← The Studious Boy and the Secret Account Girl
Volume 3
Chapter 36: The Fishing Hook Is Way Too Visible
Chapter 36: The Fishing Hook Is Way Too Visible
The Tachibana Matsurika that Tsutomu knew was, fundamentally, a beautiful girl overflowing with intelligence—even if she did occasionally say things that came completely out of left field.
The fact that she’d launch erotic provocations too serious to laugh off, or make outrageous “requests” with a perfectly straight face, and generally torment him in one way or another—well, he’d set that aside for now.
She had the capacity to at least listen to advice that went against her own wishes, and she wasn’t so foolish as to refuse to understand something when it was explained logically.
So—when Tsutomu, whose mind had been blown away by her too-abrupt declaration, came back to his senses, it was only natural that he’d try to talk her out of it.
“So basically, Kariya-kun, you’re a chicken.”
“How do you get that?”
Still seated on the sofa, Tsutomu looked up at Matsurika, who stood before him with her hands on her hips, and groaned.
Her rain-chilled limbs had been properly warmed in the bath and flushed pink, and she was now wearing the dress shirt he’d lent her.
Her chest was boldly pushed upward from within, full and abundant. It swayed with every movement.
Her glossy straight black hair, which reached all the way to her waist, and her long, white, dazzling legs were also absolute poison to his eyes.
Every last part of her was too attractive, slowly eroding the rational mind of a healthy adolescent boy.
He’d never once imagined, until very recently, that a beautiful girl fully aware of her own appeal could be this troublesome.
“Then take the photo.”
Matsurika thrust her smartphone at him. It was the latest model, released just the other day.
The school’s idol had another hidden face. As “RIKA,” the popular owner of a secret account that posted erotic selfies, she was mainly active on Twitter.
After getting battered by the pincer attack of the rainy season and a typhoon, and through a series of twists and turns, she’d ended up staying overnight at Tsutomu’s place—but once she’d finished cleaning up after dinner, she found herself with nothing to do and rather bored.
Apparently, while Twitter users were expressing concern for her safety, they’d also pointed out that her posting frequency had dropped, which had gotten her thinking. She’d been irritated, she said.
She’d decided, “Very well, then. I shall post.” The fact that she’d suddenly launch a secret-account photo shoot at someone else’s home was a plot twist so absurd it was just like her, you could say.
Tsutomu was a huge fan of “RIKA” too, so he had no complaints. Up to that point, there was no problem. Getting to watch his favorite’s photo shoot right in front of him? Best thing ever.
The problem was—Matsurika had started asking Tsutomu to take the photos. He’d heard it directly with his own ears, right in front of him, so there was no mistaking it.
To repeat: Matsurika was wearing only a white dress shirt. Nothing but a shirt. A man’s dream.
A knockout beautiful girl in his own room, wearing nothing but a shirt—that alone was already a yakuman. And on top of that, she was demanding he photograph her.
T/N: Yakuman (役満) are a class of “yaku” or hand patterns with high point values on a Mahjong match. Such hands are considered rare and difficult, thus the correlation Tsutomu makes.
This was insane. Ura-dora stacked on a yakuman. A yakuman can’t have ura-dora, but for Matsurika, even that rule bent.
T/N: another reference to Mahjong, when a player wins by richi they can score extra points with an ura-dora (裏ドラ) or a hidden tile.
The emotional whiplash was too violent; his thoughts couldn’t keep up. His jaw hung open and refused to close.
He forcibly stitched together what remained of his rationality, which was about to burn out, and somehow managed to mount an objection.
“I-It’s not right for me to take them!”
“Why not? You’re always looking at my pictures, aren’t you, Kariya-kun? Don’t you want to take them?”
They’d be nude!
As if trying to peer into his face, she leaned her upper body forward, and her cleavage came into full, unobstructed view.
Before his eyes: a supernaturally beautiful girl’s face. Lower his gaze: a valley of generous breasts.
Beyond that, her rounded bottom was visible, the white fabric stretched taut.
From the hem of the dress shirt, the roots of her pure white, long legs beckoned dangerously.
His field of vision was so blessed he could die.
It was a feast for the eyes precisely because Matsurika was here. And precisely because Matsurika was here, he couldn’t do a damned thing.
He wanted to be left alone for a while. He wanted to dash into the bathroom right this second.
Tsutomu prayed to God from the bottom of his heart. Naturally, such a prayer was never answered.
—Nude?! What do you mean, nude?!
He could scream only in the privacy of his own mind.
On the surface, he was keeping his composure… or so he intended. In reality, (omitted).
At any rate, he chanted “Calm down. Calm down.” over and over.
His lips were actually moving, but he had no room to worry about such things.
—Impossible!!
His hand, adjusting his slipped glasses, was trembling.
He couldn’t calm down at all. There was no way he could.
And yet, he was reluctant to simply vomit out his feelings as they were.
