Having said goodbye to Konata after finishing their shopping trip, Naomi arrived at Mio's grandmother's sweets store, having missed Kagami and Tsukasa, who had left just moments before.

With both her hands full with shopping bags overflowing with cosplay, she gave the grandma at the counter a short greeting before going to the backroom where Mio still was after the twins had left.

"Welcome back… Naomi…" Mio noticed the bags in her hands and was shocked that there were even more cosplay goods than what she saw in the picture she was sent earlier.

"I'm home~ *chu *." Naomi gave her a kiss as a greeting, and because she was in a good mood, she went straight for her lips.

"*chu* Oh~, pretty bold today, huh?" She returned the kiss, having no reason to complain about it and preferring to be greeted as such. "Not that you're usually reserved when being alone with me, anyway."

"Ehehe~." Naomi looked super excited. "Today was a great day, so I gave you a little extra service, Mio-chan!"

"Heh~? So you had fun on your date, huh?" While faking a pout, Mio tried to look annoyed. She and Kagami had a lot in common after all.

"E-Eh?! N-No! That's not what happened" Naomi immediately freaked out. "I-It may have looked a little like it, but that's definitely not what it was! You're absolutely the only one for me, Mio-chan!"

"I know, I'm sorry… I just wanted to mess with you a little. I won't do it again…" Mio, unlike Kagami, immediately stopped her teasing because Naomi's reaction was too much for her to bear.

"You're soo mean~!" Naomi started to pout for real and playfully started to hit Mio with her fists.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch~." She feigned hurt and began patting Naomi's head. "There, there…" She continued to pet her until she calmed down.

"Tehehe~, Mio-chan's head pats are the best." All the signs of her anger were now nowhere to be seen.

"Still, I would like to know what happened. I was shocked when I saw the picture of you and Konata in the café together, you know?"

"Konata-san invited me to go cosplay shopping with her yesterday. I kept it a secret because I wanted to surprise you, Mio-chan!"

"Surprise me? What do you mean?"

"I wanted to prove that I'm able to meet up with a f-friend on my own even without you encouraging me to do it, Mio-chan…"

"…" Being too moved to say anything, Mio got up from her seat and tightly hugged Naomi because she was just too adorable.

"Mio-chan…?" She was confused.

"I-I'm just sooo happy!" She was actually about to cry out of joy. "My little girl is finally growing up! I'm so proud of you, Naomi!" While hugging her, Mio was glad about her progress.

"I'm not happy at all with your reaction!" Naomi didn't like her overly enthusiastic reaction. Still, she couldn't blame Mio that much because it was her own fault that Mio was acting this way. There was no way Naomi would've met up with anyone except for Mio on her own before getting to know the other two, mainly Konata, after all.

"Konata's officially your friend now, huh?" She couldn't help emphasizing the word friend.

"Y-Yes, she is my f-friend…" Even though her cheeks were dyed deep red, Naomi still managed to properly admit it.

"That's so great! Now if only Konata could help me with your impulsive cosplay buying, but I guess… that's… not possible…" Focusing her attention on all the shopping bags with its menacing-looking contents, Mio let out one of her usual sighs that would come whenever it came to this topic. "I don't think I even want to know what you bought this time…"

"I got all sorts of great stuff!" Naomi was a lot more enthusiastic in that regard. "Konata-san has some really great ideas, and she's good at finding cosplay."

"I-I see…" She had a bad feeling.

"We found so much nice cosplay together! Konata-san and I even bought some matching cosplay for you and me, and for Konata-san and Kagami-san because we couldn't decide who should cosplay as what. We even shared lots of interesting ideas for the future~."

"Th-That's great…" Mio's spoken words and facial expression didn't seem to match.

"Oh, yeah, I also bought two matching sets of bunny ears as a gift for Konata-san. Cosplaying together with you is a lot of fun, Mio-chan, so I hope Kagami-san and Konata-san would give it a try, too."

"That's… Wait, what?!"

"You bought… bunny ears for the two…?" Mio couldn't believe what she just heard.

"Uhm… Yes? Is there something wrong with that?" Naomi-san couldn't see the problem.

"Where do I even start… You know perfectly well just how many implications bunny ears have! What were you even thinking?!"

"Hmm…?" She only tilted her head because she had absolutely no idea what Mio was talking about.

