Date Her Instead Vol. 1

Chapter Fifteen: What Are We?

"Damn it..." was all Haruna could say as she leaned against the cold stone wall. "I can't believe I actually lost to that stupid girl, and in such a dumb way too." Haruna had felt both mad and embarrassed when she had tripped on the track, but after finding out she had come in second, all that really remained was anger. "What a joke...huh?"

Looking fully up from her shoes, Haruna saw a ponytail-clad girl coming her way. "Oh you've got to be kidding me," Haruna thought. Closer and closer the girl got, until finally she was standing in front of Haruna. "What do you want?" Haruna spat. "W-Well, I... I was hoping-" Kanako began to say.

"Hey, you two!" a teacher coming out of the school suddenly yelled. Looking in the direction the voice came from, they saw it was Mr. Sugiwara. "If you have time to be lollygagging, then help me out with this stuff!" Haruna and Kanako were both confused at first, but then they saw the pile of metal rods clutched in Mr. Sugiwara's arms. "I gotta go help with the pole-toppling event, so I need you two to take these to the storage shed." "Seriously? Why do we have to do it?" Haruna complained. "Because you were the first two I saw! Besides, they're not even that heavy! A child could do this, so quit yer complaining and do it!"

For as fierce as Haruna could be, even she knew not to pick too much of a fight with Mr. Sugiwara, who was practically the living embodiment of muscle. Gym teacher, track coach and all-around tough guy, he was the one teacher every student feared to one degree or another. "Fine, whatever..." Haruna mumbled as she stood up straight and started shuffling over to the rods that Mr. Sugiwara put down.

Kanako followed suit and the two girls both pick up ten rods each. "This sucks," Haruna said. "The shed's all the way on the other end of the school." Kanako didn't have a response. It wasn't like she wanted to do what they were doing either, but at the same time, being forced to do a task together meant that Kanako had a window of opportunity. Unfortunately, she was still pretty tired from running as hard as she could, so she struggled to even keep up with Haruna as they walked.

While they made their way across campus, Kanako tried to think of different ways to start the conversation and how it should go. "Should I start with an apology? Or maybe make small talk first? No, that would just be weird..." She jumped from idea to idea, but before she could decide on an approach, they arrived at the storage shed.

The shed itself was certainly nothing impressive. It sat in the back corner of the school's property and in a totally inconvenient spot for all of the clubs and teams that used it. There had been plenty of complaints to the school about its positioning, but no one ever did anything about it, so the shed remained where it did. Overall, it wasn't in bad shape. Its gray metal walls were sturdy and the tin roof on top remained well-sealed. There were a couple small windows that lined the top, but they were kind of pointless, as only a tall person standing on a box could see out of them.

When they arrived, Haruna set down her cargo and pulled the on the pad lock. "I guess it was already unlocked," she commented after feeling no resistance. Taking the lock off and then leaving it hanging on one of the doors, Haruna slid the door open and picked her rods back up.

Once both girls were inside, they stood still. "Where the hell are we even supposed to put these things?" Haruna wondered aloud. "M-Maybe in the back?" Kanako suggested, earning herself a glare from Haruna. "Sure, whatever," she said. So the two of them went to the back of the shed and behind some shelves.

While they were putting the metal rods down, they suddenly heard the door slide shut and then a clicking sound. "Wait a minute... don't tell me..." Haruna muttered before quickly moving to the door. It was now shut, and after a few tries of the handle, Haruna's worst suspicions had been confirmed: They were locked in. "Talk about cliché..." Haruna said under her breath.