Stealing Spree

“Welcome back, Yua-chan! I missed you!” A short-haired woman in a white suit exclaimed and started running in our direction as soon as we walked past the entrance of the building. She had a pixie haircut which gave her a neat appearance but the dangling pair of earrings pushed a sophisticated air around her.

She ran past Auntie Misora who was in front of us, only glancing at her, and went straight to Yua.

Obviously, I was also ignored. But given that we were standing side by side, the woman stopped right before she ran into Yua. She first took in my appearance as though she was trying to gauge my worth.

A hint of interest flashed past her face along with a twitch of her eyebrow. But that's the extent of her interest, she took her eyes off me right away and refocused on Yua while donning sparkling eyes and genuine happiness similar to those who were seeing someone for the first time in a while.

I tried to recall her from my vague memories. Alas, I couldn't find a hint that I already met her before. Most likely, she was never there when I accompanied Yua before.

Nonetheless, just from observing how delighted she was as well as my girl’s positive reaction to her, she’s definitely someone who’s acquainted with Yua personally. They're probably even pretty close despite their age difference just from the way she excitedly crossed a few meters to reach the girl.

She’s not a model – obvious by what she’s wearing. Possibly, she’s another manager like Yua’s mother or someone working for their agency. A clipboard was tucked underneath her arm, most likely containing details of the event today. She was previously reading its contents and only stopped upon spotting Yua.

“Mashiro-san, thank you. But I'm sorry, I still won't transfer to your agency,” Yua replied to that enthusiastic welcome by returning that smile and stepping forward to stand in front of her.

Based on what Yua said, she revealed the identity of the woman.

A recruiter from another agency, huh? Or maybe not.

The woman reacted differently, after all. She audibly laughed and turned to Yua’s mother, “Sakuraba-san, you haven’t told her yet?”

“Ah, yes. She doesn't want to hear anything about the industry for a while. I honored her wish and stopped updating her.” Auntie Misori answered.

“That makes sense.” The woman nodded in understanding before turning back to Yua, “Relax, Yua-chan. I’m now part of your agency. I was the one that got poached in the end. Here.” Putting on a ditzy smile, she pulled her ID card tucked inside her suit to present to Yua.

Since I was also there, I also got a glimpse of it.

‘SS Modeling, Mizusawa Mashiro, Supervisor'

That’s a rather high position for someone that got poached. She’s probably that capable.

Upon reading that, Yua's eyes widened before she genuinely celebrated for the woman.

“Wow! Congratulations Mashiro-san! You finally got promoted. Oh, wait… you got it in our agency…"

The girl trailed her words there, implying what happened.

And sure enough, the woman named Mizusawa Mashiro wryly smiled, “As much as I hate to admit it. Yes, it is. My previous agency has that habit of exercising nepotism. Some rookie who has connections from up top got the position I’m aiming for. Now, here I am. I hugged your boss’s legs and jumped ship. But it’s fine, it just means you’re now under my care as well, Yua-chan. I look forward to working with you.”

Ending that with a very pleasant smile, she extended her hand for a handshake.

Yua accepted it, still wearing a joyful expression. "Yes, please take care of me, Mashiro-san."

Right after that exchange of pleasantries, Mashiro-san excused herself as she went on to do her work for today's photoshoot. Meeting the representative from the other players of today's event.

Maybe it's just my imagination but she looked like she was about to enter a bloody battlefield, ready to take down any opposition.

With my shallow knowledge of this industry, I could only guess that there must be other things at play here.

Like someone might've been assigned to determine who will be placed on the cover page or which of the agencies will be able to put their models on most pages.

From what I heard from Auntie Misora, the photoshoot was for a seasonal fashion magazine. The stake there wasn't only from the magazine company itself but also from the manufacturer of the clothes the models will wear. They're known brands who will seek the best models for their fashion clothes.

I guess that explained why she looked like she hardened her will to accomplish her task.

Well, that's not our problem though. Furthermore, my only concern here was for Yua to finish this job without anything happening to her.

I was already thankful that no one paid too much attention to me or asked unnecessary questions. Hopefully, this stays the same until the time for us to leave.

… Uh. I didn’t jinx myself, did I?

-

-

Without any other interruptions, Auntie Misora led us upstairs, to the second floor of the building. During the brief time we took to travel there, Yua told me about her relationship with Mashiro-san.

She’s actually the one who scouted Yua first. However, as someone formerly in the same industry, her mother took over and brought the girl to her former agency. When Mashiro-san saw Yua again, she always tried to recruit her, whether jokingly or not, which allowed them to have some bond.

Even though she’s from another agency, she’s always taking care of Yua. As for the reason, Yua guessed that it must be because the woman was related to her ex. Was it Amamiya? That was the initial reason but over time, Mashiro-san started growing fond of her.

And like I guessed, she had no idea about what happened to Yua back then. She’s from a different agency and the incident was covered up so that it wouldn’t leak outside. The perpetrator got his just deserts anyway.

"Here's our dressing room. The two of you should stay here and prepare. I'll go and check out the other details."

Upon arriving in front of the door that had something pasted on it that says 'SS Modeling - Dressing Room', Auntie Misora instructed before walking away.

Well, she’s at ease to leave Yua behind to me, that’s for sure.

Following her words, I opened the door and led the girl inside.

It’s currently empty but judging from the names pasted on the chairs in front of the dressing mirrors, two more models are coming in.

Yua’s not the only one sent by their agency. Two more were called to take on the job. They’re from different age ranges though.

The seasonal magazine wouldn’t only feature teen fashion. In fact, it would be split into three different categories, young ladies, adult women, and lastly, mothers.

The last category was aimed at not just mothers but at women whose ages were well outside the calendar and still trying to be in shape and be inside the current fashion trend.

Oh. 'Trying' might be the wrong word though…

Auntie Yayoi and Miwa-nee are both still in shape even though they're not trying too hard on their diet.

Maybe that is a natural thing for them. Who knows?

In any case, knowing that I would definitely be kicked out of the room later when the other models as well as the makeup artists arrived, we took advantage of this chance that we have this room to ourselves.

As for what we did… it’s nothing perverted.

For the first five minutes, I helped Yua familiarize herself again with this job. I brought out some of her outfits that her mother prepared and let her put them on so that I could take trial photos.

It’s nothing grand. It’s actually like a mental exercise for the girl so that when the time comes, she would be able to perform her job in front of the camera better.

The joyful atmosphere around us was just a plus. She’s very happy to have me here with her, after all.

"Oh. What's this? Did you bring a chaperone? How utterly audacious."

Breaking the blissful atmosphere that we created when we were still alone, someone entered the room and snidely remarked after seeing us.

There’s no need to guess, it’s one of the other two models, a woman that seemed to be in her early twenties.

“Wait… Is that you, Yua? You’re back!”

I was about to mark her as someone rude but that quick change of attitude after recognizing Yua brought her back into the category of Yua’s amiable coworkers.

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