Unable to pay off my debts, I had no choice but to become a Kamen Rider.

"Chika, the person you asked me to find will be there this afternoon..."

Hayami Mitsuki stood by the window, stroking Asano Yu's photograph in her hand, her gaze fixed on the man walking slowly down the street outside—

Asano Yu.

My junior from university is a money-grubber who claims to "do anything for money".

"Okay... thank you, Hayami-neechan..."

"Your voice sounds weak. What happened? Are you still unwilling to tell me?"

Hayami Mitsuki has a lot of headaches with this junior from high school. Since she graduated, Kirishima Chinatsu, who is two years younger than her, has become somewhat distant.

The strangest thing is that she has clearly encountered something recently, but she has been reluctant to tell me about it.

Even when meeting in person, they vehemently resist, as if they dare not show themselves to others.

After repeated questioning, she finally agreed to compromise, but she hoped that Hayami Miyuki would find her a person who was discreet, handsome, and reliable enough.

In the end, she chose Asano Yu.

"Yes... I'm sorry."

Through electrical synthesis, a timid and trembling voice came from the other end of the phone. Hayami Mitsuki sighed inwardly and gave up asking further questions.

She exchanged a few pleasantries before finally hanging up the phone.

Hayami Mitsuki narrowed her eyes, confirming that Asano Yu was heading towards the bus stop, then returned to her desk and once again held up the photograph in her hand—

In her eyes, there was only one white-clad woman waving her arm; there was no young woman being knocked to the ground.

I heard it was shot with that magenta flat-back twin-lens reflex camera, but she herself couldn't shoot the same thing.

Or rather, that camera was only useful in Asano Yu's hands?

Outside the window, on the street, Asano Yu, who was running quickly towards the bus stop, took out her phone and double-checked the address—

A coffee shop in Shimokitazawa, which isn't far from here according to the map, just a few bus stops away.

Asano Yu consulted the map software and stared at the timetable on the bus stop sign, finally deciding which bus she needed to take.

"Buzzing—"

Her phone vibrated slightly, a message popped up, and Asano slowly tapped it to read it. It was a @ message from a Line group chat:

[Hello Asano-san, are you free to join us for a social event this weekend? We've arranged to meet with some freshmen from the Department of Political Science and Economics, but we're missing one person. Are you coming?]

The sender was Hibiki Kurokawa, the vice president of the drama club. This group is for male members only and doesn't contain much important information; it's mostly invitations to social events and parties.

"No, thank you, I already have a reservation."

Could you please elaborate on what exactly you do?

Working to pay off debts

Asano Yu didn't need to think too much; he typed out the message in a few words, and the other party read it and replied after a while, "Understood."

In her previous life, Yu Asano often used "not having money" as an excuse to refuse activities she didn't want to participate in during her university years. To be honest, using this excuse is quite common in China, but it doesn't work in Japan.

Or rather, the people here have a strong desire not to be excluded or isolated, and the vast majority of them live by the goal of integrating into more groups.

It's as if not fitting in is a sin, and that not joining a small group will inevitably lead to being ostracized by that group.

However, Asano Yu didn't care. It was true that he had no money, it was true that he had debts to pay off, and it was also true that he didn't want to go.

Looking up, Asano Yu put her phone in her pocket and saw someone handing out tissues with promotional flyers on the roadside. Remembering she hadn't bought any this month, she went over and asked for a few packs.

After managing to get ten more bags, Asano Yu returned to the bus stop to wait.

Asano Yuu and Hayami Mitsuki's acquaintance was completely accidental.

On her first day after transmigrating, burdened by campus loans and student loans, Asano Yu was busy looking for part-time jobs everywhere. She searched around outside the school, but all of them had different schedules or were late-night 711-Eleven jobs.

Because I hadn't found the magenta camera yet, and I didn't know that strange people existed in this world, I could only try my best to live.

My favorite thing is trying food at shopping malls. Whenever I'm not working and have free time, I'll bring a few different outfits and go there. I'll eat my fill before I know it.

Until he stumbled upon a drama club recruitment advertisement, where a person named Hayami Mitsuki claimed that if he could satisfy her, he could grant her one wish within his power.

Asano Yuu knew, of course, that this was just a publicity stunt, but he still asked:

Can you provide me with a job?

