Date Her Instead Vol. 3

Chapter Two: Miracle, Girl

"Maybe I should give her a call, just in case," Kanako said, pulling out her phone. Not more than two rings in, there was an answer. "H-Hello? Chiyo? A-Are you sick?" Kanako said nervously. "She's not gonna know what you're talking about. Give me the phone," Haruna said, taking the device out of Kanako's hand. "Hey Chiyo, it's Haruna. Kanako's over here freaking out, thinking you died or something because you're not here."

"Hm? Really? I'd love to see that! I bet she looks adorbs right now! Oh, I bet you could tell me Haru-chi. Well, then again, you're so head over heels for sweet little Kana-chan that I bet you think everything about her is super cute!"

Haruna hung up, a dead look on her face. "She's fine," she said flatly, handing the phone back to its owner. Suddenly it vibrated. Kanako checked the message, then giggled. "What?" Haruna asked. "Chiyo says to tell you you're a meanie," Kanako said.

However, while she certainly seemed fine, Haruna couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. "If she's going to be late or something, she usually tells me," Haruna thought. The fact that she hadn't heard a thing made Haruna wonder if maybe things weren't as fine as they seemed. "I'm probably just overthinking it. Knowing Chiyo, I bet it just has to do with some guy." Deciding on that to be a proper explanation, Haruna let it go.

When the two girls arrived at Iwanai High, they found Mayu changing her shoes. "G-Good morning Mayu-chan," Kanako said, greeting her friend. "Morning Kawaguchi-san," Haruna said in turn. To their surprise, Mayu not only looked startled, but after giving her response, she scurried away like they'd never seen before. "She's not normally like that, is she?" Haruna asked. The question was practically required for her. After all, it wasn't as if they were particularly close. Other than the camping trip, Haruna's only time spent with Mayu was in one big group while eating lunch. "N-No, she's usually pretty calm," Kanako said, feeling confused herself.

It made Haruna wonder if maybe Mayu was feeling the burden of keeping her secret. "Honestly, if I could just tell Kanako my feelings myself, this wouldn't even matter," Haruna thought, sighing at her own cowardice. She didn't really mind that Mayu knew about her crush. The bigger problem was keeping that knowledge from Kanako. "It would totally suck if Kanako found out about how I felt second-hand..." Haruna thought.

While lost in her own head, Haruna suddenly felt a big weight hit her on the shoulders. "What the he-" she began to complain as she turned around, only to find Chiyo standing behind her with one arm on Haruna's shoulders and the other on Kanako's. "Morning girls!" she said cheerfully. "Good morning Chiyo," Kanako said with a smile.

"Hey, Haru-chi," Chiyo said sternly. "You really shouldn't hang up on people. It's preeeetty rude, y'know?" "I wouldn't have hung up if some weirdo hadn't been babbling on about stuff that was none of her business," Haruna said back. "Weirdo?! Ah, so cold Haru-chi. You wound my heart," Chiyo said, pretending to be hurt by her friend's words. The three girls then began to make their way to their classrooms.

Along the way, they were stopped. "Hey Haruna-san!" a playful voice called as the owner to it bounded toward her. "Oh, hey President..." Haruna said without enthusiasm. "Hey, hey, you should be happy to see me y'know? After all, you know what it means don't'cha?" the girl said. Haruna sighed. "It's time for club activities to start again?" she guessed. "Bingo!" the girl said with a dramatic point of her finger. "I hope you're ready, because we're training harder than ever this year!"

The girl standing in front of Haruna was none other than Izumi Komatsu. She was the current president of the girl's side of the snowboarding and skiing club and also a third year. For someone in Izumi's position, it seemed unusual that she'd still be president. Normally third year students aren't around enough to manage a club, plus they have future college duties to worry about. However, Izumi insisted she wanted to be around for as long as possible, so she had yet to hand over the mantle to anyone.