Date Her Instead Vol. 1

Chapter Eight: It's Raining

While Sunday drew nearer, Haruna found herself wishing more and more that she hadn't suggested a fake date. "What was I thinking?" she whined to herself. "This is going to be awful..." It was something Haruna couldn't understand. For some reason, in that moment between her and Kanako, saying they should go on a date seemed like the best idea to get things back on track, but now...

Over the course of those passing days, Haruna had informed Chiyo of all the details, much to her delight. Because of that, she had constantly been giving Haruna tips for dates, like what to wear or where to go. However, Haruna had already made up her mind on it all.

The plan was to meet up late Sunday morning at the community center in town. From there, they'd go see a movie and then grab something to eat. Afterwards, they'd go shopping or something. Basically, it was the most clichéd approach possible. Haruna knew that, but she felt like she didn't need to put in that much effort. As long as it looked like a date, that was all that mattered.

Of course, that mattered because another individual was also going to be present: Akio. As luck would have it, he had "happened" to overhear Chiyo talking about it with Haruna while they were coming back from lunch. After that, Akio told Haruna he'd be coming as well, to ensure that the "date" would actually play out like a real date. "The only problem is the forecast says there's a chance for rain on Sunday," Haruna thought.

"I'm so excited for you Haru-chi!" Chiyo squealed during lunch on Friday. "Why?" Haruna asked flatly. "It's not a real date Chiyo. Hell, it's not even with the right gender. The only reason I'm even doing this is to get Kanako back into our fake relationship so Miyashita-kun will be pleased." "Ah, so cold," Chiyo said, clapping her hand over her heart and sizeable bosom. "Whatever. As long as it's convincing, it doesn't matter," Haruna said.

*****

A couple of days ago, Haruna had kept true to her word and forwarded the meeting details to Kanako via text. It had surprised Kanako at first to see the girl's number suddenly appear on her phone. After all, it had been years since that had happened. The text itself was simple enough. All it said was to meet her at the community center at 11 o'clock on Sunday. But still, despite its simplicity, it made Kanako happy.

It was a weird feeling, and it was one that continued as she re-added her former childhood friend's phone number back into her contacts. "Haruna's number... is back in my phone..."

Thinking back, the whole reason it had been deleted in the first place was due to the two girls' fallout. After their argument, Kanako remembered that she had sprint home as fast as she could. She wanted to be as far away from that vile girl as possible, she had thought. In the heat of the moment and bubbling over with frustration and pain, Kanako hit the delete button on Haruna Endo's contact info without hesitation. However, it took only a few seconds for her actions to set in, causing Kanako to immediately regret doing what she did.

"It's not like saving her number would've meant saving our friendship or anything..." Kanako thought. "But... I wonder... Would things have turned out any differently if I had kept it? What if I sent her a text or called her? What if-?"

No. It's not like that would've changed anything. The two of them were neighbors and Kanako never once even made the effort to just go next door and say hi. What held her back though, was Haruna. "Would she even talk to me if I had tried?" Kanako wondered. "I get the feeling I would've only made things worse somehow..."

"But now..." Kanako's mind began drifting back to the present. "Now we're going on a date. Okay, so it's not a real date, but still! Haruna was the one to bring it up, so maybe that means she wants to reconnect too. Or..."