Although the resolve was made, getting in contact with Kuse Ryu was not a simple matter.
"[Back Street Girls]" was just one of the many idol groups invited to this event, and since their popularity was still in the lower tier, they received no special treatment here. From the photographers up top to the prop crew down below, they had to greet everyone they met.
Let alone acting like big shots, they couldn't even snatch a moment of leisure!
Even during break times, it was hard for her to strike up a conversation with Ryu. After all, big shots were never short of people crowding around them.
In the end, "she" didn't have the confidence to make Ryu fall in love at first sight; the standard of girls around him was simply too high. If Sugou Aiko wanted to stand out, she had to utilize her own charm and allure, and that wasn't something that could be revealed in a fleeting glance or a brief exchange of words.
At the very least... at the very least, she had to talk to him today!
It looked like he would be bringing people to the event venue, so there would be opportunities later, but no matter what, she had to leave an impression on him.
What should she do...
"Members of [Back Street Girls], get ready. You are third on stage; pay attention to the transition."
Listening to the staff's arrangement in her ear, Aiko nodded absentmindedly while surveying the surrounding situation. Suddenly, her eyes lit up.
"Ugh, so many!"
Shirogane Kei looked at the plastic boards piled up in front of her and straightened her waist in distress.
Although she had volunteered to help out of sheer boredom, that old man of a dad, who didn't understand how to cherish a jade-like beauty, actually let her carry them all by herself?
To order his own daughter around so ruthlessly... believe it or not, I'll go tell on you to Ryu-senpai!
They weren't heavy—just plastic boards used to cover the edge of the stage—but there were many of them, and the sizes varied. It looked like she couldn't move them all in one go.
"Should I find Chika-nee and the others... No, this is that delinquent middle-aged man of my family's responsibility. As expected, it can only be done by me, the daughter—"
"Are you a student here for training? You're so young!"
"Hmm?"
Kei turned her head. A familiar face entered her field of vision, causing her small mouth to open in surprise.
"You are... from [Back Street Girls], that..."
"Hello I am Number Four, Aiko"
The woman covered her mouth and smiled, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, revealing a touch of elegant charm. Although she didn't look very old, she gave off a mature feeling.
Kei blinked, at a loss: "I-I'm not a trainee. I came to visit with friends... Ah, no, my dad is a staff member here... Uh, how should I put it..."
"Hehe~"
Number Four smiled faintly: "I understand. In short, you are a related party, not an outsider, right?"
"Mmhmm!" Kei scratched her head in embarrassment. "Did I get in the way of your work, Big Sister? I'm really sorry about that."
"No, I just saw that you seemed troubled. Do you need to move these plastic boards? Let me help."
"No, no~ Big Sister, you are an idol. Let me handle this kind of rough work." Shirogane Kei felt flattered.
This, however, made Number Four chuckle: "What do you take 'idols' for? For small fry like us messing around at the bottom, if we aren't diligent on site and don't leave a good impression on people, we might not have work next time... Alright, tell me where to move them."
Before Shirogane Kei could answer, Number Four had already started packing them up. The hospitality was truly hard to refuse, so Kei couldn't very well decline now.
They made two round trips. Kei felt that this tall and slender Big Sister had the temperament of a model—worthy of being an idol—and even asked her for many tips on improving posture.
"Big Sister helped me so much; I really don't know how to thank you!"
"Kei-chan is very smart; you understand instantly. Actually, I didn't teach you much~"
"No, no, what you said was very easy to understand. I gained a lot of confidence after hearing it—I can definitely slim down!"
In truth, Kei couldn't be considered fat by any standard; in the eyes of others, she would be classified as the slender type. But the "fat" in a girl's mouth didn't necessarily refer to the whole body. The face, neck, wrists... a change in size in any single part was a huge matter to them.
And to maintain that kind of nuanced slenderness required very scientific exercise and schedule planning, and the effects varied from person to person.
Someone like Fujiwara Chika, who had no dietary restrictions yet somehow didn't get fat, was ultimately a minority—some people were just like that; the meat grew exactly where it should.
"Ah, it's my old man and Chika-nee!"
Kei waved her hand towards not far away and naturally led Number Four over.
Aiko's gaze flickered slightly. She saw that exceptionally conspicuous young man in the crowd and couldn't help but quietly clench her fist.
She inadvertently swept her eyes over every object along the path, her brain calculating the success rate of various plans.
Fortunately, the venue was not lacking in clutter, and "Sugou Nobuyuki's" brain had not been modified. In an instant, he thought of various possibilities.
