Date Her Instead Vol. 4

Chapter Five: Fly

"Okay girls, let's hit the road!" Izumi proclaimed as she climbed into the van. "To the Hidden Corner!"

The Hidden Corner was the name of the resort that the members of both the Boys and Girls Skiing and Snowboarding clubs practiced and competed at. It was only about ten minutes from the school, making it easy enough to get there without having to worry about time constraints. Or at least, that'd be the case, was it not for the split between the boys and girls.

On paper, both sides of the skiing and snowboarding clubs were supposed to be one club and work together. That meant helping each other practice and offering resources when needed. However, the problem was that for many years, the girls and boys sides had been separated. It had only been recently that Iwanai Municipal High School had tried to mend the divide, but the results were poor, to say the least. Aside from coming together when absolutely necessary, both sides continued to do their own thing while treating the other like an enemy.

Leading the charge to the Hidden Corner was Izumi, who had hoped to make it there before the boys, but mostly likely wouldn't thanks to Haruna's delay. "We probably would've beaten the boys if Endo-san hadn't been so late," one girl remarked. "Yeah, what were you doing? Saying goodbye to your boyfriend?" another girl teased. "Shut up!" Haruna yelled, but then muttered quietly. "Boys are stupid anyways..."

Thinking about boys made her think about Akio. It was hard to believe that the Akio Haruna knew did something so terrible. There was no denying that throughout the school year Akio had seemed to be a little more devious than Haruna had thought he was, but to hear about him stooping to the level of toying with a girl's feelings was just something else entirely. "What a jerk," Haruna thought.

"Yeah, yeah, boys are pretty dumb!" Izumi said with a laugh. "And we'll show 'em how dumb they look today on the slopes!" The president's statement elicited cheers from the three others (not counting Haruna) in the van. Then, leaning in closer to Haruna's ear, Izumi whispered, "Although, I guess you really don't care about boys since you play for the other team." "W-Wha- I-! N-No, not really..." Haruna mumbled after her initial reaction. "Well at least you seem to be getting along well with Kana-chan," Izumi commented, making Haruna blush. "Leave me alone..." "Aw, but I love seeing you this way. Hey, can you say all that stuff again that you told Kana-chan? You know, all the things you looove about her," Izumi cooed. "Y-Y-You heard that?!" Haruna shrieked, feeling the full heat of embarrassment on her face. "Yup, yup!" Izumi nodded. "It's okay, I'm just teasing you. And don't worry, I won't tell a soul about how mushy you can be!" "Ugh..." Haruna groaned.

Being forcibly reminded of what she had just done made her wonder why she had even done it in the first place. "Seriously, what the hell was I even saying...?" Haruna thought. "I bet saying all of that stuff just creeped Kanako out..." There had been a good amount of unease in Kanako's expression when Haruna had said everything she had. Was that what was causing Haruna to feel more distance between them? "If that's the case, then I just got in my own way again..." It was beginning to feel like no matter what Haruna tried, she could never seem to get what she truly wanted without tripping over her own feet in the process.

Letting out a sigh, Haruna looked out the window. The scenery had quickly changed from flat land to trees, and it would only be a few minutes more until the club members arrived at their destination.

When they did, they were greeted with the sight of a large log cabin-like structure. Standing three stories tall, it contained a main lobby and rooms on the second and third floors, along with amenities such as lockers, baths, a pool table and foosball table, and rooms for massages. There were also several spots to relax, where patrons could come in and warm up by the fire while enjoying the drink of their choice. Overall, the resort had a very homely feel to it.