"Okay, I've got a rough idea now."
Mio Shirai slowly climbed off of Haruno Yukinoshita, then put on an excited expression like she'd just had a breakthrough.
Lying on the bed, Haruno Yukinoshita watched Mio with a slight frown. She'd assumed the other girl would take advantage of having pushed her down to do something weird.
But to her surprise, this white-haired kouhai had simply pushed her down. Nothing more.
She hadn't done anything else, hadn't even changed her expression. From start to finish, she'd just worn that look of serious concentration.
Could it be that Mio really did push me down just for the manga script?
But something about this doesn't feel that simple.
If pushing me down wasn't for the manga script... then what was it for?
She couldn't have just wanted to push me down for the sake of it, right?
Watching Haruno lie motionless on the bed, Mio asked, puzzled, "Senpai, is something wrong?"
"It's nothing. I was just thinking that being pushed down by a pretty kouhai seems like a pretty nice thing."
"Senpai, saying things like that can easily give people the wrong idea, you know."
As she said this, Mio suddenly felt like the comment hit a little close to home. After all, she was rather fond of saying things that gave people the wrong idea herself.
She'd been consciously reining it in lately, but a lot of the time it still slipped out on reflex.
"So then, kouhai, will you get the wrong idea?"
Faced with Haruno suddenly leaning in close, the unprepared Mio instinctively took half a step back. "I won't. Don't worry, senpai."
"Eh!? Honestly, I was kind of hoping you'd get just a little bit of the wrong idea."
Haruno gave a soft laugh, then stood up and stretched lazily. "Oh right, do you have any plans tomorrow, kouhai?"
"I made plans with a classmate to go shopping."
"Boyfriend or girlfriend?" Haruno's eyes lit up with gossip.
"A female classmate. A good friend," Mio quietly corrected.
"A girl again, huh... I'm starting to feel like you don't have any guy friends you're close with at all, kouhai~"
Mio had a feeling this wicked woman was hinting at something.
Before Mio could say anything, Haruno walked to the doorway. "Alright, it's getting late. I've got things to take care of tomorrow, so I'm off to shower and sleep. You should get to bed early too, kouhai."
"Mm. Goodnight, senpai."
After Haruno left the room, Mio finally let out a quiet sigh of relief. But before she could relax, the door suddenly opened again. Haruno poked her head in. "Oh right, when I shower and sleep tonight, I won't be locking my door~"
And with that, Haruno shut the door again with a thud.
Mio blinked, then let out a somewhat helpless sigh. Honestly, when there was a task involved, being around that wicked woman Haruno cranked the pressure all the way up.
She lived in constant fear that one slip would let the other girl see through her, or worse, guess at something, and then she'd be looking at a ten-pull on the Punishment Deck.
Speaking of the task, it had actually been completed the moment she first pushed Haruno down. Haruno's conquest rating toward her had increased by 3 points, and she'd also received an [All-around Upgrade], a one-use card that could temporarily boost the level of all non-Punishment Decks by 1 for a duration of 1 day. A pretty solid card, all things considered.
She had to admit, Haruno's tasks were tough to complete, but the rewards afterward were extremely generous.
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The next day, early morning.
Mio still crawled out of bed bright and early as usual.
The moment she stepped out of her room, she heard some faint noises coming from the direction of the kitchen.
When she walked over to the kitchen, she found Haruno standing there in an apron, apparently making breakfast.
Spotting Mio, Haruno smiled. "Good morning, kouhai~"
"Senpai, why are you suddenly making breakfast?"
"Just a sudden whim. It's not like I made breakfast because of you, kouhai~"
"Senpai, please don't say that kind of line in such a cheerful tone. That doesn't sound tsundere at all, you know?"
"It doesn't? I think it came out pretty well."
At this point, Haruno seemed to remember something, then gave Mio a sulky, reproachful look. "I didn't even lock my door last night, so why didn't you come over, kouhai? You left poor me waiting all alone in my room the whole night."
Mio flat-out ignored Haruno's words and walked into the kitchen. "Is there anything I can help with?"
"Nope. Breakfast is almost ready. All you need to do right now is go freshen up and then eat." As she spoke, Haruno pushed Mio out of the kitchen.
"Alright then."
Honestly, Mio was pretty curious about how good Haruno's cooking actually was. From the way the other girl had assisted her before, you could tell Haruno was definitely someone skilled in the kitchen.
Carrying that sense of anticipation, Mio headed into the bathroom.
By the time she finished freshening up and returned to the living room, Haruno had already brought the finished breakfast to the table.
What Haruno had made was a standard Japanese breakfast, and to Mio, the taste was really quite good.
"How is it?" Haruno asked, watching Mio expectantly.
"It's delicious. As expected of you, senpai."
Hearing Mio's praise, Haruno wore a smug expression. "Then eat up. I'm going to go deliver breakfast next door."
Playing the role of delivery girl, Haruno carried the breakfast over to the neighboring door. Before she could even pull out her key to open it, the door swung open first. Chihiro Sengoku, who had just finished showering, pulled it open.
When she saw Haruno, she visibly froze for a moment, then said with a surprised look, "I didn't see you in the apartment just now, so I assumed you'd gone home."
"I'm just staying next door, that's all." With that, Haruno handed over the breakfast to Chihiro.
Chihiro glanced at the breakfast, then said, "This doesn't look like Mio's style. Did you make it?"
"Got a problem with that?"
"Not at all. I just didn't expect you'd actually make something like this. Back when Shizuka and I asked you to cook, you never would."
"I just woke up early with nothing to do, and it's been a long time since I last cooked, so I figured I'd whip something up while I was at it."
"Oh~ so that's how it is." Chihiro nodded thoughtfully. Just as she was about to turn and head back inside, she seemed to remember something and turned back around. "Oh right, don't you feel like you've changed lately?"
"Me? Changed? How so?"
"I can't really put my finger on it. It's just a feeling. Never mind, just pretend I didn't say anything." With that, Chihiro turned and went back inside. Faintly, you could still hear her calling out for Shizuka Hiratsuka to wake up.
Haruno, meanwhile, stood where she was, seeming to mull over what Chihiro had just said to her.
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