Date Her Instead Vol. 6

Chapter Ten: Searching, Both Inside And Out

Throughout the night, Kanako had been restless. After things had gone so well with her own parents, Haruna had told her she would talk to hers. Kanako had been anxiously waiting to hear the results, but it was almost midnight, and Haruna hadn't sent so much as a thumbs-up. "I'm really starting to get worried," Kanako thought.

It was possible that the conversation was lasting for much longer than expected, but considering the nature of both Haruna's mother and father, it seemed unlikely. They were both individuals who wouldn't want to drag out a conversation, preferring to just get to the point. That was probably why Haruna was so straightforward sometimes (though Kanako wished she was like that a lot more often).

She glanced down at her phone, which was sitting on her desk next to her open history homework. She had tried to work on it, but after about 15 minutes, she gave up due to her complete lack of concentration. But, with nothing to do, all Kanako was left with were her feelings to dwell on. Several times already, she had thought about texting or calling Haruna to get an update, but a part of her felt like that would be an insult to her efforts. "Once she's achieved her goal, she'll tell me," Kanako kept telling herself.

However, as the hours passed, that belief was dwindling, and now, Kanako repeatedly kept looking at her phone, wondering more and more if she should just ask. "Well..." she thought. "O-One call wouldn't be so bad, right?" So, with her previous resolution cast aside, she picked up her phone, found Haruna's number, and pressed the call button.

One ring sounded off, then shortly after, another did. While Haruna was never one to answer immediately (other than last night), she usually didn't let the phone ring for long. That was why, with each additional ring, Kanako became more and more concerned. Eventually, there was a click, but just as Kanako opened her mouth to speak, she was met with the robotic speech of the answering machine. There was really no real need to leave a message, so she simply hung up before sitting down on the edge of her bed.

"She didn't answer..." she muttered to herself. Considering the hour, Kanako thought Haruna might just be asleep. They did have school the next day, after all. But, something about it didn't sit right with her. "I wish I could just go over there right now to find out..." she thought.

Had something happened? That was Kanako's first worry. There had been no guarantee that Haruna's talk would go well, but Kanako had always believed Haruna's parents were reasonable people. They weren't quite as frivolous as her own parents, and they had sometimes been tough on Haruna, but Kanako had never thought they were bad people. As long as Haruna explained her situation to them, Kanako thought that they would understand.

Just like anything else though, there was the opposite outcome. If Haruna had no chance to explain, then there was the chance that her parents wouldn't accept their relationship. Or, if Haruna explained poorly, a similar outcome would occur. When Kanako thought about that, her worries increased further. She desperately wanted to go to Haruna's house and find out what was going on, but she couldn't.

At this point, it was past midnight. School was coming the next morning, so Kanako decided she'd have to wait until then. They always met up in the mornings, so it wasn't as if the wait would be long. So, slipping out of her current clothes into her pink pajamas, Kanako went through her nighttime routine before finally crawling into bed.

Unfortunately, she was wide awake. How could she possibly sleep when she was this worried about Haruna? With no answers to any of her questions, all she could do was imagine, which only gave birth to worse and worse scenarios in her head. She put a stop to it with a rapid shake of her head after she imagined Haruna running off, only to come back ten years later with vengeance in her heart as she decimated those who had betrayed her. "Okay, now my mind is wandering too far," Kanako sighed to herself. Admittedly, she thought Haruna would look cool with a thirst for blood in her eyes, but if that actually became reality, it would also probably be pretty scary and sad.