"Mio, where did you go?"
The moment Mio got back home, she found Mashiro Shiina standing right in front of her, gazing at her with a resentful look in her eyes.
To be honest, Mio was pretty curious. What on earth could make the usually expressionless Mashiro look at her like that?
Mio racked her brain, but she didn't think she'd done anything weird.
Besides, even if she had done something weird to Mashiro, the other girl probably wouldn't make a face like this.
"I just stepped out for a little walk. What's wrong?"
"When I rolled over just now, I found you weren't next to me, so I woke up. And once I woke up, I couldn't fall back asleep." Mashiro tilted her head and thought about it, then puffed up her cheeks, doing her best to look all huffy and upset. But her stiff expression made her look both adorable and a little comical right then.
Mio reached out and gently stroked Mashiro's little head, saying, "Feels like you're getting more and more used to sleeping with me lately. What are we going to do if we end up apart someday?"
"That won't happen. I'll always be by Mio's side," Mashiro said without a moment's hesitation.
"I knew it."
Mio gave a helpless little laugh. Mashiro was always coming out with lines that made her heart skip, completely unaware of it herself.
Thankfully, she'd built up some resistance to this kind of thing. Otherwise, the conquest rating would probably be going up again right about now.
After all, Mashiro's conquest rating toward her was already sitting at the critical mark of 49 points. One slip and it would push the Mashiro-related tasks up to the next stage.
True, any task involving Mashiro was so easy the difficulty was basically negligible. But avoiding it was still a little better than not, if she could.
Mio had already made up her mind: she'd spend the whole day at home with Mashiro today. She refused to believe that, given this much time, no Mashiro-related task would trigger.
With that in mind, Mio said with a perfectly straight face, "All right, stop looking at me with those resentful eyes. I'm not going anywhere today. I'll stay home and keep you company, okay~"
"Really?" The resentment in Mashiro's eyes vanished in an instant, replaced by a joy she couldn't hide.
"You're really that happy I'm staying to keep you company?"
"Mm. Being with Mio makes me happy."
And it was right at that moment that the System's voice suddenly sounded in Mio's ear: "Congratulations, host. Mashiro Shiina's conquest rating toward the host... has not changed at all~"
"???"
If she could, Mio really wanted to land an uppercut on the System.
No, wait, she didn't have the uppercut anymore. So how about an earth-shattering, world-ending blow instead.
As if sensing the displeasure in Mio's heart, the System let out two dry chuckles, then went on, "The host looked so tense, I just wanted to help you relax a little. A System this thoughtful is hard to come by these days."
"A System this cursed is definitely hard to come by these days."
After quite a while, the System suddenly went silent. As she got breakfast ready, Mio said to it, "You popped up just to mess with me?"
"What else?" the System said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Shouldn't you be giving me a task or something at a time like this?"
"It's rare for the host to be this eager. As a System, that makes me happy. But unfortunately, when no task has been triggered, I have no way to just conjure one up out of thin air for you."
At that point, the System seemed to think of something, then said to Mio with a grin, "How about I give the host an unofficial task? The kind with no reward and no punishment."
"Get lost!"
The whole reason she wanted to trigger a task was to control Mashiro's conquest rating toward her. A rating like the current one, just a hair from entering the next stage, was like a ticking time bomb that could go off at any second.
And yet, no Mashiro-related task had ever triggered, which had left Mashiro's conquest rating stuck at that delicate point this whole time.
Mio was starting to suspect the System was doing it on purpose.
After finishing making breakfast, Mio ate it elegantly while asking, "Mashiro, is there anything you'd like to do today?"
Hearing this, Mashiro lifted her head, thought it over seriously, then said, "Draw, eat, sleep with Mio."
Mio's lips twitched. She really wanted to fire back with something, but she had a feeling that the moment she did, she'd already lost.
"If I remember right, you've already stockpiled quite a few manuscript pages, haven't you? Why not take a proper break today? Relaxing helps you make even better work, you know."
"Weren't you thinking about your new work lately? If there's somewhere you want to go gather material, I could come with you too."
"Not for now."
For Mashiro, the inspiration for her new work all came from Mio. As long as Mio was by her side, that was as good as gathering material.
"I'll just take it easy today."
"All right then. If there's anywhere you want to go, remember to tell me, okay."
"Mm."
Mashiro gave a light nod, then asked curiously, "Mio, why are you so good to me?"
Mashiro's words made Mio pause in what she was doing. Then she smiled and said, "Why are you suddenly asking that?"
"It's just, I'm suddenly a little curious. Two months ago, you and I were complete strangers. And I'm always causing you trouble too, yet you still take care of me like this."
There were actually quite a few reasons Mio looked after Mashiro the way she did. For one, Mashiro was beautiful, a character Mio had loved before she crossed over. For another, Mashiro never refused any of her requests. Even when they were strange or peculiar, Mashiro would agree without hesitation, without even asking why.
That left Mio feeling pretty guilty, and looking after Mashiro was the only way she could make up for it.
Of course, this wasn't the sort of thing she could say out loud. So after thinking it over seriously, Mio said softly, "Probably because Mashiro is cute."
"I'm... cute?"
"Yeah. Mashiro's the cutest." Mio reached out, pulled over a tissue, and wiped a smear of sauce from the corner of Mashiro's mouth.
If it had been any other girl, being praised like that would have left her at least a little embarrassed. But Mashiro seemed utterly unaware, even sitting there in a daze, puzzling over what exactly it was about her that was cute.
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