Chapter 2: A Fast Confession
It was a sunny Monday, and Kazuya was getting ready to go to university with a happy smile on his face. The last week had been amazing for him, as he met an angel: Sumi Sakurasawa.
The young man was in fact surprised and glad for how that girl didn't make him pay for renting her and thanked him instead for being so nice with her during their date. She also introduced herself to his family as his "girlfriend" when he ran to visit his grandmother after knowing that she got recovered due to a fall.
'Hehe, I can't believe that I met such a kind girl. Compared to Mami, she's a hundred times better and cares already a lot about me after meeting me only once. I feel like the luckiest man ever!', he thought with a big and silly smile on his face while he was putting his books in his rucksack before leaving for his lessons.
Though, he was thinking more about Wednesday, as he would meet Sumi again to go to visit Nagomi again. He and the pink haired girl decided in fact to go to the hospital together every Wednesday but without that he rented her; Sumi had assured him that Diamond wouldn't complain about it because she had low tariffs for being rented, so the agency wouldn't bother to ask her why she didn't make Kazuya pay for dating her.
Obviously, he was completely fine with this arrangement, as that meant that he could see Sumi anytime he wanted. And it looked that she was happy for this too, due to the fact that she seemed to have already got affectionate to him after their first date.
Once he was done with preparing his bag with the textbooks, Kazuya left his apartment and saw that his neighbor left her own apartment in the same moment. "Oh, good morning Chizuru-San. Do you have lessons early too?", he asked to the the brunette with glasses and braided twintails.
"Good morning you too, Kazuya-kun. Yeah, I have a philosophy lesson for the first hour today. Are you studying for your exams, by the way? You know that slacking off is not good.", she told him, first smiling and then looking at him seriously.
"Don't worry, I am. Thanks to your help, I feel like I will pass the exams easily haha.", he said, grinning.
"That's good to know. Since we're going to the same place, let's go to it together.", she proposed, getting a nod from the smiling young man.
So the two of them went downstairs and started walking towards their university, chatting a little about university and similar stuff. Chizuru Ichinose was the neighbor that Kazuya met casually last week when he saw her coming back to her apartment, which was exactly the one next to Kazuya's, all dressed up for a date or an important event.
He saw her also a second time but with the same look that she had at the moment, and when she asked him why he glanced at her, he told her that he connected the dots and that she was a famous actress in disguise. The brunette was flabbergasted by his assumption and wanted to clarify her real job, but when he said that he felt honoured to have an actress as neighbor, she blushed and smiled, changing her mind about clarifying.
So she invited him for a tea in her apartment and chatted together, finding out that they went to the same university and becoming friends. Chizuru helped Kazuya with his studies and taught him some easy recipes to cook too to make sure that he took care of himself better.
Their friendship brought them in this way to spend some time together often, just like at the moment while walking towards their college. "You're part of the drama club, Chizuru-San?", asked her the orange haired boy out of curiosity.
"That's right, I'm part of that club. It helps me to rehearse better and to train my acting.", she replied, smiling.
"I thought that you were already pretty good at acting. I m-mean, you showed me your talent sometimes. ", he said, blushing and scratching his cheek.
The girl blushed as well, "S-silly, training is necessary to get better anytime. I-I want to be a good actress like my grandmother was in her younger days."
"Speaking of her, is she feeling better somehow? You told me that she's still recovered at the hospital, after all."
Chizuru smiled sadly, "She's fine, but I really hope that she gets better and that she can get out of the hospital."
"Don't worry, I'm sure that Sayuri-San will feel better when she sees how famous you will be as actress!", he said, smiling.
'You think that I'm an actress when I'm a rental girlfriend and you cheer me up so much…Now I see why Sumi-chan was glad when she told me about you, Kazuya-kun; you're really too kind.', she thought, blushing and thanking him dearly.
