Chapter 35: Contrast (Revised)

Ryuichi Sugawara walked out of the school gate, his phone in hand, reading the messages coming in on Twitter.

MiraMira: "Are you really the person in your profile picture? Let me see a photo."
MiraMira: "It's been a whole day and you haven't replied. Feeling guilty?"

"Apologies, school just ended for me. And yes, I am truly the person in the profile picture. What kind of photo would you like?"

To secure a date, Ryuichi was not even afraid of video verification, let alone photos. He had no intention of hiding his status as a student; not only did it provide a valid excuse to avoid drinking, but it also offered a hidden advantage. Just as adult men often find the "JK" (high school girl) archetype particularly appealing, high school boys likely held a similar allure for older women. In his view, both men and women naturally preferred partners younger than themselves.

Perhaps because the other party had been waiting for a reply, a response came quickly.

MiraMira: "You're still a student? A university student?"
Stellar: "Third-year high school."
MiraMira: "Did you mean I can request a custom photo?"
Stellar: "I can pose according to your requirements to prove my identity. If you'd like, I can even do a video verification."
MiraMira: "Video is fine. Just take a photo with three fingers held up in front of your chest."
Stellar: "One moment."

After sending that, Ryuichi looked around to find a suitable spot for the photo. Since taking a picture was nothing unusual and the request was simple, he didn't mind being seen. He stood in front of a wall on his way home from school and took a photo in the most straightforward way possible. While he possessed professional-level portrait photography knowledge, he knew that a casual, spontaneous-looking photo like this was actually more convincing.

Meanwhile, a group of four gyaru girls lurking in the distance were secretly observing him.

"Is he taking a photo?" Aino Ishiguro asked, looking thoughtful.
"Looks like it." Yoshino Sakai was surprised. While taking photos was common—they did it every day—it was strange to see Ryuichi doing it.
"Why would he be taking photos?" Kyoko Utada wondered aloud.
Yuki Takanashi shook her head. "No idea..."
"Aino, didn't you say you wanted to ask him what's going on? Go on, ask him." Kyoko had always been interested in Ryuichi, and seeing such unusual behavior piqued her curiosity, prompting her to nudge her friend.
"Uh... let's wait a bit. He's busy on his phone; he's clearly doing something."

Although Aino had wanted to confront him aggressively, now that she had followed him out of school, she lacked the courage to walk up and strike up a conversation. She wasn't socially anxious, but her life experience had always been limited to men approaching her; she had never been the one to initiate conversation with a guy. Moreover, this was Ryuichi Sugawara. In their three years at the same school, his reputation was legendary: this guy ruthlessly and equally rejected every girl who confessed to him. While Aino was impulsive, she knew when to pick her battles. If she ran up to confront him and he retorted with harsh words, she would be completely crushed.

On the other side, after taking the photo as requested, Ryuichi reviewed the selfie. Although he was using his phone, his technical skill was no joke. Furthermore, the key element of portrait photography is the model—the subject's appearance—and even a casual snap looked handsome.

"This should be fine."

Satisfied, Ryuichi opened Twitter again and sent the photo. A few dozen seconds later, the reply came.

MiraMira: "You really are the person in the picture! So handsome!!"

Clearly, upon receiving the photo, she had carefully compared his features and hair.

Stellar: "I don't lie."

Hearing the delight in her tone, Ryuichi felt pleased. If things went as expected, a date invitation should be triggered soon.

MiraMira: "I'll keep following you! Good luck!"

"Huh?"

Seeing this reply, Ryuichi fell silent for a moment. When the system notification he expected failed to appear, he felt puzzled. What was this? "Keep following"? Did that mean she had no intention of renting him for a date right now? For some reason, this reminded him of a shopper saying, "I'll just look for now, but I'm not buying."

She was a potential client, so although Ryuichi felt a bit speechless, he replied politely. Perhaps [MiraMira] had no immediate plans to rent a boyfriend, and after seeing the photo, she simply chatted for a moment and said goodbye, not wanting to bother him further. The messages from other fans were similar—they all wanted to confirm his identity, see more photos, and find out what he looked like under his mask.

"It seems not everyone who DMs me intends to rent me. Some are just genuinely curious."

After verifying his identity with photos as requested, even though no date invitations were triggered, Ryuichi wasn't discouraged; he simply drew his own conclusions. "It's been a day and there are no new fans... should I post another recruitment tweet? Or update my status?"

After finishing his exchanges with the fans, Ryuichi put his phone away and muttered to himself. He considered taking off his mask and posting a few photos of his face, but he quickly dismissed the idea. He had already successfully attracted two clients with his current photos—Tsuki Yamabuki and Chika Morishita. The others hadn't placed an order yet, perhaps due to a lack of a specific trigger or financial constraints.

Looking up, Ryuichi realized he had already reached the station in front of the school gate.

"What now? Go home? Or go wander around?"

He stood before the station, deep in thought.

"Let's go window shopping. Maybe look at electric guitars or cameras."

With a plan in mind, Ryuichi stepped into the station. Since he was free, there was no point in going home early; he might as well spend some time out. Besides, he had only experimented with karate at home yesterday; he hadn't yet been able to practice his professional-level electric guitar skills or portrait photography for lack of equipment.

As he entered the underground station, the four gyaru girls poked their heads out again.

"I can't believe Ryuichi likes selfies so much. He took three in just a short while—his frequency is higher than ours." Kyoko Utada was amazed; she found it quite interesting.
"It's so unexpected. I can't believe a super overachiever likes playing on his phone so much. I get the feeling he has a big secret." Yuki Takanashi's curiosity was piqued. Just as she had guessed during lunch, this honor student was hiding something major.
"He's entering the station. What do we do now?" Yoshino Sakai asked.
"Hurry and follow him, or we'll lose him!"

Since things had come this far, Aino Ishiguro didn't want it to end, so she started walking.

"Aino, is it really okay for us to follow someone?" Unlike before, Yuki Takanashi grabbed her arm. Although seeing Ryuichi's unexpected self-obsessed behavior was interesting, she felt that continuing like this might lead to trouble.
"Don't you want to know why he rejected you?" Aino countered.
"I do want to know... but we could just ask him at school tomorrow." Yuki nodded, but she still wanted to retreat.
"The reason Sugawara-kun gave for rejecting you was that he was busy studying, right? As long as he's not doing anything illicit, it shouldn't matter if we see him."
"That's right."

Seeing that Yuki was wavering, Yoshino and Kyoko, whose curiosities were fully aroused, chimed in.

"Fine."

Three against one—the majority ruled. Yielding to this logic, Yuki Takanashi had no choice but to agree.