"Anything bunny related is super erotic!"

"Ehh…?"

"Konata and Kagami are definitely going to misunderstand something now!"

"Misunderstand?" Naomi only kept getting more confused. "Bunnies are super cute and adorable! What is there to misunderstand? I love them! How could they be erotic?"

"Haa…" Mio hit her own forehead. "I can't believe you, Naomi… Do you really not remember…? It was last year when you had this glorious idea to make me wear a bunny suit… Does that ring any bells?"

"Mhmm…" She held her chin while thinking about it.

"That black, super skimpy costume with the white bunny tail on my butt and the super long ears…"

"A-Ah!" Naomi finally remembered. "That was great! Let's do that again soon!" She had a big smile on her face.

"That's. Not. The. Point. Here. Naomi!" Mio was getting angry at her.

"R-Right…" She focused back on the topic again. "O-Oh, I may have made another slip-up …"

"You can say that again! Wait, another…? Just what do you mean by another, Naomi!?" Cold sweat ran down from Mio's spine as she heard the word.

"I might… or might not… totally accidentally… definitely not on purpose because I really didn't plan…"

"Na-o-mi!"

"It could be that I mentioned one or two things that could make Konata-san think that you and I may be a couple, Mio-chan. I'm very sorry!" She immediately fessed up.

"You are joking, right? R-Right?!" All color left Mio's face after hearing that.

"I-It should be fine, I think… Konata-san didn't mention anything when I made those slip-ups… She probably didn't think of any hidden meanings."

"That's a relief! Still, you should watch your words, Naomi! It's too early for them to find out." Mio was utterly oblivious to the fact that she made way worse slip-ups when she was together with Kagami earlier, and the only reason why their secret wasn't out yet was because Kagami had her own problems to deal with.

"Y-Yes, I'm very sorry…"

"Haa…" Mio sighed again. "I just hope Kagami doesn't think too deeply about the bunny ears either… But I feel like Kagami's one of those who likes to overthink stuff like that…"

"Bunnies are so cute and adorable though…" With Naomi's silent grumbling, the topic came to an end.

….

After the short exchange, the two went back to the front of the store to chat with Mio's grandmother.

"Oh, welcome back, you two."

"Here we are again, grandma~." Having changed the topic, Naomi was in a good mood again.

"Still thinking of new recipes?" Mio noticed the sheet of paper in front of her grandma with lots of scribbles on it.

"I'm writing down recipes I'm going to teach Tsukasa-chan the next time, but right now I'm having a hard time deciding on which ones."

"You really took a liking to her, huh?"

"Indeed, Tsukasa-chan's a lovely girl. I had a lot of fun with her today. She's a fast learner and has sooo much talent." The grandma was speaking very fondly of her.

"Good for you, I guess…" Mio wasn't convinced about having yet another pro-Japanese sweets girl being near her.

"Yes, it's great. I'm looking forward to the next time we meet already."

"Uhm… Who's this… Tsukasa girl you're talking about?" Naomi sounded confused, seeming to have never heard of that name before.

"Tsukasa's Kagami's twin sister, Naomi."

"Ehh? Kagami-san has a twin sister? That's kind of cool. Do they look the same?" From her reaction, it really did seem like she had never heard of this information before.

"Naomi…" Mio rolled her eyes. "You know all of this already… Kagami talked about her sister on the day we met…"

"A-Ah, right… now that you mention it…" Contrary to her words, her face clearly showed that Naomi still had no idea what she was talking about. That was to be expected, though, because on the day of their first meeting, Naomi was focused solely on Konata and had completely ignored Kagami's existence. But because she didn't want to admit that, Naomi simply continued. "A-Anyway, so, what's up with… Tsu… Tsukasa-san, was it, right…?" She really remembered nothing at all. "Why are you so interested in her, grandma?"

"Haa…" Mio couldn't believe her.

"Tsukasa-chan tried some of the sweets I gave to Kagami-chan and really liked them, so she wanted to get to know me because she's interested in learning how to make my sweets."

"Ah, well, your sweets are the best, grandma. I can understand that very much."

"Thank you very much, dear."

"Geeh…" Mio had a different opinion on the matter.

"I'm teaching Tsukasa-chan how to make some of my sweets, and in return, she showed me a couple of hers. We've even already created some new kinds of sweets together. We're going to try out a lot more ideas the next time Tsukasa-chan's here."

