A new shade

Previous chapter: https://www.patreon.com/posts/building-up-down-80694912?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

A couple of days after her reunion with the camera, Ami sat in her room watching echi anime, as per usual. Haruto told her he'd be posting the images over time, letting them drip one by one. A decent tactic if your main goal is to do as little work for as much benefit as possible. In truth, he'd come to feel a bit bad for her.. Putting her in this position, exploiting her willingness to do any little thing for attention.
No matter, he "needed" the money, and presumably so did she. It did well to feed into her newfound addiction for Japanese cartoon media, an addiction Haruto was cluelessly responsible for.

"Hey. The photos were well received, but people are a bit tired of the green. Do you mind meeting me here, later today?"

Following the text came the address for a saloon.
Just as she'd gotten used to the green, it'd even grown a bit on her, precisely the reason her "followers" wanted her to change it. It no longer served it's purpose as being a tool for embarrassment. Finally allowed to remove the god awful color from her hair, Ami of course felt a bit of relief, but at the same time it'd come to be a part of her. Looking in the mirror, or camera on her phone she expected to see it. Changing it again would be strange for sure. Not to mention the potential of changing it to yet another unnatural color. Needless to say, the thought of turning down Haruto's request didn't even cross her mind.

Sure enough, the new color planned for her turned out to be nothing like what would occur naturally. A deep blue now cascaded down her cheeks and neck, stopping just at her shoulders. As if simply changing the color of her hair wouldn't suffice, her manager had also taken the liberty and bought some lenses for her to wear at all times, replacing her glasses entirely. Haruto handed her a bag of things before leaving. Being on a tight schedule himself, he instead opted to have Ami take the pictures herself rather than doing an actual shoot. Perhaps even for the best, now he could push the narrative that the changes to her appearance was something she'd done of her own accord. Only one of his patrons would ever know it'd been a request anyways.

Back home, Ami opened the bag of mysteries. Inside it she found the promised pack of lenses, as well as a choker, more akin to a collar, with various attachments.
The instructions Haruto had left her with were clear. Wear the choker and lenses and get naked. He wanted to photos, one with a particular angle and pose. She could do pretty much whatever she wanted with the second one, granted she'd be naked and wearing the appropriate accessories.

Skeptical about the lenses, her fears were confirmed when she saw them. They were tinted a bright red.. Wearing them introduced yet another complication. They had some strength to them, sure. But it was far from what her glasses provided. Still better than wearing nothing at all, everything further away than a meter became just slightly blurry to her. They provided just enough for her to function, granted she moved around with much more uncertainty. She generally looked much more timid and clumsy. Haruto would be getting a pleasant surprise when he gets to experience the unintended side effect first hand the next time they meet.

Squinting at her phone to better see the picture she'd just taken, Ami found her new look to be surprisingly pleasant. The red and blue really complimented each other. Much better than the green and dull brown of before.

Deciding to explore what appeared to be attachments to her red collar, Ami retrieved a red flute from the plastic bag. It looked like something one would find on a life jacket rather than in the hand of a referee. Whatever, she thought it actually looked cute.

For the second picture Ami felt inspired. The flute gave her an idea.
Fully naked, she crawled into her wardrobe. Kneeling down, she used one arm for support while taking the photo with the other. The camera blitz served well to brighten up the cramped space. Feeling frisky, Ami added the caption: "What would you do if you found me trapped in your closet?". Hopefully it'd spark a nice reaction from Haruto...

"That last one is really good! You're definitely getting better at this!"

A truly candid response for once, a positive one at that! His extended exposure to her might actually be softening him up a bit after all. The guilt he felt after their beach trip should be evidence enough that he'd started caring for the girl..