Chapter 2: The Perfect Date.

He took her chin and kissed her on the lips and before she knew it her world exploded like thousand and thousand of fire crackers in the evening sky.

The date had gone fine, without a hitch, too perfect in her opinion. But what did she know. She had never gone on a date before. Yet she wanted to give it a shot, work as a part-time rental girlfriend, because as far as she was concerned the short window available to make it as a successful actress with good enough acting skills and make it big in the business was slowly closing on her face. Pretending to go on dates and acting as someone's girlfriend, creating chemistry and romantic moments, and most importantly, providing what may actual be called a great dating experience, was her way to hone and craft all those skills and abilities needed to be a successful actress and appear believable on the big screen.

She had heard of him, how could she not, the loser who won the billion dollar scholarship out of sheer dumb luck, because of an accounting error no less, which the founder of the university was too proud to rectify. He was left to his newly found riches, the rotten dead fish eyed loner, now finding himself in troubled waters, surrounded by sharks who smelt blood and piranhas who couldn't wait to sink their teeth into his flesh. He belonged to neither worlds, the ultimate pariah, the self entitled recluse, who kept to himself, the unlucky bastard who almost got himself killed in an accident at the start of this year, before he could even lay a claim to his new found wealth. He was the talk of the town, he even appeared on news channels, the second year student of Akihabara University who made it big out of sheer dumb luck and then almost died because of his cursed misfortune within the span of twenty four hours. When he finally showed up to the campus after spending a month in the hospital, he was the same man, but suddenly he found himself in the middle of all this gossip and rumours. Everyone wanted to be his friend. Guys wanted to invite him to parties, women wanted him to ask them out on dates.

But like she said he was the same old man under the same bland clothes. He was still a member of the service club and she was thankful of that small fact because otherwise she would have come off as just another floozy who wanted to get his attention by wearing a low cut dress which bared a ton of cleavage and more often than not came off as slutty and skimpy instead of daring and bold. Chizuru Ichinose was not one of those women. However, over the weeks when she had secretly spied on him, she had found a blonde haired woman, a fun loving, man-eater of a gyaru with the name of Ai Hayasaka trying to seduce him. The outfits she wore, especially the little black dress, it was enough to grab everyone's attention, both guys and gals and from the looks of it she certainly had his because they were talking. He didn't openly ogle her which was a good thing in her book, but she suspected that he did sneak a peek. No man could resist the temptation, she was certain and the woman in question was tempting him, without the shadow of a doubt.

But here he was kissing her at the end of the perfect date and it hadn't ruined anything. She felt like this was the natural progression of things, his hot lips on her chaste ones, lips which had never experienced anything like this before, never known a lover's graze nor touch and even as he broke contact with her parted mouth and made to move back, she subconsciously took a step forward, leaning into his vanishing warmth, with her mouth open like a love stuck idiot, a maiden experiencing love for the first time in her twenty odd years of existence.

"I hope I didn't smudge your lipstick."

He sounded worried, actually worried about it and she couldn't help but be charmed by his demeanor. He wasn't a rich guy with issues now. He wasn't a frat boy into parties and women and booze either. What he was, was something else entirely, she thought. He had all the mannerism of a well bred gentleman, knew how to be courteous and respectful towards women, opening doors, grabbing chairs, pouring drinks, paying for everything, he did all those kinda stuff during their date and she could tell he did those things out of habit. It was a part of his personality, a part of who he was. He wasn't trying to impress her or earn brownie points. He knew what the deal was. Chizuru had told him as much when she went to him with her request. This was supposed to be a pretend date. She would pretend to be his girlfriend and they would go out on a pretend date and hopefully by the end of it, she would learn whether or not she had the makings of being a rental girlfriend.

"Chizuru?"

"W-what?"

He was using her first name, because she had stupidly told him to do so, because she thought it would be expected from a boyfriend/client. She thought she wouldn't be affected by this, but that was before he had blown her brains out with a kiss.

This was not good, not good at all. She didn't even recognize her own voice as it came out her mouth. Since when did she sound so timid and faint. Actresses were supposed to have a nice, rich, chocolaty voice. And now she was reminded of what they had for dessert.

He hadn't taken her to a high end restaurant like she had thought he would. But the place they went to instead, after the movie had a nice and cozy atmosphere to it and he knew the cook, the specials on the menu and she could still taste the rich, chocolaty dessert he ordered in her mouth. It was probably because they shared a kiss a few minutes ago, she thought, finding herself overcome by a blush, a dark shade of red which ran upto the tips of her ears. She wondered whether he tasted it too. He said he liked the dessert. She couldn't help herself from thinking whether he had the stomach for an entirely different kind of dessert.

"What am I thinking!?" Chizuru Ichinose said out loud, near hysterical.

"I don't know." Hachiman said. "All I did was ask a simple question."

Right, he had asked whether or not he had smudged her lipstick because of their brief, little kiss. Without thinking much or saying anything else to him, she searched her shoulder bag until she found her compact and brought it out to check her own reflection in the small mirror. She was particular about her appearance and liked to stick to the image she had crafted since her university debut. For their date she had stuck to what she knew best and had worn a floral printed blouse with spaghetti straps and a dark blue skirt, which came down to her mid thighs. She was comfortable with what she wore and she knew he didn't really care much about her appearance and he was one of those guys she believed when he made that idiotic statement. After all, one of the conditions he put forth before he agreed to go out on this date with her was that she shouldn't apply a ton of make up on her face, saying something about masks and covering up natural beauty, which she really didn't pay much attention to, and now as she looked into her reflection she remembered.

