"Wake up." Shirai Mio reached out and gently shook the sleeping Shiina Mashiro.
Curled up on the sofa, Shiina Mashiro instinctively shrank back upon feeling someone nudging her, but didn't open her eyes.
Mio smiled helplessly. Although Shiina Mashiro was quite cute right now, she didn't stop what she was doing.
Under Mio's persistent efforts, Shiina Mashiro finally woke up. However, from her sleepy eyes, it was clear she wasn't quite awake yet.
Shiina Mashiro sat up and rubbed her eyes. The blanket covering her slid off as she first looked at Mio, then at the time, and said softly, "It's only six o'clock. Why do I have to get up?"
"Mashiro, wake up! It's six PM, not six AM!"
Shiina Mashiro blinked. After quite a while, she finally realized it was time to go home.
Although Shiina Mashiro lived right next door and there was absolutely no need to see her home, Mio was curious about who was currently taking care of Shiina Mashiro.
If nothing unexpected had happened, it should be Shiina Mashiro's cousin, Sengoku Chihiro, taking care of her. But recalling how Sengoku Chihiro left Sakurasou to its own devices in the original work, it was hard to imagine her actually caring for someone.
Following Shiina Mashiro to the neighboring door, Mio rang the doorbell. Before long, a mature woman with short red hair and wearing professional attire poked her head out from inside. Upon seeing Shiina Mashiro, she said lazily, "Mashiro, didn't I tell you to stay home? Why'd you go out?"
Although her tone sounded indifferent, Mio could still detect a trace of worry on her face through her ability to read expressions.
"No food."
Hearing this, Sengoku Chihiro finally remembered that her fridge was apparently full of nothing but beer.
"Tch." Sengoku Chihiro scratched her hair with an annoyed expression.
Just then, she suddenly noticed the white-haired beautiful girl standing beside her cousin, wearing their school's uniform. Was this a student from her school? She was so pretty—why didn't she have any impression of her?
When Sengoku Chihiro noticed Mio, Mio very appropriately introduced herself: "Hello, my name is Shirai Mio. I live next door. This afternoon I saw Mashiro sitting in the hallway without her key, so I invited her to rest at my place."
"You're a Sobu High student?"
"Yes, but I'm a transfer student. I'll officially start school tomorrow."
"Transfer student..."
Sengoku Chihiro seemed to remember something about this. After all, she was the one who'd handled Shiina Mashiro's transfer procedures, and while doing so, she'd heard colleagues mention another transfer student. If nothing unexpected had happened, it should be this white-haired beauty in front of her.
As if thinking of something, Sengoku Chihiro's eyes suddenly lit up as she moved closer to Mio and said seriously, "Your name is Shirai Mio, right? I'm a teacher at Sobu High, my name is Sengoku Chihiro. After you wake up tomorrow, please be sure to come by my place and take her to school with you."
Sengoku Chihiro pointed at Shiina Mashiro.
Mio could tell that Sengoku Chihiro wanted to find someone to bring Shiina Mashiro to school.
While this might sound simple, actually doing it was far from easy. Of course, difficult tasks came with benefits—benefits, and more benefits.
If she didn't have this scam System, she might've agreed without hesitation. But with this troublesome System around, it would definitely issue ridiculous tasks whenever she interacted with Shiina Mashiro.
Mio silently glanced at Shiina Mashiro, looking at that pretty, cute face, then said without hesitation, "Sure, no problem."
Seeing Mio agree, Sengoku Chihiro also breathed a quiet sigh of relief. She patted Mio's shoulder and said, "Then I'm counting on you."
...
The next day, early morning.
As her phone alarm rang, Shirai Mio's eyes snapped open. Looking at the unfamiliar ceiling, the System's lazy voice came through: "Don't worry, you haven't transmigrated back."
"Tch."
A day's good mood ended the moment she heard the System's voice.
Since she still needed to drag Shiina Mashiro out of bed, Mio quickly got up, washed up, and changed into her school uniform.
It had to be said—Sobu High's uniform skirt was really quite short. Wearing it made her feel rather insecure. Or rather, she felt insecure wearing any skirt. Looked like she needed to find time to buy some safety shorts or something.
Barriers to human progress should only be worn by other beautiful girls, but wearing them herself was a different story.
After getting herself ready, Mio carefully checked herself in the mirror. Confirming there were no issues, she left and went to room 1024's door.
Shortly after ringing the doorbell, the door opened. Sengoku Chihiro seemed to have just woken up, and Mio could still smell alcohol on her.
"Yo, here so early."
"Well, it's the first day of transferring. Can't be late."
Having watched the original work, she naturally knew how difficult it was to bring Shiina Mashiro to school.
"As for Mashiro, she's in the room on the left. Just go in yourself. I'm gonna wash up and get ready to head out too." Sengoku Chihiro yawned, then turned and walked into her own room.
Mio had thought Sengoku Chihiro's place would be quite messy, but upon entering the living room, she found it wasn't as chaotic as she'd imagined. In fact, it was quite tidy—just the pile of empty beer cans on the table was somewhat of an eyesore.
Walking to Shiina Mashiro's bedroom door, Mio reached out and gently knocked. After a while with no response, she pushed the door open and walked in.
What greeted her eyes was a spectacular view of countless clothes messily piled throughout the room. Underwear and panties of various colors and styles were particularly eye-catching.
She carefully avoided the clothes on the floor and made her way to the bed, where she could see a human-shaped lump wrapped in blankets. She'd thought Shiina Mashiro might be lying under the desk like in the original work.
But then again, she wasn't Kanda Sorata, and this wasn't Sakurasou. The situation from the original probably wouldn't occur.
Just as Mio was about to reach out to wake Shiina Mashiro, she heard the System's voice: "Ahem, suddenly hearing my voice must've startled you, right? Bet you thought this System was about to issue a task, huh?"
Before Mio could complain, the System's voice continued: "Congratulations, you guessed right. With such a perfect opportunity, how could we not add a task to liven things up?"
"Please have the host find a way to make Shiina Mashiro actively hug you while not wearing clothes. Success will reward the host with a Shiina Mashiro series card or item. Failure will require drawing from the penalty deck~"
"Please do your best, host~"
...