Eriri looked down at Mio, who she'd just pushed onto the bed. Silver-white hair spread across the sheets, that slightly nervous and shy expression, plus the perfectly placed blush—all of it made Mio look incredibly... tempting right now.
The allure was so strong that even Eriri, who was also a girl, couldn't help getting drawn in.
Images from certain things she'd seen—or drawn—started flooding her mind.
Just then, Mio's voice suddenly broke through. "Sawamura-san, I think that's enough."
Watching Eriri press down on her and gradually lean closer, Mio quickly spoke up to remind her.
She was a bit worried that if this continued, something irreversible might happen.
Hearing Mio's voice snapped Eriri back to reality. Wait—when did she get so close to Mio? Another inch and she'd be kissing her.
Realizing this, Eriri hurriedly got up and took a deep breath to collect herself.
After that whole pushing-her-down thing, she'd come to understand one thing clearly: Mio was, in a certain sense, dangerous.
She suspected that if she spent too much time around Mio, she might unknowingly end up... well, bent.
With Eriri no longer pinning her down, Mio sat up too, her face showing what almost looked like lingering enjoyment. "So that's what it feels like to be pushed down? It was... actually kinda nice."
"???"
Eriri gave Mio a weird look. She was starting to suspect this seemingly pure silver-haired beauty might be hiding some serious masochistic tendencies.
Mio realized she'd said something wrong. She blinked, then quietly tried to change the subject. "Um, it's getting pretty late. I should probably head home."
The system could trigger tasks anywhere, but based on her experience, if she kept staying at Eriri's house, the next task would probably be making Eriri actively ask her to stay the night.
To avoid that scenario, Mio decided to bail before any task could trigger.
Hearing Mio's words, Eriri nodded lightly. "Be careful on your way back. Oh right, let's exchange contact info. Send me a message when you get home, okay?"
"Sure."
Even if Eriri hadn't mentioned it, she was planning to exchange contacts anyway. After all, she'd triggered a task related to Eriri—if nothing unexpected happened, she'd be dealing with her plenty in the future.
After Mio left, Eriri couldn't wait to sit down at her computer, ready to draw while her inspiration was running high.
But soon after sketching out the female lead, she realized—no matter how she looked at it, it looked just like Mio.
While Mio did perfectly fit her image of the ideal female protagonist, after hesitating a bit, she decided to change the design. After all, she'd need to discuss this doujin with Mio later, and if Mio found out she'd used her as the model, she'd definitely get mad, right?
Better to use a different design.
Meanwhile, after leaving Eriri's house, Mio headed straight back to her own apartment.
Once home, she just set down her bag before heading next door and ringing the doorbell.
What surprised Mio a bit was that the person who opened the door wasn't Chihiro Sengoku, but Mashiro Shiina in her pajamas.
Though the buttons were all fastened wrong, making the outfit look pretty messy.
Mio smiled helplessly, then walked into the room. After closing the door, she helped adjust the buttons on Mashiro's pajamas.
After she finished fixing Mashiro's clothes, she noticed that for some reason, Mashiro was silently watching her. Although there wasn't much expression on her face, her eyes held a hint of confusion.
Mio blinked, then looked down at her own outfit. It was her neat school uniform, nothing wrong with it. Why was Mashiro looking at her like that?
"Mashiro, is there something weird about me?"
Mashiro shook her head, then hesitated before nodding instead. "You smell like someone else."
"!"
For just a moment, Mio felt like a husband who'd used work as an excuse to go fool around, only to have his wife notice something suspicious when he got home. Also, why was Mashiro's sense of smell so sharp? She couldn't even smell anything on herself.
Pushing away that weird sense of déjà vu from her mind, Mio pretended to act casual. "I probably accidentally bumped into someone while running errands."
"Oh."
Mashiro simply acknowledged this and didn't press further, clearly showing complete trust in Mio.
That trust made Mio feel guilty. That weird sense of déjà vu appeared again.
She coughed lightly twice, then asked, "By the way, Mashiro, are you hungry? If you are, I'll make you a midnight snack."
"Not hungry. But want to eat."
"Alright."
Chihiro Sengoku, who was lying on the living room sofa watching TV and drinking, raised her hand and waved it after hearing their conversation. "Mio, I want some too."
"Chihiro-sensei, eating late-night snacks will make you gain weight, you know."
"It's... it's fine. I exercise plenty normally. Wait, why do I feel like you treat Mashiro way differently than you treat me?"
"Do I? That must be sensei's imagination."
As Mio spoke, she walked into the kitchen and used ingredients from the fridge to make midnight snacks for both of them.
As for herself, she didn't have a habit of eating late-night snacks. This was a habit she'd developed before transmigrating, when she was an actress managing her figure. Besides, she wasn't hungry right now anyway.
Carrying the snack into Mashiro's room, she could see Mashiro was still seriously drawing at her computer. She didn't even notice Mio coming in—it was only the aroma of the food that made her turn around.
Seeing how Mashiro seemed to want to eat but also wanted to keep drawing, Mio smiled. "You're really hopeless, you know that? Just keep drawing. I'll feed you."
Hearing Mio's words, Mashiro said with a completely serious expression, "Mio is the best."
With that, she turned her attention back to drawing.
As Mio fed Mashiro, she wondered if she was spoiling her too much. She really needed to teach Mashiro how to dress herself properly.
Otherwise, every time she helped Mashiro get dressed, it was a challenge in itself.
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