1

I was walking home from school with my earphones in as per usual. Just another uneventful day in the life of Kagetora Ichigaya. But if I thought today was going to remain that way, I was in for a huge surprise. When I finally reached the house and opened the living room door, I was met with the strangest sight.

“I’m ba— Huh?!”

In front of me stood a beautiful girl, wearing a black kimono and a cat-ear headband, looking at her reflection in the mirror. I had no doubt that this was supposed to be a cosplay of Yomashiro, a ship girl from Adore Lane, but an outfit like that, in real life, was way too sexy.

The kimono, while it had sleeves, had huge holes right under the arms, offering the perfect window to some sideboob. The hem was so high that it revealed a dangerous amount of leg. I couldn’t resist wondering whether or not she was wearing any underwear at all.

“Eeek! Wh-Why are you here?!” screeched Kokoro Nishina, my roommate.

I took out my earphones in a daze, noticing the loud rap music playing in the room.

“M-Maybe because this is my house?! Why wouldn’t I be here?!” I asked as Kokoro squirmed, doing whatever she could to hide herself and her scant clothing.

I knew that staring at all that tantalizing skin peeking out from the sides and bottom of the kimono would make her think that I was some kind of pervert, but, despite my best efforts, my eyes naturally steered toward both.

“Why’d you sneak in here though?!” she asked.

“I wasn’t sneaking! What’s up with this music anyway? It’s too loud! No wonder you couldn’t hear me come in!”

“HypMic released a new single and I just had to listen to it!” she explained.

Hypnosis Mic was a rap group formed by male voice actors, and, according to Kokoro, all the girls were listening to them. I already knew that she loved them herself.

“Anyway, what exactly are you doing? That’s from Adore Lane, right?”

“I-I was just planning my cosplay for Summer Comiket...”

Summer Comiket? But that’s in August, and it’s still June... Why is she starting so early? And more importantly...

“Are you seriously planning to show up to Comiket dressed like a slut?!”

“What! N-No! Just listen to me, okay? I actually bought Unithorn’s costume, but they mixed up the orders and I got this instead! The store isn’t based in Japan, and shipping this back would cost waaay too much, so they told me that I can just keep it and they’ll send me the right one for free. I could never wear this to, like, an actual event—not in a million years!—but it would be a waste not to try it out... S-So I swear it was just for fun. And the only full-length mirror is the one in the living room! A-Anyway, I’m going to change!” she announced before running, embarrassed, back to her bedroom.

I continued to watch her kimono fluttering up and down as she raced up the stairs.

I-I can almost see her butt...

With a sigh, I thought back to all the insanity that had turned me and Kokoro into roommates. Despite being two unrelated people, under the same roof, of the same age and opposite sex, Kokoro wasn’t my girlfriend.

It all started when I attended the “Otaku Meetup & Matchmaking Party,” an event where I’d hoped to find my otaku dream girl. There I happened to run into Kokoro, from school. It was a complete shock to find out that she was an otaku. With her flashy gyaru looks and extroverted behavior, she looked and acted like the complete opposite of one—at least at school.

We argued, of course, until we realized that we shared a common goal: finding our ideal otaku date. She wanted a kind, handsome otaku boyfriend who liked all that stuff that girls like, while I wanted a beautiful and innocent-looking girl who was into the same stuff as I was. So we promised that we’d help each other out. Only an otaku knows what otaku like, after all. So I’m pretty much the expert.

But our plan hit a bit of a snag—Kokoro’s father told her that they had to move away from Japan for his work. So she asked to stay by herself instead of being torn away from her hobbies. Funnily enough, I’d been living alone for quite some time myself, since my own parents worked overseas. I understood how Kokoro felt about having to leave, so I proposed to her parents that she could stay with me. I hadn’t expected her dad to take it as a marriage proposal.

Kokoro straight-up lied to her parents to get them to say yes, saying that I was her boyfriend and that the reason she didn’t want to leave Japan was to stay close to me. Against all my predictions, her parents gave their permission. As it turned out, her father was a hopeless romantic who could never keep his daughter apart from her soulmate.

Kokoro later told me that she needed to find a real boyfriend before she graduated high school, which would more or less be when her parents came back to Japan. That way, she could tell her dad that she’d broken up with me and fallen in love with someone else—or, at least, that was the plan to get us out of our potential wedding. And so, we were not only each other’s love advisors, but we also had a deadline to find our otaku dates.

