"Huh? U-Ugly?"
Shinomiya's expression froze solid. Her brain immediately went into overdrive: Wait, is Akira-kun's type actually... unconventional? Like, he doesn't dig beauties but prefers plain-looking girls? If that was the case, she'd have absolutely zero hope!
But Kuroha Akira wasn't speaking from personal preference here.
"Okay, 'ugly' is too strong. Let's go with 'plain' instead."
I mean, Shinomiya's natural good looks were just that overpowered. No matter how badly you did her makeup, she'd never actually become ugly. That was like trying to lower the level of a maxed-out SSR character—it just doesn't work.
"The main goal is to let Shion move around freely in public and reduce her exposure before her official debut."
Hide your true power, play dumb, lower everyone's expectations—this was all groundwork for the classic "turns out she was actually a hidden boss all along" moment later. So that when the time came, she could pull off that ultimate move: She gave main character energy the moment she arrived, and her smile? Absolute waifu material—it literally broke the internet.
"Remember last time we went out together? Wherever we went, people turned their heads to stare at you. At the mall especially, some strangers even came up asking to take photos with you."
And then at checkout, the store clerk had actually asked if Shinomiya would be interested in some kind of collaboration—taking try-on photos or something. They even offered free clothes in exchange, because her presence alone boosted foot traffic. Like, she was basically a walking billboard.
Kuroha Akira had turned it down, though. That kind of small-time gain wasn't even worth mentioning.
For a non-entertainment industry amateur, pulling that kind of "return rate"—the head-turning effect—purely based on looks and figure was seriously rare. She was already getting treatment close to what a moderately famous idol would get when going out in public.
"Um... would it have been better if I'd just refused back then?"
At the time, Shinomiya had been a bit embarrassed too. Seeing that the person asking was a girl, she hadn't refused. But Kuroha Akira had actually been pretty uncomfortable watching that whole scene unfold.
Because those women who took photos with Shinomiya might upload them online. And if those photos started trending, it'd be extremely hard later to separate Shinomiya's "appearance factor" from her actual talent evaluation.
Luckily, the internet in this world wasn't nearly as advanced as his previous life. The customer from the clothing store hadn't posted the photos anywhere online. So far, Shinomiya had managed to stay under the radar.
"It's fine, no real harm done yet. But if you keep being that eye-catching, people are gonna focus way too much on your looks. And you said from the very beginning that you didn't want to show your face, right?"
"Mm..."
Shinomiya's heart swelled with emotion. Kuroha Akira had genuinely accepted that "unreasonable request" from day one. Then he'd firmly incorporated it into the plan without once trying to convince her to change her mind.
He was truly thinking about her best interests, 100%. Her favorability meter was climbing on its own again—ding ding ding.
"Sure, we could go full stealth mode with sunglasses, masks, and hats. But that approach is a bit too extra. Doing that before becoming famous might come off as arrogant. So going forward, we'll have Miss Kurenai use her makeup skills to lower Shion's attractiveness down to 'average civilian' level."
"Got it—that makes perfect sense. Then I'll leave it to Miss Kurenai."
Even if Kuroha Akira hadn't explained, Shinomiya would have accepted his proposal without question. But the fact that he did explain? That just cranked her favorability up even more.
Not that it mattered at this point. Shinomiya's favorability had already blasted past any measurable limit. Even if Kuroha Akira did something particularly awful to her, it wouldn't drop—it would probably rise instead.
That's just how the "lovestruck brain" worked. Whatever her favorite person said or did was automatically correct. She was completely in that phase of total blindness.
Of course, this also meant Kuroha Akira's whole "favorability control" strategy had completely backfired. It was completely useless now!
"Lowering attractiveness with makeup... I've never tried that before."
Makeup was usually about hiding flaws and enhancing good features. Deliberately doing the opposite was super rare—that only happened when a complete beginner messed up their cosmetics.
"I remember corpse makeup is closer to special effects makeup, right? It might be a bit of a hassle, but could you apply it thickly and slightly alter her face shape? Also, make her skin a bit darker, add a few small imperfections here and there."
Honestly, a lot of people's appearances aren't bad—it's just that certain small details are a little off, which drags down the overall impression. For example: pale skin and good bone structure, but the eyes are slightly too big? Or good eyes and face shape, but the skin is a bit too dark? Stuff like that.
Kohaku-nee understood what Kuroha Akira was going for. After briefly thinking about what kind of cosmetics she'd need, she said confidently,
"Got it. I'll discuss the details with my other self, but it should be doable. We can make it look pretty natural—not obviously 'made up.' Just depends on how much we need to lower Shion-chan's attractiveness. We'll have to test the actual effect."
"Perfect. That's a huge help."
With level 4 makeup proficiency and related talents, she could probably even turn Shinomiya into a zombie if she wanted to. Seriously reliable.
"So once Shion can go outside safely, you can start evaluating the results of this month's training."
Evaluate the results!
Those words jolted Shinomiya awake like a splash of cold water.
Finally—she could prove her worth to Akira-kun!
"I know I said before that we'd wait until Shion was proficient before sending audition files to voice actor agencies, to avoid your appearance becoming a factor. But now that we have a way to lower your attractiveness, let's change the strategy. You'll participate in live auditions instead."
"You mean... it's time to join the new talent recruitment rounds for voice actor agencies?"
Shinomiya's voice wavered with a hint of nervousness. She'd only trained for one month—and it was self-study at home. Could she really get chosen by an agency like this?
What if she failed... Would Akira-kun abandon her?
No. Absolutely no way she could fail.
She had to succeed, no matter what!
Seeing Shinomiya shift into full battle mode—eyes burning with determination—Kuroha Akira patted her shoulder and told her to relax.
"You're right, but don't be nervous. This time, our goal isn't necessarily for you to get into a voice actor agency through this. Think of it more as... 'challenging' them."
"Challenging?"
"Exactly. Participating in live auditions. Every voice actor agency has voice acting tests for recruiting new talent. You'll take those tests and try to pass as many as possible. That way, you'll have more options to choose from later."
The real purpose, though, was to farm practical experience.
Recently, Shinomiya's voice acting proficiency growth rate had slowed down noticeably. It was still increasing, which was already impressive—she was purely self-studying at home, after all, and the only reason she was still progressing was her S-rank talent squeezing every drop of potential.
But a lot of people hit a wall at some point. They get stuck and can't advance for the rest of their lives.
Kuroha Akira, however, was a king of impatience.
Now that he'd successfully recruited Tashiro Kurenai, he wanted to see Shinomiya debut as soon as possible.
So to further accelerate the growth rate of her voice acting proficiency, there was only one way: start stacking practical experience points.
Feel the atmosphere of live voice acting. Experience the brutal reality of competing against others. That way, Shinomiya would evolve under pressure—like a shonen protagonist getting their first real fight.