A Week Later,
"I'm free that entire week, so whenever it's convenient for you , is fine " .
Chizuru brushed away the snow on her hair, glancing at Kazuya while he spoke , as they walked towards their apartment together.
"How did we end up walking back together" , she wondered , flustered on the inside while showing no sign of it .
She had just stepped out of the convenience store when the bus had pulled up and he had gotten out . Of course , it had barely taken him a second to notice her and they had exchanged greetings but Chizuru was uncertain of how and when she had agreed to go back together.
"Wait a second " , she suddenly thought to herself with an air of indignation
"I didn't agree to anything . We said hi and he just started casually walking next to me".
She glanced at him again , with an accusatory look before softening slightly and thinking to herself,
" Well ,it's not like I actually mind " .
She smiled just a bit before a little anomaly made itself known
"That's strange " , she realized
"Usually in these situations he's a bit embarrassed and then asks me if it's okay or, more often , he says something like,
"I'll just cause trouble for Mizuhara. So you go ahead and I'll go back later " .
But he didn't say anything this time "
She was lost in thought and so didn't notice Kazuya calling her until her practically yelled,
" Mizuhara? "
She jumped slightly as she reacted ,
" Yeah , what ? "
Kazuya looked at her, slightly confused before he repeated,
" I'm free that entire week. So you pick when it's best for you and then I'll book the tickets".
Chizuru caught on to what he was saying. They had been discussing their plans to go watch the movie together.
She pulled out her phone, checked her schedule and replied
"Okay , then I think the best time would be the afternoon showing on the 18th .Is that okay for you ? And don't say yes without thinking about it " .
Kazuya assured her that he was indeed free and she continued,
"And don't think I didn't notice the bit about you buying the tickets. Did you forget about how you splurged on the restaurant? "
Kazuya smiled sheepishly and she went on ,
" So I'll be the one paying. For everything. Got it?"
Kazuya held up his hands in a give-up gesture and replied,
" Yes ma'am " .
That made her smile again and they chatted cheerfully till they went into their own apartments .
As she walked in , something pricked at Chizuru's mind . She frowned slightly as she thought to herself,
"He was ... different today . Just a bit . Usually we run into each other like that and it's a bit awkward and one of us says something dumb and then we find a reason to do something together.
But this was .. different. It was just normal , from the beginning and we walked back without reason " .
She felt that rush of anxious warmth again and a gentle smile broke out on her face as she wondered,
"Have things changed between us slightly ? He tried to end the trial and now things are so ... easy between us "
That Night,
Chizuru yawned for the fourth time and she knew that it was time to go to sleep despite the crime novel she was engrossed in , begging her not to .
She checked her phone just before she went to bed and found a notification from the Diamond Agency . She opened it and found a date request for the evening of the 18th .
"Sorry , I've got plans " , she thought to herself happily and declined the request.
She then put her phone down , switched off the lights, took of her glasses and lay down , resting her head on her pillow .
And then it dawned on her .
She jumped out of bed , fumbled and finally found her glasses and her phone in the dark and opened the Diamond app . She checked her schedule for the 18th .
Absolutely empty , not a single booking .
She stared at it for a few seconds, blankly before the thought swam through her mind ,
"Why hasn't he made a booking yet ? "
The Next Day , at University,
Chizuru clutched her books tight against her chest as she weaved in and out of the crowd , head down . She glanced at her watch again , two minutes to get across campus before she would be late for her lecture. But the time wasn't taking up much place in her mind . The cat brooch on her forehead burned much more intensely.
She hadn't been able to stop thinking about him , why he hadn't rented her yet and that was why she was running late .
"Calm down , Chizuru " , she told herself as she dodged and darted in between people
"It's not even been twenty four hours since we decided on the when . He'll make the booking. Maybe he's just waiting or maybe he forgot ".
It didn't work though. She knew very well that what Kazuya would usually do after confirming that she was free was to make a booking in about five minutes . And he had never , not once, forgotten the smallest detail about their "dates" But , this time , he hadn't made a booking yet And that meant...
"What does that mean ?" , she asked herself, more than a little flustered , stammering even in her mind .
"Is he really going to ... Is he actually planning ... Does he expect me to just come with him ? But ... that's a... Isn't that a... ?"
Recalling the conversations they had about going to the movie, Chizuru realized that they had never brought up the topic of renting her . And she remembered that most of the enthusiasm for the plan had come from her side .
