"Eriri, time to wake up."
A voice pulled Eriri from sleep. She cracked open her drowsy eyes, glanced at her mother, and mumbled, "No school today. Let me sleep a little more. Ten minutes... no—half an hour, that's all."
"True, there's no school today—but didn't you invite a friend over?"
"No, I didn't," Eriri answered reflexively.
The words were barely out of her mouth before her eyes snapped open again. She turned to look at the alarm clock sitting on her nightstand.
Nine thirty.
If she wasn't mistaken, she and Shirai had agreed on around nine.
With that realization, she threw back the covers and sat up. "Mom—is Shirai already here?"
"Mm-hm, she's been here for a while now. She's downstairs."
"Then why didn't you wake me up sooner?!"
"Well, we got to chatting and I lost track of time~" Sayuri Sawamura stuck her tongue out at her daughter, looking for all the world like a high schooler Eriri's own age.
Eriri shot her mother a look, then threw herself off the bed at lightning speed and bolted into the bathroom.
She and Mio might be close, but she'd been the one to invite Mio over—and then left her hanging. She still felt bad about it.
After washing up, Eriri didn't even bother getting changed. She showed up in the living room still wearing her pajamas.
There, she found Mio chatting with her mother, a calm smile on her face. Judging by the grin on her mom's face, the two seemed to be having a great time.
When she noticed Eriri, Mio greeted her with effortless grace: "Good morning, Sawamura-san."
"M-morning. Sorry, I overslept." Eriri looked genuinely apologetic.
"Don't worry about it. I only just got here, really. Not even an hour ago," Mio said with a meaningful smile, as if hinting at something.
As if Eriri couldn't see right through that. She pursed her lips and muttered under her breath, at a volume only she could hear, "If it's really 'no big deal,' then why'd you have to specify how long it was?"
After that little bit of internal grumbling, Eriri grabbed Mio by the arm and pulled her upstairs to her room, bringing breakfast along.
Noticing Eriri's dark circles, Mio asked curiously, "Sawamura-san, did you stay up late last night?"
"More or less. We're both doujinshi artists—you know how it is. Once those ideas start flowing right before bed, you think you'll be able to fall asleep?"
"Ah, I see. Yeah, I get it." Mio nodded with genuine sympathy.
She'd nearly lost sleep herself last night, thanks to Mashiro. Good thing she had a card that boosted sleep quality—otherwise she'd be in the same boat as Eriri.
"That said, Sawamura-san really doesn't treat me like an outsider, huh~"
Hearing that, Eriri paused, then realized what Mio was getting at. It was probably about the state she was in—messy hair, rumpled pajamas, nothing like her usual self.
If it were anyone else, she'd probably care more about how she looked. But with Mio? It didn't really matter.
"You don't count."
"So what you're saying is, I hold a special place in Sawamura-san's heart? I'm so happy~" Mio beamed with a blissful smile.
Eriri gave Mio a sideways glance. This white-haired little bitch always loved saying things that could be easily misunderstood. Luckily she'd heard it all enough times by now that she was immune.
If it had been the old her, she'd probably be losing her mind right about now.
As if suddenly remembering something, Eriri said with some embarrassment, "Sorry—I was the one who told you to come early, and then I was still asleep. I'll treat you to something good later to make up for it."
"Just food? I was hoping Sawamura-san might marry me as compensation~" Mio put on a disappointed look and heaved a dramatic sigh.
Eriri glared at her. "Take it or leave it."
After Eriri finished breakfast, Mio finally got down to business: "So, what kind of inspiration did you come up with?"
"Actually, I had quite a few ideas this time. That's why I asked you to come over."
As she spoke, Eriri pulled out the stack of rough sketches she'd been accumulating.
As a creator, whenever inspiration struck, she made it a habit to jot it down before she forgot.
Now that she thought about it, most of these ideas had come to her while she'd been spending time with Mio.
Of course, she'd never tell Mio that. If she did, that white-haired little bitch would absolutely use it to push her luck.
Looking at the pile of sketches Eriri brought out, Mio said in surprise, "This many?"
"Heh heh heh—who do you think you're talking to?" Eriri lifted her chin smugly, then quickly averted her gaze from Mio, feeling a pang of guilt—since the vast majority of these ideas had, in fact, come from Mio.
But Mio wasn't paying attention to that. Her focus was entirely on Eriri's sketches.
The notes were fragmentary: some were just a single scene, others an event, some character designs—easy to leave anyone else confused.
Even Mio needed a fair amount of time to sort through them all.
"I've gone through all the ideas. They're pretty fragmented, but some of them are really interesting. Quite a few could be connected together. Though I keep getting the feeling I've seen some of them before—like this character design of someone who looks innocent but is actually a total bitch. Care to explain that one, Sawamura-san?"
Hearing this, Eriri shifted her eyes away and mumbled, "Inspiration comes from real life. Don't get hung up on the details."
"Fair enough—let's set the character designs aside for now. I finished reading all the doujinshi you gave me, and I noticed you seem to really like pure love stories. And the childhood-friend trope."
"Got a problem with that?" Eriri's tone sharpened.
"Not at all. I was just wondering—why not try a different genre?"
"?" Eriri fixed Mio with a dangerously pleasant stare. "You're not about to suggest I draw NTR, are you? I'm a Pure Love War God! I'll cut down every NTR bastard!"
Unfazed by the ferocity radiating off Eriri, Mio replied evenly, "Nobody said anything about NTR. I'm talking about character types. There are plenty of options besides childhood friends."
...