Rent A Girlfriend: The Past Hurts

Part Seven: Mixed Feelings

Checking that she had everything she needed, Sumi Sakurasawa closed the door behind her as she left her apartment building.
'Another date with Kazuya..' Just thinking about him made her blush, and she started walking at a quicker pace. As she got closer to the spot they had previously arranged to meet up, Sumi spotted a certain orange-haired boy leaning against a tree. He was looking down at his phone, so she took that opportunity to relax herself before going up to him.
Kazuya turned his head and gave a smile, causing her to blush once again.
" Hey Sumi-chan."
" H-hey, Kazuya-kun." she said as she lowered her head, hoping that he wouldn't see that her face was a little red.
" Are you ready?" he asked, and she gave him a quick nod before the two of them started to head over to wherever Kazuya had planned for them to go to.
Normally on any other date, Sumi would've been uncomfortable walking next to her client, or she would have hesitated to start a conversation throughout the whole date. With Kazuya, on the other hand, she always felt a little at ease. He was so patient with her, and consistently made sure that she was fine with whatever they did.
'He's so kind and considerate...' she thought as Kazuya led them to some sort of arcade, holding the door for her as she walked in. ' No wonder Chizuru trusts him so much.'
She had heard a few stories from Chizuru about how selfless he could be at times, like how he had jumped off a ferry to save her from drowning or how he worked so hard to ensure that her grandmother would be able to watch her star in a movie before she passed away. Of course, she was able to witness some of his caring actions herself when he had protected her from some thugs, which was something no other client would've done.
As she walked into the arcade, she was a little confused on what they were doing there. It had been a while since she last visited one, thinking that she was now too old for it. " K-Kazuya-kun, why are we here?"
" Well, I was thinking.." he pulled out a bag which appeared to be full of arcade tokens. "..It feels like forever since I've been here. So I was hoping today I'll finally be able to get rid of these with your help. And it'll be fun." He gave her another smile, and Sumi gave him one in return.

2 hours later...

Exiting the arcade, Sumi could only smile as she reflected on the day so far. In the beginning, they played some of the games where they simply had to sit down and either move a wheel or a control stick, and she had beaten him in almost every one. However, as they moved on to the games which required you to actually 'move' ( Dance Dance Revolution, Skee-ball, First-person shooter games, etc.), Kazuya dominated every game. Nevertheless, she had so much fun with him, and she was even more happy when he used all the tickets they had won to get a dolphin stuffed animal for her.
As they sat on a bench outside, she held the stuffed animal close to her chest, and she decided to name it 'Jewel'. She was unaware that Kazuya was glancing at her as she rubbed her cheeks affectionately against the dolphin.
" Wow, you seem to really like that thing." he gave a light chuckle, causing her to pause what she was doing.
"..I..uhm.."
' Oh no. I hope he doesn't think that I'm some sort of weirdo. I-'
" Now I wish I could've gotten more tickets to buy you the one that was bigger." he said, and she could detect a bit of sadness in his voice.
" No!" She exclaimed as she stood up, causing Kazuya to flinch a little. " It's perfect! In fact, I love it!"
She watched as Kazuya stared at her with a dumbfounded look on his face, and after a while she realized that she had basically shouted in public. Her face glowing red from embarrassment, Sumi lowered herself back down onto the bench, and she used the dolphin to cover her face.
'Please don't be mad, Kazuya. I.. don't know what got over me.'
Surprised to hear laughter, she lifted her head and saw that Kazuya was laughing. She simply watched in confusion as he continued, and after a while he calmed himself down. " Sorry, Sumi. It's just that.. I've never seen you look so passionate about something before. It's so cool to see that you're not as shy as you used to be. But if you're really happy with that one, then that's totally fine with me."
" Now c'mon." he said as he got up, offering her his hand. " I'll walk you back to the subway station."