Enjoy!
Chapter 26: Modeling in front of a camera makes people sexier
"Christiko-san!" Shinpachi chided at the emerald-eyed girl. "You were supposed to be doing the dishes today!"
Christine lied on the couch; she grumbled, and asked, "Can't you give me five more minutes? I'm trying to nap here."
"No!" Shinpachi yowled as he tried pulling her off of the sofa by grabbing her ankles.
Sean and Shinpachi had scheduled a list of chores for the Yorozuya to do today. Shinpachi had already done the laundry, Sean had vacuumed the hardwood floors, Kagura went grocery shopping (With Sadaharu, of course), and Gintoki had cleaned the fridge out. Gintoki didn't want to do that at first, since he was no fan of doing chores, but when he saw that the fridge was full of moldy food and spoiled milk, he was grossed out by it, so he had no choice but to take everything out. He was sad that he also had to throw away his strawberry milk (Which had expired almost a week ago), but when he took a sip of it, he gagged a little bit. Gintoki nearly cried when he threw away his milk.
Christine held onto the top of the couch as she exclaimed stubbornly, "Shinpachi-san, I was trying to nap here! Why can't you give me five more minutes?!"
Shinpachi yelled as a vein popped in his left cheek, "Even if I gave you five more minutes, you'd still refuse to do the dishes! Christiko-san, if you don't do them, I won't let you eat steak for a month!"
That's when Christine gasped, "You wouldn't dare!"
Shinpachi glared at her, and asked rhetorically, "Does it look like I'm joking here?"
Christine frowned, and heaved a sigh, "Alright, I'll do the dishes."
"Good," Shinpachi continued glowering at her, but a small smile crept up his features. He didn't like tormenting Christine, but if she refused to do the dishes, then he'd have no choice but to "threaten" her.
Christine finally got off of the couch, and went into the kitchen. Since her kimono sleeves were as long as her elbows, she didn't have to roll them up. It was a good thing, actually, because Christine hated it when her clothes got wet.
When Christine saw that there weren't very many dishes in the sink, she was relieved. But that didn't mean she wanted to clean them. Out of all the chores she had done throughout her life (Both real and Gintama world), cleaning dirty dishes was her least favorite. Whenever she cleaned dishes – whether or not they were really dirty – she would scrunch up her face in disgust, and pretend to gag. One time, in the real world, she almost threw up, because of how bad the dishes (Or more specifically, the food on the dishes) smelled.
Christine crouched down, and looked inside the cabinet, and grumbled, "Are there any gloves in here?"
She searched through the cabinet for a few seconds before spotting a pair of green gloves. A smirk appeared on her face, and she pulled them out before putting the gloves on. Though she desperately didn't want to do this, she also didn't want to spend a month on not eating steak. Steak was delicious, for Christ's sakes! Christine would rather do bone-aching chores than not eat her most favorite food! If Christine didn't eat steak for a long time, she would go mad. The longest she could take was three weeks.
About ten minutes later, she had finished the dishes. A sigh escaped her lips as she quickly sat back on the couch.
She was about to go back to her nap, but all of a sudden, a knock came at the door. Kagura asked as she began putting the groceries away, "Is that the mailman?"
"What makes you think it's the mailman?" Gintoki mused without averting his gaze from his JUMP.
"I ordered a huge pack of dog food for Sadaharu, uh-huh!"
"When did you do that?" He asked, but didn't sound like he gave a crap.
"Two days ago, yep!"
"I'll go see who it is," Shinpachi offered as he headed for the door.
He opened up the door, and saw an unfamiliar woman. The woman had short, magenta hair, and lavender eyes. Some of her hair was curled up onto her cheeks. The woman wore an aqua-blue kimono, with a dark-blue sash. Both sides of her kimono were cut up to thighs.
Shinpachi asked the woman, "May I help you?"
The woman smiled, "Are you the Yorozuya?"
His eyes widened, realizing that this woman was probably a customer, "Yes, we are. Would you like to come in?"
