Project Cupid | Ongoing

22 | time to infiltrate enemy territory

IN ALL MY YEARS OF LIVING, I'D NEVER BEEN MORE CONFUSED THAN I WAS NOW.

Nanase worked at the convenience store? That Meguru Nanase?

Looking at his social media pages, and recalling his obnoxious demeanour at school, he gave off wealthy, upper echelon vibes. That of a spoiled rich kid who had never been told "no." Who had the looks status and smile and never faced any consequences because he was one of God's favourites.

There was also the school policy. A student could have only one part-time job, and only with prior permission. In terms of that, modelling should count as one job, right? Mr. Yakumo, the school principal, would never grant an exemption. Meaning, that Nanase was secretly juggling more. Even though he technically should've already been bathing in swathes of cash as a model and influencer?

I never made trips as late as I did—last night was the first—so it made sense if he'd worked there for ages, and I'd simply never seen him there before.

That, or it was his doppelgänger?

Or a twin brother I'd never seen or heard of before. . . ?

I shook both ideas out of my head. No matter how hard I racked my brain, the entire situation defied logic.

There was no point in thinking in conjecture.

Executing my plan should be my main priority. I'd figure out the rest from there.

"Nanase is so sexy, right?"

Considering that this plan didn't kill me first, of course.

Outside of the library, within the hallway where I'd last seen them gather, trilled several girls. From their glossy hair to their glittery uniforms and down to their pointy heels that strictly went against school policy—their presence was overwhelming.

"Agreed," I played along. "He like, sets my heart on fire."

"Oh my gosh, you get it!" Kohana Sanjou, President of the Meguru Nanase Fan Club, giggled in accordance.

There wasn't a soul at Kanome High School who didn't know of Kohana.

She constantly boasted that she was born and raised in the United States, that her parents were famous actors, and that she was filthy rich, but there were so many facts disproving them. In actuality, she was a tried-and-true Japanese bumpkin—born and raised in the sticks of Gunma. Her dad was a farmer and her mom owned a produce shop before they moved out here to Tokyo.

Kohana cared only about one thing: popularity. Hence, she spewed lies like commonplace in order to stand out. She even started a WeTube channel, posting fashion and makeup-related content as well as day-in-the-life vlogs that were very clearly staged.

As a result, she grew to popularity all right—but for being a fraudster.

On top of her phony personality and sham ancestry, she was exposed a while back for creating hundreds—yes, hundreds—of fake accounts posing as her "loyal fans". She'd even created videos of herself complaining of her numerous "haters" who were also herself in disguise (big shocker).

The girl was chronically online. Scarily online. Even now, ten minutes into our conversation, she hadn't let go of her phone once, and had been tapping away at an unbelievable pace.

And, out of all the girls gathered here, her obsession with Nanase was borderline psychotic.

When he started his modelling career, she was one of his first supporters. Her constant efforts at boosting his posts and purchasing his magazines led to his imminent success. He rose from the woodworks quicker than most models could think possible because of it.