I Started a Lover-for-Hire Service, And For Some Reason, Only Beautiful Girls Are Requesting Me

“Oh, stew today! The hard work was totally worth it.”

Ryoma and Kaya sat facing each other at the table. On the table were hearty dishes: stew packed with ingredients, a winter vegetable salad, pork-wrapped asparagus, and meatballs with soy milk — a spread of quite elaborate dishes.

There were two reasons for choosing such a fancy menu even though it wasn’t a special occasion.

One reason was that lately, Kaya hadn’t been able to cook for Ryoma some days after coming home from work.

“Kaya-neesan is more of a stew person than a curry person, right?”

“Oh, did you remember that?”

“Yeah, you’ve been getting home late recently, and I haven’t been able to cook for you. Sorry about Saturday, I couldn’t make dinner.”

The second reason was to get her attention with her favorite food.

Recently, Ryoma had not only been struggling with cooking but also with managing household chores. The reason, of course, was that he started working part-time as a “fake boyfriend”.

With more frequent outings and getting home later, Ryoma had begun to feel uneasy about the situation, especially since he’d lived with Kaya since they were kids.

Kaya, however, wasn’t oblivious to the growing distance.

To relieve the tension, the best option seemed to be telling her that he’d started working another part-time job. He’d thought about lying and saying he was working at a restaurant or convenience store, but he quickly realized that wouldn’t work.

His part-time job as a “fake boyfriend” was irregular, with random hours. It wasn’t on a fixed schedule. Kaya, being perceptive, would see through any lie easily.

“Saturday, I was out drinking with my boss, so it was fine. But I still wish you’d sent a message, you know? Just saying you’d be home late.”

“Ah, sorry, I forgot.”

“Kaya-nee, you have a lot of drinking sessions with your boss, right? I’ve heard it can be tiring, having to be considerate of them. Are you okay?”

“My boss is really a good person. She walks me home, and listens to my problems… like today.”

“Problems…?”

“Yeah. My brother’s been out late partying.”

“…What!? Wait, what!?”

That was completely unexpected.

“Hey, Ryoma. What time did you come home last Saturday? I had a bit to drink, so I went straight to bed, but you weren’t home even at 11 PM, were you?”

“…”

As Ryoma had expected, Kaya had been growing more worried lately.

The fact that he had been coming home later and later. And this time, for the first time, he hadn’t come home until after 11 PM.

Kaya was undeniably overprotective of Ryoma, even though he was already an adult. But it was understandable.

Their parents had passed away. The only family she had left was Ryoma.

And just as she had said, Kaya had actually brought up this concern with her area manager, Hazuki, on her way out from work.

＊＊＊

After office hours, in the company’s open lounge area—

“Your little brother is twenty now, right? It’s only natural that he’d want to enjoy himself… I mean, we talked about this on Saturday.”

“W-Well, yeah, but…”

“Is there something else that’s bothering you?”

Kaya and Hazuki were speaking openly, with no barriers between them.

“Something came to mind yesterday… He once asked me how to make a girl like him.”

“Wow, your little brother is pretty bold. That’s some guts he’s got there.”

“T-That’s true, but… My little brother isn’t the type to ask something like that. Maybe… could it be that—”

“—Fufu, in that case, wouldn’t it just mean that your brother got himself a girlfriend?”

“…”

“But, Kaya, you’re sharp enough to have already figured that out, aren’t you? So… are you thinking that your brother is being deceived by this girlfriend of his?”

“…The latter is correct, yes.”

“Huh? ‘Correct’…?”

“Actually… My little brother’s first girlfriend cheated on him…”

For the first time that day, Kaya showed a terribly dark expression.

＊＊＊

“—Your part-time job on Saturday ended at 1 PM, right? So what exactly were you doing until such a late hour? Answer me, now.”

Kaya had barely touched her favorite stew, only taking a single bite. She stared at Ryoma with a serious expression.

“T-That’s…”

“That’s what?”

“I-I was looking after a drunk woman.”

Ryoma braced himself. He decided to mix in some truth while telling a lie.

“A drunk woman? Tell me the details.”

“I ran into her while I was heading home after hanging out with my friends. She was slumped against a utility pole on the ground.”

“…”

“So I bought her some water, called a taxi, and waited with her. That’s why I got home late. I didn’t exchange contact information with her, so I can’t prove it.”

“…I see.”

Kaya looked convinced. She was sharp enough to recognize that there was no deception in what he had just said.

“I understand what happened on Saturday, but you’ve been coming home really late a lot lately. Your job ends at 1 PM, and there was a huge gap of time before you even ran into that drunk woman… I want to hear the reason for that too.”

“T-That’s… I’ve just been hanging out with my friends more often.”

The way he said “friends” was completely off.

With Himeno, he was a fake boyfriend.
With Aira, he was a fake older brother.

This was the real test. The moment where Ryoma had to use deception.

“Wait, so by ‘friends’… do you actually mean a girlfriend?”

“Huh!? N-No!? That’s not it at all!”

“Come on, what’s with that reaction!? Do you seriously have a girlfriend!?”

“I just got caught off guard, that’s all! I really was just hanging out with friends…”

Ryoma pushed down the guilt and continued to lie.

Kaya had turned down a university recommendation and gone straight into employment to earn money. There was no way he could tell her he’d just been spending days having fun.

He couldn’t tell Kaya that in reality, he had been using that time to make money.

“But everything lines up. If I think back to when you asked me about ‘how to get a woman to like you’…”

“Kaya-nee, you’re worrying too much… I’m fine now, really. I’ve moved on. That was my fault to begin with.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong, Ryoma! You were hurt by someone, and as your family, I’m still furious about it!”

“I get how you feel. If something like that happened to you, I’d be mad too. But I’m really okay now. I’ve grown up.”

That incident happened when he was in his first year of high school—just a week before Christmas.

The shock had been overwhelming.

It had happened during winter break, so it hadn’t affected school, but he had spent that time hiding away, soaking his pillow with tears.

Now, it was just an embarrassing memory he wanted to forget.

“If it ever comes to that again, just talk to me, okay? I can introduce you to some great female friends.”

“You really don’t have to go that far! Let’s just eat already—if it gets cold, it won’t taste as good.”

“Yeah, you’re right… But seriously, if anything’s wrong, talk to me, okay?”