Hear me out, Mizuhara!
I...
thud
She rejected me...
I thought I was good at going it alone
Would you prefer to go together?
Place your finger here
Rent-a-Girlfriend
"Rental Girlfriend"
Oh my god!
I never should've tried to ask her out!
Regrets are all I have!!
Wait, you know that's not it!
Come one, come all, and see this trash human being
All I've done is cause Mizuhara problems! This was bound to happen!
I'm sorry.
She was totally apologizing for turning me down.
Are you trying to pop some kind of question to me?
There's no doubt she'd realized I was gonna ask her out,
and she stopped me anyway.
There's no other way to interpret that.
She really hightailed it outta here, though.
It must've been too awkward for her.
Thinking about it now, asking her out for real is the ultimate rule breaker!
RIP Terms of Service
Don't blame me! You're the one who broke the rules!
Tokyo
I have no reason to play your girlfriend anymore!
Mizuhara!
I'm sorry
No, seriously
I wouldn't be surprised if she packed her bags and went back to Tokyo!
Gah! This sucks!
Is this hell? Am I in Satan's den?
If this is a bad dream, let me wake up right now!
Right now!!
Wake up right this instant!!
Oh, okay.
Not gonna work, huh?
Mizuhara's beautiful
Mizuhara's going to get with some other guy, huh?
Love ya, table
I knew this would happen
Some other guy?
Why don't we get it on?
Yes, let's get it on.
Let me get in on that.
Gah, stop it!
Guh! My mind is in tatters!
What's with the vision straight out of hell?!
O earth! O wind!
My nerves will fry and then some if I keep going there.
Get going,
Get it out!
my sympathetic nerves!!
Get it outta my head!
Bzzz
Yeah, hello?
shrill
Finally!
This volume hurts right after getting rejected
I called you three times before this! Why didn't you answer?!
Where are you, and what are you doing?
We were supposed to meet up at the pool at ten! It's almost noon now!
Wait, is Chizuru-san with you?
There's no way I can tell her I was trying to ask her out.
Nah... Yeah, I'll head over. See you there.
Ruka-chan was full of energy.
Even after all that, life goes on.
Time is cruel
It's over.
Nah, I guess it's just beginning.
From now on, I get to live the life of a guy who got rejected by Mizuhara.
Boo!
Huh? That didn't get you?
What a boring reaction.
Oh, sorry, I was lost in thought.
Boo!
Didn't work the first time. It's not gonna work now.
All that energy actually helps right now.
huuug
I've waited two whole hours for you!
Don't just hug me like it's nothing! What if Kuri sees us?!
It's fine. Kuribayashi-san's in the bathroom right now.
I know for a fact!
Kibe would be bad news, too!
You worry too much
Kibe-san's with him.
Wait, Mizuhara's not with you?
Chizuru-san? She's not here yet.
Oh...
So they really weren't together. That's good.
Where did she go, then? I thought she was heading to the pool.
Don't tell me she really went back to Tokyo...
I guess that makes sense.
Even Mizuhara would feel too awkward to be around me after that.
She's not so uncaring that she'd immediately come here and have a blast.
No point in dwelling on it
I was a massive headache to her, right until the very end.
I've been holding myself back from saying it this entire trip!
From saying what?
I love you.
Let's hit the wave pool.
I'm gonna win the breath-holding contest today for sure!
You gotta be kidding me.
A girl that cute is telling you she loves you.
Anybody who can't appreciate what they have
is a real fool among fools
You've got it better than almost anybody in this universe.
Seriously, I'm such an fool.
I was all delusional over a rental girlfriend for, what, a year and a half?
I totally ignored Ruka-chan and her affections,
and tried to ask another girl out, thinking it might work out.
I had this coming, in hindsight.
We're talking about Mizuhara here.
We're back.
There you are!
She'd make a way better couple with Umi-kun or some other hot guy.
Breath-Holding Champion, you're going down!
Oh, hey, Kazuya.
Isn't Chizuru-san with you?
Dunno, she said she'd be late.
Let her be. We can have plenty of fun without her.
I guess.
That's right. I'm just going back to the way things were before I met Mizuhara.
Yeah.
I have friends and family, and I have a fun life with no real troubles.
All of that was never real to begin with.
The stuff I was seeing was all in my head, all virtual.
There was never any love there—never any chance of romance with Mizuhara.
All right! Let's try to keep the rally going until we hit a thousand today!
A thousand?!
Are you serious?
Yeah, I don't think that's happening.
Sorry, I had trouble putting on my swimsuit.
Did you wait long?
Kazuya-kun!
Did you wait long?
Oh, hey.
Hello there.
Hey, honey. Don't leave the kids helpless.
My bad.
