Page 137 of Faking the Goal

"Mm. That's exactly what the female version of Kentaro Azuma would say."

My attention drops back to the manga, and unfortunately, so does my enthusiasm when I remember the minor issue standing between me and my newest fictional obsession.

I flip through another page full of completely incomprehensible dialogue and sigh.

"Unfortunately..." I sigh, sliding the volume back into its place with obvious reluctance. "I can't read a single character of this."

Kentaro watches me quietly for a moment, looking like he wants to say something but can't quite bring himself to do it.

I move on to the next shelf and start scanning the titles. He follows, stopping a few feet away before leaning his back against the bookshelf. I can feel him looking at me from the side, and after nearly a minute of him saying absolutely nothing, I finally sigh.

"Do you want to say something?"

He slips both hands into the front pocket of his hoodie. "Have you given it any more thought?"

"What do you mean?" I glance over, and our eyes meet.

"The fake dating arrangement."

"Right... that one."

I turn back to the shelf, pretending to be very interested in a row of manga I've already looked through twice.

The truth is, I've thought about little else since last night.

I went back and forth on it for hours, weighing every reason it could be a terrible idea against every reason it might actually work. And once I got past the obvious issue of voluntarily pretending to date a man who, less than a week ago, I would've happily shoved into oncoming traffic, I couldn't come up with much to lose.

If the police are right, there's not much they can do until they figure out who's behind this. In the meantime, I'm supposed to keep documenting everything and hope the creep doesn't get worse.

Kentaro is offering me something I can actually do.

Maybe seeing me in an established relationship will make this guy lose interest. Maybe it won't. There's no guarantee, but right now, I don't exactly have better options lining up around the block.

And Kentaro doesn't have to do any of this. My stalker isn't his problem. None of this is. He's offering to drag himself into my mess and turn part of his own life into an elaborate lie just for the chance that it might help me.

When I really think about it, he's the one taking on most of the inconvenience here.

All I have to do is tolerate him.

Which I'm getting disturbingly better at.

"So?" he asks.

I pull out another manga and inspect the cover. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"I'll do it." I slide the book back onto the shelf and finally look at him. "I'll fake-date you."

"Really?"

The word comes out so quickly—and with so much sudden enthusiasm—that my eyebrows shoot up.

Kentaro pushes himself away from the shelf and takes a step toward me, looking almost ridiculously pleased for a man who just volunteered himself for a fake relationship.

I stare at him.

He looks almost... excited.