Rent a Girlfriend: Desperation and Love (Short Story) part 1

(Rent a Girlfriend or Kanojo, Okarishimasu. If interested it can be found at wcostream dot com/playlist-cat/kanojo-okasishimasu-english-dubbed or subbed. Check it out. It is really funny.)

The Discovery:

Leaning outward on the back balcony, Chizuku tried to look into Kazuya's Apartment. This had been the second day that she had not seen him accidentally on Campus, which was strange to her since they both seemed to have an uncanny problem bumping into each other numerous times. So she assumed that he was keeping to the agreed upon rules, but still she did at least see him once and awhile. It being Tuesday Afternoon, she was now somewhat worried. Usually by this time he confirmed their Date for Wednesday. So far he had not. So finally she went and knocked on his Door for a good ten minutes. In all that time, she received no answer. That left her no choice. Peaking around the Dividing Wall of the Back Balcony, she could see at least half of his Apartment. "Hmm it is kinda dark in there...he is home...that is his Wallet on the...hey is that a foot?" She whispered saying the last part out loud. Easing herself out a little more and then gasped. She could see his right foot just within the Small bathroom. Slipping around the Wall, she first knocked on the Glass Door and when he did not move at all. She slid the door open. "Hey Kazuya are you all right?" Chizuku asked slowly entering his Apartment. When he did not answer she walked over to him and knelt. He was face down just inside his bathroom, still wearing his Work Uniform that he wore on Sunday. "Kazuya! Kazuya!" She lightly shook him and he did not stir at all. Checking his Pulse and then making sure he was breathing, she began to panic. Sure he had both, but his breathing was shallow and from what she could tell his pulse was also slow. Grabbing her Phone she dialed 911.

0

With the excuse to the Paramedics that she was his Girlfriend, Chizuku rode to the nearby Hospital in the Ambulance. The Paramedic had placed an oxygen mask over Kazuya's mouth and nose. Now he was asking her questions. "When was the last time you saw him?" When she replied two days ago, the Man winced. "Crap...from what I can tell he has been unconscious that long...this ain't good." He leaned closer to the Driver and whispered something. The Ambulance began to go faster.

"What's...Is he alright?" Chizuku asked and the older man shook his head.

"No he is not...uhm if you know any of his Relatives...you might want to call them. I have seen cases like this before and...I ain't going to lie to you...since you are his Girlfriend...I am surprised he...I am sorry. Faster Honji..Faster." The Man said and Chizuku closed her eyes.

"Oh my God...No!" Chizuku whispered in anguish. Slowly making the Call.

For the past two hours, Chizuku stood in the Emergency Room Waiting Area watching Nurses and Doctors rush in and out of a small Room that contained a very sick Kazuyu. She had been able to contact his parents and Grandmother along with her own Grandmother. All of them were at least 6 hours more away. They had gone on a trip and were rushing to get back. She reluctantly then contacted Ruka who also was returning from her own trip to visit her Mother. That only left her to be there to wait. She had not called his friends under the request of his Parents. She knew what had happened and why no one found him before she had. His Friends would have assumed that he was spending those days with her. Since they believed that she was his Girlfriend. As for Ruka who believed in her obsessed mind that she was Kazuya's actual Girlfriend. The younger Girl was off visiting her Mother. That left only her. Who in reality had not thought to check on him. Even though he lived right next door to her. In fact she had felt relieved not to have accidentally bumped into him or seen him. "If...if he dies...it is my fault." She whispered to herself, tears began to form in her eyes as the Medical Staff left his Room. A Doctor entered the Waiting Room and exhaled. She immediately feared the worse.

"We were able to stabilize him...he is in what is known as a guarded condition...We will know more in the next Twelve hours." The Doctor said and then looked about the room. "His Family?" He asked and Chizuku shook her head.

"They are on their way...I am his Girlfriend...Can I...Can I sit with him?" Chizuku asked in a slightly pleading tone. The Doctor smiled and nodded. She went into the room and gasped. There was an IV's plugged into his left arm along with several Monitors beeping away. He had a Breathing tube in his nose and from what she could tell his breathing was labored. She sat down next to him and took his right hand in hers, interlacing her fingers into his. Biting her bottom lip she stared at him sadly. "Why didn't I check on him sooner?" She asked herself completely blaming herself. An hour later the Doctor that had let her sit with Kazuya came in.

"We found out what happened to him...It seems that he contracted Seminoma from his Job...about three times what could be considered a Dangerous Dose. Any word on his Parents or his Grandmother?" The Doctor asked and she shook her head.

"They were out of town...a good Six or Seven hours away when I contacted them." Chizuku replied and then looked up at the Doctor. "Is he...Is he...Please tell me that he isn't going to..." She really did not want to know and at the same time she wanted to know. Needed to know.

