"All men's instincts, all their impulses in life, are efforts to increase their freedom. Wealth and poverty, health and disease, culture and ignorance, labor and leisure, repletion and hunger, virtue and vice, are all terms for greater or less degree of freedom." -Leo Tolstoy

Perfection. There was no other adjective to describe them. The photos were as perfect as perfect can be. After all, Beauty was Daki's entire life. She had only one goal, same as her brother's, and that's to live a better life, to get out of the slums–to the best way to do that thanks to her natural beauty – was to be perfect. Not great, not good; perfect. Her biggest fear was losing this perfection and thus losing her value along with it, because to be imperfect is to be ugly and to be ugly is to be completely worthless.

which is why...

She hated them... she hated them... she hate. hate. hated these pictures. She wanted to scream, wanted to break the camera and start over but she didn't. She kept the comments to herself, uttering the obligatory 'they're fine' to Suzuka who offered some ideas for improvement. The pictures were flawless for the theme, a theme of course being Marin's idea of course since their faces were busted up: "Beauty and the Beast"

Marin said she wanted to exemplify the beauty of the beach and juxtapose it against the imperfections of the models representing pain symbolically. So as Daki scanned through the photos her bruises and cuts lay boldly on camera in hues of blue, red and green. She felt awful. Sure the pictures captured the theme perfectly but...But that's just it. why did she agree to do this she has to be perfect after all, so Why expose her imperfections like this? This theme was antithetical to everything Daki understood about beauty and herself. Was this the way to gain more followers? Now that she thought about it... Marin was the only reason for why she came.

"Daki, you ready?" Suzuka asked swapping out her 24-70mm lens for the 51.4mm lens for portraits.

She glanced back up when Marin called all her friends, Daki worried that this shoot would be a disaster cobbled together last-minute like a goddamn gypsy camp. but to her surprise, Marin's team assembled like the freakin avengers, the pre-planning, props, the equipment, the location, the makeup, hair and even the accessories they brought screamed professionalism.

They loved variety, gave her creative libberty to show off, they didn't come to the beach to force her to pose the same boring way. sure, Suzuka directed her at first but if she the photos weren't to her liking she told Daki to pose however she wanted. The idea was inconceivable. Daki for as long as she could remember was always told how to act, how to speak, by mom, her manager, the kizuki, by the very world! Even at home, she loved her brother more than anything or anyone, but even he treated her very often like a tool. He didn't mean to, she knew deep down he loved her and was just doing what he felt was necessary for their survival. But The feeling of being his forever-slave never went away. What little freedom she thought she had was often an illusion. So many times she thought she was doing something on her own when in reality...it was part of Gyutaros scheming. And on the extremely rare occasions where she did have true freedom to do what she wanted... it would blow up in her face creating some mess for Gyutaro to have to clean up anywasy. Just like how she got jumped and had to be saved again.

"Daki you're stiff." suzuka chimed putting her camera down. Wha? Stiff? She was shocked almost to the point of short-circuiting when Suzuka said that and pointed to Marin for guidance.

Marin, the dolt.

The airhead.

The ever-idiot.

The... the... fucking amazing model is what she was! God, why?! Daki could feel her jealous rage bubbling inside again watching Marin pose so elegant so carefree so... perfect. How?! She was injured too! So how come her flaws don't show like Daki's did? It pissed her off. Marin's entire being pissed Daki off, from the moment she laid eyes on her... and it wasn't until this very instant that she figured out why. It wasn't just because she was pretty and had a nice body it was because she was good. She was simple. Carefree. non-judgemental and GOOD.

There was absolutely zero reason she should've helped Daki, not after her openly hostile behavior and definitely not after the fight. She owed her. For her kindness. For keeping her promise that Gyutaro would be out. For the food she cooked. For protecting her against the mob. She hated Marin and yet... she'd hate it more if she didn't repay her.

