Introduction (10 nov 2020)

Not gonna lie, it's easier to work on a chapter where things are mostly just fun and games, like a few chapters back, with the trip to the Fuji-Q Highland Amusement Park. But it can't all be smooth sailing for a couple with such a complicated history as the characters in Rent-a-Girlfriend, or can it? At least that wouldn't be very realistic for this series, I think. But maybe there is some light at the end of the tunnel soon. So, let's find out what happens in the last part of this four-chapter mini arc.

I hope you will enjoy reading this, and I'm definitely looking forward to hearing what you think of this chapter, as well as the other chapters in this story.

Note: If you want to comment on this story, or any of my other stories, you're welcome to leave a review, preferably as registered member, as this allows much more interaction between writer and reviewer. If there are parts you felt lacking, or disliked, please let me know this as well. Things can appear amazing in my perception, while others might think very differently. I'm eager to hear such feedback as well, since praise is always nice, and can confirm being on the right track, criticism is often what helps more to improve.

Chapter Prologue:

After Kazuya told Ruka about kissing Chizuru, Ruka ran off, and since then totally ignored his calls and text messages. About to give up hope, Kazuya has a good talk with Chizuru, getting their feelings out in the open, and she manages to get him back on his feet, both literally and mentally. But will he be able to find Ruka, and tell her how he really feels about her? Chizuru has a plan though…

Trouble in Paradise - part 4

"Who did you send a message to?" Kazuya asked; "You just said it yourself, Ruka would likely not respond to you either, if you tried to contact her directly."

"I'm not trying to contact Ruka…" Chizuru replied, as she closely watched the screen of her phone.

"You're not asking Yaemori to help, or are you?" Kazuya said, with a scared look upon his face; "That girl would probably just come up with another devious scheme to sabotage things, like with the trip to shoot that final scene for the movie, where she caused Ruka to get left behind."

"Hey, I'm not stupid, you know!" Chizuru responded; "Ah, there's the reply already. Just as I had hoped, that's good," she added, while quickly typing another message.

"I still have no idea what's going on, but you do appear to know what you are doing…" Kazuya commented.

"I'll explain everything soon enough, just need to focus on this for a moment, ok?" Chizuru replied.

"Eh, sure…" Kazuya said, while waiting impatiently for some explanation.

After Chizuru had finished typing on her phone, she brought Kazuya up to speed. Although her plan did sound pretty good to him, a few uncertainties remained, requiring a bit of luck, for everything to go as intended. 'Let's just hope this works out…" Kazuya thought.

Meanwhile Ruka was aimlessly wandering the streets. She had been running non-stop at first, but after a while she had felt her heart pounding so hard, that she had to slow down. All kinds of things were going through her head. 'Why did I ever fall in love with Kazuya!? I'd do anything for him, but instead he still keeps hovering around that fake rental! You stupid!' she thought, while picking up the walking pace again.

Then Ruka suddenly stopped. 'Actually, I am the stupid one here… Thinking I could ever really make a chance on winning his affection. I should have listened to Chizuru-san, when back then she warned me that trying to become Kazuya's girlfriend this way would probably not work out. Well, I guess you were right all along… I hope you are happy now!' she thought, as tears started rolling down her face.

Ruka's phone beeped. 'Not another one of Kazuya's messages…" she thought, while quickly wiping the tears from her eyes. 'Wait, I'll just put it on silent and… huh? A message from Sumi?'

"Do you want to come over?" was what the overly shy girl had texted.

'Nice of her, but I'm probably far from good company right now,' Ruka reasoned with herself. 'I guess I'll tell Sumi it will have to wait. Maybe some other time, when this has all blown over… if ever…'

Ruka quickly typed a short message to politely decline Sumi's invitation, and was about to press the 'send' button, but then she hesitated. 'What if Sumi is feeling lonely? It doesn't seem like she has a lot of friends. And considering how shy that girl can be, it must have been a big step for her to reach out to me and send that message. She might feel really sad if I were to turn her down just like that,' Ruka pondered. 'Besides, going to visit Sumi could be a good idea after all. She has something special that makes you feel at ease when being around her. Maybe going there will even help to take my mind of things a little…'

Ruka deleted the reply she was initially going to send, and instead typed; "Sure, I'll be there as soon as possible," then pressed the button.

"Great! Should I boil some water for tea?" Sumi almost instantly replied.

"Sure, sounds fine. Cya!" Ruka texted back.

"Ok, cya soon!" was Sumi's reply, with a thumbs up smiley added to her message.

A little while later, Ruka and Sumi were both sitting down at the table, sipping from their tea. As was pretty usual with Sumi, they hadn't talked much yet, but Ruka had already started feeling a bit more relaxed, although the events from earlier today were still lingering in the back of her mind. Suddenly the doorbell rang…

Sumi raised her hand, as if she wanted to say; "I'll get that!", and quickly stood up.

She disappeared into the hallway, Ruka heard her opening the door, and then just silence. 'Odd that Sumi didn't get scared from someone suddenly being at the door. I would have expected her to be all flustered and panicking, while trying to figure out who it could be…' Ruka wondered.

