"Actually not bad."
Eriri sat at her computer, examining the doujinshi illustration she'd just finished.
A cute, petite silver-haired girl pillowed on the lap of a busty blonde—from every angle, the image carried an undeniable beauty.
But before Eriri could admire it for long, she heard a knock on the door.
Assuming it was her mother, Eriri didn't pay it any mind. She called out "It's unlocked," and went right back to tweaking details.
After a while, Eriri seemed to sense that something was off. She turned her head—and there, standing behind her, was Mio, smiling faintly as she studied the illustration.
"Wh—why are you here?" Eriri stared at her in shock.
She instinctively went to close the computer screen, but Mio had been standing there watching for a while already. There was no hiding it now.
Mio hadn't expected live social death to hit her so suddenly.
At that, Mio let out a soft laugh. "Has Eriri forgotten already? During lunch break, I said I'd come over tonight to tutor you."
To help Eriri study, Mio had headed over right after dinner, homework in tow.
Eriri blinked. She'd been so absorbed in drawing since getting home from school that she'd completely forgotten.
It was too late to do anything about it now. She could only force herself to say, "Well, should we start, then?"
"Sure, whenever. But aren't you going to finish this illustration first? It's actually really nice~" How could Mio not have noticed? In the illustration, she and Eriri's usual roles were swapped.
"I can draw anytime. If I don't study now, I'm going to fail the finals!"
Eriri put on her best "nothing is happening" face and reached over to shut the monitor.
If you looked closely, you'd see her ears had gone bright red, and a faint blush was creeping across her pale cheeks.
At least she'd only drawn an illustration. If Mio had seen the doujinshi she was working on, she'd want to find a blanket, bury her head under it, and perish.
Because of the unexpected ambush, it took Eriri a long time to get her head back into study mode.
What surprised her was that even though Mio hadn't brought a textbook, and hadn't even looked at hers, she explained the material with absolute ease.
Had this girl just memorized the entire textbook?
The self-study session ran until eleven at night. Eriri put down her pen and slumped over her desk, completely drained. "Shirai, it's pretty late. Do you still have to go home tonight?"
"You'd actually make a frail girl like me walk home at this hour?"
"So… you're staying?" Eriri sat up a little straighter without realizing it, something hopeful flickering in those clear blue eyes.
Mio gave a small nod. "I came tonight planning to stay over. Eriri's already invited me so many times, after all."
"Wh—who invited you? That was just me being polite."
Eriri turned her head away. There was no way she was going to admit she actually wanted Mio to stay.
Eriri had half-expected Mio to say something like, "In that case, I'll just head home." What she hadn't expected was for Mio to sprawl directly onto her bed, strike a languid pose, and declare, "Eriri, I've been sealed by your bed. What do I do?"
"Then just sleep there. My bed's big enough," Eriri said, waving it off.
"Hm? Is Eriri finally planning to do something weird to me while I sleep?"
"Say that again and I'm throwing you out!"
Mio silently clapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes the picture of innocence.
Someone unfamiliar with Mio might actually have been fooled by that immaculate performance. Eriri wasn't going to be.
Eriri went to her wardrobe and dug out a set of pajamas, which she tossed to Mio. "Make do with these for tonight."
"Okay."
Mio took the pajamas and started changing right there in front of Eriri.
Normally, as another girl, Eriri wouldn't have given this a second thought—but her gaze kept drifting toward Mio without her permission.
Taking in Mio's stunning figure, she even caught herself swallowing.
Hold on—normally, this was the moment when she should be feeling envious, right? Why was her first thought just now…
Whatever she'd been about to think, a delicate blush climbed her cheeks.
Not wanting Mio to spot what was going on, she ducked decisively into the bathroom, brushed her teeth, and splashed cold water on her face for good measure.
Washing her face with cold water right before bed was a recipe for not sleeping, but she did it anyway to derail her wandering thoughts.
Calmed down somewhat, Eriri went back to her room. Mio was already under the covers, lying on her side playing with her phone.
Seeing Eriri, Mio immediately scooted out of the spot she'd been in. "Eriri, come on, I've got it warmed up for you."
Eriri rolled her eyes. There was a lot she wanted to snap back, but she decided not to bother.
She slid into the covers Mio had warmed, feeling the lingering heat—and a strange feeling came with it.
To stop that thought from fermenting any further, she deliberately pivoted her attention to Mio and asked, "What are you looking at?"
"You know about the Fujikawa Shoten Fantastic Award?"
"I think I've heard of it. Why?"
"I submitted an entry for that contest a while back, and the results are about to be announced."
"What kind of ranking do you think you'll get?"
"Who knows~"
Honestly, Mio wasn't confident either. She trusted in the story of Honkai, but this was her first novel—and she'd written it without the System's help.
"As the writer of WHITE ALBUM, you should have some faith in yourself. You're definitely going to place well. Actually, now I'm curious—what kind of story did you even write?"
"An upbeat, sunny, wholesome, uplifting story."
"Your expression right now doesn't look the least bit wholesome." Looking at Mio's face, practically radiating glee, Eriri was pretty sure she was thinking about something weird.
"You're imagining things. Trust me, when the time comes, you're going to love that story."