If Daki knew one thing it was that pretty people– that is conventionally attractive people– were not common. And Good people were even less common... but to witness an attractive and good person!? They only existed in fairy tales, Marin's existence to her was like a contradiction. She had the power, beauty and the charm to bend ANY man to her will yet... she doesn't. instead, she wastes it on a stupid childish anime obsession.

"Suzuka How about a break?" Daki turned her attention to the voice: petite stature, itty-bitty-titties and the same haughty air of perfectionism that radiates off Daki. There's no mistaking it ... it was the other little diva Marin told her about. Speak of the devil and she shall appear they say... Sajuna AKA Juju was another online persona and model and basically Daki's competition as far as she was concerned.

"I'd like to talk to you in private if that's OK?" Daki raised a delicate eyebrow, what could Sajuna want? She decides to test her, "I'll have to charge you for my time." she smirks her usual picking at her nails.

"Actually, I wanted to talk business with you, if that's OK?" Daki rolled her eyes, "ugh I already told them I don't need a new photographer, my manager handles all that."

"Who said anything about being your photographer? I'm not working for you, I said I wanna talk business..." Sajuna's eyes narrow just that much more, "or does your manager control your mouth too?" Daki's face twitches as Juju side-swipes her shit-test with ease. Guess shes not bitch made after all... not many models wouldn't feel intimidated by Dakis presence she tried to remember what her brother always said when people test you knowing full well who you are ...so what Sajuna had should be worth her while.

"make your pitch quick..." She looked juju up and down "... lil titty committee" she insults dunking on her youthful appearance, Juju scowled visibly, "funny, i thought buying ones looks like they were going out of style were supposed to improve marketability, yet despite your follower count you're not raking in nearly as much as me... sandbags" She countered Daki clenched her jaw, but remained calm, remember what Gyutaro said about being tested, clearly she has a proposition.

"fine... Sajuna." Jujus eyes widened in surprise.

"don't flatter yourself, I only followed you because of Marin's nagging, I hope you won't be a complete waste of time." Sajuna smiles at that, a genuine one, making Daki confused, "oh I'm sure ill be worth you while" she ushers her to a bench where her laptop was.

Marin explained your situation to me briefly, so I went to work and came up with this, to Daki it looked like a graph of her online history, as it steadily increased over the years, " so what's your point? I'm popular."

"you are, but" she clicks another button and even without the explanation Daki knew what she was looking at, "yeah, I have maybe a ⅔ the number of followers you have yet I make triple what you make... so what I propose is–

"You proposing you be my manager instead? Huh? Is that what this is?" Daki snarls at her coldly, juju blinks at first on edge but slowly puts on a serious face, "no Daki, what I'm offering is a partnership, not employment." She scrolls through more spreadsheets to show her, "this is where you currently are, but if you go freelance this is how much you could make." She clicked. And Dakis eyebrows furrowed, I know you think what you have now is a lot of money but it's chump change for what your talent is worth.

That got her attention. "M-my talent?"

"Yeah, normally I would never do this, from what I know you're rude, vulgar and don't take direction well... not to mention you beat up Kitagawa." Juju shudders at the thought. "So i didn't think much of you at all but Kitagawa was adamant," Each insult she dished made Daki wanna beat the shit out of juju too. But she let her continue, "I'm an analytical person, so in the absence of evidence it's easy for me to ignore diamonds in the rough. But Marin swears you're worth it, said nobody works harder than you do, plus i know she has a keen sense for talent. So I'm doing this only because of her, understand?"

The words startle a chortle out of Daki, " wh-what? Marin's a dumb ass! Yeah I admit shes not ugly and..." she narrows her eyes, ".. i admit she is a good model, but she's an airhead."

