Date Her Instead Vol. 6

Chapter Thirteen: Two Versus One

"Well, here we are," Jasmine said casually. Having arrived back at the Kawaguchi residence, the two girls stopped walking. "Guess I'll like, see you at school tomorrow," Jasmine said. "Night, Mayu." But, as the gal went to turn away, Mayu stopped her. "Wait," she said suddenly. "Hm? What's up?" Jasmine asked, turning around. In response, Mayu said nothing. She didn't even understand why she had called out to Jasmine to wait in the first place. For some reason, she had a desire for her to stay, even if she knew she would be seeing Jasmine the next day.

Jasmine stared at Mayu for a moment before putting on a knowing smile. In a single stride, she was back to being right in front of the girl. "Did you want something, Mayu? Or were ya hopin' for something more?" Leaning in a bit, Jasmine looked right into the girl's eyes as she began to blush once more. "N-No... um, s-see you tomorrow!" Mayu said hurriedly. Quickly, she dashed up to the door, opened it carefully, then slipped inside. Once the door was shut, Jasmine laughed to herself. "Adorable."

Meanwhile, on the other side, Mayu's heart was beating rapidly. The thumping was so loud she was sure it would put her hard work to waste and wake up her mother. "What was that?" she wondered. "Something more? M-More what?"

It was true that when it came to romance, Mayu was fairly innocent, but thanks to her limited knowledge, along with spending more time with more experienced girls, even a girl like Mayu could guess at what Jasmine meant. Whether or not she was right, Mayu had no idea, but with even just the thought of "something more" crossing her mind, she felt her face get incredibly hot, and her heart somehow managed to beat even harder.

In an effort to calm herself, Mayu took in several deep breaths. While that seemed to help a little, the racing in her chest didn't cease completely. It was only when she got back to her room and laid down that she was finally able to bring her heart rate back down to normal levels. "Geez..." she thought. "What was that about?"

A part of Mayu wanted to think about it more, but she also knew she had more important things to deal with. Primarily, how to stop her mother from transferring her out of Iwanai Municipal High School. It was true that Ai hadn't explicitly said Mayu had to transfer, but her mother's words had been all too clear, conveying the threat of "if you don't listen, it'll get worse."

The biggest problem that Mayu saw at the moment was actually doing as she was told. Even if she wanted to, how could she? Not only were all of her friends in the same school building (which wasn't that large), but they had all even ended up in the same class. It wasn't in Mayu's nature to just flat-out ignore people, so if one of her friends spoke to her, she'd have to respond. Ai had to know that, so what exactly was she expecting?

Was Ai just being unreasonable, or was there more to the issue than what Mayu could see? She had a feeling it was the latter. Never once had Mayu known her mother to be so obstinate. Truthfully, she wanted to know why, but she also got the feeling that even if she asked, it probably wouldn't change her situation. Whether it was something as little as a basic dislike or something as large as a past trauma, none of that changed the fact that Ai was against two things: Mayu being friends with gyarus, and Mayu associating at all with Haruna and Kanako due to their relationship.

Considering four out of the seven girls she spent her time with were represented in that collection, it was only natural for Mayu to be opposed. But, just like always, a child's voice falls quiet in the ears of an adult. She could probably stand on the roof and throw a fit, and all that would result would be a serious scolding for her behavior.

Was there anything Mayu could do? She had been so bold as to say that she would make sure she didn't get transferred, but what did that mean if she couldn't back that up with action? For the first time in Mayu's life, she was faced with the task (or perhaps opportunity) to go up against her own parents while fighting for something she wanted. When put that way, it felt daunting... and a little exciting. A rebellious Mayu had never existed. Now, in the span of less than a day, she had fought with her mother and snuck out at night. Certainly, a part of her felt guilty for such things, but another part did find it all a bit fun.