Date Her Instead Vol. 6

Chapter Sixteen: The Big Sister Has Had Enough

With a click, Chitose heard the front door open. "Oh, Chi, you're back already? I would've thought you'd be gone... longer..." As she walked to the entryway to greet her little sister, Chitose saw Chiyo standing there, her eyes red and looking a bit puffy. Noticing her big sister, Chiyo looked at her.

"I guess..." she said, putting on a very fragile smile. "Mi-chan... really does hate me, after all." "Chi..." Chitose said, at a loss for words. "I think I'll just like, stay in my room for today, 'kay?" Chiyo said, going to walk past Chitose. Instead of getting by though, Chitose grabbed Chiyo's wrist and pulled her into her arms. "Big sis?" Chiyo let out. It wasn't necessarily unusual for them to hug each other, but this time was so sudden that it caught Chiyo off-guard.

"...Just tell me what I can do for you," Chitose said softly. "Want me to beat her up?" "No, of course not..." Chiyo said in just as soft a tone, her voice getting muffled by Chitose's shoulder. "I'm... pretty sure it's over anyways..."

Chitose pulled away just enough so she could see Chiyo's face. It was an incredibly sad expression for a face usually so happy. It was an expression that hurt Chitose's heart. "Are you really gonna give up?" she asked. Chiyo shrugged lightly. "What else can I do? You should've seen her sis... The way Mi-chan was screaming at me... it kinda felt like something else was botherin' her, but it also really felt like she totally meant what she said."

No matter how much a person loves someone, there's a limit to how far that can carry them. For Chiyo, who loved Michi more than almost anyone, she had always been able to fall back on her feelings whenever Michi reacted poorly toward her. But, now that those feelings were more or less in the very center of their current conflict, Chiyo was left with nothing except heartbreak.

Was her heart truly broken? It was hard to say. Most likely, Chiyo could recover with some time and a conversation with Michi that didn't devolve into yelling. Though, with the amount of damage caused, there was certainly doubt. Could Chiyo still say she loved Michi? Could she really act like Michi hadn't said what she said? Or, did she have to accept that she was actually hated now?

"Hey, why don't I make ya somethin' tonight?" Chitose suggested. "I'll make your favorite." "Thanks, but I'm not really hungry..." Chiyo said quietly, looking down at the floor. Her entire store of energy was drained. What reason was there to be so excited and happy without someone to share it with?

Before, Chiyo had spent a lot of time with different guys in an effort to fill the void of loneliness. It worked, to a degree, but Chiyo was always aware that it wasn't enough. Regardless, she tried her best to use that as fuel, along with spending time with Haruna and Jasmine. Yet it was always obvious she needed something more.

When Chiyo found Michi, it was like everything she wanted had appeared before her. Here was someone who was loyal to a fault. Here was someone who would never lie to her. Here was someone who she could trust with even her closest secrets and inner-most thoughts. That was the girl Chiyo saw as soon as she started to get to know Michi, and it was all of those qualities that she fell in love with.

Now, it wasn't as if Chiyo didn't see the negative. She saw Michi's stubbornness and rude remarks, but Chiyo simply chose to believe in the better parts of the girl. She knew that Michi was actually kind, that she cared a lot about the people close to her. If she didn't, then she'd have no reason to get so mad about people "betraying her" or "leaving her behind."

Unfortunately, no matter how much Chiyo wanted to believe in Michi, there was always that one major underlying issue, and it was one that was currently rearing its head. With the news of Haruna and Kanako's relationship, mixed with the levels of intimacy Chiyo had been pushing, Michi just couldn't take it anymore. To Chiyo, it seemed like the girl had been pushed too far, resulting in cataclysmic reactions. Creating distance, and now going as far as to hate Chiyo, were both a part of that.