"I... I'm actually pretty curious too," Yui admitted, glancing sideways with a hint of shyness.
"Then—should we try it?"
"Try... what, exactly?" Yui's instinctive reply came a half-second before she caught up with what Mio was actually suggesting.
The corner of Mio's mouth curved. Her gaze drifted back to the TV. "What else? Something like what they're doing in the movie~"
Yui studied Mio's expression carefully. She could see the amusement there, the slight tilt of the smile. By all logic, this was Mio teasing her—being her usual teasing self.
But Yui had decided, somewhere along the way, that she wasn't going to let those moments slip by anymore.
After a beat, she said, with complete seriousness: "If you don't mind, I don't mind."
"Huh?!"
Mio stared at her. That wasn't the script. The script was Yui going pink, laughing it off, telling her not to be ridiculous. Not—this. Not a calm, direct, apparently genuine response.
She checked Yui's face again. Still serious. Not teasing. No sign of a joke building up behind it.
Did Yui actually have feelings for her that way?
The silence stretched. Yui's confidence flickered. "W-What's wrong?"
She was already second-guessing herself. Had she moved too fast?
"Nothing." Mio's voice came out steadier than she felt. "I mean—I really am curious what it would be like. But I think... we might not be quite at that point yet, the two of us."
Yui turned this over slowly and nodded. She thought she understood. Their relationship was still friends—and certain things fit better in a different context. If they were something more, this conversation would be less complicated.
Something to think about.
And then she felt it—a soft, brief pressure on her lips. Gone before she could register it.
"Oh—you turned your head." Mio was holding a hand over her mouth, expression arranged into something that looked, very convincingly, like a flustered girl covering a near-miss. "I was going to kiss your cheek as an apology for what I said. I didn't expect you to move."
"S-Sorry." Yui's mind had gone completely blank. She genuinely couldn't remember whether she'd turned or not—but Mio was saying she had, so she must have. "I wasn't thinking."
She'd never expected Mio to be the one to initiate. Every accidental kiss before this had been on her end. And now—
Does this mean something?
Meanwhile, in the frozen world only Mio could see:
"Congratulations, Host. Yuigahama Yui's conquest rating has increased by 3 points."
"Three? The task was worth two."
"The task awarded two. The extra point, I'd suggest the host look for the cause within herself~"
"Just give me the reward." Mio didn't need the hint. She knew exactly what that extra point was for.
The options were all Yuigahama Yui series cards. She selected [Yui's Resolve] without hesitation—it boosted the effectiveness of every other Yui-series card in her deck, with a bonus effect when Yui was physically nearby. It was a high-priority card.
Time resumed.
Yui was still somewhere between dazed and pleased—Mio could read it in her expression, in the small smile that kept threatening to surface at the corner of her mouth despite her best efforts to suppress it.
She's happy.
Mio had watched Yui's reactions for long enough to have a fairly precise read on them. The first accidental kiss had produced shock, embarrassment, and helplessness in equal measure. This one had shock and embarrassment too—but the bewilderment was gone. What replaced it was unmistakable.
She had reasonable grounds to suspect that Yui's feelings for her had crossed some line a while ago.
And the reason for that, Mio thought with a familiar creeping guilt, was probably herself.
This was what the System did. The tasks weren't random—they ran on a fixed rotation: either someone else was being made to flirt with Mio, or Mio was being sent to flirt with someone else. Once or twice, fine. But over and over, accumulating—anyone would eventually crack under that.
She couldn't even blame the System entirely. She'd been flirting of her own accord well before any of this. She'd made choices. She owned part of this.
If the System didn't exist, she could make it right. But with the System still running in the background, she couldn't promise anything about where this ended up—or what kind of person she'd end up becoming through it all.
She let out a quiet, complicated sigh.
A long moment later, Yui resurfaced from wherever she'd been. The film was still playing, but her eyes kept finding their way back to Mio's face on their own.
One more time, she thought. Just once more. It had been so brief—she'd barely registered the sensation before it was gone. If she could just—
Of course, she wasn't going to say that out loud. She didn't have that kind of courage yet.
The film ended. Mio stretched her arms above her head, climbed out of the kotatsu, and said, "Finally—it's getting late too."
"You're... going home?" Yui asked before she'd thought about it.
"If I stay much longer I won't be brave enough to walk back alone." The horror film's effects hadn't faded yet. They were probably going to be with her for a while.
"Then stay over."
"I'd actually love that, but—I have things tomorrow. Next time, maybe~"
"...Okay. I'll walk you down."
"You don't have to—it's cold outside."
Mio said her goodbyes, put her jacket on, and stepped out the door.
The wind hit her face immediately. She walked quickly, pressing her knees together, thinking only one thing: she needed to get home and change her panties.