Date Her Instead Vol. 1

Chapter Twelve: Answers Nowhere To Be Found

"If x is equal to 16, then how can y..."

"...what was this again?" Haruna wondered as she stared at the sheet laying in front of her. At the moment, she found herself on midterm test number 3 of 7 for the week. On Monday had been both language courses of Japanese and English, then Tuesday followed it up with math. Wednesday would be another double day, with the test week then wrapping up with one test each on Thursday and Friday. The results of each test wouldn't be posted until after the Sports Festival, which was next week. However, Haruna didn't need to see her scores to know she had utterly bombed the first two.

It wasn't as if Haruna was a bad student. She wasn't anywhere near the top either, but she at least knew enough to pass her classes. The problem was that she found her mind to be elsewhere at the most critical time of the year so far.

The feeling that was currently plaguing Haruna as she tried to understand the question she was on was one that had been reoccurring ever since the study session she had been a part of. It seemed that any time she tried to concentrate on something, she'd find her thoughts drifting back to that moment. Back to the moment of Kanako's spell-binding aura.

Haruna had wanted nothing to do with that study session, but upon Chiyo's insistence (and threats), she had went anyways. That had resulted in Haruna having an experience that she simply couldn't understand.

It was such a simple scene. A girl sitting across from her going over her notes. There was nothing special about such an action and there was certainly nothing about it that could possibly be construed as 'alluring.' And yet, Haruna had found herself frozen in place, with her eyes glued on the girl before her.

To her, for so many years, Kanako had been nothing but a pest, a constant thorn in her side that she was desperate to get rid of. Haruna felt nothing for her but anger and hatred. At least, that's what she had thought. So why was it that in that moment, Kanako had appeared to be so... entrancingly beautiful...?

Haruna shook her head violently to clear the thought away. "No!" she screamed inside. "It's not like that! That girl has nothing going for her. There's no way anyone would fall for that, especially not... me..." Haruna found her thoughts trailing off again. "Falling for...?" she wondered. Was that what it was? "That's absurd," Haruna concluded. "I fell for Miyashita-kun. That's who I'm in love with. Hell, that goes for boys in general. This feeling and what I feel for Miyashita-kun are absolutely not the same... It was just... just..." Unlike the last time Haruna had experienced her heart throbbing at the sight of Kanako, she struggled to come up with an excuse to explain it away.

Again she shook her head, this time causing the teacher to look up at her curiously from his papers. Haruna noticed and quickly sent her gaze back down to her paper. If she didn't get back to work, she wouldn't even finish the test, much less pass it. So, deciding to double her efforts, Haruna cracked down on her math midterm, flying through several questions before having to stop at one and think.

Unfortunately, losing that momentum allowed Haruna's thoughts to drift once more. Her mind hovered on the visual of Kanako studiously doing her work. The gentle glow of the sunlight pouring through the window beside them was soft against her skin, giving her a glow of her own. With a little motion of her head as she moved to read the next page, a thin lock of Kanako's hair fell loose from her head, dropping and swaying back and forth as it hung. She of course noticed, and brought up her hand to adjust it with slender fingers, dragging them lightly along the length of the lock and down the side of her face before setting it back down on the book she had open.

It was a scene that was a mix of real and imagined. Kanako fixing her hair had certainly happened, but in Haruna's mind, the details were a bit, well, exaggerated. All it had really been was a simple action of grabbing the hair and putting it back where it belonged. And yet, to Haruna, the scene had played out in a way that had kept her attention entirely.