Lunch break ended. As the bell rang, Hiratsuka-sensei made her way into the classroom.
She walked up to the podium, cleared her throat, and said, "Before we begin class, there's one thing I need to mention. Starting next week, we'll be switching to winter uniforms. Please make sure you're all prepared when you go home—don't show up in your summer uniforms again."
"The temperature's been dropping lately too. Make sure to dress warmly and don't catch a cold."
"That's all I had to say. Let's begin class."
Hearing Hiratsuka-sensei's words, Mio briefly recalled the contents of her wardrobe. She definitely had her winter uniform, but she didn't have any winter clothes—just a bunch of light, flimsy little skirts.
Speaking of which, why was her wardrobe full of nothing but little skirts?
Whatever. That wasn't important.
What mattered was that she needed to buy some clothes. Conveniently, she had a "date" with Yumiko Miura this weekend. She could get Yumiko's opinion then.
Because today's randomly obtained card was [Genius Student], which improved learning efficiency, Mio paid extra attention during class, diligently taking notes and memorizing the textbook.
Right now, [Mashiro Shiina's Photographic Memory] was only at level 2, so committing an entire page of the textbook to memory still took considerable time.
If she could level up that card another notch or two, her memorization speed should improve significantly.
Unfortunately, she didn't know if it was because more people had appeared on her system panel, but she hadn't triggered any Mashiro-related tasks lately.
Granted, Mashiro's tasks were easy to complete—often, a single sentence from Mio was all it took. But that also meant frequently triggering Mashiro tasks would cause her conquest rating to shoot up rapidly.
Still, it was fine for now. Mashiro's conquest rating was only at 25 points—not yet at a level that needed managing.
When you're studying seriously, time flies. As the final bell of the afternoon rang, Mio packed up her things, ready to find Mashiro and head to the Art Club's activity room together.
When Mio arrived at the door of Class C where Mashiro was, she immediately spotted the conspicuous Mashiro—along with the handsome guy standing by her desk trying to chat her up.
Mashiro seemed completely uninterested in him, though. She just stared silently toward the classroom door.
The moment Mio appeared, Mashiro got up and walked right past the guy, making her way over to Mio's side.
Seeing this, Mio quietly let out a breath of relief. Once Mashiro got close, she instinctively reached out and took her hand.
For them, holding hands was just standard operating procedure. But today, for some reason, Mashiro felt like Mio was gripping her hand a bit tighter than usual.
Not that she minded. She actually kind of liked it.
It wasn't until they were almost at the activity room that Mio realized she might've been a tiny bit out of sorts.
At the same time, the system's voice rang in her ears: "Based on analysis of your physiological responses just now, this system has reached a conclusion: you got jealous."
"Because you got jealous, Mashiro Shiina's conquest rating has increased by 1 point."
"Who... who got jealous? Do I look like I got jealous?"
"Thanks for the frequent flyer miles from your denial Mwah"
"Tch."
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8 PM. Having finished dinner, Mio was now sprawled across Mashiro's bed, flipping through her textbook. She wanted to take advantage of [Schrödinger's Card]'s effect before it refreshed and memorize as much content as possible.
As for why she was doing this here—did that even need explaining?
Having a beautiful girl nearby obviously improves study efficiency!
Right then, the system's voice suddenly piped up: "Sharing a room with a beautiful girl, yet all you can think about is studying. Does that seem right to you?"
Unlike usual, hearing the system this time didn't annoy Mio at all. In fact, she felt a small spark of anticipation.
Based on the system's phrasing, this task should be about Mashiro.
Ever since Mashiro's tasks had increased in difficulty, this was the first time Mio had triggered one. She couldn't help but wonder what kind of task it would be.
But no matter what it was, Mio felt completely confident. After all, she was the kind of person who could get Mashiro to kiss her with just one sentence.
"Please find a way to get Mashiro Shiina to voluntarily bathe with you. Success may reward you with a Mashiro Shiina series card or item. Failure will result in drawing from the punishment deck."
"Given your relationship with Mashiro Shiina, surely such a simple task won't be a problem for you, right? This system will be cheering you on~"
After hearing the full task description, the confident smile on Mio's face froze.
She had every reason to suspect the system was deliberately messing with her.
Honestly, this task wasn't all that difficult for her. But bathing with Mashiro? That was a bit too...
Then Mio remembered how she dressed Mashiro every day, even picking out her underwear. She'd already seen everything there was to see—what was and wasn't meant to be seen. Bathing together didn't seem like that big a deal.
With that thought, Mio set down her book and walked over to Mashiro, asking softly, "Mashiro, aren't you going to take a bath?"
"Once I finish this page, I'll go."
Mashiro answered, then noticed Mio was still standing there watching her. She tilted her head and asked, "Mio, do you want to bathe together?"
"Sure."
Hearing Mio's immediate agreement, a hint of surprise flickered in Mashiro's eyes. This wasn't the first time she'd invited Mio to bathe together, but she'd always been turned down before. For some reason, today Mio agreed without a moment's hesitation.
She didn't dwell on it though, and simply returned her attention to her drawing.
Even Mio hadn't expected that a single sentence would complete half the task. Mashiro really was her little angel.
If it were anyone else, she'd already be mentally preparing for failure.
All she had to do now was actually take a bath with Mashiro, and the task would be complete.
Easier than expected~
Good thing this task hadn't triggered yesterday. Otherwise, she definitely wouldn't have had the confidence to complete it while [Do As You Please] was still active.
"Then I'll go run the bath~"
"Mm."
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