"Hm?"
Mio blinked, then looked again. The counter had indeed changed from 0 to 2.
But how? She hadn't done a single thing—she'd literally just taken a nap. Why had the numbers moved?
She was half-tempted to see if taking another nap would finish the task entirely.
Of course, it was just a passing thought. She figured something must have happened on Eriri's end while she was asleep.
Looking at the task requirements more carefully—make Eriri's heart race three or more times—Mio was curious. What on earth had Eriri done while she'd been out cold to have her heart flutter twice?
Noticing Mio's dazed expression, Eriri raised an eyebrow. "What are you spacing out for?"
"Nothing. I was just wondering if Sawamura-san did something weird to me while I was sleeping."
"I—I would never do anything like that to you!"
Technically, she hadn't done anything weird to Mio. But Eriri felt inexplicably guilty, and she couldn't quite bring herself to meet Mio's eyes.
To head off any further questioning, Eriri cleared her throat twice and said, "Now that you're up, let's get back to studying."
"Funny—I've never seen Sawamura-san this eager to study before. Is it the exams? Classic last-minute cramming?"
As she spoke, Mio slid off the bed and stretched lazily.
Watching the curves Mio's stretch put on display, Eriri's gaze dropped instinctively—then she pursed her lips with a flicker of irritation.
By the time she came back to herself, she realized Mio had somehow appeared right in front of her, smiling that warm, knowing smile: "Don't be upset, Sawamura-san. Your figure may be a little on the modest side right now, but there's still plenty of room to grow."
Hearing that, Eriri flailed her arms in protest. "I don't care about that kind of thing!"
"Oh? You don't? Just now I saw you looking down at something, so I assumed you were dissatisfied with your figure~"
Eriri clenched her small fists. It was bad enough that Mio loved teasing her—but why did she have to be so perceptive, too? Sometimes Mio could read her thoughts the second she opened her mouth.
Noticing Eriri's expression turning dangerously pleasant, Mio cleared her throat and quietly took a seat next to her. The tutoring resumed.
Mio's faint scent washed over Eriri, and the image from when she'd first woken up flashed unbidden through her mind.
No—she needed to focus. Why was her brain going to weird places again?
She managed, with effort, to shove the intrusive thought away. Then she felt someone poke her cheek. She turned reflexively—and found Mio's face inches from hers.
"Sawamura-san is spacing out again."
Eriri wanted to deny it, but she hadn't heard a single word of what Mio had just been explaining.
She knew it was rude to keep zoning out when Mio was giving her a free tutoring session. But there were moments she simply couldn't control where her thoughts went.
It never happened with anyone else at school.
Only with Mio.
And not just now—even at school, whenever she was around Mio, her thoughts were easily hijacked by the other girl's presence.
The upside was that this distraction had given her quite a bit of inspiration. The downside was that she—a girl—kept thinking about another girl, and that felt really off.
She already had someone she liked. And she was a straight girl, damn it—straight as steel!
Gathering her scattered thoughts, she said sheepishly, "Sorry, I spaced out."
"I don't really mind. But at this rate, Sawamura-san's exam results might not look too pretty. And I can't come over to tutor you like this every day."
Mio seemed to think of something, then said, "Actually—if you don't mind, I could tutor you during lunch break every day."
"That's way too much to ask."
She already felt bad about today's session. And now Mio was volunteering to spend her lunch breaks tutoring her? That was... too good.
"It's really no trouble. I actually enjoy spending time with Sawamura-san. If it bothers you, just treat me to something nice later~"
"I feel like I already owe you a whole bunch of treats at this point."
"No rush. I've got a whole lifetime to wait."
Hearing that, Eriri's nerves prickled. "You don't have to say things people could easily misunderstand!"
"Misunderstand?" Mio tilted her head, wearing an expression of pure, bewildered innocence.
"Forget it. Nothing. I'll... take you up on that, then." Eriri averted her gaze, a hint of pink on her cheeks, and forced her attention back to the textbook.
At that exact moment, Eriri's flutter count ticked from 2 to 3, and the System's voice chimed in Mio's ear: "Congratulations, Host, on completing the task. Eriri's conquest rating has increased by 2 points. The Host completed this task more easily than I anticipated."
Honestly, Mio hadn't expected it to wrap up like this either.
She hadn't even been trying to complete the task with those last few words. She'd genuinely wanted to help Eriri out—the girl had done plenty of favors for her, after all.
She hadn't realized that her habitual teasing would be enough to push the counter over.
Meanwhile, her own flutter count for Eriri was still stuck at one.
For the task reward, Mio selected a card called Temporary Protection. Its effect: upon activation, nullify one day's worth of punishment deck effects.
Useful for emergencies—like when Schrödinger's Card rolled into something truly unacceptable, this card could bail her out.
As Mio made her selection, time resumed its normal flow.
She was about to continue tutoring Eriri when she heard a voice from outside the window—someone calling Eriri's name.
Eriri heard it too. The voice was unmistakably familiar: her childhood friend, Tomoya Aki.
...