The Lying Counselor’s Eloquent Reasoning - Chapter 47
“I see. So, you are concerned by your face, aren’t you, Tsubaki?”
Uroma, who had been observing the exchange between the two, eventually said. Looking at him, a laptop appeared before her eyes at some point.
“But that’s strange, isn’t it? You seem to have a social networking site under your real name, where you openly reveal your face without restraint.”
Uroma turned his laptop around and presented the screen to the two girls. The account name on the screen was indeed “Tsubaki Moeka”. On the header, a picture of a girl with incredibly wide eyes was displayed. Her skin was as smooth as white porcelain.
“No, doctor, that’s a different person with the same name. Tsubaki doesn’t look like this??”
Just as soon as Tomomi said that.
“I’m just glamorizing it up as I go along! How can I possibly reveal my dirty face!”
Moeka let out a shrill cry. Apparently, it was definitely her social network.
“Glamorizing? Does that mean you’re modifying photos of yourself and uploading them to social networking sites?”
“Yes. That way, I look very cute.”
“Very cute? In this picture?”
Uroma turned the laptop over to her again and stared at the screen with a doubtful look in his eyes.
“All of the selfies that you upload, though, are overly modified and look unnatural. Especially in the recent photos, your eyes are far too large. You look like an alien.”
“What are you talking about! It’s super cute!”
“Not cute, not at all. The real Tsubaki is definitely cuter than this.”
Uroma abruptly raised his right hand. In his hand were a hat, sunglasses, and a mask. Of course, these were the ones that Moeka was wearing. Again, when did you rip it off…?
“N-No! Why did you remove all my stuff!”
Moeka panicked and covered her face with her hands to obscure it, but Tomomi had already caught a glimpse of her face. She looked the same as she had in junior high school, with the same well-rounded face. Her long, slit eyes; her low but straight nose; her full, cherry-red lips. Her beauty was that of an Asian woman who would be well suited for kimono. Her skin looked a little rough, though.
“Don’t conceal it, Tsubaki. You have a very pretty face.”
Tomomi said, sincerely considering so.
“W-Why do you say such nonsensical things? It’s impossible for someone with such thin and tiny eyes to be beautiful!”
Moeka evidently regarded her own face as ugly.
“I feel the same way as Tomomi do, Tsubaki. Your face is attractive enough as it is.”
“Lies! I’m extremely ugly! I know exactly what I’m talking about!”
Even to Uroma’s words, Moeka only shook her head obstinately.
“… Well, each person has their own aesthetic sense. If you say so, then in your heart, Tsubaki, you are right.”
Uroma sighed in exasperation and tossed the three-piece set of hat, sunglasses, and mask onto Moeka’s lap. She immediately retrieved them and attached them to her face as before.
“I’m certain that for you, the face that you deem to be beautiful is the one that you upload on your social media sites, the face that looks like a selfie with a lot of pomp and circumstance. Right, the one with dull, enormous eyes and skin as white as a mannequin…”
“Yes. That is the face I desire to attain. That’s why I want to have cosmetic surgery. But since I’m still a minor, I need written consent from my parents…”
“I see. So, you are having a hard time with your parents’ opposition to cosmetic surgery.”
Finally, the first part of the story dawned upon them.
“I have absolutely no idea how to convince my parents. No matter how much I tell them that I hate my face, they don’t understand my feelings at all. I really wish that my face would disappear as soon as possible…”
Moeka’s voice was imbued with earnestness. Even so, Tomomi could not grasp her feelings in the slightest. Her face wasn’t hideous enough to require immediate plastic surgery.
“That must be very agonizing for you, Tsubaki. Your parents don’t share your complexity. However, I can see why your parents are against cosmetic surgery. After all, no amount of money, no matter how skilled the surgeon may be, they are unlikely to achieve this kind of face that you wish for.”
Uroma stared at the screen of his laptop.