Chapter 2: Plans

Kazuya woke up the following morning to the sound of his alarm blaring into his ear. With a few groans, he twisted and turned his way out of bed once he realized his blanket had wrapped itself around his entire body.

"Mondays… someone kill me now." He complained as he finally freed himself and stood up from his mattress.

With a few stretches, he slowly shuffled himself into his kitchen, turned on the faucet and splashed some cold water on his face. The freezing water touching his skin was enough to cause a jolt of energy to jump throughout his body, waking him almost instantly.

With a few more splashes, Kazuya soon opened his drawer and pulled out a toothbrush and toothpaste, a rare morning routine for him.

"Of all the things Yaemori had to say about my smile." He groaned, recalling last night's mocking from his apprentice.

Not only did the cosplayer insult his strong smile he worked hard to perfect, but she also even made a comment after about how his breath smelt.

"If you truly want to impress Mizuhara-san, then I suggest brushing your teeth… and lay off the garlic." The words repeated through his mind.

"You're so mean, Yaemori." He silently cried to himself as he finished brushing.

Walking back to his bed, Kazuya checked his phone for any message and the time. 7:40 a.m., there was still 20 minutes for him to finish getting ready and start heading to class. If he hurried, there might be a chance he could get something to eat on the way; so, with great speed, Kazuya quickly grabbed a pair of black pants and an orange shirt before putting his phone and wallet in his pockets, grabbed his bag, and walked out the front door.

While closing the door behind him and locking it, Kazuya heard a noise to his left as he turned to see Chizuru exiting her apartment as well. The woman dressed in her usual university disguise with a pair of glasses, hair in twin braids, and an outfit that was dull enough to help her blend in with the public.

No matter how many times Kazuya found himself running into the girl of his dreams, his face always turned tomato red from the sheer shock and nervousness he got around her.

"M-Mizuhara?" He nearly yelled.

Chizuru looked straight at him with the same calm demeanor as she always had.

"G-Good morning!" Kazuya greeted as sweat began to bead around his forehead while he gave a friendly wave.

His nerves kicking in as he violated one cardinal rule: never speak to Chizuru when she is dressed in her university clothes.

"I just messed up… didn't I?" He thought to himself, still holding his uncomfortable smile and waving hand up in the air.

"Good morning." She politely replied before turning around and quickly walking off, leaving Kazuya speechless.

"I hope she's doing okay?" He wondered as he watched Chizuru make her way down the road.

The thought of her crying on his chest reappeared in his mind.

"Mizuhara…" He whispered before beginning his walk to the same university.

Just further ahead, Chizuru quickened her pace before rounding a corner and hiding to avoid having Kazuya spot her. She could feel herself breathing a little heavy, a warm feeling in her cheeks, and her stomach feeling the same lightness it did last night.

"Why did I greet him so casually?" She wondered, placing a hand on her chest, her heart beating a little quickly.

Lifting her head, she looked towards the blue sky as the clouds slowly passed by.

"His breath smelled good."

The day at the university went on as usual for Kazuya; several lectures, chats with his friends that usually ended with Kibe asking about how sex with Chizuru was before ready to die, and the long breaks of what little studying he could do in between. It wasn't until hours later; Kazuya finally got a break as he and his friends were sitting in the library doing their assignments.

"So, Kazuya, you down to hang out later this week?" Kibe asked as he typed some things into his laptop. "We were thinking about going out drinking with Sasapai again."

"Drinking?"

Memories of the night he tagged along with his friends and met up with some of the girls from college who also happened to have Chizuru along with them. In order to prevent them from realizing that Ichinose Chizuru and Mizuhara Chizuru were the same person, Kazuya intentionally lost the drinking game they played. This left him incredibly drunk that night, along with the rest of the group, effectively keeping Chizuru's secret safe.

"M-Maybe we could do something else?" Kazuya protested, trying to not seem suspicious.

Kibe and Kuribayashi both looked at Kazuya strangely.

"Is something wrong?" Kibe finally asked.

Kazuya could feel the spotlight fall on him now.

"Wrong? With me? Of course not!" He blurted.

"Good, because we were hoping you could invite your girlfriend so she could meet Ichinose-san." Kibe said before resuming his typing.

Kazuya's eyes widened. Invite Chizuru to join them? To meet…Chizuru?

"I wonder if they would get along?" Kibe wondered out loud.

"Oh Kibe, if you only knew." Kazuya thought as he saw his friend continued to think out loud for several minutes over how both Chizuru's would react to one another.

"Sorry Kibe, Mizuhara said she is going to be out of town this week for work." Kazuya lied.

