Chapter 13:

The Shortest and Most Mundane of Moments

Why Get One Girlfriend if You Could Have ̶F̶i̶v̶e̶ ̶F̶o̶u̶r̶ ... Three?


“Mio! I’m home.”

As suggested by the person himself, Aito followed Riku home. Nobody answered Riku’s calling out, but some shuffling sounds coming from the direction Aito knew Mio’s room to be in suggested her presence in the building. 


“Riku, your sister seems to be home, but what about your parents?”


“They’re away, don’t worry. I know you tend to be pretty stiff around them.”


“Yeah, and I can’t imagine things would become less awkward between us if they found out I tried to date both of their children at the same time, so there’s that too.”


“Oh, right, you have nothing to worry about when it comes to that! I already told them.”


“You did what, exactly?”


“I told my parents that you wanted to date both me and my sister.”


“And how did they react to finding out this particular piece of information?”


“Not as badly as you seem to be afraid of.”


“But still badly?”


“Nah, I’d say they seemed pretty chill about it.”


“You have some weird parents. Convenient, but still weird.”


“Yeah, whatever, now go charm that girl you’re here to see.”


Seeing no reason for further delay and already used to navigating the building from previous visits, Aito went straight to where he knew Mio’s room to be, throwing the door open to find her sitting cross-legged on top of her bed.


While her room probably deserved description, it contained such a huge clutter of random objects that trying to give a description of it would either cover so little of the essence of the interior of it that it’d barely help, or devolve into a long list of items the average person would never see any real use for. The few pieces of furniture that could actually be called furniture without getting any weird looks consisted only of a bed in the rightmost corner of the room furthest from the entrance and a desk propped against the wall opposite it but unreachable without some careful navigation. 


Upon seeing Aito, Mio opened her eyes wide and shrank back a bit. Part of the problem could be that she only was partially dressed, for instance wearing a sock on only one foot and a bit less than normal otherwise too. On second thought, maybe he should have knocked. 


“Uhh, want me to leave?”


“Why are you here?”


“I came here together with Riku. He suggested I follow him home. No more complicated than that, and I swear I didn’t know you weren’t dressed.”


“That’s strange.”


“Is it that weird for me to follow a friend home? Or given that we just went on a date, I guess maybe a bit more than a friend.”


“I told him to not take you here.”


"But he did, because he felt like it, and you telling him to do something isn't a exactly a binding contract."


"And that's why he shouldn't have brought you here. Doing exactly what I told him not to? That's kind of mean, you know."


“I say he can do what he wants to, and expecting anything else without giving an actual reason for it is just crazy. He’s your brother, not your slave.”


"I guess, but honestly I don't care about if it makes sense or not if it's good for me. And so far he's always done exactly what I said he should."


"I think that's just because you probably asked for more reasonable things than betraying his friend and now partner before this…"


"Huh, I hadn't considered that. Guess I'll have to find something to bribe him with for the more unreasonable requests. And Aito, if you’re here anyway, I have something for you to do. Come with me.”


Mio hopped down from the bed, before walking over to the desk on the other side of the room while narrowly avoiding stepping on anything blocking her path - a rather risky proposition considering how stepping on stuff with her one bare foot seemed like it would have hurt, but her navigation skills were on point. This time - Aito had seen her step on things while barefoot plenty of previous times he visited, not just in her own room but also in other significantly less cluttered spaces. He couldn't say why, but despite said habit he'd still rarely seen her wear socks aside from at school. 


“Sure there aren’t some other things we should talk about?”


“Nope, I’m sure there’s nothing that concerns me that you could possibly bring up that I would also be interested in talking about.”


"Like how you set me up?"


"Yeah, like that, because I'm pretending not to care and it's not like you have any means of making me talk about it. So unless you want to do stuff I want you to do or talk about stuff I want to talk about you're not going to get anywhere with me. If you don't want to do that, you can just leave now." 


Befuddled by her utter lack of effort in even attempting to pretend she actually did have something else she needed to do and wasn’t straight-up lying, but also unwilling to let go just yet, Aito held his ground and stayed exactly where he was (not very far into the room out of a logical fear on stepping on a couple of dozen things if he dared venture further).

"I take it you're not leaving?"


"Yeah, I'm staying."


