Date Her Instead Vol. 7 (Final Volume)

Chapter Seventeen: A Change In Address

Mayu Kawaguchi's life, in a word, had become eventful. Merely a year or so ago, her day to day consisted of waking up and getting ready for school, helping her little sister Kanade along, and following her mother's instructions. It was simple, easy, and never required much thought. Was that a good or bad thing? Honestly, Mayu wasn't sure. Then again, if asked this same question one year ago, she probably wouldn't have had much of an answer then either, so perhaps it was bad after all.

Regardless, those days were long behind her, as a pink-haired storm had come rolling into her life. Although, storm might be an inaccurate descriptor. It was more like quicksand, Mayu supposed. No, wait, that wasn't right either... How best could she describe the rush Jasmine had created in her life?

Mayu had gone from simple, obedient daughter to questioning and maybe a little rebellious (at least by her mother's standards). That was purely thanks to a certain gyaru who, like it or not, was now a more regular part of Mayu's life. She didn't particularly mind, but her mother, Ai Kawaguchi, a traditionalist by all standards, did in fact mind quite a lot.

It was on a particular Saturday in what was now early June that yet another disturbance occurred at the Kawaguchi residence. With the weather finally warming up in earnest, Mayu, Jasmine and Itsuki had made plans to spend some time outside. What exactly they were going to be doing, they hadn't decided yet, but knowing Itsuki and her love of being outside, it most likely wouldn't take long to figure out something.

Still being in their first term of their third year, Itsuki still had to go to track practice. She didn't seem to be bothered by this, but it did mean that Jasmine and Mayu would be stuck waiting for her. So, Jasmine went to go pick up Mayu, and the two of them would walk together to the school to meet up with Itsuki.

Arriving at Mayu's house in her school uniform (worn extra loosely; the only reason she had it on was because they were going to the school and she didn't want to get yelled at for not wearing her uniform. Then again, she'd probably get yelled at anyways,) she knocked. With a tremendous thumping of feet, the door slid open quickly.

"Jasmine-nee-chan!" Kanade exclaimed happily. "Heya Kanade," Jasmine said, smiling and patting the little girl's head. With her black hair tied in a single braid, her face looked quite a bit like Mayu's, but that was about the only similarity. This girl was energetic and had a completely different sense of style (currently wearing a green t-shirt with blue overalls). Though, that all made sense for the now nine year old.

Just like many of Mayu's other friends, Kanade had taken to Jasmine after only a visit or two. However, unlike the others, she just seemed to enjoy sitting and watching Jasmine, mimicking what she did. When Jasmine asked about it, she received the following reply from Kanade: "You're so cool! I wanna be just like you!" Incidentally, that was probably also the first time she had ever seen Mayu look wounded. "I guess her pride as an older sister got hurt," Jasmine thought at the time, both feeling a little bad and amused.

"Are you here to play with my big sister?" Kanade asked. "Yeah, but we're not stayin' here," Jasmine said, which got a "Booo!" out of Kanade. Then she scampered off, all the while calling for Mayu. Thanks to the commotion, it turned out that the next person to arrive was not Mayu, but the elder Kawaguchi. She stood in her traditional dress wear, a small scowl on her face.

"Hello, Hiraoka-san," Ai said, only giving a greeting out of formality. "Hey Ai-chan," Jasmine said back coolly, deepening Ai's scowl. It didn't make her happy at all to hear Jasmine be so casual with her, especially adding a -chan to her name. "I've told you repeatedly to not call me that," Ai stated harshly, but Jasmine just shrugged. "Why not? It suits you." "It most certainly does not!" Ai exclaimed, causing Jasmine to smirk. "Like mother, like daughter," she thought, recalling some of Mayu's reactions.