Stealing Spree

As the door of the abandoned clubroom shut close from behind me, I steered my feet towards the exit of the Club Building.

There’s no point prolonging my stay there. If I did, Izumi-senpai would just become too wary of me and everything I said would be pushed to the back of her mind while her fear of me would become a deterrent for furthering my intention of stealing her.

Because of how I approached her today, there's a huge possibility that Izumi-senpai wouldn't tell Arisa-senpai what I did and told her today. However, she would certainly ask Arisa-senpai the same thing her friend asked yesterday. 'What do Arisa-senpai think of me?'

After yesterday, that girl certainly changed her view of me after what I told her. Even if I appear mysterious to her when I just left without doing anything else as soon as she finished explaining what she prepared specifically for me, that wouldn't be enough to revert my words which destroyed my image of me in her mind.

Back then, she promptly told me that what happened between us was a one-time thing. Perhaps letting me savor that one-time when Izumi-senpai left that room last week was her attempt to satisfy me. Hoping that through that, I would already be content. That’s why before we separated, she lectured me to stop hoping that it would happen again and remind me to focus on my girlfriend instead.

When I attempted to hug her and told her how I was interested in her, I’d thrown away every kind gesture she made. Hence, the disappointment she had when she looked at me.

That’s just my guess but it's probably close to the truth. Salvaging my relationship with her might be harder than changing Shizu's mind about accepting that it's impossible for her to have me all to herself.

Now, if Izumi-senpai decided to stop associating with me, it would be considered a dead-end on both of their routes.

Normally, that should be the case...

What am I?

I'm far from normal.

Before I even considered stealing Izumi-senpai. I already considered the things that would happen and how to go through them.

Nonetheless, I know that my approach towards the two would be different.

Since I'm not trying to steal Arisa-senpai from someone else, I would be patient with my approach. I would rely on the times I would be able to have a serious talk with her.

With Izumi-senpai, however, I would continue letting her compare Ogawa to me. What he couldn't do, I would always do it for her.

Just that, for that to happen, I have to make her interested in me first.

Being the best of friends to each other, the two were often together. There would only be a few times where they would separate from each other.

That's why my plan involved me ‘coincidentally’ running into them. When I did, I would turn it awkward by meeting their gazes before avoiding it almost immediately.

That would be enough to refresh what happened with us in their minds.

However, its effect on the two might be different.

I immediately stopped when Arisa-senpai changed her attitude but I continuously repeated my confession to Izumi-senpai and I even forcefully put her in my arms.

Perhaps Arisa-senpai would avoid my gaze just the same while Izumi-senpai would wonder why... Why after that kind of declaration from me, I started avoiding her.

In any case, my desire to talk to Arisa-senpai and know more about her is still here. If I find the chance to do that, I will grab it unhesitatingly.

-

-

Like yesterday, the time I spent with my Mentor was half of the allocated time for it. With this much time to spare, I chose to tour the school once more rather than going to the club early. There’s no one there and I already passed the plan to Ishida-senpai.

When I got the chance to talk to Rae earlier during PE, she told me that she might not be able to go to the club today. She’s going home early. As for the reason, it’s about her family.

Although I could ask her for a

specific reason, I refrained from doing that and just told her that I’ll pick her up and walk her to the bus station.

There’s still around an hour before that so… I’ll be using this time to walk around the school.

Most of my girls were still with their Mentors and to avoid more rumors from springing up, I wouldn't just recklessly go to see Shio.

We already both decided that we would interact less with each other while in school. Unless there was a better excuse we could use to spend time while in here, the best we could do was to talk to each other through the Messenger.

From the Club Building, my tour started by going around the huge fields for sports clubs around the Gymnasium.

Being idle at this time, I gathered the stares of the pairs of Mentor and Mentee I passed by, perhaps labeling me as a slacker. Some would sneer while some would just ignore me altogether.

Well, I also ignored most of them as I continued my walk.

I'm not out touring to gather attention anyway. Moreover, I'm not out touring to look for potential targets. There's no point for that anymore.

