Capítulo 30: Chapter Eleven: Uptown
A couple weeks into summer break left Haruna constantly sitting around. Her mother complained about her own laziness, but there wasn't much that could be done about it. After all, Haruna only had a couple of friends she could hang out with, and one wasn't even in town. At this point, she thought she'd even take conditioning for her club over just wasting away on her couch.
It was at that thought that Haruna's phone rang. Answering it, she was surprised by who had called. "Hi Haru-chi," the sultry voice said. "Hey Jasmine-chan. What's up?" Haruna asked, confused. It was true that Haruna and Jasmine were friends, but their main connection to each other was through Chiyo. If not for her, then Haruna and Jasmine probably would've never even spoken to each other. So because of that connection, when Chiyo was missing, the two of them didn't tend to hang out together on their own.
"Wanna go uptown with me tomorrow?" Jasmine asked. ���I hope it's not to pick up guys..." Haruna thought, then responded. "Sure, I guess. Where should we meet?" "How about my house? We can go to the bus stop from there," Jasmine said. Haruna sighed. Jasmine's house was definitely closer to the nearest bus stop, but it was also in the opposite direction that Haruna went from the school. To give a geographical layout, Iwanai Municipal High School sat southwest of the main part of town. From there, Haruna and Kanako lived about a quarter of a mile northwest of the school, while Michi, Itsuki and Mayu were all relatively south of the school. Chiyo and Akio lived directly west of the school (so when Chiyo meets up with Haruna in the mornings, it is a little out of the way) and finally, Jasmine lived to the northeast-ish direction of the school. From that point, going further up would take a person to the main roads and businesses of Iwanai, essentially downtown.
The problem was that there was a bit of a transportation gap in between where the school was and where, well, everything else was. For one, the nearest bus stop was around 8 to 10 blocks away depending on the location one was coming from, potentially farther. The other typical form of public transit was a train, but most stations don't sidle up right next to a school. Besides, that problem didn't really matter much considering there were no trains in Iwanai to begin with. The nearest station was Kozawa Station, which was about a 20-25 minute drive away. So left with little other choice, until they could get to the main part of town, people either walked everywhere or somehow found a ride.
"If that doesn't work I could always call a ride service or something. Although, they're not very reliable. Actually I think there's less than 10 of them in the city..." Jasmine trailed off. "No, it's fine. When Kanako and I went on that fake date a while back, we walked all over the place, so it's whatever," Haruna said. "Ohhh, right, your fake date that ended in disaster," Jasmine commented. "Look, do you want me to go with you or not?" Haruna shot back, not caring to be reminded of her past failures. "Yeah, yeah, no need to get all huffy on me Haru-chi. Let's say tomorrow at 10. Sound good?" "Yeah, sure," Haruna agreed, and that was the end of the call.
Tossing her phone down beside her, Haruna thought for a moment about hanging out with just Jasmine. "It's not like I don't like her," she said to herself. "We just never do this. I don't even remember the last time we would've, if we ever have." Of course, part of the reason for their lack of hanging out was because Jasmine normally had a steady streamline of boyfriends. "Come to think of it, last summer she was with a different guy every week. I'm pretty sure one of them even took her to some island."
Haruna also realized that Jasmine hadn't said what exactly they'd be doing uptown. "I just hope it's nothing out of my comfort zone," Haruna thought, now beginning to dread the coming day. Knowing there was nothing she could do about it now, Haruna spent the rest of her time lying around like she had all summer.
When the next day arrived, Haruna made sure to wake up early so she could be ready in time and make it to Jasmine's house before 10 a.m. In Haruna's case, getting ready simply meant throwing on a pair of black shorts and a somewhat tight-fitting light blue t-shirt with a design stitched onto it in a white outline that could only be described as "abstract." Satisfied enough with her looks, Haruna grabbed what she needed and headed out.
Luckily, Jasmine had remembered to text her the address. Haruna had been to Jasmine's house once before with Chiyo, but she had only been there for a few minutes before the group of them left to do something else. Following the route the GPS on her phone gave her, it wasn't too long before Haruna reached her destination.
