Date Her Instead Vol. 4

Chapter Sixteen: The Ride Home

"Ahh, I'm soo gonna miss this fluffy bed!" Chiyo said as she flopped down onto the sheets. "You have a bed at home," Haruna pointed out. "Yeah, but like, it's not the same y'know? Like, hotel beds are just different," Chiyo said. "I-I agree. B-But, then again, I-I sleep on a futon at h-home," Hinami chimed in. "I almost wish we could've had those instead. Nights on this trip would've been a lot more interesting, don't'cha think Haru-chi?" Chiyo said with a wink. Her face was then met with a pillow. "Shut up," Haruna muttered.

Sitting up, Chiyo smirked. "Oh, is that how it is?" "Is that how what- oomph!" Haruna began to say, but was cut off by a pillow to her own face. "You..." she growled. "Bring it on Haru-chi," Chiyo said, arming herself with another pillow. "A-Ah, g-guys, I-I-I don't know if y-you should does this," Hinami panicked. Next to her, Kanako sighed. "I doubt we can stop them now..."

And so, the war began. Haruna and Chiyo went at it for a while, throwing and whacking each other with pillows. They jumped all over the place, and while they did, Kanako and Hinami talked. "I-I'm glad that we cleared everything up," Hinami said. "Me too," Kanako agreed. "A-Although, I do feel a little bad. If I hadn't been acting like that, we all probably could've had a better time..." "I-It's okay. I still had l-lots of fun!" Hinami said happily. "Glad to hear it-" Kanako said, but just as she finished, a pillow hit her head.

"Oops. "Whoopsie."

Standing in front of her looking guiltier than ever were Haruna and Chiyo. At the same time, a teacher heard all of the noise coming from inside. They knocked, and Hinami answered, but just as the teacher entered the room, she found she had terrible timing.

"Hey... Haruna... Chiyo..." Kanako said, sounding particularly serious and scary. "I don't mind if you two want to have fun, but I would appreciate it if I didn't get hit by your stray misfires." Shaking, Haruna and Chiyo both quickly bowed. "S-Sorry Kanako!" "Really sorry!" Meanwhile, the innocent teacher trembled a bit behind her, as did Hinami, who was seeing Kanako's serious mode for the first time.

Once she saw her point had been made, Kanako turned around to see the teacher and Hinami. "Huh? A-Are you two okay?" she asked, completely bewildered as to why the two individuals looked a little scared. "Y-Yep, all good!" the teacher said before dashing out. "K-K-K-K-Kana-chan, y-you can get p-pretty s-s-scary huh...?" Hinami sputtered. "Scary?" Kanako repeated with a tilt of her head. "Why do people tell me that?"

After the sightseeing had concluded for the day, all of the students had been brought back to the hotel for their final night of the trip. Many of them elected to enjoy the hot spring baths as much as they could, with even a few forgoing dinner. Then, the next morning, they'd all head back to Iwanai. But in the meantime, the students were having all sorts of fun that they could before the trip was over. Chiyo and Haruna had been a part of that, but after Kanako's stern warning, they decided to tone it down a bit.

"I think I'm going to go get a drink," Kanako said. "Oh, I'll come with ya!" Chiyo said. So, the two girls made their way through the halls down to the vending machines. While making her selection, Chiyo started talking. "It looks like you figured out what was bothering you." Remembering one of their previous conversations, Kanako gave a slight smile. "Yeah, I did. I-I'm glad you didn't tell me. If you had, I don't think I would've dealt with my feelings properly. Now that I have, I feel like my heart's finally in the right place. I even got a new friend out of it too."

When both girls had their drinks, they sat down in a couple of nearby chairs. "I-I admit though, I feel kind of dumb for not realizing I was jealous," Kanako said. Chiyo shrugged. "I think it's fine. No one goes through the experience of love the same way. For some people, it's natural and everything just makes sense to them. But, for others, it's just one big muddled mess. It can be hard to make heads or tails of your feelings, even when you feel like they should be obvious."