"Mio, what were you up to last night?"
Miura Yumiko looked at the drowsy Shirai Mio beside her, her large eyes full of confusion.
Today, unlike usual, Shirai Mio had walked into the classroom right as the bell was ringing.
Normally when Shirai Mio came into the classroom, there'd be at least a few minutes to spare before class started.
Add to that how drowsy she looked, and it was hard not to be curious about just what she'd done the night before to end up this sleepy.
"Didn't I mention it before? A friend of mine was going back to her home country, so I saw her off." As she finished speaking, Shirai Mio couldn't help letting out another yawn.
Even though she possessed a Sleep-Quality-Boosting Card, Shirai Mio still felt sleep-deprived right now; she reckoned she'd need to spend the upcoming class time catching up on sleep.
Then again, she hardly ever paid attention in class anyway, and on top of that her grades were quite good to begin with, so even if she slept through class, the teachers wouldn't care much.
Once Shirai Mio dozed off, she ended up sleeping the whole morning away.
If it hadn't been for the call of nature, she felt she could've slept even longer.
Because she'd been seeing Rita off the night before, Shirai Mio hadn't made breakfast this morning, let alone a bento.
Feeling her stomach growl, she had no choice but to get up and go buy some bread to stave off the hunger.
Just as she stepped out of the classroom, Eriri's familiar figure appeared in her line of sight.
Looking at Eriri, bento in hand, Shirai Mio blinked and asked, "Eriri, are you here to take me to the usual place?"
"Mm. Is there a problem?"
"I didn't make a bento today, so I was going to go buy something to eat."
At Shirai Mio's words, Eriri gave the bento in her hand a little shake and said, "I can't finish this much on my own, so help me finish it."
"Come on, it's not like I don't know how much your bento holds. I'll go buy something and be right back."
Eriri didn't eat much, so naturally her bento portions were modest too—enough to fill Eriri's own stomach, sure, but for two people it probably wouldn't cut it.
"I'll come along with you. Don't get the wrong idea—I just want to grab a drink while I'm at it, that's all."
"You could've just told me and I'd have gotten it for you, yet here you are choosing to come along with me, Eriri. I'm truly so touched."
Watching Shirai Mio's over-the-top theatrics, Eriri felt an urge to punch her.
As the two of them walked toward the convenience store, Shirai Mio noticed that Eriri looked much like she did today: faint dark circles under her eyes, the obvious look of someone who hadn't rested well the night before.
Shirai Mio asked, a little curious, "Eriri, what did you get up to last night?"
Eriri was about to say she hadn't done anything, but it occurred to her that if Shirai Mio was asking the question at all, she must have noticed Eriri was a bit sleep-deprived. So after giving it some serious thought, Eriri said flatly, "Reference gathering. I accidentally lost track of the time."
"Was it reference gathering for a doujinshi?"
"What else?"
"Then yeah, after looking through that sort of thing it'd be hard to fall asleep."
Eriri was about to nod when she realized Shirai Mio seemed to be insinuating something. As much as she wanted to say something to explain herself, what Shirai Mio said did make a fair bit of sense.
Sometimes that sort of research really did make it hard to fall asleep.
The real reason she was short on sleep, though, had nothing to do with gathering references—it was because she'd been drawing a storyboard draft.
After all, she'd already told Shirai Mio about her new work the day before, so she'd stayed up through the night drawing out the storyboard draft.
But there'd been too little time, and both the story's plot and the storyboard were incredibly rough.
It would just barely do to fob Shirai Mio off with.
The two of them arrived at the convenience store, and after seeing Shirai Mio buy lunch for two, Eriri asked, "Is that other portion for Shiina?"
"Mm. Something the matter?"
"Nothing. I just think the two of you are pretty close."
Shiina Mashiro lived right next door to Shirai Mio; just thinking about it made her a little envi—envious, my ass! How could she possibly be envious!
Eriri took a deep breath, and only after dispelling the strange thoughts from her mind did she pick out some snacks along with Shirai Mio, to eat later while chatting with her.
After buying everything, Shirai Mio first made a trip to the classroom where Shiina Mashiro was, and only after dropping off the simple lunch with her did she head to the Art Club Room with Eriri.
Except this time, the Club Room wasn't empty.
The Art Club President was inside.
Seeing the two of them walk into the Club Room, the Art Club President froze for a moment, then smiled and said, "Um, I just came to grab something. Don't mind me—make yourselves at home."
At that moment, Eriri could even make out the excited glint behind the Art Club President's glasses.
After grabbing her things, the Art Club President strode briskly out of the room, even thoughtfully closing the door behind her for the two of them.
Once the Art Club President had left, Shirai Mio asked curiously, "Eriri, are you not even going to explain yourself anymore?"
"It's not like you don't know—the President won't listen to a word of it anyway."
"I suppose that's true. Um—was there something you wanted from me today?"
Eriri gave a small nod, then took out the storyboard draft she'd drawn the night before and handed it to Shirai Mio.
Shirai Mio munched on her bread while studying it carefully.
"The storyboard's obviously something you drew in a rush, and the plot's a bit clichéd too. My advice is to redraw it."
"So it really is that bad, huh? When I was drawing it, it felt pretty good, but somehow once I'd finished I found it was awfully mediocre. Still, it seemed like a waste to just toss it, so I brought it to show you."
Eriri figured that excuse of hers deserved full marks.
That way she could cover for what she'd said the day before.
"So that's how it is. That happens to me sometimes too." Shirai Mio smiled and thought nothing of it.
"Oh right, Eriri, do you have time this weekend?"
"I don't have time on Saturday, but Sunday should work. Why?" Eriri was a little curious. After all, Shirai Mio asking whether she was free obviously meant she wanted to invite her somewhere.
As for what she was being asked out to do, she had no idea, but what was this joy welling up from the very bottom of her heart?
Eriri felt the corners of her mouth threatening to curl up despite herself.
"Last night I came up with a concept for a new work, so I wanted to go do some reference gathering together with you."
"Reference gathering in real life? Are you sure?" Eriri shot Shirai Mio a look with a subtle expression.
"It's reference gathering for locations. What are you thinking? Even I wouldn't go gathering that kind of reference in real life, all right? Though if you're willing to cooperate, Eriri, it's not like I couldn't."
"I, Eriri, would rather die than cooperate with you like that—I'd sooner throw myself off this very spot!"
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