I Started a Lover-for-Hire Service, And For Some Reason, Only Beautiful Girls Are Requesting Me - Chapter 44: Ryoma and Himeno's True Nature

“This is… really good.”

During his lunch break, Ryoma had casually opened his phone, only to widen his eyes in surprise.

A small red ① badge sat at the top-right corner of his Twitter app.

For someone like Ryoma, who had installed the app but never actually used it, this was a first.

Naturally, when faced with such an unfamiliar notification, curiosity took over. He tapped on the app with his thumb and checked the alert.

“So this is it…”

As soon as the app opened, he noticed that the message box icon in the lower-right corner was also marked with a ①.

It was a Direct Message notification. In simple terms, it meant someone had privately messaged him.

When he tapped the DM icon, a message from the account “Devil-chan” appeared at the top of the list.

The number of people who could contact Ryoma through Twitter was extremely limited. After all, his account had exactly one follow and one follower—nothing more.

The preview of the message read:

“Hello. Sorry for the sudden message.”

That alone didn’t reveal much, so he tapped it to open the full content.

“Hello. Sorry for the sudden message. Do you have any plans today?
If not, I’d like to talk with you for a bit after school.
Please reply when you see this message.”

That was the full text, sent by Devil-chan, aka Himeno.

Since she was an active Twitter user, her writing was much more formal than the way she usually spoke.

“She wants to talk, huh…”

Ryoma quickly pieced together the reason. Though they were friends, there was really only one common topic between them.

And that topic was directly tied to his income.

He had no reason to refuse.

“Got it. I have four lectures today, are you free after that?”

After sending his reply, he tapped on Devil-chan’s profile icon, switching to her home page.

As a part-time worker at a bookstore, Ryoma recognized the title of her manga. He had also seen her pen name before.

(So she’s the real deal… huh.)

For a moment, he lost his ability to put his thoughts into words.

With mild curiosity, he scrolled through her tweets while waiting for a reply.

“Wait… her follower count went up to 160,000? That’s insane…

“And this manga has over 30,000 likes…?”

It almost felt unreal. The idea that such a famous person was actually his junior, attending the same university, was staggering.

His gaze landed on the latest romantic comedy manga, titled:

“Punishment Game Between Two Childhood Friends With Mutual Love.”

It had over 30,000 likes.

Out of curiosity, he decided to read it.

Page 1, 2, 3, 4—he kept flipping through.

And before he knew it…

The words slipped from his mouth.

“Ah, as expected. It’s interesting.”

The development felt a bit rushed, but this was what it would likely end up being like if condensed into a 4-panel format.

There was a slightly risque element too… It was hard to believe that the quiet Himeno was the one creating this, but she really nailed the key points. He wanted to read the next story too.

Just as he was about to dig up some other comics, the message box mark turned red again. Looks like he got a reply from Himeno.

“Is there anywhere specific you’d like to go?”

“I’d prefer somewhere out of sight. Should I look for an empty classroom now and message you again?”

“Alright. Thank you.”

Himeno must have had notifications on because he got an immediate response. From there, it was real-time back-and-forth.

“I was thinking… the tone of your messages is really polite.”

Having wrapped up the main point for now, Ryoma casually brought it up. He’d been a little curious about it. He was also slightly worried that they had started to drift apart.

“This is a work account, so I always write DMs like this, no matter who they’re from. Just in case I send it to the wrong person, it’s easier to recover.”

“Ah, I see. You’ve thought it through.”

Ryoma said aloud, understanding.

He felt like she seemed to be quite talkative, but that was because Himeno was usually quiet. Once it was through email, that trait seemed to be relaxed.

“If it feels weird, I’ll just change tone…”

“Like always…”

Ryoma stifled a laugh at Himeno’s sudden casual message, trying to hold back the breath escaping from his nose and mouth.

“No, it’s fine, no need to change it.”

“Hm, I’ll change it anyway.”

“What?”

Ignoring the previous message’s context, Himeno declared she’d change it. And without him noticing, the tone of the email shifted to her true self.

“In return, I want Shiba’s tone to change too.”

“I’ll change… but what part?”

