Date Her Instead Vol. 6

Chapter Six: When Rumors Become Truth

"Just don't freak her out at the gate, alright?" Chitose offered. "All that excitement ya got goin' is gonna be too much for a normal person to handle, let alone that girl." "Ah, yeah, you're right," Chiyo agreed. "Mi-chan would really run from me if I came at her that energetically." "Just don't let her run too far..." Chitose mumbled.

"Ah! Oh no!" Chiyo suddenly exclaimed. "What?" Chitose said. "My hair is totally frazzled!" Chiyo cried. "It was fine a minute ago! What happened?" Watching her sister panic, Chitose laughed. "Maybe it has something to do with you runnin' around. C'mere, let your big sis fix it for ya." "'Kaaay!" Chiyo said, moving over to the couch. Grabbing some hair products, Chitose returned and sat down behind Chiyo. "Alright, now sit still." "I'm not a little kid," Chiyo pouted. "Right, right," Chitose said, waving her off.

Five minutes later, Chiyo's hair was finished, complete with plenty of pop and fluff in the gold and auburn strands. "There. Now go get your things. Ya don't wanna be late like last year," Chitose said. "Last year was that guy's fault!" Chiyo said. "If he would've stopped insisting on one more-" "Chi. Grab stuff. Go," Chitose said sternly, not wanting to hear the rest of that sentence. Recently, thanks to Chiyo's newfound feelings for Michi, she had apparently decided it was no longer necessary to keep her past sex life "secret" from Chitose. To combat hearing those details, Chitose often cut her off. "I do NOT need to her the details of my lil' sis's nightlife," she thought.

"'Kay, I'm off!" Chiyo shouted as she headed for the door. "Have fun," Chitose said a bit sarcastically. Hearing the door close, she leaned back into the couch. "Huh," she said. "That's the last time I'll have to send Chi off to start a school year..." Realizing that, Chitose started to feel a little nostalgic. "She's really grown up, huh..."

*****

"Let's see... textbooks, pencils, eraser... I think that's everything," Kanako mumbled to herself as she ran through her checklist. Once she was done, she picked up her bag and put it over her shoulder. "I'm going now," she said, though no one was there. Her parents had already left for work, though they had been sure to give their daughter their well-wishes before they went.

Opening the door, she was about to step through it when she abruptly stopped. "Kya!" she shrieked suddenly. Standing in front of the exit was Haruna, arm raised midway as she had been about to knock. "Ah!" she let out in reaction to Kanako's scream. "God, you nearly gave me a heart attack..." "T-That's my line!" Kanako cried. "Why are you here anyways? I thought we were just going to meet down on the sidewalk." "Considering your usual tendencies, I thought it'd be a good idea to come check on you," Haruna explained. "I've never been late for the first day of school!" Kanako exclaimed, not appreciating the assumption of her being tardy. "Well, a-also..." Haruna muttered.

Averting her eyes, she continued quietly. "I just... couldn't wait to see you..." Hearing that, Kanako stared. "...Adorable," she let slip. "Hah?!" Haruna yelled. "T-This is just normal, isn't it?! There's nothing adorable about it!" "But doesn't it make you happy to know that your cute girlfriend thinks you're adorable?" Kanako said smugly. "I-I mean... sure, but..." Haruna said, suddenly going quiet again. "I-It's just embarrassing..."

A part of Kanako wanted to keep teasing Haruna, but she decided not to. They had a schedule to keep, and if Kanako was going to continue to be right about her first day of school attendance rate, they couldn't be late. "Should we go?" she said as she easily slid her hand into Haruna's. "Yeah."

Beginning their walk to school, they went at a pace not fast nor slow. Not too slow as to make sure they'd be on time, but not too fast, as if they were both trying to stretch out their break for just a bit longer. It didn't hurt either that the day was beautiful, with no clouds overhead and a brilliantly blue sky shining all around. With returning birds chirping and a steady increase of spotting students along the way, it truly felt like the start of a new school year.