She had understood who he was in fact because Kazuya told her about his date with Sumi and how the shy girl met his family, and Sumi told her about it as well while smiling and blushing. Even if she was a rental, Kazuya treated Sumi kindly and tried to not make her feel uncomfortable. And this was the same way he was treating the beautiful brunette at the moment, who could be only happy for her pink haired friend.
Once they stepped inside the college's ground, Chizuru greeted Kazuya before going to meet her friends of the philosophy course. After that, someone wrapped an arm around Kazuya's neck and nudged his head with another hand. "So you are a ladies' man now, huh?", said no other than his childhood friend Kibe.
"Ow! W-what are talking about?!", complained Kazuya, trying to get free from the lock.
"Don't try to hide it! You told us about that Sumi girl and then we see you walking together a beautiful girl like that brunette! Why are you lucky and we're not?!", complained instead his other friend with glasses and rabbit like upper teeth.
"Huh? Chizuru-San is just a friend, you idiots! She helped me to study and taught me to cook better! Do you really think I would fall for another girl when I met already someone cute like Sumi-chan?!", exclaimed Kazuya, getting free from Kibe's lock and bonking both him and Kuri on the head in annoyance.
"Ow! That hurt, Kazuya!", they said, nursing their heads.
"That's for insinuating that I'm a cheater.", he said, frowning while other students around them were stunned or chuckled before such shenanigan.
'As if I would like another girl when I met already an angel like Sumi-chan! Grandma would kick me out of the family if I did that.', he thought, imagining Nagomi shouting at him in anger for cheating on the shy girl.
He and Sumi weren't exactly a couple, but if their first rental date was of any indication, it was clear that they liked each other already. So he felt offended when his friends accused him of being a womanizer, which was the reason he ignored them while they were walking to reach their class for the literature course.
To his annoyance, there was also his ex girlfriend Mami inside that class, but he ignored her presence and concentrated on the lesson. He didn't hate her, but he was upset with her for dumping him after only a month of being a couple because she fell for someone else; it was like she never took their relationship seriously.
'I think that I did well with not presenting Mami to my family; Grandma would never like an irresponsible girl like her. I'm very immature too, but I never considered my relationship with Mami as a game.', he thought, taking notes while the teacher explained.
Unbeknownst to him, the blondie glanced at him and was amazed by how different he was. If he wasn't a very serious student before, now he was totally the opposite.
'How strange…He wasn't like this before. Did he meet another girl already after I dumped him?', she wondered, very curious avout the sudden change of the young man. Kibe and Kuri were surprised too by his behavior, assuming that it was due to the brunette that they saw him walking with, and that made them envious.
'It's not fair that he meets beautiful girls and we not, damn it!', they thought, crying comical anime tears. They really wished to have the same luck of Kazuya.
The lessons went on normally, with the orange haired boy being always concentrated on taking notes and getting info on the potential questions he would find in the exams. And when all the lessons he had to attend were finished, he greeted his friends and exited from the building to go home. It was also the moment his phone buzzed, which made him check it.
"Hello, Kazuya-San. How are you?", was the text that he received from the sweet pinkette that took a liking to him.
He smiled happily and wrote, "Hello, Sumi-chan! I'm fine, thank you. Grandma bugs me about when you and I will go to visit her this Wednesday; she took a great liking to you."
His text was read as rapidly as he received a reply with a blushing emoji, "Hehe, I see. I look forward to see you and her again. Have a nice afternoon!"
"Thanks a lot and you too, Sumi-chan.", was his reply instead, adding a grinning and winking emoji at the end of the text and getting a happy emoji from her.
The fact that she gave her number to communicate together instead of using the chat of the Diamond app was something that made Kazuya very happy; he liked how the girl got so affectionate to him so fast and he really appreciated that she didn't make him pay for renting her.
In his opinion, a girl so kind and shy like her wasn't suited for being a rental, as it could happen that she met some creep that wanted to take advantage of her. Kazuya was perverted too, since he imagined sometimes to do not innocent things when he was Mami's boyfriend, but he absolutely didn't want to think like that about Sumi; her pure soul had not to be tainted.