The place she had arrived at was a small, single story house spaced out a little further from the rest of its neighbors. The outside had brown siding and honestly looked a little shabby, with the shingles beginning to look patchy on the roof. All the windows in sight had curtains blocking the view of anyone trying to look in, and the small yard that surrounded the house appeared to be in rough shape. "I don't remember it looking this bad..." Haruna thought as she stared at the property.
"Oh, good you're here," Jasmine said as she walked out of the front door. "You ready?" "I guess," Haruna said with a shrug. Before Jasmine could speak, the muffled sound of glass shattering caught Haruna's attention. "Let's like, get out of here," Jasmine said quickly. She looked at her home with an anxious expression. "Jasmine-chan, is every-" Haruna wasn't able to finish her sentence. A finger was put to her lips to silence her. "A bit of mystery is good for a girl, don't'cha think so?" Jasmine said in a seductive sort of tone. Knowing she wasn't going to get an answer, Haruna pushed Jasmine's finger away. "Whatever. We better hurry, or we'll get stuck waiting for the next bus."
As they walked, Haruna wondered about what had just happened. "The way she reacted reminded me of Chiyo," she thought. Really thinking about it, it was stuff like that that was why the two gals got along, at least that was Haruna's theory. Chiyo was normally pretty cheerful and even helpful when you needed her to be, not to mention she loved to have fun. However, it had taken multiple trips to Chiyo's house and some forceful, genuine concerned talk from Haruna to get anything out of her that wasn't superficial. Now, Haruna knew Chiyo fairly well, although there were still times she felt like she didn't.
Taking a glance at Jasmine, she seemed to be back to her usual, sexy self, but the face she had made earlier led Haruna to believe that her home life might be similar to Chiyo's. "I wonder if that's how they became more than just birds of the same feather..." Truthfully, there was little that Haruna knew about Jasmine that others didn't. The public facts were that her mother was American and her father was Japanese. She also tended to date a lot, but she didn't make a show of her relationships like Chiyo did. Aside from that, all Haruna really knew about Jasmine was that she liked bubble tea and that she once said the secret to her wavy hair was in rolling pins.
"Well, I do kinda want to know more about her, but she seems like the type that wouldn't give straight answers," Haruna thought. "Maybe that's the real reason why she goes through so many guys." Jasmine looked over at Haruna and saw her staring, then gave her a playful wink. "Do my looks enthrall you that much Haru-chi?" she joked. "God, I swear, it's times like these that make me think you and Chiyo are the same person," Haruna said in annoyance. ���Haha! Well, yeah, Chiyo def does stuff like that a lot. She's a handful, that's for sure," Jasmine said with a laugh. "It's funny that you say that. Sometimes I get the feeling you don't like her," Haruna said. "Nope. Couldn't be further from the truth," Jasmine stated matter-of-factly. "I really like having Chiyo around. She's a blast-an'-a-half. But I also like giving her a hard time. Her reactions are just so funny to me."
That made sense to Haruna. With all the ribbing she got from Chiyo, Haruna admittedly got some pleasure out of seeing the gal's actions come back around. Deciding to change the topic slightly, Haruna asked a question. "I'm surprised you're even available this summer. Did you run out of guys to date or something?" "Not exactly. Although, that list is getting shorter by the day," Jasmine said. "But, that's kinda why I've made the decision I have." "Decision?" Haruna repeated.
"I've decided to go celibate," Jasmine said resolutely. "Celi-what?" Haruna said. It was a word unfamiliar to her. Jasmine pretended to adjust imaginary glasses, then went on to explain. "The act of being celibate is to be unmarried or to abstain from sexual intercourse. Usually, it's done for religious reasons, but lately it's become more mainstream as a way to clear the mind. At least, that's what I read." Haruna was surprised. "So you're going to go without dating or sex for... what, forever?" "No silly," Jasmine said with a wry smile. "It's only for the summer. After how totally chaotic last year was, I think I just wanna spend time with friends this time. Besides, it'll probably do me some good, y'know?"
