"Mm... where am I?"
Rita slowly opened her eyes. Staring up at the faintly unfamiliar ceiling, no matter how she looked at it, it didn't seem like her own room.
It took her a good while to come back to herself and remember: she was in the guest room of Shirai Mio's home. Last night she'd chosen not to head back to the hotel, opting to stay here instead.
She rubbed her eyes and reached for the phone by her pillow. It wasn't even half past six in the morning yet—early, by her standards. Even on a school day there'd be no need to get up this early.
And it wasn't as if she had school to go to anyway.
Just as Rita was about to drift back off for a little more sleep, she caught the faint sound of movement outside the room.
After a moment's hesitation, she rolled out of bed and stepped out.
Following the sound, Rita soon found herself at the edge of the kitchen.
There, apron on, she spotted Mio—already busy preparing breakfast.
Mio noticed Rita too. She glanced over her shoulder and smiled. "Rita, what's got you up so early?"
"I woke up, and then I heard some noise, so I came to take a look. Do you get up this early every morning to make breakfast?"
"More or less."
"That's got to be exhausting, isn't it?"
"As long as I get enough sleep, it's not so bad—and I'm used to it by now. Even on my days off, I still wake up around this time out of pure habit."
Rita glanced around but didn't see any sign of Mashiro. "Where's Mashiro?" she asked, a little curious. "Not up yet?"
"No—I'll wake her once breakfast is mostly done. That's how it usually goes."
Watching the utterly unconcealed tenderness on Mio's face, Rita suddenly thought that if Mashiro really could stay by Mio's side forever, it might not be such a bad thing at all.
At the very least, she wouldn't have to worry about Mashiro failing to take care of herself.
With Mio around, that possibility simply didn't exist.
Rita stood watching for a good while before she noticed there seemed to be an unusually large amount of breakfast. "It's just the few of us," she asked, puzzled. "Can we really eat all this?"
"It's not just us. There's Chihiro-sensei next door, and the senpai who lives across the hall."
At Mio's explanation, Rita was genuinely taken aback. Getting up early to make breakfast every day already seemed like plenty of work—and here Mio was, preparing enough for that many people.
She also noticed that alongside the breakfast, Mio was making bento—and more than one, at that.
Catching Rita's gaze, Mio laughed softly. "Don't let it fool you—I may need to prep a lot, but these bento are actually pretty simple to put together."
"Even so, you're incredible."
Rita praised her without reservation. If it were her, a day or two would be fine, but asking her to keep it up long-term would be asking too much.
Pleasant as it was to watch Mio cook, Rita went to freshen up in the washroom first.
By the time she came back out, breakfast was ready—but Mio was nowhere to be seen.
Just as she was wondering where Mio had gone, she caught faint sounds coming from Mio's room. They were quiet, but if she listened closely, she could make out snatches of the two of them talking.
From the content, she could roughly guess: Mio was helping Mashiro change her clothes.
She sat waiting at the dining table for a good while before Mashiro and Mio finally emerged together.
Mashiro was already dressed in a crisp school uniform, her hair no longer messy from sleep but combed perfectly neat.
Rita hadn't expected Mio to get Mashiro changed and bring her out to the living room in such a short span of time.
"Good morning, Rita." Spotting Rita, Mashiro offered a small greeting.
"Morning, Mashiro. How'd you sleep last night?"
"Sleeping with Mio is very comfortable." At that, Mashiro seemed to remember something, and told Rita with complete seriousness, "I won't hand Mio over to you."
"As if I'd want her." Rita sighed helplessly. Just as she was about to start on breakfast, she noticed Mio heading out the door with two servings of it.
She knew Sengoku Chihiro, but the senpai across the hall was a stranger to her. "Mashiro," she asked, curious, "what kind of person is this senpai who lives across the way?"
"A dangerous woman."
"A dangerous woman?" The confusion in Rita's eyes only deepened.
Mashiro tilted her head, seeming to search for a way to explain, but after a long while she still couldn't land on the right words. In the end she settled for something simple: "A bad woman who's scheming after Mio."
"Shirai Mio really is popular, isn't she—and with girls, at that."
Mashiro was one thing, but now there was a bad-woman senpai in the mix too. Could Shirai Mio be the fabled Yuri Magneto?
Before Rita could probe any further, she saw Mio come back inside.
As the three of them ate, Mio asked, a little curious, "Mashiro and I have class soon—what are you going to do, Rita?"
"Me? I'll probably head out and wander around. Don't worry about me—worst case, I can always go back to the hotel."
"Then here, borrow this key. That way if you get tired, you can come back and rest whenever." Mio handed Rita the spare key.
"Are you really okay just handing me a key like this?"
"Should be fine, right? You're a good friend of Mashiro's, and it's not like there's anything worth stealing at my place." More to the point, Mio was a transmigrator who'd read the original story, so she trusted Rita well enough.
After a moment's hesitation, Rita took the key. "Thanks, then."
"It's nothing."
Once they'd finished their simple breakfast, and just as Mio and Mashiro were about to head out, Mio set the already-prepared bento down in front of Rita. "Here's a bento. If you think you'll want it, take it along."
Rita really hadn't expected Mio to make her a bento too.
Her opinion of Shirai Mio climbed another notch.
"Thank you. I'll be sure to savor it."
"Mashiro and I are off to school, then. See you when we're back."
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