The Lying Counselor’s Eloquent Reasoning - Chapter 50
Yes, the truth was that these days when uploading selfies on social networking sites, she felt a tinge of guilt. Whenever selfies were uploaded, the followers complimented on how cute she was, but those compliments were not directed at the real her. The real her was ugly, and she only masked it with image modification.
However, Moeka never had these feelings when she first started taking selfies. In the beginning, Moeka didn’t make her debut on a smartphone until she entered high school, and before then, she hadn’t been that obsessed with her facial features. Although she was slightly concerned about the fact that her eyes were narrower than other people’s, her eyes and nose were well-balanced, and she vaguely evaluated herself as a person with a good face overall.
But that changed significantly with the acquisition of a smartphone and the start of taking selfies. If it was solely a matter of taking a picture of her own face, she would have done it before, but the selfie app on her phone had a function that enabled her to process her own face photo. And with that function, Moeka learned that she can enlarge her narrow eyes. It was quite a shock. Her years of dissatisfaction with her appearance dissipated in an instant, and she was able to have the kind of eyes she had always yearned for.
Immediately, Moeka launched a social networking site and published a selfie of herself in all her glory. Her followers soon reached triple digits, and many male users complimented her face. Moeka was genuinely flattered by the sudden popularity and attention she was receiving. She kept on posting more and more enhanced selfies.
At first, the modifications were limited to widening her eyes a little, but gradually, the amount of modifications escalated from making her skin whiter and smoother to reducing her face size. The more she tweaked, the more she felt that she was growing into a beautiful girl in the photo. On the other hand, the reality of herself started to be seen as ugly. In comparison to the beautiful girl in the photo, she herself seemed so dirty and wretched.
So, by owning a smartphone and clearly visualizing the image of the person she desired to be, the actual person who was not that way turned out to be a tremendous hardship. At one point, she tried various things like wearing makeup to make her face smaller and eyelash extensions, but nothing could bring her closer to her ideal face. It was only natural for Moeka to conclude that cosmetic surgery was the only solution. But in the end, her parents prevented her from doing so…
But as long as I have this pack, I don’t need to have a face lift anymore!?
As for Uroma, at first, she thought he was an unpleasant man, but those negative feelings were now erased completely, and she only felt a deep sense of gratitude. Thank you, you shady doctor!
Ultimately, Moeka spent the week of the trial period in a fabulous mood. The effect of the pack was still outstanding. All she had to do was put it on her face before going to bed, and her face remained beautiful the next day. Even after washing or bathing, it stayed on. It was as if a special serum had been utilized.
Before long, on the last day of the trial, Moeka went to Takahiko Uroma’s Counseling Room again. Her wallet was stuffed with many ten thousand bills. These were all the money Moeka had saved from her part-time job. She intended to use it to purchase as many beauty packs as she could.
But once Uroma saw Moeka again, this was his opening words.
“Before you say anything to me, Tsubaki, please wipe your face with this first. Look in the mirror here.”
Uroma handed Moeka a hand towel and indicated the stand mirror that was on his office desk. Next to him stood Ayasaki Tomomi, the same as on the first day. I wonder what it is. Does it mean that I should remove the serum from my pack? It seems like something that won’t come off with a normal wipe though…Moeka wondered, but did as she was told anyway.
Then the change was immediate. After wiping with the hand towel, Moeka’s face promptly reverted to its original narrow-eyed ugliness. Apparently, it was a special hand towel to remove the special serum.
“How do you feel now, Tsubaki?”
“How do I feel, aren’t you being a little cruel? If this hand towel is supposed to remove the serum and restore my face, why didn’t you mention that from the beginning?”
Moeka grumbled as she shielded her face with her hands. It was too much of a shock and she wasn’t wearing anything today that could obscure her face.
“Your face is back to normal? Huh?” Uroma suddenly cocked his head deliberately. “I didn’t see any change in your face before and after you wiped your face with the hand towel.”
“Ha? What are you talking about? My appearance has changed immensely, hasn’t it?”
“Is that so? Then, how did it look to you, Tomomi?”
“U-Um… I feel the same way as the doctor…” Tomomi replied, feeling awkward.
“Why? You saw it too, Ayasaki! Right now, my face has changed!”
“Well, well, well. Please calm down. Just in case something like this happens, there is actually a camera attached to this mirror. The moment you just witnessed was also captured on video.” Uroma pointed to a small round indentation at the top of the stand mirror. That was apparently where the camera was.
“Why are you taking video of people’s faces without their consent? That’s voyeurism??”
“Let’s just take a look at the moment of the century.”
Click. Uroma reached behind the stand mirror and seemed to perform some kind of command. The mirror immediately turned into a display, showing Moeka’s appearance from earlier. It began with Uroma handing her a hand towel and she immediately began wiping her face with it??
“W-Wait! What is this!”
Moeka was astonished. From the beginning, all she recognized was her ugly, narrow-eyed face. That’s right, even before Uroma handed her the hand towel, she always looked like that.
“Then what is the effect of the serum in that pack??”
“The effect, of course, is to give your face a different appearance, but only to your eyes.”
Grinning, Uroma broke the news to her painfully.