We started teaching each other how to become more attractive to otaku of the opposite sex, trying out different ideas, and in general doing our best to find romance. However, truth be told, we were still pretty crap at this.

Left alone in my living room, I started looking at my phone. I reread a direct message that I’d received on Twitter a few days ago.

“Thank you so much for today ♡ ♡ It was the funnest of fun being with you! If it’s okay with you, I’d like to see you again sometime, when we can maybe stay together a bit longer...”

It was from Mashiro Gojo, an absolute angel of a girl that I’d recently met at an otaku meetup. The two of us had been on a date the previous Saturday, but I’d had to leave pretty abruptly. Despite expecting her to never speak to me again, later that day, she’d sent me this sweet DM.

I was surprised, but I immediately thanked her, apologized over and over, and told her that I’d love to go on another date with her. She wrote that she was looking forward to it, but the conversation was dead after that because I had no idea how to reply.

I was also looking forward to our next date, as I wanted an opportunity to make up for the terrible impression I’d left. So, since last time we went with her idea of shopping in Akihabara, this time I wanted to be the one coming up with an idea for where to go. I also wanted to show her how sorry I was for walking out on her, but I didn’t know how to do that.

This was exactly the kind of thing I’d want to ask Kokoro about but, as she didn’t seem to like Mashiro, I was afraid that she’d just tell me not to date her anymore. On the other hand, keeping Mashiro waiting for a reply wouldn’t do her opinion of me any good either. So I decided that, before the end of the day, I’d find the perfect timing to ask Kokoro for advice.

That evening, it was Kokoro’s turn to cook. She’d made fried chicken, sesame-flavored sautéed spinach, and miso soup. How was it that everything that this girl cooked—from egg fried rice to hamburger steak—was so delicious?!

As we ate, Kokoro got a notification on her phone, looked at it, then sighed loudly.

“Bambi just won’t quit...” she said.

“He’s texting you?!”

Bambi was a pretty-faced cosplayer dude that Kokoro used to be a huge fan of. We’d met him, they’d gone on a date, and, not really to my surprise, we ended up finding that he wasn’t quite as attractive on the inside as on the outside. He had, however, surprised me by being a different kind of jerk than the one I’d thought he was.

During their first date, Bambi had pestered Kokoro to go home with him, and, right about then, she’d stopped replying to my texts. Since I was so scared that she might be in danger, I’d left my own date with Mashiro to go and save her, like some kind of terrible superhero.

There were many stories online of other girls who’d been put in the same spot, so we thought that his reason for trying to get them to follow him home was so that he could lure them into his bed. However, when we read about the experience of a girl who’d actually done just that, we found out that the real reason was very different. He actually wanted to lure them into his wardrobe, where he could show off his cosplays and receive loads of compliments. Much to our amusement, Bambi was a huge narcissist who only wanted to have his ego stroked.

“He’s invited me to cosplay and go on dates, like, at least five times since then. I keep saying no, but he just won’t get a clue,” Kokoro said.

“So you aren’t interested in him anymore? At all?”

“Of course not! I mean, a manslut who’s just trying to have sex with cosplayers would be out of the question, but so is this! I’ve been asking my online friends for ideas about where to find more otaku guys to date...”

She sure does recover fast...

“And I realized!” she babbled on, “a lot of my school friends met their boyfriends at their part-time jobs! Isn’t that a good idea? So, you know, we could both find a job and use those to look for dates!”

“A... job?”

“I was thinking that maybe I should work anyway. The money my parents send me isn’t enough for clothes and games and everything, so I’ve had to dip into my savings. Imagine if I could get paid to find a boyfriend! That’s, like, two birds with one stone! Mom and Dad never let me get a job, but now they won’t find out anyway!”

Finding a job did sound good. I, too, had heard about people meeting at their workplace and starting to date. Not to mention, between the money I’d recently spent on clothes, events, and dating, I was practically broke. The idea of working for the first time made me nervous, but a job that was somehow otaku-related could be fun. I could use the cash, and finding a girlfriend would be the cherry on top.

“A job where we can meet other otaku would be great!” I agreed. “I wonder what sort of job that would be though...”

“Let’s look it up when we’re done eating. I don’t wanna do anything super boring, you know?”

