Shibuya's central district was packed with people, but amid the endless crowds, Watanabe Tetsu couldn't feel even a shred of safety.
Among these passersby… were any of them watchers sent by Yuki Mika?
When he first received the event notification, he'd been blinded by the generous reward. But once he actually began acting on it, he realized the warning about "massive life-threatening risk" had been anything but a joke.
How should he answer? Tell the truth? Or lie?
"Rare day off. I figured since the weather's nice, I'd come out to buy clothes."
No time to hesitate—telling the truth meant instant death. Only lying could keep him alive a little longer.
"Oh? Really?" Yuki Mika replied with meaningful emphasis.
Watanabe Tetsu's heartbeat spiked, but he could only brace himself and keep talking.
"Of course. But wow—there really are a lot of people in Shibuya. No wonder it's known for having the world's busiest pedestrian intersection."
"Stay exactly where you are."
"Huh?"
"With the number of digits in your bank account, anything you buy will only embarrass me."
"Number of digits? Hey, I've got—"
He quickly opened his system panel.
Two million one hundred fifty-six thousand five hundred fifty-two yen.
That was a lot, okay?!
"Do you have a few billion?" Yuki Mika asked lazily.
"Few… okay, fine. I might be a little poor. But a man's greatest asset is his inner self."
Standing to the side, Tamamo Harumi—already fed up—simply turned and walked straight into the Kakegara department store building without saying a word.
Watching her back that screamed don't expect another chance, Watanabe Tetsu sighed inwardly.
But he still had to struggle!
If he could shake off Yuki Mika's control now, maybe he could still catch up to Tamamo Harumi!
He spoke into the phone, "I'm chasing you because I like you, not because I want to spend your money. If you buy clothes for me, people will think this poor countryside kid is mooching off you—just a pretty boy living off a woman."
"You told me you wanted a carefree, idle lifestyle. Isn't that exactly what mooching off someone is?"
"Well, yes, but…"
"Why do I feel like you're being unusually bold today?" Yuki Mika's voice suddenly turned icy. "You dare talk back?"
If he kept talking, he really might die.
"Wait for me," she ordered, then hung up.
About twenty minutes later, Yuki Mika stepped out of an ordinary-looking car.
Today she wore a baseball cap and a casual, youthful outfit—like the perfect private-academy girlfriend.
"You look beautiful today," Watanabe Tetsu said, complimenting her.
"Oh? So normally I'm not beautiful?"
"No—never! I mean you look beautiful in a different style. Mika, you're always beautiful."
Yuki Mika didn't respond. Instead, she leaned her face closer to him.
Watanabe Tetsu instinctively tried to pull back, but she shot him a sharp warning glance, forcing him to freeze.
She sniffed his collar… then his chest area… and finally even his sleeves.
Such a thorough "inspection" actually filled Watanabe Tetsu with joy.
Not because she "cared."
But because this meant she hadn't sent anyone to follow him!
It really had been a coincidence earlier!
He leaned in mischievously and pressed his nose lightly to her neck.
"You smell amazing, Mika."
"Tamamo Harumi from Class 1, right? What were you two talking about?"
His heart nearly exploded out of his throat—so loudly that both of them could hear it pounding.
Yuki Mika still held his sleeve, sniffing, but her smiling eyes remained glued to him.
The "inspection" had been an act!
She wanted to see him breathe a sigh of relief one moment, then panic the next.
"Hahaha," Yuki Mika laughed happily. Her face leaned close, so close that the brim of her cap shadowed his eyes. "I love it—your scared, helpless expression. It's adorable."
"But…"
Her smile vanished in half a second, replaced by murderous intent.
"If there's a next time, I'll strip the two of you naked, tie you together, and hang you from Tokyo Tower."
Watanabe Tetsu couldn't guess what went through this woman's mind. She belonged in a psychiatric wing of the Seino family's sanatorium. But he didn't doubt for a second she was capable of carrying out her threat.
"I was only discussing tutoring with Tamamo. Supervisor Koizumi asked me to help. Even Seino Rin was involved."
"Oh? Is that so?"
"You can ask them both. But honestly—I don't think you need to. Because I like you so much, Mika. So much I want to bring you home and introduce you to my parents."
"I hope your thoughts match your words."
Yuki Mika switched her grip and wrapped herself around his arm.
"Come. I'm buying you clothes."
Watanabe Tetsu finally breathed in genuine relief as she half-dragged him into a high-end Shibuya menswear boutique.
Inside, she released him and wandered through the racks.
She plucked out a brown suit and handed it to him.
"Try it."
He stared at the suit, deeply reluctant.
"I feel really uncomfortable in suits."
"I only care that I feel comfortable looking at you in one."
That was the end of discussion.
Watanabe Tetsu took the suit and entered the fitting room. After struggling for quite a while, he finally managed to put on the first suit of his life—school uniforms didn't count.
