Date Her Instead Vol. 7 (Final Volume)

Chapter Fifteen: Arrow

The first thing Kanako did when she woke up was stare at the ceiling. Her mind was still in a daze, but after staring for a moment or two, she realized the ceiling she was looking at wasn't her own. "Huh? Wait, this is... Haruna's room..." she thought, finally starting to wake up. Turning over, she saw that the owner of the room was nowhere to be found. Although, in a way, Kanako was thankful, because the more she woke, the more she began to recall.

There was embarrassment. A lot of it, in fact. The things the two of them had done last night were so fresh in Kanako's mind that she was sure her face was going to burn off. She threw her hands onto her face in some sort of failing effort to both cool herself and hide. "Oh God..." she groaned.

However... despite her embarrassment at remembering, Kanako also found herself to be extremely happy. "That... wasn't a dream, right?" she thought. Throwing the covers off, Kanako took a look under her shirt. Though it was dark, she could make out a couple of red marks, along with a bite mark or two. "It really happened..." she thought. "Haruna and I... slept together..."

Being the older-teenager-but-not-quite-adult age that she was, it was an odd feeling. On one hand, Kanako felt like she had taken a step further in many regards to her life. On the other, she felt incredibly naughty having basically done something so explicit behind her parents' back. "T-Then again, once we head off to college, this will probably happen more often, s-so I guess it's fine if I keep this a secret..." Really, just the thought alone of telling her parents about what she had done made Kanako want to die.

But putting that aside, now that the reality of her situation had sunk in, she was beginning to wonder just where her other half had gone. "Haruna does wake up earlier than me, but I didn't think she'd get out of bed without waking me up," Kanako wondered. Then, a concerning idea came to mind. "Oh no... she didn't get up early to try to make me breakfast like you see in movies, did she...?" Haruna in the kitchen was always a thought that greatly worried Kanako, especially with each successive failure she saw the girl make. And then, just as that worry had started to slowly creep up, it skyrocketed as Kanako smelled something... odd.

Quickly, she got up out of bed and headed downstairs. As she got closer, the smell became stronger, somewhat taking the form of eggs, garlic, something burning and... honestly, Kanako wasn't even sure what else. All she could do was nervously make her way into the kitchen. Unfortunately, when she arrived, it was as bad as she had feared.

In a word, it was a nightmare.

To start, all four of the stove's burners were on, but only three of them had things on them (two pots and one pan). The counter space was filled with both ingredients and tools and appliances all strewn about, and in the middle of it all was Haruna, humming away. Between the spill of sugar going from countertop to floor, the mixing bowl with splotches of something dark brown, and a sizzling that sounded far too loud, Kanako didn't even know where to start.

"G...Good morning, Haruna," Kanako said. Hearing the girl's voice, Haruna turned around. "Good morning, darling," she said very pleasantly. It was clear she was in a great mood. "If only the kitchen matched it..." Kanako thought before speaking again. "S-So, what are you doing in here?"

"Making breakfast!"

"I-I thought you didn't cook because you're bad at it?"

"I am, but I feel rejuvenated. Well, my body is sore as hell, but my spirit feels great, so I thought I'd try to make us something!"

"A-And what is this s-something?"

"I'm not skilled like you, so it's nothing fancy. Just some pancakes and eggs."