She nodded, and took her sandals off before entering the Yorozuya household. Shinpachi announced, "We have a customer."
Gintoki closed his JUMP, and placed it beside him as he ordered, "Oi, weirdo girl, Shojaro, sit on this couch."
Christine and Sean sat on the couch Gintoki, Kagura, and Shinpachi were sitting in. It was a little crowded, but all five of them were able to sit down.
Gintoki crossed his legs as he asked, "What's your request?"
"Well, let me introduce myself first," The woman cleared her throat before introducing herself, "My name is Fuzunakari Umi."
"It's nice to meet you, Fuzunakari-san," Shinpachi bowed.
Umi nodded with yet another smile, "Thank you. Anyway, before I explain my request, I should let you know that I am the leader of the modeling business industry."
"Wait, you model?" Christine arched a brow.
Umi responded, "I sometimes model, but like I said, I'm the leader of the industry." She cleared her throat again, and added, "Now I'll tell you my request. Two of my models are in the hospital with broken hips. And since you can take any job, I was wondering if two of you could model for me." She looked at Kagura and Christine, and suggested, "Would you two like to model?"
"Us?" Kagura questioned.
"Yes, because you two are the only girls in the Yorozuya."
"Hold on," Christine halted as she lifted her hands up. "I'm not really part of the Yorozuya. I'm just here for a while."
"I figured that out, but I'm still wondering if you'd like to model. Also, I'm not sure if you heard about this or not, but there were some rumors about you and a man living here. And it turns out that the rumors are true."
"Wait, there were rumors about my sister and I living here?!" Sean exclaimed. When in the hell were there rumors? He added with a groan, "Oh, great!"
"Anyway," Umi went back to the main topic. "You girls will only be modeling for a few days."
"Are we going to be on magazines?" Kagura asked as she began chewing on her sukonbu.
"You're only going to be on teen magazines, since you two are obviously teenagers."
"Yeah," Christine replied. "I'm 16, and Kagura-chan's 14." The girl scratched her cheek while questioning, "When do we start modeling?"
Umi smiled brightly, "You'll start modeling very soon. In fact, I'd like you to come with me."
"Can Sadaharu come, too?" Kagura suggested as she ruffled Sadaharu's white fur.
The magenta-haired woman held her chin, "I don't think he can, because he'd probably get in the way."
"No he wouldn't!" Kagura exclaimed. "Sadaharu's a good pet! Right, Sadaharu?"
Sadaharu almost immediately chomped on Sean's head. Sean screamed, "Aaaaahhh! Get off of me! This is the second time Sadaharu has chomped on my head!" He moved his arms around, and attempted to push Sadaharu's mouth open, but the inugami's jaws were too strong.
Kagura commanded, "Sadaharu! Let go of grumpy's head!"
Sadaharu instantly let go of Sean. The brunette glowered at the animal, and hollered, "Do you seriously not like me?!"
"Arf!" Sadaharu barked.
Umi frowned, "Does your pet always chomp on peoples' heads?"
"Not always," Kagura confirmed. "But he does do that, uh-huh."
Umi sighed, "Then we can't bring him."
Kagura frowned, but turned to her pet, and muttered sadly, "Sorry, Sadaharu."
Sadaharu whined as he lied down on the hardwood floor. The redheaded Yato petted him, and reassured, "We'll be back, Sadaharu. I promise."
Umi stood up, and ordered the teenage girls, "I'll be taking you to my workplace now. Follow me."
"Oi, can we come, too?" Gintoki asked.
The woman answered, "Sure, I don't see why not. Just don't get in the way when we get there."
Everybody stood up, and while they were heading out of the door, Shinpachi whispered to the silver-haired man, "Gin-san, why exactly do you want to go?"
Gintoki shrugged, "No reason."
The corners of Shinpachi's lips tugged into a frown. "You just want to see the ladies, don't you?"
