"To give you half of my future… from now on?"
Was this… a confession?
It was, right?
No, wait…
Was that a proposal?!
Thanks to her innate acting talent, her face didn't betray a single flicker of emotion. Her proficiency in performance kept climbing.
But inside, her heart was in chaos.
The black-haired girl had been confessed to before—by boys, even by girls. It happened often enough that she'd mastered the art of politely shutting people down with formulaic rejections.
Yet now, faced with a boy whose name she didn't even know, her heart raced from his impassioned monologue. She was so flustered, she hadn't even caught the last thing he said.
Akira didn't notice her inner turmoil—he assumed she was simply confused by his phrasing, so he carried on explaining.
"Yeah. Like I said earlier, I've come to a conclusion. You do have the potential to become a star. And I'm not just saying that because of your looks. If it was only about your face, I wouldn't have spent all that time looking at your hand, would I?"
That made sense. If he only cared about appearance, he would've known the moment he laid eyes on her. No need for all the palm-reading.
Then what had he seen through her hand?
Or more accurately—why had he looked at her hand?
Her hand… her fingers?
Wait a second—
Was he looking at her ring finger?
"…Mm…" she murmured, quietly pulling her hands behind her back and rubbing the base of her left ring finger with her right.
"The truth is, when I first saw you, it was your looks that caught my attention. But now? I think your appearance is just icing on the cake. Nice to have, sure—but not essential."
That was an honest assessment.
With her SSS-tier talents, she didn't need to rely on her face to make a living.
"I'll tell you straight—if you were disfigured tomorrow, I'd still choose you without hesitation."
"Eeh?!"
She let out a startled yelp, an adorable little cry of surprise.
"Huh… wha?"
But as she mentally replayed what he'd just said, a frown slowly crept in.
Did he just say… "even if I was disfigured"?
So he didn't care about her face?
That was a bit much, wasn't it?
The girl didn't really believe that any guy would genuinely be attracted to an ugly woman—and in her mind, "disfigured" was basically the same thing.
Sure, women might evaluate men with all sorts of conditions, but men? Their checklist had always been the same three items: young, pretty, good body.
And she just happened to check all those boxes.
So he had to be saying that just to sound good, right?
After all, she knew her face was her greatest asset—even more so now that she'd lost her home because of it. And if he really was a talent scout, there's no way he didn't care about appearances!
Which is why she didn't fall for the sweet talk. Instead, she asked:
"You mean… I can become an entertainer without ever showing my face?"
"Sure. You could be a voice actress."
Akira's answer came without a second's hesitation.
"…!"
He really didn't care about her face!
And truthfully, he didn't.
What mattered was talent. And with three S-tier abilities, this girl had a buffet of career paths laid out before her.
If she didn't want to show her face, fine. As long as she didn't throw in the towel entirely, Akira was happy to let her choose whatever suited her best.
After all, she was the one who'd be feeding him later. No need to force her into anything she hated. The more goodwill he built up now, the greater his rewards would be down the line.
Besides, this was Nihon—a country with an endless appetite for voice actors. The top-tier ones earned big.
He'd have to look up their annual incomes when he got home...
Either way, it'd be more than enough to support a freeloader like him.
And then Akira suddenly added:
"But to be honest… you're kind of a hot potato for me."
"…Huh?"
She was still debating how to respond to this strange boy's proposition when that line threw her off completely.
Wait—don't tell me he's about to bail!
"Because of your ridiculous level of talent, your life from here on is going to be filled with people who envy you, hate you, ostracize you, try to frame you, lust after your body, and dream of devouring you whole."
Like you? she thought sarcastically.
"If you choose this path, you won't be entering a world where talent wins fair and square. You'll be stepping into a filthy adult world full of backstabbing and dirty tricks."
"..."
Those words sobered her up, pulling her out of her lovestruck haze.
He was being dead serious now.
"You'll have to face all that malice alone."
"..."
Malice.
She'd felt it before.
She knew what it was like to be hated.
Especially by someone you loved—by family.
That pain… it stabbed straight through the heart.
"There'll be no allies. Your coworkers will resent you. Your senpais will make things difficult. Your kouhais will betray you. Everyone will smile at you on the surface while secretly wishing you'd slip up, get caught in a scandal, ruin your reputation, and vanish from the spotlight."
At that point, even Akira felt like he was laying it on too thick.
"Of course, if you're lucky, maybe you'll meet some genuinely kind people. But can you afford to face everyone with kindness? Can you truly forgive people who wrong you?"
"…I can't."
She wasn't a saint. Nor did she want to be one.
She'd already learned: no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't erase others' malice.
And enduring it never led to anything good. It just hurt both sides.
So why not just live in a way that didn't require suffering?
All she had to do was be a little more selfish.
"Which is where I come in," Akira said, confidently jabbing a thumb toward himself.
"If you let me handle your career, all you have to do is shine. Use your talents and put on your best performance. I'll take care of everything else."
Time to lay down the terms.
He'd already said it once—but he repeated it for emphasis.
"But—I want half."
"…Half?"
"Yeah. Once you debut, half of everything you earn comes to me. Fifty-fifty split."
Even Akira had to admit—he felt like a scumbag.
Demanding fifty percent from someone at their most vulnerable? That was ruthless.
But raising an SSS-tier beauty into a full-fledged star felt like a cakewalk of a management sim.
Wouldn't be long before he was living his lie-flat dream.
"…"
But the girl didn't look moved.
In fact, her heart… went cold.
So that's what he meant by 'half.'
"Money… is that really all that matters?"
"Of course it matters. Think about it—if you had money, would you still be sitting here waiting for someone to pick you up like a stray?"
"..."
"And for the record, even if you were planning to sell your body, I couldn't afford you. I don't have a single yen to my name."
"..."
At that moment, she realized—this boy in front of her was shallow to the core.
And yet… he was the one who'd reached out to her. The one who made her heart skip a beat.
"…Fine. You've convinced me. This is the first time I've ever seen my future so clearly."
"So that means?"
"I'll give you half."
"…But there's a catch?"
"There is. Earlier, you asked me what my goal was, didn't you?"
"I did."
"Then… what if I said I wanted to become queen of the entertainment world?"
"If you're really willing to go all the way down that path, then I'll go with you—every step."
With legs like yours, of course I'm hanging on tight. No way I'm letting go now.
"Good. Then let's make it a trade."
"A trade?"
"You said I should give you half of my life. In that case—you have to give me something of equal value in return."
"Uh…"
So the empty-hand hustle won't cut it after all… But I really don't have anything!
He almost reached for his pocket to show her—but remembered just in time what he had in there.
There was no way he could offer the class rep's underwear as part of the deal...
Thankfully, the girl let him off the hook.
"That bottle of milk will do."
"Huh? This?"
Akira lifted the bottle in his hand, looking surprised. Blacktail, who had been grooming herself nearby, meowed in protest at the milk changing owners.
But the girl simply nodded.
"Mm. That'll do."
"..."
Akira realized—she didn't really care about the milk.
She just wanted a ritual. A clean break from the past.
And since the milk had been mooched off the class rep anyway—originally intended for Blacktail—giving it to her wasn't a big deal.
"Here."
He held out the still-warm bottle. She took it with her right hand.
But just as he was about to let go, she reached out with her left and gently pressed down on his hand.
"…Alright. I accept."
Her tone was solemn, as if making a vow.
"In return… you can make me into whatever you want. I'll follow your guidance without question. My future—will be yours to shape."
Then she let go.
And as Akira stood there stunned, she smiled.
A smile so beautiful it burned itself into his memory, forever.
"From this moment on—I'm yours."