Rental Girlfriend - Kazuya Upgraded

Meeting Sumi

Over the past two weeks, Kazuya has made a couple of attempts to get Mami's attention.

From 'accidentally' passing each other to meeting in the library hall while finding a good spot for a review session, these were a few examples of his attempts.

He made a few preparations, even researching relationship advice online and taking notes, determined to apply what he learned to win her back.

However, Lady Luck was not on his side, as there was no progress with his plans at all.

The best exchanges he had with Mami were mostly simple greetings.

The longest one was when he asked Mami about topics from the previous lessons they had in the library.

'Man, this is much harder than I initially expected.'

'Should I just man up, walk up to her and make a conversation?'

'But that's weird, right? Talking to your ex for no reason.

How good would it be if somehow there's a situation where we would require to interact with each other?

Like a group project or even just a drinking party?'

'Asking Kibe or Kuri would be impossible since they've already told me to move on.'

Since he made a decision to win her back, there were no opportunities for Kazuya to have a normal conversation with Mami.

She has her own circle of friends, and so does he. There were no opportunities at all for the two groups to meet.

In addition, their two circles had no direct connections to each other, which meant lesser chances for the two groups to go to the same drinking party.

Asking a friend of a friend was also out of the question since he didn't know anyone from Mami's side, and he was afraid he might come off as a creep for asking either way.

'Being passive is tiring. Should I try to get opportunities from the other friends of Kuri and Kibe?'

Kazuya was about to make a turn so he could get to his final class, but he suddenly stopped as he heard his name from the other side.

He chose to listen as it sounded like one of Mami's friends.

Friend A: "Hey, Mami. Earlier, that was your ex, Kinoshita-san, right? The one we kept running into?"

Friend B: "Yeah, I don't think he's given up."

Mami: "Uh, yeah."

Friend B: "He's nothing to you now?"

Friend A: "Ha Ha! You player!"

Mami: "Uh, yeah."

Upon hearing these words, Kazuya's hands clenched.

"So, I am nothing to you now, huh?"

"I guess it's true that there's someone else already."

Doing his best not to tear up, he went back to where he came from and walked to the restroom instead.

Feeling the anxiety creeping from his hands, crawling its way up to his arms and chest, he rushed to the sink to wash his face.

From his previous experiences of anxiety attacks, doing this one helped a lot in calming him.

However, for some reason, it was not as effective as what he experienced in the past.

Kazuya stared at his reflection in the mirror of the restroom, trying to force himself to calm down. But his anxiety only seemed to be getting worse.