Chapter 2: Replacing Iori

Being Iori for a few days straight was actually pretty fine. No more worrying too much about his life as a manager, CEO, producer… Thankfully Miki was covering for him!

But it was time for the festival, where he would have to be Iori, dressed up as a maid for the maid café bit for the class the daughter was in. While Toshiro didn’t have to set up the class itself, he did have to dress up as Iori as a maid.

Thankfully… Kasumi also joined.

“Cheer up, ‘Iori’… It’s just one day! Plus… If we kiss their cheeks, they’ll give a good rating!” Kasumi was oddly chipper about this, but that meant that she really wanted to help Toshiro to be Iori, as they planned.

It was rather funny seeing how the two practically contrasted off of each other… the modestly-chested, grumpy blonde girl standing next to the cowmilker-chested, cheery, short black haired girl. The personality part might just be Toshiro’s annoyance and age, but she couldn’t help but to wonder if her actual daughter felt the same way as himself when not on camera.

“Man… if only it stopped at just kissing their cheeks.” She grumbled, before shaping her mouth to the imitation of a duck’s as she proceeded to do a mocking impression of a creepy customer. “Excuse me! Would it be okay if I sniffed Iori’s armpits for just a few seconds? It’s for totally innocent reasons, duheheheheh~ Ugh… Feels like I’m back in my younger days again.”

“Just smile for them, they are not gonna risk being expelled over harassing you.” Kasumi replied with a big smile. “Plus… People were waiting for this and honestly… After everything that happened, now I want to see how you fair with it too, ‘Iori’!” Even Kasumi wanted to see it? Better not disappoint her then.

Once they joined the class, they had the teacher to explain them what were the rules. It wasn’t a date, so no getting ‘customers’ to ‘more fun, later’. It was them serving tea and coffee, maybe cake if requested. They were only gonna serve people, not make anything, as others were working on it (including the teacher). And be happy with the customers, it was like a maid café from Akihabara. They could come up with a name for the maid café and so on.

That’s not too bad, at least. She wasn’t really planning for a date today, and thankfully, she didn’t really need to prepare the meals the customers are going to ask. That would’ve made this way too stressful.

Wait, now that she thought about it, did they even have a name for their maid cafe in the first place? It’s only been a few days of him as Iori, and somehow, she never really thought to ask such a question until now.

“W-wait, Kasumi. Did any of us ever decided on a name for our maid cafe? Or did the teacher already had some in mind for us?” ‘Iori’ whispered to her, all while their teacher was in the middle of talking.

“We didn’t… But we can call it ‘the Idol Café’…” Kasumi whispered back to ‘Iori’.

The teacher finished the speech, and honestly who cared about them talking after the basics were given? Not these two girls. Once the teacher went away, they had some time to prepare serving. One of the class students however, went inside to inform them of some news.

“The… The entire school wants to take part of the café… The waiting list is going to the way to the stairs leading to the roof and back down…!” He said, panting after walking a really long distance. “We… We’ll need to get more girls to help you two out…!”

“Huh… Well, that’s expected, I guess, but… It’ll make our jobs much faster if we have more people.” Kasumi said, but the teacher got a bit fed up with this.

After walking outside for a moment, ‘Iori’ and Kasumi would hear her screaming. “The Maid Café event is not a date and it’s not going to be any different than going to one in Akihabara! If any of you are interested into seeing Miyahara-chan, you can see her everyday, she is a regular student!”

“But… I wanna see her in a maid costume!” One student said to the teacher.

“And for that you’ll never get inside our maid café. We’re not here to show her off, we’re here to serve people that want to have a drink! If there’s any of you that want to see her and not get a drink, take a walk!”

A peek around the doorframe showed that the impossibly long waiting line turned into a very small one, only reaching the next class. And lots of annoyed students that waited this long to see Iori. Good on the teacher to protect her ‘idol’ status.

“Maybe we should change the name… Maybe we can call it ‘Serving Sparkles Café…'” Kasumi mused.

She wasn’t even surprised they were all here just for her. And knowing how long the light might’ve stretched, they were likely half of the school attendees too! Yeah, who could’ve thought it that naming their maid cafe so blatantly would’ve caught the eyes of half the schoolboys here?

“So… you were saying, Kasumi?” ‘Iori’ gave her the side-eye, in the clearest, most unsubtle form of ‘I told you so’ she has likely ever seen today. “Not like we could do anything about it anyway. Word’s out, and pretty much half of the boys in our school are hankering to get in. You think they’ll ever ask for the other girls?”

“Fine, I admit defeat… But hey, the teacher saved your bacon there.” Kasumi said. “Maybe we could get more girls to help us, it would go much faster…”

---

Not to say that Toshiro was right about making a stink about the whole café deal but… He was right.

Other girls were called, but the jealously peaked pretty immediately they saw who was inside. So instead being an annoying situation where people outside were gonna be annoying, the helpers inside were the ones being annoying.

The first customer that Iori got was not a really peaceful lad, he wanted to ogle Iori as much as possible, even if it meant getting expelled for doing so. Needless to say, he was a real nightmare to serve, let his own coffee go cold and had to be kicked out by the teacher to make room for more people.

The second was… Iori’s crush, a boy named Hitoshi Isayama. Damn, he looked much prettier, or handsomer, in person. Long flowing red head, a cute smile… A very nice lad. He asked for Iori in specific, and Kasumi quickly warned ‘Iori’ of it. “That’s your crush, ‘Iori’… Isayama-kun… Act accordingly!” She whispered once Iori went to check on Hitoshi.

Wait… That was actually…

‘…uh oh.’

“Oh shit–” She might’ve spent a bit too much of her time grumbling her annoyances to herself, so it was a good thing Kasumi had to explicitly point him out. Almost to the point that she practically chucked the rag she was using to clean a table. Probably towards one of the girls that were making her current day an absolute living hell right now. Not like she cares, considering they weren’t exactly helping out in the first place.

Immediately, ‘Iori’ would try her best to show a cheeful smile, even in spite of her terrible customer experience. “Welcome to the Id–… uhh, t-the Serving Sparkles Cafe! What can I get you, Isayama-san?” She asked.

“Hey, Miyahara-chan.” He smiled at her, a smile that would make most girls to faint. “You look super nice on that…~” He chuckled. “I’d like some oolong tea. Served by you, if possible.”

The request was simple and no one was gonna interrupt them, considering that the other girls went to the bathroom for some reason, leaving only Kasumi and ‘Iori’ inside the room to serve people.

There was no way they went to the bathroom just for a quick break. ‘Iori’ already knew for a fact those girls had already ditched them. Which, in that case… Good. At least they wouldn’t try to screw her over for this one.

“Alrighty! One oolong tea coming right up, Isayama-san!” She cheerfully saluted, before quickly darting to where the drinks were supposed to have been prepared. At least they were labeled for something like this, should be easy enough. And thankfully, it was that easy. The drinks were all labeled, and she picked the right one immediately.

After serving him, he took a sip and smiled. “Hey, listen… I wanna talk to you after the craziness of the festival goes away. I’m sorry I couldn’t talk before, when you asked me, but I’ll be free once this thing is over. As you can see, I’m not using any school clothes, I had to some… Uh… Things. I’ll explain more later. What would be a good day for you?” He asked.

Iori wanted to confess to him, it seemed. But it appears that this time, Toshiro had to carry the torch for his daughter. And it would be a date, apparently, so might as well too!

‘Oh for the love of…’

This was the absolute worst timing for her to temporarily take over Iori’s life! Something like this was what her daughter would have attended over, broken knee be damned! Sure, there was a chance she would probably fumble her first date with the guy, but the last thing a father would want is to cockblock her own daughter from dating such a nice person!

Damn it. She probably should’ve seen this coming, but… not this soon! Even just having his plans be anytime but today sounds like miracle.

“Oh, uhhh… I think I might be free this weekend. I don’t really have any recording sessions or photoshoots, so once Saturday rolls around, I’ll be more than free for whatever you’ve got in mind!” She answered. Every fiber of her own being was trying it’s best not to visibly embarrass herself…

“That sounds fine to me, Miyahara-chan. I’ll come to your place, pick you up. No need to worry about paying anything. Dad always said that men were the one paying the dates…” He chuckled.

Well, Toshiro’s dad said the same thing, and he did with Miki’s dates, and still did it years after… But in any case, it didn’t seem like Toshiro blew his cover as Iori, since he kept drinking and smiling next to her. It appeared that he was recovering from some sort of sickness, due to the baggy clothes. Still a nice looking lad, a really nice guy.

“I’ll text you when I leave my home. Okay?” He said, finishing the tea and standing up, kissing her cheek. “I can’t wait for our date…” And left in a very mysterious way. Toshiro knew what this was, he did multiple times with Miki, leaving the girl wondering and wanting for more… The tactic was very effective as after 20 or so years, nice guys like Hitoshi were still using it.

