Date Her Instead Vol. 7 (Final Volume)

Chapter Twenty-One: Worries Bigger Than A School Project

The walks to Iwanai Municipal High School were getting more uncomfortable by the day. Haruna's ankle was steadily healing, but it still hurt a little to walk long distances. Unfortunately though, her physical injury was the least of her problems. Mornings and afternoons both had become much more chaotic than Haruna would've liked.

"Ikehara-san, why do you insist on coming here every morning now?!"

"Endo-san, stop grabbing for your bag. I've told you, I'm carrying it."

"Don't ignore me!"

Yes, for the last three days after Katsumi's initial approach, she had shown up at Haruna's house to help. Naturally, Kanako was less than pleased by this development. Worse yet, whenever she tried to talk to Katsumi, she got completely ignored. The first time it happened, both Haruna and Kanako had been at a loss for words. They hadn't thought it was possible for the Kanako-obsessed Katsumi to ignore the girl she kept proclaiming her love for, and yet...

As it kept happening, Kanako began to get more and more frustrated, which brought them to the present, where she was now resorting to yelling at Katsumi in an effort to get any response at all. "I know you can hear me, Kat-chan!" Kanako called, using the old nickname in an effort to get a reaction. However, Katsumi didn't miss a single step as she kept walking along. Kanako's face took on a pouting expression as she became more annoyed.

Haruna could understand her feelings, but in fact, Katsumi had reacted. Walking side by side (Kanako on the left of Haruna, Katsumi on the right), she had been able to see a slight twitch in the girl's cheek. "There it is again..." Haruna thought. During their time together, this marked the fourth time Haruna had noticed it. "I have to give her credit," she thought. "Ikehara-san has some strong willpower."

To Haruna, these twitches were Katsumi's brief lack of restraint. It was obvious she was pushing herself to not just be around Haruna (and be courteous), but to also act like Kanako didn't exist. Her behavior was so odd that people at school were starting to get bold enough to ask about it. Just yesterday, a girl had approached Katsumi and asked her if she had suffered some sort of head injury. It was a pretty indirect (and rude) way to ask what was going on with her, but Katsumi's only reaction had been to give a somewhat lifeless smile and told the girl she was perfectly healthy.

Really, when it came to how Katsumi was acting, that was what bothered Haruna the most. Every reaction Katsumi had, every emotion she displayed (if you could even call them emotions), and even the words she spoke were just... off. It wasn't quite robotic or absolute monotone, but there was an artificial-ness to Katsumi now. It was so obvious she was faking whatever personality she was trying to convey, but at the same time, if someone had never met Katsumi before and spoke to her as she was now, they'd probably believe that was the real her. It was a very unsettling persona, to say the least.

To make matters worse, they were now on day four of this charade and neither Haruna nor Kanako had been able to figure out just what Katsumi was planning. They told Chiyo too about what was going on, and so far, even the gal didn't have any guesses. All she kept saying was "just don't let your guard down."

That was certainly advice that the couple were taking to heart, but admittedly, it was getting harder and harder to remain defensive when Katsumi wasn't doing anything. It wasn't as if they had lost all of their wariness of her, but when you keep expecting someone to attack, and they never do, you start to get exhausted mentally. Having to guard against a non-aggressive Katsumi was just draining.

"Here," Katsumi said, handing Haruna her bag now that they had made it to the classroom. Haruna took it, and then Katsumi went over to her seat like usual. Next to Haruna, Kanako glared. She had been in the worst of moods the whole week, and no matter what Haruna did, it seemed like there was no fixing it. "I mean, I'm not happy about it either, but staying that mad about it isn't really helping..." Haruna thought.