“Then would you mind taking a look at this?”


Mio gestured toward a notebook and some books placed on the desk she stood next to. 


"I would, but I'm not sure I'll be able to get over there without feeling like hell by the time I'm done."


"You'll have to deal with those kinds of challenges sometimes if you want to spend time with me."


A mischievous smile appeared on Mio's face, the kind telling Aito that this was a subtle way of getting him to give up, show that she was right and he was wrong and he wouldn't actually go particularly far to accomplish what he wanted. Aito, however, either could not or did not want to read such subtle clues.  


A single trembling step at a time, he made his way across the "wreckage" spread across the floor, making it almost a full step with each leg before Mio rushed over to guide him the rest of the way.

"I thought you said this was the kind of thing I'd just have to put up with sometimes."


Once they reached the desk, Part of Aito wanted to sit down, but Mio's room did not contain any such trivial objects as chairs, leaving both of them no choice but to stand. 


"Yeah, but that was before I thought you'd actually do it."


Mio rubbing one of her feet while she spoke tipped Aito off to the fact that she'd probably been a lot less careful when rushing over to help him. 


"You hurt your foot?"


"I just stepped on a few things, is all."


"Seems kind of pointless to help me avoid getting hurt only to end up hurting yourself instead. Doesn't really fit the mean girl persona either."


"Well, I live here, so I'm more used to it, and it's better than wearing socks. And I think it's fine to break character once in a while when nobody who matters is around."


"Still, if you don't watch out people might realize."


"Not if you don't tell. So you'd better not tell anyone I'm not actually like that. Then I'll do the kind of stuff I asked you to pretend I do, but for real. Consider yourself warned."


"Is that a real warning or an act?"


"A bit of both."


"Can I ask you something? Two things, actually."


"Sure." 


"You said hurting your feet is better than wearing socks, but judging by how you're wearing one it looks like you were in the middle of putting socks on when I got here."


"I was actually in the middle of planning to take the other sock off when you interrupted me. Next question, please."

"That's the more important one. Why pretend to be mean, anyway? Why not just act nice to people? I'm sure they'd like you."


"I'd love if things were that simple, but I have my reasons, which I would explain to you if I wasn't afraid you'd just ruin it all if I told you."


"You know me well."


"Better than I'd like, sometimes. So, that stuff I wanted you to take a look at?"


“Oh, right, that was a thing. Uhh… sure you're not going to make me leave first?”


"You're going to ask that after making your way all the way over to this side of my room? And after being all like 'no, I'm not going anywhere!' ?"


"I didn't mean I wouldn't come back. I was thinking I should just exit your roommore temporarily, and for other reasons. I could just go back out until you finish getting dressed, is what I was thinking."


"I wasn't planning on getting any more dressed though?"


"Sure you're okay with that?"


“You’ve already seen me in various states of undress both better and worse than this, so I see no reason to start caring now.”


Said sightings, it should be noted for the sake of Aito's honour, came from a past history of similar dismissiveness on Mio’s part and not any more intimate relationship between the two of them. 


"So, if you'll take a look at the things on my desk, there is this one problem I got kind of stuck on."


“Mio, I’m not here to help you with your homework.”


“Ah, you misunderstand. I don’t want you to help me. I want you to do it for me!"


"So you want me to help you with your homework."


"Yeah, but saying you need to do it for me fits the ultra-mean-bully-that-takes-orders-from-no-one act better."


"So which one do you want, for me to help you or to do it for you?"


"...help me, obviously. But pretend I'm being mean and making you do it all for me while you help."


"So you want me to roleplay."


"Sounds kind of crude if you put it that way, but yes."


"Alright, ahum. Mio, I can't do your homework for you."


“Why? You’ve done it before."


“I think I was under this mistaken impression that you would like me more if I did. Or maybe you really did and it wasn't just what I thought, but either way I’ve thought about things now. A lot more than I used to. And I realised that some things may not be worth doing even if it makes someone like you. Maybe getting people to feel good about you isn’t a good enough reason to do something on its own."


“So, what? You’re going to totally ignore what everyone thinks about you from now on?”


“I wouldn’t go that far either. I still think listening to what other people have to say is important. "


“Stop talking like you’re this wise old man or something. It’s creepy."


