Although... well...

"No problem!"

Kitagawa Marin nodded without hesitation. Asking someone for help naturally meant paying them; she had never considered freeloading.

"Secondly."

Kira Yoshikage lowered his eyes to the girl's hands.

"Before the cosplay, you need to remove those nail tips!"

"Huh?"

Kitagawa Marin hesitantly turned her palm over, subconsciously looking at the nails covered by the tips.

She had originally been puzzled as to why Kira-kun, despite liking hands so much, never kept staring at them and even occasionally showed a somewhat regretful expression.

So is it actually because Kira-kun doesn't like manicures?

Kitagawa Marin bit her lip.

"No problem. I can take them off right now!"

Seeing that she agreed, Kira Yoshikage pondered for two seconds before speaking.

"There's one more thing. Consider it a personal request."

"What?" Kitagawa Marin blinked.

"Could I borrow your hands during the cosplay?"

Kitagawa Marin immediately thought of Kira Yoshikage's tastes, and her little face flushed bright red as she murmured softly.

"Mm~, if it's Kira-kun... then, then it's not impossible..."

"Mm~"

Perhaps realizing that her words sounded extremely discriminatory, Kitagawa Marin explained with her flushed little face.

"Kira-kun, anything lewd is off-limits, okay~!"

Kira Yoshikage's expression did not change. He had never expected to do anything lewd in the first place.

Chapter 35: Although, That Said...

"Um~"

Kitagawa Marin poked her head out of the bathroom while covering her finger and asked in a small voice.

"Kira-kun, do you have any bandages at home?"

"Yes."

Kira Yoshikage nodded lightly and took cotton swabs, iodine, and a box of bandages from the storage box in the cabinet.

"Give me your hand."

Kira Yoshikage dipped a cotton swab in iodine and reached toward the girl.

Kitagawa Marin obediently extended her left hand. Her ring finger was still wrapped in a blood-soaked, blood-spattered piece of toilet paper.

As he peeled away the toilet paper layer by layer, some black base gel remained on the nail of her ring finger. It had been used to bond the nail tip to her nail. The skin around the nail had been torn away in a complete circle, and blood kept seeping out.

Kira Yoshikage's expression was extremely displeased. It was the fury of seeing a perfect work of art stained, never to be restored.

"Hiss~"

When the iodine-soaked cotton swab touched the wound where the skin had been torn away, the intense stinging pain made the girl tremble slightly. She could only grit her teeth to keep from crying out.

By then, Kira Yoshikage had already wiped away some of the blood with a tissue and firmly stuck a prepared bandage over the wound.

Kira Yoshikage tossed the cotton swab into the trash can.

"Does it hurt?"

"It hurts." Kitagawa Marin looked at him pitifully.

Kira Yoshikage said blandly.

"Then don't get manicures again. Otherwise, it'll only hurt more and more."

"Mm~ I understand now."

Kitagawa Marin pulled a long face.

Getting a manicure was bliss for a moment, but removing it was a trip to hell.

Now she had experienced the meaning of that phrase firsthand!

The nail tips really did look good, and they were sturdier than her own nails.

Although they looked somewhat dangerous because they were so long, they were actually not that easy to break.

But the happier she had been when putting them on, the more she suffered when taking them off.

The leftover base gel made the surface of her nails extremely rough, causing them to split and peel. Even she thought they looked ugly.

And if she accidentally used too much force, a piece of skin could be torn off along with it, just as it had been moments ago...

Kira Yoshikage's gaze grew dangerous, like an artist watching a beautiful work of art being destroyed before his eyes. However, he did not lose his temper. Instead, he patiently asked.

"Why did you choose to use nail tips before? Why not just apply nail polish?"

Kitagawa Marin hesitated for a moment.

"Because the people at the nail salon told me that removing nail polish required buffing, which was bad for my nails. Nail tips were convenient, not too expensive, and looked pretty..."

The girl's voice grew quieter and quieter. Clearly, she had already realized that she had been ripped off...

After all, how could a nail salon possibly tell her everything?

And even if she realized afterward that she had been ripped off, getting a refund was impossible.

Kira Yoshikage asked.

"How much did you spend?"

