"Hey, Mion.

Here."

"Wha— What is it, Kei-chan...?"

I thrust the bento box she'd given me yesterday at her face.

"It's the bento box you gave me yesterday.

Thank you.

It was delicious."

"...Heeh......... ah..."

...Mion's face quickly flushed bright red.

...Hey, now, you were the one pretending to be Shion when you gave it to me...

You're gonna give it away if you get all red like that when you're being Mion...

At this rate, she might trip and fall right into her own grave, so I decided to help her out.

"Listen.

I was pretty hungry yesterday.

Out of the blue, Shion came all the way to my house and gave me some food in a bento box.

This is that box.

I made sure to wash it clean!"

"Ah, ...ahaha, r-right!

Shion's really considerate, huh~?!"

That was so transparent.

...Was Mion always this terrible at lying?

...Her expression was different than usual... but it looked strangely cute.

"So, w-what did you think?"

"...You two are like peas in a pod.

You're twins, right?

Obviously you'd look the same."

"Umm, ...not... not that... err..."

Mion looked kind of bewildered, like she was waiting for a specific answer.

...When she said "impression," maybe she didn't mean Shion, but the bento...?

"Oh, of course!

It was delicious."

"...Eh, ...ah... really?"

"I never lie about liking food.

If I say something's good, then it's objectively good!

You can feel free to give my recommendations to every single person you meet.

Tell Shion it was seriously great, all right?"

"Ah... o-okay!

Tell Shion, right?

I will!

I think she'll be happy...!

Ahahahahaha...!"

We're going along with Shion having given it to me, not Mion, aren't we?

Yet, her laugh... it came from deep down, and it sounded really happy.

...I guess she really can laugh nicely enough that just looking at her makes me feel better too.

A sarcastic remark made its way onto my tongue, but I swallowed it back.

As Mion went to put the bento box in her bag, she noticed a clattering noise.

"...Kei-chan, there's something inside.

Huh?

............Wow..."

Gah... She opened it...?!

The thing inside was a little embarrassing, so I wish she hadn't opened it here.

Panicking, I hid it with my hands!

"Umm... well!

This is, well, my mother told me to put them in as thanks!

I didn't come up with it or anything!

Don't get the wrong idea!!"

"...It's so pretty...

Candy..."

There was a handful of candies, neatly wrapped in paper, inside the sparkly-clean bento box.

...When I was cleaning the box out yesterday in the sink, Mom came over and interrogated me, and I fessed up as to who had given me the food.

Then she told me that something like this called for a display of gratitude.

...I didn't want to, because it was embarrassing, so I argued that it wouldn't be like me to do that...

"...Well... that's what happened.

...I mean... urgh..."

I was so embarrassed it felt like fire might shoot out of my face.

...Mion laughing the whole thing off like she usually did would be fine... but for some reason, she was staring at the candy in the box with fascination.

"...Th-Thank you."

"D-Don't thank me.

Thank my mom—she put them in there!

B-B-Besides, you're not the one I need to be thanking, right, Mion!?

Those are for Shion, okay!?"

"...Ah... right.

You're right...

...Okay.

I'll be sure to tell Shion!

I just know she'll be happy."

Mion, looking a little downtrodden, put the lid back on the box.

...Seemed like I ended up saying something a little mean at the end.

"Mii-chan, you look sort of cozy today.

Did something happen?

Did it?"

"...Perhaps she's caught a fever?

The red in her face is probably due to the increased body temperature.

......Hey, Rika.

Why are you petting my head?"

"......Satoko, I'm sure you'll be able to catch fevers soon enough."

...*pet* *pet*