The Bounty Hunter

January 4th, 2089

I have officially retired from the bounty hunting business.  With that 1000 gold coin reward, there is no longer a need to work.  My time in the other world is no longer spent fighting and suffering.  Now I simply relax the day away while spending time with Kira and Veronica.  I also help take care of Grandma Kuma.  

By this point it has also become clear that Kira was in the midst of her maturation.  Maturation for beast-kin means mental as well as physical development.  She no longer calls me big brother and has become much more mature.  Physically, she has already grown a lot and it looks like she’ll end up at about the same height as Veronica at 5 foot 8 inches.  She has also grown a lot in other places too, and my prediction of her becoming an earth-shattering beauty is being proven. 

Honestly it looks like she’s going to be the first person I’ve seen who’s on par with Veronica in terms of looks.  Speaking of which, Veronica and Kira at this point have become unexpectedly close.  They’re now the best of friends, which is naturally great to hear.  Veronica has been helping Kira when she’s been suffering too much growing pain, while Kira has taken it upon herself to teach Veronica all the academics I had taught her.  But it looks like it’ll soon be over since she has the variant’s shortened maturation, she should finish her transformation into an 18-year old woman soon. 

However, today is not about Kira it’s about Hikari.  Her first modeling job is today and it is for a shopping catalogue.  This means that I’ll be forced to spend my afternoon making sure she doesn’t do anything stupid.  I would have brought Reiji along so I could have someone to talk to, but he’s gotten rather sick due to some viral illness.  I had noticed a couple weeks ago that he looked a bit unhealthy and had lost some weight but I didn’t think it was this bad. 

He has missed about a week of school so far and it looks like he won’t come back too soon as the illness is worsening.  It’s not life-threatening though according to his doctor, so he’ll survive after another miserable month or so.  Anyway, I am walking alongside Hikari as she happily heads into the studio.  Hopefully this doesn’t take too long.

Hikari’s POV

Yes! The day has finally arrived for my first modeling job!  I was so excited ever since I accepted the offer from the agency.  I had been looking for a part-time job in order to get some financial independence.  My father said that I can date whoever I want, but he could just as easily change his mind and arrange a marriage for me.  I wanted to be prepared in case I have to cut off relations with my father. 

My heart completely belongs to Minato, even if the dense idiot doesn’t realize it yet.  I’m prepared to leave my family if my father gets in my way.  Although my dad does really approve of Minato and Minato’s dad owns a wildly successful restaurant chain which would be a good fit with my father’s conglomerate.  And our parents our really close friends… wait, doesn’t this mean Father would be ecstatic if I was with Minato? 

If he decided to arrange a marriage for me right now, Minato would definitely be the top choice on his list… this is something I should follow up on later.  But for now I should focus on my work!  With Minato in tow, I opened the doors to the studio and became very worried in an instant.  The studio was finishing up with a prior shoot for the shopping catalogue’s… lingerie section.  There were a dozen models all in a variety of sexy clothing and since I had kind of slammed open the door in my excitement as I entered, everyone’s eyes looked over to us.  All those eyes then locked onto Minato.  WHAT HAVE I DONE?!?!?!?!?!! 

As I was currently cursing myself for my lack of foresight, the photographer Todowara-san came over.  “Hello Hikari-chan, you’re a little bit early but I’m happy to see such enthusiasm.  You can go ahead and change into the first outfit now.”  He then noticed Minato and greeted him as well “Ah, hello!  You must be Hikari’s escort.  I’m Todowara Yojo, the photographer for today’s shoot.  It’s nice to meet you.”  Minato responded with a simple “I’m Cross Minato.”  I was then whisked away to the dressing room to put on the first outfit, leaving Minato alone as the lingerie shoot continued.  Damn it all.

