She then asked , smiling even more brightly with each word ,
"Do you mind if I come over and finish it here? "
Kazuya was only too glad to agree immediately.
Chizuru went back to her apartment and came right back in a couple of minutes, now holding her laptop and phone in her hands .
The two nervously sat down side by side on their usual seats on Kazuya's bed , with the table in front of them and started on their work, first agreeing to not distract each other till they were both done .
About Half An Hour later ,
Chizuru slowly stretched out under the table before resuming her position and concentrating on her work. Or at least trying to .
She could barely believe that was she was sitting next to him like this. Close enough to feel his warmth , to smell his shampoo and to see the concentration on his face as he went about his work.
She watched him out of the corner of his eye as he focused on the laptop in front on him , scrolling through pages and typing at full speed, for a while before focusing back on her work .
She remained focused for another half an hour before the tiredness that usually plagued her at the end of every day , reared it's head at her.
She lasted another 15 minutes before she stopped typing and stretched a bit, thinking to herself,
" I could use a good coffee " .
It seemed like magic but out of nowhere a steaming hot cup of coffee appeared on her table .
Perplexed she turned back and saw Kazuya standing just a bit behind her.
"Eh ? How did you know I wanted some coffee?" , she asked, puzzled .
She watched as a little embarrassment crept into his smile before he explained ,
"You've been yawning for some time now. So I figured you could use some. This is how you like it right ? Dark with just a bit of sugar? "
She nodded before taking a huge sip ,as he watched her anxiously, which was immediately followed by a satisfied sigh .
"This is some good coffee " , she remarked with a happy smile .
Kazuya, looking relieved now, sat down beside her , letting her enjoy her coffee.
In between sips she noticed that Kazuya's laptop had been closed and so she asked , gesturing to the laptop ,
"You're done ? "
"Yeah" , he nodded .
"You don't have to wait then , you know . You can do something else if you want " .
"It's no problem " , he insisted .
She raised her hands in a giving-up gesture, laughing as she did .
She finally finished the coffee but before she could even start to get up , Kazuya had already taken the cup away .
Chizuru watched silently as he scrubbed the cup clean .
She was happy in that moment , she was glad that he was taking care of her but there was something else . A tiny part of her that wanted to grab the cup from him and clean it herself
That fiercely independent side of her was not used to having someone else do anything for her .
She watched him,carefully not taking her eyes off him even when he had come and sat next to her again .
She smiled and thanked him again, which he immediately waved off. They were both silent for some time again before she spoke up and asked him ,
"I'll be done in another hour or so . So... how about I make you dinner then ? "
"Eh ? Really? " , Kazuya asked , taken back .
"Of course " , she replied.
Kazuya smiled and seemed to be only to happy to agree but suddenly he stopped himself and thought for a while before asking,
"Honestly, I would really like that. But ... you're already tired and you've still got more stuff to finish right ?
"Yeah , but ... " , she started to reply before he cut in .
"Then how about you finish your report and I'll make dinner? "
"Huh " , she asked , surprised before pointing out ,
"You dont know how to cook " .
"I can manage " , he replied incredulously.
Chizuru bit her lip as she thought about it. It was an incredibly generous offer and she knew that it made sense and she was definitely tired but she felt that little unrest inside her again.
The part of her that could not relinquish control.
It took her a couple of seconds but she soon realized that the unrest was less powerful than it had been a few minutes back.
"I guess it's almost a new experience for me " , Chizuru reflected .
"Being taken care of. And letting go and being okay with it .
No . Not just okay . Being happy for it . "
She smiled and told him ,
"Sure . And thank you " .
She watched as he excitedly got and and scrambled into the kitchen, chucking softly to herself before returning to her work.
About 40 minutes later , Chizuru closed her laptop and got up towards the kitchen . The second she got near the kitchen , Kazuya insisted that she go back to the living room which she grudgingly did , plopping back down on his bed .
"Why don't you find something to watch on the TV ? " , he called out from the kitchen.
"We're having a TV dinner? " , she asked.
He stuck his head out and hurriedly told her,
"It's fine if you don't want to " .
"No ,I do" , she assured him and began surfing through the channels and then his Netflix account before finally settling on a movie .
Just as she had done that Kazuya appeared holding a plastic bowl which he placed in front of her. A plastic bowl with big bold letters but she didn't need them to know what it was .
"Instant Ramen ? " , she asked.
"Well ... I don't actually know how to cook " , he sheepishly admitted before hurriedly adding ,
"But I followed the tips you gave me . So I put some fresh vegetables and a boiled egg in there as well . And I made you the seafood one and ... "
She stopped his waffling, with a firm smile , telling him ,
"Thank you . This is more than enough for me . Let's eat " .