"I don't disagree. She is a moron." Finally some common ground they both can agree on: Marin's stupidity. "But listen, she may be an idiot, but she has a big heart in that big chest of hers. Even I thought she was insane for bailing your brother out after what you did to her, forking over that much money to a stranger made absolutely no–"

"–She WHAT!?" Now Sajuna jumped from her seat eyes wide again as Daki screamed loud enough for the shoot to pause, Sajuna shooed everyone away, growling at Daki to relax, "I thought you knew?! Marin's an accountant how do you think she's able to pay for all this?"

Daki frowned deeply, "This, sure. But she bailed my brother out too?" they both knew the answer but instead juju waves down kensei, he was reluctant when he realized what they were asking but like an abortion, they pulled the truth out of him piece by piece.

Daki learned She was right about Marin seducing hotaru, but wrong about the reason, she always intended to get him to drop the charges. She also paid for it and told Kagaya to take the credit, "at first i didn't know why, until I saw your house, seriously people are such assholes" Kensei admitted solemnly almost angrily. The neighborhood already hated Daki for beating her up, if they knew Marin bailed Gyutaro out despite it, they'd hate her even more. "But how did she get the money?"

"We all paid." Kensei said simply, "We have a joint account she monitors on our behalf, we pay a portion of our paychecks to it in case of emergencies. Was her boyfriend's idea years ago." She remembers Marin offering her financial services, apparently, she does ALL her friends finances and they all agreed to pay into the fund. Which means it wasn't JUST Marin's money it was their money too! They all wanted to bail her brother out! WHY? why do this for Daki? Why? She could not understand! WHY?!

"F-Fuck!" she coughs. Belatedly, she realizes she's crying and runs to the bathroom before anyone could offer a word of comfort making her feel worse. She never told her brother the whole truth out of embarrassment. He always bitched how Daki couldn't stand on her own two feet without him, so she lied and said Marin beat her up. He never pressed her for details, but he knew it was BS and that she was trying to keep him from murdering who really did it. She did however, genuinely believe they owed the blind man.

He was the only wealthy family on the block-old money too. And while it absolutely sucked to hear they owed him again when they were already stinkin' rich, Gyutaro didn't complain. He did however give her the side-eye when she told him to ease off the Kitagawa-girl Hence why he fixed her car that night and was noticeably much nicer –but now everything's changed. rthey owed everybody now!

She felt like puking, the guilt of dumping more problems on her brother's plate despite doing everything in her power NOT to is almost too much to bare. He'll never trust her with anything after this! He'll tighten the reins and control everything she does from here on out.

if she were a smarter person she might've been able to articulate to herself why she did the things she did and how they seemed justified at the time, and If she were a better person she might've even apologized. But Daki knew she wasn't a good person shes selfish, tempestuous, wanton... and stupid. She's so fucking stupid and weak it hurts. Not only does she need Gyutaro around to protect her but now she needs Marin too?! She smacks her forward multiple times in the bathroom stall until she hears soft knocking on the door.

" fuck off" she half-heartedly warns

"Well if you still have time for threats I suppose you have time to listen to the rest of my proposal." Came juju's unconcerned voice

Daki said nothing just stared at the floor her hands and arms crossed defensively, as Sajuna continued her pitch,"I subscribed to all of your accounts, yes even your OF account. you have a gift, sex work is what we call... a demystifying industry. Once you've done something, the mystery element disappears and clients are off to the next... novelty" she added cautiously but Daki could hear the digust, "but that wasn't the case for you at all. What you sell isn't sex, that's something people can get from anywhere, what you're actually selling is YOU something people can't get anywhere. In the world of cosplay What we sell are two things, passion and authenticity. I compared your earlier content and it seemed like you lost that over time... I think it's due to mismanagement, you're probably better off making your own decisions."

Daki's head lifted at that, "My own decisions? You're saying I should be my own boss?" Sajuna did not seem nearly as concerned with this idea as she did however citing simply, "Well yeah, Kitagawa said you told her you do all the groundwork, right? What me and my sister are offering you is a collab, we can work out the finer details later, but essentially, you get autonomy to make whatever content you want and pocket as much money as the work you put in, and we'll offer you access to our equipment and studio, I'll even teach you everything I know, sound good?"

