Date Her Instead Vol. 7 (Final Volume)

Chapter Nine: Nobody Is Happy

If there was ever a time for a blank look, the night Haruna got back from her date would be it. During the ride home, she and Kanako didn't say a word to each other, and even once Haruna was inside, she just went straight to her room, sat on her bed and stared at the wall. It had been about an hour or so since Katsumi's blackmailing, and Haruna still hadn't managed to process everything that had happened.

One moment, she was on the verge of taking the next step in her relationship with Kanako.

The next, her girlfriend was agreeing to go on a date with another girl.

It was such a 180 that it practically gave Haruna whiplash, but after a little more time passed, Haruna managed to settle on at least one thing: she was mad.

Angry.

Pissed off.

Enraged, even.

"What the hell is wrong with that damn girl?!" she screamed internally. "Blackmail?! Seriously?! Who even does that?!" Of course, thinking back, Haruna could recall the time Michi had tried to do the exact same thing to her, but compared to what Katsumi was doing, Michi's actions seemed minor. At least back then, Haruna had been able to just shrug it off. This time however, it wasn't that simple.

By legal definition, what Katsumi was doing was definitely a crime. In theory, Haruna should've been able to just go to the police, report her, and be done with it. Unfortunately though, blackmail wasn't the same as just any old crime. If a person didn't care about the blackmail material, it was completely useless. But, if the person did care, blackmail could be incredibly effective.

Even if Haruna did report Katsumi, there was nothing stopping her from posting that picture everywhere right before the police got to her. Not unless the police did a raid and completely surprised her and also took her phone. That thought amused Haruna a little, but she also knew it was unrealistic.

There was also the option of talking to her parents, but that would also mean explaining what she had been doing at the hot springs in the first place. It had been hard enough to get any level of approval for her relationship with Kanako in the first place. If Haruna's parents found out about what their daughter had done, there'd be all sorts of consequences to face.

To look at the situation in a simpler light, there was also the fact that Haruna didn't want to risk that picture being seen by anyone. "If anybody saw me and Kanako like that... that'd be so mortifying..." Haruna thought with dread. While she wasn't embarrassed to say she was in a relationship with Kanako, having such an intimate moment exposed like that felt like it might kill Haruna's standing in society.

"No matter how you look at it, it looks pretty bad," she thought. The two girls had already stirred up enough trouble just by telling people they were dating. Haruna could hardly imagine the fallout if those same two girls were suddenly shown (appearing to be) having sex (not to mention they're both still minors).

Haruna went quiet for a moment. Then:

"UGH, THIS TOTALLY SUCKS!"

Her shout earned her a yell from her mother to quiet down, but at the moment, Haruna didn't care. "Is the only thing I can do just hope that Ikehara-san keeps her word and deletes the picture?" Honestly, Haruna had her doubts. A lot of doubts. There wasn't a single reason for her to believe that Katsumi would actually do as she said. "With that picture, she could make Kanako do whatever she wants..." Haruna thought. "Hell, she could make me do whatever she wanted too..."

It was a sickening thought, but certainly a possibility. Given, there was probably a limit to how far Katsumi would be able to push Kanako, and Haruna knew she'd keep resisting until Katsumi gave up, but... "But just how long would that take...?" she wondered.