Yu Suzuki had no idea how the other party had learned about this, but given her family background, it wasn’t all that surprising that Amane Jinguu could look into such things.
He just didn’t understand—why was she so invested in him?
“Uh… before I answer, can I ask why you want to know about this, senpai?”
“There’s actually no special reason. If I had to say, I’m just a really curious person. Especially after I found out you could even sign that Contract with Chisa-chan, I got especially interested in you.”
Amane Jinguu drained her coffee in one go, looking quite pleased with herself.
Yu Suzuki quickly ran through his thoughts.
What consequences would there be if he spoke about this? Would it get those girls involved?
But thinking carefully, the whole “Rental Boyfriend” thing, while sounding odd, didn’t really break any school rules, nor did it involve anything shady.
Besides, with Amane Jinguu’s ability to investigate, even if he kept quiet, it’d be simple enough for her to uncover the details herself.
Rather than arousing more suspicion by covering it up, it was better to come clean.
Having reached this conclusion, Yu Suzuki took a deep breath and said,
“It’s really simple. They pay, and I become their temporary boyfriend. That’s all.”
“Hmm… then what’s your reason for doing it?”
“Money and women.”
Yu Suzuki blurted this out without thinking. Chisa Shiina had asked him a similar question before, and of course, he couldn’t mention the System, so he just went with the crudest answer.
In a way, he wasn’t lying—after all, most people cared about those two things.
“So during the rental, do you and the girls…”
“Sorry, rentals only, nothing for sale. Just here for the eye candy.”
Yu Suzuki cut off Amane Jinguu reflexively.
He’d said this line too many times—whenever anyone tried to probe about the “limits” of the Contract, he always responded seriously with that same line.
After all, this was legitimate business.
When Amane Jinguu heard this, she paused for half a second, then burst out laughing softly. It seemed Yu Suzuki’s humor had struck a chord.
“Hearing you say that, I actually find your previous answer kind of unconvincing.” She smiled, her amber eyes glinting with mischief. “Because if you really needed money, you’d just go for Chisa-chan. With her family’s wealth, I’m sure she could more than meet your needs.”
She paused, her tone growing more meaningful:
“And if you were really after beauty, you wouldn’t be so ‘virtuous.’ After all, the girls you date are all beautiful, aren’t they? I think, with your conditions, if you so much as hinted at it, they’d probably all be willing…”
Amane propped her chin on her hand and tilted her head at him:
“So, Suzuki-kun. ‘Money and women’—that’s just a smokescreen, isn’t it?”
Yu Suzuki fell silent, realizing that he’d once again answered on instinct, forgetting she’d already investigated him—leaving her with an opening in his words.
Fortunately, the president didn’t press further.
“Well, everyone has their secrets. It wouldn’t be right for me to dig too deep.”
“You’re right, senpai.”
Yu Suzuki hurriedly echoed, forcing a smile, terrified she’d continue down this line of questioning.
Yet, Amane Jinguu’s next sentence made his heart sink in an instant.
The girl tapped the table lightly a few times, her eyes spinning as if deep in thought, then looked directly at Yu Suzuki and asked,
“This business of yours is still running, right? I’d like to sign a ‘Contract’ with you.”
For the entire morning, Yu Suzuki was completely out of sorts, all because Amane Jinguu’s words had left him at a total loss.
Honestly, he had no idea why the Student Council President wanted to hire him as a Rental Boyfriend. Even when he tried to probe, she’d just say it was out of “curiosity.”
There was definitely something off about this.
But Yu Suzuki was still tempted, because from any angle, this deal was too good to pass up.
The conditions Amane Jinguu offered were simply too enticing: not only was the reward far richer than what he’d gotten for the Contract with Chisa Shiina, making it much easier to get by in Tokyo on his own, but more importantly, Amane Jinguu herself was a genius on par with Chisa Shiina.
If he could successfully pair up with her, the skills he could acquire through the System would leap in both quantity and quality.
No doubt, the temptation was huge—most people in his position couldn’t have resisted.
He couldn’t either.
Of course, there were some strict conditions. If Yu Suzuki agreed to sign the Contract with her, he’d have to join the Student Council.
That was part of the Contract. According to Amane Jinguu, on one hand, it would help satisfy her curiosity about him, and on the other, Yu Suzuki was such a talent that having him in the Student Council would be a real achievement.
Yu Suzuki didn’t argue against these flimsy reasons. In fact, even if she didn’t mention it, joining the Student Council was a given if he signed the Contract.
After all, the more frequent and close the contact with his System’s binding partner, the faster his learning would progress.
He wasn’t sure how intense the Student Council’s workload was, but it probably wouldn’t be easy and would take up most of his time.
This left him troubled. As a student at Aoyama Holy Academy, he’d already joined a club just to follow the “all-round development” rule.
On top of that, working part-time was an unbreakable part of his routine. Even though his Rental Boyfriend business had made things a bit easier, the hidden fees of Aoyama Holy Academy and all the money he’d spent learning various skills, plus the occasional allowance he sent home, meant he was still scraping by.
If he added Student Council work on top of that, the three would squeeze his remaining personal time to almost nothing.
Yet after much hesitation, Yu Suzuki still chose to agree to Amane-senpai’s terms. Of course, what truly pushed him to make up his mind was Amane Jinguu’s final, thinly-veiled threat:
“If Suzuki-kun refuses, I’ll just have to tell Chisa-chan that there’s really nothing between us. What happens after that, I can’t say.”
He really didn’t want to be tied up again…
So, in the end, he decided to quit his club, quickly finished his resignation letter, and headed straight for the Music Club’s activity room.
He hadn’t even reached the door when he heard scattered electronic sound effects from inside—the familiar “KO” from a fighting game, mixed with the rapid clatter of button presses. In the quiet corridor, it was especially jarring.
There were also voices yelling inside:
“One more round! You chicken, you’re not leaving until you lose again today!”
Yu Suzuki paused, sighed, apparently used to this sort of thing.
He knocked on the wooden door, still plastered with faded musical note stickers. The game noises didn’t stop, and only a muffled “Come in” sounded from within.
As he pushed the door open, a wave of cola sweetness and potato chip crumbs hit him. The room lights were off, curtains tightly drawn, and only the TV’s glow spilled over the floor, making his eyes swim.
On the sofa facing the door, a girl was curled up. She wore a loose black hoodie with the hood pulled over her head, hiding most of her face, only bright eyes and a gentle jawline showing.
She was half-reclined, gripping a red-and-white game controller, fingers flying across the buttons as two fighting game characters on the screen battled fiercely.
One thing stood out—there was a muscle-man magazine right by her knee.
Yu Suzuki said nothing, just quietly stepped in and handed over his resignation letter.
“President Hasegawa, this is my resignation letter.”
“Huh?”
Hearing something shocking, the girl immediately sat up, forgetting even to put down her controller. The brim of her hood slid off, revealing a messy head of short, light chestnut hair.
At almost the same moment, the character she was controlling on screen got caught and comboed into a KO.
But Music Club president Aoi Hasegawa didn’t care about that at all. Her clear, watery eyes fixed on Yu Suzuki, pleading as she said,
“Don’t go, Suzuki-kun! If you quit too, how am I supposed to use your face to trick more girls into joining next year?”