"Hm?"
Yuigahama's mother, working in the kitchen, heard her daughter's door open and looked up. "Yui, it's the weekend."
"I know."
"You usually sleep until nine or ten on weekends. Up this early—do you have a date?"
"I… forgot to turn off my alarm." Yui answered on reflex—then remembered that her mother wasn't planning to go out today. She quickly added: "And, um, finals are coming up. I invited a friend over to study."
The smile that spread across her mother's face was dangerously knowing. If she hadn't been busy making breakfast, she probably would have already drifted over.
"Is it really just studying? Should I make myself scarce? I wasn't planning to go out, but I can make myself scarce."
"No—absolutely not!"
Yui sighed. Sometimes, between her mother and Mio, the resemblance was uncanny—the attentiveness, the teasing.
She shook off the thought and went to wash up.
It was 6:30 in the morning. They'd agreed on nine. She'd woken this early because she'd been lying awake since the middle of the night, mind firmly occupied by a certain someone—and after tossing and turning long enough, lying there had started to feel pointless.
Inexplicably, despite all of that, she felt completely energized.
She came back out to find breakfast on the table and her mother sitting there, watching her with that same pleased expression.
Yui preempted her. "It's Mio. Don't make it weird."
"I didn't say a word. Though I'll point out that you cleaned your room very enthusiastically last night."
"My room was just messy. That's all." Yui looked away.
Her mother's smile only grew. "Yui," she said gently, "you need to go for it. Someone like Mio—talented, thoughtful, all of it—if you're not careful, someone else is going to get there first."
"…Are you seriously encouraging your daughter to chase a girl?"
"I'm encouraging my daughter, full stop. Like I've told you—whether you fall for a boy or a girl, what matters to me is that you're happy."
Yui's ears went pink. She finished her breakfast at speed, changed into her clothes, snapped on Sablé's leash, and was out the door before her mother could add anything else.
The cold air hit her face immediately. She took a breath and felt her head clear, just slightly.
She checked her phone—8:00 AM. They weren't meeting until nine. She could walk a loop with Sablé and be back by then. Or she could head toward Mio's apartment complex and wait there.
Although—she wasn't going to stand around at the front entrance like a fool again. That had nearly been another wave of social death.
She sent Mio a quick text and headed in that direction anyway, Sablé trotting alongside her.
When the building came into view, Mio was already walking out.
Their eyes met at the same moment. Mio smiled and came over. "Didn't we agree I'd come to your place? Did you come all the way out here?"
"Sablé needed a walk, so… I thought I'd come meet you along the way."
"Here I thought you came specially to pick me up. Just along the way? How sad~" Mio said, grinning without a trace of actual sadness.
"Stop performing, it's cold. Come on." Yui took Mio's arm and tucked it through hers—exactly the way Mio usually pulled her in—and started walking.
Mio had grown used to these sudden moments of initiative from Yui. Her running theory: Yui had spent enough time being on the receiving end that she'd decided to try the technique herself. There was another possible explanation, but Mio hadn't quite let herself follow that thought all the way.
"Oh, right." Yui frowned slightly as they walked. "Yumiko's birthday is next Wednesday. I completely forgot about a gift."
"Is it?" Mio hadn't known. "Want to go look around? Just a quick pass through the shops—shouldn't take long."
"We can, but… weren't we supposed to be studying today?"
"It's just picking out a birthday present. We'll be done in no time."
"Okay. Let me drop Sablé off at home first."
Sablé heard her name. Her tail immediately became a blur.
They circled back to Yui's apartment, and Yui barely had the door cracked open before she was calling down the hall: "Mom! Mio and I are running an errand—back soon. Sablé's home!"
The door closed again.
Her mother blinked at the kitchen doorway, slightly behind on events. Wasn't today supposed to be a study session?
Well. Plans change.
She turned to find Sablé at the front door, nose working, tail still going, carefully studying the handle.
She crouched down and gave her a pat on the head.
"Not this time, sweetheart. You'd only be in the way."
"Woof woof woof?"