VRMMO no Shien Shokunin ～Top Player no Shikakenin～

ong really well in such a short span of time.

Leaving aside the fact that among the three of them, I get the feeling that Siesta-chan is always one step ahead.

To begin with, Miyu is someone that tends to be adored by younger girls, she’s even popular at school so I can sort of understand this result.

Even though she doesn’t particularly like to look after others, if you told me that it was strange, I would say that it is…just as Lycoris-chan had said, younger girls would probably see that sort of thing as cool.

If you asked Rise, she would just say that she’s savage and vulgar, so I guess it depends on the person you ask.

After we finished exchanging friend requests, as expected, we had been playing for a long time so we decided to break up.

It’s also quite late for middle school students to be awake…ah, now that I think about it they are middle school students.

Tomorrow is a holiday, so I guess they were allowed to stay up a bit later than usual.

We all returned to Heathrow town and decided to log out for the day.

I entered the hallway from my bedroom and saw light coming out from Rise’s room.

So she’s still awake…she sure is working hard.

It might be a bit late, but should I bring her a warm drink as I had planned before?

I went down to the kitchen on the first floor, heated up a pot and blended milk and soy milk.

I put in some cocoa powder and mixed it and with that, a hot cocoa to warm oneself up was made.

If this was a coffee shop, they might have put in salt or black pepper.

Carrying the cocoa I knocked the door lightly…but there was no response.

Since Rise doesn’t really listen to music while studying, she should have been able to hear it.

While letting out a 「I’m entering」 I opened the door…and there I saw the figure of Rise sleeping on the desk.

…I guess I should drink the cocoa I made myself?

I placed the cap on top of the desk for the time being and rolled up the futon on the bed first.

From within it, a hugging pillow with a colourful patchwork made from my old clothes appeared.

It was something I made for Rise when I was still a beginner at sewing, so it holds a lot of memories for me.
That’s why, it’s a bit rough.

Luckily, Rise was studying in her pajamas, so I carried her small body to the bed.

I gently placed her on the bed and put the covers on her and when I tried to take my distance…

「Hnn!?」 (Wataru)

I tried to, but at some point she had grasped the hem of my clothes firmly.

When I tried to gently make her hand let go, she put more force into it and refused to let go…the truth is, she’s probably awake?

「Hah…」 (Wataru)

Since there’s no helping it, I reached out to Rise’s desk chair and brought it closer, then I used it to sit down next to the bed.

The cocoa too…oh, I can just about reach it.

While drinking that, I decided to stay there until Rise decided to let go.

Things in Rise’s room are kept in order and it’s pretty tidy, but I get the feeling that there might not be that many accessories for a girl.

Well, I’ve only know of Rise’s and Miyu’s rooms though.

Just for the record, if I don’t clean up Miyu’s room, she would do as she pleases and leave things scattered around.

Like that, I looked around the room for no particular reason, and my eyes met my own self looking at me.

…It wasn’t the projection of a mirror or the window.

There was a framed picture on top of the desk, inside, was a picture of me wearing the school uniform.

I wonder when that was taken…at the very least, I don’t remember taking that photo.

She changed the photo without me realizing…each time I enter Rise’s room, I get the feeling I see a different one.

If it was a family photo it might be fine, but having a picture of just me on top of her desk was quite embarrassing…let’s turn it over when I leave the room…

「Hnn…」 (Rise)

「Oh.」 (Hind)

With a moan, Rise released her hand, so without a moment of delay I stood up from the chair.

Just in time, I had finished drinking the cocoa.

「Uuu….」 (Rise)

When I did, her hand was creeping about lonely so with my empty hand I put the cup on the desk and had Rise clutch the hugging pillow.

She buried her face in the pillow and held it tightly and with an expression of relief then she switched to breathing like a sleeping person, like that I proceeded to leav-

「Ah, I was about to forget.」 (Hind)

At last, I turned over my own photograph placed on the desk, switched off the lights and left Rise’s room in a hurry and returned to my own room.

Good night, Rise.