After 39 chapters, the Paradise arc reaches its most crucial moment this week, with Chizuru finally able to take action after Nagomi challenged her to explain a few weeks ago. While her decision may be a welcome one to some, there is still so much that remains to be said and done. Let’s take a closer look.
The face of love itself.
Whatever happened to Kazuya Kinoshita?
We start this week with more flashbacks! Everyone else has been seen to except Kibe, who we see dealing with Kazuya on the heels of another unsuccessful attempt to start going out with a girl. Later in the chapter, Kibe will ask if he misjudged Kazuya, having seen him as only a lovable idiot. In a way, he couldn’t be more right. The Kazuya we see here is one we haven’t seen much of, if any, since Kazuya and company came back from the beach trip in the first twenty chapters. Fawning and desperate for affection, he would keep trying and keep getting shot down over women even if he was without a shred of hope.
Contrast that to Kazuya’s behavior with Chizuru. For the longest time, Kazuya didn’t even entertain the notion of asking Chizuru out for real. Not even until chapter 114 did he acknowledge the possibility of asking her at some point. What happened to this guy? Where did this person go who would shoot his shot and get shot down, only to get up and try again and again and again?
He learned to lie, and that lying made everything better. He lied to his family, and they were happy with him. He lied to Chizuru, repeatedly, about not having feelings for her, and they became closer friends and fell in love as a result, and he got to put off having to face the possibility she would leave him because his feelings were over the line.
This is not to say I condone Kazuya’s behavior, but if I had to guess what Miyajima would want us to take away (rightly or wrongly), I would say, look at the difference it made to Kazuya. His family and friends consistently viewed him as a misfit, loving him despite him being, in their eyes, a bit of a disappointment. Kazuya got a taste of what it was like to live up to their expectations. He became a different man as a result, putting together the crowdfunding campaign and the all-day date with Chizuru to help her deal with her grief–enormously selfless, dedicated acts that he pursued with more confidence and drive than doubt and paralysis. This trust and respect from family and friends was unearned… and yet, can we say that their skepticism and doubt was earned? Kazuya always had this potential in him, but his family were almost always unnecessarily skeptical and harsh. In chapter 1, they doubted he could possibly have a girlfriend, right to his face!
So, Kibe is right to say that Kazuya isn’t the same friend he used to know. It took these lies to break him out of being viewed as pathetic… and accepting that he was pathetic, too.
Without a word, Chizuru comes to his rescue
At least she got one hand out of the way this time.
Nevertheless it’s hard for Kazuya to feel like he’s let everyone down and make all these mistakes, betrayed their trust, and so on. Kazuya cries. He’s a crier. That’s who he is.
Similarly, just when it looks like nothing anyone else can do will make others accept, forgive, or believe him, Chizuru steps in.
Naturally, Chizuru doesn’t use her words for this. Chizuru has such great difficulty being emotionally sincere, especially in words.
- Trying to tell Kazuya about her grandfather and the importance of the movie to her, she stumbles, hesitates, and ultimately puts it off until they’re filming the final scene (134).
- When Sayuri is moved visiting the theater, Chizuru excuses herself merely to be happy about it! (145)
- When Chizuru was going to give Kazuya his money back over the cheer-up date, she was fidgety the entire time (171), making small talk and so on, and she didn’t even dare ask about his feelings until she’d had a few drinks.
Sure, Chizuru can warm up to talking about her feelings. Look at how she infamously thanked Kazuya for taking her on this vacation–a pretty unreserved action, in spite of how people were disappointed she didn’t waive her fees altogether, but that’s a conversation for another time. The bottom line is that talking is not how Chizuru is most comfortable expressing herself.
Ultimately, though, she’ll have to talk. Kazuya will likely never accept that their relationship is real, not 100%, without talking about it. There’s a great deal still missing about our understanding of Chizuru’s feelings, why she has hesitated, and so on. We can make inferences, often pretty good ones, but there’s still a shoe left to drop. We never did find out what Umi said to Chizuru at his party (179), which led to her all but confirming she is interested in being in a relationship, right to Kazuya’s face. There is so much Kazuya can’t possibly know about how she truly feels and what she’s been going through with trying to fend off Mami, too.
Finally, with this kiss, the long strange trip through the history of Rent-A-Girlfriend is likely complete, as Chizuru has kissed Kazuya the way she refused to do when Ruka insisted they prove their relationship (22). Believe me, I checked where her right hand was for this chapter, too.
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