if sensing Haruno stir, Mio slowly opened her eyes too. She let out a lazy yawn, then asked, "Senpai, feeling any better?"
"Mm, a lot better than this morning. My head's still a bit foggy, though."
"That's fine—just rest a little more. Anyway, what time is it now?" Mio squinted at the clock on the wall and discovered it was already two in the afternoon.
She blinked a few times, and once she was certain she hadn't misread, she suddenly felt rather helpless. She couldn't believe she'd actually slept clear through to this hour.
No wonder she'd felt hungry so soon after waking up.
"Senpai, you keep resting. I'll fix you something to eat—and don't tell me you have no appetite so you can get out of eating," Mio said, dead serious.
"You've taken the words right out of my mouth. What's left for me to even say?"
After Mio left the room, Haruno didn't lie back down. Instead she got up and made her way to the living room.
That perfect spot where she could rest and watch Mio work at the same time.
Noticing Haruno, Mio started to say something, then thought better of it. If she herself had slept away most of the day, she probably wouldn't be able to fall back asleep either.
"Kouhai, don't tell me it's congee again for lunch."
"Mm. Is there a problem?"
"Um... could I have something with a little meat in it?"
"I put some lean meat in the congee. As for a proper big meal—let's save that for whenever you're fully recovered, Senpai."
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