Terra’s POV

Bored.  I am so bored right now.  Hikari was quickly taken away to get ready for her shoot and left me alone to browse my holophone looking for any updates on my favorite web novels.  Unfortunately, my phone’s reception was spotty here so it was taking forever to load.  But I was soon distracted.  “Hello, you seem to be new around here.  Are you a new model the agency has hired?”  I am not someone who particularly enjoys conversation, but anything was better than being this bored. 

I put away my phone as I looked up “I’m not a model, I’m just here for a friend.”  The person who started the conversation was one of the models who had just finished shooting.  She looked to be eighteen or so, with shoulder-length brown hair and green eyes.  She was quite pretty, with good facial features and a gravure idol like figure that was further emphasized by the tight lingerie she was wearing.  Although Hikari was more attractive, this girl wasn’t bad either. 

The view would have been dangerous for any normal teenage boy, but I am far from normal.  I had seen plenty of outfits with greater levels of skin exposure in the other world after all.  But unlike the other models who had all been flashing flirty smiles and provocatively showcasing their figures towards me, this one had a cheerful smile and didn’t seem to emanate any lust.  “I’m Tachibana Akemi, nice to meet you.  If you’re not a new model, does that mean you came with Hikari-chan?”  “Yeah, I’m Cross Minato.”  “Oh, so you’re Cross-san!  Hikari-chan has told me a lot about you.”  “Oi, Akemi-chan!  Don’t hog him all to yourself!” 

Before our conversation could continue, the other models intruded.  They all started introducing themselves, but I didn’t bother remembering their names.  It was a ceaseless flurry of girly tittering and fluttering of the eyes.  The bolder ones would try to do alluring things like leaning over to show off their cleavage or cross their arms in a way that would prop up their chests.  Tachibana-san was shunted to the side by this crowd and left to go get changed after she said good-bye.  It’s good that Hikari at least has one nice sempai like her.  Now please can someone save me from these girls!

Hikari’s POV

After finally making it back from changing and make-up, I saw my worst fears were confirmed.  Minato was being swarmed by the other girls.  But much to my surprise, he was completely unaffected despite being surrounded by lingerie models.  I saw Akemi-sempai come over “Ah Hikari-chan, why did you bring your lamb to this lion’s den?  These girls are rather persistent.”  She teased me as I grumpily responded “I didn’t think about it.  But Minato’s so dense that it likely won’t amount to anything.”  “I don’t know, he seems pretty perceptive to me.  I think that you should lock him up quick before you lose him to someone else.” 

Akemi-sempai gave me a bit of a wicked smile before continuing “If you keep dragging your feet, I think I might take him instead.”  “Don’t joke like that sempai!”  I reprimanded as Akemi-sempai let out a small giggle.  She said it in a joking manner, but I don’t know if she was completely kidding.  If someone on Akemi-sempai’s level were to go after Minato… I think it’s time to do something drastic.  I started making a plan in my head as I headed over to brush away the bugs buzzing around my Minato.

Terra’s POV

After 3 hours of agony, I was finally free from the photo shoot.  Hikari eventually came and saved me from the models, much to my relief.  After that, the shoot proceeded as expected.  I wasn’t even that bored, since Tachibana-san stayed behind for a while and talked with me.  I discovered that she was in fact a massive otaku on par with Reiji, so time went by relatively quickly as we talked. 

The best part is as we were walking back Hikari told me that she’d have one of her girlfriends come along with her next time.  I was released from my chaperoning duties!  I could feel it, the day where I would have as much leisure time as a regular high schooler was approaching!  All that stands between me and that are 3 remaining episodes of Japan’s Rising Idol and a secret plot to destroy the world!  And now I’m depressed due to thinking about those two things. 

Audience support has now reached 16 million votes per round for me, more than quadruple the next closest contestant.  I’ve resigned myself at this point to winning.  I’ll deal with the fallout later.  More importantly, I’ve made my preparations to deal with the Redemption group.  I’ll hit them hard and fast right after the Japan’s Rising Idol finale.  Based on Fujioka’s behavior, they have maintained their modus operandi after Eual’s death.  Good.  It will make it easier for me to massacre them all.