“Ah...” I said, remembering something important. It was still possible that I wouldn’t need to meet any more girls, after all.

“Hm? What’s up?”

“Nothing really. It’s just that...” I mumbled. Wait, this is my chance! I can ask her for advice!

“Well,” I continued, “a-actually, after going on that date with Mashiro... we’ve kind of kept in touch.”

“Oh?”

“I thought she wouldn’t want anything to do with me anymore, but she actually messaged me to say that she wants to go out again. So now I’m wondering where I should take her...”

“For real?! You should have told me sooner! That’s totally awesome!” she told me, surprised, but happy.

“I thought you didn’t like her,” I said, remembering what she’d told me about Mashiro.

“To be honest, I’m just kinda relieved that you managed to stay on good terms with her, you know? After all, it was sort of my fault that you left your date with her... And even if I don’t like her, she’s your ideal girl, isn’t she? I’m here to help you out, and I owe you for last Saturday.”

“N-Nishina...” I said, genuinely moved with gratitude.

“You need to tell me more than that though; like, you were saying that you don’t know where to take her. I know that she likes all that guy stuff, but did you find out anything else about her tastes?” she asked.

“Apart from her liking the same genres as me... Oh! Right, I found out that she works at a maid café.”

“Is... Is that really it?”

“What do you mean?” I asked, confused.

Kokoro sighed. “It’s like I told you last time. That girl is, like, someone an otaku boy made up in his bedroom. That’s kind of weird.”

“So you think she’s hiding something?”

“Hm, I can’t really put it into words...”

To me, Mashiro just looked like a sweet girl who happened to perfectly fit my tastes. Kokoro still seemed to find her suspicious though.

Is this what they call “a girl’s sixth sense”?

“Well, anyway,” she said, “if she’s an otaku, that means there’s some anime or game that she really loves. And for an otaku girl, the nicest thing that anyone could do for you is listen! Listen to her talk about what she loves and be interested in it! That’d make any girl happy, and she’d totally love you for it!”

“I see. That makes sense,” I agreed.

I could definitely get that. As an otaku myself, I knew how good it felt to have someone become interested in the things you love.

“But let me think about where you should take her... Hm, the best place would be one related to her hobbies, I guess.”

“We already went to Akihabara on our last date though,” I said.

“What about Ikebukuro then? There are tons of date spots there! The aquarium, the planetarium, you know?”

“Hm. I’ve been there a couple of times, so I’m familiar enough with it. And also, what would you say would be a good idea to apologize to her for leaving like that? I was thinking of buying her a little gift—something that she’d like. Maybe some character merchandise or an accessory or something like that,” I said.

“Whoa, slow down! There’s no need to buy her anything that expensive. If you don’t even know what she’d like, you risk giving her something she hates! If you do get her something, just make it chocolates or something like that. Or better yet, just tell her that the next time you eat together, it’s on you!” she suggested.

“Oh, of course!”

I was beyond glad that I’d asked Kokoro for advice and avoided doing anything weird.

“Still... that Mashiro girl looks like she’d be super popular. I don’t get why she’d be so into you...”

“Hey! W-Well, you do have a point...”

I was offended by what she’d said, but it definitely made sense. Not only had she asked me out first, which was weird enough, but she even did it again after I’d left her hanging last Saturday. As bizarre as it was, I had to believe that she was into me.

If I play my cards right, it’s likely that she’ll become my otaku girlfriend eventually... right?

After I was done doing the dishes, Kokoro, who was sitting on the couch looking at her phone, called me: “Ichigaya! I found one! This is totally the right kind of job!”

I sat next to her and looked at the screen. She’d opened a page called “Cosplay Modeling Session Agency: Parfait.”

“Modeling session agency?” I asked.

“Yep! The company pays you to model in cosplay, then people pay to show up to the modeling session and take pictures of you! It says they already have famous cosplayers working with them! Anyone can apply as long as they’re a cosplayer, and you just need to go through an interview and a photoshoot to find out if they’ll book you or not! They have over fifty rental costumes, and some of them are ones I’ve always wanted to try! Cosplaying for money sounds cool, and it even says you can make more than three thousand yen an hour! That’s a crazy amount of money! They say it depends on how popular you are and stuff like that though...”

“That sounds... sketchy.”

