Tomoko dragged me to the beach again, wearing yet another bikini. My eyes struggled to look away.
"Why are we going to the beach again?"
"I like it here! I didn't get to swim last time, come on!"
"Uh…", I whipped out my phone, and she frowned.
"I know I'm just a rental girlfriend, but can you be more receptive… please? I feel imprisoned."
Oh no, she's getting angry at me. "I'm sorry, I'll try. I'm just not the outdoors type."
"That's because you never try!" She pushed me towards the icy waves, which splashed wildly against me. Thank goodness I had my phone in a plastic wrap, and that she had successfully convinced me to change into my swimsuit. I scooped a handful of water and threw it at her in retaliation, which she seemed to enjoy.
We began splashing around, maybe I was a swimming type. And soon, I was absorbed into the splashing match, running around the shore as she tried to throw wet sand at me. The fun was interrupted when I bumped into what felt like a rock. It was a towering man in the midst of a volleyball match.
"Hey!" Tomoko called out to the group, I hid behind her.
"What are you doing?", I whispered.
"Can we join?"
"Sure." the group said.
"Great!"
"Tomoko!" I whined.
"You need this. As your rental girlfriend, I give myself permission to be pushy. That's the only way you can get out of your shell."
The fear of rejecting the game outweighed the fear of joining the game, which motivated me to begrudgingly join them, standing at the corner of the field. The game was fun for everyone, except for me. I was knocked down several times.
"Can we go now?", I complained.
"Ok, that was fun right?"
"No."
"Ok, I'm sorry. Maybe I pushed too far, wanna go back to splashing around."
I shook my head.
"Ok, we can go back, after one more push…"
I almost blacked out. There she was, in person, in a bikini, in my line of vision. The singular point in my life which derailed everything. Ayane. I dashed away before she could even utter a word to display a reaction of any kind. It was fortunate traffic was light, or I would've died to oncoming traffic, which upon seeing her, seemed like an attractive option.
Tomoko caught up to me in the lift, and I hid in the corner of the metal box. "What is she doing here?"
"Just hear her out."
"No! Sh-sh-she's the reason I-I-I've been so closed off."
"She regrets the way she's treated you. I talked to her before we even met."
"I don't care! Also, you are the ONE who invited her, right? She is here because of you, right?
"Takashi, i swear it's just a coincidenc-
I ran away, Tomoko followed me and I immediately wrapped myself under the thick blankets, hiding my shameful tears.
"Takashi, come on. You're not being fair to her."
"I-I'm not being fair? Me? I'm not being fair? I'm the unfair one? Did you know what she did to me?", I stood up, a sudden surge of adrenaline and confidence shot through me.
"I-"
"Do you? Huh? I know you do this job for noble reasons, but news flash Tomoko, not every rental girlfriend does this job for the same reason. She did it just for money and bullied me! Imagine that, a girlfriend that bullies you! I can hear people laughing at me right now. "
"But-"
"And we were together for a few months. Months. Not days, not weeks, months! She's the reason my life became so… terrible. I was actually a person before I met her. I talked to Makoto and Shou, I vacuumed my room more than once a week, I wasn't depressed all of the days, I was doing sports, going outside, touching some goddamn grass or something!"
"Tak-"
"And then the bitch Ayane showed up, and she broke me! I am broken! Look at me! I can't even go to the beach and swim without you forcing me! She, broke, me! And now you dare even suggest I forgive her? How do you even know her?"
"I met-"
"Huh? How could you even attempt such a thing! You think a bi-"
"Takashi!", Tomoko screamed at the top of her lungs. "She's depressed!"
"So! Am! I! She's! Not! Special!"
Tomoko teared up, and that was when I realized what I was doing. "I'm- I'm so sorry."
She rubbed her tears away, scrambling to dial a number, "Huh, yeah, it's me. We're cutting the vacation short, just pick us up tonight, same spot."
"To-"
"Don't talk to me."
She bursts out of the room, never to return for hours. Giving me ample time to scream into the mirror for ruining the beautiful relationship we had. But after an hour of screaming and punching pillows, I had an epiphany. None of this was my fault, it was Ayane's. If she never entered my life, I wouldn't have so much repressed anger, and this only happened because she appeared. This is her fault, not mine.