Kibe softly closed his laptop before lunging over the table, grabbing a startled Kazuya as he gripped his shirt in his hands.

"You mean to tell us that you're letting a beautiful woman like that go out of town all alone this week without you there!" Kibe angrily began shouting while Kuribayashi tried to lower his voice. "Kazuya, you idiot! If you let someone like that go out of town, she'll dump you for sure and come back with a new man in her life before you even had a chance to process that she dumped you!"

Kazuya could feel himself start to become dizzy from the vigorous shaking and yelling he was getting from Kibe. Several students from nearby tables began to watch the altercation occur, some whispering to one another about unsupported theories and rumors.

After several minutes of berating and violent jerking, Kibe soon released Kazuya, letting his friend fall onto the ground in a daze.

"Honestly, it's been over a year since you both started dating. It's time you really start considering settling down with her." He said before opening his laptop again.

"Message…received…" Kazuya managed to speak as he slowly got back into his chair. "Sorry Kibe, I wish I could bring Mizuhara, but the moment she shows up and her other form doesn't, someone will figure out her secret."

"Well, I guess there's no helping you sometimes." Kibe sighed. "So, can we expect you to show up then? It'll be the same group as last time."

Kazuya opened his mouth to answer but stopped himself. The last thing he needed was to answer immediately without clearing it up with Chizuru first.

"Let me get back to you on that." He answered. "I need to check my schedule at work."

"No problem, just message me when you can." Kibe answered, now focused on his laptop again.

Two hours later, Kazuya found himself entering his apartment, tired and exhausted. Not only were the lessons getting more and more difficult, but having to keep the secret that he and Chizuru weren't actually dating was becoming harder by the day.

Kicking off his shoe, as he closed the door behind him, Kazuya made a straight dive for his mattress, completely falling on top of it with a relaxing, yet stressed, sigh.

"There's no way Mizuhara would ever agree to meeting with the group again." he told himself. "We got lucky last time, but my liver and head had to take the heat." He mentioned, recalling how drunk he was that night. "But, having Mizuhara there, rubbing my back soothingly, was nice. Man, I wish she would do it again!" He squealed while hugging his pillow and rolling back and forth.

"Oh, that reminds me, I should probably let her know the group wants to hang out again." He soon remembered as he grabbed his phone.

"Hang on!" He thought to himself, freezing as his hand had just touched the plastic case. "I'm sure she is already aware since her friends talk with mine. If that's the case, wouldn't she have messaged me by now already?"

Resuming to grab his phone, Kazuya checked the time. 5:17 p.m.

"Surely she would be home by now, wouldn't she?" He thought. "She could be out on a date, but I didn't see anything on her schedule that she was booked for today. Maybe she's doing acting classes? Preparing for an audition?"

While opening the Diamond app to confirm his theory, the thought of her crying on his chest appeared in his mind once more, along with his confession of his ideal girlfriend.

"Maybe…she's avoiding me?" He began to wonder. "After all, it was just a simple good morning, wasn't it? There was no meaning behind it. Plus, if she really wanted to talk, she would've done so by now."

As Kazuya began to list the possible reasons as to why Chizuru hadn't spoken to him since this morning, a knock sounded at his door.

"Coming!" He yelled, as he quickly ran to the door.

Standing in the door, wearing her familiar home clothes, was none other than Ichinose Chizuru.

"Mi…Mizuhara?" Kazuya questioned, surprised by her sudden visit.

"Hey…" Chizuru greeted, shyly looking away from the now red-faced young man. "Can I come in?"

Kazuya couldn't believe his eyes that his neighbor and love interest was standing in front of his door, just as he was thinking about her. To him, this was a sign from God, or a good omen was coming his way as tears of victory started to well up in his eyes and slowly waterfall down his cheeks.

While he began to cry, Chizuru couldn't help but look at him strangely, but also wondered why he was crying for that matter.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "Is this a bad time?"

Kazuya soon snapped back into reality and quickly wiped the tears from his eyes.

"No, of course not!" He answered, his voice loud and nearly high-pitched.

"You're acting weird."

"Am I?" He laughed off but could feel the harsh words stab his confidence.

"So, can I come in?" Chizuru asked again, now staring at Kazuya with a questionable look.

"Of course, of course you can!" He said, moving out of the way to allow her to enter. "Sorry for the mess!" He quickly apologized.

Chizuru scanned his room to find it, more or less, the same as the last few times she had been there. An unmade bed, empty soda cans and snack bags littering the floor, and lots of tissues filling up his waste basket.

"Please, have a seat!" Kazuya quickly grabbed a cushion for her to sit on while he tried to quickly clean some of his mess up.

