Date Her Instead Vol. 2

Chapter Three: Sleep Talking

Haruna looked at the ground. "It's not like I want to hurt you..." she mumbled. "What?" Kanako said, unable to hear her. "Nothing. Sorry. I'm going to my room. Come get me when dinner's ready," Haruna said, then walked away.

When she got to her room, Haruna flopped down onto her bed and landed face down on her pillow. After a few moments of silence, she silently screamed. "What the hell am I doing?! Inviting her over? Then reacting like that to her stupid feelings?! What is going on with me?!" Haruna flipped over and stared at her ceiling. "I wish I had an answer..."

Not much later, there was a knock at Haruna's door. "Um, H-Haruna? Dinner's ready," a small voice called, then went back downstairs. Standing up, Haruna decided to change out of her uniform while she was in her room. After throwing on whatever was closest (which was a pair of black shorts and a deep green band t-shirt, she joined Kanako in the kitchen and sat down at the dinner table.

Kanako grabbed two bowls and began to fill each one with a soup that smelled wonderful. Once she had poured the contents in, she carried them over with pot holders. "Careful, it's hot," she said as she set one of the bowls down in front of Haruna. She then placed the other across the table and set the pot holders off to the side. They both gave thanks for their food and then Haruna gave it try.

Just looking at it, Haruna could see several different vegetables, like onions and potatoes, along with something leafy floating in the brown-ish tan liquid. The scent of the soup was strong, leading Haruna to guess that there was probably a good variety of spices in it. Scooping up a spoonful, Haruna gave it several blows before bringing it to her lips.

The taste was excellent. No one flavor overwhelmed the other, and the vegetables were nice and soft. It was certainly warm, but Haruna began to understand what Kanako had meant by a soup being refreshing.

"So, how is it?" Kanako asked. Haruna looked up from her bowl. "It's fi-" she began to say, but the expression Kanako was making led her to believe that she should really give the girl a compliment. "It's...good..." Haruna admitted. "Thank goodness," Kanako said in relief. "Honestly, I'm happy to hear that. Lately it's felt like everything I make hasn't been good. It's probably because of the competition." "Competition?" Haruna repeated through spoonfuls. "Yeah, didn't I tell you? My club entered a competition and we all have to participate. We've been spending a lot of our time on preparing for it, but all of my dishes have been pretty sub-par. So, that's why I was happy to do this for you. It was nice to cook with no pressure."

Haruna went back to looking at her bowl. "...Thank you... for doing this..." she said sheepishly. Kanako smiled. "You're welcome."

The two continued to eat, occasionally making small talk. However, as time went on, Haruna began to get an odd feeling. It felt... pleasant? Having someone eating with you and enjoying their company wasn't new to Haruna. She had done that with her parents and with Chiyo multiple times. So why was this different? "Although, with the way tonight has gone with Kanako coming here and making dinner and us sitting like this, it's like she's a wife or something," Haruna joked to herself, but then quickly came back to that idea. "A wife huh..."

Haruna stared at Kanako, picturing her as a married woman. "Are you done with that, darling?" the image in Haruna's head said. "D-D-Darling?!" she suddenly shouted. "Darling?" Kanako repeated. "Who?" "You- I-...ugh, never mind..." Haruna sighed. "Well, I'll take your bowl for you," Kanako said, collecting Haruna's with hers. "What the hell..."

Just before Kanako began washing dishes, her phone rang. "Oh, it's my mom," she said. "Hello?" Finding herself a little curious, Haruna leaned in closer so she could hear the conversation. "I'm actually at Haruna's house... Yeah, that's what I said... Huh? What do you mean you're not coming back tonight? ... What? But it's Monday! ... I can't just spring that on her! ... Mom! She hung up..." Kanako clicked off her phone and set it down, then looked nervously at Haruna.