Date Her Instead Vol. 7 (Final Volume)

Chapter Eight: A Date With Consequences

The Sunday after Kanako's chaotic workday, she found herself at Haruna's house. While the two of them would've liked to be cuddling together, they unfortunately had something important to do. Specifically, the time of year had come when they had to fill out career path forms for school.

They had been given these forms around the beginning of the previous week (much to many students' dismay), and were told that the forms would be due by the following Monday. For the first and second-year students of Iwanai High, this tended to be a task filled with uncertainty, misery and guessing, but for third-years, that wasn't as much the case (though there were still some that had no idea what they were going to do).

However, for Haruna and Kanako, they both had a decent idea of what they wanted to do. And yet, despite knowing, they were both having a hard time filling out the rest of the sheet. "Ugh..." Haruna groaned. "Why do we have to put three options? It's hard enough to think of one." "Yeah," Kanako agreed. "I wish I didn't need to say other things I might want to do. It feels like I'm jinxing my first choice."

Glancing over at Kanako's sheet as they sat at the table, Haruna noticed that she already had the first two filled in. Naturally, the first said chef/higher education, but the second one surprised Haruna a little. "A... nurse?" she read aloud. "Why that?" "W-Well..." Kanako said, sounding a little reluctant to explain. "It's a little embarrassing to say it out loud, but... when you got hurt at that competition, I felt really powerless. I wished I could've done something for you right then and there. Maybe it's a really selfish reason, but I think being able to take care of the ones I care about might be nice. Though, I still want to be a chef more."

Haruna wasn't really sure what to make of that. "She'd want to put herself through medical school because of... me?" she thought. That sort of reason felt like it put some pressure on Haruna, but she quickly pushed it aside. "I'm sure her first choice will work out," she told herself. "And even if it didn't, it's not like I'd be the only person she would help if she became a nurse." Then, without really meaning to, the image of Kanako in a nurse's outfit floated into Haruna's mind. "That... might not be so bad..." she thought.

"Haruna?" Kanako said, bringing the girl back to reality. "Y-Yes?!" Haruna said loudly. For a moment, Kanako stared at her in confusion. "What were you thinking about?" "N-Nothing," Haruna said. "Anyways, what's gonna be your third choice?" "Hmm," Kanako let out, partly for her girlfriend changing the subject, but also out of genuine thought. "I really don't know. What about you? What do you have?"

Peeking at Haruna's form, Kanako saw the first choice said business owner. "Huh?" Kanako let out. "Does that mean you really want to do the bed and breakfast idea?" "Um, well, it's not like I really had any plans for my future," Haruna said sheepishly. "And... I think running a place like a cozy inn with you might be... nice..." "Aw, Haruna," Kanako said, feeling touched. "I'm glad I could inspire you. Oh, but why not put bed and breakfast instead of business owner?" "It's not like I'm going to be able to open my own business right away," Haruna said. "I'll have to go to school first to learn about how to even run a business, and then I'd need to get actual real-world experience. Although, that part shouldn't be too hard considering Hayashi-san did say I could work for her."

"Speaking of Hayashi-san," Kanako said. "Did you talk to her about a job?" In response, Haruna nodded. "I called her a few days ago. We talked, and decided it would probably be best after all if I waited until I graduated." "I see," Kanako said. "It looks like I might be the only one of us working..." "Huh?" Haruna let out. "Are you going to keep working for my aunt?" "She actually offered me a job," Kanako began to explain. "It would still be part-time, but I'd be a real employee instead of temporary."

"Are you going to take her offer?" Haruna asked. Kanako was silent for a moment. "...I want to," she finally said. "But I wanted to talk with you about it first." "Why?" Haruna said, surprising Kanako a little, so she went on. "Look, Kanako. I know how much you love cooking, and it's pretty clear that you want to make a career out of it. Getting a job at a cafe, a place where you'll get to learn a bunch of different stuff about cooking and how restaurants work, sounds like a good start to me. Then there's the fact that your boss would be Auntie Sara, who's bound to teach you a ton. I mean, she's been all over the world, and the one thing that was always consistent in her stories was her cooking something."