Date Her Instead Vol. 7 (Final Volume)

Chapter Twenty-Seven: What The Future May Bring

"I suppose that's one way to look at it," Mayu said. "But wouldn't another way be that she simply wants to put in the effort to be a better mother, and that part of that entails making contact with her daughter?" Jasmine was silent, unsure of how to respond. She knew that Mayu could be right, but that didn't mean it was easier to understand. Whether the gal called her mother's behavior weird, or it was a part of more positive actions, there was still an adjustment period that would be required.

"Well, just standing around here talkin' about it isn't gonna change much," Jasmine said before changing the topic. "Did ya find what you were lookin' for?" "Yes," Mayu said with a nod. "Apologies for the wait. I needed to grab a paper out of my desk, but when I looked there, it was gone. That was when I realized I must have put it with another paper we turned in, so I had to go to the teacher's staff room to get it. The teacher was busy as well, so I ended up having to wait." "Was the paper that important?" Jasmine asked. "It's just studying material," Mayu explained. "But I was hoping to look over it this weekend, so I really wanted to have it."

"Still studying even at this point," Jasmine teased. "One can never learn too much," Mayu said proudly. "I'm pretty sure there're some people in history and now that would disagree with that," Jasmine said, getting a small laugh out of Mayu. "Even so," she said. "I think it'll benefit me in the future."

Jasmine turned to look at the girl as they began walking. "The future, huh?" she said. "Ya got somethin' in mind?" Talking about their upcoming adult lives and duties wasn't a common topic for these two, but as the end of their high school career drew nearer and nearer, it felt almost unavoidable for such a thing to be mentioned.

Mayu was quiet for a moment. "...To be honest, mother had something picked out for me." "Like what? Being a housewife?" Jasmine joked, but as it turned out, that was exactly it as Mayu nodded. "Yes. Mother is very traditional, so she believed I should learn all that I can about domestic duties. That was part of the reason why I was in the cooking club. Oh, but I do enjoy cooking. It's not as if I was forced to do it."

"That was supposed to be my path in life, but... after meeting all my friends... after meeting you, Jasmine-chan, I think I began to realize that maybe there's something out there that I truly desire to do. Something that wasn't already chosen for me, but rather, something that I chose for myself. I really... like the sound of that."

"Wow," Jasmine said. "My pet's maturing before my very eyes." "I'm not a pet!" Mayu pouted, but it quickly faded. "It might be a stretch to call it maturity. It's not as if I have a good idea of what it is I want to pursue." "Have you talked to your mom about it?" Jasmine asked. Mayu nodded. "Yes. She wasn't very pleased, but she also told me that she wouldn't stop me. She said that I should explore my options while I still have the chance, though if I wanted, apparently I could still fall back on her plan for me. Oh, she also mentioned that any future plans shouldn't involve you, for some reason."

Jasmine laughed. "Hate to break it to Ai-san, but that probably won't happen." "Only probably?" Mayu asked innocently. "Uh... d-definitely! Definitely won't happen!" Jasmine exclaimed, causing Mayu to giggle. "I'm glad to hear that."

Then the attention shifted to Jasmine. "You said you wanted to do something with hairdressing, didn't you?" "Not really just hair," the gal answered. "I guess you could say I'm lookin' to do the whole makeover process. Hair, makeup, clothes, all of that stuff. I wanna be able to make people look good and have them feel happy about how they look." "I think that sounds perfect for you," Mayu said. "Ya think so?" Jasmine asked. "Yes," Mayu said. "You're very kind at heart, Jasmine-chan. I think a profession that helps others like that is a good fit."

Jasmine could only stare for a moment. "Geez," she thought. "This girl is gonna kill me with all of these compliments she keeps tellin' me." After taking a second to recover, Jasmine shrugged. "Well, it's also fun. Getting to do Haru-chi's makeover was really somethin'." "Is that how you got interested?" Mayu asked. "Yeah," Jasmine said. "It was a real challenge getting the fashion-senseless Haru-chi into presentable shape, but in the middle of doin' that, I realized how much fun I was having, and how it might be nice to be able to do it for other people too."