"Why are you offering me this? You trying to steal my fan base? It was a genuine question, she was in no position to give sass at this point.

"While an unintended consequence of working together may be that some fans may jump ship, that's not why I'm doing this. You have appeal- sexy appeal and you're raw, but you lack autonomy, we have the autonomy but as you can see I lack the ...versatility you have for cosplays," Daki couldn't help the shadow of a smirk curl on her lips. " you mean you have the body of a little boy"

Sajunas silence spoke volumes. "Why... doesn't she just model with you? Why is she wasting her talent like this? She's obviously fucking good at it." Daki whispers finally bringing her hands up to cup her face.

Juju is quiet for a long time and but when she speaks again her tone softens, switching from business to personable dropping Marin's surname for her first, "Marin she...hasn't been herself since Gojo passed. She has no passion for modeling, cosplay, conventions or anything to put it bluntly. Gojo was her-was OUR seamstress- without him she just, lost all drive. She still loves anime and wants to open up a studio some day, but she chose a completely different path. In truth we were all surprised, you must be real special because none of us expected her to do this again, it's why we all came to support her... but now i see why she did it; forgiving you, bailing your brother out, all of it. I think she sees her old self in you." Daki could hear Juju shuffling her feet behind the stall her tone uplifting a bit, "she told me to contact you because she says you don't quit, no matter what... that you're more reliable to keep going, because you had someone in your life to keep fighting for I assume she meant your brother" Daki shakes her head ruefully in the stall, pressing her hands in her eyes to keep from crying again.

"It's the boyfriend." she murmurs sorrowfully, "She told me." When Marin said she understood Daki's feelings she dismissed her stone-heartedly but she really did understand. She really was listening. Daki clears her throat takes a deep breath and opens the stall doors "My manager cannot know about this."

"I can't guarantee that, fans don't keep comments to themselves. But on the flip side you'll be making so much you won't need him, because with popularity comes other perks, sponsorship deals, agencies reaching out to you, gifts, celebrities following you, and other deals like for hair, nails and makeup. Do you need to talk it over with your brother?"

She remembers from a young age, when her mom was alive, She was always graceful, she never caused problems or voiced her needs, She might have been mean from time to time but she refrained from showing negative or "ugly" emotions on her beautiful face she took what was given to her, because the alternative was to get beaten and reprimanded like her brother. But after mom died and Gyutaro assumed mantel as parent it was a different kind of a curse- if you will- watching him grind his life away, shouldering all the burden while she... while She was... nothing but a burden on him.

"I'll do it."

But not any more.

"So what did you do all day that you couldn't text me not one single fucking time?" Not like it was an abnormal greeting from her pissy big brother. He was sitting on a stool at the island table, their kitchen of course being the first room upon entering their house.

"Shut up. Here's your food." Was her greeting, slapping the container so hard on the table she hoped it cracked and his food spilled out. "So, what'd you find?"

"She's not a spy brother, she just really wants to be ...friends?"

He raised an eyebrow at that before scoffing, "tch.. So im right she is stupid then." He seemed satisfied his suspicions were confirmed.

"Yeah... stupid..." Daki trailed, which didn't go unnoticed, "what is it, something else I need to know?"

"they invited me out again to do more shopping, and...they wanted me to invite you." That earned his full attention, he turned his entire body at her. "willingly?"

"Willingly."

He scratched his head lightly with a confused grimace like a joke where he didn't understand the punchline, "They know who I am?" Daki found that question a tough one to answer. What he really meant was: 'do they understand what they're asking for is a big mistake?' she got a weird impression they kinda did and didn't at the same time. Or more specifically, Marin did and the others trusted her decision like a ringleader. Something that definitely could blow up in their faces.