Haruna wasn't entirely sure if she understood all of Jasmine's reasons for deciding to remain single for the summer, but it did make part of her happy. Jasmine was her friend, so that meant she wanted to be able to hang out, even if they didn't do it often. "I'd love to see the look on Chiyo's face when she finds out about that," Haruna said. "I bet she won't even believe me," Jasmine said. The two girls laughed.
It wasn't long after that they reached the bus stop they were headed toward. As luck would have it, only a minute later the bus arrived. Climbing on, Haruna and Jasmine only rode it for one stop, as the next one to come up was located in the uptown area Jasmine had wanted to go to. So they got off and Haruna took a moment to see where she was.
While Haruna had spent all of her life in Iwanai, there were still parts of it she was unfamiliar with. Where she was now was one of them. It was an area of town one could call "trendy" in comparison to the rest. There were several clothing stores and restaurants, and all the people walking on the sidewalks looked a little more fashionable than the regular residents of Iwanai. "Have you ever been over here Haru-chi?" Jasmine asked, noticing Haruna's looking around. "Huh? Yeah, I think so. A long time ago, I'm pretty sure Kanako and I came up here. And, maybe Chiyo brought me here once too?" "Cool. Well, how about we check out a couple of these stores?" Jasmine suggested. "I don't know..." Haruna said hesitantly. She wasn't sure how much she'd enjoy window-shopping through clothes. "Come on, it'll be fun," Jasmine said, grabbing Haruna by the arm and pulling her along into the nearest store.
When they walked in, they were greeted by the sight of racks upon racks of clothes. The inside of the store had tile on the floor, and the walls were a simple beige. All that was hung for decoration were pictures of models wearing clothes sold at the store. As for the selection of items itself, there was essentially everything one could think of. T-shirts, long-sleeves, pants, skirts, jackets, accessories. It was all divided up into sections for men, women and kids, then further by type of item. Overall, the store was mostly what you'd expect out of one that sold clothes, but for a place like Iwanai, it almost seemed like a luxury.
"I don't remember this place..." Haruna muttered. "Yeah, it's actually pretty knew. Only been around a few years I think," Jasmine said as she began to browse through the skirts. "Ooh, this is cute." While Jasmine looked around, Haruna awkwardly stood in place. "Yeah, this really isn't my thing," she thought. Whenever Haruna needed clothes, she usually just grabbed whatever would fit her. It wasn't like she had no sense of style, she just didn't care much about fashion. As long as the clothes didn't look ugly to her, Haruna bought it. "I guess I can understand how people can spend so much time at places like these though..." she thought. Ultimately, Haruna decided just to follow Jasmine around.
"Hey, what about this?" Jasmine said, holding up a shirt that cut off at the mid-section. "It'll probably work for you," Haruna said, not having much of an opinion. "I was thinking more for you," Jasmine said. "What?! What do you mean for me?" Haruna exclaimed. "Well, I kinda wanted to take you out today to, like, y'know, glam you up a little," Jasmine said with a shrug. "Glam me up? Why the hell do I need to do that? I'm perfectly fine with my looks," Haruna protested. "Yeah I know, but that doesn't mean she is," Jasmine said. "She? She who?" Haruna asked. "Duh, the girl you have a crush on? Kana-chan?" Jasmine said.
"W-W-What the hell Jasmine-chan?!" Haruna yelled, feeling embarrassed and gaining the attention of a cashier nearby. "What's the big deal? You should want to look good for the person you like. Didn't Chiyo tell you the same thing back when you said you liked Miyashita-san?" Jasmine pointed out. "Well, she did, I think, but I just... kind of ignored her..." Haruna mumbled. "Maybe that's why Miyashita-san didn't notice your feelings." "Hey, you don't have to be a jerk about it," Haruna said. "Well it's whatever now. After all, it's not like you like him anymore," Jasmine said.
