Stealing Spree

“Nii-chan! Thank you for escorting onee-chan home!” Like a small little fox, Fubuki sprinted out of their gate and charged towards me, her head slamming against my stomach. If I was a beat slower in receiving her, she might’ve hurt her forehead for hitting me there.

Really, what a brash girl. Is she this excited about seeing me? I mean, after that last time on the train, she’s probably here to act like a little cupid again.

“My... Fubuki, do not be rude.”

Not long after, the woman who resembled the two sisters giggled as she lightly scolded her youngest daughter.

Looking at her from where I was standing, there was a hint of amusement in her eyes as she stared at us.

After scanning me from head to toe, her lips curved upward, almost like a smirk.

“I see. You are that ‘Ruki-nii-chan’. Now that I have finally seen you... aren’t you a handsome young man?”

Uh. Alright. She’s really different from Fuyu. There’s not even a hint of hesitation when bringing that up.

“Fufu~ I told you mama! You won’t believe me. Ruki-nii-chan is this handsome. Onee-chan cannot stop thinking about him!” Lifting her head, the little girl mischievously grinned before winking.

If not for her appearance and clear childishness in the way she moved, I would probably start suspecting that she’s an adult in this young body. She’s a menace.

On my side, Fuyu started quivering in silence. She alternately looked at her mother and sister before lowering her gaze down to our joined hands.

Right... Even at this moment, our hands were clasped together. Not that I planned to be caught like this by her mother. It’s just there’s no point hiding it when she had already locked on that particular detail even from afar.

It would just look like I was trying to weasel my way out of the situation and in her eyes, it would be nothing but cowardice.

I did say that I couldn’t answer her question but that didn’t mean she should ask her mother about it. I only planned on escorting her quickly. Alas, I never imagined that they’d be waiting here just because we messaged them that I’d be escorting her home.

Now, Fuyu was in another dilemma on whether to pull her hand away from me and run away from this situation or face her mother and little sister who’s clearly here to check us out.

Furthermore, given that Fubuki ran up to me, noticing that particular detail was inevitable.

“Ah! Look, mama! They’re holding hands! See?”

“Oh my! You’re right.”

Acting like she had just noticed that, their mother’s eyes followed Fubuki’s little arms as she pointed at our hands.

Fuyu’s trembling increased in intensity. She then looked at me, her eyes calling for help.

Seeing that, I couldn’t help but feel a little guilty. Just today, I’ve put her in a lot of situations where she ended up helpless and shaken... And this... was probably the worst.

I guess I should at least salvage the situation and save her from this.

“Uhm. First of all, thanks for the compliment and it’s nice meeting you, Auntie... Fubuki-chan, you shouldn’t run like that again. What if you hurt yourself?”

I started by bowing politely to their mother before gently extracting the little girl from my stomach. Even though she already looked up and moved her head away from it, it didn’t take long before she once again buried and rubbed her face on it. In a way, she’s really looking up to me as an older brother...

“Eh? You caught me, nii-chan. I trusted that you would. You’ve been very gentle with onee-chan before so I know how caring you are. Fufu.”

“Well, it might be so but you see, accidents happen sometimes. I may not be able to catch you next time. So you should exercise caution, alright?”

“Uuh... Okay. If Ruki-nii-chan says so.”

Thankfully, she’s still easy to reason with. I patted the girl’s head and gently moved her to the side.

With this, I now stand before their mother with the two of them at my sides. If she’s just amused earlier, seeing her youngest daughter turning obedient to me surely got her intrigued.

Auntie crossed her arms and smiled like a sly fox.

There’s no doubt. Fubuki took that from her mother.

This was certainly bizarre. But given the situation and what I decided to do, I knew I could tide through this. For Fuyu’s sake, I guess. I can’t inconvenience her more than I already have.

“Uh. Auntie. This might be hard to believe but I held Yuuki-san’s hand because she staggered on her feet earlier. She has been exhausted from her tennis match.”

A straight lie. But then again, there’s no escaping that anymore, after all.

“Y-yes. Onoda-kun is only helping me out.”

Upon hearing that, Fuyu seemingly recovered a bit as she swallowed her saliva before supporting my claim. Unfortunately, it’s not helpful at all as it gave her mother a bullet to shoot us with.

“Fuyu, I haven’t said anything yet. Why are you looking flustered? That’s not like you.” Raising a finger on her lips as though she just thought up something interesting, their mother laid her eyes upon me, “I believe you, Onoda-kun. I also know about you from both Fubuki and Fuyu’s stories. I’m impressed. You’re more gentlemanly than I thought you would be. However, must you continue holding my daughter’s hand?”

Of course, there’s no reason to continue doing that but since we already missed the chance to do so earlier, I just have to bullshit my way through this. Right?

Well, at least, let’s be sincere for a change. I don’t know to what extent she knows about me but after considering everything, she might have an idea of my true identity – Akane’s boyfriend. Regardless of Fubuki hyping up my name to her, it would be easy for her to infer after compiling what she heard from both of her daughters.

“I believe so... Even now, Yuuki-san is still trembling. I’m afraid she may collapse if I let go of her.”

As I said that, I lightly pulled on Fuyu’s hand, intentionally taking the moment she least expected to emulate a scene where she was seemingly unstable on her feet. With that, it looked like she was now leaning on me.

Their mother raised an eyebrow, most likely checking for any falsehood. Fuyu recovered most of her energy during our hotpot but her mentality took another hit during our conversation. Due to that, her expression alone was enough to fool her mother.

“I see. My bad. We should make haste and not tarry here. Fubuki, get inside and prepare the slippers. And Ruki, will you be so kind as to continue assisting my daughter?” After saying that, she stepped to the side and opened their gates wider.

“Yes, mama!” Fubuki immediately ran back inside their house disappearing through the front door.

And as a response, I nodded before addressing Fuyu on my side who’s still in the process of recovering from my pull.

“Mhm. It’s my pleasure. Yuuki-san, please hold onto me.”

“Y-yes.” Although probably confused at how the situation unfolded, Fuyu could only lower her head and cling to me tightly.

I then started guiding the girl through their gate and into their house.

As we walked past her mother, I heard Auntie snickering softly. Most likely, she had seen through all of what I did and she’s only playing along with me.

Somehow, she’s probably more cunning and terrifying than most parents I had already encountered...