Date Her Instead Vol. 7 (Final Volume)

Chapter Ten: A Date Without Joy

The wall hung on the clock, and as the seconds ticked by, it felt like the sound only got louder the longer Michi sat in silence. It was well-past the end of school, and the sun was just beginning to set, casting the empty classroom into a fading yellow light. At her desk, Michi only stared at the door. Briefly, she glanced up at the clock. The time read 6:30.

"Even the sports clubs will be wrapping up by now..." Michi thought. To make it more obvious, she couldn't even hear the calls for a pass or play from any of the students outside. "Maybe they've all already left..."

She looked at the door. Then the clock. The door. The clock. The window for a few seconds. The clock. The door.

"Haaaaah... What the hell am I doing...?"

No one was around to answer her question, leaving Michi to only guess. "She said she'd be back... what a liar..." she thought. When Michi had last spoken to Chiyo, that was what the gal had told her. But then classes passed, and breaks went by, and even clubs met and then went home. Through all of it, Chiyo was nowhere to be found. And yet, for some reason, Michi had stayed. She wanted to come up with some sort of excuse for her actions, but really there was none. Only one explanation fit the situation she found herself in, and it was that Michi had decided to wait for Chiyo.

"She even left her bag..." Michi thought, staring down at the blue school bag covered in glitter, fake jewels and several mascot keychains. "...she really does make all of her stuff her own." Thinking back on it, Chiyo had always had that sort of style as far as Michi knew. Big, flashy hairstyles, a variety of make-up, and alterations to her uniform that never flew with the student disciplinary committee. More recently, Chiyo's uniform had become more normal than it used to be, but she still made sure to pull the collar down low and bring the skirt up high.

"Back then, I never would've imagined I'd spend hours in a classroom just waiting for her..." Michi thought. "If past me saw this, she'd think it was an illusion or something." So much for Michi was different than what it had been, and it all seemed to revolve around this one gal.

"I said I need to change, but... I guess I've already changed a lot, haven't I?"

Standing up, she reached down to grab Chiyo's bag. The gal had started to come over more often in the mornings, so Michi figured she could just give Chiyo her bag then. "But I'm definitely going to let her hear it for being a liar," she thought, miffed.

But, just as she made the decision to leave and reached the door, Michi heard the equivalent of a stampede coming down the hall. "Who... ah..." Michi said, spotting the source. Sure enough, there was Chiyo, tearing down the hall. However, as soon as she saw Michi, she practically skidded to a stop.

"M-Mi-chan?!" she exclaimed. "What're ya still doin' here?!" "Um... I just... ugh, here!" Michi said, thrusting the gal's bag to her chest. "This is why you came back in such a rush, right?" "Yeah, that's right," Chiyo said. "Gotta make sure I get my homework done. Oh, and this bag has like, some of my make-up and stuff in it too."

As Chiyo explained, she suddenly fell quiet. Holding her bag close to her, she nervously looked at Michi. "Hey, um, Mi-chan?" "What?" Michi said back. "Ya didn't, y'know... look through my bag or anything, did ya?" Chiyo asked. A perplexed expression crossed Michi's face. "Why would I look through your bag?" she asked, confused. "Oh, n-no reason!" Chiyo said, quickly turning around. "Anyways, let's go home!"

The two girls walked in a bit of an awkward silence, but as they did, Michi wondered why Chiyo asked what she had. "Is there something in her bag she doesn't want me to see?" Michi thought. "Is it something bad, or is it..." The rest of that thought would've been "something about me," but Michi shook her head. "No way. Why would Chiyo even have something about me in there?"