‘Fuck, fuck…’

She needed to pretend she was caught off guard from that sudden kiss. The Toshiro inside this Iori double might’ve seen it coming from a mile away, but knowing how much she has a crush on the young man, it was best to act appropriately. If only to dissuade any potential suspicions of herself.

“A… Ah… oh shit!” Her fingers gently traced the area that Isayama’s lips made contact with, looking rather stunned while almost dropping the empty cup in her hands. Her hands darted to catch it in her panic, seemingly a second away from shattering into several pieces on the floor.

Her eyes darted around the room, trying to make sure no one managed to spot her little fumble, before quickly excusing herself back to the cafe’s preparation room… That was more than convincing for everyone here, right? The reaction was perfect, and only a few people were actively looking at her, including Kasumi, who gave her a thumbs up, long after the boy was gone.

The third customer was gonna be alright, until the girls returned to the room. They didn’t drop the serving, but went to the teacher to complain that they should get paid for the services. The teacher laughed at them and patted their heads, mocking them in a way that would be a ‘serves you right for saying this’.

Of course they took it out on Iori and Kasumi. One of them went insane and grabbed a cup of hot coffee and immediately dropped on Iori’s customer! The absolutely unhinged behavior of this girl!

The teacher immediately stepped in and kicked her out of the room, with the other girls following suit. What a day, and she didn’t do anything to the guy.

“S-Sorry, mister…” Kasumi apologized.

As the day continued, the teacher asked Iori to stop serving people and let Kasumi handle it. And somehow, just having her around was worse as she was incredibly clumsy, kept tripping over and getting orders wrong. Not to say she was lazy but without Iori, she was pretty much useless.

The teacher let ‘Iori’ back and the rest of the day was fine. Plenty of cleaning the tables and the floor though.

---

“I’m so done… I don’t even want to be near school for a week…” Kasumi was fake crying, real crocodile tears, as she was annoyed with her own performance while working solo. “I dunno why I was so bad when the teacher asked you to go take a break…!” Fake or not, Kasumi definitely had every right to cry with her experience in serving these customers.

Barring the costumers or the extra girls that were brought in for ‘help’, ‘Iori’ was able to provide a decent, if essentially satisfactory service. Kasumi’s service, however, was anything but satisfactory. The poor girl looked like she was a new hire on her first week in BurgerLunch!

“It didn’t help that those girls kept screwing us over when their paycheck weaseling failed… but if you ask me? This sort of hectic service was probably a bit much for one person.” ‘Iori’ tried to reassure her, gently patting her friend on the back. “Trust me, when I did my part, I had just as much of a shit time as you. I didn’t expect it to be this bad, though…”

“I’m not suggesting anything next year…!” She loudly complained. “I’d rather get a real job if this is the crap we had to deal with… It was essentially the two of us…”

But hey, the day was done. Mission accomplished, so to speak. No one noticed that Iori was slightly different than usual and she even managed to get a date with the crush done. Overall, not too bad. And the actual best part of it all? The worst of today was over! Regardless of what comes next for the rest of the afternoon, it can only go up from here on out.

“Kasumi… If you’re unlucky, an actual job could end up being worse than this. It depends on where you’d end up working at.” ‘Iori’ said, seemingly unsure of how she was going to break the news to the poor girl. “Our time here just managed to have the stars aligned for so many things to go wrong. Even if I felt like the cafe’s name wasn’t helping us either…”

Kasumi sighed. “Yeah… I guess I’m to blame for that one…”

The rest of the day was just fine. They dropped the maid outfits, letting someone else handle it, probably the others that agreed to it. The festival itself was nice, there was plenty of food to eat, and several expositions, including one that was about the history of the school.

One class did an expo of the ‘Story of Idols in Japan’, mentioning Toshiro by name and his band as well. Keizo, Kazuo, Toshiro and Rikiya were the ‘TKRK’ band, that topped the charts back in the 90s. There were even pics of them on stage! Ah the good old times…

“Oh shit… That’s your father, isn’t it, ‘Iori’? He looks so young!” Kasumi pointed how Toshiro was as pretty as Hitoshi was, just with blonde hair. “Who made this expo? They went deep on it!”

Then a boy in a nice attire and glasses stepped in. “That would be me.”

“Oh… It’s Noda-kun!” Kasumi said. “Iori, I don’t think you remember Noda-kun but he’s massive fan of yours!”

He smiled. “Oh, please. I’m a fan of the idol industry itself. Noda Junzo.” Junzo presented himself. “A big fan of both your father and yours.”

Wait, was this the guy that had a crush on Iori? This was no crush, it was him being a massive fanboy of the style itself.

“Consider this expo as a way to repay for you blessing our school with your style, looks and voice, Miyahara-chan.” He said, smiling a lot.

‘Ohhhhh, fuck.’

The resident idol aficionado just happened to be into… Wait, he’s not even into his own daughter? Did Toshiro managed to catch that correctly? He’s just a fan of the idol industry itself? He’s acting too normal to be someone that has a crush for her, so that theory could be thrown out the window. Thankfully.

He could at least share the same sort of feelings this young man had towards the industry, even if the way he portrayed their history to be a bit cleaner than what he would prefer. But then again, he was likely working off of confirmed public information when he made this expo, so it’s not like Toshiro could blame the guy.

“If you’re gonna inspire a bunch of guys and girls here to be idols one day, then I guess an expo like this would be it. Heheh.” In a flash, ‘Iori”s mood seemed to turn a bit more chipper compared to before. Even if the ‘before’ part was just a borderline trainwreck of a maid cafe.

With a raised, inquisitively curious eyebrow however, she placed her hands on her hips as she asked, “I didn’t expect you to know about my dad’s past work, though. Aren’t guys like you a bit too young to even remember that time? Hell, I only remembered it from the DVD boxsets Dad showed me…”

At least, that was what she hoped. Iori surely couldn’t have forgotten some of those DVDs she watched, right?

“Of course, Miyahara-chan. I was probably not even a baby when your father had already retired, so most of the information I got was from getting DVDs and other sorts of media on my possession.” Junzo nodded. “The idol industry can be an evil place with its terrible treatment of the idols, actors and actresses and the health issues that it can create to them. But I like to believe that the people can do better things and inspire others to be better. Your father is one of the few people in the industry that cares about their workers and has no scandals or anything similar to it in his long over twenty years of business.” The boy removed his glasses for a moment.

“It is thoroughly impressive what Miyahara-sama was able to accomplish without resorting to cheap tactics and investor pressure, while keeping the company afloat. That makes him one of the few stand outs in the market as a whole, doing the right thing by doing the right thing. For that, I have the utmost respect.” Junzo said, praising the man, then put this glasses back on.

“And of course, he was more than skilled with his dancing and singing. Like you, Miyahara-chan.” He gave the woman a thumbs up.

Kasumi blushed and blinked a few times. “Her dad is really amazing, isn’t it? Such a good man, heh… And gave me my bestie!” Not much else she could have added.

“…h… huh?”

Her reaction might just be indistinguishable compared to the actual Toshiro at this point, considering she was left stunned from such an answer.

Did Toshiro really heard all of that? At the very least, he ran his own media company with a basic level of human decency that, if he were to speak personally, most companies should at least abide to. People, especially of the highly creative kind, aren’t exactly made to be cogs in a machine that one could easily throw away on a whim. They have to be nurtured, cultivated, and grown into something that brings out their best talents, thus providing what’s typically the best entertainment value for the audience.

The fact that the disposable talent aspect alone was and still is a thing in this industry is what bothered him to no end, hence why he always made sure his own company never gave into the temptation nor pressure for immoral behavior. As he said in an investor meeting once, ‘if our business model isn’t to your liking, you are more than welcome to leave’.

It’s certainly made them into a slow-grower in terms of their capital, but it’s much more preferable than looking at his own people like numbers on a sheet. It’s good to see that even the younger generation feels the same way as well. But it did come with some inevitable caveats.

“O-Oh. Uh… well, thank you for saying that. Buuuuut I wouldn’t really say that we’re completely free of trouble…” ‘Iori’ glanced nervously, trying to force a smile. “Considering that my dad’s the one running the company, and I’m signed on to him, and the rumors that follow it… I get what they’re saying, but I kinda feel like it’s not the case.”

That’s what he tried to passively say at one point to a reporter, but then again… journalists can be moths to a flame when it comes to controversy.

“I think I mentioned it before, but maybe not to you, Miyahara-chan. I’m part of the School Journal club, and my aim is to be a journalist. This festival room is my idea of showing my appreciation to the idol industry that I love and the people that make it as it is. Sure, there are some bad spots, but not all is bad, like your father. And his integrity inspired me to be the best journalist I could be, covering the truth, the right way, not being pressured by people that ask for money or anything like that.” Junzo said.

