Mash-Up: Anything for Money

Hakuto landed heavily on the staircase, his body falling backward with force.

His natural self-preservation instincts kicked in, causing him to instinctively tilt his head up to avoid hitting the back of his skull. Still, his back slammed hard against the steps.

At the same time, Utaha was still clinging tightly to him, her face buried deep in his chest, clearly shaken to her core.

"Senpai… it's fine now. You can get up."

Hakuto spoke softly.

Hearing his voice, Utaha hesitantly lifted her head. Her tightly shut eyes slowly opened as she nervously scanned her surroundings.

"It's… it's fine now?"

"Yeah… so can you get up now?"

With trembling legs, Utaha unsteadily stood up, and Hakuto followed suit.

However, even after standing up, she still refused to let go of his hand, half-hiding behind his back.

"Let me see what scared you so badly, Senpai."

"It was that…" Utaha pointed toward the ceiling.

Hakuto followed the direction of her finger.

Since both of their phones had slipped down the stairs during the commotion, he could only rely on the faint light coming from the flashlight downstairs to make out the rough shape of whatever was hanging there.

From its silhouette, the object on the ceiling looked long and thin—at first glance, it resembled a snake.

But if it were a snake, all that movement just now would have sent it slithering away long ago.

Hakuto reached up and tugged the rope-like object down.

Once he saw what it was, even his professional composure couldn't stop him from rolling his eyes.

"Senpai… you got scared by this?"

"Huh? A… network cable?"

"That's right. Just an old, worn-out network cable that fell from the ceiling."

"It's normal for stuff like this to drop after years of disrepair."

"Look, I did say that if we encountered danger, you could run ahead and I'd cover the rear, but that doesn't mean you should create danger out of nothing."

After all, fear is contagious. Even with Hakuto's guts, Utaha's sudden screaming had rattled him quite a bit.

"Kouhai-kun, are you alright?"

"I'm fine. But, Senpai, do you still want to continue exploring this haunted house?"

"Forget it… let's go back."

Although Utaha's original goal in coming here was to stage an "accident" that would lead to some physical contact, she had genuinely been frightened just now.

The moment she stepped onto the stairs, she had been thinking about how to create a plausible excuse for "accidental" contact.

That was when her eyes wandered and spotted the dangling cable above. Because of the dim lighting, she couldn't see it clearly.

Even though she had mentally prepared herself, the sudden scare still got to her.

If it had been a normal scare, she wouldn't have immediately thrown herself at Hakuto.

But since she had already planned on doing something, her body reacted before her brain did, and the next second—she was clinging onto him.

In the end, this situation had achieved the result she wanted, but it wasn't exactly intentional.

She would never go so far as to risk their safety just to make something like this happen.

"Alright then. If Senpai ever needs something like this again, feel free to contact me anytime."

"I'm available 24/7—except for certain scheduled rest periods."

Since Utaha had decided to leave, Hakuto took the chance to advertise his services.

After all, she was still a potential client.

As for those rest periods? In truth, he didn't really have them—those times were just reserved for other clients.

"Hm? Kouhai-kun, are you planning to make this your full-time job?"

"It's a viable way to make money, after all."

Hakuto spoke with a straight face, not a hint of guilt or hesitation.

He was a complete natural at this line of work.

"Since you're planning to take this job full-time, Kouhai-kun… that means those things are included too, right?"

Hakuto: ??!

"Wait, does this mean my very first commission is… selling my body?!"

Putting on an exaggeratedly fragile expression, Hakuto pretended to be a helpless girl who had lost her way.

—Quit the act, you idiot! Spit!

Of course, he knew Utaha was just teasing, so he played along. After all, clients always appreciate someone who listens to them.

"If Senpai really needs it… then I… I guess I can…"

His voice grew softer, his expression more pitiful, practically radiating an aura of tragic innocence.

"Ara, then I'll be counting on you from now on. As they say, the customer is the king—Kouhai-kun, you'd better take very good care of this king."

At the moment, Utaha simply assumed Hakuto was joking to lighten the atmosphere.

Maybe, deep down, he was considering making some side money with this gig. But turning it into a full-time job? 

That was definitely out of the question.

—At least, that's what she believed.

To this, Hakuto could only respond: hehe (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)

With that, the two walked down the stairs and picked up their fallen phones. 

Thankfully, the drop hadn't been too high, and the clutter below had cushioned the fall, so both devices remained intact.

"Good thing my phone's not broken, or this overtime job would have cost me instead of paying me."

Hakuto muttered to himself as he squatted down, his voice barely audible. After all, repairing a phone wasn't cheap—it'd be better just to buy a new one.

"Maybe I could fix it up and resell it to my kouhai for some quick cash…?"

Just then, Utaha, standing beside him, lightly patted his shoulder.

"Kouhai-kun… I'm not seeing things this time, right?"

"Hmm? Senpai, what did you see now?"

Hakuto instinctively assumed she had spotted another loose network cable or power line and looked up again without much concern.

…Wait..??

Why did it actually look like something was there this time?

Rubbing his eyes, he convinced himself that he was just imagining things. 

But when he opened them again—

"OH, HELL NO!"

This house had two floors—upstairs was the balcony and bedrooms, while downstairs held the kitchen, bathroom, and living room.

The kitchen was connected to the living room, almost like a mini balcony, separated only by a curtain.

And right now, standing motionless inside the dimly lit kitchen—

—was a shadowy figure.

Its features were completely obscured, making it impossible to tell if it was a man or a woman.

Or even if it was human at all.

"Senpai… wait. Move slowly… back up…"

"...Mm…"

Hakuto, who had just started to relax, felt his nerves tighten again. He carefully guided Utaha to step backward, matching her pace as they both retreated.

But after only two or three steps—

She stopped.

"Ko-Kouhai-kun…"

"What's wrong?"

"The… the door… it's shut."

Hakuto's mind instantly went blank.

—Damn, this ghost is smart. It even knows how to cut off our escape route?!

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

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