Date Her Instead Vol. 2

Chapter Eight: A Girl Named Kanako

However, it wasn't long after that a car began coming her way. It came from behind and from the festival, most likely someone going home. The headlights shined ahead of Haruna as they grew closer, putting more and more of the dark road and its surroundings into a bright display. Haruna was content enough to just let the car pass her by, not caring enough to ask for a ride, but to her surprise, it began to slow down. Coming to a halt, Haruna could hear the gears shift to indicate it had been put in park.

The back door nearest to her opened and a person stepped out. "Excuse me miss, are you alr-" the voice started to ask. "Wait, is that you Haruna-chan?" Looking up, Haruna saw that it had been Akio who had stopped. "What are you doing out here?" he asked. Haruna looked away from him. "Tch. Shouldn't you know? After all, you follow me everywhere like a stalker." "Actually, I don't know," Akio said sternly. "I was busy helping other people at the festival all night tonight. That's why I never came to see you or Kana-chan." Haruna looked back up at the boy, who was clearly concerned. "Come on. We'll take you home," he said, offering his hand. Haruna hesitated at first, but she eventually took his hand and stood up.

Brushing herself off a bit and trying to wipe off some of the ruined make-up, Haruna got in the car and Akio followed in behind her. Akio's parents didn't say a word, appearing to be thoroughly confused over the sight they had just stumbled across. Haruna shifted into her seat and put on her seatbelt, extending no explanation either for why they had found her the way they did. Deciding to just let their son handle it, Akio's father put the car back in drive and they began to move.

Silence filled the back seat as the car went along. For once, it appeared Akio didn't know what to say. However, he figured he should say something, so he asked a question. "Did... something happen?" Haruna glared at him. "None of your business," she said coldly. "Hey, I'm just trying to be a friend here," Akio said, feeling defensive now. "Yeah, some friend. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be in this mess," Haruna mumbled. "Wait. Does this have something to do with Kana-chan?" Akio asked.

He struck a nerve.

Haruna whipped around and gave Akio a very angry look. "God, why do you have to dig into everyone's business?! You just have to know everything don't you?! Just leave me the hell alone!" Guessing that if he said anymore, he'd be stepping on a landmine he couldn't recover from, Akio decided to keep his mouth shut. While the ride continued in silence, Akio got a text message from Kanako.

*****

"Harunaaa!" Kanako called as she stood at the foot of the hill. When Haruna had run away, Kanako had briefly tried to follow her, but she realized she'd never catch up to Haruna. Kanako hoped that her friend hadn't gone too far and that she could find her somewhere nearby, but as the fireworks show ended, so did Kanako's hope for that idea.

"I need to find her," Kanako thought. She had no idea what had happened. They had been having such a good time together for the first time in what felt like ages. And then, out of the blue, Haruna had been crying and bolted. "What went wrong?" Kanako wondered. "Did I do something to upset her?" Knowing she wasn't going to find Haruna where she was, Kanako made her way back to the main festival grounds and began combing through the remaining crowd. "Where are you Haruna?" she thought, looking at each face that went by her. Before long, she ran into one she recognized.

"Hey Kana-chan," Chiyo said, then she glanced around. "Where's Haru-chi? Wasn't she with you?" "She ran away!" Kanako said in a panic. "What?! Whaddya mean she ran away?!" Chiyo exclaimed. "I don't know! We were watching the fireworks together and then all of a sudden she just sprinted off!" Kanako cried, worried. "What should we do? I can't find her anywhere!"