'If I s-start to fantasize about Sumi-chan, I won't be different from other creeps and perverts. That's why I threw away all my lewd magazines.', he thought, feeling proud of how he threw all his magazines in the trash bin. He was also thankful for the fact that Chizuru didn't know about them; he didn't want her to see him as a pervert, after all.
Speaking of her, the young man saw her leaning against the handrail of the apartment complex, wearing a red sweater, grey leggings and crocodile slippers while drinking a cup of tea. Her hair was also untied like the first time he saw her.
"You finished now, Kazuya? How did your lessons go?", she asked him once she noticed him while he was climbing the stairs.
"They went fine; I took a lot of notes and I'm sure that I will pass the exams without any problem. And this is thanks to you.", he replied, smiling.
"O-oh, that's good to know. This morning I noticed that two boys discussed with hou about something, by the way.", she said, blushing a little.
"Kibe and Kuri? They're just my dumb friends. T-they were upset because t-they t-thought that you and I w-were a couple.", he told her, blushing nervously.
"Ehh?!", was her reaction.
"B-but don't worry, I explained them t-that we're friends and that I-I would never play with Sumi-chan's feelings. W-well, I-I'm not her b-boyfriend yet, but I guess you get what I mean.", he said, flustered and moving his hands frantically.
"O-Oh, I see. Your friends are envious of you perhaps hehe, but I like that you're so considerate of Sumi's feelings. You and she will be a couple in no time like this.", she told him, giggling and giving him a cookie from the little packet she took out of her pocket that he gladly accepted.
'Sumi-chan, you really met a good person.', thought the brunette while she continued to chat together with the boy, chuckling and munching on cookies together before they greeted each other and went back to their respective apartments.
Now inside his house, the young man decided to study his notes for two hours, after which he started to cook himself some spiced porridge that Chizuru taught him to make. Compared to the instant ramen that he often bought at the supermarket, it definitely tasted better. He also wondered if Sumi could cook while he was eating, blushing and smiling stupidly at imagining her cooking for him and feeding him sweetly.
'I guess that I like her too much.', he thought, eating happily while watching a funny comedy in DVD that Chizuru gave him one day. Since he and she became friends, they talked about her various favorite movies, which brought her to decide to make Kazuya watch them too. He truly felt lucky to have met an angel like Sumi and a great friend like Chizuru.
It was finally Wednesday after a nice Tuesday during which he didn't have any lesson to attend, so Kazuya put on his most elegant clothes for his rental date with Sumi. He wore in fact a green shirt with an elegant black jacket upon it, a pair of jeans and blue sneakers.
Once he was ready, he left his apartment and took a bus to reach the hospital, looking forward to meet Sumi in front of it; after he and she would have visited Nagomi, he wanted to bring Sumi to other nice places, after all.
The bus took 15 minutes to arrive at the hospital, so the boy got down from it and waited near the entrance for the sweet pinkette. "G-Good morning, K-Kazuya-san.", was what he head after five minutes, which made him turn around to see Sumi and blush.
"G-Good morning, Sumi-chan. Y-you look really cute with that outfit.", he said, admiring her red coat upon her white blouse and her long red skirt.
The shy girl blushed a storm but smiled too; receiving a compliment from him made her very happy. "T-thank you, e-especially f-for renting me again.", she said, poking her index fingers together.
"Y-you don't need to thank me for that. I-l-like spending the time with you, Sumi-chan.", he said, blushing and patting her head unconsciously.
The gesture and his words made the girl's heart beat like crazy while some steam came out of her ears; hearing something so sweet from him plus being headpatted made her like him even more.
"Well, let's go to visit Grandma?", she asked her, offering his hand.