"I cannot say for certain...the amount that he was exposed to...like I said before we will know in the next twelve hours." The Doctor left and she immeediately cancelled her two Booked Dates for that evening. Refusing to leave. Not even when his Parents, his Grandmother and her Grandmother rushed into the small room. It took her a good ten minutes to tell them what had happened. His Grandmother suggested that she go to the Bathroom to freshen up. That Kazuya would want to awaken to see her at her best. Not so disheveled. They repeatedly thanked her for being the one to find him, for being there for him. Which sickened her.

In the Bathroom, she stood staring at herself in the Mirror. Her Grandmother was there for what Chizuku suspected to be emotional support. "He will be alright." Her Grandmother Sayuri said to her, rubbing her back as she said it. "It is a good thing that you went to check on him...otherwise..." The older woman left the last part unsaid. Chizuku lowered her head.

"Two days Grandma...two days before I did." Chizuku said sadly and Sayuri continued to rub her back reassuringly.

"Dear you are very busy...going to College and then Actor School...it is not like you live close to him. So when you found the time you did." Sayuri said to her unprepared for her Granddaughter to suddenly throw herself onto her. Completely breaking down. Wailing uncontrollably. "Honey...what is it?" Trying valiantly to calm her down.

"But Grandma...I...I do not live that far from him...I...I live right next door to him." Chizuku sobbed and pushed her face into her Grandmothers shoulder. Shuddering with dread and remorse. Knowing that really confused her Grandmother and that her Grandmother would want to know why she had not spent time with her Boyfriend in that brief moment of time.

"Uhm...if you live right next to him...I am a little confused as to why...is that you and him are...not getting along? Did you two have a spat that...?" Sayuri asked and Chizuku shook her head, tears still streamed down her cheeks.

"Grandma I am about to tell you something that...that I wanted you to never know about...I did not want you to think less of me." Chizuku braced herself, parting from her Grandmother and stared down at the Floor. "Do you know what a Rental Girlfriend is?" She asked and her Grandmother nodded. She then told it all, even the fact that Kazuya was one of her Clients and made sure that to include that she in no way did anything inappropriate with any Boy that she pretended with. Her Grandmother listened and then she smiled.

"Oh I knew all about that my Dear...I knew you are one of those Girls that get paid to pretend to be a Boys Girlfriend. I also know that you would never do anything demeaning no matter how much Money was involved." Sayuri said to her and Chizuku stared at her in shock. The elder woman chuckled. "I also know that there is something more going on between you and that young man then he simply being one of your Clients." At first Chizuku wanted to deny it, but with her Grandmother she tried to always be truthful.

"I do not know how it happened...I was completely professional...I never broke any of the Rules set down by my Agency...or any of my own Rules that I set. Namely never get personally involved...never feel anything for any of the Boys that Rented me." Chizuku stated firmly.

"Then after some time you found yourself liking him more then you should." Sayuri said and Chizuku nodded.

"He...he is not like any of the others...He calls himself Pathetic...he considers himself a Pathetic Loser...but all those traits he claims are faults are actually..what I find I like about him." Chizuku stated. "He is kind, considerate, caring and...and..." She threw her hands in the air in frustration.

"And you fell in love with him...real love." Sayuri put in finishing what Chizuku could not bring herself to say. Not out loud that is. She nodded, realizing that it was true. She suspected that was what was happening to her when she felt Jealous over the attention Ruka was giving him. How the younger Girl was determined that she would make a better Girlfriend to Kazuya since she was no longer a Rental. That she really wanted to be his real Girlfriend and not some paid fake. "Thank God...I was so afraid for so long that you would never find someone special...then you showed up with Kazuya and I had a glimmer of hope." Chizuku looked at her Grandmother wrinkling her nose.

"What do you mean you were afraid I would not find someone Special?" Chizuku asked and her Grandmother smiled.

"Come on Dear...you have been so...you never let anyone in...never...I don't know...you never said that you have fallen in love with someone...it was like you had a wall around your heart and would not let yourself love someone." Sayuri said and Chizuku had to somewhat agree with that. Well right up to the point she had met Kazuya, then it all changed. She had reduced the number of Rental Dates to the bare minimal, she also found during those Dates that she had this feeling that she was cheating on Kazuya which really made it difficult to be completely effective and then there was the fact she had basically sabotaged him from returning to Mami or getting into a relationship with Ruka.

"I want to go sit with him...be with him." Chizuku said finally able to compose herself. Her Grandmother smiled warmly at her. Then went with her back to the Hospital Room, where she returned to sit next to him and held his hand in hers. Silently begging any deity that would listen for him to get better and wake up. So she could tell him finally that she had fallen in love with him for real.