Kitagawa Marin tapped her lips with her index finger as she recalled.

"It wasn't expensive. I only spent 20,000 yen."

What did she mean, only 20,000 yen?

She had spent 20,000 yen on her manicure. Add in the earrings, studs, hair styling, bracelets, necklaces, chokers, and everything else, and it probably came to over 100,000 yen! After making a rough calculation, Kira Yoshikage's gaze toward Kitagawa Marin immediately changed somewhat—

Who would've thought you were a rich little heiress hiding in plain sight!

"Now, now, they're all insignificant little things. In any case, let's get started!"

Kitagawa Marin stuck out her tongue, reached over to undo the buttons of her shirt, and pulled it completely open in one motion, revealing her faintly pink, snow-white skin, along with the yellow underwear matching her shirt that enclosed two slimes.

Next, the girl undid the blue belt of her jeans, appearing before Kira Yoshikage dressed only in her underwear.

Kitagawa Marin's pretty face flushed slightly.

"L-let's begin..."

This was the first time she had appeared in front of a boy wearing only her underwear...

With temptation right in front of him, Kira Yoshikage still remained expressionless.

With his Precision A+, he could tell the detailed measurements of the girl's body with a single glance, but he still cooperatively picked up the measuring tape. After all, this was Kitagawa Marin's own request, and he could only passively accept it.

[Head circumference: 53.8CM, 57.7CM

Neck circumference: 27.3CM

Shoulder width: 35CM

Sleeve length: 52.1CM

Wrist circumference: 22.9CM

Bust/Waist/Hips: 86.8/58.7/84.8

...]

"Is, is it enough?"

Kitagawa Marin's voice trembled slightly. Her entire body was red, as if she had just finished a sauna.

"Thanks for the effort."

Kira Yoshikage wrote down the final string of numbers in his notebook.

Kitagawa Marin patted her flushed cheeks and put her clothes back on as quickly as possible. But when the girl inadvertently glanced down at Kira Yoshikage's lower half, she inexplicably felt somewhat dejected.

Kitagawa Marin muttered quietly in her heart.

"What? Does it not work without hands?"

Kitagawa Marin weighed her heavy heart, then walked barefoot to Kira Yoshikage's side and asked curiously.

"Kira-kun, are you drawing Little Shizuku's clothes?"

Kira Yoshikage explained as he drew.

"Orthographic views. Having blueprints will make the production process simpler."

Although Kira Yoshikage himself had no use for them, he had accepted payment, after all. At the very least, he had to make his employer feel that he looked professional.

"Wow~ You're really professional."

Kitagawa Marin praised him, growing even more expectant of Kira Yoshikage's craftsmanship.

Kitagawa Marin asked somewhat impatiently.

"Hey, hey, Kira-kun, can we go buy the fabric today?"

Kira Yoshikage nodded.

"We can, but there's one problem."

"Huh?" Kitagawa Marin tilted her head in confusion.

Kira Yoshikage said frankly.

"I don't have a sewing machine."

"No problem!"

Kitagawa Marin smiled brightly, looking as if she had expected this.

"There's a handicrafts club at school, and they have several sewing machines! I visited a few times under the pretext of looking around. I'll try discussing it with them. Maybe they'll let us use one for free."

Kira Yoshikage looked at her with some surprise. It was clear that Kitagawa Marin had put a great deal of effort into making the cosplay outfit. She had even thought about where to find a free sewing machine, so—

"Then why don't you make it yourself?" Kira Yoshikage asked the fatal question.

Kitagawa Marin's smile froze, and she fidgeted awkwardly.

"Actually, I did try making it myself, but..."

"But?"

"Nothing!"

Kitagawa Marin turned her flushed face away and changed the subject.

"Compared to that, let's hurry up and go buy the fabric!"

She really had tried. It was just that the results had been somewhat... The high-EQ way to put it was that they were passable; the low-EQ way was that not even a dog would wear them.

"No problem. I'll be done as soon as I finish drawing."

Kira Yoshikage withdrew his gaze. He could do it.

Once the clothes were finished, she could lend him those hands for a while.

It wasn't as if he was going to do anything strange.

This was perfectly reasonable.