Acting Practice

After he was done with his AI assistant, he remembered that he'd scheduled a date with Chizuru today.

'It's Saturday, I'd forgotten… Fucking rental bullshit, couldn't I have just given her the money to support her acting classes and taught her in her free time…'

He knew that she wouldn't accept his help directly so he didn't bother thinking about it any further.

He made plans on what he was going to do with her and put the date plan into the app to let her know about it.

He didn't plan to make this date too complicated for her. He'd be helping her smoothen out the intricacies of her perfect girlfriend role for the first date.

The next 8 dates would be focusing on different kinds of characters that she might find herself playing. They will be vastly different each time so she can get practice with all kinds of different character roles.

'I'm not doing this since I want to see her in different kinds of outfits… I just what to help her.'

Kazuya is in denial.

When he's finally ready, he leaves his apartment and goes to meet Chizuru.

…

"First off, Can I say something?"

"…What is it?" Kazuya was a little distracted by the bobbing lock of hair that was defying gravity at the side of her head.

'I love that hairstyle… The best part is that she only wears it when she goes out with me.' Kazuya has noticed her leaving for her rental dates quite a few times and she's never sported that hairstyle.

"I think that renting me every week is too much… Of course, the more personally designed dates that I have, the better. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate your financial support, but-"

Her completely impassive, business-like talk is interrupted by Kazuya flicking her head.

"Ow. What the hell?!" She lightly rubbed the place where he hit her.

"One— What the hell you! You're acting like we aren't even friends, it's annoying. Two— These dates are going to be getting as personalized as possible. I won't just be getting you to open up, I'm going to be putting you through scenarios that would leave you dumbstruck and confused about how you're supposed to act. I'm going to tell you your flaws and help you fix them."

"Why are you acting as some sort of drama guru? I can understand your capabilities in business and computer science but drama? That's completely unrelated to your characterization."

That leaves Kazuya speechless since he didn't think about what he'd do about the source of his newfound knowledge if she asked.

"…I'm a trained spy. I know how to act… Truly act. I know more about acting than film school could ever teach someone." Kazuya nods at himself since he's proud of his impromptu answer.

Then he felt a little sting on his forehead and realized that Chizuru had flicked his forehead as a sort of revenge.

"Well, that's not what a perfect girlfriend would do to you." He says with a completely serious face.

She stared at him with an intense look.

"What? Fine, I'm a jack of all trades. Or at least quite a few trades… I've delved into quite a bit of different fields."

She sighed, "Forget it, don't tell me. How do you want this to go? It's not exactly easy to suddenly think of you as my client now. It's weird and awkward."

"I know. It's the same for me. But it's better that way. For now, though, let us start the date. Act as if this is the first time that we're meeting."

"Wha-?"

"Hi! Are you Mizuhara-san?" Doing a complete character change, Kazuya greeted Chizuru as if he was meeting her for the first time.

Her hours of acting as a rental allow her to adapt to the change quickly enough.

"Kazuya-kun?" Chizuru 'the perfect girlfriend' Mizuhara answered.

…

Their first date of the 8 was a typical date that Chizuru usually went to.

Just like Chizuru usually acted as the perfect girlfriend, Kazuya also acted as the perfect boyfriend for her.

This in itself created a challenge for Chizuru, this was because she was used to controlling the flow of the dates with almost all of her clients.

Even with some of the more outgoing people, she was sure of what to expect and was able to think ahead on what to do.

This time though, she was dealing with her perfect counterpart.

There were times that her heart skipped a beat due to his tiny actions. Kazuya wasn't just acting, he was pulling his A-game. Completely courting the beautiful girl that he was out on a date with.

This gave her perspective on how she could improve herself, too, since Kazuya kept dropping certain hints about her minute mistakes and problems.

It didn't help her maiden heart that a lot of times while dropping those hints, he ended up describing his 'perfect partner' as exactly her.

'Holy fuck, is this what people usually feel when I'm with them. No wonder I get 5 stars all the time…' She got some perspective on how she makes people feel.

'Though, I'm also curious… How much does Kazuya know about drama? It's like he's been to film school… I would understand if he knew how to act well, but the technical terms and the specificities of the trade that he's offhandedly mentioning… That's stuff people learn in film school.'

Although Chizuru thought a lot of things during the date, her persona never came off. Although there were times when it was very close, she was still able to handle Kazuya's advances, even though her heart was bursting on the inside.

This is attributed to how good of an actress she was when she tried hard.

When they both finally said their farewells and parted ways Chizuru said something that caused Kazuya to stop in his tracks.

"All right! It's one minute past the time of the date. I'm off the clock." Just as Kazuya turned to look at her, she abruptly started running in his direction.

'Did I break her?' Kazuya absentmindedly thought since this was impossible for Chizuru to do in public.

Nonetheless, he opened his arms welcoming her for the hug that he was expecting her to give him.

His hug did come, but it brought something else with it. Chizuru ended up punching him in the gut, albeit relatively lightly before she hugged him.

"Oof!" He acted as if her punch made him lose his air. Although it was a surprise, he didn't feel it that much.

"Stop overreacting, I didn't even hit you hard. That was for playing dirty. And this is for constantly correcting my acting." She jabbed him in the side while rubbing her face in his chest.

'The fuck is this contrast?! When did I even play dirty? What do you want from me, woman?!'

"Hey!" He held both of her arms and said, "I'm calling the domestic abuse helpline."

"Whatever…" She brought her arms out of his light grip and hugged him correctly, "Do you have some time right now?"

'Is she trying to hide her face right now or something…? How effective was this date?'

"I could make some time. You don't want to let me go?" He asked in a teasing manner.

"You can go if you want. I'm no one to stop you." All of a sudden her attitude turned around and she let him go before starting to walk away.

'What the hell?! How do you turn so ice-cold in a second?'

Before she could take more than one step, Kazuya grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"You need to be a little patient, you know?"

Her expression morphed into a fun playful smile that moment and she said, "Got you! That's for hiding that you were such a good actor."

"You little…" Kazuya trailed off and narrowed his eyes at her.

"Okay, okay… I'm sorry for messing with you." She apologized to him with a smile. She didn't mean it.

"Don't you worry, I'll be taking revenge for all the little abuse that you randomly hurl at me every once in a while."

"I-I mean, calling it abuse is a bit of a stretch, no? It's at best playful banter." When she realized that he was serious, she looked down and fidgeted a little.

"Nope. You're the one who dug the grave, not me." He smirked.

"Pleaseee~ I'm sorry~"

"No."

When she realized that he wasn't planning on budging, she decided to change the topic. "Fine then. Do whatever kinky bullshit you want. There's a place I want to go. Come with me?"

'…Kinky bullshit? Does she expect me to… I guess she took that 'naughty student role-play' that day a bit too seriously.'

"Where?"

"The batting cages."

"Really! That's interesting. I didn't think that many girls go to batting cages."

"I don't get to go a lot, since it's not the best place to go alone. I usually find the time to do it when there aren't many people around. It's kinda like my peaceful time."

"I'm flattered that you'd include me in your peaceful time."

"Nonsense, The time I spend with you is also my peaceful time." She gave him a flirty smirk.

'That's a new reaction…'