Date Her Instead Vol. 2

Chapter Three: Sleep Talking

"W-What do you mean I should come over?" Kanako asked hesitantly. "W-Well, I... I just thought that you shouldn't annoy anyone else with your problems, or something..." Haruna said half-heartedly. "I don't think Mi-chan would mind though..." Kanako said, going back to her phone. "I'll just text her."

"No!"

Kanako stopped, surprised by Haruna's outburst. "What do you mean no?" Haruna had surprised herself as well. "What the hell am I doing?!" she screamed inside. "I... I mean, um... i-it's good for our deal with Miyashita-kun, isn't it? If I help you out, I look good, and if you rely on me, that looks good too right?" It was a lame excuse, but Haruna couldn't come up with anything better. After all, she couldn't just say, "I don't want you to be with Fukuhara-san."

"Well, I doubt Akio-kun is watching us. It is getting pretty late, so he'd probably be home by now. But, maybe, just in case..." Kanako mumbled, then: "Okay... Thanks for the offer." Haruna unintentionally let out a sigh of relief. "Huh? Why am I so relieved? Doesn't this mean I have to spend more time with this pipsqueak now?" While Haruna tried to figure out her current feelings, Kanako walked around the fence that split their properties and came over to Haruna's side. "Shall we head inside?" Kanako asked pleasantly. "S-Sure," Haruna said, now feeling uncertain. Regardless, the two of them went in Haruna's house.

When Kanako walked inside, she felt a wave of nostalgia wash over her. "It's been so long since I've been here," she said while looking around. Overall, the house was nearly identical to her own, as the houses had been built as a set a long time ago. Rumor had it that the plan had originally been to make the whole neighbor have the same model houses, but after two, the construction stopped. Some people thought that the company responsible for the project might've run out of money, but a lot of people just thought that they realized having an entire neighborhood look the same wouldn't have been very appealing to buyers.

Really, the only difference between Kanako and Haruna's house besides the décor were the positions of the rooms. While there was a bathroom on the left down the hall from the front door in Kanako's house, it was on the right in Haruna's. What side of the space the kitchen was on was also reversed, and over the years the paint on the walls had changed from the original grey to a light blue, which was in contrast to the original beige in Kanako's house. One of the weirdest similarities however had to be that the upstairs level was completely identical to the neighboring house, which had led to Kanako and Haruna ending up with the same room, second from the left after the stairs.

Growing up, this had made things pretty easy for two kids. They were able to navigate each other's homes as well as their own, but a challenge quickly arose. When they were really young, their houses still looked almost the same on the outside, so on several occasions when coming home from school, Kanako and Haruna had gone to each other's houses. It was only when they got to one another's rooms that they'd realize it wasn't their own, and then they'd have to switch. After about the third time that happened, Haruna's parents decided to paint the siding a different color than their neighbor's so the mix up wouldn't happen anymore.

Because of all these similarities, when Kanako walked in, it felt like nothing had changed. Sure, maybe the flowers in the vase on the side table were different, or some of the pictures hanging on the wall had been updated, but for the most part, it was just how she remembered it.

As she stared, Haruna took off her shoes and began walking away, causing Kanako to recall what she had thought about in the morning. "I was all worried about how I would come over here again and now here I am..." Kanako felt a little annoyed by the thought. "I was worried for nothing apparently." So, following Haruna's lead, Kanako slid off her shoes and stepped into the front hall.