After class ended, lunch break was approaching again.
The girl brought today's bread and came alone to the laboratory. The place was completely empty, with only various cold laboratory equipment.
As usual, she put on a white lab coat and began operating the experimental table. The alcohol lamp flickered with a small flame. The bread was placed to the side. Then she took out instant coffee from a drawer, tore open the packet, and put the coffee powder into the mug nearby.
Soon, the gurgling sound of water followed.
Just as she was about to taste today's coffee, the laboratory door was suddenly opened.
The girl's heart skipped a beat. She made herself appear as calm as possible and gently took a sip of coffee.
"Using a beaker to make your coffee again?"
Hearing this familiar voice, the girl's heart beat even harder, as if the heat from the coffee was spreading throughout her body from her stomach. Her cheeks gradually warmed up too.
"Didn't the teacher warn you last time?" Hoshino Miru naturally closed the laboratory door. "If the teacher sees you like this, you'll probably get criticized again."
"I'm just using these things normally. And I didn't put the coffee in a beaker - I have that much common sense." The girl glanced at him, found him sitting at the desk below, and slightly looked away. "What are you doing here?"
"Lunch break is a bit troublesome, so I found an excuse to run down here. You don't mind if I take a little nap here, do you?"
Actually, Kasugano Sora and Eriri had been arguing about yesterday's events. Hoshino Miru felt his head hurt a bit, so he simply found an excuse to wander around.
"Oh, so you're using my place as a refuge." The girl's voice was very flat.
"That sounds too harsh. It's because we haven't seen each other in a long time that I wanted to come see you." Hoshino Miru felt somewhat dissatisfied. "After all, we're friends, Rio-san."
Hearing the last words, the girl - or more accurately, Futaba Rio - stiffened slightly.
Hoshino Miru knew quite a few people at school. Futaba Rio before him was also one of them, though she was somewhat more special.
[Target: Futaba Rio] [Intimacy: 52] [Status: Has no friends, scared of being alone at home at night, unconsciously avoids and looks away from the person she likes.]
Her intimacy was quite high. Hoshino Miru felt the two should now be considered good friends.
Of course, not everyone had intimacy levels.
Hoshino Miru discovered that only beautiful girls had intimacy levels, and Futaba Rio happened to be a beautiful girl, though she herself seemed completely unaware of it.
Futaba Rio often wore a white lab coat over her school uniform underneath, looking like a child wearing adult clothes - creating a strong sense of contrast. But her expression was too indifferent, her hair neatly tied back, wearing frameless glasses, instead making people feel she would definitely become an excellent student in laboratories in the future, and moreover an older sister type with a particularly good figure.
Yes, she was one of the rare girls who could give Hoshino Miru this feeling.
Different from Eriri or Kasugano Sora, Futaba Rio's figure had developed better than her peers. Only the white lab coat on her body hid the girl's exquisite figure - her full chest and slender waist combined together were particularly eye-catching. Especially the legs below her skirt hem - because over-knee socks easily slipped down, she always wore white ankle socks, exposing a large expanse of fair, tender skin.
Sometimes Hoshino Miru wondered if she really understood uniform temptation, but this thought was too inappropriate, so he'd never said it to her face.
Every time he saw Futaba Rio, she was alone hiding in the science laboratory, tinkering with her little experiments. Sometimes she'd make coffee like now, sometimes she'd also grill things in the lab - people couldn't understand what kind of feelings she held toward the laboratory.
However, it should be thanks to this point.
Hoshino Miru came to know Futaba Rio because when playing ball outside, he discovered someone in this classroom and a strange grilling smell came from it, arousing his curiosity.
At that time, Futaba Rio was grilling octopus. Hoshino Miru didn't know where she'd gotten the octopus. Watching her operate in the laboratory from outside the window, he really couldn't help it and simply climbed through the window to personally teach her how to grill octopus.
Thus, the two became acquainted.
"You've probably said such things to every girl, right?" Futaba Rio took a sip of her coffee. "I'm curious - is that girl the little sister you mentioned before?"
"You saw?" Hoshino Miru was very surprised. Even Futaba Rio knew?
"Didn't see. Just heard everyone chatting about it." Futaba Rio's tone was flat. Her gaze never looked toward Hoshino Miru.
"Next time I'll bring her for you to see. My sister is actually quite cute." Hoshino Miru yawned. "Sorry, I slept a bit late last night. I'm really sleepy now. No good, I need to doze off for a bit."
After saying this, he lazily sprawled on the desk, as if truly planning to take a lunch nap here.
Futaba Rio finally looked over, pressing her lips together. Because it was very quiet here, Hoshino Miru often used this place for lunch naps. However, he basically never brought Eriri over, probably worried it would make her feel awkward.
Looked like he completely treated her as a trustworthy good friend.
Futaba Rio quietly watched for a while. Not seeing Hoshino Miru make any movement, she then took out her phone and quietly opened a group chat called "Romance Guidance."
"Beaker Barista (Group Leader): Came back today after spending the holiday with him. Now in the laboratory."
"Water Mage: What, it's actually the group leader speaking?!"
"Want Ice Cream Today: Yay, the group leader finally revived!"
"Pure Little Kitty: I want to hear romance stories!"
Seeing everyone immediately pop up, Futaba Rio wasn't in a hurry to reply.
This was a group chat she'd created last year. Initially it was to find people to research how to date together, but later the nature slowly changed somewhat.
"Beaker Barista (Group Leader): These past days were a bit crazy. Let me calm down. I'll chat with you all in a few days."
"Pure Little Kitty: Disappointed.jpg"
"Beaker Barista (Group Leader): However, I drained him so much he couldn't get up."
"Pure Little Kitty: Shocked.jpg"
"Want Ice Cream Today: As expected of the group leader, easily doing things we can't do!"
"Water Mage: The super-draining group leader!"
"Karin: You couldn't have been doing it the whole holiday, could you?"
"Super Beautiful Girl: Wait, is this a topic for children to hear?"
"Beaker Barista (Group Leader): The whole holiday, we really were dating. Going out during the day, returning to the hotel for business at night. Sometimes too lazy to go out, doing it all day in the room."
"Beaker Barista (Group Leader): His stamina is quite good. After all, he's a boy who plays ball. Even tore through several pairs of stockings. But I'm very satisfied."
"Beaker Barista (Group Leader): Probably overdid it a bit. Haven't looked at the group chat these past days."
Futaba Rio's face showed no blush at all. Hoshino Miru sleeping at her place - of course he couldn't get up.
She'd at most just add some small details, describe it a bit.