Hayami Mitsuki said that she was the daughter of the president of Toga Publishing House, so arranging jobs for her would be no problem at all.

But what can you do?

She asked that question in return.

I'll do anything for the money.

Asano Yu's answer was also very straightforward, because he was indeed in a situation where he would die if he couldn't pay off his debts.

The tuition for a private university would cost him nearly six million over four years, not to mention the student loans he had to repay every month ranging from 100,000 to 300,000. Moreover, he was essentially starting from an orphanage, with no one to help him.

So that was the only thing to do, but unexpectedly, Hayami Mitsuki asked Asano Yu to slap her.

Just when everyone thought Asano Yu's bold statement from a moment ago had been proven wrong, he suddenly blurted out, as if by magic:

[Additional fees required]

With just three words, I landed a part-time job at Donghua Film Studio. Although the pay wasn't high, it was easy and long-term.

However, the work that Hayami Mitsuki arranged for him was far more than just running around as an extra on set and wearing a costume to get beaten up.

Most of the time, he was Hayami Mitsuki's follower, helping her serve tea and water, buying her favorite coffee and desserts. But ever since he found that magenta camera, his job has taken on another one—

Take no fewer than ten photos every day and hand them over to Hayami Mitsuki. As for the reason, since the money is enough, Asano Yu naturally won't ask.

After much deliberation, Asano Yu boarded the train bound for Shimokitazawa and soon arrived at her destination.

"Shimokitazawa... a masterpiece of craftsmanship..."

Yu Asano searched through the shops listed on the signs and finally stopped in front of a coffee shop with a sign that read "Coffee Master".

According to the message sent by Hayami Mitsuki, the client was sitting by the window, wearing the school's uniform suit, with long hair, short stature, and looking like a timid child.

Asano Yu entered the store and looked around, and found that there was indeed a person by the corner of the wall and the window.

She had a small, cute face and a petite, delicate figure. Her fingers kept stroking the coffee cup, and her gaze kept drifting out the window. She seemed a little restless, but strangely, there was a little bruising at the corner of her mouth.

The bruise at the corner of his mouth had turned a little purple.

Thankfully it wasn't her lips, otherwise Asano Yu would have really reminded her that she had a heart condition.

After a moment's thought, Asano Yu's gaze shifted downwards, landing on the horizontal twin-lens reflex camera at his waist. He opened the viewfinder, focused on the girl, and prepared to take a picture.

Suddenly, the girl in the viewfinder looked at the camera, followed by a series of flustered little movements: surprise, shyness, looking around, starting to fix her hair, and finally mustering the courage to stand up—

"Ah, you must be Mr. Asano?"

She came up to Asano Yu.

She was fidgeting with the hem of her clothes, her face flushed. The only downside was that this made it impossible to take a picture of her.

Yes, this guy is a weirdo too.

"Yes, my name is Asano Yu."

Asano Yu smiled and extended her hand to her, and the other person carefully held Asano Yu's fingers with both hands and gently shook them.

"I...I...I...I called out!"

"I've heard about you from Sister Hayami and seen your picture, but I didn't expect you to be even more handsome in person... Ah! Please, please sit down..."

She spoke a little too fast and didn't dare to look directly at Asano Yu's face. Suddenly, she started talking about the weather and yesterday's variety shows or news, just like someone with social anxiety.

"Ms. Kirishima Chinatsu".

"exist!"

She suddenly straightened up.

"What would you like me to do?"

Asano Yu asked, his gaze fixed on the bruise on the corner of her mouth.

Her upright posture slumped down again, like a human-shaped balloon slapped by a fan. She was a little knocked down for a moment, but she would muster up the courage to straighten up again, and then bend down because she didn't dare to speak her mind.

After a long pause, she finally spoke:

"Um...excuse me, could you pretend to be my boyfriend? Just until the entrance exam in October!"

"What's the reason?"

"There's a group of people at school who keep bullying me... I want you to protect me..."

She mumbled out the expected answer, but the problem is—you're not human either, sister!

Are you saying you're a weirdo and still get bullied?

Is this the domineering aura of a bullying nation? What a domineering air!

Even if the other person is a monster who could kill you with one punch, would you still bully them?

Hakiri, you bastard!

Asano Yu looked down at the camera again, and what appeared was still a logo similar to the [Mimetic Monster] logo, but this time it was different; it was green.

【solu】