I'll help you while I'm your girlfriend.
Going to school after this is gonna suck.
Tell me about it!
Here.
Brr! That's cold!
It's been ages!
Let's begin our meeting, shall we?
No comments on my swimsuit?
Say something.
Kazuya-san is my boyfriend!
We should be equals.
Just neighbors, fair and square.
You're a really nice guy, huh?
Thanks for the invite, really.
Huh? Where's Kazuya?
Maybe he went to buy drinks or something?
Tell us before you go, man.
We finally got together...
What was that?
Oh, uh, nothing.
I say missionary.
Nah, that's the look of someone who finished up doggy style.
Yeesh. They're acting like this wholesome couple,
but they were probably up to a whole lot of something last night.
Wow, you can tell from the look on their face?
If I get a good look above the nose...
Speaking of which, why are your eyes all red?
Ah! Ah! I don't wanna hear it!
His reaction time's been debuffed
Ladies and ladies!
According to research conducted on 7 billion subjects
This is the kinda thing gents talk about when you step away for a moment.
Hey, look over there.
Mizuhara's here.
So she's still willing to play my girlfriend.
It doesn't feel real, no matter how many times I see it.
How'd Kazu-chin and his six-girl rejection streak land a babe like her?
Huh?
Just look at that.
Every guy within two meters of her is doing double-takes.
Light skin, dynamite body,
explosive chest,
blockbuster waistline, and a bombshell aura.
And you're the only one in this world who gets to have that all to himself.
You must feel like you've become Fujiwara-no-Michinaga.
The world is mine, and all that
I'm sorry.
Hell's breaking loose!!
Especially with her in her swimsuit
I can't! That horrible picture just won't leave my mind!
This guy doesn't know.
I've been rejected. Mizuhara's somebody else's girl now.
Get it together!
A real man doesn't mope over a rejection forever!
No doom and gloom!
Mizuhara's keeping up her girlfriend act for me.
I gotta do better, too!
Over here, Chizuru-san.
Oh, hi.
What took you so long?
I wanted to take a look around Hawaiians.
Yeah, I guess the pool's not going anywhere.
Wait, you didn't have to go out of your way to join us, then.
You really don't have to worry about that.
Oh, I asked him to.
I felt bad for keeping you waiting. I figured I could at least send him along.
Her ad-lib skills are out of this world!
Even at this time
Oh, okay.
I'm one to talk. I was late because I took a hot springs dip, too.
Really?
I know you just got here, but we were thinking it was time to get lunch.
Sure. Let's do that.
Okay, let's go.
We told Sarashina-san to meet us in the food court, too.
What to eat?
Loco-moco, right?
Yow, this is awkward!
How am I supposed to act around her after what happened?
Whew... calm down
Calm down, me
I bet Mizuhara doesn't even wanna talk to me anymore.
See how gloomy she looks? I went and made her upset!
But...
Hey!
About all that earlier...
I mean at the chapel. Forget it ever happened.
Seriously, thank you for entertaining such an annoying client for so long.
For some reason, I felt like I ought to give you a formal thank-you.
Once we're back in Tokyo, I'll tell Gran we broke up.
That's the easiest way to get you out of this mess.
Yeah, she'll go medieval on my ass when I tell her I fumbled a girl like you,
but it is what it is.
I did promise I wouldn't let you take the heat, and I'll keep my word.
I swear I'll protect you from the blame!
Just put the bill in my post, and I'll book fake dates for it.
So yeah, sorry,
but please keep it up until we get back to Tokyo.
Let Gran dream for just a while longer.
Okay. I got it.
R-Right. Was everything okay with Mami-chan?
It seemed like you were having trouble bringing it up.
Please, Mami-san!
Fine.
Huh?
If you plead with me like that, I can't do this anymore.
I'm still not okay with it,
but I'll stop perceiving what you two are doing.
As for Nagomi-san,
you talk to her, Chizuru-san.
But we need to get the story straight,
so text me later and tell me what you said.
Oh, come on. Don't look at me like that.
I told you, all I wanted to do was help you out.
But it's whatever at this point.
Okay, you're hitting the pool, right?
Your swimsuit was so trendy! Impressive as always!
Oh, right.
Keep all of this a secret from Kazu-kun.
I don't want any beef with him because of this.
That's your end of the deal, okay? Bye.
She's not saying anything...
Mizuhara? You okay?
Yeah, I'm fine.
I-If you say so.
Hey, Kazu-chin! Hurry up!
Oh, my bad.
Okay, shall we?
Do you like loco-moco?
Chill with the PDA.
I wasn't!
I kept wondering how I'd feel after I got rejected,
and I thought I'd prepared myself for it.
Obviously, it hurt like hell,
but I remember everything clearly...
