The following contains spoilers for Episode 3 of Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 2, “The Return of the Girlfriend” now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Season 2 of Rent-A-Girlfriend has had a very solid start. The humor has been hitting the funny bones and the romantic components have been super endearing and sweet. Last season saw Kazuya as a mostly useless romantic and kind of scumbag, but this season improves him significantly. Following the episode of him going on a date with Chizuru to build their relationship. Chizuru ends up getting locked out of her apartment and needs to go to Kazuya for help. While she is there though, Kazuya’s ex Mami appears. Last they saw of her she stated the two don’t need to hang out anymore, so they have been trying to hide from her. Now though, a confrontation seems imminent, how will they get around it?
This episode picks up right where the after credit scene left us, with Chizuru at the door stating that she was locked out. This is after they spent the vast majority of their day together simply hanging out and chatting. She more than likely left her key at one of the places they traversed that day. It looks as if she is asking if she can stay the night at his place.
The Unexpected Guests
Kazuya is incredibly shocked to see Mizuhara at his door this late at night, and even after she states she lost her key, he cannot fathom what she wants. He tries to put it together, discerning why she rang his door if she can’t get into her apartment and why she even asked to come into his home. Chizuru then explains how she reached out to the landlord and many other people for solutions but all of them led to a dead end. This is when Kazuya finally deduces that she must want to spend the night and after wrestling with that idea he agrees to offer her the ability to spend the night.
Unfortunately for him, Chizuru just needed to get to his back balcony to check the back door of her apartment. While she is doing it, with her legs and bottom squirming, Kazuya is staring and as he does see she’s about to fall and then reaches forward to catch her. When he does though, he ends up grabbing her butt. She tells him to grab her waist instead, but then they see that’s not much better anyway. She tells him to let go, and then she collapses with him on top of him in an awkward position. Kazuya expects her to be upset with him, but in reality she just shyly asks him to get off her with a huge blush on her face. In such a compromising position, with him atop of her body, anything could happen.
Fortunately for Chizuru, nothing does, as the doorbell rings. The two swiftly separate from one another and Kazuya goes to check the door. When Kazuya checks through the peephole, he sees that it is his ex-girlfriend Mami. He tells Chizuru and the two begin to panic as Mami already wants both of them to stop seeing each other and makes threats to Chizuru if she didn’t. The thing is, Kazuya is not supposed to know that. Mami told Kazuya. The door was unlocked so Mami begins to just let herself in, and as she does Kazuya and Chizuru hide in the kitchen away from her sight. Eventually Mami closes the door and decides to leave. She assumes he went walking but as she heads home her mind flashes back to the scene, and she realizes she saw a woman’s purse just lying in the middle of the apartment.
A Heart to Heart Conversation
They wait some time after Mami leaves and then go outside to check. Kazuya sees that she is gone but Chizuru notices the landlord has returned. As she leaves to get his help, Kazuya ask Chizuru to rely on him more, which is a pretty big step for him. He says he knows she has family, but he wants to be there. Then Chizuru gives a confession. Outside of her grandma, Chizuru does not have any other family. Her father abandoned her, then her mother and grandpa passed away. The reason she is even working so hard is that she promised her grandpa that she would become an actress before he passed away, and thus her dream is to make it as an actress and have her grandma see her acting on tv. Once she tells him this, Kazuya replies by stating how he is someone who had it all. He had a carefree life with both his parents and a doting grandmother. For him his future seems set in stone where he will take over his family's convenience store. He owes it to them for all the stuff they have done but in contrast to Chizuru she is so cool because she is pursuing her dreams with all she got despite the odds being stacked against her.
Chizuru calls him an idiot for how saying how he wants to be by her side forever cheering her on, but also how she can’t stop him since it's her job as a rental girlfriend. The two the part way and go to bed. The next morning he sees her in the hallways at school and despite the fact the two of them are supposed to ignore one another, Chizuru gives him a small wave to acknowledge his presence. This simple gesture fills Kazuya with glee and then he begins to skip away on to his next class as the credits roll for the episode. When the credits end, the episode ends with Kazuya at a printer and Mami appearing behind her to ask her questions.
Conclusion
Ok so if last episode was an 8/10 solely for the way their relationship progressed, this episode has to be a 10/10. The previous episode had Chizuru taking the lead on the development of their relationship but this one, Kazuya takes charge. HIm telling her that he wants to be by her side, how much he admires her, and how she should keep pushing her towards her dream were phenomenal. Even with the spicy moments aside, the two seemed to have gotten closer simply as friends. This was also one of the times he spoke about himself in a way that wasn’t totally self-deprecating, and it seems like Chizuru came to respect him even more also.
The Mami scene appears to have only been there to set up future conflicts, which is to be expected, but it also established some great tension. The situation itself of Chizuru being over was also a great device for fanservice and humor as him grabbing her bottom trying to save her was A+. It's hard to honestly pick something bad about the episode as it gives what any fan would want, progress on the main couple and character development while also introducing new conflicts. We have not seen much of Ruka and Sumi in a while, but it appears that will change in the upcoming episode. Overall the episode was fantastic and there’s very little to complain about. Fans should be ever excited to see the next one.