Date Her Instead Vol. 6

Chapter Five: The Date They Both Deserve

When morning came, the sunlight came shining in through the cracks between the curtains. A few birds chirped outside, signaling the slow thawing of Hokkaido. With a few days remaining of break before the start of the new school year, it was all rather relaxing. That is, unless you considered the wreck of a girl lying in bed.

Having bags under her eyes due to a complete lack of sleep, Haruna found herself to be nervous beyond any amount she had expected. Her goal today was to ask Kanako out on a date, but when put into context, the task began to feel a lot more hazardous. Their first "date" had ended with Kanako leaving Haruna after Haruna had been a total jerk to her the whole day. Then, after Haruna had realized her feelings for Kanako, she gotten to take the girl out for her birthday. That "date" had gone well enough, but having Akio hanging over her head and still keeping her feelings to herself had prevented Haruna from really enjoying the "date."

Now though, the two girls were finally a proper couple, which meant that Haruna could ask Kanako on all the dates she wanted. That fact on its own was great, but when put into practice, Haruna found it to be challenging. There was her previous date history to consider, and on top of that, she hadn't realized just how nerve-wracking asking someone on a date could be.

"She's my girlfriend now. Why is this such a problem?!" Haruna yelled internally as she grabbed her head. "All I have to do is say, 'hey Kanako, are you free on Saturday? Let's go on a date.' It's that easy!" She had spent an entire night agonizing over this, and yet she still hadn't found any way to work up the courage she needed.

There were a couple of issues, of course. The first concern was what if Kanako said no? The likelihood was low, and really, even if she did say no, what was the worst that would happen? It wasn't like they'd break up over it. Really, the only damage done would be to Haruna's hopes, which could recover in due time. The second concern, and perhaps the bigger one, was actually planning the date. At this point, Haruna felt like she had exhausted all of her local resources. Hardly anything was left to do in the small town that she hadn't already done together with Kanako.

Lastly, the third issue was being seen. In the past, that hadn't mattered, as Haruna and Kanako weren't a couple. Despite all of the rumors and even occasional questions, they had always been able to deflect it all by insisting they weren't together. Now, not only would that not sound convincing from either of them, but neither Haruna (and she assumed Kanako) wanted to hide their relationship. However, that didn't mean they were quite ready for everyone to know yet. They had only become a couple within the last week. Having that become public knowledge already just felt too soon, especially considering neither girl had told their parents yet.

If they were seen and somehow everyone figured out what was going on, it could spell disaster. It was better if Haruna and Kanako could at least somewhat control the flow of information, so that way the people around them could adjust if necessary rather than experiencing a shock to their system. Sure, girls dating other girls wasn't highly unusual anymore, but that didn't mean certain people wouldn't react poorly to the news that there was a couple like that in their town.

But, for as much as Haruna was worried about something like that, she also knew there was nothing she could do about it. If people found out, then that would be that. She would just have to hope that things would work out. So, with that conclusion in mind, she started putting more hope into the idea of going on a date with Kanako.

Of course, that hope was entirely pointless if Haruna couldn't actually ask Kanako out. "Maybe I should just text her," she thought, but then shook her head. "No way, that'd be so pathetic. Besides, she lives next door. It'd look pretty bad if I couldn't just go one house over and ask."