Sakurai Saki was quite satisfied with his current part-time setup.
Monday through Wednesday, he tutored.Thursday and Friday, he smiled for money.Weekends? Optional. Either rest or hustle for extra cash.
Today was Thursday—smiling-for-money day.
At 4:30 p.m., right after school, Sakurai arrived in Shibuya.No club activities, no obligations.Just business.
Today's client was a high school girl who apparently needed a fake boyfriend for a KTV gathering. Purely for show—saving face in front of her friends. The usual.
She'd been very specific in her request.
Dog-like, but not clingy.Cheerful, but not annoying.Gentle, but able to stand up for her if needed.
Basically, she wanted a diode with facial expressions.
Still, Sakurai could handle that.He tugged at the collar of his jacket, making the neat lines just messy enough to seem casual. Too clean would feel stiff. Too sloppy, and it wouldn't sell.
He tilted his head and looked up at the Shibuya sky, waiting.
A few minutes later, she emerged from the crowd.
Necklace choker, blonde-dyed hair, sailor uniform. Probably just finished club activities. She looked average, but her gyaru-style was well suited for Shibuya's fashion-forward streets.
"Hello! You're Yuto, right? You're way more handsome in person than your photos! Total win!" she chirped.
Sakurai nodded with a mild smile."Yuto" was his stage name—rental boyfriend agencies never allowed real ones. It helped prevent doxxing. Mostly.
Even so, some girls got too into it. That was what Sakurai disliked most—when they treated the fake relationship like the real thing.
This was work. Emotional detachment made everyone happier.
"Miss Eri," Sakurai said smoothly, "just to confirm: this rental session is for three hours, and the requested content is to accompany you through a full KTV gathering, correct?"
"That's right~ Yu-chan."
Yu-chan?
He let it slide. Pet names weren't unusual.
"I told my friends last week I'd get a super hot boyfriend, and… yeah, here we are!" she explained brightly.
"No need to tell me your reasons. Client privacy," he said.
"Oh. Okay."
"Confirmation complete. Then for the next three hours, I'll be your temporary boyfriend," he recited, almost like a vow.
Agency rules were clear: light physical contact like handholding or hugging was okay.Kissing or anything beyond that—even if the client offered more money—was strictly prohibited.
This was a business transaction, not a date.
At the KTV entrance, several girls in colorful gal fashion clustered around, chatting loudly.
"Where is Eri-chan? It's been over ten minutes."
"She was bluffing, right? 'Super hot boyfriend' in one week? That's a reach~"
"Hey, Ryota-kun, think she was just messing with us?" one of them asked, turning toward a bleach-blond delinquent boy puffing a cigarette.
Ryota exhaled smoke, looking annoyed. "What about Hayasaka? She not coming?"
Honestly, if not for that quiet blonde girl, he wouldn't even hang out with this crowd.
A bunch of loud, tacky nobodies.
"Eh~ Ryota-kun, don't tell me you've got a thing for Hayasaka-chan!"
"Gross~!"
They laughed.
Their faces didn't exactly give them license to tease, but none of them seemed aware of that.
Just then—
"Yoro~! Ryota-kun, long time no see! Still rocking that bad blonde dye job? Super funny~!"
Eri had arrived.Leaning confidently against Sakurai's arm, she looked smug.
Her plan had worked. Her little sisters were staring in disbelief—and envy.
Every yen spent was worth it.
Sakurai smiled brightly at the group.
"Hello everyone~ I'm Eri's boyfriend. You can call me Yuto."
The girls blinked.
Objectively speaking, none of them ranked above average. Sakurai would've generously given them a five out of ten.
Still, they gawked as if they'd never seen a decent-looking boy in their lives.
Ryota flicked his cigarette to the ground and crushed it with his heel.
"You punk. Pretty full of yourself, huh?"
Who even is this guy? Sakurai thought.
He didn't reply. This sort of third-rate antagonist wasn't worth the trouble.
"Is everyone here?" Sakurai asked. "If so, shall we head in? No point standing around. I'll cover the expenses later."
"Eh?! Yu-chan, no need! I'll pay!" Eri said on cue, playing her role perfectly.
The group shuffled inside, still whispering.
"Eri's so lucky… that boyfriend's really hot."
"And polite!"
"What about Ryota? Should someone go get him? It's kind of sad—he got totally ignored."
One girl lingered, turning back toward the brooding boy outside. The others trailed behind Eri and Sakurai, eyes still wide, heading toward the private room.
The group finally settled into a large private KTV room.
Music videos looped silently on the screen, while garish colored lights spun lazily in time with the beat.
About ten minutes in, the delinquent Ryota wandered in with another gal, who looked like she had come just to chew gum and complain.
"Alright, alright! Let's start picking songs!" announced a heavily made-up gal, clapping her hands like a ringmaster. "One person's still missing, but we can't wait forever!"
With that, she practically threw herself at the touchscreen, monopolizing the playlist.
Sakurai Saki settled into the corner seat with Eri leaning lightly against him. The rest of the group was already absorbed in the noise—loud chatter, song-surfing, and soda cans cracking open with fake bravado.
As usual, Sakurai stayed on the edge of the conversation.
If no one addressed him directly, he'd default to quietly talking to Eri. Just enough to sell the illusion.
"Yu-chan, aren't you going to sing?" Eri asked sweetly, snuggling a bit closer.
Sakurai turned toward her with a practiced smile that never reached his eyes.
"I prefer hearing you sing," he said, voice like velvet. "Your voice is more beautiful than mine."
The way he said it—direct, gentle, eyes steady—it made Eri feel like her chest was too light to anchor her body. Her ears turned red.
"O-okay~!"
She took the mic like she was accepting a trophy.
The track began. She'd picked Unrequited Love—a ballad that wanted to be emotional but had a range few high school girls could handle.She sang with conviction, if not pitch.
'Too high on the verse,' Sakurai thought.'Flat on the chorus. But... heartfelt.'
As she sang, Sakurai kept his eyes fixed on her, nodding slightly, his smile unwavering.
To everyone else, he looked like a devoted boyfriend in awe of his girl's performance.
The moment the final note wobbled into silence, he clapped.
"Eri sang super well!"
She beamed, flushed with joy.
Ryota, slouched a few seats away, sipped from a can of cola with all the bitterness of a man drinking whiskey in a noir film.
What kind of loser comes to KTV and drinks soda?
Still...If this Yuto guy was with Eri, then he didn't have to worry about competition.
That person who hadn't arrived yet—she was the only one Ryota cared about.
His mood mellowed slightly.
Then, just as another girl took the mic—
Click.
The door opened.
And the entire room went still.
Standing in the doorway was a girl with golden-blonde hair pulled into a sleek ponytail, her school jacket tied around her waist.There was the faintest smear of fatigue on her face, as though she'd been running on autopilot all day.
Hayasaka Ai.
Her sharp, clear gaze swept across the room like a searchlight. It lingered only a second on the others—then locked onto Sakurai.
Their eyes met.
Sakurai's expression didn't change.
Neither did hers.
Hayasaka hadn't come because she cared. Not really.She just needed to keep up appearances with her gyaru friends. She was used to the shallow talk, the drinks, the makeup reviews, the low-stakes gossip. It was exhausting but manageable.
But tonight?
Tonight, she walked into something... different.
Something interesting.
Without saying a word, she stepped fully into the room and let the door close behind her.