The next day, nine in the morning.
Fully dressed, Yuigahama Yui stood in front of the mirror and performed one final inspection.
After making sure there was nothing wrong, she sat back down on the bed and waited until it was time to leave.
She had agreed to meet Shirai Mio at ten, and it had only just turned nine. At the very least, she still needed to wait another half hour before leaving.
There was nothing she could do about it. The thought of the date had made her so excited last night that she could not fall asleep, and this morning the same excitement had woken her up early.
It had only been one week since they last saw each other, and they had video-called every day, so why did she still miss Shirai Mio this much?
After waiting another ten minutes, she finally could not stand sitting at home any longer and chose to leave early anyway.
Seeing her daughter getting ready to head out, Mrs. Yuigahama did not say anything. She simply gave her a thumbs-up.
At the sight, Yuigahama Yui shyly avoided her mother's gaze and said, "I won't be coming back for lunch today. If I'm not coming back for dinner either, I'll let you know in advance."
"OK. Have fun."
After leaving home, Yuigahama Yui soon arrived at the nearby park, the same place where she and Shirai Mio had first met.
She walked into the park and headed to the spot where the two of them had met back then.
This was also the place she and Shirai Mio often called "the usual place."
Yuigahama Yui had originally only planned to wait there, but unexpectedly, the moment she sat down on the bench, she saw Shirai Mio's familiar figure.
That long silver-white hair was impossible to miss no matter where she was.
"I knew Yui would arrive early." Shirai Mio walked up to Yuigahama Yui with a faint smile on her beautiful face.
"Mm. Maybe it's because I missed you too much~"
Faced with Yuigahama Yui being so direct, Shirai Mio froze, then said shyly, "A-at a time like this, aren't you supposed to say you just remembered the time wrong or something?"
"If I said what you wanted me to say, you'd definitely keep teasing me, right?"
By now, Yuigahama Yui had long since figured out Shirai Mio's routine. In her opinion, acting tsundere and getting embarrassed was completely useless. Being direct worked much better.
At least, that was what Shirai Mio herself had taught her.
Rubbing her slightly warm cheeks, Shirai Mio asked, "Since we're both here, shall we get going?"
"Mm."
Yuigahama Yui nodded softly, stood up, moved close to Shirai Mio, and directly took her hand.
Thinking back to when she had first met Shirai Mio, even holding hands with her in a deserted corner had made Yui so shy she could barely stand it. Now, even holding hands with Shirai Mio out on the street no longer made her feel embarrassed.
The embarrassment was gone, but in its place was a small thrill.
Shirai Mio looked at Yuigahama Yui in mild surprise. She had not expected Yui to be so proactive, when Mio was usually the one taking the initiative.
Although Shirai Mio had been in this world for a long time now, she was not very familiar with places beyond the area around her home. That was why Yuigahama Yui had chosen the cherry-blossom viewing spot this time.
With Yuigahama Yui leading the way, it took nearly half an hour before the two of them finally reached their destination.
Since it was cherry-blossom viewing season, plenty of other people had come to see the flowers too.
Fortunately, Yuigahama Yui had deliberately chosen a weekday. For students like them, that made no difference, and the crowd was not so large that they could not find a good spot.
Before her Transmigration, Shirai Mio had actually wanted to come to Japan to see the cherry blossoms several times, but for one reason or another, she had missed the season every single time.
Although she had seen cherry blossoms filling the sky countless times in videos and anime, this was her first time seeing the sight in real life.
It really was beautiful. Shirai Mio especially liked the feeling whenever a light breeze passed by and sent the petals dancing through the air.
Just then, the System's voice suddenly sounded in Shirai Mio's ear. "With such beautiful scenery setting the mood, wouldn't it be a shame if the Host didn't do something?"
Hearing the System, Shirai Mio sighed helplessly and said, "Why is your timing always so uncanny?"
"Don't worry about little things like that. More importantly, listen to this mission first."
"This mission is very simple. All you have to do is make sure Yuigahama Yui feels satisfied with this date by the time you leave this place."
"What level counts as satisfied?"
"That's up to the Host to figure out~"
This was the first time Shirai Mio had encountered a mission like this. She turned to glance at Yuigahama Yui beside her. Judging by how things felt, it should not be too difficult. A normal date ought to be enough to complete it.
Still, without any detailed data to use as a reference, Shirai Mio felt that, to be safe, perhaps she should be a little more proactive.
Thinking of that, Shirai Mio gently squeezed Yuigahama Yui's hand and said, "Yui, let's walk around first."
"Sure."
The two followed the path, strolling along while admiring the cherry blossoms in full bloom.
It should have been a perfectly romantic moment, but before they had gone very far, they heard a familiar voice.
"Isn't that Yuigahama and Shirai?"
The relaxed expression on Yuigahama Yui's face instantly stiffened. She turned around and only then discovered that Hayama's friend group was not far behind them.
And Miura Yumiko was among them too.
Why had things turned out like this? Last night, Hayama's friend group had said they were going to Meguro River for cherry-blossom viewing and had invited her along. She had politely declined because she already had plans with Shirai Mio.
What she had not expected was for the group that should have gone to Meguro River to show up at this relatively unremarkable cherry-blossom viewing spot instead.
It was not only Yuigahama Yui who felt helpless. Shirai Mio did too. Now she finally understood why the System had issued what had looked like such an easy mission. In hindsight, she had still been too naive.
It was already impossible for them to avoid the group now. Shirai Mio turned around and smiled at them. "Yo, what a coincidence, everyone~"
"Yeah, what a coincidence~" Miura Yumiko said as she moved closer to Shirai Mio.
She had not expected to run into Shirai Mio here either. This must be what people called a pleasant surprise~
"Weren't you all going to Meguro River to see the blossoms?" Yuigahama Yui could not help asking.
"We were originally planning to go to Meguro River, but it felt a little too far away, so after talking it over, we decided to come here instead," Kakeru Tobe explained.
"So that's what happened."
"By the way, didn't both of you say you had something to do? How did you end up coming here together to see the blossoms?"
Kakeru Tobe's question made everyone in Hayama's friend group temporarily shift their attention onto the two girls.
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