What the girl said made Haruna pause. It was all still new and weird for her. For the most part, she had managed to come to terms with the fact that she was in love with Kanako, a girl, but saying that out loud was still a little too much for Haruna to handle yet. Really, the weird part of her feelings resided more so in the fact that Haruna had had a crush on Akio for a while, and in the blink of an eye, it was gone. Maybe there was still a little bit of residual heart throbbing, but for the most part, it might as well have been like those feelings were never there.
"I-I guess that's true..." Haruna said quietly, then raising her volume, "But I still don't get why I'm suddenly dressing up for Kanako!" Jasmine sighed, placing a hand to her forehead. "Haru-chi, tell me. How many stylish pieces of clothing do you own?" "Huh? Well, let's see... There's my skirt from our uniform-" "No, that doesn't count," Jasmine interjected. "Um, then I guess I have a dress I had to wear for a wedding once, but that was back in junior high. I'm not sure it still fits," Haruna said. "Try again," Jasmine demanded. "Uh... I have a sweater that I got for Christmas last year?"
Jasmine sighed heavily. "See, this is why you can't draw any interest Haru-chi. You've got the face, even if you do glare a lot, but your fashion sense is like, a flat zero." "What's with all the criticism Jasmine-chan? It's not like you didn't know that already," Haruna said, getting annoyed. "I thought I knew, but geez, it's worse than I thought," Jasmine said. "Alright, here's the plan. Haru-chi, I'm going to get you into love shape!" "Love shape?!"
The following hour consisted of Haruna being dragged around the store by Jasmine. "The first rule to getting someone to fall for you is looking good. First appearances are everything. Unfortunately, Kana-chan's known you for forever, so you've really gotta blow her away. Make her notice just how much effort you put into your appearance." "H-Hang on Jasmine-chan!" Haruna cried. "Why does it sound like I'm about to go on a date?" "Won't you at some point this summer? It's good to be prepared," Jasmine said, confused by the question. Haruna stopped. "I don't know... the last time we tried 'going on a date,' it was a disaster. I screwed everything up. Besides, right now, things are... weird between Kanako and I. I don't even know if we'll see each other all summer..."
Jasmine gave the most bored expression back to Haruna. "W-What?" Haruna stuttered. "Come on Haru-chi. Aren't you two like, neighbors or somethin'? You're telling me you won't see her at all, for the whole break?" Well... I mean..." Haruna sputtered out. "Alright, I get it," Jasmine said. "Actually, I really don't, but whatever. The point is, when the day does come that you two get to go out on the town, I want you to look your best, girl." Haruna smiled weakly and nodded.
"Okay, new plan. We'll get you one outfit. Be sure to wear it when the time comes," Jasmine said. "I-I'll try..." Haruna said, feeling very out of her element. So the two girls began to go around the store once more. First, they looked at tops. "How about this one?" Jasmine suggested, holding up a white blouse. "Do you seriously see me wearing that?" Haruna said plainly. "Just a starting point," Jasmine said before moving on.
Overall, Haruna and Jasmine spent quite a lot of time on trying to find the perfect outfit for Haruna's future date (whenever it would be). Eventually they landed on a set of clothes. Haruna wasn't too sure about it, but Jasmine was convinced. She went to the register and bought them, giving them to Haruna as a gift. "Are you sure? Weren't these expensive?" Haruna asked. "Nope. The good thing about this place is the clothes are usually pretty cheap," Jasmine explained.
As the two girls walked out of the store, Haruna had a thought, one she had to ask. "Hey Jasmine-chan," she began. "Why're you doing this for me?" Jasmine put up a thoughtful expression. "I guess... because it's interesting?" she answered. "That's it?" Haruna said, feeling disappointed. "Well, honestly, a lot of things make me bored. But this, a girl liking another girl, is something totally new to me. It's exciting in a way. I know you're the one in love, but I can't help but want to be involved too somehow. And anyways, I've never seen you look as happy as you do now, even compared to when you had a crush on Miyashita-san."
