Shirai Mio stood at the bookstore entrance, staring at that vaguely familiar light novel.
As a veteran otaku, she'd watched countless anime, and Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend was naturally among them. Of course she wouldn't forget the characters.
"System, can you explain to me why Kasumigaoka Utaha exists in this world?"
"Didn't I mention before that this world is a parallel world? It's perfectly normal for parallel worlds to have certain minor variations."
"Right, right, right. Whatever you say."
If she'd transmigrated here normally, she might've been interested in Kasumigaoka Utaha. But given her current situation, approaching Kasumigaoka Utaha would definitely trigger a System task.
That said, if she could find Kasumigaoka Utaha and complete tasks related to her, she might be able to acquire writing-related abilities from her.
For Mio, who'd watched the anime, finding Kasumigaoka Utaha was doable—she just didn't need to do it yet. She'd wait until her own writing plan failed first.
After all, obtaining abilities required completing tasks, and who knew what kind of ridiculous tasks this scam System would issue.
If she failed the task and her luck was bad, she might end up as the protagonist of a doujinshi.
No thank you to that.
Reining in her wandering thoughts, Mio walked into the bookstore and browsed around. On an inconspicuous shelf, she discovered another light novel titled Reincarnation of the Silver Wolf. If she remembered correctly, this was the novel written by the male protagonist in Eromanga Sensei.
Good grief. This world seemed far more complicated than she'd imagined.
At least during her earlier internet surfing, she hadn't found any place like "Academy City" in existence.
Leaving the bookstore.
Mio now carried a bag containing the first volume of Love Metronome, thinking she could read it to pass the time when bored.
Before returning to the apartment, Mio made a detour to a convenience store to buy some snacks and daily necessities.
After confirming she hadn't forgotten anything, she finally returned to the apartment.
As soon as Mio stepped out of the elevator, she saw a blonde girl sitting across from the elevator doors.
Seemingly hearing the elevator doors open, the blonde girl looked up at the white-haired girl emerging from the elevator. Her beautiful face showed no expression whatsoever, yet it didn't give off a cold feeling—rather, there was an adorably vacant quality to it.
Mio blinked. The name Shiina Mashiro naturally surfaced in her mind.
At the same time, the System's voice suddenly rang in her ears: "Shh, look what we've found—a lone Shiina Mashiro. We could try pushing her down... Okay, just kidding."
"Please have the host make Shiina Mashiro actively push the host down at least once before 6 PM. Success will reward the host with a Shiina Mashiro series card or item. Failure will require drawing from the penalty deck."
"Please do your best, host~ (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧"
"???"
"Who asks someone to push them down upon first meeting? This System must have a serious problem!"
Mio considered herself rather mild-mannered. Even when gaming before her transmigration, she rarely cursed. But this System was just too much of a scam—even she could barely resist the urge to curse.
After venting internally at the System, Mio carefully reread the task description and realized it might not be as difficult as she'd imagined. After all, the task only required Shiina Mashiro to push her down—it didn't specify what had to happen afterward.
But that raised another question: why was Shiina Mashiro even here?
And was this randomly assigned temporary residence truly random?
If she hadn't encountered Shiina Mashiro, she might've believed it was genuinely random. But having met Shiina Mashiro, Mio began to suspect the System was deliberately stirring things up.
Regardless, the task had appeared. Mio composed her complicated feelings, then walked up to Shiina Mashiro and asked with a curious expression, "Um, may I ask why you're sitting here?"
Hearing Mio's voice, Shiina Mashiro looked up and replied in her monotone voice, "No key."
After speaking, Shiina Mashiro's gaze fell on the bag Mio was carrying, which contained daily necessities and some snacks.
Although Shiina Mashiro said nothing, Mio already understood what she wanted to express. She pulled out a bag of chips from the bag and asked, "Want some?"
An ordinary person might be wary of a stranger's kindness, but Shiina Mashiro showed no such caution. She directly accepted the chips, opened the packaging, and began eating.
From her eating speed, it was clear she seemed quite hungry.
After a moment's thought, Mio simply sat down beside Shiina Mashiro. While waiting for her to finish the chips, she carefully observed the blonde girl.
It had to be said—Shiina Mashiro was truly beautiful. Gorgeous golden hair, fair translucent skin, delicate features—she was a stunning beauty from every angle.
Soon, Shiina Mashiro finished the entire bag of chips. Before she could look at the bag in Mio's hand again, Mio preemptively placed an unopened snack in front of her, and even opened a bottle of beverage for Shiina Mashiro.
This cycle repeated several times until Mio's already meager snack supply was completely exhausted. Just as she was wondering if she should go downstairs to buy more, Shiina Mashiro suddenly spoke: "Full."
"You didn't eat lunch?"
"Mm. Eating costs money. I didn't bring money. Then I wanted to come back to get money, but I forgot my key. Only brought this." Shiina Mashiro pulled out her access card—which explained why she was sitting in the hallway rather than outside downstairs.
"Then how will you get back inside?"
"Wait for Chihiro to return."
Hearing the name Chihiro, Mio quickly thought of Shiina Mashiro's cousin, Sengoku Chihiro.
But why would this art teacher and Sakurasou dormitory manager be living here?
It seemed that while this world featured many characters she was familiar with, it differed somewhat from the original works.
"Oh, I almost forgot to introduce myself. My name is Shirai... Mio. And yours?"
"Shiina Mashiro."
"Well then, Mashiro, would you like to come sit in my place?" Mio extended her hand toward Shiina Mashiro.
...