Over a minute went by, but Sumi didn't return. 'Maybe I should check up on her, to see if everything's ok…' Ruka thought. She got up, but then heard the front door close again.

"So, who was it? Perhaps one of those pesky door-to-door-salesmen?" Ruka asked; "They can be so persistent…"

"Eh… hi?" Kazuya said, as he put his head around the door, then hesitatingly entered the living room.

"Huh? What are you doing here?" Ruka wondered, "Wait, you two set me up, didn't you!? Ok, that's it, I'm leaving! I thought I had made it clear enough we're through!"

"Please don't run away again, Ruka!" Kazuya pleaded.

"I'm not listening!" Ruka yelled, as she started heading for the hallway, "… so you can just go back to that fake rental girlfriend of yours! Goodbye!"

"Ruka, I'm begging you, please hear me out! I don't mind if you punch or kick me, if that makes you feel better, just go ahead! I really deserve it. But please, let me explain..." Kazuya begged, while falling down on his knees before her.

"Eh? S-Stop that…" Ruka stuttered, as she took a step back, not sounding as determined as before.

Seeing Kazuya this way, did remind Ruka of how, when they had just met, he had tried to convince her to keep Chizuru's job as rental girlfriend a secret at all cost, and how this showed his passion and caring nature. Ruka felt her heart skip a beat. Inside, her feelings for him, despite everything that had happened still being as strong as ever, were struggling with her anger about Kazuya's recent actions.

"Ok…" Ruka sighed, "… I just can't say 'no' if you keep insisting like that. I'll listen to what you have to say about this…"

"Thank you…" Kazuya said, "… maybe we can sit down, while we talk?"

"Fine, but no stalling…" Ruka warned him, "… or trying to charm me!"

'She's still mad… but that was to be expected…' Kazuya thought, as they both took a seat at opposing sides of the table. 'I just hope I won't mess up… again.' Kazuya carefully started by explaining why he decided to meet with Chizuru in the first place, after she had sent him a text message, during the visit to the amusement park, about wanting to talk with him.

When Kazuya told Ruka about the strange nightmare he had been having, after falling asleep while waiting for Chizuru to show up in the restaurant they were supposed to meet, Ruka couldn't fully suppress a giggle. But quickly after that, her face became totally composed again. 'Ruka sure wasn't kidding when she said she was serious about this...' Kazuya thought, before he continued his story.

"Anyway, after you had run off, and Mizuhara found me crying, she sat down next to me, and we talked things over," Kazuya further explained; "Kissing her, and then shortly after that, also kissing you, helped to make it clear to me, and to her as well, that something had changed about how I really feel about Mizuhara and you, since we had started dating for real."

Kazuya paused for a moment and looked at Ruka again, but her face still looked as composed as earlier, making it just about impossible for him to judge how she was really feeling right now.

"So, please don't be mad at Mizuhara, or even hate her. It's really mostly my fault, giving off these mixed signals, which led to her kissing me…" Kazuya said, as he was starting to get quite close to completing his story, "… besides, she was also afraid of ending up all alone, after she lost her last remaining relative, when her grandma died."

"I see…" Ruka responded, "… even though I feel Chizuru-san had no right to do what she did, I don't hate her for it…"

For a moment Ruka was thinking back about her own grandmother, who she used to visit the times when she came along to the Hokkaido countryside, together with her parents. 'It has already been a few years now, and I still miss you a lot, grandma…' Ruka thought. 'Chizuru-san must still be hurting too, probably even more, since it is still quite recently that she lost her grandmother...'

The dark-haired girl closed her eyes for a few seconds, and sighed deeply, before talking again.

"… Actually, I can't help but feel bad for Chizuru-san," Ruka added, with a sad look upon her face.

'Huh?' Kazuya wondered, as he had noticed Ruka sounding a bit different. For a moment he thought seeing a single tear in the corner of her eye, but he wasn't fully sure.

"Also, you know Mizuhara was actually the one to come up with the plan to find you, so we could have this talk." Kazuya added; "It was her who decided to contact Sumi and ask for her help."

Ruka looked very surprised when hearing that her 'rival' had been actively trying to get her back on speaking terms with Kazuya. 'Chizuru-san actually encouraged him to come back to me? While he could very easily have fled into Chizuru-san's open arms, but still he came after me instead. Maybe Kazuya does care more about me than I thought…' Ruka started to wonder, as she felt her feelings of anger beginning to subside a little. 'But maybe isn't enough, I have to be sure!'

"So, now you expect me to just forgive you? Is that it?" Ruka asked, as her eyes became much more fiery again.

'Seems like she's still mad…" Kazuya thought, '… maybe it was stupid to come here, but at least I tried and gave it my all.'

"I can't tell you what to do…" Kazuya replied, "… but a while ago someone told me I had to listen to my heart, when it comes to love and relationships… and that's the main reason I came here… I know that even though it hasn't particularly been like a walk in the park, since the moment I finally made it official between us, the past few days it felt really great, to spend more time with you."

