Date Her Instead Vol. 7 (Final Volume)

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Worries, Begone

The holidays soon passed, and as the cold days of December turned into January and approached February, there were two girls keeping plenty warm inside.

"K-Kanako, slow down!" Haruna cried as her girlfriend got on top of her. "What?" she asked with a smirk. "You know we have to keep warm~." "But the heat's not even out!" Haruna exclaimed. "Seriously, what's with you lately? Ever since Christmas, you've constantly been doing stuff like this." "You don't like it?" Kanako asked. "O-Of course I like it," Haruna sputtered. "But that's not the issue here..."

Sensing the mood becoming more serious, Kanako laid down next to Haruna on her bed. The two of them were currently in Haruna's room, and Kanako had been trying to take advantage of the fact that they were the only ones in the house. "...I'm just worried, that's all," she said quietly. "Worried?" Haruna repeated. Kanako nodded. "When we graduate, we'll have to be apart..."

In other words, their upcoming separation was Kanako's motivation to keep "attacking" Haruna. "It's not like we're breaking up or something though," Haruna pointed out. "We're just going to separate schools." "I-I know..." Kanako said. "B-But what if you find someone else while we're apart?" "Kanako, we've talked about this," Haruna said reassuringly as she ran her hand through Kanako's hair.

"I'm going to learn all I can from online classes and Hayashi-san about how to run a business, and you're going to learn about cooking for an inn. Then we'll open our own bed and breakfast and live happily ever after, right?"

Kanako was silent. "...That doesn't make being apart any easier..." she muttered. "Well climbing on top of me all the time isn't gonna help either," Haruna said. Then Kanako smirked and started moving. "Are you sure about that?" she whispered as she moved back to her previous position. "H-Hey!" Haruna exclaimed. "Kana-mmph! ...mmm..."

*****

As the sun rose on a chilly late January Tuesday morning, Michi's eyes slowly fluttered open. Despite the temperature outside, she was quite warm. Looking up mostly with just her eyes, she smiled softly as her gaze landed on a certain gal's sleeping face. At the moment, Michi was wrapped in her arms, a sleeping position that had become the norm for them rather quickly.

Once Michi and Chiyo had started dating, Chitose was the first to know after those at the Christmas party. Just as Chiyo had predicted, Chitose was plenty happy for them. What the elder Wakabayashi sister hadn't quite anticipated though was her younger sister basically moving in with Michi. Nearly from Day One of their relationship, if they weren't at school or hanging out with friends, Chiyo was at Michi's apartment. That included sleeping there too.

Gently, Michi slipped out of Chiyo's embrace and sat up. However, she found herself almost immediately ending up laying back down as Chiyo yanked her back. "Oof!" Michi exclaimed. "Geez Chiyo!" "Eheheh," the gal laughed cutely, giving a sleepy smile as she did. "Mornin' Mi-chan." "Good morning..." the girl replied, a little annoyed still. "If you were awake, you should've just woke up like a normal person." "I only woke up when you moved," Chiyo said. "I'm so used to you being in my arms that when you're not there, I wake up."

Michi's face quickly turned red. "D-Don't say things like that out loud!" "Why not?" Chiyo asked innocently. "B-Because..." Michi muttered. "I-It sounds... lewd..." "Pfft!" Chiyo let out, stifling a laugh. "C'mon Mi-chan! This is totally normal for couples!" Then, inching a little closer, Chiyo whispered, "Besides, ya won't let me do the stuff I really wanna do yet, so this was our compromise, remember?"

Being the gyaru she was, Chiyo had wanted to get to the very intimate couple activities right away. However, Michi had only just accepted her own feelings. The idea of jumping from such a low level to a high one was something that Michi just couldn't do yet. The two of them had been dating for around a month now, but even to this point, they still hadn't even kissed.