"Eriri, lately it seems like you've been coming to school with Shirai-san a lot. You two must be pretty close, huh?"
Eriri had just walked into the classroom and sat down when her good friend leaned over and asked this, curiosity written all over her face.
She said on reflex, "Huh? As if I'd ever be close with that white-haired... We just happened to run into each other on the way to school, that's all."
At Eriri's words, a trace of doubt crossed the girl's face. "But lately I see the two of you coming in together pretty much every day. Isn't that a bit too much of a coincidence?"
"I—our departure times just happen to overlap, so that's why it turns out this way." Eriri nervously scrambled to come up with an excuse for herself.
Right then, Eriri felt as though the harder she tried to cover it up, the more she was giving herself away.
Though these words of hers might fool her friend for the moment, the one person they couldn't deceive was herself.
No matter how well the two of them timed their departures, there was no way it would work out this way every single day. Put plainly, she wanted to walk to school with Shirai Mio, which was why she waited for her every day on the route Shirai Mio had to take to get there.
She had no idea what had gotten into her lately. In the past, how could she ever have done something like this!
"Then you two really must be meant to meet, huh. Um, actually, I feel like you and Shirai-san make quite a good match, Eriri. If it developed into that kind of relationship, I'd absolutely support you, you know."
"Have you been reading too much yuri manga lately or something!" Eriri snapped irritably.
Seeing Eriri get so worked up, the girl paid it no mind and merely smiled before heading back to her own seat to get ready for class.
Eriri, meanwhile, took the opportunity to start thinking about the reason behind her recent changes.
She turned it over and over in her mind, and suddenly hit upon one rather unlikely possibility.
Namely, that she had developed some sort of strange feelings for Shirai Mio.
No, impossible, absolutely impossible.
She was a pure, die-hard straight girl through and through; how could she possibly develop any strange feelings for Shirai Mio!
Besides, she had someone she liked, and that was her childhood friend, Aki Tomoya.
Then again, come to think of it, she didn't seem to have been in touch with Aki Tomoya much lately.
In the past, whenever she ran into a problem while drawing her doujinshi, she'd go and discuss it with Aki Tomoya, but now she pretty much always went to that white-haired little bitch Shirai Mio instead.
In the past, whenever she came across an interesting manga or an interesting game, she'd share it with Aki Tomoya too, but now she pretty much told all of that to Shirai Mio instead.
This situation wasn't right. It wasn't right at all.
She felt like she couldn't keep going on like this; she absolutely had to get back to how she used to feel.
Which brought up the question: what exactly was she supposed to do to get back to how she used to feel?
After spending the entire morning thinking it over, she finally decided: she'd ask Aki Tomoya out on a date!
She was convinced that as long as she spent a bit more time with Aki Tomoya, she'd be able to rekindle her old feelings. She just didn't know whether Aki Tomoya would have time this weekend.
Just then, she suddenly felt someone tap her on the shoulder. She turned around on reflex and found that Shirai Mio was standing behind her; she hadn't even noticed her arrive.
For a campus celebrity like Shirai Mio, showing up in another class naturally drew no small amount of attention—all the more so since Eriri was also one of the school's most prominent students. The sight of the two of them together could only be described as dazzling.
Eriri even caught sight of her good friend watching her with a face full of excitement.
She let out a soft sigh, then said to Shirai Mio, "Did you need something?"
"I should be the one asking you that. This morning you told me you had something you wanted to see me about."
Shirai Mio put on a plaintive, sulky expression as she looked at Eriri and said, "I waited forever for you in the classroom just now, and you never came to find me."
Hearing Shirai Mio put it that way, Eriri finally remembered that in order to prove she hadn't been deliberately waiting for Shirai Mio that morning, she'd tossed out some random excuse, and she'd originally meant to use morning classes to figure out a way to make that excuse hold together.
But she'd spent all morning thinking about how to get back to how she used to feel; as for how to patch up her lie, she really hadn't given it much thought at all.
What was she supposed to do?
Though she hadn't come up with a plan yet, hashing all this out with Shirai Mio under everyone's watchful eyes in the classroom really wasn't quite appropriate, so she said decisively, "Um, let's go to the usual place to talk."
"Sure."
Only after seeing Shirai Mio nod did Eriri reach into her desk drawer. She'd meant to grab her bento, but after rummaging around in there for a good while, she still couldn't find it.
Unwilling to give up, Eriri leaned to the side and took a look inside the drawer, only to find there was no bento in there whatsoever.
"Did you forget to bring your bento, Eriri? If you don't mind, then share mine with me."
"I'll just go buy some bread, it's fine."
Forgetting to bring her bento because she'd been preoccupied with thoughts of Shirai Mio that morning—even though this was something only she herself knew, Eriri still felt an inexplicable pang of embarrassment.
"Buying bread means running all that way; don't go to so much trouble."
Shirai Mio eventually talked Eriri into it, and the two of them left the classroom and made their way to the Art Club Room.
Shirai Mio took out her bento and set it on the table, then handed the chopsticks to Eriri and said, "There's only one pair of chopsticks, so you eat first."
"Aren't you afraid I'll just finish off your whole bento?"
"If you can finish it, I'll be very happy."
"Tch, if I eat first and you eat after me, won't it gross you out?"
"It doesn't bother me at all~ If it's you, Eriri~"
"You—" Eriri opened her mouth, but in the end she was defeated by Shirai Mio's smile.
This white-haired little bitch, saying something like that at a moment like this—was she really not afraid it would give her the wrong idea?
Eriri thought to herself as she munched on Shirai Mio's bento.
"So, what was it you wanted to tell me this morning, Eriri?" Shirai Mio asked, a little curious.
Shirai Mio's words dragged Eriri back to reality. She stammered, "Um... it's just that I originally wanted to show you my new work, but this morning I realized I seem to have forgotten to bring the manuscript with me."
She'd even forgotten to bring her bento, so forgetting to bring her manuscript pages was perfectly normal, right?
Eriri practically wanted to give herself a thumbs-up for her own quick wit.
But now that the words were out, since there was no new work at all, she'd have to work herself to the bone grinding out a storyboard draft sometime soon.
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