Kazuya paused for a few seconds, then looked into Ruka's eyes and continued talking, now simply saying the first thing that came to mind, instead of trying to carefully pick his words.

"I'm sorry I wasted so much energy chasing a dream, this idea that occupied my mind, of the 'perfect girlfriend', that I couldn't see what was right in front of me all this time. But now I feel like I'm finally starting to get it…"

Kazuya took a deep breath; "I just think that if it were all to end right here and now between us, we'd be missing out on something really good."

"Do you really believe that?" Ruka asked, as she suddenly looked straight into his eyes, and put her hands down on the table.

"I don't just believe it, I feel it," Kazuya assured Ruka, as without thinking, he took her hands, and folded both his hands around hers; "If you still want this…"

'No matter how hard I try, somehow I just can't stay mad at you for long…' Ruka thought. She felt the last bit of her anger and sadness fade away, and a slight blush appeared on her cheeks.

"C-Can I count that as a 'yes'?" Kazuya carefully asked, after noticing that the expression on Ruka's face had finally started to change.

Ruka looked away, as if she felt a bit embarrassed about her feelings being exposed, then turned her head towards Kazuya again, and nodded shortly, as she started to smile.

"Really!?" Kazuya said, as his face also lit up. "That's amaz…"

But before he could say more, Ruka had freed her hands from Kazuya's grip, then suddenly lunged forward, diving over the table, ending up with her arms wrapped around the back of his neck! Kazuya was taken by surprise by this and got knocked over backwards, with Ruka landing on top of him!

"Auaa…" Kazuya moaned.

Sumi stormed into the room, worried about the sudden noise she had heard, and frantically looked around if no one had gotten hurt.

"W-We're ok," Kazuya stuttered, as he gave a thumbs up gesture, while Ruka was still lying on top of him, and blushing more heavily now, being so close to him.

Sumi sighed with relief, then helped Ruka and Kazuya up, after which she put the furniture, that had been tipped over, back to where it belonged.

"Ah, good thing that you're here," Ruka spoke, as she walked towards Sumi.

The shy girl instantly got totally flustered, her face turning all red, as she was thinking Ruka might still be mad at her for setting Ruka up for this meeting with Kazuya. Ruka extended her arms and Sumi immediately closed her eyes…

"Thank you for everything!" Ruka said, as she hugged the extremely introvert girl.

Sumi opened her eyes again, surprised about Ruka's move, then a smile appeared on her face.

"Yes, thanks a lot, Sumi! I don't know where we would be without you!" Kazuya agreed, causing Sumi to blush, and her smile to become even wider. "How about I take you two out for dinner?" Kazuya suggested, thinking that might be a good way to make up for the trouble he had caused.

Sumi frantically shook her head, then typed on her phone; "You two should go together! Besides, I have homework, so I can't go out tonight."

"Ok, then maybe we can do lunch together tomorr… hey!" Kazuya got interrupted by Ruka poking his side; "Oh wait, tomorrow I really have to visit my family. It will have to wait then, but I'll remember I still owe you one."

Sumi nodded, showing Kazuya she would gladly accept a raincheck on lunching with Kazuya.

"How about this place?" Ruka asked, after picking a name from a list of results she had meanwhile been browsing on her smartphone, and showing that particular restaurant's webpage to Kazuya.

"Looks tasty… but wait… those prices might just be a little too rich for me…" Kazuya replied, laughing sheepishly.

"Aww, you think I'm not worth it?" Ruka pouted, trying to work upon his conscience.

"Oh no, that's not it! I eh… alright, we'll go there…" Kazuya finally gave in.

'After all I've put Ruka through today, I guess now it's not the time to be holding back…' Kazuya thought, '…and maybe I can eat at my parents' house tomorrow, that again saves on expenses.'

"Yay! I promise I'll wear something special, for this occasion!" Ruka cheered, as she gave Kazuya a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Uh, ok…" Kazuya said, "… but don't take too long, or all that we would still be able to order by the time we get there, will be dessert."

Ruka went home, to quickly change clothes for the dinner date, while Kazuya made reservations at the restaurant she had chosen for tonight. Even though the light outside had already slowly started to fade by now, with the sun being on its way to set below the horizon, their lives had become a lot brighter again than earlier today.

(To be continued…)

Epilogue (14 nov 2020)

Quite the emotional rollercoaster, but 'all is well that ends well', right? But even with most of these misunderstandings now seemingly solved, some more big challenges lie ahead. Like how will Kazuya's family react when he finally tells the truth about the rental girlfriend situation? And will his grandma accept Ruka as Kazuya's real girlfriend or remain totally devoted to 'angel' Mizuhara instead?

Please let me know what you think of this story and leave some feedback in the form of a review. If you are logged in on this fanfiction website, and post a review as registered member, I can even reply to your comments. Looking forward to some more interaction with the people who read my stories!

Btw, since I am not a native speaker, there will likely be some silly mistakes in this story. And in punctuation, maybe I made the same mistakes as in previous stories, or even made new mistakes. Hope you can bear with me and see through that. Helpful tips and suggestions are welcome.

Stay safe, and maybe until soon!