Instead of responding, he turned his head to the side, and rested an arm in his kimono. Shinpachi rolled his eyes, but remained silent as he put on his sandals. Everybody else did the same, and when Kagura opened up the door, she turned to her dog-like pet, and exclaimed, "Don't poop in the house, Sadaharu!"
Christine decided to ask Umi, "Fuzunakari-san, I have two questions."
"Yes?" Umi glanced at her from the corner of her eye.
"One: can I call you 'Kari-san'? Your last name is kind of long. And two: how come your kimono has side cuts?"
Umi warmly smiled, "I don't mind you calling me 'Kari-san'. And my kimono is like this, because it's a bit more comfortable."
Everyone except Sadaharu left the house; Umi asked Kagura and Christine as they walked down the staircase, "You two have never modeled, have you?"
Both girls shook their heads. Christine confirmed, "I've once dreamt about being a super model."
The only response she received was a soft chuckle.
A half an hour later…
Everybody arrived at a gray-colored building; the building was about 30 stories tall. The Yorozuya and the siblings stared at the building, and Gintoki questioned, "This is it?"
"I know this doesn't look like a place where you would model," Umi admitted, "but it can't be helped. Come on, I'd like you to meet some of my models."
Hold on, what did Umi mean it couldn't be helped? That made no sense.
Umi opened up one of the double doors, and allowed everyone to enter. As soon as all five of them entered the building, a woman wearing a green robe approached them. The woman raised a brow up, and asked Umi, "Fuzunakari-sama, who are these people?"
Umi explained quickly, "These people are the Yorozuya."
"Hm," The woman hummed.
A cameraman called out to her, "Oi! It's time for your photo shoot!"
The woman widened her eyes, and dashed towards the cameraman.
Gintoki glanced at Umi, "Do all of your models address you as 'Fuzunakari-sama'?"
Umi chuckled, "Yes. My employees' respect me a little too much." She looked at Christine and Kagura, and told them, "Follow me, you two."
"What about us, Fuzunakari-san?" Shinpachi asked.
"You can come along as well," Umi shrugged. She realized that she hadn't asked for the girls' names, so she inquired, "What're your names, by the way?"
Kagura shifted a red brow up, and responded, "I thought you already knew our names. Bah, whatever. My name's Kagura, and this is weirdo girl, uh-huh." She pointed at Christine, who gave her a slight glare.
Christine "corrected", "Actually, my name's Christiko. 'Weirdo girl' is just my nickname."
"So is 'flat-chest', though I like 'weirdo girl' more, uh-huh."
Christine rolled her jade-colored eyes, but faced the magenta-haired woman, "Anyway, we're not going to have to wear inappropriate outfits, are we?"
"No, of course not," Umi shook her head. "What makes you think I'd want you two to wear those kinds of outfits?"
"Because some models wear those."
"Well, that's true, but they're adults; you two are teenagers."
"Hm, point taken," Christine smirked.
Umi and the others entered a large dressing room. Two models were already in there, but they paid no mind to the group. Umi turned to Gintoki, Shinpachi, and Sean, and said, "Could you three step outside for a few moments?"
"Of course," Sean nodded before stepping out of the dressing room.
Gintoki and Shinpachi followed suit, and the moment they closed the door, Umi clasped her hands, and murmured, "Alright, now to change your clothes."
"Fuzunakari-sama," One of the women spoke up as she suspiciously looked at the teenagers. "Are those two modeling as well?"
"Just for a few days," Umi replied.
The model furrowed a brow, "Why, though?"
Christine piped up before Umi had the chance to explain, "She told us that two models are at the hospital with broken ribs."
The models frowned in confusion; one of them questioned, "What? When did that happen?"
Now it was Christine and Kagura's turn to be confused. They gave Umi a bemused expression, and Kagura chimed, "Lady, you didn't tell them about the other two models?"
A cracked smile appeared on Umi's face, and she scratched the back of her neck as she laughed awkwardly, "I guess I forgot to them that. Hahaha…"
Both girls rolled their eyes. Umi decided to change the topic, "Anyway! I'll be picking out your clothes." She walked over to one of the racks, and started rummaging through them.