He smiled , still unsure but he brought his own bowl as well and sat down next to her , watching her anxiously as she took a bite of the Ramen and a sip of the broth .
"This is actually pretty good ! " , she exclaimed.
"Really ? "
"It is " , she insisted and proceeded to demolish her bowl in no time.
Once Kazuya finished his as well , he took the bowl from her and came back holding a container of chocolate fudge ice cream and two spoons and soon they were digging into that as well , enjoying the movie they were watching as they did .
Before they knew it , it was nearly midnight and both of them knew that it was time and so they both left his apartment, Kazuya adamant that he would walk her to her door.
Even the frightfully cold wind couldn't stop Chizuru from smiling as she inched across the landing slowly , reflecting on the day , not taking her eyes off the young man beside her
She somehow ended up focusing on how the day had begun and felt a wave of guilt again over her ,
"I was a really bad girlfriend today. And I should do way better tomorrow " ,she chided herself.
Almost immediately, she stopped walking and almost gasped out aloud .
For the first time ,she had referred to herself as Kazuya's girlfriend. Unconsciously, not on purpose but almost instinctively and that realization simultaneously made her amazingly joyful but also more guily about how she had treated Kazuya .
"What's wrong, Mizuhara? " , he asked her, clearly concerned.
She turned towards him and told him , feeling her heartbeat rise with every syllable ,
"Last night , we spoke about a lot but we didn't exactly state out loud what our relationship is .
So I wanted to say out aloud that... I'm really happy that we're... dating now.
And ... I'm really proud to be your girlfriend and I'm overjoyed that you're my boyfriend " .
She had barely managed to get the words out but she did and now a stunned but clearly over-the-moon Kazuya stared back at her , nodding his head, as he replied, in a dazed manner .
"Me too . I .. can barely believe that you're my girlfriend but I'm really thrilled and unbelievingly happy ".
They were both silent for some time, caught up in their emotions before Chizuru drew a step closer to him and they held each other for just a few seconds before they split apart.
After the usual , "See you tomorrow " , Chizuru went inside and as was custom, collapsed on her floor , completely taken over by her feelings.
Next Morning,
Kazuya got up a bit early . Unusual for him , but he was hoping to catch a certain somebody before her classes today .
He got dressed quickly and was soon heading towards his door , fully intending to get to college as fast as possible .
The second he opened the door , however , he saw a startled Chizuru standing there with her arm half-raised like she had been about to knock .
Kazuya gaped at her but she recovered soon enough and asked ,
"Do you want to head to Uni together? "
"Yes ", he said so fast that his before he knew it they were both walking next to each other.
It took him a few seconds but once it really sank in , he asked her hesitatingly,.
"Are you sure it's okay for the the two of us to be seen like this?
Chizuru glanced at him before sighing softly.
Of course she knew what he really meant . It wasn't just that the two were walking together. Right she was in "Ichinose" mode .
"I'm sure " , she assured him and before he could say anything else , she continued,
"We'll go like this till we get closer to Uni . Then we'll split . And in case we're seen together by our friends, we can play it off . They know we live near each other, remember? From the time at the mall? "
"Oh , yeah " , Kazuya remembered. He then stopped his protests only too cheerfully and they continued on their way together, their normal , natural , easy conversation starting to flow again between them after a little turbulent patch.
They talked about various topics as they walked, ranging from what they each had for breakfast, to their next classes to the next Marvel movie and finally ending at Chizuru's acting which Kazuya was glad to hear was going great .
Suddenly in between their conversation , Chizuru suddenly asked ,
"Are you free for lunch ? "
"Yeah , I don't have any plans ", he told her.
"Then , how about having it together? "
"That would be awesome!" , Kazuya exclaimed before asking,
"So where are we going? "
"Leave that to me " , she said with a secretive smile .
Soon they were outside their University and as agreed, Chizuru disappeared into the crowd . Kazuya had still felt disappointed, of course but was surprised to see an obvious look of equal disappointment from Chizuru.
"She's been surprising me a lot , recently though", he admitted to himself .
"There's no way I could ever have even dreamt of something like this , Mizuhara and me getting so close to me and she being so open with me " .
He headed into the crowd himself, thinking to himself ,
" How in the world did I get so lucky ? "
Four Hours Later,
After a brutal double lecture, Kazuya staggered out of the hall but the thought of having lunch with Chizuru immediately cheered him up and so he ended up nearly running towards the literature building.
He was halfway there before he got a text from Chizuru,
"Hey are you out ? " , she asked .
"Yeah , heading to the literature building " , he replied.
She immediately sent back ,
"I'm not there. I'm at the back gate of the Uni ".