"H-Huh?! Does that mean Tsukasa-san's going to be a regular visitor then?" Naomi didn't seem to like this new piece of information. "Your normal customers are already difficult for me, grandma, but a girl around my age being here all the time?! That's no good! I don't want even more strangers in my sweets paradise!"

"C-Calm down, Naomi-chan… Here, try some of these!" The grandma offered her a plate with some taiyaki on it. "Tsukasa-chan and I made these together today."

"Mhmnngg…" Naomi was pouting. "That's not going to change my mind! Tsukasa-san can't be that good at making sweets anyway!" Even though she was in a bad mood, she couldn't resist the sight of the sweets in front of her and so reluctantly bit into one of the taiyakis. "W-What?!" She froze up after tasting it and looked at Mio with big eyes.

"What's wrong, Naomi?" She was confused by her reaction.

"W-W-What should I do, Mio-chan?! I-I don't want a new girl here, but… BUT!"

"B-But…?"

"It's sooo good! This taiyaki grandma and Tsukasa-san made together is easily the best one I've ever tasted in my life! I-I need to have more of it, but having her here is… Mio-chan, what should I do?!" Naomi repeated herself.

"Haa… So much fuss over some weird, fish-shaped sweet… Just calm down already, Naomi…" Mio really didn't want to deal with this. "Isn't taiyaki basically just a fish-shaped cake filled with this super nasty red bean paste? Already ignoring the fact that that couldn't possibly be tasty, why should there be such a big difference after making it in a slightly different way…?" She was unable to process why Naomi was so excited about the whole thing.

"Mio-chan!" Naomi suddenly raised her voice.

"W-Wha– …" She was surprised by the outburst.

"Say ahh~." Naomi said, slyly using her sudden shout to trick Mio into eating some of the taiyaki, stuffing a piece of it in her mouth.

"Mmnnf…" Mio had no other choice but to eat it. "W-What are you doing, Naomi?! You know perfectly well that I… don't… hmm…?" Mio was extremely angry that Naomi made her eat something she hated, but after chewing, she suddenly stopped talking. "W-What is this…? It's… It is good…?" The taste finally reached her brain, and Mio's anger was replaced with confusion. "That's not red bean paste, is it…? This taiyaki is filled with chocolate cream! What is this?! Japanese sweets aren't supposed to work like that, are they?!" Her brain couldn't keep up with the signals it was receiving from her taste buds. "Th-The filling–just the chocolate filling is super tasty."

"R-Really?! You really like it, Mio-chan?!" The grandma was happy with her reaction.

"Y-Yes. It's definitely just the filling that's tasty, though!" Mio wasn't sure why, but she ended up acting a bit tsundere towards her grandmother.

"That's a start!" She wasn't dejected in the slightest by Mio's reaction and was instead happy to have found a way to make her granddaughter eat her sweets.

"B-But… traditional sweets combined with chocolate… That's really not how they usually are supposed to be, right…?" She still was confused about the taiyaki being filled with chocolate cream instead of the usual red bean paste she hated so much. "Weren't you always so proud of your traditional and authentic recipes, grandma?"

"I gave it a try because of you, Mio-chan."

"Me? What does that have to do with me?"

"It's because you don't like my sweets, Mio-chan…"

"Ahh…" She began to understand.

"Tsukasa-chan's very skilled with western sweets, and because I remembered Mio-chan liking chocolate, I thought Tsukasa-chan's idea of making a western and Japanese sweets combination was very intriguing. That way, I was hoping to finally create a sweet that Mio-chan likes because that's all I ever wanted…"

"…" Mio needed a moment. "I'm sorry, grandma…" She had the overwhelming urge to apologize. "I'm really sorry for not liking the usual sweets you make…"

"It's okay, Mio-chan. After all, you either like something, or you don't. It's not like you do not like them on purpose, right?"

"That's true."

"If by adding a western twist to them can help you enjoy my sweets, I'll gladly try them. Also, those new sweets are fun to make. Okay, that's maybe thanks to Tsukasa-chan, though. Her keeping me company and being so enthusiastic is really nice."