Haruna was surprised. "Chiyo said something similar..." she thought. "So it really doesn't weird you out or anything?" Haruna asked. "Nope. Why would it? You liked a boy, now you like a girl. Simple as that," Jasmine said like it was obvious. Haruna didn't have a response. Instead, Jasmine decided to change the topic. "Hey, there's a pretty good frozen yogurt place up the street. It just opened up this summer. Wanna check it out?" "Sure," Haruna agreed, so the two of them began to head in that direction.
It didn't take them long to get there, only having to travel a couple of blocks. The place Jasmine had mentioned was called Frozo-go. "What a horrible name..." Haruna thought. Walking inside, the shop didn't look much different than any other ice cream/yogurt shop. White walls, checkered floor, old photos hanging up. It may have been new, but the shop felt like it had already been around for a while.
Reaching the counter, the man behind it asked for their orders. "Hmm. I'll try the banana cream one," Jasmine said. "I'll have the lime twist," Haruna said. Jasmine looked at her. "Seriously Haru-chi? Lime? That's gotta be like, the least popular menu item." "Tch. Whatever," Haruna said, irritated by the remark.
It was only a few minutes later that they received their orders, and then Jasmine and Haruna decided to sit outside. The seating was fairly basic, with only two tables and four chairs to each available. It was all done in black as well, which would've been fine had it not been for the fact that it was hot outside, making the chairs and table a touch hotter than comfortable. "You'd think they'd have umbrellas or something," Jasmine said. "I know. What kind of idiot leaves out a black table in the heat for customers to put cold stuff on?" Haruna said.
Wrapping up their complaints, the two girls still sat down anyways. "This is pretty good!" Jasmine said happily as she tried her frozen treat. "Haru-chi, you wanna bite?" "Sure," Haruna said, dipping her spoon in then bringing it to her lips. "You're right, it is good." Haruna started eating her own as well. "This is good too. Want to try it Jasmine-chan?" "No thanks, I'm fine," Jasmine refused immediately. "Geez, you don't have to sound that against it," Haruna muttered before having another spoonful.
For a while, Jasmine and Haruna ate in silence. Then, Jasmine spoke. "Y'know Haru-chi, I really find this 'deal' you have going to be pretty entertaining." "Huh? Why?" Haruna asked. "A boy gets confessed to by two girl childhood friends and he asks them to date each other instead of him? It's like the plot to a movie or something. I'm still shocked you agreed to it." "Yeah, I am too..." That was the truth. Even though Haruna's feelings had changed, she was still involved in a ridiculous deal with Akio. At the time, she hadn't even wanted to do it in the first place, but Kanako had jumped on the opportunity before a real stance for a refusal could take place. Next thing Haruna knew, she was pretending to date Kanako. "And then I went and fell in love with her..." Haruna thought, not entirely sure how to feel about it when putting it that way.
"Still, it's pretty funny that Miyashita-san got you both to agree to that when his end of the bargain was a bunch of BS," Jasmine said. "What do you mean?" Haruna asked. "He said he'd pick one of you after a year right?" Jasmine asked for confirmation. Haruna nodded. "Yeah, I bet he's just going to turn both of you down." "W-Why?" Haruna asked, nervous to hear the answer.
"Isn't it totally obvious? He's not into either of you."
Jasmine's answer floored Haruna. "He's not... into me or Kanako?" she repeated. "I mean, that's how it looks to me. Like, a guy in love doesn't just outright make a proposal like that in the first place, but even if he did, there'd still be no way Miyashita-san would stay away from whichever one of you he liked." Jasmine's explanation made sense to Haruna. In fact, it was a point that she had never really considered. "Miyashita-kun... might like someone else..." she muttered. "Yup. At least, that's my opinion," Jasmine said as she took another bite of her yogurt. "But who knows? Maybe he's just messing with everyone after all."
Haruna went quiet, trying to take in the possibility. Sure, she had feelings for Kanako now, but for some reason, hearing Akio might like another girl really bothered Haruna. "Then again, it's not like it matters now. And, even if I asked, I'm sure he wouldn't tell me," she thought. Akio had always been one to keep his most personal thoughts and feelings closely guarded, even from people that knew him well.
