Date Her Instead Vol. 2

Chapter Eight: A Girl Named Kanako

As the two girls continued to panic, the cooking club members came up to join them. "What's with all the racket?" Rina asked. "Haruna's missing!" Kanako said, then Chiyo put a hand on Kanako's head. Already having calmed herself down, Chiyo explained the situation. "So she just left Kana-chan all by herself in the woods? How nice of her," Michi said sarcastically and clearly getting mad. "We should probably help to look for her," Mayu said. "Yeah good idea. We can split up to cover more ground too," Naomi said. "Wait a minute! Endo-san's the one at fault here! Why should we even bother trying to find her?" Michi yelled. "Because she's Kana-chan's and Chiyo's friend," Naomi said as if it were obvious. "If you got lost, wouldn't you want Endo-san looking for you?" "She'd probably be more likely to leave me to die," Michi thought, but with a sigh, she agreed to help anyways, if for no other reason than the fact that Kanako and Chiyo were both staring at her with pleading eyes.

Dividing into pairs, the group began looking all over for Haruna, checking closed stalls, taken-down tents and every place in between that they could think of. By the time they gathered again, no one had had any luck. "Who else would know where she went? Did someone take her home?" Naomi asked aloud. "Oh! I think Akio-kun was here tonight! Maybe he knows," Kanako said. "I'll text him."

Within minutes, Kanako got a reply. "He says that Haruna's with him. Thank goodness," Kanako said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Well, glad that's over. Now we can finally go home. I'm exhausted," Rina said. "Am I sleeping with you again tonight Rina-chan?" Saki asked happily. "D-Don't say it like that!" Rina shot back, flustered. "B-But sure, I guess..." The two of them waved goodbye and headed toward where they were going to meet their ride. After them were Mayu and Itsuki, then Naomi, leaving only Michi, Kanako and Chiyo left.

"I can't believe she just abandoned you like that," Michi said with a huff. "I-I'm sure there's a good reason..." Kanako said, sounding like she hardly believed her own words. "Yeah, the reason is that she's a big jerk!" Michi said loudly. "Come on Mi-chan, she's not that bad if you give her a chance," Chiyo said. "I don't want to hear that coming from one of the biggest whores in the school!" Michi yelled, pointing her finger at Chiyo. "Mi-chan!" Kanako shouted. Michi ignored her. "And another thing! Stop trying to get so close to me! We're NOT friends, so keep you and your disgusting habits away from me." With that final remark, Michi stormed off. "I wonder what's got her so riled up," Chiyo said. "Are you okay Chiyo?" Kanako asked. Chiyo smiled at her. "I'm fine. It takes a lot more than that to bother me!" But then, in a voice barely audible, she added, "Besides, people have said much worse to me..."

"What? I couldn't hear you," Kanako said. "Oh, it was nothing important! Come on, now that we know Haru-chi's all safe and snug, we should be getting home," Chiyo said. As she walked away, Kanako stared at her back. "For some reason, I get the feeling there's a lot more to her than she lets on," she thought before following behind.

*****

When the Miyashita's car pulled up to Haruna's house, she got out and gave a quick thanks to them before heading toward her front door. The rest of the ride had been a tension-filled silence, creating a rather uncomfortable atmosphere in such a small space. Glad that it was finally over, Haruna unlocked the door and walked inside.

Surprising her was her mother standing near the entryway. "Oh, Haruna. I thought you'd still be out a little later." Haruna said nothing, setting down her geta that she had been carrying for quite some time. "What happened to you? Your yukata's filthy and your face is all dirty," her mother said with concern. Feeling emotion beginning to overtake her once more, Haruna took several steps forward before planting her face into her mother's shoulder.

"Oh?" Haruna's mother let out, caught off-guard by her daughter's sudden closeness. "Haruna, what's wrong?" she asked, but the only response she got was a gripping of her clothes in Haruna's hands. They began to shake as well, along with the rest of her body. "Ghh...nhh..." Haruna let out, trying her best to stifle the tears that were coming again. Her mother smiled, placing one hand on Haruna's head and wrapping her other arm around her daughter's back. "I don't know what happened, but it's okay now. You're home."