"You probably shouldn't go," she said placing her beach bag down, he narrowed his eyes "why?" It was more accusatory than curious, the kind that demanded a serious explanation.

"Because I can handle it, you'd just ruin everything" she replied just as agressive.

"So you're saying you don't want my ugly mug there tearing shit up. Goddammit, ume, can we not do this again? You know how it is, find out if she's gonna be a problem, and then leave it, you said she ain't a problem so why bother? you know you can't hide what we are forever, eventually they'll find out and bounce just like the rest or turn on us when they see what we are."

"What YOU still are, you mean!" she clapped back, "I fucking made it! You don't have to do–"

"DON'T!" he pointed his index finger at her in warning, "Well Marin was right about one thing ..." now it was Dakis turn to clasp her hands over her mouth in worriment. Her eyes searched her brother's face almost in forgiveness. She didn't mean to say it knowing how he'd react but both siblings were really– really bad at hiding secrets from the other. It eventually always came out one way or another. He looked shocked at first before composing himself inhaling through his nose again like a bull, his starting to turn neck red with rage, "Sister that fucking bitch has got to go! Just trust me, shoplift some shit on your shopping trip and see how they react. Insult them. Fight them. It doesn't matter what you do, just give them the message. Take before you're taken Daki, I keep telling you–"

"She knows what we fucking are brother you're not listening to me! You never listen to me! I'm telling you I did everything you said I shoplifted, I insulted them I instigated fights and she still invited us!" she points to his tray, "she fucking cooks for us! They cleaned up our house and don't ask anything in return! they're honest! Surely even you know by now!" This was the part of the argument where she shrieked at him jumping up and down like an angry child to get her point across. He always hated this, like talking to the wall, except this time the stakes were higher. He was losing his sister to that she-devil living next door.

He scratched leaving a trail of red on his chest, growling at her in boiling rage, "8 neighbors, Daki. We've had 8 fucking people live next door to us in the last 3 years! She's not special! I keep telling you but you're just so damn–"

"–What stupid!?"

"YES!" he finally admits in a boisterous shout, strangling the air as a substitute for throttling her, she felt her self-esteem crashing as he threw his hands up walking away in fury into his room.

"Fuck you Gyutaro!"

"Whatever." Was the slightly muffled reply she heard from his bedroom, it made her so mad she runs to the bathroom grabs his dirty clothes she knew he always left, and dumps them on his head, "What about repaying our debts?!"he stood up cursing shaking the nasty clothes she tossed at him, now red in the face he yells. "What about debts, Ume!? He only ever used that name when he was pissed or serious.

"We owe her! You could stand to show up to one fucking outing, asshole!"

"Do you have the fucking brain of a squirrel? You literally just told me not to go with you! In fact you were the one who wanted to throw all her food when she came the first time! Hell, you didn't even want me looking at her! So what gives, huh?!"

"You're the only squirrel brain here!" she leaves his room but he rushes after her grabbing her wrist and flipping her to face him, "what the fuck is wrong with you, ume!? Why do you fucking hate me all of a sudden? I did everything you asked! I was nice to her, I'm still working on paying back the blind guy down the street–"

"YOU DON'T GET IT! WASN'T HIM, IT WAS HER. SHE PAID FOR YOU,GYU, SHE AND HER FRIENDS!"

That stopped him dead in his tracks, "she paid for my photo shoot... and for my shopping trip... for everything." Daki clenches her jaw but wavers threateningly from the strain as her brother tries to intercede, "Ume"

"She was the one who got hotaru-"

"-Ume-"

"-to drop the charges and protected me when i got beat up-"

"-UME STOP!" He took her in his arms hugging her tightly "shh.. i get it, you don't have to say anymore" It was the half-pleading nature of his tone that made her burst into tears, "SHE TOOK CARE OF ME WHEN I WAS ALONE BECAUSE. YOU. WEREN'T. HERE! I'm sorry! I'm sorry I fucked up!" she shoved him and ran to her room.