However, while Haruna could gloss over this possibility, she knew Kanako probably couldn't. For her, it'd be like the end of the world. Haruna knew Kanako had had feelings for Akio for a long time. She had said as much to Haruna back before their friendship fallout. To find out he liked someone else would be devastating.
"Hello, earth to Haru-chi?" Jasmine said, waving her hand in front of Haruna's face. "Huh?" Haruna let out. "Geez girl, that must've really put you in a spin. You were totally zoned out," Jasmine said. "Sorry. I was thinking about what you said," Haruna said. Jasmine shrugged. "You shouldn't give it too much thought. It's not like me being right would really change anything for you." Haruna wondered if that was true, but ultimately, she decided to let it go.
After spending a little more time at the frozen yogurt place, Jasmine suggested that the two of them go to another store, this time for both Haruna and herself. Haruna agreed, almost reluctantly, and then they went to the place Jasmine had mentioned. It was just another clothes store, but this one didn't have nearly as large of a selection. However, what it lacked in clothing choices, it made up for in accessories. In the end, Jasmine bought a new necklace and bracelet, while Haruna got a pair of earrings upon Jasmine's insistence.
"Why did you make me buy these? I can't even wear them," Haruna said, talking about her new bit of jewelry. "That's alright. We'll just have to pierce your ears," Jasmine said casually. Haruna grimaced at the idea. "Pierce my ears? Like with a needle and everything?" she asked with dread. "Duh. Kinda can't make the hole otherwise," Jasmine said. Haruna squirmed. The thought of putting a needle through her skin wasn't a pleasant one to her.
It wasn't long before Jasmine and Haruna reached the bus stop. The wait was only for about five minutes or so, and soon enough the bus heading in the direction they needed pulled up. Getting on, they took it for one stop again before getting off. "Well, I guess this is it for today," Jasmine said. "Yeah. Thanks for inviting me out. It was... more fun than I thought it'd be," Haruna said. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean? Am I not fun?" Jasmine said, saying it in a playful sort of tone. "It's not that. I was just afraid you'd be trying to get me to pick up guys with you or something," Haruna said. "Aw, come on Haru-chi. I know you have feelings for someone. I'm not that insensitive," Jasmine said. Once they said their goodbyes, the girls split off from each other, heading in opposite directions.
As she walked back, Haruna found that she had a lot on her mind. The potential for a future date with Kanako was one thing she thought about. "I have no clue when we'd even do something like that though," Haruna thought. "And I bet it'll just be uncomfortable for me." Going on a fake date before was one thing, but now that Haruna knew her feelings, it felt like going on a date that was basically one-sided would be kind of miserable. "But still," Haruna continued. "It might be nice."
Moving on from that thought, Haruna came back to Akio before shaking her head to clear it all away. She was about to start thinking about what Jasmine had said earlier, but Haruna changed her mind. She knew that it didn't matter what she thought about it. The only way to know for sure if Jasmine was right was if Haruna asked Akio if he liked someone else, but it probably wouldn't be that easy anyways. Having no answers of her own, Haruna decided to switch back to the idea of a date with Kanako.
"It feels like it's been forever since we did that," Haruna thought. "Then again, it's no wonder it's been so long. It was pretty much my fault anyways that it went so bad. I should probably do something to make up for that." It would be overdue, Haruna knew, but it'd be better than letting their fake and only date remain a bad memory. Taking comfort in the idea of what would essentially be a do-over, Haruna began to smile a bit.
However, as she reached her house, it quickly faded. Next door, two people were standing outside of the gate. One was a boy, dressed in a dark-colored t-shirt and khakis. The other was a girl, wearing a tight-fitting red t-shirt and a simple, white pleated skirt. They were currently talking and the boy seemed to be apologizing, but Haruna didn't really notice. Instead, she had a singular, very panicked thought coursing through her head.
"Miyashita-kun... and Kanako? What are they... doing together?"
End of Chapter Eleven.
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