“I’m sure it’s fine! Look, it also says that you can choose which characters to cosplay, so you don’t need to wear costumes that are super revealing if you don’t want to! I mean, I guess it does sound too good to be true... and the guy who owns the company is the only one working for it...”

“That’s even more suspicious!”

“I know, I know, but... I-Ichigaya, can I just ask you for a favor? Would you come with me to the interview? I looked up the company’s address and it’s an apartment, so... I’m too scared to go for an interview in a small apartment, alone with a man I don’t know...”

“No way that’s safe!” I exclaimed.

“I’ve seen some cosplayers on Twitter that work with the company, and the reviews aren’t bad or anything. I think it’s legit, honestly,” she said.

“Hm. Fine then...”

Going to the interview would probably be enough to figure out whether it really was a legit company or not, and I’d much rather accompany Kokoro there than have her show up by herself.

“Oh, also, there’s another little thing, if you’d do it for me? You need a couple of pictures to apply, one in cosplay and one in normal clothes. But they can’t use any filters and they can’t be selfies. I already have the cosplay one, since you helped me out with that before, but can you help me with the other one?”

“Sure, I don’t mind,” I said.

“It says to wear clothes that would be fit for an actual modeling session though... What does that even mean?” she asked.

“People that want to take pictures of cosplayers are probably otaku, right? So what about that virgin-killer outfit you bought?”

“Of course! Why didn’t I think of it? I’ll go put it on,” she said, heading to her room to change.

When she walked back into the living room, I pulled out my phone and immediately offered to help her, saying, “Okay then, let’s take those pict—”

“Wait! I need to fix my makeup!” she interrupted.

“What? But you’ve already got makeup on!” I said, looking at her face which, to me, looked perfectly fine as it was.

“You need to go heavier on the makeup for pictures!”

“You know, I can’t be sure if the customers are otaku, but if they are, I don’t think they like makeup that much,” I said. “What about putting it on so that, in the picture, it looks like it’s very light? Like, a natural makeup look, I guess? Otaku guys don’t like that flashy colorful clown look,” I explained, genuinely wanting to improve her chances at getting the job.

“Wh-What?! You’re sure about that?! F-Fine... You win! I’ll try to make it look natural,” she said, walking over to the mirror while muttering the words “flashy colorful clown” under her breath.

After she was done messing around with her face paint, Kokoro took her place in front of an empty wall so we could start our own photo shoot.

“Okay, here I go...” I said, with my finger on the shutter button.

“W-Wait,” she said, fixing her bangs and putting on a fake smile. “Okay, I’m good to go!”

“Can’t you fake that smile a bit bett— Nishina!” I said in surprise, as I noticed a small but very important detail.

“Like this?” she said, still trying to smile.

“Forget about the smile!”

“Huh?”

“It’s showing...”

“What is?”

“Just look in the mirror!” I said, too embarrassed to explain. It wasn’t that obvious, but her bra was showing through her white blouse.

“Okay...” she said suspiciously, moving back to the mirror. “I don’t see what’s wrong with... Ahhh!” As soon as she noticed, her face flushed bright red.

“I-I forgot to wear a camisole under the blouse! I’ll go put one on!” she said, running back to her room.

“Y-You know,” I told her when she was back, “it’s no big deal here, but if you actually start modeling there... be more careful, all right?”

Although I’d told her about it, many people paying to take photos of a girl in cosplay would just thank their luck and start snapping away.

“I-I get it! I just forgot because I was in a hurry!” she replied.

“I bet you’ll run into a lot of sleazy guys doing this kind of job, so don’t let your guard down...”

The way she was approaching this whole thing seemed naive to me. Men with cameras trying to get a lucky glimpse of a cosplayer’s underwear is a tale as old as time. I believed that, for her own safety, she should always be aware of that.

“I-I get it... I’ll be sure to wear a camisole under my clothes... And when I’m in a skirt, I’ll also wear something underneath to hide my underwear,” she shyly replied, surprisingly open to my advice.

I took several pictures, then Kokoro looked through them on her phone, choosing which one to use for her job application.

“I wonder if you’ll really be able to meet guys through this kind of job though,” I said, remembering the reason she was applying in the first place. As I saw it, the only people she was going to meet were other girls in cosplay and middle-aged photographers.

“Some of the photographers could be handsome and genuinely interested in cosplay,” she said, not sounding particularly confident.

