"Christmas sure does keep work coming…"

Chizuru walked out through the back door that all cast members needed to use when leaving the city theatre. She left behind the warmth of the venue to step out into the cold wintery atmosphere. The beautiful actress shivered as she pulled her winter jacket around herself. Her cheeks turned a bright shade of red as she started to feel chilly - as well as tired from the play she had just preformed in.

"That's another pantomime done for me…" she murmured. "The theatre is always packed this time of the year. Now that it's over, I can concentrate on doing my Christmas shopping."

Chizuru left the venue behind and passed through a dark alleyway. The snowflakes that was falling from the sky stuck to her dark hair. She reached the far end and stepped out into the street - before coming to an abrupt stop.

The young lady had found herself in a packed area - which was filled with couples. Men and women alike were enjoying the Christmas atmosphere together. They were walking with linked arms and joined hands as they took in how enchanting everything looked. They wanted to make the most of the season - the ones they loved.

Seeing so many couples together made Chizuru think of her own job. Being a rental girlfriend, she was certainly taken out on many dates over Christmas. This time of the year brought on many bookings for the talented actress. She always put on her best performance as the ideal girlfriend her clients desired, but she always went the extra mile for them whenever the festive season came around. As long as they understood that they had to pay for her services, she would do her best to help them out of any feelings of lo illness at this time of the year.

"Hey, check her out! She's so hot!" a boy commented upon noticing Chizuru. "I'd sure like Santa to leave her under my tree!"

"Forget it, dude," his friend muttered. "A cutie like her probably has a boyfriend."

"Aww!"

Chizuru smiles to herself underneath the red scarf wound around her. She was used to getting comments over how beautiful she looked from passing boys. Very few knew that the pretty young lady was in fact single. She gazed around at all of the couples in the street. All of them made her think of one client of hers who she saw a great deal of.

"I bet Kazuya's feeling lonely at this time of the year," she murmured to herself. "I know how much he really wants a girlfriend. Seeing all these couples at Christmas time must really get to him."

Chizuru closed her eyes. She knew perfectly well how eager Kazuya was to have a girlfriend. He always showed it through how much he was always renting her out. It always led her to being dragged into insane scenarios out of the boy pretending they were a real couple in front of his family and friends. She made it no secret how he froze him up the wall - but deep down, she knew it was all due to how much he wanted someone to love him.

What she didn't know, however, was that he wanted her to love him. The rental girlfriend had no idea that her troublesome client had fallen for her for real.

"I hope this Christmas does give Kazuya a girlfriend," Chizuru said quietly, closing her eyes. "Then he won't have to keep relying on me all the time - and I won't be dragged into all that craziness he gets us into anymore."

At that moment, there was a bleep from Mizuhara's cell phone. Her eyes opened at once, realising a notification had come through. She pulled her phone out of her pocket to see that a booking for her had come through her dating agency. Not surprised at somebody wanted to rent her out for Christmas, she opened up the app - and made a face when she saw who the request had come from.

"Nope, I was wrong," she said. "Kazuya won't be alone this Christmas - because he's gonna have me!"

Lowering her phone through her hand, Chizuru shook her head, resigned to spend yet another day of pretending to be the girlfriend of her most constant troublesome client.

"Dummy…"