Date Her Instead Vol. 2

Chapter Seven: Oh

It wasn't long before July 7th rolled around. Throughout the week, both the school and the community had been making preparations for the festivities to celebrate Tanabata. In the busier parts of Iwanai, shops had been more proactive in trying to get customers, and inside Iwanai Municipal High School, plenty of students were bringing in various sizes of bamboo to hang wishes on.

As fortune would have it, the holiday happened to fall on a Sunday, so everyone in town was able to attend the festivities. Thankfully, even with it being summer, plenty of people still came from out of the city too to share in the fun. Typically Iwanai was known for their winter resorts, but the areas they were located in still provided a lot of opportunities for tourists. The hills and mountains were relaxing enough, but adding in certain locations with hot springs and activities such as hiking and exploration certainly helped to keep the city's economy afloat.

One such resort was more well-known than the others though, and that was the Hidden Corner Ski Resort. It drew tons of business during winter and also happened to be home to Iwanai High's Snowboarding/Skiing Club, of which Haruna was a member. However, while the resort's prime time was when it was cold out, there was one summer event in particular that they were known for: festival fireworks.

Every year, Hidden Corner put on a huge festival for Tanabata and at the end, they had a fireworks display that most said was the best in the prefecture. That grand finale was mainly the reason so many non-natives showed up to the Iwanai festival, but that wasn't to say there weren't other things to enjoy as well. But even with all of the loud laughing and general having-a-good-time atmosphere, there was one person that couldn't relax.

Haruna continued to fidget inside her house. She found herself to be incredibly nervous while anticipating what was to come. "I'm going to the festival with Kanako..." she thought anxiously. "What will we do? Will we play games? Should I try to win her something? W-Will we be holding hands the whole time?" While Haruna panicked, her phone buzzed. Checking it, she saw Chiyo had told her to do something that would add to Haruna's stress.

Running upstairs, Haruna went into her room and dug in her closest for a certain piece of clothing. "There it is!" she exclaimed, pulling out what she had found. On a hanger tucked in the back had been an old yukata. The color of it was a dark red with a simple golden line design decorating it. The look of it almost resembled a type of Chinese dress. However, there were a couple problems.

For one, the cloth itself had several small tears had the bottom. They weren't that noticeable, but it was almost a guarantee someone would see them. Haruna knew exactly what the tears were from too. The year before the last time she had gone to the festival, Haruna had worn the same yukata. While there, she ended up tripping over a rock and getting scratched up. The fabric had taken a beating too, as it had caught on a couple of sharp edges on the ground. The next year, Haruna opted to just wear a t-shirt and jeans.

That had been her plan this year as well until Chiyo had sent her a message practically begging her to wear one. "But even if it wasn't messed up, it's still too small," Haruna said as she stared at the outfit hanging in front of her. Holding it up to fall in line with her frame, it only came down to just above her knees. "It's times like these that I'm reminded of how tall I am," Haruna sighed. Up through middle school, Haruna had basically been average height, but in junior high she hit a major growth spurt.

Knowing she'd never hear the end of it from Chiyo if she didn't wear a yukata, Haruna went to ask her mom if she had one. "Hm? A yukata?" she repeated. "I didn't know you were going to the festival tonight. I thought you said you hated it." "Yeah, well, I changed my mind..." Haruna mumbled. "Alright. I do have one that I could let you wear. It's too small for me now, but it should fit you."