Stealing Spree

“Yo, Onee-san. What’s up? Are you taking a walk?”

As I entered the street where Eimi’s house was located, I caught sight of her older cousin coming out from their front gate.

With her small build and her rather summery attire, I couldn’t help but take a moment to make sure that she was really Anzu.

I mean, she’s wearing a rather comfy dress and a frilly skirt with polka dots as its design. It actually won’t surprise me if someone mistook her for a really young girl going out to play early in the morning.

In any case, with my words clearly directed at her, I quickly got her attention. Although a little surprised at first, Anzu turned in my direction, crossed her arms and waited until I closed our distance before replying.

“Yes, I am. The morning sun is great for our skin. Do you know that, Onoda-kun?”

“Somewhat? But do you still need it? Don’t get me wrong here but I think your skin health is already perfect. It looked so smooth to the touch”

“Maintenance. It’s called maintenance, Onoda-kun. The morning sun is something that no other supplement for skin care could beat.” As a scholar in skin health, Anzu took up a rather haughty tone, educating me on it. “Let me see, look at your skin. It clearly shows how it lacks nutrients from the morning sun. Why don’t you join me on my walk?”

Stepping forward and grabbing my arm, she let her forefinger run on my skin before shaking her head as though I failed her assessment.

“Uh. I’m here for Eimi. I don’t think I have the—”

“The girl is still asleep. Her alarm won’t go off for another hour. Come on, it’s only a fifteen-minute walk from here to the nearby park and vice versa. Maybe half an hour tops, we’re gonna bask in the sun, after all. If you want to, we can also jog.” Anzu cut my words off as her grip on my arm tightened.

Clearly noticeable in her voice was her excitement as well as desperation to drag me with her.

For sure, Anzu was once again trying to establish herself as an older sister in my eyes.

If I could explain why she’s doing this again even though I still treated her as one, it’s probably because she considered ‘older-sister halo’ as a decaying status or something with only limited effectivity. And with that, the girl put herself up to do something older sister-like to reset its duration.

Let’s see. From the times we interacted with each other before, I already formed quite an impression of the girl.

For one, Anzu is not an airhead who often gets mistaken for a middle school girl. She knows herself best. And that’s why she’s well aware that her small physique always draws the judgmental eyes of people.

Perhaps, more often than not, people see her as a little girl or an immature brat.

And it goes without saying that it eventually became a complex for her.

Because she didn’t want to be seen like that, Anzu decided to do everything in her ability to convince even one person that she was not a little girl.

She’s even getting into a relationship for it. But obviously, the results were always unsatisfactory. She would often get dumped. Hence the almost unending stories of her failed romance that she always told Eimi.

If I had to guess, she already built sensitivity on it, noticing instantly when people looked at her as a little girl and not the adult Anzu.

That’s why when I showed up in front of her, she deduced what was on my mind upon seeing her. And that resulted in this situation, she set herself to convince me again that she’s an older girl.

Well, I might be wrong though but that’s what I came up with after pooling in everything I know about her.

But should I go with her?

Although I was aware that Eimi was still asleep when I sent her a message before going out of the house, I planned on waiting for her outside or if possible, having this girl or Eimi’s parents allow me inside.

“Anzu-nee, it’s not that I don’t want to come with you. I just don’t want to miss my Eimi’s sleeping face.” As I anchored my feet to not be dragged at her pace, I uttered my reply while acting like a shy boy wanting to sneak inside Eimi’s room.

Upon hearing that, Anzu almost burst into laughter. Her cheeks puffed up and she hurriedly put a hand to cover her mouth, preventing it. Once she recovered, she clicked her tongue playfully, acting as if she saw through my intention.

“Tsk. That’s not gentlemanly, Onoda-kun. You can’t just sneak into her room. And who do you think will let you in? Aunt and Uncle already left way earlier. They’re busier on Sundays.”

“Uh. Then isn’t it bad to leave her alone in the house?”

“Look, I secured it. Trust this onee-san. No one can get in from outside. Our neighborhood is relatively safe. There are no instances that a burglar has been reported. Well, just say so if you don’t want to walk with me. I won’t take offense.”

Still flaunting her seniority here, the girl went from fairly smug to a dejected girl. She puffed up her cheeks again while pouting as though she was trying to gain my sympathy.

This girl... didn’t she want me to see her as an older sister? That act was the opposite of it.

Wait. Am I looking at this differently? It’s possible that her intention is not just to reestablish her image as an older sister. She might also be looking forward to spending time with me.

That’s a little conceited of me but the chance isn’t zero.

I looked at the time and checked my messages. It’s only a few minutes after seven. Eimi still hadn’t read my message and from the outside, I could see the window to her room still had the curtains closed.

Seeing that I checked my phone and Eimi’s room, Anzu opened her mouth again, “This boy... Alright, let’s go in. I’ll let you inside the house to check on her. Forget about walking with me. You can stay there outside her door. As long as you don’t force yourself in then we’re all good.”

She then let go of my arm and started walking back inside their front gate. But before continuing, she glanced behind, signaling me to follow her.

She gave up that easily, huh? Or maybe she simply accepted that I’m only here for Eimi and not her.

“Wait, Anzu-onee-san. Let’s go for that walk. I’ll accompany you. Thirty minutes, right? I’m sure she’ll wake up by then.”

I caught up with her and this time, I grabbed her arm, stopping her before saying that.

As though the deflated excitement she was feeling earlier had been renewed, the girl turned to face me with a pleasant grin on her lips.

It’s not the childish one and perhaps, it’s probably the most mature smile I saw from her to date.

“You’re not kidding, right? Will you really take a walk with me?”

“Un. You’re Eimi’s older sister. It’s only right that I treat you the same, right?” As I replied like that, I didn’t expect Anzu would suddenly jump at me in happiness. Her arms stretched to the back of my head before pulling me down.

Right. Before I knew it, the girl once again put me in her embrace, the same way as the last time. My head pressed upon her unimaginably bountiful chest. “You’re the best little brother, Onoda-kun!”