Mash-Up: Anything for Money

Seeing Eriri's message, Utaha nearly burst into laughter.

"You saw it, right?"

"I'm not blind. Unless you're talking about something other than the picture you just sent."

"I'm talking about that picture. What do you think?"

"What do I think? It's just a tattoo. But the guy with it has a pretty good physique. He'd make a decent reference."

By "reference," Eriri was obviously referring to a model for the characters in her doujinshi.

"Oh? Thinking of getting one yourself?"

Seeing Eriri's clueless response, Utaha, sitting in the backseat of the taxi, felt a surge of excitement.

From the way Eriri reacted, it was clear she had no idea that the person in the picture was Hakuto.

In other words, she didn't know Hakuto had a tattoo.

Or maybe he had mentioned it before, but Utaha was certain Eriri had never actually seen it with her own eyes.

"Two years... She had the upper hand for two whole years, and she never even did something as simple as this?"

Utaha almost felt sorry for Hakuto. Almost. But more than that, she was thrilled—because in a way, she felt like she had beaten Eriri to it.

Now, she just needed to confirm one last thing: Had Eriri never seen this tattoo before, or had she simply not recognized it?

After a brief moment of thought, Utaha sent the photo again. This time, she didn't retract it.

"Wait a minute... This doesn't look like a random picture from the internet. Don't tell me this is your boyfriend?"

Utaha was about to deny it, but then an idea struck her. Her fingers twitched, and she quickly changed her approach.

"Take a guess."

"Tch. Say it or don't, whatever. It's not like it has anything to do with me."

Now that things had reached this point, Utaha decided to push further and test Eriri's limits.

Her fingers danced across her phone screen for a while before she finally composed a message that seemed casual yet was carefully crafted.

"By the way, are long-haired guys trendy now?"

In the photo she sent, Hakuto's long hair, cascading down his back, was captured perfectly.

Utaha had worded it like this on purpose, hoping to make Eriri subconsciously think of Hakuto.

After all, among the guys Eriri knew, Hakuto was probably the only one with long hair.

Utaha wasn't doing this just for fun—she had a goal. She wanted to pretend she didn't know anything and gauge Eriri's current feelings about Hakuto.

Hakuto might have told Utaha that he had no more ties to Eriri, but as a romance writer, Utaha knew all too well that relationships were full of uncertainties.

Sure, Eriri hadn't fallen for Hakuto in the past two years, but what if one day she had a dramatic change of heart and pulled a "chasing after love too late" scenario straight out of a soap opera?

Utaha didn't even want to imagine that possibility. Now that she had this rare opportunity, there was no way she was letting it slip away.

And just as she expected, the moment Eriri read Utaha's message, an image of Hakuto popped into her mind.

"Long hair, huh..."

"Wait, why am I thinking about Hakuto?"

Eriri glanced at her chat history with Utaha and, almost instinctively, opened the photo again.

For some reason, even though the person in the picture only showed his back and hair, something about him felt oddly familiar.

And that tattoo—it also seemed familiar.

Eriri wasn't stupid. She knew that Utaha wouldn't message her this late unless she had some kind of ulterior motive, so she decided to play along.

"What are you trying to say?"

"It's just been a while since I've seen our dear underclassman. I guess I just thought of him subconsciously."

Seeing that Eriri still hadn't mentioned Hakuto's name, Utaha decided to stop beating around the bush and get straight to the point.

"You mean Hakuto? Isn't he at Toyosaki Academy? You can just ask around if you're that curious."

"Come on, Eriri, who could possibly know him better than you?"

Utaha gritted her teeth as she typed that message, but she had no choice. For the sake of her own future peace of mind, she had to do this.

On the other end, Eriri saw Utaha's message, and for a brief moment, a feeling of satisfaction flashed through her heart.

But in the next second, she remembered what Hakuto had said to her in the hallway yesterday at noon.

That cold expression. That indifferent tone.

In the past two years, she had never seen Hakuto act like that before.

For some reason, thinking about it made her feel a little down. She told herself it was just because she wasn't used to it. 

But deep down, she probably knew the real reason.

"In his eyes, I'm no different from anyone else…"

"Alright, I'm going to bed."

The moment Eriri went offline, Utaha felt a pang of unease.

It seemed like the thing she feared most was really happening.

From her perspective, Eriri was already starting to show signs of regret. 

Maybe it was just an emotional reaction to a long-standing habit being broken, but Utaha wasn't about to let even the smallest possibility take root.

As for Eriri claiming she was going to bed...

For a hardcore otaku like her, ten o'clock wasn't even late. The night had barely begun.

"She's probably just sitting somewhere sulking," Utaha muttered.

And she was right.

At that moment, Eriri was lying on her bed, hugging a stuffed bear even bigger than she was, her face filled with frustration.

Just thinking about Utaha's messages irritated her.

"That damn Utaha! How does she always manage to pick the perfect time to kick me when I'm down?"

Eriri still didn't realize that Utaha had gotten this information from Hakuto himself. She thought Utaha had just brought it up randomly.

And that was exactly why she felt so annoyed.

"Eriri! Why are you even bothered by this!?"

"Hakuto is just a…"

"Just a…"

"Just an annoying guy who likes to get into fights, that's all!"

She had wanted to list his flaws, but after thinking for a while, that was the only one she could come up with. 

And even that felt like a stretch.

But Eriri didn't care. 

She just needed a reason—any reason—to convince herself that she shouldn't be feeling this way.

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Check out the other translations too: [Mash-Up: I'm Not A Substitute]

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