When they were only three or four meters apart, Number Four, who was a step behind Kei, quietly pulled a latch on a tall shelf beside them while in everyone's blind spot. The fastening rope acted as if it hadn't been locked properly; the loop slipped off the pillar, triggering a chain reaction. The loose rope couldn't hold back the cardboard boxes falling from above.
In an instant, a massive amount of styrofoam and colorful ribbons poured down!
"Danger!"
Number Four stepped forward to push Shirogane Kei away, but she herself tripped over the debris on the ground, her figure—tall and curvaceous like a model—lunging forward.
In that split second, Number Four Aiko saw the young man's figure flash hurriedly out of the corner of her eye, and she instantly rejoiced in her heart:
Steady!
I'll use this body full of charm to give this adolescent boy a huge impact that he won't forget all night!
Whoosh—
The wind stirred by the young man brushed past Number Four.
—Eh?
Bang!
Aiko subconsciously turned her head, only to smash directly onto the ground. Her cervical vertebrae let out an ominous sound, and a wave of intense pain swept through her entire body.
"!!!"
"Eek!"
"Not good!"
Amidst the chaos, Aiko, her neck stiff, widened her eyes in disbelief, seeing the scene behind her clearly:
Ryu strode forward, facing the colorful streamers and the sky-filling foam. As if parting chaotic waves, he caught the silver-haired girl who was falling backward by the waist.
Kei's waist was too slender, and his movements were so gentle, as if afraid of breaking this exquisite porcelain. His other large hand supported her thin back at just the right moment, thus holding the girl entirely loosely in his arms.
The faces of the two were almost parallel; they could even feel each other's breath. Kei hadn't yet recovered from the fright. Surrounded by foam and ribbons scattered like clouds, snow, and morning mist, a familiar face appeared before her eyes, and she was dazed for a moment...
Subconsciously, she shrank her small hands, defending her chest like a rabbit.
But her crimson cheeks and ear tips, along with her eyes that seemed to be spinning, all reflected her current feelings~
The pose held by Ryu and her resembled ballet dancers, corresponding perfectly with a poster displayed on the large screen, as if the fairy couple from the game had come to reality~
"Ryu... senpai."
Kei murmured with a blushing face: "The second..."
"What?"
"This is the second time... like this." Kei's voice couldn't help but carry a trace of sweetness. "You always appear when I encounter danger..."
"Perhaps this is fate."
Ryu gazed deeply into her clear eyes: "Fortunately, my existence is in your fate. This way, many accidents can be avoided, and more luck added."
"Mm~!"
Ryu's original intention was to say "this makes it convenient to farm gold coins," but who knows how Kei understood it? Her face instantly turned even redder, and she covered it directly with her hands, not letting Ryu look.
The boy frowned, not knowing what to do with this girl who seemed to want to stay in his arms.
As for Number Four?
Are you kidding me? Sugou, do you really think of yourself as a beautiful girl?
You can fool yourself, but you can't fool me!
—Ryu felt that Sugou's behavior was completely baffling; he didn't know what he was trying to do.
And life experience told him that for this kind of guy with strange thought processes and incomprehensible behavior patterns, it was best to eliminate future trouble forever~
That's not right... This isn't right!
Number Four Aiko's heart went cold:
Generally speaking, one would subconsciously save the person right in front of them, right?
That instant only allowed for an extremely short reaction time; it shouldn't allow you to have other thoughts, right?
How could you rush over there in a flash and strike such a classic pose?!
D-Damn little girl!
Number Four, whose spine was gradually going numb, bit her lip unwillingly.
You stealing cat who sits back and enjoys the fruits of others' labor, don't get happy too early. This is just the beginning!
I will definitely, definitely...
—
However, the resentment-filled Number Four would probably never know that while she was planning this failed "racketeering stunt" operation, a pair of bright but cold eyes was watching her from the second floor.
These eyes were originally always fixed on Ryu, but they would also give a certain amount of attention to those attempting to contact Ryu. And from her perspective, everything was completely exposed!
She watched with her own eyes how that little idol walked with Shirogane Kei, how she made small moves, and how she deliberately took a fake fall in Ryu's direction... and then was ignored and face-planted directly into the ground~
This comical behavior looked extremely laughable. She shouldn't have taken it to heart, but this inadvertently made Ryu and Shirogane Kei even more intimate... This touched her reverse scale.
Thus, the owner of these eyes—Rurikawa Tsubaki—looked at Number Four Aiko with a gaze devoid of any warmth, purely like looking at frozen pork.
She was a strictly trained maid; naturally, she could see at a glance what these coquettish sluts wanted to do... Heh, it really made one laugh!