“Show me Shiba’s real self. That’s what I want.”

“This is my real self though?”

“Lie. You’re pretending. I can tell.”

Ryoma’s response was probably predicted by her. It didn’t even take five seconds before she’d replied.

And since this was all happening in written form, Himeno was being pretty direct.

“She totally figured me out…”

Ryoma’s biggest fear was being seen negatively and disliked. If he got disliked, there was a 100% chance he wouldn’t be called upon again.

For now, the best course of action for Ryoma was to admit it honestly. The more he resisted, the more he’d upset Hime no’s mood.

“Well, there’s one thing I should tell you before I change anything.”

“What’s that?”

“Changing it might shift the image quite a bit, you know? I know it’s a bit awkward to say this to you, but it could make me look bad.”

“It’s fine. I don’t like Shiba right now.”

“That’s not exactly fine!”

Without thinking, a sharp retort burst from him toward his smartphone.

Anyone who saw this scene would surely think he was a strange person.

“Eh!? Are you really saying that!?”

“Yeah. So it’s fine to change. I think it’s better to be natural.”

“…Got it. Then I’ll change too. Not just the tone of the emails, but my attitude in person too.”

“Hm, looking forward to it.”

“What’s so exciting about it?”

With his usual elusive reply, Ryoma sent the email, then decided to search for an empty classroom.

＊＊＊＊

Right after the DM with Ryoma ended, Himeno, who had been sliding through and rereading the messages, let out a small laugh.

This wasn’t something one would typically see from her.

She was often serious, and there were even rumors in college that her facial muscles were dead.

And when Himeno acted like this, she lost sight of her surroundings.

She then belatedly noticed that her friend Ami, who had been sitting next to her, was watching her the whole time.

“What’s up, Himeno~? You’re grinning at your phone, you look like you’re having fun!”

“Ah!”

Himeno jumped as Ami suddenly tapped her on the shoulder, almost like she’d been scared by a ghost.

“Don’t be so surprised…! So, what’s with the grin?”

“…Don’t look! I wasn’t grinning.”

“Is that an inversion!? Were you trying to emphasize how much you didn’t want me to know!?”

“Mm.”

Himeno closed her phone and pouted.

Nobody liked having their emails read, but it was just as bad to have someone stare at their face.

“Sorry, sorry! But, you know, I just thought, if anyone can make Himeno smile like that, it’d be that person~”

“…That person?”

“That person, I mean, Ryoma-san! Don’t pretend like you’re not! You were smiling while texting your boyfriend, right?”

“…No.”

Without realizing it, Himeno’s gaze wandered. The word “boyfriend” was a weakness for her.

“Lying again, huh? You’re so easy to read, Himeno. So, what’s going on?”

“…”

“Ah, the classic silent treatment!”

“…I’ll hit you if you don’t stop.”

“You know I’d hit you back harder, right?”

“That’s not true! Himeno is strong!”

“Yeah, right! Go ahead and try.”

“V-Violence… I’m against it…”

“Haha, you said it first, but you’re so cute, Himeno!”

Himeno, who was barely 150cm tall, sat next to Ami, who was about 160cm. The difference in their builds was obvious, and Himeno was so tiny and delicate that even a man would feel protective of her.

Ami, who knew Japanese geography perfectly, could answer any quiz about it correctly, making the outcome pretty clear.

Though Himeno tried to resist, she eventually raised the white flag—she made the right decision.

“Seriously, Himeno, you’re so delicate. How do you have such thin arms? I’m so jealous. Can I touch them?”

“…If you stop asking, then fine.”

“Alright, deal! Turn around!”

“Can’t I stay facing forward…?”

“Turn around!”

“Mm, fine…”

Ami treated Himeno like a healing mascot. She touched her like she was a big stuffed animal… and during this time, Himeno thanked Ami for yesterday.

“Thanks for the phone call yesterday… Ami. You were worried about my boyfriend.”

“Don’t worry about it! That was just me being nosy. Wow, seriously, your arms are so thin… They’re like half of mine!”

That day, Himeno successfully avoided further questioning. By letting Ami touch her body, she kept the other in check.