"Mio, are you scared?"
Feeling the warmth of Mio's palm, Yui asked softly.
"A little, maybe. But this level of scared is a lot milder than a horror movie." Right now Mio was endlessly grateful she didn't have a fear-of-heights penalty card—otherwise her legs would probably have gone too weak to stand by now.
The mention of horror movies got Yui going. "Oh, right! I found a bunch more good horror movies lately. Want to watch them together sometime?"
"No thanks. I'm not in the mood for horror movies these days. Any other genre's fine."
"And whose idea was it, I wonder, that the scarier a horror movie is, the more you want to keep watching?"
"Who said that? I have no idea." Mio blinked her big, clear eyes, as if she had absolutely no clue who Yui could possibly be talking about.
Yui let out a soft laugh and didn't keep needling her.
She pulled out her phone. "It's not often we come somewhere like this. How about we take a picture together?"
"Sure."
The two of them found a good angle and leaned in close, striking a pose.
Yui glanced at the camera, then over at Mio beside her, and thought: What if, right before I press the shutter, I turn and give Mio a kiss?
That sounded pretty nice, actually.
At the very same moment, Mio was thinking: What if, when we take the photo, I plant one on Yui's cheek? Her expression would probably be hilarious.
"Ready?"
"Mm."
"Three."
"Two."
"One!"
The instant the word left Yui's mouth, both of them turned to the side to kiss—at the exact same time.
Feeling the soft sensation against her lips, Yui instinctively pressed the shutter.
It was only after the photo was taken that she realized she hadn't kissed Mio's cheek at all—she'd kissed those tempting lips of hers instead.
Mio, too, stared at Yui in surprise. Why did that just happen? Wasn't that a little too much of a coincidence?
This was a public place, after all, so the two of them held the pose for only a few seconds before quickly breaking apart.
Even so, gorgeous girls like Mio and Yui drew attention wherever they went—and even those few seconds were enough to set off a wave of gasps from the people around them.
Realizing things had gone sideways, Yui hurriedly grabbed Mio and made a break for it.
They didn't stop until they'd reached a corner with fewer tourists, where Yui finally let out a quiet breath of relief.
She looked over at Mio—only to find the girl watching her with a grin.
"You're still smiling about it."
"Why can't I smile? I just realized the two of us actually have pretty good chemistry~"
At that, the corner of Yui's mouth couldn't help curving upward too. "That's true. Without a certain amount of chemistry, something like that really wouldn't have happened."
Privately, Yui felt it was a shame—the kiss had been far too short. She'd barely gotten to savor it before it was over.
If they'd been somewhere with no one around, she might have gotten to kiss Mio until she went all dazed.
Yui didn't say any of that out loud, but watching that grinning expression of hers, Mio got the distinct feeling the other girl was thinking something weird.
Right then, the System's voice rang out in Mio's ear. "Such a rare date—and with the Host's personality, there's no way she'll make the first move. So let's have Yuigahama Yui take the initiative instead."
"Host, please find a way, before today's date is over, to get Yuigahama Yui to kiss the host of her own accord for five minutes or longer. Success may grant a Yuigahama Yui series card set or an item reward. Failure means drawing from the penalty deck."
"See? Isn't this System so good to you~"
"Good to me, my ass!"
It said get Yui to take the initiative, but wasn't it still going to come down to Mio pushing things along?
And a kiss lasting five minutes or more... she'd probably just end up making a fool of herself again, like last time.
Even Mio, remembering how she'd been kissed into a daze last time, felt her cheeks heat up a little. As for whether she hated that feeling or liked it—well, only Mio herself knew the answer to that.
Noticing the stiffness in Mio's expression, Yui asked, puzzled, "Mio, what's wrong?"
"N-nothing. Don't worry about it."
Mio forced out a dry little laugh. She had no intention of giving up on the task—but a crowded place like this was no good for pulling it off.
She'd just have to wait until they reached somewhere with fewer people, then figure out how to get it done.
After taking a short breather, the two of them resumed their stroll.
Along the way, Yui took plenty of photos of Mio—she'd send Mio a set later and keep a set for herself as a keepsake.
Before long it was lunchtime. Feeling hungry, the two didn't linger on the observation deck any longer, taking the elevator back down to find somewhere to eat.
As for where to eat, Yui had picked the spot out well in advance.
Even though Mio always claimed she could eat anything and liked everything, Yui had still managed to guess the kind of food she liked, roughly, from the bento Mio usually made.
And from there, she'd chosen the restaurant to match Mio's tastes.
From the satisfied look on Mio's face as she ate, it was clear Yui had guessed right.
Catching Yui's gaze, Mio lifted her head and said softly, "Staring at me won't fill you up, you know. If you don't start eating soon, careful—I'll eat your portion too."
"If you want it, I don't mind giving you my share."
"Never mind, I'm already stuffed."
Mio patted her little tummy. Before transmigrating, she'd had a big appetite but had to count every calorie she ate; after transmigrating, she didn't have to count calories anymore—but her appetite had shrunk a lot.
What was this melancholy feeling all about?
After lunch, Mio followed Yui a few minutes' walk to a nearby aquarium.
It was plain to see that Yui had really put together a meticulous plan for today's date.
Since it was the weekend, the aquarium had no shortage of visitors, and Mio got the sense that completing the task here was basically out of the question.
"Mio, what are you looking for?"
"I'm looking for somewhere with no one around, so I can sneak off and do something naughty with you."
At that, Yui shot her a skeptical look, clearly not believing a word of it.
Which left Mio feeling rather helpless—after all, she was telling the absolute truth, so why wouldn't Yui believe her~
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