"I'm not wearing any lipstick."

"Huh?" Hachiman Hikigaya looked confused. He raised a hand and almost made to point at her lips but stopped at the very last second from doing something so juvenile and idiotic. It was rude to point. "But your lips are really red, Chizuru."

"It's because I'm wearing lip gloss." Chizuru Ichinose explained. Like most single men who had never been in a long, lasting relationship with a woman, his knowledge about female cosmetic items seemed to be abnormally low.

"Oh." He said, confused, deep in thought, pondering. He looked like a man who was uncovering the mysteries of the world, working on theorems and figuring out complex codes, when in reality he was just making a simple observation, based on logic and reason. However, he should have known better than to say his deductions out loud.

"So, you suffer from dry lips."

"What!"

Chizuru Ichinose couldn't believe what he just said. She did not suffer from dry, chapped lips and she was gonna prove it to him. Right this instant. Without so much of an explanation she moved forward, taking advantage of his befuddled expression, knowing his mind was elsewhere and grabbed the lapels of his dinner jacket. She wouldn't really tell him, but she could admit to herself, if no one else, that he looked really dapper in that jacket. And that red tie, it really made him look distinguished.

But for now she didn't care for his tailored clothes. What was highly important to her now was proving that her lips were perfect like the rest of her body and she could only think of one way to let him know of this little fact.

While his kiss had been soft and warm and gentle, almost chaste, a sweet peck on her pouty lips, this one, which she recklessly initiated without a thought of future consequences, were none of those things. It was hot, passionate, feverous, exciting and spoke to a more baser nature in the both of them, his hands resting on her waist and hers, getting lost in his dark hair. When they came up for precious air, feeling like they had dived under the ocean and took a good look at each other after their long lip lock, she couldn't help but look at him with a triumphant expression.

"Tell me, Hikigaya-kun, are my lips dry?"

He looked at her for a second, not saying anything and then, when a minute almost passed, he made a somber declaration. "If you are serious about working as a rental girlfriend, you can't go about kissing your clients like this. You will get the wrong kind of attention."

He had a dark expression on his face, the arms now encircling her waist firm, but protective, almost afraid to let her go back to the world unknown. She smiled and took a step back, thinking, wouldn't it be wonderful if she actually met him before, back in their first year. But she couldn't throw away her dream to be an actress because of a guy, even if he was charming and handsome and dark and brooding like this man over here, who had her in his arms, the mystery, the enigma, Hachiman Hikigaya.

And he was worried about her without acting all possessive and jealous, without making outrageous claims like she should forget about her career and give up on this stupid notion of working as a rental girlfriend to develop her skills. No, he said none of those things. He was just being careful and thinking ahead of what the future had in store for her and it was a pity, because she was certain he was not the kind of guy who would spend money on a rental girlfriend service, even if it had her in their roster of women. She was certain, she only had losers in her future.

But for now it was okay to be with him. The date was hardly over. The night was young and he had to take her back to her dorm. It wasn't in the deal, but she wouldn't mind him going the extra mile. However, first she had to make certain of one thing and let his worrying mind be at ease.

"Don't misunderstand." Chizuru Ichinose said, still sporting a blush. "I don't just kiss anyone."

He smirked. "You mean I'm special?"

"Don't get a big head, d-dummy."

The sound of her stuttering voice was met with the sound of his rich laughter. Chizuru Ichinose and Hachiman Hikigaya held hands as they returned to the campus. He didn't go all the way to her dorm because she had stupidly told him before that she wanted to keep this little arrangement of theirs a secret from her roommates.

As Hachiman Hikigaya left with a nod and a small wave, Chizuru Ichinose felt like kicking herself. She also promised that she would never kiss one of her clients if she found work as a rental girlfriend. All they would get was a bit of hand holding and she wasn't even sure about that.

As for the kiss she shared, well, it was something out of a noir movie. He was the hardboiled detective and she, the femme fatale. It was good on script, spectacular on the big screen, but in reality not meant to be.

At least for now.

A/N: And we have the first kiss of the series and it's the second chapter. I can't believe Ai Hayasaka and Shouko Nishimiya lost. Guess I really underestimated her popularity. Here are the options for the next chapter:

Option 1: Annie Leonhart – Attack on Titan (Suggested by Roffan)

Option 2: Sasha Braus – Attack on Titan (Suggest by Roffan)

Option 3: Tomoko Kuroki – Watamote. (Suggested by dustinlemque)

Option 4: Kyouko Hori – Horimiya (Suggested by dustinlemque)

Option 5: Yui Yuigahama.

Option 6: Chizuru Ichinose – Continue.

Please pick any of the above options.

And please, please suggest more characters in the review or through PM. It would really help me write more chapters in the future.

You can also send a voter list.

Hope everyone enjoyed reading this chapter.

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Won't betray your dreams.