“Even if I’m not an idol but a common person, you and him have inspired me to be a better person.” He finished the sentence with a smile and a nod.

“We should totally get you to meet Miyahara-sama, Noda-san!” Kasumi said, smiling.

“If you think you could do that for me and get an ‘interview’ with him, Miyahara-chan, I’d appreciate it. If you can’t, that’s okay too.” Junzo concluded.

“…hm…” The thought of it was one that ‘Iori’ genuinely contemplated, trying to figure out if she should even consider it.

…waaait, should she, or should she not reveal about her… wait, no, that wouldn’t be a good idea. Not right now at least. They’re still at school.

But later on, however? Maybe within this interview that Junzo was asking for? Since he felt a bit uncomfortable hearing all these words of praise behind a literal mask, it was probably best for him to at least be honest about it. This conversation was already making him feel a bit unwell, knowing this to be the one his daughter should’ve heard instead. Maybe Junzo would consider interviewing his daughter afterwards, just to make up for it.

“I guess I could get you an interview with him?” She said, all while non-subtly glancing at Kasumi, as if to silently ask if this was okay. “I can pass along your contact info to him, and see if he’d be interested. If he is, he’ll prolly send you a message. Maybe.”

Kasumi gave her a nod.

“Yes, that would be fine. Whenever he has a chance to talk, of course. It’s not an official interview to a major publication.” Junzo said.

“I’m sure he’ll be fine!” Kasumi said with a smile.

Junzo gave ‘Iori’ a business card with his contact, phone and e-mail. “Thank you, Miyahara-chan.”

With that being done, the two left the room, and went exploring the festival. After walking around, getting into some food stalls and eating, they were free to leave the school grounds. And even better, they didn’t need to take it all down, since they quickly slipped out from helping the people. Not that people would ask them for help, of course…

---

“Daaad! You there? I gotta talk to you!”

Iori called Toshiro from her room, probably to check on him to see how he was on the day, if he managed to be her without raising any suspicions, and keep the charade.

Once Toshiro entered the room, she was trying to scratch her leg a bit. “It’s kinda itchy… I’m trying so hard to not scratch it but… I can’t deal with that!”

In turn, Toshiro had already turned back into the father Iori was used to seeing. A form that he was relieved to come back to, considering the loosening tension on his shoulders. It’s a much needed break after having to pose as her own daughter for so long, a few days straight.

“Hm? Which spot is it?” Toshiro asked, taking a seat nearby Iori’s legs. Could it be one of her ankles? Or somewhere on her knees?

“The knee…!” She complained. It was a bit difficult to help, considering the cast she had on. “Maybe it’s healing, which is why it’s so itchy now…”

“Oh…” Right. The knee’s already being covered by the cast. Scratching it might not be a good idea. “If it’s itchy, then I don’t think it’s a good idea to scratch it… in fact, it might make the injury worse.” Toshiro grimaced.

In any case, it was time for Iori to check how was the day for him. “How was the festival? Did it all work?” She asked, concerned. Not for herself but if he was able to be her without any issues. “They didn’t notice anything, right?”

Once the topic had moved on over to the festival itself, he didn’t seem like he was panicking, so Iori could be assured that she wasn’t in trouble from whatever her dad ended up doing. However, he still seemed considerably exhausted, regardless of whatever he would say.

“It definitely worked, but… Goodness gracious, it made me wonder how the festivals in my school never felt this chaotic.” He sighed, laying down to let his back take up a free spot on the bed. “Would you believe me if I said most of the students coming into our class was just for you specifically? Enough that it pissed off your teacher?”

Iori went wide-eyed. “Wait… So that’s why they backed off from talking to me? Just to get a chance at the maid cafe thing? Wow…” She shook her head. “I’m glad it worked though! Turns out that we can swap places and nothing would change!” She chuckled a bit. “Anything interesting that happened there? What about Kasumi? Was she okay? She didn’t slip anything about you being me, right?”

“No, but she definitely wasn’t happy when we ended up getting switched midway through.” Toshiro said, slightly craning his head towards Iori. “Halfway through, things got chaotic enough that the other very helpful classmates of yours were just sabotaging the orders I was handling. So Kasumi ended up taking my place instead, at which point, she… didn’t really seem like she managed it well. Can’t blame her to be honest.”

The man drummed his fingers on his own stomach for a moment, thinking for a moment before continuing. “As for whatever happened… there’s certainly a couple to keep in mind. For one, the one you’re crushing over had decided to drop by. And chances are, I may have gotten you a date with him.”

“H-Huh??” That made Iori do a double take. “Isayama-kun showed up??? What?!”

Her face got completely red from the thought. “Oh my god, this leg breaking has got to be the worst thing that has ever happened to me!” The poor girl was in a very unique position, and then… “You… You got a date with him???”

She slowed down a bit, and breathed in slowly, almost like she did whenever she went on stage. “Okay, okay, breathe, Iori… Dad, could you reveal my love for him as me…? I really love him… He’s so cool and laid-back…!”

Toshiro thought that he was gonna hear that that Hitoshi was amazing and everything but…

“And his sickness is almost gone too…!”

Wait, what? Sickness?

“I didn’t mention, but he had a really strange thing, a really rare case of recurring fever since he was little. He’s barely at school, but he liked that one day that I went to sing for the Ayama Hospital, remember that? Since then, we’ve been talking on and off…” Then she had a moment. “Wait, if he was at the festival, that means he should be better! Please, dad! Go on the date as me… Please! I can’t lose him…!” She pulled Toshiro’s shirt a few times, begging him to help her out.

“Ahh…!”

‘Whoa, whoa whoa!’

There were times where his daughter’s emotionally fired up for something, but it never got to this level of energy! Even in spite of her leg injury, she felt the need to pull on his shirt like hooks from a fishing line. And wow was she strong, too. Just as strong as himself, from what it felt like.

“Okay, okay! I’ll give it a try, sweetie! I already said ‘yes’ to him…!” Toshiro quickly gave his answer in a panic, almost yelping from being dragged around like an oversized cat. “I just feel a bit uncomfortable for doing this, that’s all! Isn’t this supposed to be something you should be experiencing instead…?!”

“Yeah, duh! But I really can’t just do that… Not like this!” She showed the leg with a cast to him. “There was a time I thought I was gonna lose him for the sickness… I already love him, but I don’t know if he feels the same way… Maybe he does but…” She pondered for a moment.

“Maybe you could record him and you talking? So I can listen and feel like I was there in the first place?” Iori said, smiling. “When is the date? This weekend?”

“I think so? He said that he’ll text me before coming in to pick me up, so I’m assuming it’ll happen soon.” Toshiro nodded, gently pulling Iori’s hands off of his clothing. “In this case… what sort of dress would you go for? Especially since this is your first ever date?”

“Hmm… I got a nice dress for the date… Wanna try it, dad? It’s in the fourth door of the wardrobe.” She pointed to the wardrobe, that had 6 doors. “I wanted to use it but seeing ‘an’ Iori using it would be good enough, if I’m honest.”

Opening it revealed a nice dress she got, probably for a possible date with Hitoshi. It was a black dress that showed her chest pretty nicely, with a ribbon in the middle, definitely would enhance her figure for a possible boyfriend.

And since it looks simple enough, he wouldn’t really have to do much in terms of making the dress work. Even any additional makeup, regardless of how subtle it is, would be a cinch thanks to the syringe.

So sure enough… He would give it a try, taking another dose of the syringe and turning himself back into Iori. All while letting himself get changed in a private room, of course.

Now seemingly dressed up for her future date, ‘Iori’ would pose in front of the room’s main mirror for a moment, observing her appearance to see if there was anything that might look out of place. From the looks of it? Not really.

“Hmm… To be honest, I think this might work.” She said, doing a stylish twirl with her dress. “Whaddaya think, sweetie?”

“Dad is gonna steal my boyfriend~” She joked at Toshiro. “For real though, I picked that dress because it was a good fit. Makes me look elegant and sexy. And it wasn’t like super expensive, maybe like six thousand yen…”

“Oh… I got an idea. Do you have spare clothes for a boy? Have Kasumi train you for the date! She knows me enough to correct me in anything you might say strangely or off the mark.” She said.

The idea was indeed sound, since Toshiro was already role-playing as his daughter, but for only a few days.

“Well… Yeah? I got plenty of spare clothes, but not a lot of them were from my younger years.” Toshiro shrugged. “Unless if your friend doesn’t mind turning into someone with my sort of body, then it could probably work.”

Knowing her, the thought of having that appearance to herself would probably tempt Kasumi even more into being up for the job.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Give her a call!” Iori said, chuckling. “You got my phone~ Make it on speaker call.”

