Date Her Instead Vol. 1

Chapter Sixteen: Time With You Is...

Over the weekend, Haruna recovered from her injury and went about her Monday as usual. Except, now that her and Kanako had made up (in a way), one more thing had been re-added to the routine. That was going over next door and waking Kanako up, which Haruna was about to do.

She found herself standing over the other girl as she slept. Anyone who would've walked in on the scene would've found it to be creepy. But the reason Haruna was simply standing in place was because she wasn't exactly sure what to do. Before, she had simply ripped off Kanako's sheets without a care for how she would feel about it or react. It was effective, and as long as she got up and they weren't late, it didn't matter. However, now Haruna felt like (or more accurately, realized) doing that was kind of mean. So the question was, how was she supposed to wake up Kanako?

Haruna wasn't really sure. Being gentle didn't really fit into her personality, but being too rough would be going down the road the two girls had just gotten off of. After going back and forth for a couple of minutes, Haruna decided to go with something in between. She placed her hand on Kanako and gave a slight push. "Kanako, get up. Come on, we'll be late if you don't."

At first there was no response, leading Haruna to start considering her previous approach. Luckily for the sleeping girl, a few more pushes did the trick, as her eyes slowly opened. "Good morning Haruna," she said sleepily. "Yeah, morning. Hurry up. I don't want to be late," Haruna said briskly before walking away. As she left, Haruna could feel her heart being a little faster. "Why does she look cute like that?"

While Haruna waited, she stood somewhat awkwardly in the middle of the main hallway. Both of Kanako's parents had already left for work. Haruna had ran into the mother of the family on her way out. She had been a little surprised to see Haruna, considering she hadn't shown up recently. But after exchanging a brief, pleasant greeting, she left Kanako to Haruna and rushed out the door. "Why does it seem like every time I see her, she's always running late?" Haruna wondered. "Well, like mother like daughter I guess."

A few minutes later, Kanako came downstairs. "Okay, I'm ready," she said, standing in front of Haruna. "Then let's go," the other girl said. "Oh, wait!" Kanako suddenly said. "Here, stand still for a moment." "What're you-" Haruna began to say. Kanako grabbed the girl's green bow and began fiddling with it. "And... there! Now it's straight!" Kanako said happily after adjusting Haruna's bow. Where a person normally would've said thanks, a flustered Haruna could only manage: "Y-You didn't need to do that." "I-I know, but I wanted to," Kanako said, now feeling slightly embarrassed.

After their awkward moment, the two girls headed out the door and began making their way to school. They both stayed quiet, until finally Haruna spoke up. "H-Hey," she started. "Give me your hand." "Huh? W-Why?" Kanako asked. "Just do it!" Haruna said a little louder, then suddenly grabbed Kanako's hand. Kanako jumped a little from the action, fearing what Haruna would do, but all that happened was their hands remained linked as they dropped down to the middle space between them. "Oh, so that's what she wanted," Kanako realized, then giggled to herself. "What's so funny?" Haruna scowled. "Nothing," Kanako said with a smile.

Her happiness quickly vanished though when Kanako began thinking about how what they were doing would look to others. "Girls holding hands isn't necessarily unusual, but... what if people get the wrong idea?" she worried, thinking back to the time those girls cornered her. "Then again, this was what Akio-kun wanted, wasn't it? We have to convince him we're a couple. But... I don't really want to deal with any bad rumors again..." Kanako felt torn. What would it mean for her if everyone in school started thinking she had a thing for girls over guys? Would it actually hurt her chances with Akio? Because Haruna hadn't been taking the deal seriously, Kanako had only had these questions pass through her head.