"Well ... it's not fair to make him rent me to go do something I want . So it could be that he thinks it's a casual outing . Like when we went to the Cafe and then Saize ? "
That particular memory did nothing to ease her anxiety , instead it furthered her anxious descent but she still tried to convince herself,
"That's probably it . It's a two-friends-watching-a-movie-together situation. That's it . Nothing more. We're not doing anything else. Nothing else is going to happen " .
She tried to ignore the feelings of disappointment she felt at that particular conviction but nevertheless she repeated to herself,
"If he wants to , he would rent me . If he's not doing it , it's not a date " .
That voice spoke again in her mind, the same voice that had helped her realize her feelings just about a month ago.
"He's just tried to break it off with Ruka-chan . And now he's made plans with you.
What if ... "
She stopped in place for a second nearly overcome by that possibility . She regained some semblance of control over herself after a few seconds and repeated to herself,
"It's not a date " .
As Chizuru walked into her lecture hall , she told herself again,
"It's not a date " .
In the middle of the lecture, his face popped up in his mind again and she repeated ,
"It's not a date " .
A few hours later , Chizuru was walking towards her acting classes . She pulled out her phone and checked again. Still no booking from him .
"It's not a date " .
Back at her apartment , as she put on her home clothes and fixed the cat brooch on her hair , she told herself again,
"It's not a date " .
As she was finishing up a report, she heard him rustling around his apartment and those words crept out again,
"It's not a date " .
Just before she called it a day and went to sleep , she checked her bookings again, with a slight frown on her face .
No request from him .
"It's not a date " .
Even she could tell that each time she repeated it , more conviction was lost .
And so for the next few days, Chizuru tried to repeatedly convince herself but it was to no avail.
And before she knew it was the night of the 16th . It was ten minutes to midnight. Usually Chizuru was strict with herself about things like when to sleep but she was helpless this time.
Diamond Agency rules stated that a date had to be made at least a day in advance.
So if he was going to make a booking for the 18th it would have to be in the next ten minutes.
Chizuru stared at her request screen as the seconds ticked away. It seemed like forever but it was eventually a minute past midnight.
She put her phone away and lay back , her heart thumping away with a load of jumbled up emotions, happiness, anxiety, fear , worry uncertainty, indignation, even some embarrassment .
She looked up at the ceiling and finally admitted out aloud ,
"This could be... a date " .
December 18th , Around 10 am ,
Kazuya waited anxiously in the parking lot of his apartment building. The nervousness in his chest was building with every second and had been building for the last week , ever since he had made up his mind to be stubborn about not renting Mizuhara. Not only that he had consciously made an effort to spend as much time with her as he could, instead of leaving her alone like he used to do before.
It hadn't been easy for him though. He had nearly lost it the other day when he had decided to walk back to their apartment with her and even more difficult for him had been the several times he had been driven by fear and pulled up the Diamond app on his phone and nearly made a booking .
But somehow he had gotten through it and now he had gathered up his willpower and was determined to show her as good a time as possible.
"No matter what I've got to take a step forward " he resolved.
The door to her apartment creaked open and for a second Kazuya forgot how to breathe .
She was wearing a light peach-pink dress , cinched at the waist . A red jacket covered her arms and shoulders and a pair of black tights did the same to her long legs. She had a brown spotted scarf wrapped around her neck and a grey handbag while her feet were enclosed in black winter boots. Her long hair was brushed neatly, some of her length dancing in front of her shoulders while the rest of her hair lay behind her.
Everything about her was perfect, the contrste between the red , peach and black with her own skin, the style and fit of her clothes and of course her long enchanting hair .
Chizuru walked down the stairs , around to him and greeted him brightly . Unfortunately Kazuya hadn't completely regained his senses and so stammered a greeting back which made her stare at him inquisitively .
Realizing this , Kazuya snapped out of it and greeted her . She smiled and then asked,
"Have you been waiting long? "
"No , not at all " , Kazuya assured her .
She glanced at her watch and then smiled and remarked,
"It's a good hour earlier than when we had planned to leave but I was too excited to wait.
And I guess , you expected that and were already waiting "
Kazuya smiled a bit , sheepishly .
Chizuru turned towards the exit and said, cheerfully
"Let's go " .
She began walking but the little twirl of her dress and spin of her hair left Kazuya immobilized.
"Tell her she's beautiful " , a thought spoke aloud in his mind
"No , no way " , he told himself immediately.
"That's a total creep move " .
"How ? It's a date isn't it ? " , the tempter in his mind pointed out " .