"Hehe. If you end up using more chocolate or something like that in your sweets, I might actually end up liking your sweets, grandma…"

"Is that true? That makes me so happy!" She was glad that Mio was able to change her attitude towards her sweets a bit. "Okay, if I really adopt more western influences, how about taking over the shop now, Mio-chan?"

"Nope, not a chance." Her reply was instantaneous.

"Aww…"

"Even if there are more western sweets in the future, you want to keep the traditional ones your main selling point, right? I'm again sorry, but I don't think I'll ever like them. Not now, and not anytime in the future either."

"Well, it was worth a try." The grandma didn't sound overly disappointed because she was already expecting an answer along those lines. "Maybe I'll train Tsukasa-chan to inherit the store eventually if everything else fails. I already offered her a part-time job, and it may not be such a bad idea if she does a good job. If she accepts my offer, that is."

"Oh, you offered her a job in the store?"

"Yes, she wanted to learn how to make more traditional sweets after all, and in exchange, she will help me with making western ones. Having her help around the store would be really nice, too."

"I think that's a great idea, grandma." Mio agreed with her idea. "You really could use some help in the store. Tsukasa also seems like a nice girl from what I've seen at least, so it's all good."

"Ehh…?" Naomi suddenly perked up again and began to complain as she remembered the original topic. "Tsukasa-san's not only coming over more often but is actually going to work part-time here?! No, that's really too much! My safe, sweets-filled heaven from strangers is going to be–"

"Here, have some more of the taiyaki made by Tsukasa, Naomi." Mio began feeding her to make her shut up.

"Mmmngf…" Naomi grumbled for a while before she accepted being fed by Mio. "It's sooo good…"

"You're having some crazy mood swings today, Naomi…" Mio stopped for a moment. "W-Well, I mean even stronger than usual… Oh, is it…" She was about to ask something, but she didn't have the chance to finish her question.

"Okay! I'll allow Tsukasa-san to work here, but I have two conditions!" She perked up again after eating the delicious taiyaki and began her negotiation while ignoring Mio. "First, I need to be told beforehand when she's here! I need to know when I need to hide, after all. Second, I must taste test everything she and grandma create. All of them! The reason for that should be self-explanatory." While laying down her conditions, she began to eat her third taiyaki for the day.

"Ahaha~." Mio started laughing, and even the grandma was smiling. "There's the Naomi we all know and love."

"Grrr…." In response to being made fun of, Naomi grumbled and pouted even more. Unfortunately, pouting only made her even cuter than usual and didn't help her get her point across. She didn't notice that, though, and Mio was definitely not going to tell her about it because she loved Naomi's pouting face. That, too, was not something she planned on telling her either.

The three chatted some more together, and once the plate of taiyaki was finally empty, Mio and Naomi went upstairs to be alone. There, Naomi finally got her sweet revenge from being made fun of so much: by making Mio cosplay only the most embarrassing outfits she had bought today. Because she felt a bit sorry for her, Mio didn't complain once.

Sadly, by the end of it, Naomi still wasn't satisfied with just that. After remembering the conversation from earlier, she began rummaging through Mio's wardrobe. The said piece of furniture had long lost its original purpose of storing casual clothes and was repurposed by Naomi to hold just cosplay, which filled it to the brim. It took a while, but she finally found what she was looking for and pulled it out with a smug grin. She held out the black outfit and its extensions to Mio, who let out a sigh when she saw the bunny girl suit together with the long ears. Even so, she changed into it to let Naomi have her will.

"Bunnies really are cute after all!" Naomi enjoyed what she was looking at.

"Uuhh… This outfit really is too much…" Mio was squirming as she awkwardly moved around in the skimpy, pitch black bunny girl outfit which clung tightly onto her skin together with the fluffy tail placed in the butt area of the suit and the long ears on her head.

"H-How could I ever have forgotten about this… It's so… sooo great!" Naomi's objective of getting revenge on Mio was slowly changing into something entirely different.

"Why did I mention it…" Mio's feelings on the topic were slightly different.

"I really love bunnies!" The thoughts of revenge were now entirely gone, and the glint in her eyes became dangerous, with her now staring at Mio's outfit with great interest. Bunnies have a lot of predators, and unfortunately, Mio was standing right before one of them. Suddenly, the bunny got pounced on, and it sadly didn't survive the attack.

On the next day, Naomi went to the cosplay store again to buy a new bunny girl outfit because the old one couldn't be used anymore.