Kagura and Christine looked around the dressing room, and noticed that it was pretty messy. Pieces of clothing and some make-up were lying on the floor; the mirrors didn't look any better, because they were smeared with red lipstick. Apparently, a couple of the models had some confrontations. Perhaps they were fighting about who was more beautiful, or something like that.
Christine furrowed one brow, "Um, Kari-san. Why is this dressing room messy? And why are there clothes on the floor?"
Umi peered at the floor, seeing the somewhat dirty clothes. She responded after a few seconds of awkward silence, "Those are some of my employees' laundry."
The corner of Kagura's lip tugged down as she placed a hand on her hip, "Why would they toss laundry on the floor? That doesn't make any sense, nope."
Umi sighed, "I kept telling them to get a laundry basket, but they're too stubborn."
One model pouted as she put some make-up on, "Fuzunakari-sama, we've just been busy!"
Umi rolled her eyes, not believing her one bit. However, she didn't bother to say anything. After a moment or two, she pulled out two sleeveless short-kimonos from the racks.
The woman informed the teenagers, "You'll be wearing these for your photo shoot." She handed a purple one to Christine, while handing a red one to Kagura.
The girls looked at the kimonos, and stared at it in silence. The kimonos looked nice, but were they really going to wear them at the photo shoot? Well, then again, Umi did say that they were going to be on the cover of a teen magazine. Still, though, Christine and Kagura couldn't exactly understand why Umi wanted them to model temporarily. Yes, she explained the reason, but Christine began to wonder if she was actually telling the truth or not.
Though she had just met Umi not too long ago, Christine already started to get suspicious. There were a couple of reasons why she began to get suspicious. Firstly, if the previous two models really were at the hospital with broken ribs, perhaps everybody who worked at the model industry would've already heard about it. Secondly, when Christine and the others were on their way to the dressing room, they only saw adult models. Were there teenage models before Christine and Kagura? This wasn't making any sense to Christine. She honestly felt really lost.
She thought as she chewed on her lower lip, I'm not so sure if I want to do this modeling thing. Hell, I'm not even sure if I should trust Kari-san. I mean, she seems nice, but did two models really break their ribs? Should I actually believe that?
Without a second thought, she spoke, "Kari-san, did you have teenage models before us?"
"I beg your pardon?" Umi raised her eyebrows, not expecting that question at all.
For the truth, Christine was also surprised that she had asked that question, but perhaps it was best to ask, because Umi told her and Kagura that they would only be on a teen magazine.
Christine repeated herself, "I said did you have teenage models before us?"
Umi paused. One of the models answered before Umi did, "No, we never had any teenage models here."
Kagura deeply frowned at the lavender-eyed woman, and began to question in bafflement, "Lady, if you don't have any teenage models here, then why did you hire us? Are we not posing for a teen magazine, after all?"
Umi's throat clogged up. She faltered, and though she tried coming up with an answer, nothing came to her mind.
She started to stammer, "W-Well…th-that…um…"
The second model rolled her eyes, and clarified, "We don't do teen magazines."
Kagura and Christine gazed at Umi in question; her cheeks started to turn red, though she was finally able to respond properly, "Sh-She's right! I completely forgot about that!" She released a weak laugh as she rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly.
Kagura rolled her sapphire eyes, "If we're not going to be on a teen magazine, then I don't see the point in doing this." She handed Umi back the crimson-colored kimono, and grabbed Christine's arm as she told her, "Let's go, weirdo girl."
Umi gasped, "W-Wait, you two! I still want you to model!"
"Give us a good reason why," Kagura demanded with a stern glare.
A cracked smile was plastered on Umi's face. She ran her fingers through her pink hair, and answered, stuttering yet again, "D-Don't you two want to kn-know what it's like to m-model?"
The girls – including the models that were still here – couldn't make out why she was stammering. Either Umi was utterly embarrassed that she had "forgotten" that the industry didn't do teen magazines, or there was something Umi was hiding from them, both girls and models.
