"Mmph~"
Yuigahama Yui slowly opened her eyes—and found Mio already awake, watching her with a curious tilt of her head.
Still groggy, it took Yui a moment to get her bearings. But under Mio's steady gaze, she shook herself awake fast. Her pulse did a guilty little stumble as she asked, "M-Mio... why are you staring at me like that?"
"You just look really cute when you're sleeping. I wanted to look a little longer."
Mio couldn't exactly come out and ask so, did you happen to kiss me last night while I was asleep?—but she'd noticed. The moment Yui came to, something flickered across her face. Too much guilt for someone who'd done nothing wrong.
Good thing I failed that task on purpose beforehand and knocked my conquest rating down a bit. Otherwise I'd be in real trouble right now.
"There's... there's nothing to look at," Yui mumbled—somewhere between embarrassed and nervous—and threw back the covers to climb out of bed.
Normally on a morning this cold, not even the threat of being late to class could drag her out of the warmth without a solid five minutes of internal debate. But with her conscience eating at her, Yui steeled herself, committed to a single decisive motion, and launched herself out of bed without a moment's hesitation. Like a warrior. An extremely self-conscious warrior.
"I'm going to go wash up."
She grabbed her jacket and slipped out before Mio could say another word.
Even without any of her perception-boosting cards, Mio could read it plainly. Yui was rattled.
So that kiss last night wasn't some accidental, sleepwalking-induced thing.
A quiet, thoughtful light passed through Mio's eyes.
Yui really was a good person. In a world without the System tying her hands, Mio might have just... asked her out. Honestly. But because the System existed—because she never knew whose task was coming next—she couldn't let herself go there.
Not now.
:
In the bathroom, Yui stared at her own reflection and pressed both palms against her warm cheeks.
After Mio had fallen asleep last night, Yui hadn't felt tired at all. She'd reached for her phone to scroll through it, but somewhere along the way her attention drifted—from the screen to Mio's sleeping face—and then, before she'd even registered what she was doing, she'd leaned in and kissed her.
The second it happened, she nearly stopped breathing. She'd spent the next hour frozen in pure panic, convinced Mio had felt something. She hadn't—she'd been completely out—but the fear held on until well past midnight before Yui finally managed to drift off.
Why did I do that? She was a girl. Mio was a girl. Why would she do something like that to another girl? Unless...
She didn't finish the thought. But whatever her brain had started conjuring was enough to send a fresh wave of red flooding back across her cheeks.
She stood there for a while longer before finally—finally—picking up her toothbrush and getting on with things.
When she stepped out, she found her mom already settled in the living room.
Mrs. Yuigahama fixed her daughter with an impressively straight face. "You two were pretty rowdy last night. I'm surprised you're up so early."
"Mom." Yui shot her a wounded look. "We were just playing around. It's not what you're thinking."
"Right, right, I know," her mom said, in the exact tone of someone who absolutely did not know. "I'll start breakfast in a bit. Go wake Mio-chan up when you're ready, okay?"
Yui stared at that barely-concealed smirk and decided there was no point arguing. As long as she and Mio didn't do anything weird in front of her, the misunderstanding would clear itself up eventually.
:
She pushed open her bedroom door—and stopped.
Mio was in the middle of changing.
The morning light caught every line of her—slender but perfectly curved, skin flawlessly pale, the kind of figure that belonged in a painting. Like something exquisite. Like something dangerous.
It wasn't the first time Yui had seen her like this. But right now, she couldn't look away.
"Yui~" Mio glanced over with an easy smile. "You're going to make me shy, staring like that~"
Her voice said shy. Her expression said no such thing.
"S-sorry—!" Yui yanked the door shut on pure instinct, then stood in the hallway with her face burning. Why did I apologize? Why am I the embarrassed one? She's the one who—
...Though. Objectively. Mio really did have a great figure. Incredible skin too. Yui found herself wondering, completely without meaning to, what it would feel like to—
She slapped both hands over her face.
WHAT AM I THINKING.
A few minutes later, Mio emerged fully dressed and immediately spotted Yui crouching against the hallway wall.
"Yui? What are you doing out here?"
"N-nothing! Go wash up, the blue toothbrush is still yours. I need to go change." Yui shot to her feet, ducked into the room, and pulled the door firmly shut.
Mio scratched her head. We change in front of each other at PE all the time... She shrugged it off and headed to the bathroom.
By the time she came back out, Yui was in the living room, changed and waiting on breakfast. She'd steadied herself by then, and looked up with a casual tilt of her head.
"Mio, do you have plans today?"
"Nothing specific. I was going to head home first, though. Why?"
"No reason. Just... curious."
She hesitated. Honestly, part of her—a bigger part than she wanted to admit—wanted to ask Mio to stay. But every time they were together lately, that feeling crept up on her, and it made her act like someone she didn't quite recognize.
Better to spend today alone. Sort out what that feeling even was first.
"You sure? You look like you've got something on your mind." Mio could feel the indecision practically radiating off of her.
"Really, I'm fine."
"Alright. But if you ever need help with anything—seriously, anything—you just have to say so."
"...Mm."
...