"Even about four or five hours later I remember ringing Nicola's mam and I said, 'She isn't actually gone, is she?' She was my whole world -- and it ended."
The young couple met through mutual friends on a night out about three years ago, when Ms Furlong was doing her Leaving Cert.
"She was a bit shy and it took me a while to get talking to her," he said.
Mr Furlong said: "We planned first of all to go on holiday when she got back. One of her best friends was going to Italy in September and we wanted to visit her.
"Her life (plan) was that I was going to be a famous footballer and she would be the 'WAG'," he joked.
"To be honest I haven't even thought about tomorrow. It's tough enough just waking up and the thought of another long day, let alone thinking about the future."
Ms Furlong's father Andrew is due to leave for Tokyo tomorrow with another family member and stay for four days.
During that time he will give a victim-impact statement and attempt to uncover more details surrounding the death of his daughter.
"We are going to write a list of questions that we need answered; I may be wrong but I have a funny feeling that we won't be given many answers," said a family member who is accompanying Mr Furlong.
Mr Furlong is unlikely to visit the Takasaki City University of Economics, where his daughter was studying for the last year or the hotel where she died.
Two Americans, James Blackston (23) and an unnamed 19-year-old musician, have been charged with assaulting a friend of Ms Furlong.
They have so far been held for 12 days and can be held for a further 11 -- following two extensions of detention -- as the investigation continues.