The flushed girl shyly took his hand and nodded, keeping her sweet smile. Her blush got more evident when they stepped inside the hospital and some nurses giggled by saying how cute she and Kazuya looked. He blushed too because of that, but less than her.
The two of them took then the elevator to reach the floor where Nagomi was still recovered, and once they arrived there they walked towards her room and entered inside.
"Good morning, Grandma. Sumi-chan and I-"
"You two are finally here! Come here and let me hug you, Sumi-chan!", cut him off the energetic old woman, visibly happy to see them.
Sumi timidly walked towards Nagomi that hugged her happily and made her blush more. "Geez, calm down, Grandma. You're making Sumi red as a tomato.", said the boy, sweatdropping.
"I can't help it; she's so cute that it's difficult to not hug her!", said Nagomi, releasing Sumi from her hug and letting sit next to Kazuya.
"If you're so full of energy, that means they will let you leave the hospital soon, huh?"
"You don't know how satisfying it will be! The nurses bug me by telling me to be careful all the time and I'm in a good mood only when you visit me or when I talk with the patients I made friends with. There is in fact this Ichinose Sayuri that is already my best friend hehe.", replied the old woman, giggling and surprising her grandson.
'She made friends with Chizuru-San's grandmothe? Wow, talking about coincidences, this was unexpected.', he thought, smiling.
"Anyways, what can you tell about you two? Did you go further beyond in your relationship?", she suddenly asked him, making him blush.
"G-Grandma! I told you to not make such questions! A-and I don't care if people of my age do it often!", he exclaimed, thanking God that Sumi's innocence didn't make her understand again what Nagomi meant.
"Ok, ok, relax. As long as you two are happy together, it doesn't matter if you wait to take a step further. Sumi-chan is fine with holding your hand, after all hehe."
The pinkette was in fact holding Kazuya's hand, and even if she blushed when Nagoki pointed it out, she didn't let go. It was like she loved holding hands with him.
"I-I'm K-Kazuya-San's girlfriend, s-so I l-like holding h-his h-hand.", she shyly said, making Nagomi smile for how adorable she was. The same was for the boy, who blushed just like Sumi.
'You're really an angel, Sumi-chan.', he thought, being grateful again to have met the kindest girl of the world for him.
After an hour and half spent by talking with his grandmother, Kazuya left the hospital with Sumi to go together towards the places he chose for their date. So they held hands and walked together towards a nearby amusement park, as he thought that she would like having fun with various types of attractions.
And in fact, he was right; once they entered inside the park, paying together for the tickets, Sumi's eyes sparkled before the various attractions. She looked like a kid that saw a lot of candies all for him, and such sight was truly cute for Kazuya.
Since they could try any attraction they wanted, the couple went first on the rotating cups, where they laughed together while Kazuya made rotate the cup very fast. Then they went inside the haunted house and got scared so much that they screamed and hugged each other tightly before blushing a storm and reluctantly let go of each other.
The next attraction they tried was the bumping cars, where Kazuya and Sumi laughed together while bumping against other people, even if the pinkette was very flustered and happy too for being so close to him. After that, the boy's belly grumbled, so they decided to eat hotdogs and fries from a nearby stand, getting a discount fo the lady that served because she thought they were really a cute couple.
Needless to say, being seen like that made both Kazuya and Sumi blush a lot, unable to look at each other in the eyes afterwards. They sat down on a bench and started to eat, despite the girl seemed to be still very flustered.
Worried about her, the young man made a funny expression to make her snap out of it, which did the trick as Sumi started to giggle cutely. The boy smiled for that and ate happily, sharing the fries with her obviously.
'Why didn't I meet her before Mami? She's a hundred times better than her!', he thought, starting to like Sumi even more. He wished that she attended his same university, so they could go to it together anytime.
After they were done with eating, the two of them held hands together and went to play a shooting game where they could win various types of stuffed animals. Having played such game often in his spoiled childhood, Kazuya helped Sumi to take the focus on the stuffed cat she wanted to win by putting his hands on hers. His face was also very close to hers, which made her red as a tomato but smile too.
