Chapter 256 - Broken Art
Mano-chan skillfully wore various costumes and showed off different poses on the bed.
Now she was wearing a gym uniform and bloomers, on all fours with her rear thrust up.
The fabric dug in so deeply it made one want to turn themselves in, her buttocks slightly spilling out, her panties peeking through.
Even so, this middle school girl was really getting into it.
"That's surprising."
"What is?" Mano-chan tilted her head.
"I mean, you were basically dragged here, so I thought you'd be crying and screaming more. Especially since I'm making you wear such weird outfits, I was prepared for you to not even talk to me."
"I'm used to this kind of thing."
"..."
"Don't make that face. I don't mean I'm used to sexual favors. I've been doing cosplay since a long time ago."
"Ah... your Oyaji's work. Did he make you shoot image videos too, Mano-chan?"
"Nope. Even before that kind of work, I had chances to wear all sorts of costumes."
Had she been doing cosplay as a hobby?
As he blinked in surprise, Mano-chan gave a mischievous smile.
"I was an actress, you know."
As if muttering to herself, Ayako-chan slowly sat up and settled into a triangle sit on the bed.
"You mean a child actor?"
"Back when my dad was making normal movies, I often played the lead. I got to wear a lot of different costumes."
"So that Oyaji was a film director after all?"
"That was a long time ago. When I was in early elementary school."
According to Mano-chan, that good-for-nothing Oyaji was originally a director who made art-oriented films.
And Mano-chan's mother seemed to be the type of person called a stage mother, someone who would do anything to make her child a celebrity.
The couple, a struggling film director and a stage mother, dreamed of making their child a great actress.
They shot several films starring Mano-chan—believing in the day the whole family would become stars together.
"I was too little to really understand, but I somehow knew my dad was making beautiful images. No one died, and the women didn't get naked. That kind of movie. Since I was the lead, there were occasionally social issue films about child abuse or bullying as themes."
"...That's the complete opposite of now."
"Yeah. The type of movie that makes the least money."
Well, that made sense. No matter the entertainment, the more highbrow it is, the less it sells.
An idol's photo book sells more than a pure literature novel packed with beautiful prose.
What charts on Oricon isn't classical music, but pop songs with handshake tickets.
We live in that kind of world.
"When the two of them were chasing their dreams together, of course they ran out of money. My dad's income was unstable, and my mom's part-time job could only support us so far. So one day, my dad—through an acquaintance's connection—decided to shoot a junior idol image video."
So that was the prelude to ruin.
I silently listened to Mano-chan's story.
"My dad filmed a girl almost the same age as me, looking disgusted. After work, he'd drink heavily and complain that he was scum. The final blow came when the image video made money. ...It made a bigger profit than all the movies my dad had ever made combined. My dad's art, my mom's dreams, my acting—all of it lost to a girl's naked body."
Girls' bodies are amazing, aren't they, Mano-chan said with a seductive smile.
As if cursing herself. As if loathing the part of herself that was included in "girls."
"I think my dad and mom both went crazy after that. Like a switch had flipped, they started doing junior idol work, and they kept pushing into more and more extreme territory. And before I knew it, there was no turning back..."
Large teardrops spilled from the girl's eyes.
"I hate my dad now. But I hate the people in the world who broke him even more. Why can't everyone be interested in proper movies? They'll pay money for videos of a half-naked child lying around, but why?"
I gently reached out and wiped the corner of her eye with my fingertip.
"...Sorry for making you listen to such a dark story."
"Everyone has times they want to vent. Don't worry about it."
"Hehe. Thanks. Nakamoto-san, you might be like my dad was back when he was a film director."
"...Me?"
Being told I resemble a father who sold off his daughter isn't exactly flattering.
"My dad was cool back when he was a director."
"Is that so. I can't even imagine it."
"...Maybe I want to go back to those days."
"—Got it."
He pointed his smartphone camera at Mano-chan, who looked bewildered.