Christine peered at the woman while squinting her eyes. She may not have been the smartest girl ever, but she wasn't stupid, either. She had already figured out that Umi was keeping a secret from them. Christine was about to ask, 'Is there something you're not telling us?', but Kagura answered Umi's question as she heaved a sigh, "Whatever." Kagura didn't care that much about modeling, but apparently, she was a little curious about it.
Umi sighed with relief, and handed Kagura back the red short-skirted kimono.
The two models walked towards the door, and exited the dressing room. Umi followed the models as she ordered the younger girls, "You can put those on now. I suggest you change as quickly as possible."
Kagura asked, "Why?"
"My time is valuable. Please put on those clothes as soon as possible."
"Kari-san, do you have a meeting or something?" Christine shifted a brow up.
Umi slowly nodded, "Yes; I have a meeting at eight, so I want you both to hurry up; that way, I'll have enough time to take pictures of you."
"What time is it now?"
"About two o'clock."
"Okay, so why exactly are you in a hurry, when you clearly have six hours to spare?"
"I need to do some errands before my meeting," Umi answered. "So as I said, I want to take some pictures of you two as soon as possible."
Without another word, she left the dressing room, leaving Christine and Kagura alone. Christine glanced at the redheaded Yato, and questioned, "Kagura-chan, do you think Kari-san is hiding something from us?"
"I'm pretty sure she is, uh-huh," Kagura muttered. "We better keep an eye on her."
"Yeah," Christine agreed.
Five minutes later…
The girls changed into the short-skirted kimonos, and though they were comfortable to wear, Kagura and Christine needed to keep an eye out for Umi. They decided that the next time they were alone with her, they would demand answers. They couldn't trust Umi; she was definitely hiding something.
They walked down the halls, along with Umi, Sean, Gintoki, and Shinpachi. Kagura glared at Umi, and although she was right beside her, Umi apparently didn't see her glare, because she'd been talking about her life as a model.
Umi explained about her career, "I began modeling when I was 18. At first, I was very self-conscious about the thought of posing in front of a camera, but eventually, I got used to it."
"Was modeling your dream career?" Shinpachi asked, sounding curious.
Umi smiled, "It was. When I told my parents about it as a child, they laughed at me, because they believed that only beautiful women could model. They didn't think I was beautiful, but I once told them that you don't have to be beautiful in order to model."
While Umi continued rambling about her childhood life, Kagura and Christine continued glaring at her. They were apparently the only people in the group who weren't interested in her story.
Soon, they entered a huge room; the room had cameras and white screens. The only people that were also in the room were a few photographers. From what it looked like, Umi and the others guessed that they were either on break, or they were about to head for home. Half of the photographers grabbed their bags, and bade goodbye to each other. The other half sat at a table, and ate some sandwiches. Apparently, they didn't have any time to eat at lunchtime.
Gintoki scanned the room, and asked in a bored tone, "Is this where people take pictures of the models?"
"Yes," Umi nodded with another smile. She glanced at the teenage girls, and commanded politely, "I'd like you two to stand in front of one of the screens."
Kagura rolled her eyes, but headed over to a screen. Christine was about to follow the Yato, but Umi placed a hand on her shoulder. Christine peered at the hand, and turned to Umi as the woman asked, "Is that a scar on your face?" She pointed at the scar beside Christine's mouth.
Christine answered with a straight face, "Yes. Why?"
Umi smirked, "I have a thing for scars. How did you get it?"
Christine blinked, and a frown ceased her features as she thought, She has a thing for scars? Well, let's hope she doesn't have a fetish for them.
Though she was still frowning, she responded, anyway, "A jackass cut me badly with a piece of glass."
"Hm," Umi hummed. "How long have you had your scar?"
"For almost eight years."
Her smirk grew wider; she changed the topic with a shrug, "Anyway, stand beside your friend."
"She's actually my acquaintance," Christine corrected her.
