Date Her Instead Vol. 5

Chapter Fifteen: Act One

"Check the lights!"

"Where's our last stagehand?!"

"Hey, where does this thing go?"

A flurry of activity was taking place behind the stage of the gymnasium. It was currently an hour before Haruna's class was set to put on their show, but even now, people were beginning to fill the seats. "Ugh..." Haruna groaned as she took a peek past the curtain. "What? Didja think no one would come?" Chiyo asked. "No, but... seeing them all out there is really making me nervous," Haruna said. "Yeah, I get that. Felt that same way yesterday when I sang," Chiyo said. "I still can't believe you went out on stage wearing that dress," Haruna said with a shake of her head. "You're lucky you didn't get suspended or something." "Yeah, but they'll probably punish me somehow," Chiyo said with a sigh. "These teachers are seriously too uptight for their own good, y'know?"

"Endo-san! Wakabayashi-san! Get over here!" Akitsuki yelled, her pompous curls bouncing with the movement of her mouth. Neither of them liked being called like that, but when they saw the group that was forming, Haruna and Chiyo reluctantly joined.

Standing en masse were the actors, assistants, stagehands, and any other volunteers that helped with the production. Before them all was Akitsuki, looking awfully proud and determined. "Okay everyone, listen up! Today is the day! All of our hard work and labor will finally be shown to the public! I want everybody here to have a great time and show what you can do!"

Admittedly, it wasn't the most inspiring speech, feeling more like she just searched the internet for good things to say more than her speaking from her heart. Regardless, Akitsuki's words did at least seem to help relieve a bit of the tension that had been building, and some of the nerves in others felt a little better. Even Haruna had to admit that she wasn't as worried as she had been a second ago.

As the group dispersed, Hinami walked up to Haruna and Chiyo. "U-Um," she began. "G-Good luck you two!" "Thanks Hinami-chan!" Chiyo said, suddenly giving her a big hug. "Do good with the backstage stuff, okay?" "I-I will!" Hinami said, sounding a bit determined herself. "Oh, right, and-" Before she continued speaking, Hinami glanced at Haruna. Then, she reached up to Chiyo's ear and whispered something. Once Hinami pulled away, Chiyo looked like she was glowing.

The girl walked away, and taking her place was Haruna. "What'd she tell you?" she asked. "It's a secret," Chiyo said wryly. "Anyways, there's something more important here Haru-chi." "Huh? What?" Haruna asked. "My dress!" Chiyo exclaimed with a pout. "You haven't even complimented it once!" "You'll get plenty of compliments when we're on stage," Haruna sighed. "But I want you to tell me I'm pretty," Chiyo cooed. "What am I, your date?" Haruna asked, a little irritated. "Well, you are the George to my Sydney," Chiyo said slyly, putting her arms around Haruna's neck. Upon seeing that, several girls in the back let out little screams.

"Knock it off," Haruna said, lightly pushing Chiyo off of her. The gal laughed. "I just like teasing you," she said. "And them too," she added, motioning to the group who had given gleeful screams. Even before the play had started, there were a few who believed there was something going on between Chiyo and Haruna. As it turned out, some of those believers were in their class as well. Seeing the two girls constantly interacting with each other as lovers for a play only served to further their belief. Recently, after finding out about these people, Chiyo had decided it was fun to mess with them. Unfortunately for Haruna, that meant having the gal particularly close at times.

"I hope they stop with that stuff after the play," Haruna sighed. "If all goes well, they should," Chiyo mumbled. "Huh?" Haruna let out. "Nothing," Chiyo said in a sing-song tone. "I'm gonna go check on my outfits again." "Why? Haven't you looked at them enough?" Haruna asked. "But they were made just for me," Chiyo said happily. "So I wanna look at 'em as much as I can!" And with that, the gal headed further backstage.