"That's all for today's class. You're dismissed."
As the teacher's words fell, the classroom instantly became lively. Students gathered in groups of two or three, discussing where they should go next.
Normally, club activities would happen after school, but Mio wasn't going to her club today.
That's because she was on cleaning duty, so she needed to stay behind.
Besides her, there was also Kato Megumi.
Originally it shouldn't have been Kato Megumi's turn, but the student ahead of her on the schedule was out sick, so it fell to her instead.
Before starting the cleaning, Mio sent a message to Shiina Mashiro explaining the situation and telling her to go to the club on her own.
She'd already transferred here quite a while ago, and the art room wasn't far—Mashiro shouldn't get lost.
By the time Mio finished sending her message, most of the students had already left the classroom.
Just as she was about to grab the cleaning supplies, a male classmate suddenly walked up to her, saying somewhat nervously, "Shirai-san, how about I help you out?"
"No need, but thanks." Mio flashed a polite smile.
She wasn't sure if it was because of [Full Charm], but she felt like more people had been trying to do her favors today. During lunch break, someone had even confessed to her.
If it had been a girl confessing, that would've been one thing, but getting confessed to by a guy? Her feelings were... complicated, to say the least.
Ignoring the guy's disappointed expression, Mio grabbed her supplies and cheerfully sidled up next to Kato Megumi. "Kato-san, we're partners today! Doesn't that feel super exciting?"
"It's just cleaning together. Why should it feel exciting?"
Kato Megumi looked at the smiling Mio in front of her. She still didn't quite understand why this incredibly dazzling beauty wanted to get close to her.
She figured that aside from her lack of presence, she didn't have anything particularly special about her.
Pushing aside her wandering thoughts, Kato Megumi took the supplies Mio handed her, and the two began cleaning the classroom.
Right at that moment, the system's voice suddenly rang in Mio's ear. "It's rare to get to clean with your pre-transmigration waifu. I'm sure the host must want to do something, right?"
"No, I don't."
"Like it or not, you have to think about it! Please find a way to kabedon Kato Megumi before she leaves school and hold the position for thirty seconds. Success will potentially reward you with Kato Megumi series cards or items. Failure will result in drawing a penalty card."
"Do your best, Host~"
"Tch."
If Kato Megumi were the one doing the kabedon, that'd be easy.
But having to actively kabedon her felt... weird somehow. Had she gotten so used to being passive lately that she'd actually adapted to it?
Still, this task wasn't that hard. After all, Kato Megumi's conquest rating with her wasn't that high, so the task difficulty couldn't be too extreme either—provided no accidents happened like this morning.
Mio felt like she'd just raised another death flag.
Though the task had been issued, she wasn't in a hurry to complete it. After all, she just needed to finish it before Kato Megumi left school.
Besides cleaning the classroom, they also needed to clean the multimedia room upstairs.
Since the task required her to maintain the kabedon position for thirty seconds, to avoid being seen and having to explain, Mio decided to wait until they were cleaning the multimedia room to complete the task.
After all, with school over, basically no one would go there. Even if she and Kato Megumi did something... weird in there, nobody would find out.
Ahem!
Pushing aside her wandering thoughts, Mio began seriously cleaning the classroom.
The two of them quickly finished cleaning the classroom, then headed upstairs to the multimedia room with their supplies.
Perhaps because someone had just used it for class, the room was a bit messy. It took them quite a while working together to organize and clean everything.
Just as Kato Megumi was about to head downstairs, Mio suddenly coughed lightly. "Kato-san, could you help me with a small favor?"
Hearing this, Kato Megumi stopped in her tracks, looking puzzled—as if asking what kind of help Mio needed.
"I've been practicing kabedon for certain reasons recently. Could you be my practice partner?"
"Kabedon?"
"Yeah, kabedon!"
Kato Megumi gave Mio a strange look. If she'd asked her to take out the trash or something, that would make sense. But kabedon? She genuinely couldn't understand.
"Can I refuse?"
"You can, but... I'd be really sad if you refused." Mio looked at Kato Megumi with puppy-dog eyes, looking as pitiful as could be.
"While whether Shirai-san is sad or not doesn't really concern me, if all you need is for me to be your practice partner, I can help with that."
"Don't worry, I absolutely won't do anything else besides the kabedon."
Kato Megumi thought carefully and confirmed there shouldn't be any problems, then walked over to stand against the wall. Mio walked up in front of her and gently placed her hand on the wall next to Kato Megumi's ear.
At the same time, a thirty-second countdown appeared before her eyes.
Leaning against the wall, Kato Megumi was observing Mio up close for the first time. It felt completely different from observing her from a distance. Even as a girl herself, she couldn't help but want to keep looking.
Just as the countdown reached ten seconds, Mio suddenly heard rapid footsteps approaching—and they were heading this way.
Though only a few seconds remained before completing the task, Mio still moved her hand away.
If this were happening outside school somewhere nobody knew them, it wouldn't matter. But in school, she needed to be careful about certain things. She didn't care about herself, but Mio didn't want rumors to affect Kato Megumi.
Shortly after Mio straightened up, a female student hurried into the classroom.
Seeing Mio and Kato Megumi, she paused for a moment before speaking. "Sorry, I accidentally left my phone in the classroom during class. Did either of you happen to see it?"
"I have the phone. Could you enter your unlock code to verify it's yours?"
"Sure."
After the girl unlocked the phone with her passcode, Mio returned it to her.
Once the girl left, Mio turned her attention back to Kato Megumi, looking pitifully at her. "Kato-san, about what just happened... could we do it one more time?"
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