'B-being so close to K-Kazuya-San feels so nice.', she thought, loving the closeness between them and smiling when she and the boy managed to hit the stuffed cat.
"Here your prize, young lady. You and your boyfriend are really adorable haha.", said the park's staff member, chuckling while the young couple blushed once again, with Sumi leaning her head on Kazuya's shoulder.
She kept her head leaned on it even after they walked towards the other attractions, not letting go of his hand either once; it was like she wanted to be very clingy with him, despite the huge blush on her face.
"S-Sumi-chan, can I ask you something?"
"Y-yes, K-Kazuya-San?"
The boy swallowed before replying, "I'm sorry for being so direct, but d-do you like me by any chance?"
And there it was; like she had eaten something very spicy, Sumi's face became totally red while some steam came our of her ears. She didn't expect him to ask her that just now, but maybe it was inevitable after he saw how nice and happy she was while spending time with him.
But she couldn't help it; he was the first boy that treated her nicely and didn't hate her or judge her for being too shy. In fact, he did nothing but being very sympathetic and kind with her, which made her hear beat very fast.
"I-It's true, I-I like K-Kazuya-San a lot. Y-you always t-treat me so nicely and I h-have always fun when I'm with you, a-and it m-makes me v-very happy. I-I've always been judged or disliked for being too shy since I was little, but you treated me very kindly. S-so I can't help liking you , K-Kazuya-San.", she said, hiding her blushing face behind her stuffed cat while the boy's face got red as hers.
'N-no way…Did she just confess to me?! For real?! This is fantastic!', he thought, unable to control his big happy smile.
"I-I see, it makes me really g-glad that you think that way about me. T-to be honest, I like you too very much, Sumi-chan. Your kindness and y-your pure heart made me fall for you easily and I-I would be glad if you became my real girlfriend.", he told her, scratching his red cheek while looking away.
The girl's eyes sparkled upon hearing such words, and unable to control her huge happiness, she leaned her head on his chest and shyly wrapped her arms around him. "I-I will g-gladly be Kazuya-San's real girlfriend.", she said, smiling while her red face was hidden by his chest.
The boy's heart skipped a beat after she said that, but he reciprocated her hug anyways and smiled brightly. He felt like he was dreaming; not only the sweetest girl he had ever met told him she liked him, but she also accepted to be his real girlfriend. Saying that he wasn't extremely happy for that would be lying.
'Awesome! I have a new a great friend like Chizuru and even got the nicest girl of the world! Thank you for dumping me, Mami, because now I'm way happier than you haha!', he thought, thanking his ex for allowing to meet and fall in love with Sumi.
The newborn couple kept hugging each other for some more minutes before breaking off the hug and holding hands again to have fun with other attractions. Now that she became his real girlfriend, Sumi had to leave her job as rental. But it wasn't a bad thing; having met a nice guy like Kazuya and falling in love with him like he did with her made her very happy. And that was why she would make sure to find another job soon while spending time with him as his real girlfriend from now on.
A/N
Chapter 2 for you, everyone! Oya? Did Kazuya and Sumi confess to each other? Yes, they did! As you can read in this new chapter, the two of them got pretty close to each other after their first rental date, since both of them took a great liking to each other.
I made Kazuya meet Chizuru after he saw her with her Ichinose look and think that she was an actress as a way to make them become friends more easily. In fact, she became a nice friend of his that helped me to study better and taught him to cook more healthily in order to make him more responsible.
Since Sumi started to like Kazuya already like he did with her after their first date, I didn't see it necessary making them wait to confess to each other; she had taken a liking to him fast even in canon, after all. Anyways, I hope you don't mind this and take the occasion to thank you for the reviews left on the first chapter. If you want to know what will happen next, you just need to stay tuned haha.
See ya!
