"She just left and you're spacing out again?"
Yui blinked back to reality at the sound of her mother's voice, then immediately said, "I was not spacing out."
"Hmm. How long do you think I've been watching you?"
Mrs. Yuigahama wore that look—the one with entirely too much amusement hiding behind it.
"I was thinking," Yui muttered, cheeks puffing slightly.
"About a certain someone, from the look of it."
"I didn't—I don't—stop making things up!"
"Think about it logically," her mom said, perfectly reasonable. "Mio-chan was here and you were completely normal. The second she leaves, you go totally blank. What else could it possibly be?"
"W-we're both girls! Whatever you're imagining, it's not like that!"
"So? Girls can fall in love with girls. That's a perfectly sweet kind of romance." Completely sincere.
Yui stared at her mother. ...Is she seriously encouraging me to go yuri right now?
Her mom reached over and patted her gently on the head. "For your father and me—it doesn't matter whether it's a boy or a girl. What matters is that you're happy."
She paused, and then, with the gentleness of someone dropping a small but perfectly aimed bomb:
"But if your feelings happen to be for Mio-chan—hypothetically speaking—you shouldn't take too long. A girl that pretty and sweet doesn't stay unspoken-for forever. You wouldn't want to look up one day and find her getting all lovey-dovey with someone else, would you?"
An image flashed through Yui's mind, unbidden. Mio laughing softly. Leaning into someone who wasn't her.
Something pressed, dull and uncomfortable, against the inside of her chest.
She didn't let it show. She just nodded once and stood up to go back to her room.
She'd had plenty of those fun, gossip-y conversations with friends about love and crushes. But she'd never actually been in love. Not really. She didn't know what it felt like.
Back in her room, she hesitated for a moment—then opened her laptop, and typed into the search bar:
What does it feel like to like someone.
:
Across the city, Mio had made it back to the apartment complex.
She stopped by her own unit first.
There, in the entryway, was a pair of cat-print slippers that weren't hers.
Mashiro's here.
She pushed open her bedroom door—and sure enough, Mashiro was sprawled face-up on her bed, deep in sleep, completely undisturbed. Cake, the cat, was draped across her like he owned the place. Neither of them stirred when Mio came in. Well—Cake opened one eye immediately, decided the situation merited investigation, jumped down, and started winding around Mio's ankles.
"Hey, Cake~"
Mio crouched and gave him a proper scratch behind the ears.
"Mrow~"
Very satisfied.
After a solid minute of cat appreciation, Mio carried Cake to the kitchen, set out some food, and started on breakfast.
The smell apparently had a long reach. Not long after, Mashiro shuffled out of the bedroom in a mostly-horizontal kind of way, found Mio, and tilted her head with the expression of someone genuinely uncertain whether they were awake or still dreaming.
"Mashiro—go wash up. Breakfast is almost ready."
"...Kay."
That instruction injected roughly forty percent additional consciousness into Mashiro. She drifted toward the bathroom.
She emerged with most of her pajamas soaked through.
Mio sighed. She went to her wardrobe—which contained Mashiro's clothes, because of course it did—pulled out a dry set, and helped her change. As for why Mio's wardrobe had Mashiro's clothes in it: a combination of "Mashiro sleeps here constantly" and "Mashiro borrowed pajamas once and Mio never asked for them back." It was also why Mashiro's wardrobe at her own place had several of Mio's things in it. These were simply facts of their shared daily existence.
Freshly changed, Mashiro sat at the table and started eating. After a few bites, she looked up and noticed Mio just watching with a soft smile, not eating at all.
"...Mio. You're not eating?"
"Already ate earlier. Don't worry about me." Mio picked up a plate. "Oh—I'm going to take this over to Chihiro-sensei. Back in a bit."
That's when Mashiro seemed to remember something.
"...Home," she said. "Three people."
"Three people?"
Mio paused—then connected the dots. Three people at Chihiro-sensei's place. The resident trio of late-night drinkers. Though calling Haruno a drinker felt like a stretch.
She set the plate back down, went back to the kitchen, and made two more portions. Then she headed next door.
She rang the bell. A moment later, the door opened—and there was Yukinoshita Haruno, looking entirely put-together, like she hadn't been up until who-knows-when the night before.
A small, easy smile. "I was just debating whether to make breakfast. And here comes my cute kouhai with delivery service."
"Senpai—did you drink again last night?"
"Mm, no, actually. I came looking for you. But since you weren't home, I had no choice but to keep them company instead." She gave Mio a look that was somewhere between amused and mildly reproachful. "So—where were you last night, kouhai? Out on a date with your boyfriend?"
"Just staying over at a friend's. Same as you staying over here." Mio held the food out to her.
She'd already turned to head back when Haruno called after her: "Do you have any plans today, kouhai?"
"I do." No hesitation.
Haruno continued pleasantly, as if Mio hadn't spoken. "There's actually a small favor I'd like to ask. If you help me out, I'll owe you one—anything you want, no conditions~"
Mio's eyebrow rose.
...Funny. I feel like I've said those exact words to someone before.
Still—it was a compelling offer. A blank favor from Yukinoshita Haruno was basically a free pass for whatever Haruno-related task came up next. And those probably wouldn't ask for anything truly difficult at the current stage.
...Tempting.
...