Introduction (28 feb 2021)

So, as you must have realized by now, both from my profile updates, and also from seeing this new chapter getting published, this story isn't over yet. Although this fanfic could easily have ended with chapter 19, because quite a few things seemed to have gotten resolved in that chapter. But I've also read in some comments from readers, that most don't want it to be over just like that. And I tend to agree with these ideas. It doesn't feel like it's time to say goodbye just now, and move on to a new story challenge. Even though there are already a few other stories on my to-do list, which are really due for an update. You can expect at least a few more chapters in the future…

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:

As result of, or perhaps more like regardless of, Kazuya's nursing efforts, Ruka had fully recovered and had decided to visit Kazuya, to have lunch with him, before going to university campus to attend her classes. So, she was sitting at the table in Kazuya's apartment, when suddenly…

For Better, or Worse… - part 1

"Ruka, shouldn't you be heading out for college anytime now?" Kazuya asked, while still in the bathroom, busy making some final touches doing his hair, after brushing his teeth after lunch.

But despite his question having sounded loud and clear enough, it wasn't met with any response from the young girl in the living room. 'Maybe she left already so she would get to uni early?' was Kazuya's first thought. Although that didn't really sound like something Ruka would do, going away without first saying goodbye. 'That would definitely be a big no-no for her!' Kazuya quickly added, in his mind.

He walked towards the living room and saw Ruka sitting down at the table with her back turned towards him.

"Ah, I just knew you wouldn't have sneaked out on me just like that…" Kazuya said, with a smile on his face; "But you will be late if you keep sitting there for much longer, you kn…"

Kazuya suddenly stopped talking, as meanwhile he had walked around the table, and saw a few tears on Ruka's face…

"Ruka? What's wrong!?" he asked, as the mere sight of her crying made his stomach turn.

"S-Sorry…" she replied, "… I didn't m-mean to startle you…"

"Hey, it's ok…" Kazuya assured her, with a warm voice, as he quickly sat down beside Ruka and put his arm around her; "Just tell me what's bothering you…"

"I-I'm ok… but you s-see, I was just reading this manga…" Ruka slowly started explaining, her voice still clearly sounding quite emotional, "…it's called 'Three Days of Happiness' and I had just finished the last part…"

"Oh…? Must be a pretty special story then?" Kazuya asked.

"Uh… yes… it is…" Ruka replied, as she wiped the tears from her face, using the tissue that Kazuya had just handed to her; "You see… the story is both quite sad, but also simply beautiful. I really want to read it together with you sometime…" she added, while looking straight into his eyes.

"Eh, sure… but I do have a tight schedule for the upcoming weeks…" Kazuya said; "You remember the extra shifts at the karaoke place that I promised to work? And I probably also have some other things to do this weekend as well. So, I'm afraid that won't be anytime soon…"

However, seeing the pouting look that had suddenly appeared on Ruka's face, right after hearing his words, made Kazuya reconsider. 'It seems she really wants to do this together…' he thought. 'Fine, I will simple have to make time then! Ruka deserves a little extra, after all what happened recently.'

"Hmmm, how does Sunday afternoon, sound to you?" Kazuya suggested.

"U-Upcoming Sunday? Are you sure? But I thought you said you would be very busy already?" Ruka said, while both sounding surprised and relieved.

"Don't worry about that, guess it means I'll just have to work a little harder," Kazuya explained, with a smile on his face.

"Gee! Thanks!" Ruka cheered, as she wrapped her arms around Kazuya for a hug.

Kazuya initially just enjoyed this unexpected moment of closeness, but then quickly snapped back to 'daily life mode' again.

"Now I don't want to be a spoilsport, but you are going to be late for college if you don't get ready to leave anytime soon…" Kazuya whispered in Ruka's ear.

"Oh, yes! That's right!" the dark-haired girl said, as she let go off Kazuya and jumped up.

Ruka quickly grabbed her books and notepad, put those in her backpack, and started heading for the door. She put on her coat, blew Kazuya a kiss, and stepped outside. Kazuya could hear her footsteps quickly fade away into the distance, as Ruka obviously had started to run along the walkway on the first floor, and then rushed down the stairs.

"Isn't she something?" Kazuya thought out loud, as if addressing the lungfish occupying the fish tank in the living room; "Oh, and I will clean your tank later today, that's a promise. Hmmm, maybe do it right now, so I can strike that off my list already…"

While walking towards the storage where he kept the stuff for attending to his 'fish friend', Kazuya suddenly heard and felt his phone ringing. 'Hmmm, Ruka calling so soon already?'

"Don't tell me you forgot something…" Kazuya started; "… and now you want me to bring that to you as soon as possible, right? Or did you just call to tell me you miss me?" he added, with a wide smirk written on his face.

