Date Her Instead Vol. 2

Chapter Five: The Fight

Friendship is defined in many ways, and to many degrees. Sometimes people have only known each other for a couple of years, but it's felt like a lifetime. And for others, it's the opposite, knowing someone their whole life but not really being friends. For Haruna, it was somewhere in between. When she was younger, she had thought her and Kanako were close, but she had noticed gaps. There were times when she felt like she knew hardly anything about Kanako, and as time went on, that feeling only got worse, creating a chasm of distance between them.

*****

That Monday, Haruna didn't go to school. She felt like she couldn't. Somehow, she had managed to convince her mother to let her stay home, but the same tactic didn't seem to work on Chiyo, who had texted Haruna wondering where she was at. Message after message came, annoying Haruna so much that she nearly threw her phone. However, instead of taking such an aggressive action, she went with something she hadn't even expected herself to do. Sending Chiyo a text, Haruna set her phone down. Seconds later, there was a vibration.

From: Chiyo Wakabayashi

You want 2 talk about smthg important? Sure! Hb we meet up at the café near school?"

Haruna replied that she agreed, then stared at Chiyo's text. "She's lucky I can understand all of that," Haruna thought. "Maybe she's using so much short-hand because she's in class?" The vision of Chiyo getting her phone taken away made Haruna laugh. It was something that she had witnessed happen a couple of times, and every time it was a big scene, with Chiyo desperately trying to keep her cell phone, but to no avail.

Several hours later, Haruna eventually got up off the floor and made herself lunch. Sitting in her kitchen eating by herself, a feeling of dread continued to build. "Damn it. Why am I getting so nervous?" she wondered. The past of course wasn't an easy topic for Haruna. In fact, thinking about it, Haruna realized she had never really told Chiyo much about her past. Most of that had to do with Kanako being a part of most of Haruna's old memories and she had never wanted to talk about that girl if she didn't have to.

But now, things were different. Even though Haruna hadn't wanted it, Kanako had become a regular part of her life again, which meant the lock that had kept the past sealed away had been broken. There was no longer any good reason to avoid facing one of her worst moments. Sure, it was filled with guilt and shame, but that wasn't enough to continue keeping it a secret.

Slowly, the minutes turned into hours passed, and eventually, it was time for Haruna to meet up with Chiyo. Throwing on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt that was passable by public standards, Haruna headed out toward the place Chiyo had suggested.

When she got there, she was surprised to see Jasmine there as well. "Heya Haru-chi!" Chiyo called gleefully. "Hey," Jasmine said with a wave. Haruna waved back, then walked over to the booth they were sitting at. "I hope it's okay I brought Jas-chin along," Chiyo said. "Yeah, it's fine. She already knows about my deal with Miyashita-kun, so she might as well know about this," Haruna said. "So what was so important that you skipped school over?" Jasmine asked.

"Well... it's about what happened between Kanako and I."

Day of the Fight, Four Years Ago.

Haruna woke up in a particularly bad mood. It was something that had been happening frequently too. It wasn't unusual for a middle school girl to have mood swings, but this was different. If anything, you could say it had been one big, progressive swing. Over the course of the last year or so, Haruna had noticed her mood continually getting worse. Maybe it was simply her outlook on life souring, or perhaps school wasn't going well. But, even if those options did play a role, there was one specific example that Haruna felt was truly to blame.