My Gift Is “Beauty”. I Think It’s Useless, but It Seems to Be an S-Rank Gift With the Strongest Buff Effect for Beautiful Girls - Chapter 44.1: An Invitation from Midori Hourai

Chapter 44.1: An Invitation from Midori Hourai

“I never thought I’d end up working with just Hiroyo,” Umirin says.

“That’s my line… Hibiki and Himari were usually around,” Hiroyo replies.

October arrived, and the season for summer clothes ended. People now wore blazers as outerwear.

On this day, Hiroyo and Umirin acted together alone.

Umirin’s light blue hair was cut short, and a piercing was visible in her ear.

Hibiki, who usually accompanied them, was absent today. There was a proper reason for the two being alone.

The pair waited in a certain room.

Some time remained before the person they awaited arrived.

Perhaps because of this, Umirin, sitting on a sofa, approached Hiroyo closely.

“Hey, it’s okay, right?” Umirin asks.

“What… just because it’s us two—wait!” Hiroyo stammers.

Umirin usually had a cute smile. Her eyes melted slightly as she leaned toward Hiroyo’s face.

She grabbed both his arms to keep him from escaping and kissed him.

“Mm… Umi… this place… isn’t good…” Hiroyo murmurs.

“It’s fine… no one… mm… is here…” Umirin responds between kisses.

Their tongues intertwined, and she pressed her soft lips against his.

It was the first time Umirin and Hiroyo were alone together. Perhaps because of this, she acted more boldly than usual.

The door clicked open.

As they shared a passionate kiss, the room’s door opened, and two women entered.

“Ah… this is…” Umirin gasps.

Umirin’s flushed face, lost in the moment, parted from Hiroyo, a thread of clear saliva dangling from her lips.

“Please continue. A real kiss, not acting, is quite interesting,” one woman said.

The speaker was a beautiful woman with straight black hair. Despite the intense kiss, she spoke calmly and looked directly at them.

“See, Orika says so! So—” Umirin exclaims.

“Wait, Umirin, you idiot—mm, no… no way!” Hiroyo protests.

Hiroyo pushed Umirin away, managing to stop the kiss.

Umirin let out an “Ahn” and reluctantly touched her lips with her finger.

“Already done? I wanted to watch more since it’s rare to see this up close,” Orika remarks.

“Well… today’s purpose is a bit different,” Hiroyo responds.

“Oh, right. You were going to use your skill on me—that was the deal,” Orika says.

The young actress, Orika Shiina, stared at Hiroyo without changing her expression and muttered those words.

Why did this situation arise?

The story rewound two weeks earlier.

“‘Sensitivity Improvement,'” Hiroyo announced.

That was the name of the new skill Hiroyo acquired.

All five, including Fuyutsuki, showered and cleaned up.

After settling down, they discussed the new skill again.

<Sensitivity Improvement>

Method: Rubbing the whole body

Effect: Improves sensitivity (but does not exceed a certain level)

Drawback: Body feels warm and sensitive for a period

The ability of ‘Sensitivity Improvement’ was as described.

When Hiroyo shared it with Hibiki and the others, they only responded with a casual “Hmm.” None of them had issues with sensitivity.

Finding someone with poor sensitivity was rare.

Thus, some wondered if this skill would be useful at all.

However, Hiroyo’s fate often drew things to him.

“Uh… ah…” Koharu stammers.

“Koharu, what’s wrong?” someone asks.

“Well… when we went to the beach before, I exchanged contact info with someone…” Koharu explains.

“What, you got hit on!?” someone exclaims.

“No, no, it was a girl. She was at the dungeon tour too,” Koharu clarifies.

Koharu began explaining while recalling the event.

Kirino, sitting nearby, also remembered and listened to Koharu’s story.

“She’s a girl our age named Midori Hourai. She’s the daughter of an entertainment agency for adventurers called ‘Treasure Next.’ She seemed to know about Kirino too,” Koharu says.

“‘Treasure Next’? That’s a major agency,” Kirino remarks.

“Saori, you know it?” Koharu asks.

“It’s famous in adventurer circles,” Saori replies.

Saori reacted to Koharu’s explanation. Hibiki showed interest.

But the story continued from there.

“Midori said the models scheduled for a weekend shoot all canceled. So they need to fill magazine pages with a backup plan,” Koharu explains.

“So, you mean…” someone prompts.

“She just offered us to do it,” Koharu reveals.

“What!? I’m not an adventurer!” someone protests.

‘Treasure Next,’ being an entertainment agency, partnered with a magazine publishing company. They sometimes lent adventurers as models, but this case was slightly different.

“It’s not a problem. This is a general fashion magazine, not adventurer-related. So it’s fine even if you’re not an adventurer,” Koharu explains.

“Huh, really?” someone asks.

“They need five people, apparently…” Koharu adds.

Koharu looked around at the people present.

Only Saori shook her head vigorously.

“I have work, so I can’t,” Saori says.

Even though she worked at the Adventurers’ Guild, side jobs weren’t prohibited.

Saori simply avoided shooting with much younger people.

“Right… so, should we ask those two?” Koharu suggests.

“Koharu, does that mean Kirino and I are in?” Hibiki asks.

“Hibiki, you’re in, right? They said our faces would be shown,” Koharu replies.

“Haha, is it okay for someone like me? Hey, Hiroyo,” Hibiki asks.

“Hibiki, you’re cute enough to be a model. And the two Koharu mentioned are Himari and Umirin, right? They’d agree without asking,” Hiroyo says.

“If Hiroyo says so, I’ll ask them,” Hibiki decides.

Hibiki already seemed quite willing.

“What about Kirino?” Koharu asks.

“If everyone else is in… I’m a bit embarrassed, but okay,” Kirino replies.

“Then it’s settled. I’ll reply to Midori,” Koharu says.

Thus, the five agreed to the modeling shoot.

◇ ◇ ◇

One week later.

At the visited studio, photographers, makeup artists, and several staff waited to greet Hibiki and the others.