"All done."
Mio surveyed the spotless living room. It had taken her the whole afternoon, but she'd finally cleaned the place top to bottom.
Of course, that was partly thanks to the fact that she didn't have much clutter at home. It was easy to clean, which was why she'd managed to get it done in such a short time.
On top of that, there'd been Shiina Mashiro's help. Sure, it was just simple stuff, handing over a rag, lending a hand here and there, but for Mio it was already more than enough.
She'd originally meant to tidy up Sengoku Chihiro's place too, but there just wasn't time, so that would have to wait until tomorrow.
"Whoa."
Shiina Mashiro let out a little cheer, copying Mio. Except, lacking any excited feeling behind it, her cheer came out sounding rather flat, which somehow hit Mio right in her moe spot.
She reflexively went to ruffle Shiina Mashiro's hair, but remembering her hands weren't washed yet, she stopped a hair short of touching the girl's head.
Shiina Mashiro looked at Mio, puzzled, as if wondering why Mio wasn't putting her hand on her head.
Mio smiled. "Just finished cleaning. Haven't washed my hands yet."
"Oh."
Shiina Mashiro gave a small nod, then asked, curious, "Mio, just now I found a box under the bed in the spare room. What's inside it? Can I open it and look?"
"Dame, absolutely not!" Shiina Mashiro's question jolted Mio, and the words shot out before she'd even thought about it.
Mashiro knew she drew doujinshi, sure, but her collection was something Mashiro absolutely could not be allowed to see. If the girl ever laid eyes on it, that would be the same as broadcasting her entire XP—every last one of her tastes—straight to her.
Anything but that!
To keep Shiina Mashiro from latching onto the subject any further, Mio tugged at her own clothes and said, "Worked up quite a sweat cleaning. I'm gonna go shower first."
With the heating on inside, even with fine snow drifting down outside, Mio had still sweated plenty from all the cleaning.
The sticky feeling on her skin was genuinely unpleasant, so she figured she'd just shower it off, which also conveniently gave her a way to dodge whatever Shiina Mashiro asked next.
Just as Mio grabbed a change of clothes and was about to head off to shower, Shiina Mashiro suddenly tugged at the hem of her clothes and looked up at her with those big, watery eyes.
What she wanted to say was already plain without words.
"You can come too. But absolutely no getting handsy, and no mouth either."
"Oh."
Shiina Mashiro nodded obediently, then trailed in behind Mio into the bathroom.
Since it wasn't the first time she'd showered with Shiina Mashiro, Mio didn't feel particularly shy about it. After all, she'd already seen everything there was and wasn't to see.
While washing Shiina Mashiro's hair, Mio asked softly, "Mashiro, over New Year's it'll just be the two of us at home. Do you think it'll feel like something's missing?"
Hearing this, Shiina Mashiro shook her head. "As long as Mio's here, that's enough."
"Even if you say that, you only earn yourself a single point with me at most, you know~"
That was what Mio's mouth said. But the system had just pinged her: Shiina Mashiro's conquest rating toward the host had climbed a full two points.
Right on cue, the system also kicked into its gleeful little commentary mode, which Mio promptly ignored.
After finishing washing Shiina Mashiro's hair, the rest was up to the girl herself.
It wasn't that Mio couldn't help. It was that she was worried if she started helping, she wouldn't be able to stop herself from doing something unnecessary. After all, she liked girls, and faced with a totally defenseless beauty like Shiina Mashiro, Mio had zero confidence in her own self-control.
Which was exactly why she always did her best to avoid showering together with Shiina Mashiro in the first place.
While keeping Shiina Mashiro from getting handsy with her, she also had to work hard to rein in the restless desires stirring inside herself.
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"There. Hair's all dried. Go do your drawing. I should get dinner started too."
Mio patted Shiina Mashiro's shoulder, and the girl stood up, left Mio's room, and walked into another room.
This was the temporary workspace Mio had set up for her, much like her old room, with a bed she could sleep in if she got tired. Though if she really wanted to sleep, she'd definitely pick Mio's bed.
Because Mio's bed carried the scent she loved, the scent that belonged to Mio.
Before starting on dinner, Mio used her phone to ask after how Sengoku Chihiro and Hiratsuka Shizuka were doing right now.
What she got back was a photo of the two of them sitting in a hot spring inn, drinking.
Honestly? Mio was a little jealous.
She wanted to soak in a hot spring too!
Maybe, once New Year's was over, she'd just take Shiina Mashiro on a getaway to a hot spring inn. It wasn't like she was short on money these days.
At that thought, Mio marched straight into Shiina Mashiro's room and said, "Mashiro, after New Year's, how about we go soak in a hot spring?"
Shiina Mashiro didn't quite get why Mio had suddenly decided she wanted to soak in a hot spring, but she nodded anyway. "If Mio's going, then I'll go."
"It's just a vague idea for now. I haven't set a date or anything. Once I've worked out a plan I'll let you know~"
"Oh."
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In a certain room at the hot spring inn, Hiratsuka Shizuka looked at Sengoku Chihiro, puzzled. "Why are you taking pictures all of a sudden?"
At Shizuka's question, Sengoku Chihiro said lazily, "That good student of yours just messaged, asking how we're doing right now."
"Is that so. Speaking of which, isn't that cousin of yours getting a bit too dependent on Shirai?"
At the mention of her cousin, Sengoku Chihiro let out a helpless sigh. Of course she knew Mashiro was overly dependent on Mio. But there was nothing she could do about it. Mashiro liked Mio, after all.
She wondered whether Mashiro had even remembered the pointers she'd taught her.
Or rather, she didn't actually know whether the love-life wisdom of a single dog like herself would be any use at all.
Hopefully, once she got back, there'd be some brand-new progress between the two of them.
"Anyway, forget that. I'm more curious about this: what kind of blind-date prospect did your parents line up for you, exactly, that you'd rather road-trip around than go home?"
Hiratsuka Shizuka raised an eyebrow, then muttered dryly, "We finally get a chance to come out and relax. Let's not go taking shots at each other, hm?"
"You're the one who started it."
"Tch. I'm just showing a little concern~"
"And I'm showing concern for you too."
The two of them, in perfect sync, fixed each other with dangerous looks. In the end, though, they didn't come to blows. They just picked up the pace of their drinking quite a bit, each of them apparently set on drinking the other one under the table.
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