Enkou Shoujo ~Rikubu-bu Yukki no Baai~ (円交少女 ～陸上部ゆっきーの場合～) Review

In high school I heard a thing: in the class next to ours, there was a girl who would have sex with people for money.

“See, that’s her.” My deskmate pointed at the back of a girl from the next class and told me she was the subject of the “school secret” he’d described to me before.

Honestly, I saw her face later. Not pretty, thick lips, but skinny, pale, a ponytail, always smiling. My biggest takeaway was: I can’t believe she’d do something like that.

And the rumors about her never stopped. I’d constantly hear boys say stuff like this.

“Our school’s got a school whore, you know.”

“Who?”

“That… Xiaoxue.”

Hearing it enough made me curious.

“How do you know she’s one of those…”

“Someone saw it.”

“Saw what?”

“At night, in the classroom, with a guy, going at it.”

“But…” I raised my doubt, “are you sure she was doing it for money?”

“Of course…” The other guy got confused too. “Look at the stuff she buys, so… nice.”

That’s when I noticed she did seem well-off. As a first-year high schooler, she already had a mid-range Sony Ericsson phone.

But that doesn’t prove anything… And about the classroom thing, I heard a whole bunch of different versions, none of which could confirm who actually saw it, and some accounts even contradicted each other…

Then the next year, classes got reshuffled. I chose science, and that girl ended up in my class…

I learned more about her, and it turned out she was nothing like the rumors. No matter how you looked at it, she didn’t seem like that kind of person, and I never saw her have time for such things…

Because her grades were just too good… And… she was always reading and studying, no sign of time to fool around…

But the rumors, though quieter, didn’t disappear. Everyone watched her back from afar, voicing their indignation that she was a slut.

“If she really is… that… then you guys go pay her for a round… wouldn’t that settle it?”

No one responded to that suggestion. The ones spreading the talk kept cursing her back from a distance, but I saw a hint of resentment in their eyes.

Sometimes I wonder if they didn’t actually believe she was a whore, but the rumors made them expect it, made them want to sleep with her.

By senior year, the class stayed the same, but the rumors about that girl completely vanished. I don’t know if they just fell apart or something else happened, but I can’t forget those boys’ wolf-like eyes, filled with… desire.

“No man hates having sex with women. If you can’t get it up for some woman, it’s just because you hate that person in front of you, not women.”

Back in high school, a classmate named Wu, known as the class’s “Huang Pinyuan,” told me something that profound, and even now I think it’s true.

But does the reverse hold? Do women also have those desire-filled eyes like men?

“Just imagine… you’re tied to a bed, a man way stronger than you pins you down so you can’t move, tries to stick his thing into your body. How would you feel?”

I once made the mistake of asking that to a young wife in my World of Warcraft guild.

I pictured it and found it terrifying… Then I realized something was off…

“Wait, that’s not right. I’m a man, why would I be penetrated by another man?”

“When a woman is forced into sex by a man she doesn’t like, the feeling of violation has nothing to do with gender.”

Thinking about it, that makes sense… Being pinned down already makes you the violated party, and having someone enter your body without permission probably strips away even more dignity.

If there really are girls who sell their bodies for money, facing all sorts of uncertain guys entering them, maybe it brings even greater panic and pressure…

Unless you’ve completely abandoned yourself, given up your dignity.

While in middle and high school, selling your body for money was just a rumor, after I became an adult, that kind of content only intensified: the Hǎitiān Shèngyàn party, cuckold posts on Reddit, the Daugerrean flag, the rise of all kinds of hookup apps—vivid cases one after another, showing that society probably does have girls who sell their bodies for money.

The closest I ever got to such a girl was knowing someone who, in search of love, became someone who’d sleep with anyone—though she’s married now. And she was just hooking up… not selling her body.

Selling your body basically means selling your dignity. I’ve always thought dignity is the most important thing in life. Unless you’re truly out of options, selling that last asset for money might be the only choice.

“TV, movies, magazines always show stories like this, Going to work at a hotel is always forced by reality. For unavoidable hardships or to support the family, I believe no girl would want to do this.”

“Thirteenth Angel” is a song by rapper MC Hotdog—maybe more people know him as “Ha Gou Bang.” These lines are from that song.

The song describes the reality and situation of hostesses in enjo kousai in society. Funny enough, the term “enjo kousai” originally comes from Japan.

Literally, “enjo kousai” just means a girl choosing to socialize with older people to get money. There’s no explicit sexual transaction in the literal meaning, but there’s no free lunch in this world—ultimately, what’s consumed is the girl’s youth and body.

Just as I was looking at the “enjo kousai” entry and lamenting the darkness of society, a news article caught my eye. I forget the headline, something about what AV actresses do after retirement, but I remember the content clearly.

“Most AV actresses, once they’ve achieved a comfortable life, find it hard to accept the drop to needing to work hard for a decent wage.”

I thought of all those Weibo escorts, their daily posts mostly glamorous lives, flaunting wealth while praising their sugar daddies’ generosity, staying tight-lipped about whether they do sex work—until news exposed it, and we learned these unknown things.

And I learned one thing: there really are people in this world willing to sell their dignity for money. Because they’re lazy and unwilling to give anything else…

My understanding of such things… probably ends here. But recently I played a game that might shed a bit more light on the issue.

The game is called Enkou Shoujo (円交少女), subtitle “Rikubu Yuki no Baai"—basically “Enkou Shoujo, Track and Field Club Yuki Edition.” At first I totally thought 円交 was just the Japanese way of writing 援交, but it’s actually a funny typo. It’s the new game from nukige brand frill this year. I’d played their previous game, “Seishoujo”. Normally, a nukige, especially one with an enjo kousai protagonist, would be like a typical dirty novel—sell a bit, drag it out, done.

