I Started a Lover-for-Hire Service, And For Some Reason, Only Beautiful Girls Are Requesting Me - Chapter 42: Hazuki and Chiaki – A Conversation Centered Around Ryoma ②

“You say it so easily, but the probability of someone becoming a repeat customer is actually really low, you know? Right now, the newbie has a 100% success rate, but still.”

“He’s an exception. There must be a strong reason. His desire for money is stronger than anyone else’s, so he worked desperately to satisfy the client. That effort led to the results we see now.”

“I see. Now I get your ulterior motive, Hazuki-chan.”

“…What do you mean by ‘ulterior’?”

Hazuki took a brief pause before responding, making sure her voice didn’t waver.

As expected from someone in a leadership position, even without seeing her face, Chiaki easily saw through her excuse.

“If you secure the newbie now, you’ll be able to go out whenever you want without any hassle, right? If you leave him alone and he gets popular… No, you’re already convinced that he will, which is why you’re trying to get ahead of it by bringing this up to me, the CEO.”

“…So you figured it out after all. I expected this, though.”

Hazuki admitted defeat with a sigh.

“That much is obvious. The most popular agents are almost always booked by someone else on the day you want to request them. And since your work schedule opens up randomly, that’s a huge problem for you, right? But did you really need to hide it with an excuse like that? The newbie’s popularity isn’t even guaranteed yet.”

“I’m certain of it. If he doesn’t become popular, then it just means he got unlucky and met clients with terrible judgment.”

“I can’t believe that you would say that.”

“As long as his desire for money remains strong, my opinion won’t change.”

“Hm, so that’s the newbie’s biggest strength, huh?”

The desire for money was an incredibly powerful force.

In a certain survey, the top three desires ranked as followed:

1st: Sleep
2nd: Food
3rd: Money

The three fundamental human desires were typically listed as sleep, food, and sex. However, in this survey, monetary desire ranked above sexual desire—likely because people believed money could fulfill that need as well.

“Well, I’m sure you already understand, but if you limit his requests for your own convenience, isn’t that unfair to the newbie? He’s doing this job because he wants to make money, right? If you restrict his work, that just means he’ll earn less. And if he’s motivated by money, wouldn’t that be the worst thing for him?”

“That’s why I’ll pay.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll give him an allowance, and I’ll pay the company a higher commission than usual. That should solve the issue, right?”

“Wait… huh? I mean, yeah, you could do that since you have the money, but… that’s basically just spoiling him. Are you in love with him?”

As Chiaki’s flustered voice reached her ears, Hazuki shook her head in denial.

“There’s no way I’d fall for someone after just one date. I’m not that easy.”

“Then why?”

“Hmm…”

Closing her eyes, Hazuki pondered the question carefully—searching for a response like solving a riddle.

“A meaningful little pup. I simply found my favorite French Bulldog.”

She meant that she had found a lover-for-hire who had the same effect as her favorite animal—one that gently stayed by her side and comforted her.

Hazuki, being extremely busy, didn’t own any pets since she couldn’t spare the time to care for them.

If she had owned a dog, perhaps she would have used a different metaphor.

“Uh… I don’t get it.”

“I made it hard to understand. But maybe if you think about it, you’ll figure it out.”

“You’re such a tease.”

“Fufu, sorry.”

Hazuki had no intention of revealing what happened today.

If she did, she might end up mentioning how Ryoma had patted her head… or the fact that he had broken the rules.

And Chiaki, as the company’s CEO, was the strictest person when it came to such matters. If she knowingly overlooked a client breaking the rules, it could turn into a major accountability issue—something that was only natural when running a business.

It was precisely because Hazuki was cautious that she chose to eliminate even the smallest risk.

“Also, Chiaki-san, there’s one more thing I need to tell you.”

“Hm? What is it?”

“He’s absolutely going to become an easy target for bad women. That’s another selfish reason why I decided to step in ahead of time. He’s my favorite now, so I gave him a warning so he wouldn’t get fired, but honestly, that’s not enough. He’s such a good-natured guy that doing something out of the ordinary clearly rattled him.”

“If a report about a rule violation comes in, our company will have no choice but to take action. I’ll send a reminder to all our agents about the rules, just in case… But more importantly—can you tell me the newbie’s evaluation score!? I’ve been dying to know! Was it a perfect 5!? A 5, right!?”

Chiaki sounded unusually excited.

That was because she loved the moment when evaluation scores were revealed. Hazuki’s praise for Ryoma gave her the same thrill as waiting for the results of a test she was confident in.

“Hmm… He lost 0.1 points for making me take care of him. And another 0.1 because I got frustrated. So, 4.8.”

“What the hell is that ‘because it frustrated me’!? The last client did the same thing too!”

“—”

“Huh? Hey?”

“—”

“Hazuki-chan? …Wait, what’s going on?”

Suddenly, Hazuki went silent.

Chiaki tilted her head in confusion and glanced at her phone screen, puzzled by the lack of response.

“Ah…”

The words ‘Call Ended’ were displayed on the screen. That was the reason for the sudden silence.

“Yeah… there’s no maybe about it—Hazuki-chan’s phone probably died. It was pretty cold outside today.”

The idea that phone batteries drain faster in cold weather, like when visiting a ski resort, wasn’t just an urban legend.

The user manual clearly d: ‘Use within temperatures of 5°C to 35°C and humidity levels of 35% to 85%.’

Chiaki, ever practical, assumed the cold had drained Hazuki’s battery.

“The conversation was just getting interesting, too… Guess I’ll just have to wait for her to contact me at lunch.”

Chiaki flopped onto her bed, which was covered with a ‘sleeping udon-chan’ blanket, and burrowed into the fluffy comforter.

As she glanced at the call duration, Chiaki replayed the conversation in her mind.

(Still… that newbie is really something. To get Hazuki to say all that… Just who are you, kid? …Man, this is getting interesting.)

With that lingering curiosity, Chiaki realized Hazuki’s streak as the ‘Veteran Killer’ had temporarily come to an end.

For now, they wouldn’t be losing any more valuable escorts.

With an amused smirk, Chiaki clapped her hands in mock applause for Ryoma.

The Next Morning—At the Office.

“Kaya-san, Misaki-san… Why are you two staring at me like that? Is there something wrong with my makeup?”

“Ah! No, not at all! Sorry!”

“You just look so stunning today, I couldn’t help but stare!”

“Please focus on your work, alright?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Understood!”

Even after that, Hazuki couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.

(They keep giving me these weird, knowing looks… Did something happen?)

Since this morning, both her subordinate Kaya and her colleague Misaki had been acting this way.

It wouldn’t be until later that Hazuki found out…

That last night, on her way back from the bar, she had been seen.

And that Shiba Ryoma was actually Kaya’s younger brother…