0

Thankfully when Ruka arrived, both Grandmothers and Kazuya's Parents were down in the Cafeteria getting something to eat. His Grandmother and Hers promised to bring her something, since she had made it clear she was not leaving. So when the Strange Young Girl arrived, Chizuku knew it would be a regular disaster again like before. Stomping over to her, Ruka glared down at her angrily. "You know this goes beyond normal Rental Girlfriend and Client interaction." Ruka said still glaring down at her.

"No not really. If you look it is well within the Rules for a Rental to visit one of her Clients if he is in the Hospital." Chizuku stated, not about to divulge to Ruka yet that the younger Girl had been right. That she had somehow fell in love with Kazuya. Ruka shook her head vigorously.

"Still you have visited...and there is no need for you to remain...after all he is just one of your many many Clients and you should not really feel anything more then that for him." Ruka said silently demanding for Chizuku to let go of his hand and then leave. "At most if you want, you can write up a Bill for this and I will give it to him later." She added wanting to remind her exactly to the point what her relationship with him was. That it was no more then that. Chizuku at most to him was a Rental Girlfriend.

"I am not leaving." Chizuku said and Ruka frowned at her.

"I knew it! There is more to you and him then you being just a Rental! You actually care about him, don't you? You actually love him? That is the only reason you won't leave!" Ruka said demanding an answer, then checked her Phone and smiled. It had risen to 97. Higher then it ever had been before. Chizuku slowly nodded.

"Okay you were right...I love him and I care about him. Happy!" Chizuku looked back at him and smiled. "I know you heard me, Kazuya...so wake up so you can say it back to me. I deduced that you fell in love with me a long time ago." She said to him wanting to hear him say it and wanting to say it back to him. She had faked kissed him once before and now she wanted to really kiss him. Hold him in her arms and actually go on real Dates with him. Have him be her Real Boyfriend and for her to be his Real Girlfriend and not a Rental.

"I still am not giving up on him." With that Ruka stormed out, glaring once more back at her. Checking her Phone again, she smiled. The number remained the same. She began to wonder if it was actually Kazuya that she wanted but the conflict between herself and Chizuku for his attention that raised her Numbers.

0

Lightly stroking his hair, Chizuku glanced at the Clock. It had been almost twelve hours and since then the Doctors had moved him to a larger Room. Off to one side the her Grandmother and his were dozing next to each other in chairs. His Parents were both unconscious in others. She had remained awake. Gazing back fondly at him she found it funny that somehow he had made a complete mess of her plans. To never become personally involved with any of her Clients or in truth anyone. Though given all the things they had gone through, she realized that he had made her dull life extremely interesting. In a way her life had turned dull, oh sure she Dated a lot of different Boys as a Rental. But none of them presented her with any real challenges. Not like the challenges she had to endure with him, one after another. She always believed that life should have challenges and with him each situation that came up made it fun to encounter and then find a solution. Leaning closer to his right ear. "It would be so unfair to me if you left me now." She whispered, then yawned and stretched her left arm upwards. His Grandmother awoke and smiled at her.

"You are exhausted Chizuku...maybe you should go home and get some rest...I will call you if...when he wakes up." Nagami stood and walked over to stand next to her. "You know I am praying that...that you and he will have a wonderful future together." She said sadly and Chizuku could see tears running down the old woman's face. "Go ahead I will sit with him." Chizuku shook her head.

"I am not going anywhere and neither is he if he knows what's good for him." Chizuku stated and then exhaled softly. "I can't leave...please don't ask me to." She said and Nagami put her left arm around her shoulders and gave her a light sideways hug. "Did he ever tell you...he saved my life...I did not feel well and we were on a Ferry. I fell off and he...and he saved me from drowning." She decided not to tell the older woman that he had almost died from drowning himself getting her to shore. That she had to preform CPR on him and that was when she kissed him. Even though it was mouth to mouth. It was still a kiss, one that had changed her thinking towards him. He had risked his life for her, none of her other Clients would have done that.

"No he never told me or them about that." Nagami said pointing over at his two Parents. She chuckled. "That is so like him isn't it...he will do what he can for others without thinking about himself." She saw the slight surprise on Chizuku's face. "Yes I knew that about him..I guess that is why I believed that he would never meet someone like you...that you two would fall in love with each other...nowadays Girls believe that type of trait is a weakness...that it should be everyone out for themselves." Chizuku smiled at him fondly.

"To me that is why I fell in love with him...along with how he somehow always messed things up." Chizuku said thought of their conversation about wanting to introduce his Real Girlfriend to his Grandmother. She turned in her chair towards Nagami. "I am Chizuru Mizuhara and I am Kazuya's Girlfriend." She stated holding out her left hand towards her. The older Woman looked at her oddly. Took the hand and held it.

