"What an interesting choice!"
"Yes, pairing the woman's classic beauty with the man's mismatched exoticism, Aino clearly knows what she's doing."

Rei couldn't help but feel annoyed, and slightly uncomfortable, with the conversations that floated her way as the crew of the photo shoot milled around setting up. She couldn't really blame anyone other than herself, though, for agreeing to be one of Minako's models for her debut clothing line. Why Yusheng also agreed, was a complete mystery.

As she sat under bright lights in one corner of the studio a colorful man in his thirties, who clearly knew his craft, applied just enough makeup to her face to even her out without making her look like she tried too hard. Yusheng sat a few feet to her left and seemed to be undergoing the same process, administered by an attractive brunette. It didn't bother her, mostly.

Luckily, Minako chose that minute to sweep into the room and start declaring that it was time for the shoot. She ran over to Rei and Yusheng, jumping up and down with excitement as she appraised them.

"You guys look so good! Man, I am not bad at this, am I?"

Rei rolled her eyes, well used to Minako's ego, while Yusheng leaned in conspiratorially.

"You know," he said, looking around, "You're going to have to compete with Schuler in the fashion houses of Crystal Tokyo."

Minako stepped back, mock horror crossing her face. "Absolutely not! I will not be defeated by the likes of him! Lets go!" With that, she and her lead photographer started discussing colors and angles at the speed of light, and Rei and Yusheng were led onto the set.

The theme Minako had chosen for her debut was "Not Letting Work Make You Boring". Her goal was to design office clothes that were as colorful and exciting as they could be without being technically out of bounds, and the motif for the photo shoot was ultra modern office furniture with models being lazy all over them.

Thus, Rei suffered through two and a half hours of being posed on top of chairs and tables in positions that no one really used when they were being lazy, while Yusheng sprawled out on the ground, pretended to sleep on a briefcase, and was "crushed" under stacks of paperwork.

When they were done, Minako squealed and gave everyone hugs as she congratulated them. Rei glanced at Yusheng as he fidgeted with his bright blue jacket.

"What, not cut out to be a male model?" she asked, teasing in her eyes.

Yusheng deadpanned. "My back hurts and I can't feel my face under the makeup."

"Oh?" Rei stepped in close to him and adjusted his lapels. "I thought you looked pretty good up there. And more importantly, thank you for not letting me do this by myself."

Grinning, Yusheng shrugged. "I'm not even going to act like it was completely out of the goodness of my heart. Mina showed me some of the designs, and when I saw how short some of your skirts were going to be, I couldn't say no."

"Figures."