Next Morning ,

Kazuya headed inside his University , still a little apprehensive about what he had agreed to do .

" Is this really alright ? " , he wondered.

" I know what Mizuhara said and it does seem like the best option but still ... won't this just put Mizuhara in more trouble ? " .

Kazuya began to scan the crowd of his fellow college students . Sure enough, just as he expected , he saw them . Kibe and Kuri talking to Mizuhara and her friends . Kazuya slowly began walking towards them .

Mizuhara was the first to spot him . They locked eyes and then she nodded slightly. Kazuya nodded back . He knew exactly what she was saying ,

" Lets do this ".

Once he got closer , the others also saw him . Kuri waved him over and Kazuya joined the group.

" Good morning, Kazuya-kun " .

Kazuya was slightly surprised that Mizuhara was the first to greet him but without letting it distract him , he replied

" Hey guys " .

" Hi Kazuya-kun" , Shinbo greeted him back . She then paused for a bit and then spoke ,

" Hey , you know, umm... about what we talked yesterday... "

Kazuya interrupted,

" No , I was thinking about it too . The thing is yesterday I was pretty hungover and I wasn't really listening to you guys. But afterwards I thought it was a good idea "

" Really ? Great " , Kawanaka exclaimed .

" Kibe-kun and Kuri-kun thought so too " , Mizuhara added

Kazuya glanced at his friends who seemed pretty happy about things.

Kibe spoke up,

" So , what are we doing ?"

" We thought that we could go to the new mall that opened in Shibuya on Saturday ", Kawanaka answered.

" The mall ? Sure that's sounds good " , Kazuya replied.

" Well the thing is we kind of made a plan for the day. We thought that we would meet up there in the morning. Then you guys pick what we do there till afternoon. Lunch will be on us , since we're inviting you . And then after that you help us " .

" Help ? With what ? " , Kuri asked surprised.

" We wanted to do some shopping. Actually we have quite a bit of shopping we'll like to do. Clothes and other stuff . And we want you guys to help us . You know carry the bags and all that . Are you guys okay with that? " , Shinbo explained.

Kazuya was silent for a bit , surprised as he thought to himself,

" That's what they want to do ? Then there's no problem. There's no way these guys will agree to that. I was worried about nothing " .

He glanced at Mizuhara asking silently ,

'' Shopping?''

She shrugged slightly which Kazuya understood as ,

'' I didn't know''.

Kibe spoke up ,

" Hey you guys mind if we talk about it for a second ? "

" Sure . And if you guys don't want to , it's absolutely fine " , Kawanaka assured .

Kazuya thought to himself as the guys stepped away a bit out of the girls' sight.

" This isn't that bad . Shopping isn't the kind of thing they'll go for . So I wouldn't need to convince them or anything and they wouldn't want to go . This is the best option. This way Mizuhara won't be troubled at all . "

Suddenly Kibe high-fived Kuri . Kazuya was surprised and asked,

" Wait , what's up? "

" What's up ? " , Kibe repeated

" Didn't you hear what just happened? Those girls just invited us out " .

" For shopping right? Why would we want to go along with that ? "

'' That's because youre thinking of it as shopping . Think of it as three pretty girls trying on clothes, asking for our opinion and putting on a fashion show for us.

" I don't think that any of them are going to put on a show for us . Most likely we'll just carry their bags. And did you forget that Shinbo is dating Sasapai?

Kuri put his hand around Kazuya's shoulder and told him ,

" Look at the big picture . If we say yes to this , then they'll invite us out again. And then it'll happen again. And then maybe they'll introduce us to some of their friends. Do you get what we're saying ? "

" I do, but shopping? That's not... "

" Come on . This is something to start with. And who knows where it'll go from here " , Kuri insisted.

" There's no point Kuri ", Kibe spoke.

" They're no way someone like him could understand the feelings of us virgins" .

" Huh ? " , Kazuya asked surprised

" You have Chizuru-san don't you? And you obviously spend a lot of time with her . So, for you going shopping with a girl isn't a big deal , but for us miserable lot without girlfriends it is " , Kibe argued passionately.

Kuri suddenly coughed at that moment which Kazuya quickly figured out was him trying not to laugh .

Kazuya realized that there was no talking the two of them out of this .

" Fine ", he said , accepting his defeat .

The guys walked back to where the girls were standing.

" We're in " , Kibe announced

That Night ,

Kazuya lay on his bed scrolling through his phone but thinking of what had happened that morning.

After the guys had agreed to the plan , they had discussed the specifics and agreed to meet up by 10:30 on Saturday. Kibe had offered to drive everyone back which was convenient considering the bags that they would have to carry. When asked where she lived , Mizuhara had given them the address of another apartment building about twenty minutes away from theirs. Not wanting to drop her off alone, away from their apartment, with a bunch of bags to carry, Kazuya had volunteered to help her since his place was " not too far from hers " . This proposal was accepted without suspicion and so everything was set for Saturday .

Kazuya suddenly felt hungry and checked the time. 10:00 . Much later than when he usually ate dinner . He got up and looked in his kitchen and found absolutely nothing . Not even a packet of instant noodles.