Quickly calling Kasumi got her to answer within one ring. Incredibly fast for a call, even to these modern days. Was Kasumi just waiting until her best friend gave her a call or something?

“Hey Iori… Or is it Iori quote unquote?” She said on the other side of the line, on speaker.

“Hey Kasumi, bestie… Can you turn into Isayama-kun for my dad and train him to the date he’ll take as me?” The real Iori asked.

“Like, right now? Sure, I’ll be there in a moment.” Kasumi said. “I’ll need some clothes though!”

“Actually, we already have some of them prepared.” The second Iori, whom hopefully Kasumi would recognize as the body double, answered on the phone. “Keep in mind though that these clothes might be a bit bigger than what Isayama-kun seems to be wearing. So you might have to improvise with your choice of body.”

Now he just needs to wait as Kasumi’s eagerness would take hold of her mind…

“Ah okay… It would be fine, I think, I remember him having baggy clothes…” Kasumi replied. “I’ll be there soon, Iori~”

click

Kasumi hung up the call.

“Well, that’s fine… How do you feel in a dress? Might be a new feeling for you, dad~” Iori chuckled. “It does look good on you, doesn’t it?”

‘Iori”s given answer was an embarrassed blush, followed by some visible uncertainty as she hovered a hand over her chest.

“It feels really breezy… way more than your school uniform felt…” She said, looking downwards in visible discomfort at the level of her leg exposure down below. She couldn’t even fathom as to how girls would find this comfortable. “You’re telling me you’ve never considered wearing any kind of pantyhose? Or even any knee-socks at all, outside of your uniform?” She asked, looking into the real Iori’s wardrobe again.

“No? I like how freeing it feels, that I can move my legs around. Have you actually tried to use a pantyhose?” Iori asked.

“It’s a piece of cloth that doesn’t allow too much movement in the first place. It looks good on pictures, but there’s a reason we only use it mostly for pictures. Or I guess those office ladies that stay in a sitting position all day…” She added.

Iori’s wardrobe had a few pantyhoses that she used for said pictures, and they all looked mint, as if she used it only for those and never again.

“If you wanna use them, feel free, but don’t think I won’t be smug when you tell me that I was right about it, dad.” Iori was already smug at the moment after saying this, maybe being a girl for almost 18 years taught her more things than her dad posing as her for less than a week knew.

Even then, it’s not like ‘Iori’ hasn’t really worn jeans for most of her life as a father. If the real Iori was talking about anything resembling lack of movement, jeans would be the first thing that comes to mind. And plus, it’s not like she’s wearing it for her dance practices anyway. It’s mostly for her casual life. So, ‘Iori’ would take the real one up for the challenge with a daring nod, reaching in to look for some sort of pantyhose she could wear.

“Alright then… That’s going to be a bet. I’ve worn plenty of stiffer pants than just any set of pantyhose.” She said, trying to see which one would be the most comfiest for her freed legs. ‘Iori’ found a nice looking pantyhose, still on its plastic wrapping, it was brand new from the looks of it.

Once she started to wear it on, the real Iori spoke. “What are we betting on, then? I can’t exactly do anything while I have this cast on me, dad.” She pointed out. “And I have no idea on what the bet could be, since asking mom would just lead us into some freaky shit I don’t care about.”

“We’re betting on how long I can casually live with a pantyhose until I’m compelled to never wear it again. Simple.” ‘Iori’ says with a smile, all while unwrapping the pantyhose set from it’s plastic wrap. Seriously, it’s just a thin layer of cloth. It’s not much more constricting than the trousers he would wear on his daily job.

Now all she needed to do was to carefully pull it up, right? It shouldn’t be too hard, especially with her smooth legs…

---

After 15 minutes trying to put the pantyhose on, Toshiro finally got it. It did feel okay to use, but as Iori mentioned, it was a bit limiting to some leg movements, and it rubbed against the other legs when she walked around to test.

It took so long that Kasumi had arrived and was watching the Iori double try to put on the pantyhose. She tried to help but was stopped by the real Iori.

“Finally…!” Iori complained from the bed once Toshiro was done.

“Okay, I just need those clothes. I grabbed a syringe from your wife, Miyahara-san… I told her I already had my own, but she insisted for some reason…” Kasumi said, still confused as in why Miki would do that.

It might be limiting her movement in someway, and sure, it’s a bit annoying whenever the fabric for both legs would rub against each other every time she took a step forward, but come on! At least this was a set of actual pants for her to wear! The more she kept walking around barelegged, the more it felt like winter would come in early and freeze her skin until it was ice! She doesn’t even care if it took fifteen minutes to wear. At least it covered her legs in a comfy manner.

“Ahhh… Much better.” She said, almost skipping on her feet from how comfortably warm her legs now felt. “And if I were to be honest, Kasumi-chan… The syringes were already considerably cheap. She’s likely willing to be a bit generous with her dosage use.”

“I guess… Clothes please?” Kasumi requested again.

Walking around the house to grab the clothes for the girl led to an interesting thing: Although the pantyhose was comfortable, it didn’t block all the wind and air, like a normal jeans would do. And once she had to crouch to get pants and the like for Kasumi, she could feel something weird and foreign compressing and expanding as she moved around. A really weird feeling.

Once she returned to Iori’s room, Kasumi had already most of the look from the boy. With the clothes on, it was almost impossible to tell that she was a girl in the first place.

The real Iori blushed. “You… You look good, Kasumi.”

And Kasumi played his part, sounding laidback. “Hey. You look good also, Miyahara-chan.”

Then he looked at the Iori double. “I’ll have to apologize if I sound a bit different from the real Isayama-kun. I don’t actually know what’s up with him.”

The real Iori scoffed at Kasumi. “Don’t worry. He hasn’t told me everything either…!”

Kasumi nodded. “Okay… Miyahara-san, let’s begin…”

With Iori watching, it was time to make a fake date encounter with Kasumi as Iori’s crush. Behind the cheery smile of an idol the Iori double sported, was a confident smirk. A clear display as to how much the young woman felt he had this date in the bag. She’s already had Miki as an example of his dating experience. Surely, even when he’s on the opposite end of the date, it shouldn’t be any harder than what she’s expecting…

“Mhm~ I guess we shouldn’t waste any time, then. But first…”

chuuuu~

The girl didn’t even give Kasumi any time to react. The moment ‘Iori”s smile grew, she had already leaned in to plant a kiss on the young man’s lips.

“Aaaand there. Now you’re my boyfriend~” She proudly teased him.

This made both the real Iori and the disguised Kasumi do silent double takes.

“There’s no way I’d do that…!” The real Iori complained. But she was indeed blushing from it.

Kasumi, in his turn, was surprised, and smiled. “Hehe… Now I understand your wife… Well, let’s get this underway…”

The mockup date was a success on Toshiro’s side. Despite only having the experience with Miki, turns out that the girl in the relationship was easier because he could tease the boy so much it wasn’t even funny. Kasumi didn’t really relent on the teasing and was very receptive, almost like the real Hitoshi. She tried her best to sound like the real boy!

Many things were talked about with the two of them, with the real Iori watching and correcting Toshiro on what she could say, but then…

“… Yeah, Miyahara-chan. I remember when we first met…” Kasumi said, before looking at the real Iori. “Wait, where did you meet him, Iori?” And asking, out of character for a moment.

Iori decided to reply, giving both Toshiro and Kasumi the ‘how it happened’. “Remember that charity event we did at that hospital, dad?”

Toshiro would be reminded of this event… This was a charity event for sick people that Miya-Mirai and the hospital staff worked together to do. Toshiro would be paid for it but he refused, he wanted to make sure that the event worked as a proper charity, helping people. Not to get ‘good boy’ points but because he wanted to help people.

Iori almost immediately signed on to sing for the sick people there, and put all of her energy on it. The show was in the cafeteria, a bit cramped but Toshiro and the staff at Miya-Mirai worked it out. Iori didn’t even use any recordings, she sang without any preparation and even did a bit of a rap section, just to prove she could do freestyle too.

“He was there, looking a bit sick. We talked a bit and gave him his contact, we’ve been talking and video calling ever since.” Iori explained.

“Ahhh. That makes sense, Miyahara-chan.” Kasumi said, still trying to sound like the boy.

No wonder she’s always had fond memories of that charity event. Granted, it was more due to the feeling of seeing the patients’ morale improving with his performance. But for Iori specifically, it seemed to be another case entirely.

But then again, those two sleepless nights he had in trying to accommodate the logistics for a cramped cafeteria performance wasn’t really fun to recall… but by this point, it oddly became somewhat of a fond memory for him. What do they typically call it over in the west… ‘Stockholm Syndrome’, was it? It was stressful, but he still enjoyed his experience there.