Nonetheless, running into some I know or someone who knows me was a foregone conclusion. Only the 1st and 2nd years were out here after all. And given that I was already a known name, even those not from our class could recognize me.

Whenever that happened, he or she would call out to me, asking why I wasn't with my Mentor.

Making an excuse by telling them my walk was actually something my Mentor tasked me to do, they could only nod and accept it. Sometimes they would voice out their suspicions.

One emotionless stare was enough to shut them up though.

Among those I saw were Imada and her Mentor. They were hanging out near the baseball field, staring out at that empty lot where the baseball club trains everyday. Like most of those I saw, they're not really doing anything except talking about any topic they could think of.

When Imada saw me, she excitedly called out to me, even introducing me to her Mentor who seemed overwhelmed by the girl who kept on going places. Imada was too energetic for her.

Upon seeing me, her Mentor suddenly had a flash of inspiration. Using the chance that Imada was circling around me, she excused herself by saying she's going to the bathroom, leaving her Mentee with me.

"How long are you going to circle around me? Your Mentor left you already."

"I'm aware. She's already fed up with accompanying me. She ran out of things she could teach me after all. Anyway, enough about my Mentor. What are you doing here, Onoda-kun?"

With a grin as if she found a new toy to play with, Imada was acting differently from that flustered girl who caught us in that empty clubroom. Perhaps she already forgot that event or she’s trying her best not to remember it.

In any case, I can humor her for a while. Her constant fangirling over my relationship with Nami often helped us.

"I’m taking a walk. Like you, Izumi-senpai ran out of things to teach me. And since there are only two of us there, it’s quite awkward for her. That’s why I excused myself to not let it come to that.” I answered with half-truths.

Upon hearing my answer, Imada nodded continuously before clapping her hands together.

“Ah! I know! Since you’re free, why don’t we check on our other classmates? See what they’re doing with their Mentors?”

As if pleased with her suggestion, her eyes that were sparkling brighter than the stars due to her excitement stared at me, anticipating my agreement with her suggestion.

“That doesn’t sound exciting. I’d rather go to Nami and watch her.”

Even if I find some dirt with those classmates of ours, it’s practically worthless for me.

“Eh? Is it not exciting? What if we find something interesting?”

“Interesting like what?”

“Come here…” Imada looked to her left and right before gesturing for me to come near her.

Although I could already guess what she would tell me, I acted interested and closed the distance between us, turning my ears to her.

Upon seeing me complying, her lips curved into a mischievous smile before whispering to my ear. “You know… some might use this chance to get together with their crushes. Like swapping Mentors.”

Swapping Mentors, huh? That’s what we’re doing. And it’s spot on with what Izumi-senpai did. To have a chance with Ogawa, she asked Arisa-senpai for a swap.

Well, since Izumi-senpai could do it, the others could do it as well.

However… what she wanted still failed to pique my interest.

“Sorry. It’s not interesting for me.” I answered and that immediately destroyed the heightened anticipation that’s building up for her.

With a sullen expression, she asked, “Huh? Then what’s interesting for you?”

“Let’s see. Spending time with my girl? Teasing her and…”

Trailing my voice like that, Imada instantly understood what I meant.

And as expected, her sullen expression disappeared followed by averting her gaze to stop me from seeing her face getting flustered.

Whatever she imagined from my answer, it’s surely enough for her to go back to that time when she caught Nami and me in that position.

After taking a deep breath to compose herself, Imada’s voice lowered. Perhaps to prevent me from picking up what she’s currently feeling.

Most likely, she also recalled how Nami teased her back then.

“... I see. I guess someone in a relationship like you will only be interested in spending time with your girlfriend. No wonder Nanami is blooming every passing day.”

“Un, it’s like that. What about you? Aren’t you interested in someone?... For example, Ogawa.”

It’s a wild guess from me. There’s no indication that she’s also interested in that guy after all.

However, as soon as I mentioned that coward’s name, Imada froze.