" Guess I'll go buy a microwave meal or something from the convenience store " , he decided .

After grabbing his wallet and phone, Kazuya opened the door of his apartment and was surprised to see Mizuhara walking past it. She heard the sound of his door opening and turned towards him .

" Hey " , she greeted him .

Kazuya nodded and asked,

" Are you going out somewhere?"

" Yeah . I had a really tough report to complete and now I'm feeling too tired to cook dinner. You? "

" I was going to get something to eat too ".

" Oh okay " , she replied.

Kazuya watched and waited as she turned away and continued walking down the stairs . He was tempted to ask her out to dinner but decided against it

" Better to let her go first. She wouldn't want to have dinner with me anyway " , he figured with a little pang of sadness .

Suddenly she turned around and asked,

" Aren't you coming? "

" Ehh ? " , Kazuya replied suddenly.

" Are you sure? I mean wouldn't it be ... "

She turned her face away a little bit and told him ,

" It's fine . We're just getting dinner . It's not like we planned it or anything . So there's no problem. And we should probably talk about today anyway. "

Kazuya swallowed and slowly began to climb down the stairs and then the two of them began to walk together.

They walked in silence, Kazuya hardly able to believe that she was going to have dinner with him. He thought to himself,

" What are the chances ? Twice in three days , we go out for a meal together. And it's not a rental " .

Chizuru suddenly broke the silence

" So where are we going? "

Kazuya hurriedly tried to think of a nice restaurant where he could take her but before he got anywhere, she interrupted him ,

" Don't even think of taking me to some expensive restaurant. Just some normal, cheap place is fine. And by the way , I'm paying today. "

Kazuya opened his mouth to protest but Mizuhara's glare convinced him otherwise.

He began to think of a cheaper place to go . He saw a sign for a Saizeriya nearby. It wasn't the one they had gone to the other day but the trauma of that day still rolled over Kazuya .

" Not Saize . Never again . Even if it kills me I'm not going back there " , he resolved .

Kazuya then remembered that there was a nice little Ramen shop a few minutes from there. He turned and asked her,

" How about Ramen ? " .

Kazuya and Chizuru pushed past the Noren in the doorway of the shop and entered . It was a traditional shop with customers sitting on the barstools right in front of the cook as he worked . They took the seats at the end and then ordered.

Two steaming hot bowls of Ramen with flavourful broth , long firm noodles , a boiled egg, pieces of chashu and other accompaniments were placed in front of them .

" It smells great " , Chizuru remarked .

She took a bite and then exclaimed ,

" It tastes really good too ."

Kazuya smiled and began to eat as well. After a few minutes, the cook placed a bowl of freshly chopped garlic in front of them. Kazuya was about to reach for it when he thought about the potential consequences.

" Wait if I put garlic in my Ramen and then eat it , my breath will stink and if that happens ... " .

Kazuya imagined Mizuhara maintaining a twenty feet distance between them as they walked home. He shuddered at that thought and then put his hand down .

Chizuru looked up from her bowl and noticed the bowl of garlic. She pulled the bowl towards herself, picked up a few pieces , crushed it a bit between her palms and then put it into her Ramen. Then she offered the bowl to Kazuya.

" It tastes better with garlic you know " , she told him .

Kazuya also took the bowl and repeated her actions. He smiled a little and thought,

" I forgot again. Before I met her I used to have an image of how a girl behaves. But Mizuhara is completely different from that . "

After they ate some more , Chizuru brought up the events of the day .

" All things considered, that went really well " , she told him .

'' Did you talk to Kibe and Kuri , before I turned up ?" .

She nodded and replied ,

" Yeah , I chatted with them a bit . And you handled my friends well. Anyway I was surprised at how eager your friends were to agree to the whole thing . You did tell me that they would , but still they were really happy about the whole thing ''.

" I actually tried to convince the guys not to agree to it . I thought that maybe they might say no . But there was no chance of that happening. Its a bit embarassing to admit but they don't get to hang out with girls that often , so they jumped at this chance. Not that I blame them for that. After all, I would be in the same boat if it wasn't for you " .

Chizuru was silent for some time and then replied,

" Hey , thanks for offering to walk me back home afterwards. It was really nice of you " .

" No , not at all . It's my fault you have to be dropped off away from your place" .

After a few more mouthfuls in silence, a serious expression came over Kazuya's face and then he spoke

" To be honest, I'm really worried about Saturday. I'm scared that I'll mess up somehow and Kibe and Kuri will figure out your identity. And I don't want to let that happen. Of all of our secrets , your identity is the most important. Even if people find out that "Mizuhara" is a rental girlfriend, things will be fine for you as long as people don't know that "Ichinose" and "Mizuhara" is the same person. If they do , then ... "

Kazuya trailed off , unable to complete that sentence.

Chizuru thought carefully and then replied ,

" Look I appreciate that you're looking out for me . But don't jump to the worst case scenario already . It'll be fine. All we have to do is act in front of our friends. As long as we keep our cool, we can manage.

