Date Her Instead Vol. 3

Chapter Three: No More Crutch

The following day, Haruna and Kanako both awoke to find they had received identical messages from Akio. It simply stated that each of them should meet him behind the school after the final bell. "...What does he want?" Haruna asked herself as she stared at the message. A feeling of dread began to form within her. "It's been months since we talked. Why now?"

When the deal between the trio had first begun, Akio had been very hands-on. He had spent plenty of time hanging around Haruna and poking at her emotions, along with spying on the two girls to make sure they were keeping up their end of the agreement. However, as time had gone on, Haruna had noticed Akio being around less and less. Being on summer break definitely played a role in that, but even before then, the boy had seemed to be missing. Truthfully, it was something of a relief to not have Akio around constantly, but that was what made his message all the more unusual.

The only conversation that Haruna had had recently with Akio was the night of the festival. There had been another instance where they had seen each other, but that time could hardly be considered "having a conversation." On top of that, the whole reason they had run into each other was because Akio had been dropping Kanako off. Remembering that left a bitter taste in Haruna's mouth. It only served as a reminder of how high the hill was that she had to climb. "It looked like they were on a date," Haruna thought before recalling Kanako's face that night. "That... didn't look like the kind of face you make after a date..."

For all the emotion swirling around within her, the one ranking at the top was confusion. There were already her own feelings to contend with, but Haruna found that there was another component to all of this that she had been leaving out. "What exactly does Miyashita-kun expect to get out of this?" she wondered. The original deal had been that he'd go out with one of the girls after one year as long as they were convincing as a couple themselves. However, now that Haruna had real feelings for Kanako instead, she felt the terms of the deal had become one-sided. "Kanako could just date Miyashita-kun with no problems now..." she thought. Of course, that wasn't what she wanted at all, but objectively speaking it made the most sense. But, because Kanako didn't know about Haruna's feelings for her, she just assumed that both girls were still in the running for Akio's heart.

Haruna was in love with Kanako. Kanako was in love with Akio. If this were a soap opera, Akio would be in love with Haruna, thus completing the love triangle. "I'm pretty sure that's not it though..." Haruna thought. If Akio did like Haruna in a romantic way, then wouldn't he have accepted Haruna's confession on the day that she gave it? So the question remained: What did Akio Miyashita stand to gain from a deal like this?

"Maybe he just has a thing for yuri," Haruna mused, although she knew that wasn't it either. But how did she know? It was in the way Akio spoke. When the topic would come up about feelings of love and relationships, Haruna could tell he always seemed to be picking and choosing his words carefully. He'd take his time when he spoke, crafting the perfect sentences to say what he wanted to say without revealing his hand.

Haruna sighed, annoyed that she was already thinking so much as soon as she was getting out of bed. "What is even going on with my life anymore?" she thought depressingly. While she was certain she would rather have her feelings for Kanako over her previous feelings, Haruna had to admit that life seemed to be much less complicated when she just naively had a crush on the boy she had grown up with.

*****

Next-door, a much bigger panic was happening. "A-A-Akio-kun texted me saying he wants to talk?!" Kanako exclaimed, snapped to 100 percent awake at the sight of the message. Unbeknownst to her, Haruna had also received the same message, but without that knowledge, Kanako assumed she had gotten a personal message. Receiving such a thing sent her into a whirlwind. She had no idea what it could possibly mean or what it was that Akio wanted to talk about.