Date Her Instead Vol. 5

Chapter Nine: A Bit Of Advice

Wednesday, March 10. It was officially the day before the cultural festival, and the moods of the students were all over the place. A lot of them were excited about the event, looking forward to showcasing their ideas and efforts, but some of course were nervous. A few worried if they'd succeed in the festival, while a few others were trying to get everything to be perfect before the big day.

Regardless of their moods, most of the students were just happy that the festival was almost here. Plenty of them were enjoying wrapping up their preparations and getting ready to just enjoy themselves. Unfortunately, there was one class that wasn't among them.

"Endo-san, you missed your cue AGAIN!" Akitsuki shrieked. "What cue?! I'm not even in this scene for two more lines!" Haruna shouted back from the stage. Currently, the members of Haruna, Chiyo and Hinami's class were in the gym, using the stage in the back. The area itself was plenty spacious, with typical thick walls and a really high ceiling making up the dimensions. As the class practiced, volunteers were helping to set up chairs for the future audience. While they did, they occasionally looked up at the chaos on stage and found their worries about the show's success continuously increasing.

"One more time! And Endo-san, come in when you're supposed to!" Akitsuki commanded. "I am you idiot," she mumbled as she trudged back to the right wing of the stage. "Don't worry about it Haru-chi. You'll get it this time!" Chiyo offered enthusiastically. "Yeah, sure..." Haruna muttered. Just one look at her was enough to see how exhausted she was.

For the past several weeks, the class had been practicing morning and night in order to make the play a success. Being in one of the main roles, the time demanded of Haruna had been even greater than most. It felt like the only thing she had done for weeks now was practice, and because of that, she was beginning to wear quite thin.

"This is scandalous! Where's Holden?! Get him in here now!"

"Y-Yes sir!"

...

"He's not at his desk!"

"Then check outside!"

...

...

"ENDO-SAN!!" Akitsuki screamed. "THAT'S. YOUR. CUE!!!" "It shows two more lines before I come in!" Haruna shouted back. "We cut those two days ago! You should know that!" Akituski yelled back. In Haruna's hand, the grip on her script tightened. "No, I shouldn't know that, because two days ago you made me go practice separately with Chiyo!" "We told you later!" Akitsuki shouted. "No you didn't!" Haruna protested.

Haruna Endo possessed very little remaining patience. In the last several weeks, she had listened to Akitsuki's overbearing directing. She had practiced like she was supposed to, she put in the effort to memorize her lines early, and she had even gone to the theater club for advice. Now, one might wonder why someone who didn't care about the play would go to such lengths. For Haruna, there were two reasons. The first was that she didn't want to make a fool of herself on stage, because she knew she'd never live it down. The second was that on the chance that Kanako came to see the play, Haruna wanted to look good for her. Perhaps they were simple and basic reasons, but it was enough to keep Haruna motivated.

However, simple motivation can only carry you so far, and Haruna was finding that out quickly. Replacing her drive was annoyance and exhaustion, and with each successive comment that came out of Akitsuki's mouth, Haruna got closer and closer to snapping.

"Just breathe Haru-chi. If ya don't, I'm pretty sure that vein on your forehead will totally pop," Chiyo said. Taking in a deep breath, Haruna let it out. "I'm already trying to damn hard as it, even when I don't want to do this. What more does she want from me?" Haruna grumbled. "I gotta admit, I'm gettin' pretty tired of Akitsuki too," Chiyo said quietly. "But she's supposed to be the director, so it's not like we can ignore her." "Can't you just lecture her again?" Haruna asked. "Nope," Chiyo said instantly. "Really, what she's been saying isn't wrong. She just sucks at actually saying it." "You realize that doesn't make things any better don't you?" Haruna pointed out.