"Uhm I already know that." Nagami said completely confused and Chizuku smiled.

"It was just a private thing between me and him...something he wanted to do and I needed to fulfill that something for him." Chizuku said and again his Grandmother seemed completely confused.

Awakenings:

With a promise from Chizuku that she would contact them if there was any change. Kazuya's Parents had to leave for a few hours to open the Store long enough to receive some inventory. The Two Grandmothers decided that they both needed to take a walk and try to remove some of the stiffness and soreness from sitting on chairs for the past five hours. That left her alone with him and she was finding it hard to remain conscious. But when he suddenly coughed, she became fully alert. "Mizuhara." He whispered weakly and she sprung closer. Smiling broadly as tears ran down her cheeks. "Where...where am I?" He asked his voice cracking slightly.

"The Hospital...how do you feel?" Chizuku asked having no intention of contacting anyone yet. Wanting to be alone with him for a few moments. Though she did contact the Nurse outside the room who contacted the Doctor. While the Doctor examined him, Kazuya was a bit amazed that Chizuku was still clutching his hand tightly in hers. He licked his dry lips.

"Tired and I feel so weak. What happened to me?" Kazuya replied and she leaned closer to him.

"You were really sick...and...and I found you passed out in your Bathroom and you were there for two whole days." Chizuku said once more feeling guilty. He smiled at her. With the Examination over, the Doctor smiled broadly and announced that he should make a full recovery. As long as he got plenty of rest. Then departed.

"Two days...wow...lucky you did find me." Kazuya said and Chizuku shook her head.

"No it was not...I should have checked on you way before then when I did not see you on Campus or outside your Apartment...or heard you within your Apartment. If I had then..then..you would not have almost died." Chizuku sobbed sadly.

"Why would you...I mean we had that agreement that we would not interact at all. So is my Grandmother and Parents around?" Kazuya asked and she nodded. "Maybe now would be a good time to tell them." He suggested and she glared down at him.

"Tell them what?" Chizuku demanded.

"Uhm...that you are not going to be my Girlfriend anymore...I bet we could swing it that I cheated on you with Ruka and you decided it was over." Kazuya suggested and she inhaled sharply.

"Oh and since they would be relieved that you are better...they won't take it too hard on you...is that it?" Chizuku asked still frowning at him.

"Yes they would completely blame me and still adore you." Kazuya said and Chizuku leaned closer. With her left hand she poked him in the chest with her index finger.

"Get this through that head of yours...one we are not telling them we are breaking up...two if you even think about cheating on me for real I will kick your ass...three...well three I need to do this." Chizuku stated and then leaned down, pressing her lips onto his. An actual real kiss. Which shocked him to his core.

"Mizuhara?" Kazuya gasped in confusion. She smiled pressing her forehead against his.

"To make it plan and simple...I am no longer your Rental Girlfriend...but your actual Girlfriend...understand." Chizuku then kissed him again. She continued to kiss him for several minutes, then with reluctance she contacted the others via her Cellphone that he had awoken.

"I died...I died and this is heaven right?" Kazuya asked and Chizuku laughed.

"You are such a dork...and by the way...this is the second time you almost died on me...if you ever scare me like that again and I will make you wish you do die. I don't plan on having the one I have fallen in love with keep finding himself in death defying situations...understood" Chizuku said sternly and once more he stared at her in shock. "What? I love you...deal with it." At that moment his Family entered the room and descended upon him, including her Grandmother. It took a good two hours before Nagami ushered them all out of the room.

"Come on..out you go...let the two lovebirds have some more privacy. We will come back tomorrow." Nagami ordered as she winked at Chizuku. Who blushed. Then after the old woman shut the door, they both visibly relaxed.

"Maybe you should go home and get some sleep...you look so tired." kazuya said and Chizuku shook her head.

"Nope you are not getting rid of me that easy...if you can slid over a bit." Chizuku instructed him and with a little help from her he did. Then almost lost it when she laid down besides him, taking his right arm she put it around her and placed her head on his right side of his chest. He swallowed nervously. When she moved her right leg over his.

"I do not think this allowed here." Kazuya whispered to her and she smiled at him.

"Don't care...now go to sleep." Chizuku said closing her own eyes. What she really wanted to do was take off her clothes and his hospital gown. But in his condition she knew he would not be able to do much. So she would have to wait until he was strong enough to really be able to preform. Snuggling against him, he moved his left hand around her as well.

"Mizuhara...I...I love you." kazuya said and she smiled.

"I love you too...now go to sleep." Chizuku said back and felt so happy she knew it would take at least another hour before she could actually go to sleep.

The End.