Date Her Instead Vol. 2

Chapter Sixteen: Fun In The Sun

With everyone awake, it was time to make breakfast. Having the selection that they did, the cooking club members (minus Itsuki) were able to make quite the variety. Pancakes, eggs (both scrambled and a couple of mini omelets), cut-up assorted fruit and French toast all filled the table that they had managed to find while cleaning the day before.

"Hey, something smells good!" Itsuki said as she came back inside. "Oh, Itsuki-chan you're just in time. Breakfast is ready," Mayu said. "Sweet! Let me just wash up real quick!" Itsuki said as she ran up the stairs. "Y'know, it's pretty nice that all this food was already here," Jasmine commented. "It's kinda weird though too. Like, if they came to stock the fridge for us or something, why didn't they just do the cleaning too?" "W-Well, they are letting us stay here for free, so the least we can do is help clean up a bit," Kanako pointed out. "Alright everyone," Chiyo announced. "Dig in!"

Once breakfast was finished, it was time to decide what the day's plans would be. "Maybe we could go hiking?" Itsuki suggested. "That sounds like a lot of work," Jasmine said. "What if we played a game?" Mayu said. "Did anyone even bring cards?" Haruna asked. "Ooh, I did!" Chiyo said excitedly. "I-I did too actually," Kanako said quietly. "It's so nice out though! We should be outside!" Itsuki half-said/ half-whined.

Curious about the silence, Chiyo turned to the girl next to her. "You're pretty quiet Mi-chan. Is there anything you wanna do?" "Not really," Michi answered in a mopey but somewhat aggressive tone. "Come on, can't you think of aaaannnnyyything?" Chiyo pushed. "Nope. Besides, we spent our whole first day cleaning. I'm sure whatever we end up doing will be lame just like that too." "If you're not even going to suggest something then why don't you keep your stupid mouth shut," Haruna spat out. "Excuse me?!" Michi yelled. "What the hell did I even do to deserve that?! This annoying bimbo asked me a question, so I answered!" "Ugh, is it seriously gonna be like this between you two the whole trip?" Jasmine moaned in annoyance. "No one asked you!" Michi shouted back.

"That's enough, Mi-chan."

"Wha-? I don't have to listen to-" Michi began to say to Chiyo, but she stopped. The look the gal was giving her was one that seemed to have a lot of complex emotions, but out of it all, two stood out: sadness and anger. "She's never... looked at me like that before," Michi thought, surprised by Chiyo's reaction. "Tch. Fine. Whatever," was all the girl had left to say before clamming up again.

"S-So, um... should we just go outside?" Kanako suggested. "Yeah! That's a great idea Kana-chan!" Chiyo said, quickly bouncing back. "Let's just go out into the great outdoors and see what happens!" "U-Um, that's not really what I meant..." Kanako tried to say, but she wasn't heard. "Okay everyone! Let's go! Outside, outside!" Chiyo said happily. Rising from their seats, the group all headed toward the front door.

"Yay! Look at this beautiful weather!" Chiyo exclaimed as she stood on the porch to take it in. "The sun is shining and it's not too hot! It's the perfect day to-" As Chiyo raved on, she noticed everyone else standing stock still behind her in a line along the deck. "Huh? What's up guys?" she asked. "U-Um... Chiyo? Y-You might... want to turn around," Haruna said as she pointed past the gal. "Hm?" Chiyo let out, doing as she was told. Following her best friend's finger, Chiyo's eyes landed on the sight that had attracted everyone's undivided attention.

It was a bear.

"..."

Specifically, it was an Ussuri brown bear, a type of bear native to Hokkaido. Similar to the grizzly bear in appearance, its short and fuzzy hair covered its entire body and its small face wore a look suggesting it was docile. Now, if one knew anything about this type of bear native to the area, they'd know that they're actually shy and have virtually no interest in attacking people. Of course, when placed in front of such a creature, things like personality traits aren't generally the first thing to come to mind.