Stealing Spree

Because of the disguise I was wearing, she probably couldn't overlap my face with the guy who… stole her at least 4 years ago.

Right. The girl in front of me was one of the other two girls I stole during my grade school.

The smartest girl. Or in other words, the Honor Student type. She still looks the same as before. Her black hair was still done in low braided twintails.

There's a metal hair clip holding her fringes to the side and she's wearing black-rimmed glasses.

Looking at the bag slung on her right, it's heavy enough that her right shoulder was raised to keep it from sliding down. Furthermore, she's hugging at least three thick academic books.

Since she couldn't seem to remember me, I guess this was for the best.

Rather than making her remember the days that she possibly tried to forget, it's better for me to take a step back. Even if I wanted to apologize to her, it would just make her remember what I did to her and how I cut her off heartlessly.

Although I couldn't remember much about her reaction, it's probably almost the same with Chii.

At one point, the girls I stole back then seemed to become more proactive than me. And naturally, it included the other one who I hadn't encountered yet, the one considered to be the prettiest, even prettier than my Akane.

If she's still the prettiest, she would probably be someone famous but I never heard of her again during middle school.

Ah. Wait. I was getting sidetracked.

This girl, she had just exited from the women's bathroom. If not for running into her in this narrow passage that also leads towards the men's bathroom, she would probably not notice me and I would be the same.

None of this would've happened.

Well, because we both stopped and stared at each other, I needed to respond to her before she recognized my face.

Only the hairstyle and my outfit changed so… it's just a matter of time before this girl matches my face to the hateful guy from her past.

"I don't think so. This is the first time we met. By the way, if you will excuse me, I need to pass."

I denied her question before instantly changing the topic completely with my acting as if I was about to burst my bladder.

Upon hearing that, the girl's knitted eyebrows relaxed and as if she was embarrassed, she hurriedly sidestepped to let me pass.

After nodding and thanking her, I continued my act until I entered the men's bathroom.

Picking one cubicle, I returned my hairstyle to normal and removed the jacket Elizabeth gave me.

I then checked my attire in the mirror of the men's bathroom before preparing myself to go out.

Naturally, in case that girl suddenly had a flash of inspiration to recognize me and choose to wait for me outside, I waited for five minutes before going out.

Acting normally with my eyes staring straight without letting my eyes wander around, I continued on my way.

However, before I turned to the ticket scanner, I heard the girl's voice behind me.

"As I thought. No wonder I couldn't recognize you earlier. You disguised yourself."

When I turned my head to look at her, the girl fixed her glasses before meeting my gaze.

"What do you have to say about that, Ruki?"

With her lips slowly curving upwards, the girl reached for the hem of my uniform.

"Do you think I will not recognize you?"

"I think you will. That's the reason why I… tried to avoid you."

"Hmm? Is that so? Alright, you can go now. I only tried to check if it is really you. I will not cling to you again, don't worry. It's all in the past anyway." The girl removed her hand that was holding onto my hem.

She then shook her head and waved her hand in front of her.

Although she said that and even followed it up with those gestures, I instantly noticed how she lowered her eyes as if she's resisting to look at me again.

Is she trying to show herself as someone strong now? But for her to even wait for me here even when I tried to avoid her, I wonder what she really wants.

"What happened in the past… If I apologize now, will you… accept it?"

Upon hearing my words, the girl's ears suddenly perked up. Well, it's something that also happened with the girls from my past when they heard me talking differently than what they remembered.

"I see. Did you change your ways? Oh! No. You were in disguise and… that uniform. You're not from this school... You, you are trying to fool me, aren't you?"

Without answering my question, the girl raised her head again and scrutinized my appearance from top to bottom.

"Believe it or not, I'm not trying to fool you. Whatever I did to you back then, at this point, I certainly wished to ask for your forgiveness. What I did back then was… unforgivable."

Because we're standing where people come and go, we began accumulating attention from our surroundings. However, looking at the girl who's still processing my words, I couldn't bear to just leave her alone here.

Now that she recognized me, I guess I'll do what I planned to do back then. Reach a closure for us and even if she doesn't want to forgive me, I'll still ask for it.

"It's been four years. Did you really change? Then why are you here? And please, you don't need to ask for my forgiveness. I left this city for three years to forget about… you. Heh, three years seemed to be not enough to do that. As soon as I recognized you, I couldn't stop myself from standing in front of you again."

With a self-deprecating smile, the girl began catching from how she quickly said all those.

I see. That's why I neither heard nor saw her during middle school. She studied elsewhere…

My memories with her were already returning to me… The way she talks is still the same. This girl, she's always cramming most of what's in her mind in a single paragraph.

And that always resulted in our conversation being hard to follow. What I did back then to at least make a coherent conversation with her is to only focus on her last sentence.

"I don't know… why are you not angry at me?"

"Not angry? What's there to be angry about? What happened back then, the two of us wanted it. I understood that it was bound to happen one way or another. Ah. But, I stopped you not because I want to reconnect with you... As I said, I can't help it when I conclude that you're really who I thought you would be."

Contrary to her appearance of a bookworm, she's always this talkative.

If I continued talking to her, there would surely be no end to this. But I couldn't just run away. She's one of the girls from my past. And since she recognized me, I had to at least know what's really on her mind.

I attempted twice to ask for her forgiveness but at both times, she just waved it off as if it's not important to her anymore.

Was it really not important? Perhaps the idea of someone moving on from what happened in our past was this new to me. Even if I believed that there's some of them who did move on, now that I was faced with one of them, I had no idea how to interact with her. Do I need to be the Ruki in her memory or do I have to be what I am now?

I know, I should be glad for her that what I did hadn't affected her life too much. The three years away from me and this city probably healed that.

But I guess I got too used to the girls who chased after me. In one way or another, they all had some sort of grievance to me.

However, to this girl, there's no such thing as that. It's like she's only catching up with an old friend.

Well, I can be categorized as that.

"I see. To be honest, I recognized you the first time, as you can see, I avoided you because I was guilty. This might sound insincere coming from me but, I am wishing for you to live your life without remembering what happened in our past. You deserve it."

Honestly, I had no idea how to deal with her or how to end this conversation. But this time, like her, I poured what's on my mind that concerns her.

Do I sound sincere enough? I don't know.