"It feels a little different from what I remember."
Standing beside a Shopping Street, Shirai Mio looked at the stores lining both sides of the road. If she remembered correctly, before her Transmigration, her home had been right around here. The only difference was that the residential neighborhood that used to be here had become a Shopping Street.
As expected, it really was different from before her Transmigration.
She had always told herself there was absolutely no need to revisit old places, yet now that she had returned to the city where she once lived, Shirai Mio still could not stop herself from coming here.
Still, maybe this was for the best. If another version of herself suddenly popped out around here, Shirai Mio felt she would probably be pretty annoyed.
Noticing Shirai Mio's expression, Yukinoshita Haruno followed her gaze in confusion. But to Haruno, this was nothing more than an ordinary Shopping Street, and she had no idea what Mio was looking at.
"Sorry, I was looking at the Signboards up there." Coming back to herself, Shirai Mio gave Yukinoshita Haruno a sweet smile.
"What's so interesting about Signboards?"
"There seems to be a pretty famous Milk Tea Shop here. Let me treat Senpai to a cup of Milk Tea."
Yukinoshita Haruno's instincts told her that Shirai Mio was probably feeding her a line, but remembering Mio's expression just now, Haruno ultimately pretended not to notice and linked her arm with Mio's as they walked forward.
Shirai Mio would have preferred to treat Yukinoshita Haruno to something tasty, but they had only just finished eating and really could not fit any more food. A drink, though, was still manageable.
There was Milk Tea in Nihon too, though Yukinoshita Haruno did not usually drink it. But since Shirai Mio had already offered to treat her, of course she was going to give it a try.
Yukinoshita Haruno had no particular preferences when it came to Milk Tea, and since she could not read Chinese at all, she casually ordered one with a different flavor from Shirai Mio's.
Of course, she did that so the two of them could swap drinks.
Wasn't that what couples did?
Although she and Shirai Mio could not quite be called a couple yet, who knew what things would be like after the trip ended?
After all, she would have an entire week alone with Shirai Mio. She was the sort of person who could get up to just about anything in that amount of time.
Whatever she was thinking about, a pleased smile gradually appeared on Yukinoshita Haruno's lips.
Beside her, Shirai Mio suddenly shivered. She turned toward Yukinoshita Haruno and whispered, "Senpai, you aren't thinking about anything weird, are you?"
"Of course not. That's blatant prejudice. Your senpai is a good person, you know."
Shirai Mio stuck out her tongue at Yukinoshita Haruno. If Yukinoshita Haruno counted as a good person, then the System could practically be called a saint.
Yukinoshita Haruno did not mind Shirai Mio's reaction. Instead, she naturally hooked her arm through Mio's and leaned against her, making the two of them look exceptionally intimate.
Since it actually felt rather nice, Shirai Mio did not try to struggle free.
Still, wasn't she usually the one who did this sort of thing? When had Yukinoshita Haruno learned it too?
Pulling her wandering thoughts back, Shirai Mio continued showing Yukinoshita Haruno around.
They had not been strolling for very long before the sky gradually began to darken.
But the number of pedestrians on the street did not decrease. If anything, the area became even livelier.
Although they were only wandering around without any particular destination, being surrounded by an atmosphere she had not experienced in a long time still put Shirai Mio in an excellent mood.
The only problem was that they had eaten too much at lunch. Even though it was already dinnertime, neither of them had any desire to eat.
But that was not a problem. In China, as long as you wanted something to eat, you could find food no matter the hour.
After all the running around they had done today, Shirai Mio did not keep Yukinoshita Haruno outside for very long and soon returned with her to the Hotel.
They planned to recharge tonight and properly enjoy themselves tomorrow.
As for the day after tomorrow, Shirai Mio planned to take Yukinoshita Haruno somewhere else. She had not originally planned to fly here directly; she had only chosen this place as their first stop for personal reasons.
Back at the Hotel, Yukinoshita Haruno stretched lazily, then hugged Shirai Mio outright and said, "Little kouhai, do you want to take a bath first, or should we bathe together?"
Just as Shirai Mio was about to say something, the System's voice suddenly sounded beside her ear. "Since Yukinoshita Haruno has already invited you to bathe together, why shouldn't the Host be a good sport and make her wish come true?"
"Host, please find a way to bathe together with Yukinoshita Haruno before midnight tonight. Success may reward you with a Yukinoshita Haruno Series Deck or an item reward. Failure will require you to draw from the Penalty Deck."
"Do your best, Host~" The System's voice was still filled with obvious schadenfreude.
To be honest, this mission was extremely easy for the current Shirai Mio to complete. Even so, she was still a little worried that Yukinoshita Haruno might try something strange while they were bathing.
That hesitation did not last long. Shirai Mio let out a soft sigh and said, "Then let's bathe together."
Seeing Shirai Mio, who had clearly been about to reject her, suddenly agree to her request, Yukinoshita Haruno realized it must have happened again.
It looked like her analysis was more or less correct. Whenever that situation appeared while Mio was spending time alone with her, it would only be related to Haruno. If someone else were nearby, though, that might not necessarily be the case.
Yukinoshita Haruno had not expected much from the casual suggestion in the first place. But since Shirai Mio could not act of her own accord, Haruno naturally intended to help her properly.
"Then let's get started~" Yukinoshita Haruno immediately pulled Shirai Mio into the Bathroom.
Shirai Mio had originally wanted to point out that she had not brought any clothes to change into, but then she remembered there was no one here except her and Yukinoshita Haruno, so she decided to forget it.
If they were already bathing together, then having no change of clothes probably did not matter anyway.
Before they actually started bathing, however, Shirai Mio still whispered to Yukinoshita Haruno, "Senpai, you aren't going to take advantage of the bath to do anything weird to me, are you?"
"I'm not quite sure what you mean, Kouhai. Why don't you tell me what exactly counts as something weird?"
"Like…" Shirai Mio opened her mouth, but after forcing out only a single word, she gave up. Even she was not thick-skinned enough to say that sort of thing directly to Yukinoshita Haruno's face.
Forget it. No matter how you looked at it, she could never be the one losing out anyway.
With that thought, Shirai Mio steeled herself, stripped off her clothes, and walked straight into the Shower Room.
······