I didn’t know how much time had passed before I slowly regained consciousness. Opening my eyes drowsily, I saw Venus’s pure, ethereal, gorgeous face right in front of me, a playful half-smile on her lips. I shrieked again, scrambling frantically to escape. Unaware that I was lying on the bed, my movement was so dramatic that I tumbled right onto the floor with a loud thud. Ignoring the sharp, piercing pain in my landed knees, I bolted straight behind Athena!
Athena looked at my panicked state with amusement and quickly said, "Alright, Venus was just scaring you. If she really looked like that, she’d kill herself before you even had the chance to be scared!"
I swallowed hard, wiped the cold sweat from my forehead, and whispered, "Sis, you’re not lying to me, right?" As I spoke, I stole a peek through the gap in Athena’s arm at Venus, who was sitting on the edge of the bed swinging her bare feet.
Before Athena could answer, Venus bounced off the bed and ran excitedly toward me. Scared out of my wits, I took a massive step back, barely keeping my shaky legs balanced while clutching my injured knee, staring at her with complete guard up. Ignoring my defensive expression, Venus said to me eagerly, "If you recognize me as your big sister, I’ll spare you—plus, there’ll be plenty of sweet perks!" To her, this was clearly a super fun game.
Without a second thought, I shook my head and refused: "Are you kidding? You look even younger than me!" In truth, I had another unspoken reason—I still didn’t know if she was some kind of monster, so how could I dare accept?
"If you don’t agree, I’ll eat you up first!" Venus put on a fiercely menacing face.
Though thoroughly terrified inside, I stubbornly blurted out, "Even if you eat me, I still won’t recognize you as my sister!" With that, I summoned my courage to stare right back at her. Seeing the standoff, Athena chimed in hastily, "Alright, Fuitsu. Venus is the Goddess of Love, how could she possibly be a monster? And Venus, stop fooling around. I brought you out to help him. If you keep acting like this, I’ll make sure Fuitsu never lets you out again!"
Though I had no idea how to trap her back inside the bracelet, my courage instantly surged, and I straightened my spine! Hearing Athena say that, Venus deflated like a popped balloon, instantly turning well-behaved. Athena looked at me and said, "Venus is the Goddess of Love after all. If you want to pursue a girl, who better to learn from than her?"
Realizing I was actually begging for her help, Venus grew smug again: "Chasing girls is simple, but if you want my help, there has to be a reward, right? Call me sister, and I’ll help you!" She looked at me expectantly.
I glanced at Athena and saw her frantically winking at me. Understanding her signal to just humor Venus, I yielded to my desperate need for her help and nodded in agreement. Seeing me relent, Venus cheered with joy, insisting I call her "Sister" before letting it go. Swinging her little feet, Venus smiled and said, "The most important part of pursuing a girl is making her interested in you first, then getting to know her inside and out, targeting her weaknesses and breaking them down one by one!"
"Easy for you to say. Look at me—I’m neither handsome nor rich. What girl would ever be interested in me?" I said, feeling a bit discouraged.
"Silly little brother, girls don’t just fall for guys who are dashing and wealthy. A charismatic man is always the most popular. Don’t worry, when you meet her, just summon the Goddess of Love in your mind and I’ll come out to help you! Have some confidence—a confident man has charm too!" Venus cheered me on.
I nodded, my heart swelling with anticipation. The rest of the night passed without a word.
The next afternoon, a knock sounded at the front door. Opening it, I found Principal Jou and my homeroom teacher, Sho-sensei, coming to pick me up for the TV station. After changing into a decent set of clothes, I went downstairs with them! Right at the bottom of the building stood a black Audi. As soon as we walked down, the car window rolled down. A middle-aged man in his fifties poked his head out—looking closely, wasn’t this the bureau chief of the Education Bureau who spoke in official jargon on the news that day? Seeing us walk over slowly, he burst into a loud laugh from afar and said, looking at me, "So this is our top scorer! Truly young and promising!"
I quickly offered a modest reply, "Haha, it was just luck!"
"Excellent! Victorious without being arrogant. You definitely have a bright future ahead! Alright, let’s not stand around talking, get in!" With that, he opened the car door and took the front passenger seat. I couldn’t help but curse under my breath: Bright future my ass, just half a month ago someone was telling me not to take the exam!
Getting into the car, our group arrived at Tokyo Education Television. Standing outside the main entrance of the TV station, nervousness finally gripped me. I didn’t snap out of it until Principal Jou gave me a nudge, and I followed them inside.
In the main lobby, a staff member guided us to the 12th floor of the building—the studio for the Education Online column. Stepping into the studio, a scene of bustling activity unfolded. Makeup artists, sound engineers, lighting technicians, and the director were all working up a storm, practically ignoring us.
"Ah, Bureau Chief Sugiyama, you’re here! Welcome, welcome!" Right then, a middle-aged man in his 40s wearing gold-rimmed glasses turned around, saw us, and rushed over to greet the elderly bureau chief enthusiastically!
"Producer Yamashita, you’re far too polite. Let me introduce everyone to you," Bureau Chief Sugiyama chatted back warmly, then pointed at me and said, "This is student Fuitsu Fuu, this year’s top scorer in Tokyo. This is Principal Jou of Seisei High School, and this gentleman is Fuitsu’s homeroom teacher, Sho-sensei!" Hearing the introduction, Producer Yamashita greeted us as well, and we quickly hit it off.
Producer Yamashita smiled and said, "Bureau Chief Sugiyama, the show is starting soon. Manager Watanabe from the SH company has arrived as well. Please follow me to the dressing room to put on some makeup first, and then I’ll walk you through the procedure and the questions that will be asked!" With that, he led us toward a small room beside the studio.
As I walked, I asked in confusion, "Are TV shows always pre-arranged like this?"
Producer Yamashita replied, "You might not be familiar with the recording process of TV shows. To achieve a better effect for the broadcast, we provide the questions to you in advance so you have time to think about your answers. That way, we avoid awkward silences during the live broadcast if someone can’t answer a question! I’ll hand you the questions to look over in a moment. Here’s the dressing room, please come in!" As he spoke, he pushed open the door.
It looked much like a dressing room you’d see in the movies, with three people already inside. One person had her back to us while a girl who looked like a makeup artist was working on her face. Glancing toward the mirror, my heart instantly began pounding wildly. A mature, glamorous face was reflected in the glass, currently reading through a stack of script papers with total focus. That dedicated expression highlighted her intellectual beauty to perfection—wasn’t this Shin Garei?
Producer Yamashita called out to another makeup artist who was free, "These are the guests for today’s episode, quickly put some makeup on them!"
The makeup artist nodded and gestured for me to take a seat next to Shin Garei. I walked over slowly, took a stack of papers handed over by Producer Yamashita, and pretended to read them, while my eyes kept stealing glances at Shin Garei sitting beside me. My mind was in complete turmoil right now: What should I do? Should I greet her first? Sure, but what should I say? Tell her "Long time no see"? Damn it, who knows if she even remembers you! Introduce myself directly? Geez, that’s way too uncreative!
I honestly wished I could slap myself twice right then—so useless! Whenever a critical moment arrived, this mouth of mine became as dull as a broken lump of wood, utterly incapable of uttering a single word!
S.O.S., emergency call for help!
Instantly, I thought of Venus—she should be able to help me. Nervously gripping the bracelet, I chanted in my mind: "Summon the Goddess of Love!"