Compared to those times, this date felt like a cakewalk. She doesn’t really need to worry about how they were supposed to transport their needed instruments safely. Or whether or not the sound system they brought in would actually fit the cafeteria… All she needed to worry about was to have a fun time with her significant other. Just like what a proper girlfriend should be doing!

From there, the mockup date continued, and this time, Kasumi was the one that stole a kiss from ‘Iori’, and it felt pretty nice! It helped that the boy was very handsome and had a nice smile too.

“Heheh… aren’t you the sneaky one there~” She said, giggling in excitement as a hand traced over where his lips made contact with. “Guess that makes us even, then? Or… maybe you’d wanna go even further than that?”

She’s probably having a bit too much fun at this point.

“Hard stop, please…” Iori said. “Unless you wanna steal my v-card too, dad…” Despite the words, she sounded very judgemental.

“I think this was a success, Miyahara-san.” Kasumi said. “You’re very good as Iori… It’s almost like you’re her father… Hehe.” And chuckled.

With the mockup date done, Kasumi removed the baggy clothes, and turned back to herself, redressing and excusing herself out of the room and of the home.

“Phew… I have faith this will go well. It has to…!” Iori said, and with that… It was time for the next day.

---

Next day at school. A nice Friday and it was time for the Physical Education class in the Gym. They would take some of the swimming lessons and Toshiro had to follow the other girls…

Kasumi was pretty happy to have ‘Iori’ around. “I bet you didn’t do this when you were a teen yourself, ‘Iori’~” She said, smiling a lot. “You did bring your swimsuit, right?”

Wait, what?

Kasumi got ‘Iori’ to the PE gym changing room, there, other girls could be seen.

“Yanagi-chan… It’s Miyahara-chan! She finally decided to take the swimming classes!” Emiko, the brunette, said to her friend, Azumi.

“Domoto-chan… I’m shocked! The great big idol is here…!”

Meanwhile, in spite of how chipper the three women seemed, it already seemed like ‘Iori’ was sweating bullets in front of them.

‘Fuck.’

She could’ve sworn today’s PE was just track day. But considering what she’s seeing, right in front of her very eyes, it was DEFINITELY not the case. Did the real Iori not even bother to tell her today was pool day for them?!

“Ah! U-Uhh… y-yeah! Heheh. That’s definitely me, alright. I’m the idol~!” She said, all while heading towards her locker to look like she was getting her PE swimsuit out.

“Gimme a secoooond, and-oh! Whaddaya know! I think I left my swimsuit in my backpack. Eheheheh…~” She said, all while pleadingly smiling at Kasumi for some assistance.

She was in dire need of some help…! Of course, it sounded that it wasn’t that Iori didn’t say it, but that Kasumi planned for ‘Iori’ to join the PE class instead.

“Oh, Iori, don’t worry… I got your swimsuit here…!” Kasumi said, grabbing from her locker a swimsuit that would work for Iori.

And unfortunately for ‘Iori’, she had to put it on. But damn, she looked good no matter what she used!

Shame about not being able to use a pantyhose here but it felt nice anyway. Another two girls joined the group.

‘Phew… hohkay! Problem solved!’

For a second there, she was about to panic from not being able to attend today’s PE class. The last thing she wanted was to get in trouble this early on with her imitation.

“Eheh… well, it was less convinced, and more… err… just straight up peer pressure. Not to mention actual panic.” She said, exhaling as she began to do her first stretches. “Like… did none of you even told me today was pool day? I could’ve sworn we were supposed to do track!”

“It wasn’t track, fridays are always swimming. And you always ditched it.” Hasumi said. “But Tominaga-chan managed to peer pressure you into it, and that itself is amazing…!”

As they walked out of the changing room, another two joined them, the pink-haired Kumiko Deguchi and the other brunette Kaiya Takashima.

Wait a second, Kumiko? She was an idol in Miya-Mirai too! Not as famous as Iori, but enough to be on the public’s top 20.

“Miyahara-chaaan~!” Kumiko said, in a sing-song tone. “You finaaaally joined ussss~!”

Kaiya smiled. “About time, too…! Tominaga-chan was looking forward to this for a while now.”

“It’s because… I think you all could be idols too, with Deguchi-chan! And no better way to check that if the daughter of the idol company reviews you all out!” Kasumi said, revealing the real reason why ‘Iori’ was called here.

‘Iori’ blankly stared at the girls, having not expected this impromptu talent audition to be established on a whim.

“Wait what?” With her mouth hanging slightly open from her words, it was clear she was completely lost as to what was happening.

Kasumi should’ve surely known it was him under this Iori appearance, right? She couldn’t have just bothered asking him to interview them or something?!

“…y… you know you girls could’ve just… asked my dad about it, right?” She said, turning to look at Deguchi. “And with your help too. Is this really necessary?”

“Yeah, we could.” Kaiya said. “But your good word about Deguchi-chan is what got her there. If she could get in because of you, why not the rest of us?” She asked.

“Plus, Iori… You being here, you’d know what to say to your dad, because he’s mega busy, like you’ve always told me.” Kasumi said, winking at her.

The idea was sound, since more idols would mean more money. Was this Kasumi’s way to help Iori out? Make the family’s business expand out with new talent? In concept more idols would mean more money. But that’s assuming said idols were good enough to attract a viable audience. In practice, it could be a potentially different story entirely. Were these girls even skilled in catching the bedazzled eyes of idol fans within the country? Hell, maybe not just the country, but around the globe as well? Would they have the stamina for the practices? The cheery smile, the tight camaraderie that separates a good idol group from the best ones? Would all of them truly have the heart for it? She knew for a fact that Deguchi definitely does, since she was the one that signed her on as Miya-Mirai talent, but what about the others?

“Hmm…” It’s a bit of a tough call, so she would like to prove some things first. “If this is where we’re going… Maybe we could try to do an audition then?” ‘Iori’ said, putting a hand on her hips. “Nothing that’s formal, considering you girls are doing this on a whim… But you girls are gonna have to show me if you’d be a good fit. And that includes working as a team. Does that make any sense?”

Hasumi nodded. “I wanna try my hand at it.”

Marise nodded as well. “Yeah, we see how well you do your stuff and it’s hard to not feel a bit jealous from it… But not in the nasty way, but in the way that make me wanna work too…!”

Kasumi nodded. “And if you asked for her… But I couldn’t just tell her about that, it took some planning…” This girl was more than just a pretty face she whenever she wanted to be…

They’re certainly motivated, at least. But would that motivation translate into actual talent she wondered? She might as well find out for herself. Chances are, they might be some pretty good candidates for the company.

“If you’re up for the task, then it’s best we get to it.” ‘Iori’ nodded, trying to think of something they could easily start with. “Hmm… Oh! Wait! Maybe you girls could start with your vocals? We’ll do a verse or two from my popular songs, and see if you girls could sing first. It could be whichever popular track you girls would want, just as long as it’s the one all of you would know.” ‘Iori’ suggested. Sounded like a decent way to start things off.

“That sounds fine.” Kumiko said, nodding.

After some minor talk, they call decided to sing, one verse at a time, of the image song from Iori called ‘Always A Nice Sunshine’.

Kasumi kept watching as the girls sang.

Immediately after starting, ‘Iori’ could hear that Azumi and Emiko had the perfect tinge and vocals for a midway backdrop and with some refinement, they would be frontliners. Marise and Hasumi were almost perfect for frontlines, maybe they could have solo careers almost immediately. And lastly, Kumiko and Kaiya weren’t bad per say but they were quite… off. They certainly needed some voice training, especially Kaiya, but they could get as good as the other four, since they did have timing right, and even knew the lyrics without looking them up. They were probably super fans of Iori to begin with.

With some refinement and training? Maybe even plenty of weekly lessons, both solo and in a group? They could be a damn good set of talent to work with! Maybe even spun off to their solo acts if any of them were up to the task, too!

“Ohhhh, okay, okay… That’s actually pretty good~” ‘Iori’ smiled with confidence, sensing she’s got a pretty good set of picks with these girls. “A few of you could use a little work, but you all got the right cadence and voice control to start with. That’s already more than promising.”

Hopefully, they’ll be able to keep up their performance with the next part she had in mind…

“Next, I want you to show off how well you can dance. Mainly as a team, since we could do the solo parts some other time.” She suddenly seemed a bit uncertain however, thoughtfully putting a hand under her chin. “Have any of you ever practiced a dance number, however? I’ll give you some time to practice first, if you haven’t.”

“Hm.”

The collective of girls paused for a moment, they probably didn’t do anything together, per say. They talked to each other again, and they all knew the choreography for the song they just did, but not everyone was that confident to do it for Iori. Well, ‘Iori’.