"Maybe " , he admitted.
"But .. "
"Hey aren't you coming? " , Chizuru's voice broke through his struggle.
" Huh ? Yeah " , he blurted out , a little too quickly.
Chizuru turned back towards him and seemed to realize what he was looking at because she glanced down at herself.
A curious expression came over face , one which Kazuya didn't recognize before she asked in a seemingly normal tone ,
"Did I dress up too much or something? Because if I did.. "
"No, not at all " , the words came tumbling out of his mouth before he could think .
And before he could stop himself, he added ,
"It's perfect. You look really good " .
Once he realized what he had said , he wished that the earth would swallow him up and looked away from her expecting the usual scathing remark he had come to expect whenever he did something stupid .
However she replied ,with her voice slightly more high pitched than usual,
"Thanks . You look nice too " .
"Oh ... thanks " , Kazuya replied as well , relieved that she hadn't gotten mad at him.
Of course, if he had turned and looked at her a few seconds earlier , he might have wondered why her entire face including the tips of her ears had turned bright red .
The two were soon in Shinjuku, about five minutes away from Toho Cinemas . They were still very early and they decided to walk around for a bit which both were pleased about as it lent a little more strength to a date atmosphere and vibe.
They went inside a couple of places but didn't really buy anything other than coffee until they happened upon a KitKat Chocolatory . Chizuru didn't think much about it till Kazuya pointed out something unique about it .
" What ? Make your own KitKat ? " , she exclaimed surprised.
" Yeah " , Kazuya nodded
"There's been one of these in Miyashita Park for a while now but this one just opened up recently.
You can go in and basically make your own bar of KitKat from scratch " .
"Well , let's do it then " , she declared and pulled him in the shop along with herself.
They went in and the young woman working there explained the process and then handed them a checklist to choose what toppings they wanted.
They debated about it intensely before finally picking a dark chocolate base with hazelnuts , marshmallows and cacao nibs as toppings .
They were then given a wafer which they were asked to cut into four pieces with a plastic knife .
At this point however the two mature adults had transformed into kids in a literal candy heaven .
They changed the wafer cutting into a competition and failed miserably at it , breaking the knife on several occasions.
The confectioner however just smiled and handed them a new knife each time and eventually they succeeded.
They then got a shaping tray and a bowl of chocolate and were instructed to fill the tray with chocolate and then dip the wafers in it . They ended up using too much chocolate and the KitKat wafer morphed into a KitKat island which they they decorated wildly , throwing the toppings on the island like they were seeking refuge from the harsh sea .
Finally, having laughed through it all and having had the greatest fun , they handed over the chocolate island to the smiling confectioner who told them that it would be ready in half an hour . Once they explained that they were going to see a movie , she agreed to keep it till they arrived.
Kazuya tried to pay for it but Chizuru smacked him on his back and paid before they left the shop .
They then had lunch before heading back to Toho . Once they got their , they found themselves smack in the middle of people who had just come out of various movies from the morning showing.
Kazuya and Chizuru squeezed and dodged in between the crowd and had just about gotten out of it before a voice suddenly rang out,
" Hey , Chizuru-chan "
Kazuya and Chizuru jumped and turned around to find a young woman about their age waving towards them and heading in their direction.
Kazuya asked Chizuru , quite confused,
"Do we know her ? "
He saw her biting her bottom lip slightly before replying,
" I do . She's my colleague, Sana-chan " .
"Acting friend huh ? That's not a problem then", Kazuya remarked, now relieved.
He glanced at Chizuru and was surprised to still see tension on her face .
" Not acting " , she said after a few seconds.
" Rental Girlfriend " .
Chizuru glared at Sana who was wearing through the crowd and heading towards them.
" Why today of all days " , she groaned internally, annoyed.
She stewed in her annoyance for a few seconds before deciding ,
"Well , I've got to deal with this now. And Sana-chan isn't too bad . Just a bit too nosy . And she has a habit of poaching clients" .
She glanced at him . He was still frozen in shock .
She felt her heart thumping as she realized what she had to do .
Without warning, Chizuru grabbed Kazuya's hand and interlocked her fingers with hers .
He yelped out loud as soon as he felt her touch,
" Mizuhara, what are you.. "
"No time to explain " , she interrupted.
"If she asks we're on a booking now " .
Sana soon reached them and the two young women exchanged greetings before Sana glanced up at Kazuya and told him , slightly snickering,
" Sorry to interrupt your date, mister " .
