2 The Date (1/2)

Kazuya woke up at 8 after a nap and took a shower.

Wearing the clothes he had that were closest to gym apparel, he went out to the first gym that he'd marked nearby.

He spent the next hour going from gym to gym, looking for one that suited his needs.

Finally, he found one close enough to his apartment that met his requirements. He needed a place with an optimal atmosphere with enough equipment for the necessary workouts.

The equipment was easy but the problem was the atmosphere of the place. Most of the gyms were either overcrowded or had slow old people who wouldn't do very well for motivation.

After deciding on his gym, he directly got the yearly membership and did some basic exercises for the next hour.

Then he went to the martial arts dojos that he'd marked and combed through them.

It was easier to find the optimal dojo since not a lot of people go to these places anymore.

He found a trainer to teach him Mixed Martial Arts along with a customized diet plan and set up a regular appointment for five days a week at 6.

He was going to learn MMA on the same days as college, right after his classes ended.

By the time he got back home, it was already 2 PM. But he'd gotten a lot done.

He'd even done enough shopping and got some more stylish clothes.

He then spent the next few hours working on his freelancing account and setting it up to seem credible.

He didn't have anything to show so he wasn't going to have much credibility with the clients at this juncture but once he starts getting people it'll become very easy.

After setting things up he took a shower and got ready for the so-called date.

He wore denim jeans and a black polo shirt. He wore black sneakers that matched the polo.

The original Kazuya had already decided on the date plan last night and it was too much of a hassle to change it so he went ahead with the aquarium date.

He texted Mizuhara his outfit description and the meeting spot and left his house.

He noticed while walking down the stairs that after he left, his neighbor had also left their apartment.

He didn't pay attention to them and walked to the train station.

After some time he reached the designated meeting spot five minutes before the stipulated time and started scrolling through memes on his phone while leaning on the side of a building.

"Black polo and jeans…" Kazuya looked up from his phone when he heard someone call out what he was wearing.

"Kazuya-kun?" She asked and Kazuya instinctively replied with a charming smile, "Yeah."

She was wearing black stockings and flat heels that were complemented by her cream-colored flowery sundress. She was wearing a sky-blue cardigan with only one button over her sundress that matched the color of the flowers on her sundress. Her hair was completely free, flowing down her neck while her face was adorned by a little blush and no other makeup. She was also wearing some cute pink earrings that were in the shape of hearts. Her pink bag matched her pink earrings.

"Chizuru Mizuhara-san?" He adds a suffix to be polite since he found out how people care about that sort of thing in Japan.

"Mhm, that's me."

Kazuya appreciates her outfit for a second and compliments her, "I love your sundress. It's beautiful."

"Thank you, you look good too, Kazuya-kun!" Chizuru replies.

He chuckles inwardly at her generic response and guides her to the cafe nearby.

"Let's talk there, shall we?" He points to the cafe and extends his hand to her.

Chizuru hesitates a little but holds his hand as he brings her to the cafe.

She didn't realize it but she kept getting caught in his rhythm and that was interfering with her usual perfect girlfriend routine.

Kazuya didn't realize anything and acted the same way he would on any normal date.

Mizuhara was used to going out with slightly desperate socially inept people who would easily buy her perfect girlfriend act and leave happily. But this Kazuya was neither desperate nor socially inept.

Entering the cafe, he pulled back a chair and invited Chizuru to sit.

Taking a seat himself, he asked, "Coffee?"

"Sure."

He calls a waiter and orders two coffees for them and looks at her.

"So, Mizuhara-san, are you in college?"

"Yeah, I'm in the first year of college."

"Really? Me too, although I dropped a year."

"So you're older than me… Should I call you onii-san?" Mizuhara goes off tangent since Kazuya was keeping the conversation going and felt like she should get back control.

She decided to tease Kazuya a little to get some control over the rhythm of the date.

"Hehe, as cute and beautiful as you are Mizuhara, I would feel like I'm doing a crime if you call me onii-san." Kazuya chuckles at Chizuru's teasing and compliments her while making a little joke.

He sees her blush increase a bit at being called beautiful and it wasn't just the makeup. And seeing that she didn't mind him not using the honorific, he decided that he wasn't going to use it anymore.

"T-Thank you for the compliment, I guess." For the first time, her perfect girlfriend mask falters a bit but she's quick to get her mojo back.

"Um… If you don't mind…" With the perfect amount of hesitation in her words to not give the wrong idea, she gestures to ask for the money.

"Yeah, sure." He pulls out his wallet and hands her the money. 'God this feels weird. It's like as if paying for a prostitute and not even getting the sex.'

Chizuru feels like it's weird asking for money from this guy who obviously doesn't need a rental girlfriend but puts that thought at the back of her mind.

'Don't get distracted, this is your job.' She mentally chides herself and asks him, "So Kazuya-kun, you're in the first year of college. What's your major."

By now the coffee is here and the waiter puts it on the table along with sugar packets and leaves.

"Sugar?"

"Just one, thank you."

As he tears open the sugar packet and puts it in her coffee, he tells her, "I'm majoring in Business Administration. I want to be an entrepreneur. What about you, Mizuhara?" He doesn't use the suffix since it's a handful to speak and it doesn't seem necessary since she's acting as his girlfriend.

"I'm a literature major, I love reading and analyzing classic novels."

"Really? I was planning to major in literature as a backup if I didn't get accepted into my current university."

They spent some time drinking coffee while engaging in random small talk.

After they were done with the coffee Kazuya paid the bill and walked out with her.

The aquarium was a five-minute walk away from the cafe so they walked there.

While walking Kazuya naturally held her hand and Chizuru didn't even notice since she was engaged in the talk with him.

"-And after that, they left the water pipes like that which ended up flooding his entire backyard." As they say, misery is the best humor. Kazuya was telling Chizuru a story about the misery of one of his friends from his previous life.

"Pfftt~" She brought her hand to her mouth and spent a good ten seconds trying to contain her laugh as Kazuya laughed at her attempt to still look cute like the perfect girlfriend.

"What happened then?" After calming down she asked him curiously.

"Nothing happened after that. The company came, reimbursed him for the damages, and replaced the broken fridge."

"Well, at least there's a happy ending."

"You know, not many people would laugh at this kind of humor based on others' misery," Kazuya said in a serious tone.

Seeing Kazuya's serious expression Chizuru panics and says solemnly, "I'm sorry if you feel offended-"

"Relax, I'm messing with you. You should loosen up sometime. You don't need to be this perfect girlfriend all the time. You're fun enough as you are."

Chizuru genuinely smiles at his words and says, "Thank you for that Kazuya-kun."

"Anytime. Well, here we are," Kazuya smiles, acknowledging her gratitude, and points out that they've reached the place.

-Sunshine Aquarium-

Chizuru never realized but she walked the whole way holding Kazuya's hand.

Pulling Chizuru in he asks, "You ever been to an aquarium before, Mizuhara?"

"No, this is my first time in an aquarium. And I'm glad it was with you."

"Woah, babe. Although I don't mind, if someone else heard your words, they might get the wrong impression." Kazuya smiles cheekily and points out the double innuendo in Chizuru's words.

"I mentioned the aquarium." She narrows her eyes and says to him with an annoyed tone, not even realizing that her mask was off and her real thoughts were what she said.

"I know. It's just fun to rile you up sometimes."

Mizuhara pouts cutely and lets Kazuya lead her to the tanks with the fish.