“I mean, I may not be old, but wise? Can’t I at least be that part?”


“You’re like the furthest thing from wise I’ve ever seen.”


“And yet you still wanted me to do your homework for you?”


“I don’t give a damn about how good it is if I just can pass without doing the work myself. And you're at least good enough to pass, and in this case this is both stuff you've already done and a subject you're actually good at.”


"True. And I'm done. I wrote down what I think you'll need but free to ask if it's not enough or I'd there's something you don't understand. Only hints, of course.


"Yeah, I'll do that, thanks."


"But Mio, if you're fine with not acting all meany mean for a little bit, I'd like to actually talk about how what you did this time really was pretty bad. Like, I get that you have your reasons for wanting people to see you as the meanest of the mean, but what you did this time would genuinely have screwed me over if Riku hadn't bailed me out by cancelling the bet."


"I was going to bail you out by agreeing to go out with you tomorrow, actually. I even sent a message telling you that… you didn't see it?"


"I may have panicked and not bothered with looking at my phone anymore after I saw the message about you cancelling."


"...well, at least going here meant you could help me out, if you want to look at things more positively."


"I guess I did. So, now what?"


"Now you get a reward! Both for helping me with the homework and as an apology for me unintentionally ruining your bet that you would have won without my intervention."


"So, what's the reward then?"


"The terms of your bet was that Riku would do something you asked of him if you won and that you would do something he asked of you if you won, right?"


"No, you got his prize right, but my reward would be getting to brag at him as much as I wanted without him complaining."


"Wow, what a tame reward."


"What would you have gone with, then?"
"Probably just what I thought the terms of your bet was."


"Yeah, well, that's your opinion and I have mine, which in this scenario happens to be different from to yours. But more importantly, what's the reward you had in mind?"


"I was going to say that if I kind of messed things up so you wouldn't get to make my brother do what you wanted him to, you could do it with me instead. That was just a misunderstanding though, huh? But I'm not taking what I planned back just because I misunderstood things a bit. I'll do whatever you want me to instead. Nothing is off limits. Absolutely nothing. That's the reward!"


"Mio, I don't know if you've realized this, but there's a huge difference between you saying you'll do absolutely anything you want me to and Riku doing the same thing, especially considering how you're dressed at the moment."


At this, Mio's face turned a bright shade of red. 


"I promise that's not the kind of thing I had in mind! I'm not taking what I said back though, I really will do anything, even if you ask me for… that."


"Even I am not that much of a creep. Or no, actually I am, but a few people called me out on my flaws in various ways and because of them I'm thinking it might be better to take the high road instead this time."


"I think you'd have done a much better job at sounding noble and nice if you left out that last part."


"Maybe, but that wouldn't have been as honest. Anyway, that's why I'm not going to collect that reward."


"I went through all the trouble of offering and you're just going to ignore it all? Kind of feels like a shame."


"Better than doing anything actually shameful, I'd say."


"If that's what you're worried about, why don't you just let me choose the reward instead? Kind of goes against the original premise, but better than nothing."


"Well, I suppose I could take that?"


"Great! Then your reward is… a kiss! We may not have gone on it yet, but you did ask to go on a date, so it kind of fits thematically speaking."


Before Aito could react, Mio's lips made contact with his own. While taken aback at first, he soon leaned into it. But while he'd figured the kiss would probably be a short affair, she kept it going much longer than he'd anticipated, slowly making him feel like he'd need to get some air at any moment now, until… at last at his limit, Aito pushed Mio away, his lungs lacking the capacity to keep up with Mio. 


She, predictably, fell to the floor and on top of a whole lot of stuff, much of it with various protruding parts.


"Sorry! I couldn't breathe, but I didn't mean to push you. Mio, are you ok?"


"Nope! Or well, I don't think it's going to last, but this actually hurts quite a lot. I'm liking that part a lot more than I anticipated though, so let's do it again!"


While not exactly the ending he'd expected for his "adventure" with Mio, thus things settled with Mio being the one to awaken to a rather sketchy revelation of sorts and without Auto learning anything this time. But while he hadn't learned anything new, he'd been able to use part of what he'd learned from the others, even if just for the shortest and most mundane of moments, and maybe that counted for something. 


muishiki
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Koyomi
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