"Thanks." She said as she slipped her shoes off and took the cushion. "Sorry to intrude, I'm sure you were probably busy."

Kazuya's eyes burned bright with awe and love.

"She's so nice!" He thought, nearly crying again. "The way she focuses to not be a burden on anyone!"

Chizuru stared at Kazuya once more with an analytical face as the orange-haired boy did a little dance while cleaning up the garbage. Deep inside, she could feel her heart start to race once more as it did earlier that morning.

"Don't worry about the trash." She finally spoke after noticing how hard he was trying to clean up his apartment. "Just come take a seat. We need to talk."

Kazuya obeyed and quickly sat down next to her. His face flushed with embarrassment as he quietly sat beside her.

"What could she want to talk about? Could it be about the date? No, she's probably here to talk about the group trying to hang out with this week. But why come here? Couldn't she had just texted me? Maybe it is about the date!"

Chizuru eyed Kazuya for a moment, noticing the blush around his cheeks.

"I'm sure you're aware our friends want to go drinking this week?" she finally asked.

Kazuya jumped a little.

"Y-Yeah. I was going to talk to you about that, seeing as how Kibe wanted me to invite you along this time." He admitted before quickly putting his hands up in front of him. "Oh, but don't worry! I told him that you'd be out of town for work this week. Luckily, he believed me." He awkwardly chuckled, hoping he didn't cross any sort of line. "I also told him that I would see if my work schedule would allow me to hang out. I figured talking to you about it first might help us decide what to do. I mean, obviously you probably don't want me to go! It just might help them put the pieces together. Also…"

As Kazuya went on another of his rambles, Chizuru silently looked at him, ignoring what it was he had to say.

"It's fine." She finally spoke several minutes into his speech.

Kazuya stopped talking to look at his neighbor. Her cheeks were slightly red as she placed one hand on her cheek to support her head.

"It wouldn't be fair for me to have you exclude yourself from your friends just because of my secret." She continued, seeing the questionable look Kazuya was giving her. "Not to mention I have a full schedule this week so I wouldn't be able to go regardless."

"M-Mizuhara…" Kazuya whispered in disbelief.

He had nearly forgotten that Chizuru was always busy with her rental jobs, acting classes/auditions, and school. She also always put everyone else before her because that's just who she is, acting or not. If that wasn't enough, there was now the time she probably still grieved for her recently deceased grandma, leaving her all alone in the world with no one.

"Say, Mizuhara…are you okay?" Kazuya asked, unsure what prompted him to ask.

Chizuru's eyes opened a little wider as she picked up her head.

"Of course, I am." She answered.

Kazuya looked at Chizuru with disbelief. There was something about her response that was bothering him, but he couldn't put his finger on it. All he knew was that she was still hurting but couldn't show it to him; especially not everything that had happened between them a week ago.

"Is that so?" He put on a fake smile. "I only ask because it's been about a week since we've last seen each other." He explained.

"Well, I have been busy." She replied.

Kazuya couldn't argue with that, Chizuru had always been busy due to her scheduling. Hardly a day she gets to herself comes along and even then, she always finds a way to stay productive.

Chizuru stared at the orange-haired boy as he was contemplating something, maybe over thinking. Something about his question bothered her, but not in a bad way. It was more of an uncomfortable feeling, like when she lied to their grandmas.

"Why do I feel like this?" She wondered while Kazuya grabbed his head. "Why does he make me feel this way?" She could feel her heartbeat quickly, her cheeks turning red.

Flashbacks of when he told her his ideal girlfriend ran through her mind. Almost instantly after, the memory of her standing by the door of her apartment and him in the street as he was yelling what sounded to be a confession.

I've been in lo-

"Why am I thinking about that now?" She continued to think as she watched Kazuya finally calm down.

After several minutes of silence, Kazuya put a smile on his face as he looked at Chizuru.

"Ok! If you don't mind me joining, then I'll let Kibe know he can expect me to come." He replied, his mood much brighter than before as he reached for his phone.

However, as he did, Chizuru's face nearly turned fully red as the young woman turned away to avoid making eye contact with him.

"Say, would you like…to go out to dinner?"

A/N: Thank you all for reading. I hope you've enjoyed the newest chapter. I was actually really excited writing this so I figured it was good enough to post.

I also would like to give credit to some people for the inspiration for this fan fiction. The first being the create of Rent-A-Girlfriend, Reiji Miyajima. The second being another fan fiction writer who sadly has chosen to stop writing his story, DeathBerry74. Without these two, I probably wouldn't have started to write this fan fic, so I wanted to thank them both.

As before, stay tuned and I will see you next time.