Monday. Mio groggily climbed out of bed, exhausted.
Although she had a card that could improve sleep quality, since it was an unupgraded card, the effect wasn't very noticeable for someone like her who had stayed up until three or four in the morning last night.
Right now, Mio still felt the urge to crawl back into bed.
She wasn't someone who enjoyed staying up late. Originally, Mio had thought that completing Eriri's task would be great, but if not, that was fine too—there was no need to torture herself.
But after learning the consequences of task failure, Mio had already decided that no matter how much she had to suffer, she would take down this task.
To avoid appearing in some mysterious resources, this was a necessary sacrifice.
According to her current progress, she should be able to barely finish drawing a half-completed doujinshi before the task failed.
If she could upgrade [Mashiro Shiina's Drawing Technique] one more level, her speed should increase even more. Unfortunately, she'd stayed at home drawing doujinshi all day yesterday and hadn't triggered any tasks.
After a simple wash, Mio changed into her school uniform. She tugged lightly at the hem of her skirt, feeling like Sobu High's uniform skirt was a bit short.
It looked pleasing to the eye when watching others wear it, but when she put it on herself, something felt off.
It was probably a psychological issue. She'd get used to it.
After confirming there were no problems, Mio went out and came to the door next door.
She hadn't forgotten that she still shouldered the important responsibility of bringing Mashiro to school every morning.
Chihiro Sengoku was the one who opened the door as usual. The moment she opened it, Mio could smell the strong scent of alcohol emanating from her. You could tell she'd drunk quite a lot last night.
Chihiro yawned lazily and said: "I need to go to school first this morning for a meeting. I'm leaving Mashiro in your hands. Remember to make sure she locks the door when leaving."
"Got it."
Mio responded softly, but she didn't immediately go wake Mashiro. Instead, she went to the kitchen first and began preparing breakfast and lunch boxes.
For convenience, she'd already bought ingredients yesterday and had Mashiro store them in the refrigerator here.
The refrigerator that had only contained beer and sweets finally had some other items.
Chihiro had just finished showering and walked out of the bathroom when she caught the enticing aroma of food. Following the scent to the kitchen, before she could say anything, Mio handed her a portion of breakfast.
"This is today's breakfast. The lunch box will be ready soon."
"I get a lunch box too? Thank you." Chihiro said with some surprise.
Actually, Mio didn't really know how to make elaborate lunch boxes. She'd spent quite a bit of time and effort learning how online yesterday. After all, she couldn't rely on convenience stores to solve lunch every single day.
After finishing the lunch boxes, Mio finally came to the door of the room with Mashiro's nameplate.
The door wasn't locked. After pushing it open, Mio immediately saw Mashiro sleeping on the floor wrapped in her blanket. She really couldn't understand why Mashiro would sleep on the floor when there was a perfectly good bed right there.
The computer wasn't turned off. The screen displayed the ending of the first chapter of the manga.
Even Mio had to admire Mashiro. How long had it taken her to finish drawing the first chapter? If Mashiro were a mobile game player, she'd probably be emperor-level in terms of grinding.
"Mashiro, time to get up."
Hearing the voice, Mashiro slowly opened her eyes, but soon she drowsily pulled her head back into the blanket, trying to pretend nothing had happened.
Just then, Mio's gentle, clear voice suddenly rang in her ear: "I've already called you several times and you still won't get up. Did you stay up late last night, Mashiro?"
Remembering what Mio had said before, Mashiro suddenly threw off her blanket and sat up, trying hard to keep her eyes wide open to prove she hadn't stayed up late last night.
Looking at the adorable Mashiro, Mio sighed somewhat sympathetically, though she didn't expose her.
"Alright, hurry up and take off your pajamas and change into your uniform."
"Making me take off my clothes right after waking up."
"???"
Though this statement was easily misunderstood, since there was no one else around, Mio didn't even bother to waste words. She directly took out a set of underwear and tossed it to Mashiro.
With her help and supervision, the two finally made it to school just a few minutes before being late.
Before parting with Mashiro, Mio took out the lunch box she'd prepared from her bag and said: "This lunch box is for you. Eat this for lunch."
Feeling the still-warm lunch box, Mashiro said seriously: "Mio, become my wife."
"Wait until you truly understand the meaning of those words."
Mio waved at Mashiro, then turned and walked into her own classroom.
Seeing Mio, Yuigahama Yui greeted her energetically: "Good morning, Mio~"
"Good morning."
A beautiful day had begun when she saw Mashiro, but Yuigahama Yui's greeting could undoubtedly make today even better.
Just then, the system's voice chimed in: "Because you felt happy from Yuigahama Yui's greeting, the host's conquest rating with Yuigahama Yui has increased by 1 point."
Aaand the beautiful day was over.
"Ah, another day full of hope~ I barely showed up yesterday—bet you missed me, huh?"
"I wish you were dead."
"Aww, you missed me THAT much? I'm blushing! This clearly calls for a celebration task!"
"Please find a way to maintain eye contact with Yuigahama Yui for more than thirty seconds before the end of fourth period. Any interruption means failure. Success grants a chance at Yuigahama Yui card sets or item rewards. Failure means punishment deck."
"...Wait, that's it?"
Mio raised an eyebrow. Compared to her previous tasks, this one was stupidly easy. She didn't need Yui to lead, didn't need physical contact—just thirty seconds of eye contact. Sure, it couldn't be interrupted, but still. This was almost too simple.
Something felt off. Would the system really hand her a freebie like this?
She had a nagging feeling there was a trap somewhere, but damned if she could figure out what it was.
The class bell rang, cutting off her thoughts. She quietly pulled out her sketchbook and started drawing storyboards.