Date Her Instead Vol. 2

Chapter Fifteen: This Is Luxury?

Chitose tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge. "Huh? Is it locked?" she wondered aloud as she kept trying the doorknob. The only response she got was the clicking sound the knob made as it refused to go any further. "Well, that's too bad, guess we have to go home now," Michi said, faking being upset. "Oh, here's the key!" Chitose said as she looked under a board. "Ugh..." Michi moaned.

Inserting the key, Chitose turned it and got an approving click this time. "Alright! Girls, here's how you get to camp in luxury!" she proclaimed as she swung the door open. It went around on rusty hinges, creating a loud squeaking sound until it collided with the interior side of the wall. With a dull thud, the door stopped, leaving an opening for everyone to peer inside.

"Hey... big sis..." Chiyo began. "Yeah?" Chitose said as they both stared into the cabin. "D-Didn't you say it be all nice because your boss owned this cabin?" Chiyo asked. "Hmm. Did I say that?" Chitose said, pretending not to remember. "Yeah, you totally did. So, like..."

"...why is it empty?!"

The view that greeted all of them was nothing but empty space. Well, empty as long as you didn't count dirt and spider webs as décor. The area that presumably was the living room was void of any sort of furniture, and looking further back, it seemed like the kitchen was more of the same. The entire space was also poorly lit, with the windows being so caked in grime that the sunlight could hardly get through. "What the hell..." Haruna sighed as she slapped her hand to her forehead. "Oh my..." Mayu let out. "I-I-It's so spooky in there!" Itsuki squealed.

"What's the deal big sis?!" Chiyo yelled as she turned on Chitose. "I thought you said your boss wasn't using the cabin this year so that's why we could use it? So why does it look like NO ONE'S used it in like, years?!" "Hmmm. Well, now that you mention it, I think he did say something about it not being used for a while..." Chitose said nonchalantly. "Ugh!" Chiyo let out. "Now what're we going to do? We can't stay here can we?" "Huh? Why not? Just put a little elbow grease into it and it'll be good as new," Chitose said.

"Wait... we have to clean this place?" Jasmine said. "What?! No way! Absolutely not!" Michi protested. "Big sis, there's no way-" Chiyo began to say, but as she turned from looking at the cabin again to looking at where Chitose should've been, she was gone. Looking further out, Chiyo found her standing by the car, along with Ai who had stayed behind at her own car. Waving, Chitose shouted, "Have new experiences! Try new things! Live life to the fullest!" Then, she hopped into her car and both vehicles left, leaving a pile of luggage behind.

"Ah... um..." Chiyo uttered, truly dumbfounded. Turning back to everyone else, she was met with stares that displayed disappointment, anger and confusion. "Sooo, haha... I hope everyone's ready to clean!" Chiyo said, trying to play it off. "Forget it, I'm going home," Jasmine said flatly. "Aw, come on Jas-chin!" Chiyo cried. "I'll just call a ride or something," Michi said. "Huh? No signal?!" The group was beginning to fall apart. Surprisingly, it was Haruna who came up with a solution. "What if we took a vote?" she suggested. "A vote?" Mayu repeated. "Yeah. We can all vote on if we stay or go back home. I mean, there's seven of us here, so it's not like we have to worry about a tie." "That... makes sense," Ituski said as she thought it over. "Alright, then let's do it!" Chiyo said with hope. "Everyone in favor of staying, raise your hand!"

The ones who voted to stay were Chiyo, Mayu and Haruna. Then, the ones that wanted to go were Jasmine, Michi and Itsuki. "Huh?! Itsuki-chan, I thought you wanted to camp!" Chiyo said in surprise. "N-No way! Not in that creepy cabin!" Itsuki said, scared. "Hey wait, someone didn't vote," Jasmine pointed out. After a moment of thought, all eyes turned to the one that didn't raise their hand.