Kazuya nodded in agreement but Chizuru could tell that he was still worried.

" See the thing about acting " , Chizuru began

" It's not about being extravagant or extraordinary. It's in the details, the subtleties. So what we have to do on Saturday is to be subtle. Its not that we have to put on a grand show of how we don't know each other and pretend like we forgot each other's names or anything like that. We can act and talk in mostly the same manner like we're doing now. What we have to be careful about is not revealing how much we know about each other , like about our families or my acting or living next to each other. Stuff like that.

"But...''

''Its okay to get nervous . Everybody does, including me . Honestly I think it shows that you care . Last time , at the party I was a nervous wreck but you handled things so well .So I know you'll be fine this time as well . Even if one of us makes a mistake or two its fine , there are two of us right ? We'll bail each other out.''

Kazuya was finally convinced albeit trusting more in Mizuhara than himself

After they finished eating , Chizuru paid the bill and the two headed back . As ,they walked back Kazuya was quite for some time ,lost in thought, and then spoke .

" Hey about what you said about acting and the details and stuff ...

'' Yeah ? ''

"Would you say that the way you dress at Uni is based on the same thing. In the sense that you're still the same person .All that's different is that you wear glasses and your hairstyle and clothes are different .But because those are the first things people notice ,they dont recognize you''.

Chizuru stopped , turned to him and answered , quite surprised,

" Yeah ,that's right . I mean there are a few more changes like I adjust my makeup and I usually wear heels outside campus so I look taller and couple of other stuff , but yeah you're almost exactly right . It's only a few subtle changes but everyone sees two different people

She paused for a second , smiled and added ,

" Well , almost everyone. "

Kazuya grinned as they resumed walking. He couldn't help glancing at her though. He felt that all too familiar increase in his heartbeat as he marveled at her beauty. How she shone so bright even when she wore a hoodie and a skirt .

Suddenly Kazuya was pulled out of his thoughts by something he spotted on the other side of the street

" Hey , Mizuhara ? " , he spoke after a few seconds

" What ? "

" Can I walk on that side ? "

Chizuru was confused but she swapped sides with him, so that he was closer to the road and continued walking.

She glanced at him as they walked . He kept looking at something on the other side. But that wasn't it . Occasionally he glanced at her as well and would slightly move himself .

Suddenly he spoke up again ,

" Hey can we walk a little faster ? "

Chizuru, still confused , nodded and started walking faster . But she heard some sounds coming from the opposite side of the road and so turned and looked

She saw a group of guys in their late twenties and clearly drunk . A cold shiver ran down her spine . Those were the kind of guys that Chizuru had known all her life to avoid. They basically reeked with danger . In fact they were presently trying to harass a couple of young women walking past them .

And then she realized what Kazuya had been doing.

" He was making sure that they didn't see me . He was .. he was protecting me " .

Chizuru glanced back at Kazuya as they climbed up the stairs to their apartment.

" Thanks for earlier with those guys " , she said quietly .

Kazuya looked at her surprised ,

" You saw that ? It wasn't a big deal anyway" .

Chizuru who was now standing in front of her apartment door turned back at him and said ,

" You do a lot of nice things for me . All the time . And you always pretend like it's not a big deal . But the least I can do is thank you for it . So thank you " .

" You're welcome" , Kazuya replied slightly embarrassed.

Chizuru smiled at him and said,

" See you later " .

She then went inside her apartment and closed the door .

Chizuru headed straight to her bed before collapsing on it . She turned and buried her quickly reddening face in her pillow as she felt the hear gather in her cheeks and ripple across her face.

" Why is he like this? " , she wondered .

" Why is he always so nice to me ? Why is he always looking out for me ? Protecting me . Not just with those guys . Even earlier when he said that he wanted to protect my identity and said that it was the most important thing. "

" For the longest time .."

Her breath caught in her mouth for a second. She turned around and looked up at the ceiling and continued thinking,

" I've never wanted someone to protect me . I saw it as a sign of being weak .Needing someone to protect you . But that's not how I'm feeling now. I'm feeling really really... happy. And grateful. That he's looking out for me. That he has my back. That I can trust him " .

Chizuru sat up straight and continued reflecting,

" For the most part today was easier. It was definitely easier to talk to him today. I wasn't so panicked around him . Maybe it's just a matter of time? If I give it some time then things will go back to normal."

But a voice from deep inside her asked a question that she had been wondering about all this time .

" Is normal what I really want? "

Kazuya was still standing outside his apartment his eyes transfixed on her door . He could feel that intense desire pulsing through his veins . His longing for her . He smiled a little and thought to himself,

" The thing I'm most grateful for in my life is that this amazing person spends some of her time with me and then at the end, she says " See you later ".

He turned towards his door but the words had already escaped his mouth only to be heard by the silence of the night .

" After all , I love her " .

A/N:

Plans are set in stone and Kazuya and Chizuru make sure they have each other's back .

New Chapters will be out on Thursdays.

Next Time :

A day at the mall and Chizuru is left with things to ponder over.