"So cold."
Shirai Mio stretched out a hand, catching a snowflake as it drifted down from the sky, then shivered quietly.
She'd watched the weather forecast the night before. It had mentioned a cold front coming, or something, but she hadn't really paid it much mind at the time. Now that she was out the door, she was already starting to think maybe she should've put the shopping off until tomorrow.
But since she was already out, turning back now would be a little silly.
Besides, all she had to do was get somewhere warm and she'd be fine.
With that, Mio held out a hand to Shiina Mashiro. "Come on, let's go buy clothes first."
"Mm."
Mashiro—who'd kept her hands jammed in her pockets this whole time because of the cold—didn't hesitate for a second once she saw Mio's outstretched hand, grabbing on.
After taking Mashiro's hand and tucking it into her own coat pocket, the two set off straight for the shopping mall.
Maybe it was because the New Year was near; even in weather this cold, plenty of people were still out and about on the streets.
Before long, the two arrived at the shopping mall.
This place was well-trodden ground for Mio by now.
Once she'd led Mashiro into a clothing store, a faint smile tugged at the corner of Mio's lips.
Usually she was the one getting dressed up like a doll in those Nikki games—now, for once, she got to be the one picking outfits and snapping photos.
"Mio. Weird smile."
"It's not. You're seeing things." After putting up a small defense, Mio launched straight into picking out clothes for Mashiro.
She'd assumed she could do what Miura Yumiko had done when she'd taken Mio out shopping—keep shoving clothes at Mashiro to change into while she snapped photos from the side.
But she quickly discovered that approach was a non-starter. Mashiro could put the clothes on, sure—but only just barely.
Without Mio's help, she wasn't even presentable enough to step out of the fitting room.
Resigned, Mio could only go into the fitting room together with Mashiro and dress her herself.
The cramped fitting room, plus a Mashiro utterly without her guard up—even Mio, used to all this as she was, felt a sliver of pressure.
Seeming to notice Mio's gaze, Mashiro—who'd just slipped out of her clothes—suddenly turned to face her. "Mio. Clothes."
"Ah. Oh." Mio had been so busy looking at Mashiro that she'd forgotten to help her change.
I've already seen everything there is to see—things I should and shouldn't have—so why am I getting like this now? Is it because the place is different?
Ahem.
It had to be said—Mashiro had a genuinely fine figure, and on top of that, her looks were stunning, so she pulled off pretty much anything she put on.
Plagued by her usual indecision, Mio just went ahead and bought every outfit she thought looked good.
Toting bags large and small out of the clothing store, Mio was wondering where to head next when she suddenly felt Mashiro give her hand a squeeze.
Mio reflexively turned—and saw Mashiro pointing at a lingerie store not far off, her meaning already unmistakable.
Mio glanced at Mashiro's chest, then said, "Your figure hasn't really changed lately, has it?"
If it'd been Sawamura Eriri, a look like that from Mio would've had her bristling like an angry cat—but Mashiro didn't care in the slightest. She just said, flatly, "Research."
"What kind of 'research' do you need to go into a lingerie store for!" For a split second, Mio actually wondered whether Mashiro had been secretly drawing doujinshi behind her back—but on second thought, that seemed pretty unlikely.
Grumble as she might, since Mashiro wanted to go, Mio of course wasn't going to refuse.
So she pulled Mashiro into the lingerie store with her.
"Mio. Does it look good?" Mashiro held up a set of lingerie made of little more than a few strings, sizing it against herself.
Watching Mashiro—face the very picture of innocence—holding up a thing like that, Mio nearly sprayed a mouthful of old blood out her nose.
It took some effort to compose herself before she finally managed, "That kind of thing's still too grown-up for you."
"Hm?"
After some hard convincing on Mio's part, Mashiro finally put the daring set back on the rack.
But before Mio could so much as breathe a sigh of relief, Mashiro picked up a sexy set of battle lingerie. "Then—is this the kind Mio likes?"
"Why do you keep specifically picking out this kind of lingerie!"
"To seduce you." Mashiro said it with a completely straight face.
The dead-serious look didn't last long, though—Mio gave her a flick square on the forehead, going easy on her, of course.
"Who's going to get seduced by something like that!"
She said it, anyway—but just now Mio had shamefully pictured what Mashiro might look like in that set of lingerie. Naturally, that was something she would never say out loud.
Right then, the System's lazy voice drifted into Mio's ear: "Mashiro wants to wear it, so why's my host standing in the way, hmm? Can you really stand to disappoint such a cute girl~?"
"Host, your task: before the day is over, get Shiina Mashiro to put on the lingerie she's holding. Success may earn you the Shiina Mashiro Card Set or an Item Reward. Failure means drawing from the Penalty Card Set."
"Ugh, another task with zero challenge to it," the System droned listlessly.
As far as it was concerned, basically any task involving Shiina Mashiro was a snooze—one word from Mio and Mashiro would obediently do it.
Boring. She wanted to see rivers of blood!
"Wow, your timing with this task is really something," Mio said, her mouth twitching. But it was just as the System said—if this task had been handed to anyone else, clearing it would've been a tall order. Mashiro, though, was a different story.
And yet the easier it was to clear, the guiltier Mio felt.
Mashiro trusted her so completely, and here Mio was, making her do something like this...
With a soft sigh, Mio said quietly, "If you want it that much, then go ahead and get it."
Mashiro, who'd already been about to put the lingerie back, hugged it to her chest again the moment she heard Mio.
Seeing this, Mio gave a helpless smile. "That size obviously won't fit you. I'll go ask a clerk for a set in your size."
"Oh."
At Mio's words, Mashiro finally returned the lingerie to the rack, then pattered along happily after Mio to go find a salesclerk.
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