Be My Master. Ch. 03

The phone rang.

"Good morning," I answered right away.

"Morning, Master!" She blew a kiss. "You answered so fast. Were you waiting for my call?"

"You called around this time yesterday." I looked away. "So I figured you'd call again today."

"So you were waiting!" The girl clapped her hands happily. "Yay!"

"You wouldn't have let me get away with it anyway."

"Just try and say it isn't nice waking up to such a cutie." Mio shot me a sly look.

Damn her! I mean, yeah, it was nice. Not exactly the same as in person, sure, but still. When was the last time this happened to me? Let's see... Never.

"I'm not arguing with that..."

"Too bad I can't hug you." She sighed sadly.

"The day before yesterday you didn't even know me, and now you want to go in for hugs?"

"It feels like I've known you for a hundred years!"

"That's just a feeling. You barely know me at all."

"You're right, but..." She tilted her head down a bit and looked me in the eyes. "You still keep calling me. I'll get to know you better eventually."

Can't argue with that. If you talk to someone constantly, you can learn a lot of interesting things about them.

"Judging by your messy hair, you also just woke up?"

"Yeah." The girl smiled. "I wanted to see you first thing."

"Well, then, go wash up and have breakfast. That's an order."

"Do you enjoy ordering a cute schoolgirl around?" Mio gave a playful wink.

"You're not a schoolgirl anymore!"

"So you do enjoy it!" She closed her eyes, and the background behind her started spinning.

"What's going on back there?"

"I'm just happy, you clueless Master!" The girl tried to put on a pouty face, but her smile completely gave her away.

"Ugh..." I sighed heavily. "Mio, get to it!"

"Okay, okay!"

I set the phone aside and caught myself thinking--whatever I might say, I really was glad we were seeing each other. Well, calling each other.

Her joyful face was still stuck in my mind.

Alright, time to get up.

***

I glanced over at the phone. Weird. Really weird. It's already noon, and not a peep from Mio. Is everything okay with her?

[Me: How are you holding up?]

A minute passed. Then two... Then five. She still wasn't answering. She hadn't even read the message.

Now I was starting to get seriously worried. I'll try calling. No answer again. One more time. Still nothing. No, I'm not giving up that easily. Another attempt to call.

"Oh, Master, I'm sorry!" The girl's flustered face popped up on the screen. "I completely lost track of time!"

"Mio," I finally let out a sigh of relief, "is everything okay with you?"

"Yeah, everything's fine." She pressed her hands together apologetically. "I started cleaning and got carried away."

"Cleaning?" One of my eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Well, yeah." The girl nodded back. "You didn't think I lived in a mountain of trash, did you?"

"No, no, of course not!" I quickly tried to explain myself.

"Even though I don't have anyone coming over," Mio said, raising a finger, "it would still be bad for my health. You wouldn't want me to get sick, would you?"

"Of course I wouldn't," I smiled.

Well then... Suddenly Mio seemed a lot more responsible. I even felt a little embarrassed about my own dusty desk. Good thing we were on a video call, or else she'd probably lecture me too.

"Alright then, I won't distract you. Call me when you're free. I don't have much to do today."

"Okay, Master." She smiled sweetly and waved a rubber-gloved hand. "See ya!"

Wait a second. Why was I even worrying about her lecturing me?

***

Incoming call.

"Masteeeer!" the girl groaned, stretching tiredly. "I'm finally done!"

"Good girl."

"Hehe." Mio smiled happily. "You praised me!"

"Well, you really did a good job."

"Uh-huh." She pouted. "My back hurrrrts so much! I wish Master would rubbb it for me!"

"And how exactly do you propose I do that? I can't reach through the screen."

"Well, true." The girl lowered her head. "Sorry. I kinda didn't think about that."

An awkward silence fell. I'd better be careful not to say too much again.

"Anyway," I spoke up first, "what are you planning to do now?"

"Oh, probably just play some visual novel." Mio quickly got back into the conversation, returning to her usual self. "Just need to see if there's anything interesting."

"Ah, right, you mentioned you got the 'Master' idea from an eroge."

"Heeeeey!" She leaned her face right up to the camera. "You don't think all I do is sit around playing porn games, do you?!"

"I wouldn't judge you for it."

"Um..." The girl blushed. "What are you implying?"

"Nothing at all." I gave her a clueless look. "So, what else are you into?"

"Well..." Mio turned her head away slightly. "You won't laugh at me?"

"Why would I?" Her question genuinely surprised me.

"Well..." The girl's voice got quieter. "That's part of the reason why I spend my time alone."

"I won't." I nodded confidently.

"Well..." Mio hesitated for a few more seconds. "Dating sims and psychological horror games."

"Uh..." I blanked for a second. "What's wrong with those?"

"I don't know." She sniffled. "But whenever I brought it up to any of my friends, they just laughed and said they aren't real games."

"Jesus..." In that moment, I just wanted to hug her and pat her on the head. "How narrow-minded do you have to be..."

"Yeah." The girl looked away. "Like... they say you should play MMOs or something and interact with people, instead of sitting alone wasting your time on nonsense."

"Listen, I prefer single-player games myself." I wanted to support her. "I honestly just don't have time for online games. Besides, I never know when I'll have free time. You can't exactly put a party together like that. Like they say, to each their own."

"Oh, what kind of single-player games?" Mio asked eagerly.

"Story-driven ones, mostly. Adventure games or interactive movies..."

"Master..."

"Yeah?"

"You're really not going to start despising me?"

"Despise you? For what?"

"For having weird hobbies..."

"Oh, come on..." I sighed. "Mio, there is absolutely nothing wrong with your hobbies. And I have no intention of judging you."

"Thank you..." She pulled her legs up onto her chair, wrapped her arms around them, and hid her face behind her knees.

"What are you doing? Hiding from me?"

A few seconds passed.

"See you tonight!" the girl blurted out, then hurriedly ended the call.

Um... What was that? Did I offend her somehow?

Whatever, I'll figure it out later. I need to get some work done for now.