For a moment there was nothing but silence, as if the person at the other end of the 'line' was just momentarily taken aback by Kazuya's words. Words which he had spoken, while expecting to hear a very familiar voice starting to talk back to him. However, it turned out to be a different, yet also quite familiar one.

"Eeeh… hiya, Kazu-kun!" Mami's voice clearly sounded in Kazuya's ear.

Now it was Kazuya who was too surprised to speak for at least several seconds…

"Kazu-kun? Are you still there? Is everything ok back there?" Mami inquired.

"Oh… hi, Mami-chan!" Kazuya replied; "I'm fine, I just wasn't expecting you to call. Not that I mean to say it's not ok that you called, it's not like that! But, uh… well…"

"Don't worry, I won't bite…" Mami said, while Kazuya could hear her chuckle; "Maybe I should have sent you a text message instead, to say what I wanted to ask…" she added, now with a more timid sounding voice.

"No-no-no, it's ok!" Kazuya quickly assured her, almost as if an apology; "What is it that you need to know from me?"

"Well… I still feel bad about what happened lately, you know…" Mami started hesitatingly; "So, you see… I was wondering if I could get Ruka's Line number. Then I can apologize to her. Unless you think that she would hate me even more for doing that. You know what, just forget I asked... It was a bad suggestion anyway. I don't know what's gotten into me, for even thinking like this…"

Kazuya could hear some muffled sounds coming through his phone's speaker. 'Wait… is she… crying right now? I shouldn't have been so inconsiderate! Poor Mami-chan!'

"Hey, I think that's a great idea and I'm sure Ruka will really like that!" Kazuya cheered; "Even though I think she doesn't hold anything against you, she's very quick to recover from almost any setback. I sure have put her through a few ordeals, in the past, when we were still in that 'trial' relationship. Yet she never stayed mad at me, at least not for long…"

"Oh, really!? I'm so glad to hear that, Kazu-kun!" Mami cheered back; "Then I will try to make it up to her, it's the least I can do!"

"I'm texting you Ruka's number right now, just gimme a sec…" Kazuya started; "Ok, there! You should have it now!"

"Oh, wow! Thanks a lot, Kazu-kun!" Mami said with a very enthusiastically sounding voice; "Gotta go now, and really nice of you to be such a great help!"

"Nah, don't mention it. Just that it may be better to wait a little with contacting Ruka, like until it's around 15:00, otherwise she will still be in class," Kazuya suggested.

"Ok, I will! Bye Kazu-kun!" Mami said, before ending the phone call.

'That went much better than expected!' Kazuya thought to himself, while feeling a strange mix of relief and accomplishment. 'It seems like Mami-chan is no longer really bothered by the things that happened between us recently, at the door, and on that pedestrian bridge. And she even wants to set things straight with Ruka!'

"Well, what do you think of that?" Kazuya said, with a smile on his face, while looking in the direction of the fish tank again; "Yeah, I knew you'd be speechless, I can hardly believe it myself," he added, as he started making preparations to clean the aquarium, as he had promised earlier.

While Kazuya was doing the necessary things to take the best of care of his favorite pet, somewhere not too far from there, a blond-haired girl was fairly busy typing a text message on a shiny looking smartphone. After she had finished typing, the pretty young women, who was still very much in her early twenties, scrolled down her list of contacts. "Kuzu-kun" it read at the top of the list, but the young girl kept scrolling further down until she reached the contact at the bottom of the list. Though it wasn't really a name, "Rival#2" was the one she highlighted, before confirming her selection. For a moment her thumb kept hovering over the 'send message now' button, ready to press it, with a mysterious smile slowly but steadily forming on her face.

"Hmmm, better wait a little longer, it's not the right moment yet…" the girl said to herself, when looking at the time that was shown on the top of her smartphone's screen...

(To be continued…)

Chapter Epilogue (21 mar 2021)

First of all, the manga that Ruka mentions in this story is real, and imho worth checking out. The story it tries to tell may have a weird start, but as you progress, many readers, including myself, could not put it down until having read it fully. The full title is "Jumyou wo Kaitotte Moratta. Ichinen ni Tsuki, Ichimanen de" but also known as "3 days of happiness" and "I sold my life for ten thousand yen per year". As I said already, the story might look and sound weird, but it made such an impact upon many people and is currently even ranked in 34th place on MyAnimeList, in the best manga of all times category. That must mean something, right?

It was available on MangaDex, but that website is down at the moment, as I am writing this. There are other sources though, to read this manga. Also, when you can, please support the people who created it, as imho they do deserve this.

Back to my chapter, I guess it's shorter than average, and is more setting the stage for what's about to come next. I think, had this been a real manga instead of fanfiction, it would have been labelled as chapter 19.5 instead of chapter 20, perhaps. Still, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter, and that you are looking forward to the next one. I have something special planned for it…

Disclaimer

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. I'd be happy to have 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!