Once again, Marise and Hasumi looked like they were mega fans of Iori, as they did the moves almost perfectly. This time Azumi hesitated a bit but Emiko was as good as Marise and Hasumi. Singing for Kumiko was a bit difficult but dancing? Super easy, probably the reason she was inside the Miya-Mirai Agency already. The only one that was not as good as the rest was Kaiya but even then, she could fool a lot of people if she was doing things by herself.

There was a bit more varying compared to their previous performance. Some of them were better at dancing, while others were good at singing. But then again, with their impromptu practice and tests, some mistakes were inevitable. Especially since they had to work within the time of their PE class right now. The fact they’re able to do this well in the first place was already impressive in of itself.

“Alright, alright. I think I got the gist of it.” ‘Iori’ nodded, holding out her palms to get them to stop. “I can tell you girls have some confidence issues, but that could be worked out when you get some more practice time. I’m liking what I’m seeing here~”

Or rather, Toshiro was liking what he had managed to see. Seems like his daughter’s getting his chance to do some group shows now…

“Once lunchtime comes up, I’ll go ahead and text Dad to see if he’s interested for an actual audition. Then I’ll give you girls the date and time to show off what you can do with just a bit more practice.” She nodded, thinking of how much time they’ll need to have a decent foundation as an idol group.

“I’m gonna say… I’ll give you girls a week to practice. You girls got plenty of free time after school, right?” She asked.

“Yeah, I got some time…”

“Yeah.”

Many variations of ‘yes, I have free time’ were given to ‘Iori’. Kasumi couldn’t help but to smile at this, she finally helped people out!

But of course, the class was still going on, and the teacher finally showed up.

“I ain’t seeing you all swimming! Let’s go!” He said as he approached, and quickly everyone joined the pool.

After the class was done, Kasumi couldn’t help herself, she had to thank ‘Iori’.

“Thank you so much, ‘Iori’… Those girls were on my back for a while now, and since we are besties, they were expecting me to get you to see it…”

It was then that ‘Iori’ finally had the chance to sigh, looking like her usual normal self. If she showed an expression like this one, those girls would’ve been scared off. Guaranteed.

“You genuinely couldn’t have just said this to me once the school day was over? Girl, we were lucky that teacher didn’t call us out sooner.” She said. “Plus, they haven’t even practiced together until now. It’s a miracle they managed to do so well with as little time as I gave ’em.”

“Yeah, they didn’t practice, clearly. But they wanted to get a shot at your company… And I wanted to help but the real Iori wasn’t being helpful…” Kasumi admitted. “She was probably afraid she was gonna get sidelined, which is just so ridiculous. She never said it to my face but I told her many times that she was never get sidelined, she is the president’s daughter, for crying out loud!”

Clearly Iori was a bit jealous of being replaced, but that felt like a normal response from a teen her age, especially considering the circumstances. It’s not really surprising that she would be worried of such a thing, but it’s not like it would be bad for her to experiment with a new format. Hell, when it comes to a proper idol group, practically no one is sidelined. Everyone’s supposed to do their individual parts like a well oiled machine, thus creating a tightly coordinated result that would’ve been impossible if any moving parts were to be taken out.

“Even then, it’s not like I would’ve given them solo careers right away. Hence why I’m considering on having her work with them as one cohesive group.” ‘Iori’ grumbled, frowning at her own daughter’s feelings. “I take pride in prioritizing merit and pure talent, but I still have personal limits when it comes to my daughter. The numbers for her ticket sales and merch aren’t lies, Kasumi… sidelining her would be a bad idea, both for the business and for our personal family life.”

“Yeah! I told her that but you know how it is, probably better than anyone.” Kasumi agreed with ‘Iori’, with a nod. “Anyway, thanks for helping out…”

---

The days went out, Friday was done, then Saturday, an off day for both Toshiro and him as Iori, so he could just relax as himself. But the Sunday itself was interesting…

With Iori’s phone, that Toshiro still had with him, a message from a known contact.

Hitoshi

Hey Miyahara-chan. I’m free today for our meeting. If you are as well, I’ll meet you at the BurgerLunch place, near the school. You know the one, right? Sorry if I can’t get you from your home, my family doesn’t have a car anymore…

This was Hitoshi, confirming where the date would take place.

‘Phew…’

Good thing it was a Sunday or else ‘Iori’ would’ve had to use public transport instead of her dad’s car. Toshiro doubted it would’ve given a good impression of his daughter, even if it wasn’t much to think about.

Iori

Nah, it’s fine. I’ll just ask dad if he could pick you up from your house.

Gimme a sec.

Hopefully, someone was at least free to act as the Toshiro double for now…? Maybe his wife or his other kid? Toshiro went looking for Miki and Koji. And fortunately… The blonde boy was in the living room, looking at his phone. “Hey dad. What’s up?”

“Ah, before you ask, Mom went out with a few friends, apparently. She didn’t want to say anything to you because… I dunno, you can ask her later. She didn’t take the car, so if you wanna use it for anything, you can.” Koji said.

Wow, he was as helpful as ever, no sarcasm included. With this, he could have Koji to replace either him or Miki and drive him around to meet Hitoshi. And that was actually convenient for him!

“Perfect. Then you’ve got the time to pose as me, right? Or at least drive the car?” He asked, already tossing an extra syringe to Koji before he could explain in detail. “Whatever the case, I’m gonna need you to drive the car. Iori’s got a date with someone and I need it to go well.”

Hopefully, if Koji was going in as himself, he wasn’t going to be rude towards his sister’s boyfriend.

“Wait, you want me to be you?” Koji asked, putting the phone down. “And a dat-” He caught the syringe that Toshiro tossed his way. “Oh, this crap again… Fine I guess. I’ll need your clothes, dad.”

Koji already knew the drill after having to deal with this thing for a week. Surely he had used it on his spare time, and probably did the weirdest shit. “You’ll owe me for this, okay? Go get dressed as lil sis, and I’ll drive you.”

Koji was old enough to not do anything too weird, but considering he was in university… It was probably best that Toshiro didn’t know what he was up to. The last thing the would want right now was to be traumatized by his own son’s serum shenanigans.

“Yeah, just gimme a sec.” Toshiro said, having almost left the room before he peeked back in for a bit. “Oh, and I better not see you acting cheeky once you’re around her boyfriend. I know you’ve got a bit of a mouth and all, but your sister will kill you the moment she finds out you messed up her date.” That should get him to behave properly, at least…

“Look, isn’t just me dropping you off? Or I’ll have to stick around too?” Koji asked, founding the talk about him annoying. “I’m not gonna ruin anything for her, dad. C’mon. I’m not some jealous child. So what she got herself a date? Unless he’s like a bad dude, I have nothing really against it. If anything, she’ll stop being so uppity about everything…”

With that being said, it was time for Toshiro to dress up as Iori in that black dress. After having a skirt for a few days, he was starting to get used to the feeling. And thanks to a technique that Miki showed him, he could even put any bras without having to ask for help! Impressive. The less time he would have to spend bending his arms like ramen noodles to get the bras into position, the better. Especially since the strapless bras were ironically easier to wear for him.

“Finally… whew.” She said, straightening out some of the small creases that were still left on such a black dress. Hopefully, Koji would think of it as a good choice for her to wear.

“Koj-uhh… Big bro! Whaddaya think of this dress? You think he’s gonna like it?” She said, easily imitating how the real Iori would likely be skipping on her feet from preparing for her first date.

Koji was about to use his syringe, a bit of hesitation of his part, since it really wasn’t his thing. But when he saw ‘Iori’…

“Holy crap…!” Koji blushed a lot seeing how she looked like. “You look fantastic, lil sis! You’re gonna win the dude’s heart easily!”

A compliment from Koji that wasn’t a backhanded comment? That was actually impressive, to be able to gain a genuine compliment out of the young man. Either he had some nitpicks on things most people wouldn’t really notice, or be a little backhanded when he was annoyed with someone. But if Toshiro managed to get a real compliment out of him, then that’s already an achievement in of itself.

“If you’re saying that and you actually mean it, then that means he’s guaranteed to love it!” She cheered, already jogging towards their family car. “Now come on! Get yourself ready first, or else we’re gonna be late!”

“I still need to be dad, wait a second…!” With that said, Koji used the syringe and got clothes that Toshiro gave him.

It was time for the date. ‘Toshiro’ drove ‘Iori’ to the BurgerLunch fast food joint. Yes, it wasn’t fancy, but considering that they were still teenagers, it was likely that Hitoshi didn’t have money to bring Iori to a fancy restaurant. But hey, he was paying apparently, so not too bad.

Once she got closer, she could see him walking from the inside to greet her.

“Hey, Miyahara-chan.” He said, smiling a bit. More baggy clothes again, and a nice red hair on him.

