"You... are you serious?"
Eriri stared at Shirai Mio with a peculiar expression, trying to figure out whether she was being serious or just joking.
She felt like she'd discovered yet another one of Mio's flaws—sometimes it was genuinely impossible to tell whether she was joking or not.
Based on her past experience and Mio's current attitude, the chances of her joking seemed pretty low.
Mio nodded earnestly. "When a date ends, shouldn't there be a goodbye kiss?"
"This wasn't a date!"
"It wasn't?"
The two girls stared at each other in silence before Mio finally broke it. "Alright, I just wanted to experience what that feels like. Besides, Sawamura-san and I are both girls, and it's just on the cheek. Come on, help me out here~"
Seeing Mio's pleading puppy-dog eyes, Eriri wavered.
Sure, they were both girls, but she couldn't help worrying that Mio might have... certain preferences, and might develop some kind of strange feelings for her.
"Can I ask why you want to experience these things?"
"For drawing doujinshi and writing novels."
"You write novels too?" Eriri asked, surprised.
Mio nodded lightly. "I just started. Once I'm done, I'll show it to you."
"Oh, I see. You should've said so earlier! I thought..." She trailed off. "Never mind."
Eriri took a deep breath, then quietly scanned their surroundings. Once she confirmed no one was around, she leaned in close to Mio.
At the same time, around the corner not far from Eriri's house, Aki Tomoya was walking toward them with a smile on his face, a newly released galge in his hands.
He'd been busy writing something these past few weeks, and Eriri had tried to reach him multiple times without success. Now that he'd finally wrapped things up, he finally had time to help her with her problems.
Before coming over, he'd even gone out of his way to buy the game Eriri had been looking forward to for so long. A little surprise for her.
Maybe it was the thought of seeing Eriri's expression when she saw the game, but a faint smile crept onto Tomoya's face.
The moment he turned the corner, Eriri's familiar figure came into view—along with a white-haired beauty who looked like she'd stepped straight out of a 2D world.
Even he, someone who had zero interest in 3D girls, couldn't help but be stunned by her appearance.
Though he'd been so busy writing lately that he hadn't paid much attention to what was happening at school, he still recognized the white-haired girl as Shirai Mio, the transfer student who'd arrived not long ago.
He hadn't expected Eriri to know her, and their relationship seemed pretty close too.
Just as he was debating whether to go say hi, he suddenly saw Eriri lean in close to Mio and plant a kiss on her cheek.
Tomoya instinctively pinched his own thigh. The pain told him this wasn't a hallucination.
So... his childhood friend was into girls?
...
"That's enough, right?" Eriri's face was flushed as she put some distance between herself and Mio.
Her heart was pounding. She didn't even know why she was so nervous—they were both girls, and it was just acting.
If this had been before, there was no way she would've agreed to such a request. This time was only... only because Mio had helped her get those limited edition bonuses. That's the only reason she agreed.
Yeah, that's definitely it!
"So that's what it feels like? I think I get it now!" Mio nodded with feigned understanding. The system had already chimed in with the task completion notification.
To spare Eriri any further embarrassment, Mio cleared her throat. "Well then, Sawamura-san, I'll head back now. See you at school tomorrow."
"Mm. Remember to finish that doujinshi of yours."
"I know."
For some reason, Tomoya had been hiding around the corner this whole time. When he noticed Mio walking his way, he quickly pretended he'd just arrived, passing by her casually.
After walking some distance, Mio suddenly glanced back. That guy just now felt kind of familiar, like she'd seen him somewhere before.
She figured she'd probably seen him at school, which was why he seemed familiar.
After Mio left, Eriri was about to head home to play the game she'd just gotten.
That's when she spotted Aki Tomoya walking toward her.
"Tomoya, what are you doing here?"
Normally, she'd be pretty happy to see him, but maybe because of what just happened with Mio, she felt a little nervous and guilty.
"Because I finished what I was working on."
"Oh, I see. Did you need something?"
"Didn't you want to discuss the doujinshi stuff with me?" Tomoya pulled out the game he'd prepared and handed it to Eriri. "Here's the game you've been waiting for."
"Oh, I don't need that anymore. I already got it right when it came out, and I got both limited edition bonuses too." Eriri said proudly.
Hearing this, Tomoya asked curiously, "Didn't you say you never go buy games yourself?"
"Hmph hmph hmph, if I were alone, then yeah, I definitely wouldn't go. But if someone's willing to go with me, that's a different story."
"That someone... was Shirai Mio?"
"Yep." Mio had left in the same direction Tomoya had come from, so she wasn't surprised he'd figured it out.
"Didn't she just transfer here? When did you two get so close?"
"Probably because we're in the same club."
"I see." Tomoya nodded thoughtfully, then put the game away. "So have you sorted out the doujinshi stuff? Is there anything I can help with?"
Actually, Tomoya really wanted to ask about what he'd just witnessed, but he didn't know how to bring it up, so he focused on other matters first.
"Nope, already handled it. If I'd waited for you, the ship would've sailed by now." Eriri said as she opened her front door. "Come in and sit. I'll grab the manuscript to show you—the story's pretty good."
"...Okay."
...