Rent A Girlfriend: The Past Hurts

Part Sixteen: Kyoto~ Day 2

Standing before the mirror, Chizuru started to examine how she looked. She had picked out a black hoodie with blue jeans, deciding to keep her hair down and put on her contacts. While she looked, a certain someone kept popping up in her head, causing her to grow a little flustered.
'Ugh.. It's barely morning and I'm already thinking about him.'  She thought as she walked to the handle. 'Today is about him. I have to be the 'perfect girlfriend'.
Pulling the door open, Chizuru walked out to see Kazuya zipping up a grey hoodie, and it wasn't until he was done that he noticed her. " Oh, hey."
He gave her a smile and she gave one back as she responded, " Good morning."
" Uhm.. This is going to sound weird but.. I felt like I was hugging someone at night.." He managed to get out, scratching the back of his head. " ..Uhm.. did we..you know.."
" No. I slept on the floor." She lied easily.
To Chzuru's luck, she had woken up earlier than he did, and she quickly fixed herself before taking a seat on the desk. She was watching a short film when Kazuya got up, and he had suspected nothing until now.
Just like she thought, he was a bit angry with himself for letting her sleep on the floor, and she had to keep assuring him that it was fine.
" In fact, it was the best sleep I've gotten in a while."
' That's not entirely false..'
"...If you say so, but I'm really sorry, Chizuru.." He told her, and she started to feel guilty as he put on a disappointed expression.
" Kazuya, I-"
"For the rest of the week, I'm sleeping on the floor!" He exclaimed as he punched the air.
Starting to panic, she shook her hands explaining, " Y-You don't have to do that-"
Kazuya shook his head before grabbing his backpack and the key to the room. He then grabbed her own and gave it to her before walking up to the door. " No, I have to. I'm sorry but that's final. Now c'mon."
'What did I do?! He can't sleep on the floor the whole week! I should've come clean...No! That's too embarrassing.'
Taking a deep breath and compusuring herself, Chizuru locked the door behind her as she followed him through the corridor. Kazuya led them to the main room, and she watched with curiosity as he grabbed one of the umbrellas from the reservation desk.
" The lady yesterday told me that the umbrella's were usually kept here." He explained. " Supposedly it's going to be raining today. So let's just bring this in case it does."
" Oh. By the way, where are we going?" she asked.
" Well..uhm.. It's a surprise?" Kazuya mumbled, causing her to raise an eyebrow.
" Was that a question?"
" Won't you look at the time? Come on!" He suddenly turned around and walked out of the front door, leaving a bewildered Chizuru by herself.
'That guy. It's always something absurd when it comes to him.' She thought as she too walked outside, worried that he had left without her. However, all those feelings went away when she saw that he was waiting for her at the end of the street with a smile on his face.
A small smile formed on her face as well. 'But at least that means I'll never be able to guess what he's going do next..'

///////////////

15 minutes later...

"It should be right around here.." Kazuya said to himself, hoping that he had remembered the way to a certain building. He felt relieved to know that his memory was as strong as ever when he saw it on the other end of the road. " C'mon, Chizuru."
WIth the brunette behind him, he made his way to the small building and pushed the door open, and inside he took in the smell of the food.
Inside, there were at least a hundred people sitting in benches aligned among one another, and a kitchen was located in the back of the room. Grey pots supposedly filled with soup and other meals filled the room with their scent ( Kazyua nearly drooled, and tried his best to hide that from Mizuhara). There were a few who were wearing an apron and a hairnet, and to the duo it seemed like they were struggling to get everything ready.
" So your surprise was..." Mizuhara paused midway through her sentence as she looked around. "..was it a homeless shelter?"
Scratching the back of his head, Kazuya explained, "...The people here receive enough donations to cook up something for those who can't provide for themselves. Volunteers are always welcomed, so me and grandma would do this every year we came."
" Really?" She asked, and Kazuya was about to give her a response when one of the volunteers wearing a blue hat came up to them.
" Kazuya! Nice to see you again!" he said, wrapping an arm around his neck.
" Nice to see you too, Mike." Kazuya said, giving him a hug.
The volunteer, whose name turned out to be Mike, removed his arm and returned the hug. Once they were finished, Kazuya pointed to the rest of the volunteers, who were all busy cooking.
" Not a lot of people again, huh?"
" Yeah. I guess they were too busy." He said sadly, facing the direction of the kitchen. " But I'm thankful to these handfuls for trying their hardest to help the homeless." Mike turned back around and beamed at him. " And now we have you and your grandmother! Speaking of which... where is she?"
" Oh. She wasn't able to come this year due to some..uhm.. Personal problems.." Kazuya started, and after confirming to Mike that she was doing fine (medical speaking), he stepped a little to the left, which allowed Mike to finally notice a certain girl that had been overhearing the whole conversation.
" My, my.. Kazuya, who might this beauty be?" He asked, removing his hat as he reached out his hand.
" That's Chizuru.. My..uhm.."
'Crap! Should I tell him that she's my girlfriend, or just a close friend? But if I do, would he tell grandma? Or..'
" His girlfriend. Nice to meet you, Michal-san.", Mizuhara said in a calm voice as she returned the handshake.
' What?'
" The pleasure is all mine. And please, simply call me Mike." Letting go of her hand, Mike once again wrapped his arm above Kazuya's neck. " How did someone like you end up with a girl like you? You must be either very lucky, or very unlucky!" He said jokily.
'You have no idea..'
Breaking out of his grasp, Kazuya watched as Mike placed on his hat before he started to walk away.
" You should find the aprons and hair nets by the kitchen. Once you grab them, start helping out with whatever you can. Sharon will give you more information!"
With a wave, Mike went over to some of the people waiting to be served. Kazuya was about to walk over to the kitchen when he felt a tug on his sleeve.
" Chizuru.. Is everything alright?"
" Yeah. It's just that.." A slight pause before she resumed. " ..that I've never really done this before."
Mizuhara then looked at him with a look he had seen only a few times, the same that she had when she was on the plane, and he knew what it meant: She was scared.
"And I don't want to mess anything up.." She said softly.
"Oh."
That was understandable for him. When his grandmother had first bought him to help, Kazuya was worried about messing up. Even though he did ( there was an incident involving boiling water and a very angry volunteer.), he remembered all the fun and joy he had that motivated him to continue attending.
Giving a small sigh, Kazuya scooted a little closer to her. " I messed up probably a hundred times already, but that doesn't stop me from helping these people."
" But-"
" Every volunteer is appreciated, regardless if they're familiar or new faces. Everyone has a good time with each other's company."
"..."
" But if it's really bothering you, we could go somewhere-"
" No!", Mizuhara exclaimed, surprising some that were near them. After apologizing, she glared at him slightly as she continued in a softer voice . " I want to help. So please don't say that we're leaving."
That confidence he was used to seeing had returned, and he couldn't help smiling.
" Okay. Are you ready for this?" He asked, receiving a nod. " Then let's do this... together."
Raising his fist, his smile grew as she raised hers as well, resulting in a fistbump.
" Yeah. Together." She said, beaming at him. His cheeks start to grow red at the sight. 
'Even though I've seen it countless times.. That smile of hers never ceases to amaze me.'