Then he finally noticed the rest of ‘Iori”s outfit. “You look…” And blushed a lot. “You look like a model, out of a magazine…”

Toshiro was certainly making himself comfortable with this date. Not much points when it comes to style, but as a man on the inside, she could certainly appreciate baggy clothes when it’s appropriate. Plus, this was supposed to be a bit of a chill date with him. No need to judge him in terms of every single example of behavior he would end up displaying.

“Heheh… well, I’ve been saving this dress for special occasions like this one, so it’s a good thing I did.” ‘Iori’ giggled, leaning a bit forward on the table itself. “But eh… did you already order, by the way? You did say you wanted to treat me, but I could pay up if you want.”

“No no, I’m the one that asked you out, so I’m paying. For everything you’ve done for me…” He said.

‘Iori’ would see that BurgerLunch hadn’t changed in over 30 years. They were still serving the same burgers and lunch sandwiches for ages. Some things were timeless after all. Thankfully, Iori and her father liked the same burgers, so Hitoshi ordered a good one for her. He went to the main counter to grab the food for the two and sat down.

“Listen, Miyahara-chan… I called you for a date because… Well… I wanted to confess something. Now that I’m clear of my sickness, a complete recovery too.” Hitoshi said, looking down for a moment.

“I didn’t want to say what I had back when we met but I had tuberculosis. It started like a normal sickness, fever, coughing, so on. Things became more serious when I started coughing blood. My parents did everything possible to get me cured. I underwent through all sorts of treatments, hospitals… I lost a lot of weight during it and it’s still hard to readjust to that.” He went pensive for a moment. “I thought that was it for me. I spent months on a hospital bed. If you don’t know, tuberculosis is airborne, so I had to be isolated from everyone, had to use a mask if I wanted to do anything…”

“These last almost 2 years of my life were just terrible, just the worst thing ever… And I learned a lot about myself, people, and how to do things. I was convinced I was gonna die because I couldn’t see a way out. The drugs were working at first but then they stopped… I was at my lowest point…”

Then he looked at ‘Iori’. “Then I heard that Miya-Mirai Idol Agency was doing an event at the hospital I was, Ayama. And… I saw you. Filled with life, with energy. You danced and you sang… And without caring we were sick or even in our deathbeds. You had a light that most people there needed.”

“And I…” The boy in front of her started to tear up. “I… I felt alive again. I remember that while I was watching you sing, I didn’t cough… I forgot I was sick… I sang the songs you did, I laughed at your ‘rap’… I felt like myself before I got sick. I had to get your contact and we kept talking… So I decided to make a vow. For myself and for you Miyahara-chan.” He was crying but also smiling, then cleared his tears using his hands. “I was gonna beat this disease.”

“A bit after your show, the doctor prescribed another round of drugs, different ones this time and they started working. I slowly got better over time. My blood tests came back showing that I was completely purged of any pesky tuberculosis bacteria, 0%. He said that normal people can have 1 to 5%, even after cured of the symptoms. But I was completely cured… I could finally go back to school, and have a ‘normal’ life, no more hospitals. Then I heard that the festival was going on, then I saw you. And the rest is history…”

Iori really helped this guy, both directly and indirectly, so she was probably right to think that he was also in love with him. Her internal reaction might just be leaking out of her face right now, but she wouldn’t really mind it if it did.

Toshiro didn’t even know his arrangement of a private show within the hospital would be so instrumental to the young man’s recovery, maybe even the recovery of everyone else within the hospital itself. At most, he just felt like he wanted to improve the morale for everyone that was involved within the hospital itself. The staff, the patients themselves, maybe even the families that happened to be visiting at the time. These sorts of places were known to harbor high levels of stress and depression. Especially when it came to the wards that housed patients suffering from the more severe of diseases or injuries.

If Iori was able to get their spirits up somehow, even for just a tiny bit through the show itself, then that was all more than fine in his eyes. He once spoke to some of the staff here, and they definitely appreciated a nice refresher within their 12-16 hour shifts. These poor guys work themselves to the bone for the health of others, so there had to be someone that appreciates the effort they’re putting it. He just hadn’t really realized if it had managed to reach that level of importance for them. Especially for the patients. Enough that one of them had managed to grow close to his daughter and dedicated himself to a full recovery. This already sounded like it came from a sappy romance light novel, but fuck it. Who cares about that as well? This was already inspiring on it’s own right.

“…you’re… you’re serious?” ‘Iori’ asked, clearing her throat to recompose herself. “You pretty much pushed yourself into getting better… j-just for me?”

“I’m more than serious, Miyahara-chan. You might not have done it directly but because of you, I got better. For that, I want to repay you, in whatever way I can. I don’t want to sound like a downer, if I’m honest with you, but my life was pretty bad until I met you and it has been much better since then… And then you come to me with that dress… I believe I also caused something on you, so… Why not just give it a shot? Dating, being together, that is.” Hitoshi said, smiling, and eating his burger.

“Oh damn, this burger is really good!” He said with a bigger smile. “So tasty!”

‘Heheh…’

Not even the real Iori would be that expressive in terms of food. In fact, he’s not just expressive, he’s also genuinely chipper when it comes to re-experiencing things. By all accounts, this young man was practically a perfect fit for his daughter to date. In normal circumstances, he would be a bit of a no-brainer for Toshiro to let in as her boyfriend.

In normal circumstances, it would’ve been an easy choice. But this wasn’t exactly normal. Even discounting the fact that he has to present for his daughter to technically even arrive to this date in the first place, her status as an idol simply throws a massive wrench into the plans. Even from here, he could already smell the inevitable. Opinions and reactions some of her fans would express to her. With the more severe ones coming from the good ol’ idol board of Pon-chan. And that’s just ignoring the absolute vultures that are the media itself once they would find out about this story. The sort of hot topic headlines that could come from this is going to give him nightmares to deal with.

But as a father, there was no way in hell is he going to ruin his own daughter’s chances of dating a young man with a good heart. That was not in the cards, even if it puts a guaranteed risk to his business. No way he could completely ignore the company he had managed to build up from scratch either.

So, there has to be some sort of compromise they could reach.

She took in a deep breath to figure out what she needed to say, before nodding in agreement for herself. “Phew… Okay. I know I’m definitely gonna say yes into giving it a shot, but we have to keep in mind about one important thing, Isayama-kun. I’m still a idol. Which means we can’t exactly openly date too much, or else some nosey journalist would take a photo of us, post an article about it on the internet, and likely give my dad an instant heart attack. So we’ll need to figure this out first.”

Hitoshi nodded. “We can work it out, we have time… At least I do… But yes, I know you’re an idol, you kept reminding me during our talks via phone. And I’m pretty sure your dad is a good guy, most people would just not agree to see a sick guy like me, considering how actually sick I was, you could have caught it too, but thankfully, you didn’t.”

After a few more munches of his burger, Hitoshi pondered. “Hm. I’ll go back to school starting tomorrow and I guess if we want to date, we could go to our houses? Maybe? That would avoid the nosy journalists and tabloid people, I guess?” He asked, not sure of it himself. “Maybe your father would have a better idea than either of us, I suppose?”

‘Hmm…’

Their houses would be a good choice, believe it or not. The both of them would have to make sure no one spots their actual identity, maybe through disguises, or through driving with the windows completely tinted out, or…

‘…oh.’

Wait. Right. The solution was literally the one she was using all this time. Why did it take so long for her to realize it? Geez, is she an idiot.

With a viable path now managing to pop up within her own head, ‘Iori’ would blink for a few times before proceeding to facepalm. “Oh… Wait a second. I got an idea. It’s probably going to be one you probably wouldn’t believe, but hear me out first. What if I told you that you could shapeshift into someone else, with just the help of a chemical compound?”

That made Hitoshi raise a brow. “Huh? Wait, I heard of that thing back at school, when I went to the festival. Allegedly, supposedly, it could do that… You think we could use it, Miyahara-chan? Assuming it works, that is.”

Good, he didn’t know it was possible, nor did he suspect that the Iori in front of him wasn’t the real one. Should he reveal the news right away? Or should he keep this poor young man in the dark, letting him realize he was dating his girlfriend’s father for just a bit longer?

For the sake of everything going well for them, it was probably best if they kept things as honest as possible. He already got some personal hang-ups from needing to be here in the first place, so it’s not like he wouldn’t be too happy to expose himself.

“Oh, trust me Isayama-kun… I can tell you right now, without any hint of irony whatsoever, that it works like a charm.” She assuredly smiled, giggling in a similar manner as to how the real ‘Iori’ would do it. “After all… ehhh… technically, I’m not really the actual Iori. Eheheh…”

Fingers crossed that he doesn’t mentally snap into two from this reveal…

“In fact… I’m actually her father, if you can believe it.” She nervously smiled, twiddling her thumbs together. “A-And before you ask, er, no, it wasn’t supposed to go this way. In fact, I would much rather allow my daughter to experience this for herself. But she’s kind of… Recovering from an injury right now.”

