Chapter 60 The Vinegar Jar Has Upset

Jealously is a universal emotion, yet it evokes entirely different feelings depending on the circumstances.

"Going to a karaoke place definitely involves doing a lot of things... I wonder which aspect you're referring to."

After clarifying the situation and sensing her unmistakable, glaring jealousy, Ryuichi Sugawara chuckled, feigning ignorance to tease her deliberately.

"Holding hands, and things like that."

Finding it perhaps difficult to put into words, Tsukiyuki Yamabuki hesitated for a long time, but driven by her jealousy, she eventually answered his question.

"No."

Seeing that she had actually answered, Sugawara’s mouth nearly split from smiling so wide, yet he still gave a decisive reply.

"How could there not be? I don't believe it."

Yamabuki was doubting him, though on what grounds remained unclear.

Perhaps it was based on the experience of their date last Saturday, or perhaps out of other considerations.

For instance, she might think Yuki Takanashi was so gorgeous that he would definitely seize the opportunity to hold her little hand.

"Although being able to hold hands during a date is one of the duties of a rental boyfriend, I wasn't acting as a fake boyfriend this time... Yuki's request was for me to accompany her and her friends to karaoke as Ryuichi Sugawara, which means as myself."

That being said, Sugawara held all the winning cards and had no fear of being doubted.

Even though he had continuously flirted with Yuki Takanashi today within the date time-frame determined by the system, and had even treated her to a meal on his own initiative, they truly had not engaged in any physical contact.

The only physical contact he had shared with Yuki Takanashi was at the train station last night, when they linked pinkies.

"You really didn't hold hands?"

"No."

"What about hugging?"

"I decline to answer. Divulging a client's affairs and privacy to others violates professional ethics."

"You've already said so much just now, what difference does it make to answer a few more questions?"

Though framed as a question, this message from Yamabuki exuded a distinctly spoiled, coy undertone.

Clearly, by this point in the conversation, her mood had noticeably improved.

Analyzing the text of her messages, Sugawara could sense that her questioning was no longer meant to interrogate, but rather stem from a place of rivalry.

"Anyway, let's stop here."

Although the conversational vibe was wonderful, Sugawara had no intention of dragging the topic out any further.

When chatting with girls, especially on topics involving other women, it is always best to stop while you're ahead.

Saying too much leads to mistakes; you never know which stray remark might suddenly cause a girl to harbor quiet resentment.

Sugawara was far too experienced when it came to such matters.

For instance, in his past life, his then-girlfriend had been extremely curious about his ex-girlfriend, eager to know what kind of person she was, and had promised beforehand that she would absolutely not get mad... yet before they had even chatted for long, she suddenly flew into a rage.

Although Yamabuki was not his girlfriend, girls are still girls when it comes to certain things.

Just as a guy can never accept his girlfriend having a male best friend, the reverse is equally true for a girl regarding someone she fancies—either way, it simply feels deeply grating.

As Sugawara unilaterally ended the topic, the chat interface fell silent.

After a short while, perhaps failing to receive a reply from him for a long time, Yamabuki proactively sent a message:

"I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?"

Seeing her apology, Sugawara felt somewhat surprised.

For a girl to apologize of her own accord was, to him, quite a novel experience.

This was also the reason why his heart had warmed toward Yuki Takanashi when she apologized yesterday.

After all, it was rare enough for any girl to apologize, let alone one blessed with such natural beauty as Yuki Takanashi.

Moon: "I shouldn't have doubted you just now. If it made you unhappy, I am very sorry."

Stars: "I'm not unhappy. I just didn't want to continue disclosing a client's privacy."

After flatly denying it, Sugawara realized that her brief silence earlier had likely been spent in self-reflection, so he sent another message:

"You're an exception. If anyone else had asked me, there's no way I would've said this much."

He had to admit that he did indeed treat Yamabuki with special favor.

Why was that? Perhaps because Yamabuki was the very first person he had ever dated in this life, or perhaps because of her efforts to dress to please someone who admired her.

As he pondered, Sugawara waited several minutes without receiving any follow-up.

"No response... Did I sink her battleship?"

Noticing this development, Sugawara muttered to himself thoughtfully.

Without delay, he exited the private message interface and checked his other notifications.

After the span of another day, he had gained three new followers.

Even after communicating via private message and sending photos to prove his identity, it still failed to trigger the system's date invitation prompt.

"Are all of you just sitting around with nothing better to do?"

Even though Sugawara was very patient, the repeated outcome of providing service without ever landing an order still frustrated him.

The more he thought about it, the more annoyed he became. In a fit of pique, he opened his personal profile page to edit his information, appending the tag [Serious Inquiries Only] right behind [Real Person Avatar].

Sure enough, setting up a threshold was still necessary. After all, not every client had the financial capacity to pay high prices, yet there were plenty of clients with ample time and energy to nitpick products and services.

Furthermore, because his repeated earnest responses had yielded no results, Sugawara decided to learn his lesson and summarize the key takeaways.

Failed cases held no reference value; one should only look at successful cases.

Reviewing his chat history, Sugawara discovered that clients who genuinely wanted to rent him displayed a much more straightforward attitude, as if backed by absolute confidence.

For instance, Yamabuki, whose screen name was [Moon], had straight out asked him right from the start if he was the real person, and upon receiving confirmation, directly scheduled a time and stated her requests.

Moreover, their dialogue was practically just a formality.

Because the moment Yamabuki followed him, it had triggered the date invitation notification, meaning she had likely made up her mind to rent him right then and there.

Take Morishita Chika, for example, whose screen name was [Little Universe]. Because he took too long to reply, she even rushed to the comment section to ask him questions, and upon following each other back, she immediately asked if he was the real person, making requests to verify his identity right off the bat. Even when he offered a video call, she felt no shyness whatsoever, and directly booked a time after confirmation.

Just as he was wrapping up his lessons learned, Yamabuki finally replied.

"Thank you?"

Involuntarily reading her response aloud, Sugawara found it quite intriguing.

————

Stars: "You're an exception. If anyone else had asked me, there's no way I would've said this much."

In a luxury apartment in Tokyo, Yamabuki, who had been lying facedown on her bed playing with her phone, bolted upright the instant she saw that message.

"You're an exception... What does he mean by that? Is he saying I'm special in his eyes? That I'm different from others?"

Clutching her phone with both hands, Yamabuki savored the sentence as her heartbeat accelerated uncontrollably, making her feel as though her heart were bursting into full bloom.

"How am I supposed to reply to this?"

Although she was in high spirits, her elation didn't last long before she plunged into a state of panic.

"You're an exception, if it were anyone else I wouldn't have asked so much... That's so cheesy. Besides, I'm his teacher, how can I say something like that? No, no, no!"

Because her response was lagging, Yamabuki instinctively drafted a reply, but before her finger could approach the send button, driven by a surge of shame and a sense of morality, she deleted the entire message.

Immediately afterward, she frantically drafted a few more messages, but no matter how she read them, they all sounded overwhelmingly cheesy.

"Ahhh... What should I do?"

As time ticked away, Yamabuki grew increasingly restless, feeling as though she were sitting on pins and needles as she tossed and turned, rolling back and forth across the bed.

Minutes had already passed without a reply from her; failing to respond now was simply too impolite.

After agonizing over it for a long time, she still couldn't come up with a suitable answer, but for the sake of politeness, she finally sent back a single phrase:

"Thank you."

This was the ultimate universal reply applicable to any situation; while it wasn't the best, saying thank you could never be wrong!