“That doesn’t sound very likely.”

“I’ll never know if I don’t try! What about you then? Have you decided what you’ll do?” she asked me.

“Not yet...”

The only job that I could think of where I had a chance of meeting otaku girls was working as a store clerk for an anime or game shop, but it sounded like a lot of hard work and I wasn’t so sure that it would help me find any cute otaku girls. I definitely had to do a bit of digging if I wanted to find a better option.

I went back to my room and spent slightly less than an hour perfecting a text for Mashiro. I eventually settled on:

“What about meeting in Ikebukuro next time?”

After a while, she responded saying that she liked the idea, and I couldn’t have been more relieved.

This time I can’t screw up. I need to impress her from start to finish. I’ll do my best and leave her utterly amazed! Since she already seems to like me for some reason, having her become my girlfriend shouldn’t be that hard! I thought to myself, realizing that our next date would be decisive. I probably wouldn’t ask her to be my girlfriend just yet, but I wanted her to like me more in as short a time period as possible.

You don’t meet a girl that perfect every day. I have to do my best.

A few days later.

“This is the place...”

“It just looks like a normal apartment,” I said.

After school, Kokoro and I had taken a train to Akihabara and, after walking for several minutes, had reached what basically looked like someone’s house.

While I still hadn’t even decided what job to apply for, Kokoro had already sent her application and had been invited for an interview.

“Remember what I told you, okay? You’re supposed to be my older brother!” she said.

“I know...” I replied.

Truth to be told, Kokoro wasn’t the only nervous one. I was worried that the company’s owner might be some weird or dangerous creeper, so I had to watch over her by pretending that she was my sister.

Kokoro pushed the company’s apartment number on the intercom and introduced herself as Two-Heart.

The gate opened and we went inside, then up the stairs to the apartment. When we found the right place, we rang the doorbell, and a man quickly opened the door.

“Hello, welcome,” he said. He was middle-aged, unkempt and overweight, with a deep tan. None of the words that would describe my first impression of him would be very flattering, to be honest. He didn’t look trustworthy at all.

“H-Hello! Thank you for having me here!” Kokoro said.

“Hello...” I also said, then we both entered the room.

“I’m Matsubara,” the man introduced himself, “and I’m the manager of Parfait. You’re... Miss ‘Two-Heart’? Is that your cosplay name?”

“Y-Yes, sir!” Kokoro replied.

“I think you should go for something a little easier to read, as a model,” he said.

“I see...” she replied, visibly tense.

“And I see that you’re in your second year of high school. Would this be your first time at a job like this?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Okay then, let’s see... You wrote here that you only want to wear cosplays that ‘don’t show too much skin.’ Hm... I’ll be honest with you. If you want to make real money, you’ll have to choose something a little skimpier. We have lots of cosplayers here, and the popular ones go for the more revealing outfits right from the start.”

“I... don’t mind earning less,” Kokoro replied.

“Oh, believe me, everyone wants to earn more and be more popular once they start. But you can always change your mind later on. For now, let’s take a couple of test pictures of you in costume.”

“O-Okay...”

This guy already sounds fishy. It’s like he wants to force girls to wear revealing costumes even if they don’t want to. Coming here with Kokoro was the right choice after all.

“You’re a small, right? The most popular choices we have in that size are... this, this, aaand this,” the man said as he handed three different costumes to Kokoro.

“The dressing room is over there,” he then said, pointing to a different room.

Kokoro went to change, leaving me and Matsubara alone. As if I wasn’t already feeling awkward enough, he started speaking to me.

“So, you’re her boyfriend?” he asked out of the blue.

“Huh?! N-No, I’m just her brother...”

“Yes, she told me as much, but who’s ever seen a brother accompanying his younger sister to a modeling job? She’s your girlfriend, isn’t she?”

“What? N-No...”

He already figured out that I’m not her brother!

“Anyway, since she wants to do this, just be supportive of her, okay? This isn’t one of those shady companies looking to trick girls, so you have nothing to worry about,” he said.

“I-I see.”

I think you’re already being shady enough, old man, I thought to myself.

I felt my phone vibrate. It was a text from Kokoro: “Come here!”

What? She wants me to go in the dressing room with her?! Wh-Why?! Can she not put on the costume by herself?

