Chapter 27: You Have a New Dating Invitation

Because he had money now, Ryuichi Sugawara did not cook dinner at home but went out to eat.

Boys eating alone are usually quite casual, and he was no exception; he simply found a nearby family restaurant. Perhaps it was his improved physical fitness making him healthy, or perhaps it was the good mood that comes with earning money, but he had a great appetite. After wolfing down a bowl of pork cutlet rice, he ordered a beef bowl, pairing it with the miso soup provided by the restaurant, and finally felt satisfied.

After finishing his meal, Ryuichi did not rush home but took out his phone to pass the time. The family restaurant was air-conditioned and offered free drinks like juice, cola, and coffee.

"Come to think of it, how come I haven't received any new date invitations all day?"

As he opened Twitter, Ryuichi realized this belatedly. Focusing his gaze on his phone again, he saw that he had gained five new followers and three new replies.

"Could it be that I can only date one person at a time?"

Seeing this, Ryuichi suddenly had an ominous premonition. Last night, Tsukino Yamabuki had triggered a date invitation simply by following him on Twitter. According to the logic that a follow equals an invitation and a follow-back equals acceptance, five new followers should have triggered at least one invitation. Yet, the system had remained completely silent.

He didn't want that to be the case; his date with Tsukino Yamabuki had been a fluke, and it was hard to sustain a long-term development from it. Thinking of this, he quickly began to investigate.

He looked at the new replies first, all of which were comments on the tweet he had posted the night before under the topic #TokyoRentalBoyfriend#.

[Okochi Second Floor]: Your profile is so sparse, with only one avatar, and you dare to charge 7,500 yen per hour?
[Mira Mira]: Is that really you in the avatar? For real?
[Little Universe]: Hello, I've followed you, but you haven't followed back for over 24 hours. Could you please enable direct messages from strangers?

"So there's a feature like that..."

After reading the three comments, Ryuichi was a bit surprised. He immediately searched through his personal settings based on the prompt, found the feature mentioned by [Little Universe], and enabled it. After improving his Twitter settings, he followed back his five new followers and proactively sent a "Hello" to each of them.

Since there were no new date invitations yet, Ryuichi wanted to seize every opportunity. Shortly after, a message popped up:

Little Universe: "You finally replied... Is your avatar really you? Can you verify it?"
Starlight: "Of course. How would you like me to verify it?"
Little Universe: "A photo taken on the spot per my instructions. If you could do a video call, that would be even better."
Starlight: "Let's do a video call then. Add my Line; my ID is..."

Seeing this message, Ryuichi did not hesitate. He opened Line, copied his ID, and sent it over. To ensure he could secure dates with others, he was willing to cooperate as much as possible with potential clients.

He didn't know if the mobile version of Twitter in his previous life had a video call feature, but the Twitter app on his current phone definitely did not. In a short while, a friend request from Line popped up on his phone. Although adding friends on Line usually doesn't notify the other party, it can be set to require approval.

After clicking the link and accepting, a new friend with the screen name [Little Universe] appeared in his contact list. Once the chat window opened, he wiped his mouth with a napkin, adjusted his bangs, and initiated a video call request.

When people are on their phones, they react very quickly to new notifications. In less than three seconds, the video call was connected. As his own video feed appeared in a small window on the screen, Ryuichi saw nothing but darkness on the other end.

"Hello, can you see me?"

Unable to see the other person, Ryuichi asked, wondering if something had gone wrong.

"..."

"Is there a problem?"

Noticing the lack of response, Ryuichi was puzzled. Although he hadn't focused much on socializing during high school, he had made plenty of Line video calls—mostly for free long-distance calls with his parents—and had never encountered such a situation.

"No, I can see you."

Just then, a slightly timid female voice spoke up. From her voice, he could roughly gauge what kind of person she was.

"As long as you can see me, how about it? I wasn't lying to you, was I?"

Realizing that the screen was black because she was socially anxious and afraid to appear on camera, Ryuichi didn't pry into her appearance and simply asked.

"Yeah..."

The girl did not deny it. After a brief silence, the video call was suddenly cut off by her.

"Does this mean I've been passed?"

Seeing this, Ryuichi was baffled. Before he could recover from the blow of being "too ugly for the internet," a message popped up in the chat window.

Little Universe: "Do you take cosplay requests?"

[Chika Morishita has sent you a date invitation. Do you accept?]

"It's here!"

Seeing the system prompt, the frustration in Ryuichi's heart was replaced by pleasant surprise. Before this prompt appeared, he had been genuinely worried that the system would only allow him to date one person—Tsukino Yamabuki. If that were the case, earning a large amount of "Heartbeat Value" would be difficult.

Starlight: "I do."

[Date invitation from Chika Morishita accepted.]

Seeing the system notification, Ryuichi had an epiphany. It seemed the system's criteria for a date invitation was not as simple as just a follow; it was only triggered when the other party genuinely wanted to go out with him. For instance, this Chika Morishita had only made up her mind after video-calling him and confirming that his appearance matched his avatar.

As for the criteria for accepting a date, it was even looser; as long as he had no intention of refusing, responding counted as acceptance... just how loose? Look at the follow-back from last night as a reference.

Little Universe: "What is your surcharge for cosplay?"
Starlight: "How about an extra 1,000 yen per hour?"
Little Universe: "Okay."
Starlight: "What character would you like me to play?"
Little Universe: "Have you seen 'Naruto'?"
Starlight: "Of course."
Little Universe: "Itachi Uchiha!"
Starlight: "No problem. When would you like to book, and where?"
Little Universe: "Next Saturday, from 1 PM to 6 PM, at the anime convention at Tokyo Big Sight."
Starlight: "Got it."
Little Universe: "Oh, and you can't be OOC during the cosplay!"
Starlight: "What does OOC mean?"
Little Universe: "It means no acting or behaving in a way that contradicts the original work's character setting."

With that conversation, they officially finalized the date.

"Cosplaying as Itachi Uchiha to an anime convention?"

Realizing what his next date would entail, Ryuichi muttered to himself, inexplicably filled with anticipation. He had never done cosplay before, nor had he ever been to an anime convention.

Just then, his phone vibrated slightly.

Little Universe sent a new message: "What is your height? I need to order the costume for you."
Starlight: "My actual height is 187 cm."
Little Universe: "So tall!" (An emoji of a panda with its mouth wide open in shock, dropping the bamboo in its hand.)