When he stepped out, visibly stiff and awkward, the store's saleswoman's eyes widened. She instinctively walked forward.
She adjusted his cuffs gently, praising, "Not many people can pull off brown suits, but this looks perfect on you!"
After adjusting his sleeves, she swallowed hard and reached toward his collarbone.
Her gaze was burning—with the obsession of an idol fangirl, a doting older woman, and an unhinged cougar all at once.
Yuki Mika slapped her hand away, face dark.
"Hideous. Take it off."
"I think your boyfriend looks incredible! It fits him so well it's like it was—"
"I said take it off."
Yuki Mika's aura crushed the saleswoman into silence.
Watanabe Tetsu couldn't wait to take the suit off. As he headed toward the fitting room, Yuki Mika stopped him again.
"Try this one."
"Another one?"
He stared at the black suit she held.
He changed again. When he came out in the black suit, fiddling with the stubborn cuff buttons, the saleswoman nearly forgot how to breathe.
Her hands clasped over her chest—because otherwise she might have put them on him.
Yuki Mika shot her a look filled with contempt.
"No. Next."
As a normal man, Watanabe Tetsu hated changing clothes the most.
"I've already tried two! I'm just not suited for suits. Let's buy T-shirts instead?"
Yuki Mika ignored him completely and chose a style meant for men in their thirties and forties.
Watanabe Tetsu took it with a sigh, hoping she would feel even a little bit of his frustration.
When he walked out wearing the third suit, Yuki Mika clicked her tongue impatiently.
"No. Again."
"Again? Miss, how does this look?" Watanabe Tetsu asked the saleswoman desperately.
"In my three years here, I've never seen anyone wear suits as perfectly as you. Even this mature style looks incredible!"
Watanabe Tetsu looked at Yuki Mika and tilted his head—as if to say, See? Even she thinks it's fine.
But respecting his opinion was not in Yuki Mika's vocabulary. She grabbed another gray suit.
Watanabe Tetsu met her eyes for three full seconds before reluctantly accepting it.
"Your boyfriend is so handsome!" the saleswoman chirped.
Yuki Mika crossed her arms, tapping her fingers, already planning to have this woman fired from the fashion industry entirely.
"He really pampers you. Most guys hate changing clothes. To them, it's a hassle."
"Is that so?" Yuki Mika said flatly.
"And his eyes were only on you! When he asked my opinion earlier, he kept checking your reaction first. It's so enviable!"
Yuki Mika only responded with a cold chuckle.
When Watanabe Tetsu came out for the fourth time, he had already given up resisting.
"Well? If you don't like anything—anything at all—I'll keep changing until you're satisfied."
"Hm…" Yuki Mika smirked. "Turn around."
He turned.
"The back is ugly."
He removed the jacket, ready to try another.
"Forget it. This is your level."
Yuki Mika pulled out a card and handed it to the saleswoman.
"Pack everything he tried on today, the one he's wearing now, and every suit and shirt in his size. Every tie color as well."
The saleswoman no longer stared at Watanabe Tetsu with hunger. Instead, her eyes glowed at the card in her hands.
"Yes, right away!"
"Wait!" Watanabe Tetsu called out.
He turned to Yuki Mika.
"What are you doing?!"
"Buying clothes."
"Buying—?!"
This was basically buying out the store!
Was this just how rich people operated?!
"Just one suit is enough! Why buy so many?!"
"Watanabe Tetsu," Yuki Mika said, "you'd better abandon your countryside mindset. Never let me see you wear the same outfit twice."
He ignored the saleswoman's horrified expression.
"What about my school uniform?"
"I'll have one custom-made."
Shinkawa Academy's uniforms were high-end, tailor-ordered items. When he bought his, his family had been distressed for weeks.
He didn't want to accept favors from Yuki Mika—even if this money meant nothing to her, not even a drop in Tokyo Bay.
"Fine—buy the suits. But forget the uniform, okay? If I show up with new uniforms all the time, people will notice. I may want a carefree life, but being gossiped about is still embarrassing."
Yuki Mika found his push-and-pull attitude amusing, but she eventually nodded.
"Fine. Leave the uniform for now. But your casual clothes must be new every day."
He could only agree.
And that wasn't the end. Yuki Mika dragged him to buy T-shirts, shirts, pants, shoes, socks—everything imaginable.
At the end, she even bought him a black Rolex watch.
The mechanical beauty of the dial almost tempted him to accept it—
—but the price, several times more than everything he owned, sobered him immediately.
Yet in the end, he was still forced to put it on.
He had left home empty-handed, expecting to spend all his money.
Instead, he returned home in two cars Yuki Mika sent, buried under designer shopping bags.
This is capitalist sugar-coated poison, Watanabe. Never forget your revolutionary spirit and mission!
He clenched his fists inside his tiny rental room, surrounded by luxury items.
...
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