"Finally, everyone has time!"
At a Family Restaurant, Kakeru Tobe looked at his friends with a deeply moved expression.
Spring Break was already almost halfway over, yet this was the first time they had gathered to eat, drink, and have fun together. Even then, a few people were still missing, such as Shirai Mio, who had gone abroad on vacation, and Ebina Hina, who had gone back to her hometown.
"What have you all been doing lately?" Hayama Hayato asked with a smile.
"Watching TV at home, going out shopping, things like that. Pretty much the same as any normal day off," Miura Yumiko said lazily.
Although that was what she said, she had actually spent all this time at home preparing for a Date. Once Shirai Mio returned from her trip, Yumiko planned to go on a grand Date with her.
Of course, she would never say something like that in this setting.
"Pretty much the same for me," Yuigahama Yui said softly.
It was only one week. In the past, she always felt vacations passed too quickly, but now she felt this one was moving far too slowly. Shirai Mio still had not returned.
Still, it would not be much longer. Shirai Mio should be back tomorrow.
As everyone chatted about what they had been doing recently, Kakeru Tobe suddenly said, "Looks like Shirai sent a Photo."
The moment they heard Shirai Mio's name, Yuigahama Yui and Miura Yumiko took out their mobile phones almost at the same time and opened their usual Group Chat.
They could see that Shirai Mio had just sent a Photo to the group.
It was a photo of Mio and Yukinoshita Haruno together. They looked rather intimate.
Seeing this, Yuigahama Yui and Miura Yumiko both frowned involuntarily.
Hayama Hayato's feelings were similarly complicated.
Before this, he had thought Yukinoshita Haruno was only interested in Shirai Mio for a while and would eventually go back to her usual self.
But from what he had observed recently, Hayama discovered that the relationship between Yukinoshita Haruno and Shirai Mio was nowhere near as simple as he had imagined.
He never would have expected Yukinoshita Haruno to actually fall for a girl.
"Feels like this gorgeous older girl shows up in Shirai Mio's Photos all the time. Think I could get Shirai to introduce me to her?" Kakeru Tobe asked excitedly, seemingly oblivious to the atmosphere around him.
"She's Yukinoshita Yukino's older sister. You can try," Hayama Hayato said quietly from the side.
"Then forget it," Kakeru Tobe replied without the slightest hesitation.
Elsewhere, Shirai Mio puffed her cheeks and glared at Yukinoshita Haruno. "Senpai, how did you know my Phone Passcode?"
"Because I saw you enter it before, so I remembered it," Yukinoshita Haruno said with a smile.
"Can I ask whether the number 114514 has some special meaning to you? You even use it as your Unlock Passcode."
Hearing Yukinoshita Haruno's question, Shirai Mio lightly cleared her throat. "It doesn't actually have any special meaning. It's just an ordinary string of numbers. I only use it as my passcode because it's easy to remember."
"Is that really all?"
"Really, really. More importantly, didn't you just say you wanted to take Photos over there? Let's hurry over."
The two had already arrived in another city. They were currently visiting the city's sights and trying all kinds of local snacks.
This was also the final stop of their trip. Tomorrow morning, Shirai Mio and Yukinoshita Haruno would be heading back.
"Senpai, we're going back tomorrow, so if there's anywhere else you want to go, anything you want to eat, or anything you want to do, just tell me anytime."
Hearing Shirai Mio's words, Yukinoshita Haruno leaned close to her ear and whispered, "Then let's go straight back to the Hotel and do what I want to do."
"Dame."
"Eh? You were clearly the one who asked what I wanted to do."
"Anyway, no means no. At the very least, not during the day."
"Since kouhai put it that way, I suppose I'll reluctantly wait until tonight."
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"Mashiro, over here~"
Seeing Shiina Mashiro and Rita Ainsworth, Sengoku Chihiro waved to them to show where she was.
Rita Ainsworth directly led Shiina Mashiro over to Sengoku Chihiro and said, "Long time no see, Chihiro-onee-san~"
"It's only been a week. That hardly counts as long."
"Maybe not for us, but that might not be true for a certain someone."
Following Rita Ainsworth's gaze, Sengoku Chihiro saw Shiina Mashiro looking around, apparently searching for someone.
Not seeing Shirai Mio for an entire week already felt like a very, very long time to Shiina Mashiro.
Seeing this, Sengoku Chihiro smiled helplessly and said, "Shirai probably won't be here for another half hour. Want to wait here?"
"Wait," Shiina Mashiro answered without the slightest hesitation.
Shiina Mashiro's answer was exactly what the other two expected. They exchanged a glance, then started chatting about what had happened recently.
There wasn't much to say about Shiina Mashiro. Rita Ainsworth had taught her quite a lot over the past week, useful or not.
Whether Shiina Mashiro would actually use any of it, Rita did not know.
After briefly telling Sengoku Chihiro about that, Rita Ainsworth asked curiously, "How did your mixers go, Chihiro-onee-san? After so many mixers, you must have gotten something out of them, right?"
The moment mixers were mentioned, Sengoku Chihiro's expression became subtle. She sighed quietly and said, "That's the problem—I got nothing. If I had gotten something out of them, would I be bored enough to come pick you two up?"
At that, Rita Ainsworth could only encourage Sengoku Chihiro to keep trying.
Half an hour quickly passed. Shirai Mio's distinctive silver-white hair made her easy to spot anywhere.
The moment Shiina Mashiro saw Shirai Mio, she rushed forward and gave her a huge hug.
After rubbing against Shirai Mio's chest a few times, Mashiro could not help taking a deep breath.
Caught in the hug, Shirai Mio stroked Shiina Mashiro's little head and said, "I'm back~"
"Mm. Welcome back," Shiina Mashiro murmured softly.
Then Shiina Mashiro noticed Yukinoshita Haruno standing nearby. She looked at Haruno warily and clung tightly to Shirai Mio, as though afraid Mio might be stolen away by her.
Yukinoshita Haruno had long since gotten used to it and did not care about Shiina Mashiro's attitude toward her.
What Haruno cared about more was Shirai Mio's attitude toward Shiina Mashiro.
Sure enough, although Shiina Mashiro did not look like much of a threat to her, she was actually the most threatening one of all.
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