But this game is different… it actually has a complete story…

The story starts from the perspective of the heroine, Yuki. Yuki is a lonely girl with good grades and a former star of the track and field club, though she quit due to health reasons…

Yuki has no friends; the only person she’s familiar with is a girl she met in middle school named Mako.

Mako is a clumsy girl—bad at studying, no presence, often ignored and bullied. After middle school, Mako and Yuki went to different schools. At her new school, Yuki felt incredibly lonely. One day she thought of Mako—maybe Mako was her only friend. But when she found Mako on Line, Yuki was a bit shocked…

The current Mako had dyed hair and was always showing off her relationship on Twitter.

Yuki managed to contact Mako and met up with her, only to find Mako wasn’t doing well.

Even more shocking, Yuki discovered Mako’s so-called boyfriend was a host club host… and Mako owed him a lot of money, so she had to do enjo kousai to pay it off…

Yuki had a hard time accepting it at first, but mostly she pitied Mako.

At their second meeting, Mako was finally cornered—if she didn’t come up with 300,000 yen in a day, she’d be beaten to death. The man Mako was with during enjo kousai looked at Yuki with lecherous eyes and instantly offered 300,000 yen…

Facing Mako’s pleading eyes, Yuki remembered her own desperate and boring life, and took the first step.

After that, the story goes like a typical nukige. Selling your body—once you do it once, there’s a second time, especially for someone like Yuki with no social experience, getting deceived left and right by various men: some trick her out of photos, some out of her worn clothes. And her only good friend Mako can’t help her either; the two even go do enjo kousai together. Yuki sinks deeper and deeper. In the latter half, especially when Mako says “Let’s do enjo kousai together,” I already sensed something off about Mako. She started showing no shame about Yuki constantly selling her body for her sake, and kept introducing new business to Yuki…

I totally felt like I’d become a pimp, right?

And Yuki kept doing this work for the sake of her friendship with Mako, until eventually Yuki’s enjo kousai was discovered by a school teacher, who blackmailed her, and then by other students, who blackmailed her again.

Meanwhile, Mako kept introducing new clients to Yuki.

By this point Yuki was already thinking of quitting, but still reluctantly continued selling her body for money. And the game has a very interesting portrayal here… Yuki starts taking the initiative during enjo kousai…

How to put it—she learned to play another self during enjo kousai, even becoming a bit sadistic. Facing blackmail from another student, she already had a mindset of amusement.

People say men seeking desire are the most fragile, that a woman who can control a man’s genitals can play him to death—seems absolutely true.

Yuki even realized that just by pleasing some men, she could quickly get a lot of money, and that was actually pretty good. She even started to enjoy it a bit.

Fortunately, when Yuki was about to graduate, she met a new track and field teacher. The teacher’s words inspired her, and she finally decided to quit for good…

Of course, before quitting, Mako invited her for one last enjo kousai—a group thing, too much to look at.

In the end, Yuki graduates smoothly, the teacher who threatened her gets fired for other reasons, and no one can threaten Yuki anymore.

Normally, ending the story there would be fine, but the game throws in a twist at the end.

Mako is throwing a party with her boyfriend at the host club. Mako proudly says that thanks to Yuki, she and her boyfriend became the top pimps at the club…

So it was all a scam from the start. From the moment Yuki contacted Mako, she was prey. Her so-called friendship was just something Mako sold for money…

“She’s your… good friend, right? Why make her do enjo kousai?”

Even Mako’s boyfriend can’t stand it and asks.

Mako’s answer is telling: because Yuki is lonely… and the current Yuki has probably gotten used to the easy money…

“In the future, when Yuki feels lonely again, she might come back to me…”

Mako leaves those words, implying Yuki can never go back to the past…

How to put it…

This game, despite being a nukige, insists on throwing in such heart-wrenching elements… really… like Seishoujo, Enkou Shoujo also stuffs in a lot of dark stuff. It’s shallow, but realistic. The fast pacing is understandable—it’s a nukige, people are waiting to jerk off; give them 20 hours of slice-of-life and they’ll lose their boner. But the ending is still surprising. I’d guessed midway, but I only thought Mako’s boyfriend was the pimp; turns out Mako was the real mastermind. Sometimes I find it ridiculous that you have to go through a nukige to see something closer to social reality—maybe normal works are just too fairy-tale-like.

Actually, there’s a key part of the story left unsaid: Mako’s true feelings, and what Mako went through before becoming a パコ.

Fortunately, the game’s ED, “Null” sung by Chata, gives me the answer.

The whole song is probably a portrait of Mako before her fall—a girl who knew nothing, able only to fall into society in this posture, become part of its dark side, even start to enjoy it, and share her pain and joy with a friend.

Looking at the whole game, honestly the plot isn’t that rigorous—obvious nukige service (no duh)—but it’s a rare nukige willing to tell a story that close to reality. It also shows the cruelty of society and the helplessness of many girls.

There really are girls who sell their bodies for money, and men willing to pay for girls’ bodies.

Men facing such women are like the clients in the game facing Yuki—forcing themselves on her, yet being conquered by her during the act.

I think back to those boys in high school, and that girl who was constantly cursed as a whore behind her back by a group of boys.

They cursed her as filthy and low, while inwardly yearning to conquer her.

“Supply and demand balance—is the responsibility on people, all hunters with pornographic bows and arrows, aiming at angels? Thirteenth Angel, when will you disappear from the food chain in the jungle of desire?”

Sometimes I think, compared to hooking up, clearly priced transactions might be more reasonable—at least they give some women with nothing a chance to survive.

Looking at it now, maybe that’s not the case.