I'm over here.
How we met up with Ruka-chan and the five of us had lunch together,
how the fries and the loco-moco tasted,
the sound of the water slide, the scent of the pool,
and how I was thinking it might be good to lay the groundwork for our "breakup."
My family showed up at some point and spoke to Mizuhara.
I didn't know what about, though.
Anyway, I tried not to cause her any more trouble for the rest of the day.
Mami-san
I'm in the lobby
I told her it was about money troubles with a friend, and that it was all resolved
Please roll with that
In hindsight,
I was probably so beaten up that I needed something to occupy my mind.
Roger that
And at the time,
I had no clue what was coming.
It'd been a year and a half since I met Mizuhara.
In the fall of my second year in college, November 24th, 3:37 PM...
Just two hours later, before we even got back to Tokyo Station,
my girlfriend-renting life full of lies would come crashing down.
Rent-a-Girlfriend
Rental Girlfriend
Huh?
Stop it! You're still gawking at her?
Am I a dog in heat?!
Realize where things stand already
*For illustrative purposes only
The regrets keep piling up
The more I think about it,
as time goes on
the less I get what I was thinking by trying to ask her out.
Mizuhara is modern-day art, Venus on Earth. Every man on Earth wants her.
And just on this trip,
we've got an overnight stay, no booking, swimsuit, discount, and love declaration.
Let's go again!
Yeah!
That's the spirit.
A royal straight flush of ToS violations!
The fact that this trip is going off without a hitch
is proof of Mizuhara's overwhelming kindness.
What's she supposed to love about a guy hitting the full combo of ToS violations?
Hey!
There you guys are! I looked all over for you!
Mami-chan.
Mami-chan!
I went all the way to Springtown.
I just couldn't
find you all
Sorry, we were moving around quite a bit.
You guys are ninjas!
Wait, Mami-chan said something happened with Mizuhara.
Did they work it out?
But Mizuhara did say it was fine...
I got hit on!
Wait, really?
That's your end of the deal, okay?
Brr! That's cold!
Where'd that come from?
Waterfall
Are you okay? It's quite startling, isn't it?
phew
Next time I get asked about my fears, "waterfall" is gonna be top of my list.
It does look like they hashed it out. Thank goodness.
Oh, wow.
They even have a poolside hot spring. How thoughtful.
I know we're indoors, but you still get chills when you're in swimsuits this long.
This is warming me back up
That's a pool day cliché.
I hear you!
Man, this hits the spot.
Pool Day Cliché You get chilly and warm up in a hot spring
What're you, an unemployed unc?
Where'd you get the unemployed part?
Winter is almost here.
Last winter was chaos, but it was a lot of fun, too.
I got a Christmas present from Mizuhara, we went on a New Year's shrine visit,
and Ruka-chan was there, too.
It made no sense that I spent all that time surrounded by girls.
I can't just keep stringing Ruka-chan along like this, either.
We could get into another mess like this one.
I'll have to set things straight once we're back in Tokyo.
Guess I'm going back to being alone this winter.
Oh, you're here too, Mami-dono?
Hello
Oh, Nagomi-san!
What's this, Yoshiaki? Why are you acting like an unemployed old man?
Do I look unemployed to everyone?
When I soak
What do you all say to getting out of the pool
We came to get you
and relaxing in the outdoor bath before dinner?
Sounds good
Also, there's an arcade over there you can go into in swimsuits.
An arcade?!
Okay, let's hit the photo booth for some pics and then leave the pool area.
Good idea. To remember this trip by.
It's sounding like a school trip.
Just think about it.
Did you ever once imagine you'd hit the pool with three hotties like them?
Even with everything going on, Mizuhara's playing the perfect girlfriend.
Gran and Kibe are no closer to catching on.
What happens in Hawaiians stays in Hawaiians.
This is the end of my girlfriend-renting life.
Maybe I should be more positive about making one final memory.
The arcade is that way. Let's be on our way.
Yay!
Wait for me!
Oh, you dropped your phone, Mami-dono.
Mother?
Why'd you freeze up, Mom?
Huh?!
What's the matter, Grandma...
Wait, what?
What's going on?
Huh?
Rental Girlfriend
What the...
Yes! I'm back on the preview!
Hey, where were you?
It's a long story.
Kazuya was getting cozy with me over there!
It was lewd and scintillating...
Whoa! Watch your mouth!
What do you say, Chizuru-san? Are you jealous?
Not at all. Anyway, next time on Rent-a-Girlfriend:
"The End of...
...the Girlfriend."
Exactly! Your time is up, Chizuru-san!
I'm the main heroine now!
Kazuya, we're free to get cozy without restraint now!
"The End of the Girlfriend"
Again, we're not doing that!