“If you’re asking whether I want to take them—yes, I do. I’ll admit that.”
“Then let’s take them. It’s a photo shoot!”
Matsurika began to sing “Photo shoot, photo shoot” with a funny little rhythm.
And then she started lightly dancing along, so various parts of her swayed, and it was way too dangerous.
Why was she so hyped up?
Was this what she was always like when taking selfies?
Tsutomu, who had almost no acquaintances of the opposite sex his age, couldn’t understand her thought process at all.
…Well, even if he’d had female friends, comparing them to Matsurika would have been a tall order.
“But if I take them, it’ll give away that there’s someone else beside ‘RIKA’-san, right?”
“Hmm?”
Matsurika stopped dancing and tilted her head.
Her hair flowed down smoothly with the movement, the glossy black glittering under the artificial light.
“What about it?”
“What do you mean, ‘what about it’? That’s a recipe for getting flamed.”
“RIKA” had followers numbering in the five digits, still increasing.
Of course a “self-proclaimed high school girl” with a killer body and an abundant service spirit would draw a crowd.
But—what would happen if a man’s shadow appeared beside her?
“Ehh~, something like that wouldn’t cause a flame war. It’s not like I’m an idol with a no-dating rule. Kariya-kun, aren’t you overthinking it?”
“You should be overthinking it.”
“But… look, these people, these were clearly taken by a photographer.”
What Matsurika pulled up on her smartphone was a set of cosplayer accounts.
Several photos showed them posing in highly revealing outfits—ones that rivaled, or even surpassed, “RIKA” herself. There were even images that made him worry, as a bystander, “Are you sure it’s okay to post this?” The likes and retweets were also out of control.
He was surprised that the girl before him had been keeping tabs on a genre like this. Maybe she was interested? He was very curious.
“Ohh, so this kind of thing exists too.”
“Don’t be impressed there.”
He thought it was unreasonable of her to get so visibly sulky just because he’d shown interest.
“Sorry. You’re right, these aren’t selfies.”
“Right?”
“But these people are professionals—are they professionals? No, that’s beside the point. They’re being paid to shoot, so isn’t that a different situation?”
Was cosplay a job?
He wasn’t well-versed in that world, so he couldn’t come up with an answer.
At this very moment, though, that wasn’t the issue.
“Hmm, I wonder.”
“More importantly, look at this.”
In counterattack, he thrust his smartphone at Matsurika, who was clearly dissatisfied.
“Ugh.”
A groan of the sort a beautiful girl should never make escaped her.
On the screen was a scoop article: “Super-Popular Voice Actor’s Romantic Partner Discovered!?”
Social media was in flames. Anonymous message boards were in flames. Aggregator sites were in flames.
Talk of the rainy season and typhoon had been blown completely away.
A voice actor a universe beyond the downpour right before his eyes. Fan psychology was truly a fearsome thing.
“Even when you’re not an idol, this is what happens. It doesn’t hurt to be careful.”
“Uhh, hmm…”
Confronted with an uproar currently in full swing, Matsurika crossed her arms and began seriously pondering, her face grave.
She closed her eyes, furrowed her brows, and let out a low “mm, mm”—
“…Maybe you’re right, Kariya-kun.”
“See?”
“Can’t be helped. I’ll make do with a selfie.”
“Y-Yeah.”
“What’s with that attitude? I went out of my way to concede here.”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Even now, he felt a wave of regret at having thrown away the chance to photograph the owner of the erotic high-school-girl secret account he so admired.
Even as he told himself, “This is right. This is for the best. I did well,” the smoldering dissatisfaction refused to fade.
“Heheh~ You really wanted to take them, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, I did. Got a problem with that?”
Matsurika, having keenly seen through Tsutomu’s anguish, wore a provocative smile.
He wanted to complain—say something about whose sake he’d made that decision for.
Instead of complaining, he at least squared his shoulders, standing his ground.
“Then just take it.”
“That’s why I—”
“Not a photo for ‘RIKA’ to post. I mean, just take it with your own phone, Kariya-kun.”
Matsurika’s slender white finger pointed at Tsutomu’s phone.
—For yourself.
Those words were gospel.
God was right there before his eyes.
“Is it really okay? For real?”
“Yeah. I’ve been piling up favors and all, so think of it as a ‘thank-you.’”
It should have been a wonderful offer… and yet her radiant smile was, if anything, all the more suspicious.
He couldn’t honestly bring himself to be happy about it. Something felt deeply fishy, like there had to be a catch.
“Hey, why are you so set on having me take the pictures?”
“Isn’t that obvious?”
“Obvious, you say?”
“Because it’ll be fun!”
He shouldn’t have asked.
Tsutomu regretted it from the bottom of his heart… No, he didn’t.
Where did her seriousness end and the joke begin?
He could never truly read Matsurika’s heart.
In that case—when there was a chance, he should go all in.
It was a valuable lesson he’d learned from a relationship that hadn’t been long at all.