"Oh ,okay . On my way " , he hurriedly sent before changing direction and heading towards the back gate of the University, at the other end of the campus.
He was a bit surprised with where she was waiting, the back of the University was rarely used and he had never gone there himself .
He soon reached there and saw her immediately, standing there with a cover in hand . He greeted her and then continued,
"Kinda weird to meet up here, huh ? " , he asked.
"That's the point . Nobody really uses this way because there's not much out this side anyway ".
"Then where are going? "
"There's a small park a little way from here . Apparently there are lots of kids there in the evening but it's relatively empty now " , she explained.
"Where are we eating then ? " , he asked , confused.
"I made us lunch " , she told him , smiling brightly , gesturing to the cover in her hand.
"Huh ? How ? ", he asked .
"I went back, made lunch and came back " , she told him matter-of-factly.
"What ? You didn't have to do all that " , he told her ,surprised and a bit guilty .
"It was fine " , she assured him
"My class got over at 11 anyway, so I was free .
And besides, of course I had to do all this" , she added
"You're my boyfriend, after all ".
Kazuya had heard that line a million times over the last 20 months, but this was not like those times .
This time it was real .
He was her boyfriend and that brought a huge grin to his face .
They sat down on a bench in the park and Chizuru pulled out two identical blue bento boxes .
She then handed one to Kazuya who accepted it gratefully. After thanking her , he opened it to find it filled with steamed rice , pickled salad and a few pieces of fried chicken and an omelet .
He had barely begun marveling at it when she pulled out a flask as well and poured him a cup of miso soup and then finally handed him a can of peach soda .
"Whoa ! Did you make all this? It looks unbelievable? " , he asked her, absolutely blown away .
"Well , not the soda " , she replied, beaming with pride , which made Kazuya laugh a little before he started digging in .
"Wow ! It tastes unbelievable too!" , he exclaimed.
They had a great time , enjoying their food and getting lost in each other's company, talking about their day so far and various other things, Kazuya of course constantly complimenting Chizuru's cooking .
Finally after they finished , Chizuru put the bentos away and pulled out a plastic container with some sliced fruit which they shared .
After a few bites , Chizuru spoke up,
"Now that you've eaten , I should probably make a confession "
"What about? " , Kazuya asked , slightly surprised.
"This whole lunch idea wasn't completely random " , she admitted
"Huh?" , Kazuya asked , confused.
She turned her gaze away from him and towards the park and explained ,
"You know, a lot of the time we were together on the rental dates , you would tell me about how you wanted a girlfriend badly in high school and you even hinted that some of the stuff we did together was stuff you wanted to do in high school with your girlfriend right ? . Like the ...ahem ... time we went to the amusement park in our school uniforms. "
Kazuya nodded sheepishly after which Chizuru continued,
"Yeah , I was thinking about those times and I just got the impression that you really wished you could have had those experiences for real , much more than you actually let on.
So, once I realized that , I figured ... one of those experiences you really wanted ... was eating a handmade bento from your girlfriend "
After she finished , Kazuya was silent . Silent because he was stunned. Stunned because he could barely believe that anyone , let alone her , could have read his desires like that and provided for them , without breaking a sweat , shrugging away credit , like what she had done just now hadn't been extraordinary.
He smiled, feeling pulsating happiness in his chest as he told her,
" Mizuhara.. you're really the most amazing.."
He then stopped for a second , smiled a bit broader and then continued ,
"No , not just amazing .
You're my perfect girlfriend ".
Chizuru simultaneously gasped and turned bright red before trying to stammer a thanks but Kazuya wasn't done .
He didn't plan it but he didn't stop it. Because he most certainly wanted it .
His arms slinked around her waist and pulled her towards himself.
Even though she had no idea , even though she was still blushing and stammering softly , she arched herself towards him , like she instinctively understood and wanted it just as badly . Like she had been waiting for him to do just that all this time .
Her arms fell on his chest , using it as support to hoist herself up until they were inches apart .
They stopped just for a second ,not out of hesitation but rather to live in that moment for a second longer before they leant in and met each other.
Kazuya and Chizuru kissed each other .
For Chizuru a first experience , not the same for Kazuya but one that brought forth a happiness and joy of which there had not been a sniff off during his previous experiences.
It lasted only for a few seconds but they felt so much that it nearly numbed them .
Nearly .
Because as much as everything else faded into the background, they could feel each other , completely.
They broke apart, slightly panting as they tried to catch their breath, before looking away out of embarrassment before that too passed them and they looked at each other and smiled again.
A/N : More honesty , more openess and the relationship begins to flow beautifully.
Next Time : Some more growth, some fluff and a forgotten visit .