Stealing Spree

"Nothing else happened. Like we told you, we got taken in by the atmosphere and the situation."

I answered with a straight face. Whatever it was that she wanted to hear from me, I wouldn't tell her that.

"Why do you sound like nothing's wrong with that?"

There's really nothing wrong if I put it into my perspective but yeah, this delinquent might be purer than most. Seeing me kiss her best friend in front of her was something that will be stuck in her head. That's why she's trying to confront me when Arisa-senpai isn't here.

"Senpai, did you bring me here only to interrogate me? What about the Mentor Program? I let you have your time with Ogawa yesterday. Isn't it time I start learning something from this?"

I chose not to answer it and instead shifted our topic to the Mentor Program. Arisa-senpai and I reached an understanding yesterday.

We agreed not to mention it again. Unless both of us decided to talk about it.

"Don't you dodge my question, Onoda. Arisa is..."

Izumi-senpai appeared angry and looked like she was about to say something about Arisa-senpai but she abruptly stopped herself. Most probably, she realized that it was something private that she shouldn't tell me.

"What about Arisa-senpai? Is there something I need to know about her?"

That piqued my interest but I think I don't need to hear it from Izumi-senpai.

"Forget it. If you don't want to tell me then fine. Don't lay your hands on her or I'll tell Nanami about it."

Izumi-senpai pointed at me as she slightly bent over. By doing so, her opened button gave me the view of the ravine hiding beneath that uniform of hers and she hasn't noticed that I could see that. Is she used to it or just unaware?

Due to that, I found out something about her. If Arisa-senpai was slightly voluptuous, Izumi-senpai was compact. Her bra was too small a size for her which resulted in her chests to be pushed closely together that deep cleavage could be seen when she bent down like that.

Well, I've already seen a lot of those so it's not something that will instantly excite me. But the thought of cupping it in my palms surely passed through my mind.

In any case, I raised my eye to match hers and answered.

"Arisa-senpai is a good friend and now I'm convinced you're also as good to her as she is to you. Are you worried that I took advantage of her, Izumi-senpai?"

"You can blurt out crazy things without a change in your expression. It's just right to see you as someone dangerous to be left alone with her."

And you're too defenseless right now, you didn't even notice that I got a peek.

Haa. Ogawa was wasting his chances with her. Now I wonder what happened to them in their clubroom?

"I guess you're right about that, senpai. But that applies to you too, no? I'm alone with you right now. You still remember what I said."

I stood up from my seat and started to walk over to her.

Upon seeing me close our distance, Izumi-senpai's feet would take a step back, every time I advanced a step. However, she was already near the wall.

After 3 steps, her back was already leaning onto it.

"Y-you... Go on and try. I can take you down with these."

Though slightly trembling, Izumi-senpai raised her fist and made a stance as if she's ready to fight me to death. Looking at her like this broke the image of her being a delinquent.

I've never seen her with a group of delinquents. It's either she's alone or she's with Arisa-senpai.

There's that one time where she's treating that second-year delinquent harshly. She even called that guy as her dog. Was she only acting tough when in fact she didn't even know how to fight?

"What are you doing, senpai? I'm not going to fight you. I'm here for the Mentor Program. Will you start or are we going to waste time again?"

When she reached the wall, I also stopped. That's enough teasing for her. There's more important matter than messing with someone I'm not trying to conquer.

Also, she's too wary of me. This is just a way for her to loosen up her attitude towards me. Praising her for being a friend and reminding her that even if said those words, I wouldn't really act on it.

I could clearly hear her sigh of relief upon hearing my words. She really tensed up right there, eh?

"... Tell me what you want to learn."

Izumi-senpai said with her eyes downcast. Her body was still trembling. Yesterday, she was too bold at trying to seduce Ogawa and now she's like this with me. That's too much of a contrast.

"Senpai. Did I scare?"

"W-what do you think?"

"Haa. Alright, it's my bad. I thought given that you pose as a delinquent, you wouldn't be this easily scared. I'm sorry. I'll keep to this distance. You can mentor me from here."