Umi chuckled, but Christine questioned as she crossed her arms, "By the way, Kari-san, did two models really break their ribs?"
Umi immediately stopped chuckling. She gawped at the light-brunette haired girl, and parted her lips as if she was about to answer. But when no words escaped her lips, Christine knitted her brows, and whispered beside her ear, "Were you telling us the truth, Kari-san?"
The woman widened her eyes in shock. Christine expected her to respond, but instead of doing that, Umi darted away. She ran up to Kagura, and exclaimed without thinking, "Are you ready, Kagura-chan?!"
Kagura scowled, "Do you really have to yell?!"
"S-Sorry, I'm just e-excited to take pictures of you g-girls."
Yeah, right. Excited. That was complete bullshit. Christine immediately knew she was lying.
Christine rolled her eyes, and headed towards the white screen.
As soon as both Christine and Kagura were in front of the screen, Umi grabbed a camera from one of the small tables, and pulled the lens cap off as she stammered like earlier, "A-Are you two r-ready?"
"I guess," Christine murmured.
Umi held the camera, and closed one eye as she commanded, "Make a pose."
"What kind of pose should we make?" Kagura asked flatly. "Can I punch weirdo girl in the face?"
"HELL NO!" Christine snarled.
Umi stuttered for the umpteenth time, "Y-You can pretend you're f-fighting."
Kagura still didn't trust Umi, but she mumbled, "Okay." She lifted her arms up, as if she was about to attack the older girl. Christine did the same thing, only she spread her arms out wide, looking like she wanted a hug.
Umi pressed a button on top of the camera, taking a picture of them "fighting". The bright flash almost caused the girls to shut their eyes tightly.
They changed their poses; Umi took another picture.
She took about a dozen or two more pictures before calling it quits, "Alright, I think we're done for today."
"Wait, that's it?" Kagura furrowed a red brow.
Umi glanced at her from the corner of her eye, "Yes, that's it. Don't worry, though; you'll be posing more tomorrow."
"Oi, lady," Gintoki interjected. "How much are you willing to pay us? Because you never mentioned that when we were still at my house."
"Oh!" Umi gasped in realization. "You're right! I didn't say anything about it!" She stuffed her hand into her pocket, and pulled out an envelope. She added, "Here you are."
Gintoki didn't show it, but he was eager to take that envelope away from her hands. The second Umi handed Gintoki the envelope, he immediately grabbed it, and turned around before opening it up.
He couldn't wait to see how much was in that rectangular packet. If he had enough, he would buy the latest issue of JUMP, get a chocolate parfait, and possibly get new repairs for his scooter. Gintoki hadn't ridden on his scooter for months, because he accidentally slammed it into a brick wall. He tried getting Hiraga Gengai to fix it, but Gengai informed him that he was too busy making a new robot. Gintoki was obviously pissed at that. Gintoki would've gotten some repairs the last time he was paid, but he apparently forgot about it.
He opened the packet up, and counted the money in it…only to find out that he received about 6,000 yen. Gintoki's mouth ajar, and he faced Umi with an angry expression on his face, "OI! Why're you only giving me 6,000 yen?! I thought you were rich!"
Umi rolled her eyes, "Just because I work at a model industry, doesn't mean I'm rich."
Gintoki grumbled inaudible words as he put the envelope in his kimono. Kagura piped up, "At least we have enough to buy a huge meal, uh-huh!"
Shinpachi half-smiled, and turned to the girls before telling them, "Why don't you two change back into your regular clothes?"
They both nodded briefly, and headed back to the dressing room to change their clothes. Shinpachi saw the same look on Gintoki's face, and frowned, "Gin-san, you should be happy Fuzunakari-san paid us at all."
Gintoki pouted like a child who wanted some candy.
Moments later, Christine and Kagura returned, wearing their regular clothes; Kagura announced as she held her parasol over her shoulder, "We're ready to go, glasses."
