I sent my favorite girl a “Happy New Year” LINE message, but she still hasn’t even read it since yesterday morning. No matter how busy she is over New Year’s, she must have time to check LINE, right? We’ve been seeing each other for almost a year, but does she perhaps care about me much less than I thought?

Seattle here. Yes, if his replies are slow, he probably doesn’t care that much. There are more than ten men, and you’re probably around tenth place among the rest. You can spend more money to move up the rankings, or just accept being number ten, keep things casual, and look for someone else too.

I’m Taro, a male member. Sending a “Happy New Year” LINE on New Year’s Day is a good move. If you message someone on occasions when they’re likely to be busy, like Christmas or their birthday, their reaction can tell you a lot about their attitude. I definitely recommend that the men out there give it a try. Put aside the fantasy that messaging them will somehow deepen the relationship, and stay focused on reading the situation. Send something they’d be expected to reply to, without crossing the line into being annoying, and see how they respond. It’s best to approach it like a boxer probing with jabs and feints, or a pitcher throwing just inside the edge of the plate to see whether the batter swings. Unfortunately, this one didn’t go well. If you sent it on the morning of New Year’s Day, I’d say you should have received a reply by the afternoon at the latest. They might still have been asleep in the morning, after all. If you’re going to send it, I think early afternoon, when you can be sure they’re awake, is better. In my experience, a normal reply comes within an hour or two. If the exchange goes back and forth a few times, that’s a good sign. If they just respond with a sticker, well, that tells you what you need to know. And if all you get that night is a canned message, you can pretty much read between the lines. So, if there’s still nothing by the following evening, I’d say they’re quite cold toward you. That said, if they recognize you as a customer, I think you’ll eventually get a reply—on the first business day after the New Year’s holiday. It’s just like work. As a male member, if you’re okay with that, you can keep going. If you’re not, look elsewhere. Either way, you can move forward. That’s why I think sending a LINE message at a potentially awkward time is a good move. You did gain something from taking that step, so I hope you’ll feel confident and move on to the next stage.

Maezawa from the CEO’s office here. Maybe you’re sending too many LINE messages? If there are too many, checking them all can become a hassle, so they may be deliberately only checking them occasionally. I think keeping a comfortable distance—talking about various things when you meet—is probably best. If you’re looking for more than that, though, I feel you’d need to do more, such as increasing the allowance or giving gifts.

I’m Rin, a female member of SALON. If you want to look at it positively, maybe he forgot to charge his phone. Or perhaps he’s traveling with his family and doesn’t open LINE because it’s difficult to reply to his papa (a male supporter). Rather than wondering whether you’re unimportant to him based on how quickly he replies on LINE, why not focus on having a good time when you’re together?

I’m Aya, a female member. That kind of difference in enthusiasm really can’t be helped… A woman’s everyday life is filled with things other than her papa. Work, hobbies, family, spending time with friends, beauty, a boyfriend, studying… We’re genuinely busy, with our minds full of all sorts of things. So if a LINE message comes from a papa she doesn’t exactly dislike, it may inevitably get pushed back to the bottom of the list—like checking a work email where she was only CC’d. Still, I do think a truly capable girl—the kind who’s good at her job—would notice even those minor messages and reply right away…

I’m Nana Ayase ♡ Maybe she’s traveling with her favorite papa (male supporter)? That must be what’s going on. Let’s move on.

I’m a male member—the loser type. To women, we papas are just ATMs, so they don’t really care about us. That’s exactly why you should become a complete ATM, through and through. Oddly enough, that can sometimes make you someone they do care about. Just sometimes, though. Very, very rarely.