I turned around and stepped away until I reached the wall on my side.

"I honestly don't know why I got scared of you... You're giving off a more dangerous vibe than those delinquents I mingled with."

Though I can't really answer her. It's quite true. I am more dangerous than those delinquents who liked to flaunt their strength in groups.

"I'm an innocent 1st year, senpai. I already told you that I wanted to learn from that Mentor Program. If you didn't plan anything for it, I can leave now to make you feel at ease."

From afar, I saw how she almost laughed at calling myself 'innocent' which she immediately covered with her hands. It's not a mocking laugh, it's a genuine laugh which somehow calmed her down and lost the tension she was feeling.

"Please. Don't make me laugh. You're far from innocent, Onoda. Also, you don't need to leave. I don't have anything planned for this Mentor Program and I knew you already expected that. I don't know anything about you except being Nanami's boyfriend and how shameless and dangerous you are but I can try to answer anything you ask."

"Shameless and dangerous? Alright, I'll ignore that... First off, tell me what you learned last year when you're in my position."

She's not Rae where I can straight up ask what I can do to succeed, right? And yeah, it's time to get serious. The atmosphere between us already calmed down and with this distance, there's no reason for her to keep being wary.

Haa. If not for wanting to learn, I wouldn't really waste my time like this.

Izumi-senpai thought for a while before answering.

"Last year... I learned about places like this."

"Like this?"

"Somewhere students can sneak in if they want to slack off. There was that empty room at your floor, this room, the clubroom you and Nanami are using. What else? That vending machine where you saw me."

"I already know about that..."

I can ask Haruko or maybe Shizu-senpai if ever I needed a new spot but for now, the places were already enough.

"You're asking me what I learned last year. That's one. Are you expecting me to tutor you on subjects?"

Ah. Right. There's no way she would tutor me and there's no point. There's probably more purpose than just learning for this program they're enforcing to every new student.

"Anyway, let's continue. Never ask about Hayashi-sensei. She's a mysterious one. No one knows why she was always not at the Infirmary and never got fired from the job."

Hayashi-sensei? The school nurse? I guess this is the kind of knowledge they were passing from junior to junior, eh?

"I see. So she's always like that, eh? I've been to the infirmary 3 times and I've seen her twice."

"Huh? How'd you manage to catch her?"

Izumi-senpai was surprised when she heard what I said about the school nurse.

"Is that supposed to mean something?"

Her disappearances were mysterious but it's useless to get curious about it.

"No. But most of the time, we'll find the room empty. I've been in the Infirmary 5 times since last year and I only managed to see her once. Her face was now vague in my memory."

"I see. So I should never ask about her? Isn't it easy to guess that she has some kind of connection to the school?"

That's the most plausible reason for that. There's no way no one will complain about her behaviour. However, despite that, she's still there.

"That's what the rumors say but there's probably more to it. In any case, treat this as a piece of useless knowledge."

I already did.

"Alright. What else?"

"That's it. I never really learned a lot from last year. And some of it wasn't fit for you so I wouldn't tell you about it."

Izumi-senpai shrugged.

"I see. Isn't this program pretty useless?"

"It depends on your Mentor. You lucked out that you got me. It's too troublesome to prepare something."

Ah. I truly lucked out. Maybe I can learn something from Arisa-senpai next week. She promised after all. There's also that bet. I won it but because of what happened to us, that was put at the back of my mind.

There's still a lot of time but what else should I ask for this seemingly useless Mentor?

Ah. Right. There's that.

"Alright senpai. Tell me about your group. By group. I mean the delinquent group you are in."

Chii asked me about talking to Fukuda but I need to learn what kind of group he is in first. That girl, I at least want to do something for her.

"Why do you want to learn about that? Do you want to become one?"

"No. That's too troublesome. It's just a knowledge that I need just in case I got tangled up with it. You see, I don't want to stand out too much so..."

I need to know who I will cross.

If I can't become Classmate A, I can still become Student A, right?