"Don't call me 'glasses'," Shinpachi glared at her. Just how many times have people called him "glasses"? Probably over a hundred times. You'd think Shinpachi would get used to it by now, but apparently, he isn't.
Shinpachi turned to the magenta-haired woman, and smiled, "We'll see you tomorrow, Fuzunakari-san."
"See you later," Umi replied, and soon, the Yorozuya and the siblings left.
As they were heading out of the building, Christine asked Shinpachi, "Shinpachi-san, do you trust Kari-san already?"
Shinpachi arched a brow, "Why do you ask that?"
"I'm just curious." Christine didn't exactly want to tell him that Umi was up to something (Because Christine didn't really know if that was true or not), but she was definitely going to inform him about that later.
The teenage boy narrowed his brown eyes, and faltered, "Well, I can't exactly say I trust her, but Fuzunakari-san seems like a nice person."
"Hm," Christine hummed.
She thought as she averted her gaze away from him, Yeah, I DON'T believe Kari-san is a nice person.
Meanwhile, in Umi's office…
Umi sat in her desk, and heaved a sigh as she ran her fingers through her short hair. She picked up a pen, and began writing on a piece of paper as she mumbled, "I better write down my list of errands for today; that way, I won't forget what I'm supposed to do."
As she wrote down the errands she was going to do for today, she suddenly heard a masculine voice.
"Did you get those girls, Umi-chan?"
Umi jumped at the voice, and swiftly turned her head around, only to see a man behind her. The man had short, jet-black hair, and a little bit of facial; his eyes were black as well. Umi sighed again, but glared at him, "Don't scare me like that."
"But I like scaring you, Umi-chan," He snickered.
A shiver went up her spine. She didn't like it when he added the honorific of "chan". She didn't mind the honorific, mind you, but the way he said it crept her out a little.
Another man entered her office. He was actually the first man's twin brother, but the only difference was that he didn't have any facial hair. He asked rhetorically as he gave the woman a smirk, "Umi, you don't like being scared?"
Umi frowned, "How many times do I have to tell you two? You both need to address me as 'Fuzunakari-san'."
The first man rolled his eyes, "Why should we? 'Umi-chan' sounds better."
"Because we're not friends; you know that!" Umi retorted.
The second man grinned, changing the subject, "Anyway, you didn't answer my brothers' question. Did you get those teenage girls?"
"I-I did," Umi muttered as a drop of sweat trickled down her cheek. "But why did you want them to model?! They're only teenagers! You know I didn't want to this!"
"Heh," The first man chuckled. "We told you; we're going to be using them for something very special."
Umi silently gulped, "Wh-What're you going to do to them? You're not p-planning on killing them, are you?"
"No…we're planning on doing something…a little extreme. Umi…" He leaned towards her, and whispered as he touched her earlobe with his fingers, "…we made an agreement, remember?"
She tilted her head slightly; when she didn't answer immediately, the second man whispered as well, "We agreed that if you convinced those brats to model, we would pay you. After all, you told us that you've been having problems with money recently, right?"
Another gulp went down Umi's throat, "Y-Yes…"
Both men smirked at the expression on her face, and they moved away from her as the second man added, "We'll return tomorrow, Umi-chan." Right after that, they exited her office.
Umi clenched her teeth, and gripped on her hair as she thought, I never should've made an agreement with them.
Firstly, I apologize if this whole chapter was confusing. While I was writing this chapter, it was getting frustrating up to the point where I nearly pulled my hair. This was probably the most difficult chapter to write yet. And please don't ask questions such as "Who are the men at the end?" or "Why is Umi making Kagura and Christine model?", because it will be explained in either the next chapter, or the chapter after that. There is a reason why Umi's making Christine and Kagura model. You'll also find out who the two men are in (Probably) the next chapter.
Anyway, this is the start of the "Famous Model Arc". It was a little hard describing Umi's features; you can go to my Deviantart, and see what she looks like (If you want to).
My answer from the previous question: Strawberries and watermelon.
Question of the update: What's your favorite language?
Hope you enjoyed chapter 26! :)