If there was any emotion missing from Hitoshi’s face, it was fear. And after hearing those words, he almost curled up in fear of what actually happened to the real Iori if her father was disguised as her.

“What?” He exclaimed, trying not to shout in public. “You’re kidding me…! I had recited what I was gonna say to Miyahara-chan and you’re not the real one?” He felt super bad from it, it seemed that he wanted to confess for a long time.

But after not being able to get away from the reality, he had to ask a few things. “What happened to her? And are you really Miyahara-san? You look exactly like her…!”

“Ah! W-Wait just a sec!” ‘Iori’ attempted to reassure the young man, putting his hands up just to calm him down. “Don’t worry, you can still say it to her once you meet her in our house! She’s just been staying in her room for the past few weeks thanks to an ankle injury… She’s fine for the most part, but you can’t exactly expect her to rock up to a public area while wearing a cast. Not to mention her idol obligations, too…”

‘Iori’ internally winced, knowing just how many times him and the others are going to have to share the role of his daughter. Hopefully people wouldn’t notice the stark differences between their personality imitations and his own.

“And yeah, if you already couldn’t tell… I am Miyahara-san. Miyahara Toshiro. that’s what I meant by the chemical compounds themselves working, kiddo.”

Hitoshi let out a happy sigh, knowing she was alright. “Phew…”

But after her well-being was confirmed, he had to study this. “So… I looked you up too… And I’m also a fan of your work… It’s more or less a big honor to talk to you, and considering the circumstances, it couldn’t have been any weirder but also any better… I didn’t even notice it wasn’t her…”

Hitoshi was fairly impressed from this “So… How does it work?” From the question, he was interested on knowing how and perhaps could be convinced to help the family in some way… Another helper to the cause. It was best for Toshiro to hope it stayed that way once he detailed the procedure.

‘Iori’ would shrug as she gave out her answer. “Well, it’s not really that complicated if you just wanna use it. You just use the syringes they’ve sent over to us, and imagine the sort of form you’d wanna turn into once your ready. It’s not really that hard to figure out. Buuuut it’s a bit of a one-time use, so if you wanna turn back… Well, you better hope you’ve got a spare dosage for yourself to do it.”

“I see…” Hitoshi said, nodding. “Handy.”

By this point, they had finished their meals, and there was nothing else left to do, so Hitoshi asked something.

“Could I go see her?”

A simple question that considering how the day had been, it would be the ultimate reward for the boy. And since Toshiro didn’t mind having him around and with his daughter, perhaps this could be good and at the very least, with what Toshiro had managed to pull on the poor young man… He at least deserved this visit. Especially knowing her daughter hasn’t been able to talk to anyone within her contacts lately.

“Well, if you got the time today… Sure.” She smiled at him, standing up from her seat and motioning him to follow. “Come on. My uh… ‘dad’ is still probably waiting at the parking lot, so we can head back home right away. If you want to, of course.”

“I have time, yes…” Hitoshi said and stood up.

---

Hitoshi was brought to the Miyahara family house and after seeing the real Iori, he gasped. She cried seeing him and Toshiro let the two talk. With Koji and Toshiro back to normal, it was a regular Sunday, it was like nothing happened. Toshiro went back to his office room inside his home, filled with comfortable things, including a very nice office chair. Whenever he was free, he was there, working on schedules and the like. But then Hitoshi left her room and went to see the man of the house.

“Miyahara-sensei? Are you free to talk?” He asked, standing next to the table where Toshiro was closely sit next to.

As Toshiro was looking over the schedule on his laptop, his ears peered up at an approaching presence. From the looks of it, Hitoshi’s finished talking with Iori for a moment, so… Why was he approaching him all of a sudden?

“Err… yeah, y’know what, might as well. I’ve got plenty of time.” Toshiro nodded, turning his attention away from the small screen. “Whaddaya wanna talk about, kiddo?”

Hitoshi sighed a bit. “Miyahara-chan… or should I say, Iori and I talked. She told me that you were the one that organized the event at the hospital. So I’d like to thank you for it. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t met Iori and everything else…” He said with a smile.

“With that being said… I’d like to make it up to you somehow. And considering the syringe thing worked, maybe, perhaps, you like to go on a real date with me? Iori did give me the ‘go ahead’ on it… Her words were ‘it’s not like I can actually stop you, considering this cast in my leg…'”

Wait, what?

“I know, we’re both guys, but I would be lying if I didn’t think you were super handsome… But maybe… We could do something that you might enjoy… I don’t know if you’d be attracted to a formerly sick late teen boy. If you don’t want to, it’s fine, I’ll wait for Iori to get better and then we’ll have our own syringe-powered date.” He explained himself.

A moment of uncomfortable silence passes the air, all spent with Toshiro blankly staring at the young man. Because right now, he could easily think of a few reasons why he would decline the offer.

“…kid, you do realize that I’m married, right?” He asked, crossing his arms. “And not only that, I’m practically just over twice your age. I was still going through high school while you weren’t even born.”

“Yes, I know that. I might be asking you for a date, but what I really want is your daughter, Iori. Considering you were her perfectly, it would help me a lot… I was stuck god-knows-how-long in that hospital bed, Iori was the only one that kept me a bit sane during our talks. And you have your life experience, you could teach me things too… Hell, maybe if you don’t want to be your daughter and just hang out with me, I’d accept it…”

It didn’t sound like a romantic date, but instead, a desperate plea from a boy that was restricted from living in society for a long time. Whatever was the way that Toshiro decided to go around, Hitoshi would accept it.

“…well… when you put it like that…” Toshiro frowned, backing down from his insistence. Now he just felt like a piece of shit from saying that.

From the sound of it, Hitoshi just wanted at least some form of extended socializing in the end. Hell, it was probably a good part of why his feelings poured out so easily from his confession. The boy had to spend around two years being stuck inside of a hospital room, having nothing else to do but the capability to speak to others through video calls. Maybe even text chat if he was being generous. Knowing the sort of situation he had to go through, could Toshiro really blame him for needing this?

“…I guess I could lend some time with you. Although if you’re uncomfortable about it, it doesn’t have to involve my daughter.” Toshiro said, leaning back on his comfy office chair. “The two of us could be completely different people if you want.”

“Thank you, Miyahara-sensei…!” The boy looked excited. “I know you’re married too, but when I raised this idea to Iori she pretty much said ‘my mom will probably want you two – me and you – together’. I have no idea what that means but if your wife will be into it, I guess I shouldn’t complain…!” Hitoshi nodded and smiled.

“Perhaps… I could be a girl? Iori explained how it felt like and I was curious. Maybe we both us could be girls, or something! Whatever you plan, I’d be down for it.” He said, before continuing it. “She also explained that you and your family are gonna be a task-force to help replace her, using with the syringe, so if you need any help, just give me a call and I’ll help you out, Miyahara-sensei.” Hitoshi said with a nod again.

From the looks of it, Hitoshi was indeed gonna help the family and perhaps even help Toshiro personally if needed.

‘…’

Just what was his wife even saying to Iori while he was away…? He’s already known her for two entire decades now, and her inner freakyness still concerned him.

“Just… don’t think too much what my daughter said about my wife. Heheh.” Toshiro nervously smiled, waving the issue off. “But since you’ve never really experienced how it felt to be a girl, then we could go with that. The both of us could be girls actually, since at most, I’ve only posed at my daughter. Her life’s not exactly the most accurate one a teenaged girl would go through, isn’t it?”

“I guess so! But anyway, I’m at your disposal, Miyahara-sensei. I shouldn’t take more of your time, and it’s getting late so I should go back home. Don’t worry about giving me a ride, I’ll go back on my own. Iori will give you my number so we can keep on contact. Thank you again for today. It has been a wild rollercoaster… But ultimately a fun one.” He bowed and left the office.

This man was pretty laidback and collected, reminding him of his older idol crew members. But with that being said, Toshiro still had to be his daughter for a few more weeks, as she slowly healed herself.

“Huh… Pretty nice kid, all things considered.” Toshiro muttered to himself, turning his attention back to the scheduling on his laptop screen. Chances are, if that young man was born at the same time as himself, he would’ve been guaranteed to become an idol.

‘…huh.’

Actually, that’s kinda giving him an idea. He’d still have to live out his daughter’s life within certain times, but when he’s got some free time… maybe Hitoshi would be interested to act as a female idol too?

It’s a bit of a thought that appeared in his mind, but it could work. Regardless of his intentions, for now, he had more things to do down the line and more times to be Iori.