Date Her Instead Vol. 4

Chapter Fourteen: Feelings Flying And Falling

After an eventful day two of their school trip, many of the students once again went for the hot spring bath. The hotel was awash with conversation detailing their various excursions, most of which included classic tourist sites. They talked and talked, and while they had gone to the baths for relaxation, their excitement did not abate. It seemed that only when everybody had their say that their voices quieted, and soon, many of the students were fast asleep.

However, while plenty of them had tired themselves out, there were still some wide awake. A few groups were in a couple of rooms playing games or gossiping. A few others were getting in a second soak now that the chaos had died down. And then, there were several more that found themselves to be restless. The day's events had carried more weight than anticipated for some. One of those people was Kanako.

Getting the chance to see an area of Sapporo with Haruna was great. She got to see her make all sorts of expressions, and overall it seemed like Haruna enjoyed herself. They shopped together. They ate together. The whole day had been like a date. Really, it should've been perfect. And yet, it hadn't been. Constantly, there had been a thorn in Kanako's heart, jabbing her over and over relentlessly. They day that should've been perfect wasn't, and the cause of that was named Hinami Yamane.

Kanako knew that it wasn't right to get mad at Hinami. The girl was just a fan of Haruna's. As far as Kanako could tell, Hinami had no romantic feelings toward Haruna at all. After all, why would she? It's not like girls falling in love with other girls happens all the time. Kanako knew she was an outlier. That fact alone should've been able to provide her some comfort. The odds were on her side. Hinami was just friendly. Logically, everything told Kanako that she had nothing to worry about.

Unfortunately, love is rarely logical. No matter what Kanako told herself, no matter how much she thought and no matter how much she tried, a feeling assailed her. It told her that Hinami was a nuisance, that she was in the way. Of course, for as dark as that line of thought could get, it wasn't as if Kanako wanted to attack the girl or anything. Really, the jabbing she felt was more like a soft annoyance making sure it wasn't forgotten. In the days leading up to the school trip, that feeling had felt lighter and inconsistent, but ever since Kanako had seen Hinami being around Haruna so much, it had become impossible to ignore to any degree.

"But what am I supposed to do about it?" Kanako wondered. It was one thing to have this feeling, but it was entirely another to act upon it. Should she confront Hinami? "What good would that do? It's not like she's done anything wrong," Kanako thought. "Besides, even if I did, how would I justify it? Haruna and I aren't dating. Other than us being friends, I have no reason to get protective of her. Not to the degree of confrontation at least."

Looking back at her past actions, Kanako could admit she got a little defensive when it came to Haruna. It made her wonder if her feelings went back further than she knew. Of course, even if they did, it was impossible to know when exactly, and truthfully, Kanako didn't really think that was the case. Rather, her defensiveness had more to do with other people's perception of Haruna. They were always so mean and critical of her, but they didn't even know her. When she had been Haruna's victim, it had been basically impossible to defend her, but that didn't mean that Kanako hadn't wanted to. She knew Haruna. She knew what kind of person she was. Kanako had told herself that whatever her reasons were for acting the way she was, it didn't change the fact that the way people talked about her was wrong.

Now that things were different from then, Kanako's desire to defend Haruna from slander had only grown, and she knew she had been outspoken a couple of times already. But, this wasn't a matter of defense. If Kanako asked herself what she should do about this feeling, and the idea that came to mind was justified by the other idea that it was to "defend Haruna," would that be any better?