Chizuru sighed before turning to Kazuya and speaking in what Kazuya privately called , her rental voice
" Kazuya-kun this is another member of my agency. Sorry for the interruption " .
Kazuya played along and introduced himself .
Sana was the talkative type and so dominated the conversation about random topics between the three before Chizuru gave her a subtle shove to get going.
Sana smiled brightly at Kazuya before speaking,
" You know , Kazuya-kun ,I'm available for a date tomorrow if you want to make a booking " .
Chizuru had expected this and was about to interject before Kazuya shut her down himself,
" No , it's fine . I'm happy with uh... Chizuru-san " .
Chizuru felt that happy pit of wamth inside her when she heard him use her name and say no to Sana .
She was about to pull him away when Sana suddenly spoke again,
" Well you'll be disappointed anyway in a month's time , Kazuya-kun " .
This time Chizuru froze in shock. She knew what Sana was talking about. The fact that she was leaving the agency next month.
"He can't know about that yet " , she panicked .
"If he finds out that I'm leaving before I tell him , he'll definitely get the wrong idea . And I won't be able to... "
Chizuru shot a look of cold fury at Sana who was immediately shocked and frightened .
Kazuya unsuspecting asked ,
" What do you mean , Sana-san ? "
"Oh , I just meant that I'm the better girlfriend " , she said quickly before making up an excuse and leaving.
"That was weird " , Kazuya commented.
Chizuru smiled beside him and agreed ,
"Yeah it was " , before adding ,
"Let's go " .
She pulled him along and the two walked together like that for a few minutes before they realized that they were still holding hands .
They both instantaneously pulled away and began sheepishly apologizing before putting it behind them and heading into the theater to watch Avengers Infinity War
Just Over Three Hours later ,
Chizuru and Kazuya walked slowly down the cinema stairs holding onto the railing for support as they took small uncertain steps. Their skin tingling they walked wordlessly until they were outside .
And then Chizuru exploded ,
" Oh my freaking... That was unbelievable " , she practically screamed turning to Kazuya.
Kazuya himself had been completely taken over by the fever of the movie and exclaimed back with equal enthusiasm,
"I know , right ? Absolutely, mind-blowingly awesome " .
"Right ? Who ends a movie like that ..."
" Talk about a cliffhanger " .
"Cliffhanger ? They threw us off the cliff with that one "
The two eventually wandered into a Cafe and continued their post mortem of the movie for a good threw quarters of an hour before they finally leaned back on their seats , after having been shushed by the waitress for the umpteenth time .
"Amazing " , they said at the same time before laughing again.
After drinking some coffee , Chizuru spoke again,
"The only complaint I have is that we have to wait a year to watch the next movie and see what happens after this " .
"I know, it's going to be a painful wait " .
"Yeah " , Chizuru agreed , laughing again before adding ,
"But I guess because of that we'll probably be even more blown away and we'll do all this again when we watch the next part " .
Kazuya agreed and laughed as well till a few seconds later when her words dissected themselves in his mind
" Did she just say that we'll watch the next part together too ? "
He glanced at her , drinking her coffee, absolutely carefree .
"Would Mizuhara really want me to still be in her life this time next year ? "
The excitement off the movie finally began fading as Kazuya began to remember what he had meant to do .
"It's been amazing so far but ... I have to take it up a notch " , he decided .
The two went back to the KitKat shop and collected their treat which was now beautifully packed in a Mount Fuji box.
They thanked the young woman profusely and then left the shop .
He waited till they had walked a bit and then Kazuya casually asked her ,
" So , do you have any plans after this, Mizuhara?"
She glanced at him and through the corner of her eyes and replied dryly ,
"Don't even try " .
"Damn it " , Kazuya thought.
"Did she figure out what I was up to and shut me down ? "
He had barely thought that when she smiled triumphantly and told him ,
"I knew it. You're so obvious. I know you have something else planned . So stop stalling and lead the way " .
Kazuya was taken back for a second when he heard that,
"She's fine with continuing? " ,he wondered before glancing at her smiling face.
"Well , she never ceases to amaze " , he thought to himself before saying out loud,
" Let's go then " .
A/N: Both Kazuya and Chizuru sweat over the possibility of a real date before enjoying every second of it .
My favorite little bit about this is that chapter is that both of them noticed that the other was acting a little strange but are happy about it , albeit still confused about the why and try to act like nothing is different
Next time : Kazuya isn't done just yet