“Oh, ah... Excuse me,” I said, leaving my seat and approaching the dressing room.

“Nishina?” I called as I knocked on the door.

“Come in!”

“Really?”

“Yes! Just come in!” she said, and I nervously obliged.

When I saw her, I could hardly believe my eyes. I was already dead after seeing her in the virgin-killer outfit she’d picked up in Harajuku, but now she was wearing a virgin-killer sweater. Is it possible to die twice?

It was a halter neck sweater that left the wearer’s back and sides almost completely bare. With the lack of shoulder straps, or sleeves of any kind, I could easily see that the pink thing underneath Kokoro’s sweater was her bra.

“What are you...?!”

I meant to ask her what she was wearing, but I was so surprised that my voice stopped working correctly halfway through. My eyes had also stopped working correctly, as I wasn’t able to move them away from Kokoro’s beautifully smooth, exposed skin.

“Th-That’s what he gave me to wear. Is this his idea of something that doesn’t show too much skin?! H-Hey! Where are you looking?! Why is your face red?!” she asked angrily, not realizing that she was just as red. “Stop it! Th-This isn’t like a bra bra! It’s not even really underwear!”

“I-I’m not looking at your bra!”

How is that not underwear? It looks like a bra to me...

This was the first time I’d actually seen a virgin-killer sweater in real life. It looked even sexier than it did in pictures.

If she wasn’t wearing a bra I could totally see her boobs right now... Aaaah! What am I thinking at a time like this?!

“I can’t wear this while people take pictures of me! And I tried them all out—the others are even worse!” she said, mortified, holding one of the other costumes in front of me.

“Whoa!” was my immediate reaction as I saw the cat-ear headband, tube top with a heart-shaped cleavage window, and accompanying thong. It was basically glorified underwear.

Did she really have to try that on to tell how bad it is?! I thought, trying my best not to imagine her wearing it.

“This is totally not what I thought cosplay photo shoots were about! I can just say that I don’t want to wear any of these, right? Or is that guy implying that I have to wear at least this kind of thing if I wanna be hired?” she asked.

“So what if he is?! Are you seriously considering wearing that thing while strangers take pictures of you?! Do you need this job that much?!”

“No way!” she said, chasing me out of the dressing room. After a while, she came back to the interview room wearing the tube top under the virgin-killer sweater.

She tried to address Matsubara, but she was quickly interrupted by him.

“About these costu—”

“Oh, no, you got it all wrong! There’s no point in wearing that sweater if you’re wearing other stuff underneath!” he said.

“But I really don’t want to show so much skin...” she replied.

“Maybe you think so right now, but when you see how much you can earn like this, you’ll certainly change your mind. I’ve worked with so many other girls who have done the same. How ’bout we start by just taking a couple of photos? We won’t publish them until you change your mind. It’s the pictures that’ll show us how revealing the costumes really are. It’s difficult to tell while you’re wearing them. You can look at the finished result and, if you still think it’s too much, we can just decide not to use them. Don’t worry, I’ll do it as if we were doing a proper photo shoot.”

“No, I really—” Kokoro started, but I couldn’t contain myself.

“She said that she doesn’t want to do it!” I barged in. “She’s told you already that she doesn’t want to wear this kind of skimpy thing, not now, not ever!”

He’s doing a lot of talking, but he only really wants to take sexy pictures of Nishina!

“Listen, kiddo. Who are you to stop your girlfriend from achieving her dreams? You’re the one who told her what she can and can’t wear, aren’t you? If you do that, you’re going to regr—”

“I’m sorry! I’m not interested in this job after all!” Kokoro said, apologizing with a deep bow.

“Huh? What’s this all of a sudden?” Matsubara asked, confused.

“I’m very sorry. After coming here, I realized that doing cosplay shoots is not how I thought it’d be, and I don’t think I’m up to it.”

“Come on now, don’t be like tha—”

“I’m going to return your costumes,” she said before running back into the dressing room.

I waited for her right outside, and I could hear the sound of the clothes slipping off her. That was... kind of exciting.

“H-Hey, Nishina, are you sure about this?” I asked her through the door. “I should have kept my mouth shut, I’m sor— Ouch!”

The door slammed open, hitting me square in the face. She was already done changing.

“What are you talking about? I should thank you. You said exactly what I was thinking.”

We both walked back to the room where the old sleazeball was waiting.

