Rental No More - Chizuru Ichinose [Mizuhara] X Reader (Kanojo, Okarishimasu)

Episode 5: Different, But The Same

Placing your phone away, you walked into a fairly normal establishment and the first thing you could see was a group of men that seemed like they were having a hell of a great time talking to one of the workers at the karaoke bar, a girl, but she seemed kind of ticked off and nervous while they tried to flirt with her.

"So, you dating anyone?" Asks one of the smug guys, but unfortunately for them, you were there to ruin their day and save the girl, so you called out to her using a name you haven't said in a while.

Y/N: "Hey Ruka!"

You walked up to the girl, gently holding her hand and kissing the top of her head in front of the guys, which immediately sent Ruka on a blushing frenzy, and you smiling at her in such an honest and almost loving way wasn't really helping her calm down. This sent her heart to beat faster than it has thus far.

Ruka: "Y/N! I-I'm fine..."

The leader of the group of friends simply looked at you with an intimidating expression of pure anger.

"Tsk."

The guys leave, and once they were out of sight, you patted Ruka's shoulder with your free hand and nervously chuckled.

Y/N: "I didn't think that would work. You okay?"

Ruka: "I-I-I thought you would come later."

Y/N: "I wasn't really doing anything, so I came early. It's been a while since we've seen each other."

Ruka's obvious blushing and that almost sticky sensation of sweat on your busy hand got you to realize that you were still holding her's, so you abruptly let go, even though she was secretly enjoying the closeness of the moment.

Her heartbeat was wild right now, but it was slowly going back to its usual pace.

Y/N: "Sorry about the spectacle, I was actually terrified of those dudes and if they hadn't left, I would have ran away."

Ruka: "D-Don't worry about it, they've been bothering me for two days now, so you saved me. Thanks."

You two looked at each other for some time before you quickly nodded and smiled.

Y/N: "Oh yeah, no problem. By the way, are you angry I haven't called you? It's just that college has kept me busy, and I wasn't exactly comfortable with the idea of going out with girls... yet."

Ruka: "You had my number, so it should've been different with me! At least one phone call would've been nice..."

It was almost like Ruka had forgotten what happened already, and she was now pouting angrily because you haven't even tried to ask her out.

Y/N: "Wait a minute, aren't you like, way younger than me?"

Ruka: "T-That's besides the point!"

Y/N: "Anyways, I called you because I needed your help with... you know, the thing."

Ruka: "Oh yeah... why did you blackmail a girl!?"

***

Beeping. The beeping of a machine, the electrocardiographic heart monitor. It was the only thing that was making any sort of noise in that hospital room. The room where Chizuru's grandmother resides, sitting on her bed like she does almost every other day.