"Thank you for the meal."
Kato Megumi set down her chopsticks and offered a very polite little acknowledgment.
If you looked closely, you could catch the faint trace of wanting more on her face.
She'd have liked another helping, but she truly couldn't eat another bite. Today, Kato Megumi had even gone back for a second helping of rice—a rare sight, and proof that Mio's cooking was far better than she'd imagined.
Kato Megumi noticed Mio hadn't eaten much. She'd figured a fair amount would be left over.
What she hadn't expected was that Shiina Mashiro—a slender, delicate beauty—came equipped with an appetite that did not match her frame in the slightest.
She polished off every last dish, clean.
After lunch, Kato Megumi made to help Mio clean up after the meal, only to be shooed off to the living room on the grounds that "I can't have a guest doing this kind of thing."
Besides her, there was one other person seated in the living room: Shiina Mashiro.
Up to now, Kato Megumi still didn't quite understand why Mashiro had shown such hostility toward someone she'd never met before.
Was she worried Megumi would steal Mio away from her?
Now that she thought about it, Mashiro did seem to depend on Mio an awful lot—so it wasn't entirely out of the question.
But as a girl herself, surely there was no way she could "steal Mio away," whichever way you sliced it.
Then again, Kato Megumi quickly recalled how Mio had behaved while they were out buying groceries together.
And suddenly she wasn't so sure anymore.
While Kato Megumi was lost in thought, Mio's familiar voice sounded right beside her: "Megumi, what're you thinking about?"
"I—" Kato Megumi reflexively looked up, about to say something, but after catching sight of Mashiro beside her, she quietly changed course. "I was thinking about what to do this afternoon."
"That depends on what you feel like doing. I've got games here we could play, and we could watch a movie too." At the mention of a movie, Mio couldn't help recalling that 18+ disc Kato Megumi had spotted earlier.
If it'd been Yukinoshita Haruno, she'd have absolutely seized on that piece of leverage to bully Mio into doing something weird.
The thought of Yukinoshita Haruno made Mio sigh despite herself. She still had no clue what Haruno would use that leverage to make her do.
She wouldn't actually make Mio do something weird to her... would she?
Now wasn't the time to be thinking about Yukinoshita Haruno. Mio reined in her wandering thoughts and went on, "Or, Megumi, if you're feeling tired, you're welcome to just sleep here—my place is actually pretty big~"
For some reason, Kato Megumi felt there was something subtly off about Mio's phrasing.
But she didn't dwell on it. After thinking it over, she said, "I'm not really good at games. How about we watch another movie?"
"Sure. If it's all the same to you, please—no horror." Mio said it with lingering dread.
"Then... can we watch that disc you put away earlier?"
"???"
Seeing Mio's dumbstruck expression, the corners of Kato Megumi's mouth curved into a faint smile. "Just kidding."
"A disc you put away?" Mashiro shot Mio a curious look.
"It's—it's nothing worth watching. Don't pay it any mind."
That only made Mashiro all the more curious—but going by what she knew of Mio, if something had been put away, it meant she'd have basically no chance of finding it. So Mashiro had no choice but to tuck her curiosity away for now.
This time, Kato Megumi picked a comedy—and a pretty funny one, at that.
But for the whole length of the movie, the only laughter in the living room was Mio's. Just Mio's.
Mashiro didn't get a single joke; her usual aloof expression held from beginning to end. And Kato Megumi—though she did get the jokes—at most managed a faint smile before quickly reverting to her resting face.
Which left Mio doubting, more than once, whether her sense of humor was somehow wired differently from normal people's.
"It's over. That was really funny," Kato Megumi said, in a perfectly flat tone.
"If it's so funny, then laugh. You didn't crack up once the whole time," Mio couldn't resist needling her.
Kato Megumi tilted her head. "It really was funny. I'm probably just not very good at showing it."
"Never mind, forget it. You keep watching—I'll go prepare some afternoon tea."
Kato Megumi had assumed Mio would be back soon, but even after she'd found the next movie, Mio still hadn't returned. Instead, over in the kitchen, Mio seemed to be busy with something.
Curious, she walked over to the kitchen doorway—and saw Mio carefully making a dessert.
Hearing Kato Megumi's footsteps, Mio turned. "What's up?"
"You... you can make desserts too?"
"Of course. Back then I learned for the sake of—of achieving dessert freedom."
Close one. She'd very nearly let slip that she'd learned to make sweets for the sake of her future girlfriend.
"Can I watch?"
"I mean, sure—but watching me make dessert isn't as entertaining as a movie, you know."
"We just finished one. This is a good chance to rest. Don't worry about me."
"All right then, if you insist."
Mio kept her hands moving as she talked. Maybe it was because she'd been making desserts for Shiina Mashiro nonstop ever since she transmigrated here, but she found her own technique getting more and more practiced.
She figured that someday she might even open a little dessert shop together with her girlfriend.
Of course, that was just idle daydreaming—after all, she had no idea who her girlfriend would even be.
Right then, Mio heard Kato Megumi's voice: "There's something I'm curious about. What kind of guy do you actually go for?"
"Where's this coming from all of a sudden?"
"It's just... I'm honestly a little curious. If you'd rather not say, just pretend I never asked."
"There's nothing inconvenient about it. Actually, I don't like guys. The ones I like are cute girls—girls like you, Megumi~" Mio turned and smiled at her.
"Ehh!?"
Even Kato Megumi couldn't help being a little startled at Mio's answer.
Was it really okay to just come right out and tell her something like that? Or was Mio joking?
But from the look on Mio's face, no matter how she read it, it didn't seem like a joke.
Thinking back to the hand-holding request Mio had made that morning while they were buying groceries, a strange thought suddenly surfaced in Kato Megumi's mind: Mio—she couldn't actually be into her, could she?
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