Read too many shoujo manga, have you? Do you really think relying on such cliché tropes will let you build a relationship with a top conglomerate and celebrities?
Stupid and naive. But looking at this, it seems she doesn't intend to give up yet?
Tsk!
Clown, what are you taking on?!
Dare to look at Lord Ryu one more time, and I'll send you directly to Thailand to be changed into a man!
"Note it down. Investigate this group for me... what was the name again?"
Ruri, dressed in a simple and atmospheric professional suit, beckoned her personal assistant over.
The assistant poked her head out to look at the chaotic scene. Seeing Ruri pointing at the injured person surrounded by the crowd, she noted the appearance and searched through the personnel list.
"It is Number Four of '[Back Street Girls]': Sugou Aiko."
"[Back Street Girls]... Oh, so it's them."
Ruri frowned: "Sugou? Why does it seem..."
"Is there a problem? Lady Rurikawa."
The assistant glanced again at the confidential information displayed on the tablet: "Their agency is the 'Inukin Group'... It seems to have a Yakuza background, a subordinate organization of the Daikoku-kai.
Do you need me to talk to their person in charge?"
The assistant's tone was very calm; the so-called Yakuza background couldn't scare anyone here.
Let alone a single Inukin Group, even the Daikoku-kai was not placed in the Kuse Group's eyes. Rather, it was they who had to live by watching the Kuse family's mood!
"Daikoku-kai... Inukin Group? Sugou?"
Memories of trivial matters were linked together. Ruri's eyes gradually became confused, then realized, and when she looked at Number Four Aiko again, her face was ashen, her five fingers gripping the railing until they turned slightly white.
"Actually... how is it possible... Unforgivable!"
"Lady Ruri?" The assistant was startled; she had never seen such a loss of composure in Ruri.
"Unforgivable!"
Taking ten thousand steps back, even if a thieving cat comes along, at least it should be female, right?
What implies does a castrated one count as?!
Is this insulting Lord Ryu?!
Or is it insulting me?
Does this guy want to say that his feminine charm is even higher than mine?
Hah?!
—The current Ruri had a look entirely like she was viewing a corpse.
"This guy deliberately contacted Lord Ryu and definitely has ulterior motives. Regardless of what he wants to do, there's no need to keep him... Tell the people from the Inukin Group to handle it properly. Otherwise, let the Daikoku-kai support another branch family!"
—
[Destiny Coin +1]
When Ryu returned home at night, he heard the notification sound without doing anything. Upon checking, he found that "Sugou Nobuyuki's" gold coin had actually dropped... but he couldn't make heads or tails of it.
He hadn't even had time to deal with Sugou yet; how did the gold coin spawn automatically?
It seemed that in a corner he didn't know about, some things had quietly happened~
Knock knock!
"Lord Ryu, the research institute has sent the 'prototype.' It arrived during the day, and they are still waiting for your evaluation."
"I know. Come in."
Ryu gathered his mood and spoke to let Ruri in, casually starting to take off the clothes on his body.
Wearing a specially made backless maid outfit, Ruri walked in with gentle movements. She wasn't surprised to see Ryu's bare upper body and turned to take out the power suit from a plastic seal bag. It was still rough in workmanship, with neither paint nor hidden lines, looking quite messy.
She skillfully put away Ryu's top, then served him in putting on this black experimental product.
Her fingertips gently stroked the muscles of Ryu's back, then moved from his waist to the front, fastening the buckles from bottom to top—matching them up.
By the time she got to the back, the maid was leaning her entire body against Ryu's back. The softness on her chest was pressed against him, her arms wrapped around that vigorous body, while the movements of her hands slowly slowed down...
The maid pressed her head against the center of Ryu's back, her lips trembling slightly.
"...Ruri?" Ryu sensed something was wrong, but his first reaction was, "Are you crying?"
"Lord Ryu..."
"!"
Ryu abruptly turned around, grasping the girl's shoulders that seemed as if carved from jade. Seeing her red-rimmed eyes, a wave of anger inexplicably rose within him.
The maid, who had never collapsed no matter how much overtime she worked, now actually looked so fragile...
"What's wrong? What happened?"
"Lord Ryu, I'm fine, it's just... please look at me properly~
Just for now is fine, please have only me in your eyes!"
Ruri raised her head. Her fair face had a lustrous texture like beautiful jade under the moonlight, and a pair of misty eyes appeared pitiful and lovable.
"In your eyes, do I... as a woman, have no charm at all?"
At this moment, Ryu's mind was somewhat in a trance:
Compared to when they first met, the current Ruri had truly changed a lot.
________________________________________
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