"Th-There's no way. It's just, I happened to have nothing on today, ran into Yukinoshita-san, so I figured I'd kill some time. That's all."
Backed steadily toward the sofa by an advancing Haruno, Mio was nearly lying flat across it. Of all things, she'd never imagined waking up to find Haruno right in front of her.
Especially not after that dream.
Right now Mio was panicking hard.
She was half-convinced her nightmare was about to come true.
Just as she was bracing for Haruno to drag her off to a basement, the other woman abruptly stopped closing in, straightened up, and said with a sunny little smile, "If you've got a clear conscience, kouhai, there's no need to look so flustered. People might get the wrong idea."
On any other day, Mio would never let her feelings show on her face. But she'd just woken up, straight off a bizarre dream, and the first thing she saw was Haruno. Three shocks stacked back-to-back, and her expression management crashed on the spot.
"Well, since you're up, I'll go get Yukino. My treat for dinner tonight, somewhere nice."
"Ehh!?"
Watching Haruno's retreating back, Mio blinked. Somehow this felt off. Something wasn't adding up.
Given what a piece of work Haruno was, was there really any chance she'd let Mio off this easily?
While Mio was still turning over whatever scheme Haruno might be cooking up, Yukino emerged from her room alongside her sister.
"Come on, kouhai, quit spacing out over there. Let's get moving. Shizuka and the others already beat us there."
"Oh. Right."
Mio answered and trailed the two sisters downstairs, then climbed straight into the Yukinoshita family's private car.
The whole way there, Mio kept her attention on Haruno, but the woman acted like nothing had happened at all, right up until they reached their destination.
An all-you-can-eat yakiniku place.
Unable to make heads or tails of it, Mio decided to shelve the question for now.
Inside, a waitress led the group to a private room.
Hiratsuka Shizuka, Sengoku Chihiro, and Shiina Mashiro were all already there.
The moment Mashiro spotted Mio, she, who'd shown no particular reaction until then, immediately waved her over to sit beside her.
Mio wasn't about to say no. She walked right over and took the seat next to Mashiro.
The yakiniku here wasn't bad at all. Pre-transmigration, Mio would've made the owner regret ever offering all-you-can-eat, but these days? Just a nice thought and nothing more. With modest appetites like theirs now, a buffet like this was a money-loser for whoever was footing the bill.
Then again, Haruno had money to burn. She probably wouldn't care.
Once dinner wrapped, Yukino, who lived elsewhere, headed off first, leaving Mio and Haruno on babysitting duty for Sengoku Chihiro and Hiratsuka Shizuka.
Tonight those two had gotten onto the subject of group dates again, and somewhere along the way they'd managed to poke straight at each other's sore spots.
Which was how the pair ended up drowning their sorrows in drink.
They looked absolutely wasted, but the truth was neither had actually had all that much.
Classic lightweights who loved to drink anyway.
By the time they'd finally hauled the two drunks back home, Mio was thoroughly worn out.
She even had the odd sense she'd been through this exact thing somewhere before.
She didn't dwell on it, though. These two got sloshed often enough.
"Alright, Senpai, let's head back too."
"Mm."
Stepping out of Sengoku Chihiro's place, just as Mio was about to head home, she instinctively glanced back at Haruno. So far the woman had been no different from usual.
Catching Mio's gaze, Haruno, already at the door, turned back and smiled. "What? Did my kouhai want to come sit at my place for a bit?"
Mio was on the verge of declining when the System's voice piped up in her ear once more:
"Task: Find a way to get Yukinoshita Haruno to kiss you of her own initiative before tonight is over. Face only, and it must last no less than one minute. Success may reward a Yukinoshita Haruno series deck or an item reward. Failure draws from the punishment deck."
Having already cleared three tasks today, Mio, hearing the System again, seriously considered dragging it out for a beating.
Sensing Mio's inner turmoil, the System added, cautious, "This one's not on me. It's mainly because you got so lucky today and drew the [Strong Luck Card]."
"Oh, shut it."
Just as Mio finished bickering with the System and was about to figure out how to pull off the task, she realized Haruno had somehow drifted right up in front of her, watching her with open interest.
"S-Senpai? What is it?"
"That's my line, kouhai. You look like something's troubling you again."
Mio blinked. Somehow she was getting the sense she was at risk of a dreaded ten-pull.
Then a possibility struck her. What if Haruno already knew Mio was only sticking to her sister for some particular reason, so she'd just been teasing, nothing more, no ulterior motive?
Come to think of it, that actually seemed plausible.
"The host's conquest rating with Yukinoshita Haruno increased by 5 points."
"Why...? Never mind."
Knowing there was no point complaining, Mio just sighed quietly and turned her attention back to Haruno.
After a moment's hesitation, she lowered her voice and said, "There actually is something I'd like to ask you, Senpai."
"Then come say it at my place."
Mio gave a small nod and followed Haruno inside.
Normally, with a task like this triggered, Mio would've come up with some excuse to disguise what she was really after. This time, though, after a brief hesitation, she just said it outright: "Senpai, could you give me a kiss? Anywhere on the face is fine, just hold it for at least a minute."
"So the initiative's entirely in my hands, is that it? Sure, why not."
Haruno gave a soft laugh, then stepped up in front of Mio, her eyes roving over Mio's face as if deciding exactly where to plant it.
And just as Mio braced for her to go for the lips, Haruno kissed her on the forehead instead.
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