Kokoro and I were on our way out, but Matsubara stopped us.

“Are you really leaving? What about modeling? If you want to hit it big as a cosplayer, you should really come work with us. You’ll be able to have your pictures taken for free, and we can even print you a personal portfolio. Did I mention my connections in the cosplaying world? I introduce my best models to huge cosplaying gigs, and—”

“I’m sorry, I’m just not interested. Goodbye!” she refused a final time.

“Kids these days... She doesn’t know what a huge opportunity she’s turning down...” he muttered as we hurried away.

“That was really something, huh?”

“Was I too naive to think that I could make money while having fun?” a disappointed Kokoro asked, mostly to herself, while we sat together on the train home.

“Wanting to turn your hobbies into work isn’t a bad idea in itself,” I said. The problem was more in that specific job than in her way of thinking.

“It’s a wonder that a guy like that can actually manage a company,” I said, pulling out my phone to look the company up online.

One of the results was an imageboard page: “General Thread for Model and Idol Photo Shoots.”

It was a thread aimed at photographers, starting with a huge list of companies that put on modeling sessions. Each company name was followed by a review, then other comments about the place. I scrolled until I found Parfait in the list.

Parfait: The owner, Matsubara, is a scammer and a pervert. He takes lewd pictures of models and is incredibly inappropriate. Girls range from cute to not-so-cute. The studio is pretty bad and the prices are high.

“Ugh.”

It’s even worse than I thought!

“Hm? What’s wrong?” Kokoro asked when she heard my disgusted reaction.

“Read this. It’s a thread about Parfait,” I said, handing her my phone.

“Huh?! He takes lewd pictures of the models?! Oh, and look, there’s a link to a former model’s Twitter!” she said, clicking on it.

The owner of Parfait forced me to pose for lewd pictures, contacted me privately against my will, and insisted that I go on dates with him. Be careful if you’re looking for a modeling gig.

“Didn’t you say that the reviews for Parfait weren’t bad? These’re worse than bad!” I told Kokoro.

“B-But I searched for ‘Parfait modeling session reviews’ and nothing bad came up...”

“Did you only read the first result or something?!” I asked, astonished that an otaku could be so bad at online searches.

I took back my phone and continued reading the reviews for similar agencies, one at a time. There were other bad ones, but also some good ones.

Blue Sky Photography: Focused on outdoor modeling sessions. Since it’s run by a huge company, operation is smooth, the staff is nice, and the models are cute. Mostly outside, so no lewd pictures. Recommended for artistic shots.

Cutie Girls: Focused on cosplay and everyday fashion. The studio is large and you can get decent pictures. No sexy costumes. The staff is always present and stop anyone that tries to touch the models, get too close, get a panty shot, etc. Models are top notch. Idols, gravure models, famous cosplayers, popular maids and such from cafés, etc.

“Some of the agencies sound pretty decent,” I told Kokoro, showing her the ones I’d just found.

She started reading, her eyes wide as she read carefully.

“You’re right!” she concluded after a minute, so we got to work looking at the official websites for those agencies.

“Wow, like, just from checking out this place’s website I can tell it’s on another level from Parfait! It’s so professional and detailed! There’s even a list of rules for photographers...”

“So you just happened to run into the sketchiest one out there because you suck at looking up things online?” I asked mockingly.

“What?! I...! B-But...” she started rebutting, but quickly gave up.

I should have helped her look it up in the first place, I thought to myself.

“Are you going to try to apply to another agency? A legit one this time,” I added.

“I could try, but... I think I’ll pass.”

“Huh? Why?”

“You might think I’m a bit late and all that, but I did think about it some more and, like, you had a point. Can I really find a boyfriend doing this kind of job? Probably not... I like cosplaying, sure, but the reason I’m trying to get a job is to find otaku guys, so...”

“You’re right. I do think you’re a bit late on this one,” I agreed.

“So let’s look for a job where we can both find a proper date!” she said. I was always relieved to see how quickly Kokoro recovered.

“Oh, and also...” she continued.

“Yes?”

“Thanks. You, like, totally saved my butt,” she said, smiling shyly.

“O-Oh. No problem!” I replied. I was glad that I’d gone there with her.

“When we get home, I’ll look for more jobs!”

“Yeah! Me too!” I said.

This time, I’ll find a job before she does!