"Akihabara!"
Mio had been tempted to belt it out like Kousaka Kirino would, but thought better of it.
Her shamelessness hadn't quite reached the level where she could pull that off at a crowded station entrance.
Eriri seemed extremely familiar with the area. The moment they exited the station, she led Mio straight toward their destination.
The two quickly arrived at the game's launch venue.
They hadn't arrived particularly early—a long line had already formed.
Before Mio could even take in the scene, Eriri grabbed her and pulled her into the queue.
Mio's arrival instantly drew attention from those around her. She stood out like a sore thumb in this place.
Not that Mio cared about the stares. She pulled out her phone and searched for information about the game.
Turns out it was a romance simulation game focused on childhood friends.
She'd already known about Eriri's fondness for the childhood friend trope, but Mio played innocent anyway. Leaning close to Eriri's ear, she whispered, "So Sawamura-san likes the childhood friend setting?"
Feeling Mio's breath against her ear, Eriri shifted away slightly before replying, "Is there a problem with that?"
"No problem at all. I'm just curious—does Sawamura-san have a childhood friend of her own?"
At that, an image of Aki Tomoya surfaced in Eriri's mind.
They went to the same school. Different classes, sure, but she hadn't seen her childhood friend in quite a while now.
She remembered he'd been busy doing reviews for some light novel or another. Who knew what novel had him so obsessed that he didn't even have time to discuss things with her anymore.
Thank goodness Mio had come up with that great idea for her. Otherwise, she'd probably still be agonizing over it.
Come to think of it, ever since discovering that Mio shared her hobbies, she'd basically stopped discussing this stuff with Tomoya altogether.
Even for buying games—she used to ask Tomoya for help, but now her first thought was Mio.
They hadn't even known each other that long. Why was that?
Eriri found herself lost in thought.
Seeing Eriri completely zoned out, Mio waved a hand in front of her face. "Sawamura-san, we need to move forward."
"Ah, oh."
Only then did Eriri notice she'd fallen quite a distance behind the line. Still, the queue remained long. Based on her experience, they probably had another thirty minutes to an hour of waiting ahead.
Just as Eriri pulled out her phone to kill time, she overheard a conversation from some nearby strangers.
"Tanaka, you see that white-haired beauty?"
"Yeah, what about her?"
"Don't you think there's something special going on between her and the one in the mask?"
"Huh? You've been playing too many yuri games."
"No, no, no—you might not have noticed, but that white-haired girl hasn't taken her eyes off the masked one since they got here. And look at that gaze. Doesn't it seem······ really tender?"
"Now that you mention it······ yeah, kind of."
Eriri stood frozen, phone in hand, somewhat dazed. She hadn't noticed before, but after hearing those two strangers, it suddenly hit her.
Ever since meeting up with her, Mio's gaze really had been fixed on her the whole time. The train ride from Chiba had taken over an hour, and during that entire time, Mio barely looked at her phone. She'd been watching her instead.
Even now—even Eriri herself, who'd been eagerly anticipating this game, couldn't resist pulling out her phone. But not Mio. It was as if watching Eriri was more interesting than looking at her phone.
On any other day, fine—Eriri was pretty cute, after all. But today she'd bundled herself up to avoid being recognized. What was there to look at?
Something felt off.
After a moment's hesitation, she turned to Mio. "Shirai, is there something weird about me?"
Mio shook her head, then smiled. "Not at all. I just think Sawamura-san is really cute, so I can't help wanting to look at you more."
"You can't even see my face."
"Sawamura-san is cute just standing there." Mio said this with a completely straight face.
If she had a choice, she wouldn't be staring at someone so intensely either. But what could she do? The mission was right there, and she really didn't want to fail something this simple.
"Please don't say things that could cause misunderstandings!" Though Eriri's mask hid her expression, her reddened ears gave away her current state.
"Is Sawamura-san embarrassed?"
"W-Who's embarrassed!? There's no way I'd be embarrassed over something like this!" Eriri sputtered.
To everyone around them, though, her flustered protests looked exactly like flirting. The people waiting nearby all wore expressions of having witnessed something precious.
Eriri opened her mouth, wanting to explain that there was nothing weird going on between her and Mio. But these were all strangers—even if they misunderstood, there was no real need to explain.
Whatever. Let them think what they want. The innocent need no defense!
Just then, the System's voice echoed in Mio's ears: "Host~ It's really not me stirring up trouble this time. Your luck today is just a teensy bit too good."
"Before leaving this location, please find a way to make at least ten people misunderstand your relationship with Eriri. Success may reward you with Eriri series cards or item rewards. Failure will result in drawing a punishment card."
"Do your best, Host~"
As the System finished speaking, a number appeared in Mio's field of vision: 5.
So five people had already misunderstood their relationship. This mission didn't seem too hard after all.
With that thought, Mio leaned directly against Eriri's back, resting her chin on the other girl's shoulder. In a soft voice, she said, "Sawamura-san, I'm tired~"
"We'll be at the front soon. Just hang in there a little longer." Eriri shrugged her shoulders uncomfortably, but when Mio didn't budge, she let her stay.
At the same time, the number in Mio's vision ticked up. Seven people now.
······