"A person like you — drop you into a doujin and people would draw you getting railed into a hot weapon, no question!"
Eriri couldn't help blurting it out as she looked at Mio, now in her pajamas.
A moment ago, when Mio had said she slept in the nude, Eriri had actually believed her — had even been agonizing over what on earth to do. And just as she'd finally braced herself for it, she'd looked up to find Mio already changed into her pajamas.
If looks could pierce, Mio would've been run through a hundred times over by Eriri's glare.
"Speaking of doujin," Mio climbed onto the bed and turned on her side to face Eriri, eyes brimming with curiosity, "Mrs. Sawamura mentioned you've been working on a new piece lately. What kind of doujin is it, exactly?"
"Damn it, why would my mom even tell you that?"
Eriri pursed her lips, annoyed, but there was nothing she could do about it. She could only feign indifference. "It's nothing special. Just doodling around."
"Hm? That doesn't add up. Knowing your personality, Eriri, if it really were nothing special, you'd never have picked up a pen for it. You're obviously brushing me off — so does that mean there's something in this new piece you can't let me know about?"
"Th-there isn't! You're overthinking it. We've got an early start tomorrow — I'm going to sleep."
Eriri yanked the blanket up over her head, forcibly ending the conversation.
The doujin she was working on absolutely could not fall into Mio's hands! To anyone else it'd just look like an ordinary yuri doujin — but Mio would be able to tell exactly who it was the doujin depicted.
If Mio ever saw it, it'd lead to unnecessary misunderstandings for sure.
Like the misunderstanding that Eriri had some kind of weird feelings for her.
Seeing Eriri's reaction, Mio knew: there really was something in the new piece she wasn't meant to see.
Could there be a character based on her in it?
If that were the case, though, Eriri shouldn't be reacting quite like this.
So what was the reason, then?
Mio shifted her body, pressing herself snugly against Eriri's back, then said in a sticky-sweet, cutesy voice, "Eriri, come on, just tell me~"
"You're so noisy! I'm going to sleep!"
Feeling the soft sensation against her back, Eriri couldn't help pressing her lips together. In that moment, she was immensely grateful she was a girl — otherwise she might well have crumbled under Mio's advances.
Then again, even as a girl, she found Mio's relentless wheedling and pestering hard to resist.
All she could do was try to empty her mind and not think about all that pointless nonsense.
Thankfully, Mio didn't keep at it forever. Whether it was because she saw she wasn't getting a response, or because she'd simply gotten sleepy, before long Eriri heard the even rhythm of Mio's breathing.
That let her quietly breathe a sigh of relief.
Eriri figured she needed to find time to draw another new piece — otherwise Mio really wouldn't be so easy to fob off.
Then again... was Mio treating her as some kind of body pillow?
Well, given that the other girl was all soft and nicely scented, and having Mio's arms around her really wasn't half bad — she'd just pretend nothing was happening.
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"Beep beep beep beep~"
Deep in sleep, Eriri suddenly heard the familiar ring of her alarm. Her eyes hadn't even opened yet, but her hand had already grabbed the phone, shutting off the alarm by pure muscle memory.
A few more minutes passed before Eriri slowly opened her eyes.
The first thing that greeted her, fresh awake, was Mio's beautiful face — like a sleeping beauty, waiting for someone to come kiss her awake.
Banishing the strange sense of déjà vu from her mind, Eriri reached out and laid a hand on Mio's face, kneading it as she said, "Wake up, lazy pig."
"I can only get up if Eriri gives me a kiss~"
The instant she heard that, Eriri didn't say another word — she just flipped straight out of bed and headed for the bathroom, calling over her shoulder, "Get up, now. We still have to get in early and set up."
"Okay." Mio opened her eyes, then crowded into the bathroom right alongside her. The two of them stood side by side at the sink, brushing their teeth.
Looking at the two of them in the mirror, their movements in near-perfect sync, Mio said, words muffled around her toothbrush, "Eriri, don't you think we look kind of like an old married couple right now?"
"Like hell we do."
That was what she said — but a moment ago, that very thought had, in fact, flashed through Eriri's mind.
She dismissed it quickly, though, silently chanting I'm a straight girl, I'm a straight girl a few times before she got herself back on track.
To avoid being recognized, both Mio and Eriri had disguised themselves to a fair degree.
Looking at herself in the mirror, face mask on, Mio gave a satisfied nod. Unless it was someone who knew her very well, no one would see through her disguise.
Besides the two of them, Eriri's parents had come along as well.
Strictly speaking, Eriri's parents were the main force — the two girls were basically just along for the ride.
It was Mio's first time meeting Eriri's father, a handsome middle-aged gentleman who seemed extremely friendly. Now and then, while chatting, he'd toss out memes only fellow otaku would get — he didn't look anything like a diplomat.
The prep work was, in fact, mostly done already. Once they'd gotten in early, all they had to do was lay the doujinshi out and wait for the crowds to come in.
As people began filing in, Mio had assumed she'd need to help with something at the booth — but instead she watched Sawamura Sayuri hand a little notebook to Eriri and say, with utter seriousness, "Eriri, Mommy's happiness is riding on you."
Eriri's father turned his head too, adding, "Daddy's as well."
"I know." Eriri nodded impatiently, then waved Mio over. "Come on, let's go buy stuff."
"We're heading out — are you sure the booth's going to be fine?"
"There's definitely going to be a problem," Eriri said, helplessly waving the little notebook in her hand — everything her parents wanted her to buy was listed inside, complete with a marked priority level — "but if we don't hurry up and get this 'stuff' bought, the problem's going to be a whole lot bigger."
"Fair enough."
After saying goodbye to Eriri's parents, Mio set off, rushing here and there at Eriri's heels.
Mio didn't even know where they were going — she just followed Eriri, lined up, bought things, then dashed off to the next place without a moment's pause.
Mio suddenly felt that maybe staying back to help at the booth would've been the easier job.
By the time the two of them made it back to the booth, a long line had already formed in front of it.
What caught Mio a little off guard was that the person standing at the very end of the line, holding up a sign, turned out to be Aki Tomoya.
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