Stealing Spree

Coach Ayu’s office.

It’s not my first time being here with her alone but today, it somehow brought me a lot more tension than normal.

She’s currently sitting down on her table with her chin resting on her clasped fingers. She’s wearing a jacket similar to a tracksuit on top of her sports bra to cover her exposed shoulder. It’s not zipped close, giving one access to revel at her toned body figure. Although she’s not that bountiful at the front, the sports bra made it look firm and compact. If my face somehow pressed there, it’d surely be comfortable.

Ah. Wait, let’s stop focusing on Coach Ayu’s appearance!

At the moment, this former Olympic-level athlete was staring at me a little bit too seriously as if she’s eyeing a criminal on death row. Or that’s just how I interpreted it considering her eyes weren't even wavering from prolonged eye contact.

I was expecting her to be straight to the point so that I could go back quickly to my girls but if it’s like this... should I be the one to initiate the conversation?

Besides, I still haven’t been paid today. Aside from giving back what they paid for today’s tuition fee, I thought of treating those girls into something. Not food, of course. I would surely hear them telling me that eating frequently could ruin their diets. They even ate at that fast food earlier. Even if they burned some calories from the session today, I could imagine them pouting their lips at me while pinching their bellies, thinking they’re accumulating fats. So... food was out of order. I could bring them somewhere fun though. Maybe a karaoke box to sing their hearts out. We’d be a center of attention again, true but those places valued customer privacies or they’d go out of business soon.

Well, I’d consult them later. But since they’re at Sena’s house, perhaps I could bring some treats for her younger brother and parents.

I doubt that would be enough for me to enter though. That’s unless Sena decided to pull me inside and introduce me to her family...

However, with Akane and the others there, it’s not the appropriate time yet.

Anyway, back to this room. I could spy an envelope on her table. It’s already filled with bills, my pay for today. However, without her giving it to me, I could only wait.

Now that I think of it... How were her new clients from last week? I got a bonus back then because two of those mothers registered to the gym and even hired her as their personal instructor.

One of those mothers was Ichihara-san. Given that they still returned, it probably went well.

As Coach Ayu’s silence continued, seconds quickly turned to minutes.

I soon got tired of standing in front of her. I picked up a chair and sat down while tapping her table with my fingers, to show my impatience or to at least get her attention that I don’t have the time of the day to wait for nothing.

I had no idea what she’s thinking and even if I tried to guess it, it would probably be too out of the mark...

There’s no other choice then.

Since she ignored my initial silly question, I changed it.

“Hey, coach. Are we going to keep staring at each other until one of us grows tired of it?�

To further hit the point, I placed both of my hands on her table and moved my chair to be in front of her instead of at the side. Following that, I flicked my fingers in front of her, hoping to break her concentration with the loud noise produced by it.

I was successful.

Coach Ayu’s eyebrows raised slightly as she appeared to have been woken up from her stupor. However, Coach Ayu recovered quickly. She blinked her eyes a few times before resuming eye contact with me.

At this point, there were minute reactions in her already. For example, she appeared to be finding it difficult to keep a straight face. Her ears kept on twitching as it gradually took a reddish hue.

Nonetheless, her reason for doing this still eluded me...

In the end, I changed my approach. I released a sigh and lowered my head. “I don’t know what’s happening but did the cat get your tongue? If this is because of earlier then I apologize again... If Coach deemed me unfit to be an instructor in this gym, then I won’t have any say in it. I reaped what I sowed.�

I know that I might be off the mark with my conclusion but if I didn’t do this, we’d probably spend a whole hour without the conversation progressing.

As I waited for her response, I maintained my lowered head as if I was waiting for her final verdict.

However, a minute or two later, I heard a burst of stifled laughter in front of me followed by fingers grasping my cheeks. Before I could raise my gaze, Coach Ayu had begun pinching my cheek as her clear laughter gradually filled the room.

... This girl. What’s wrong with her? Did she waste both of our time for a laugh?

When our eyes met again, Coach Ayu’s fingers tightened on my cheeks as she stared straight at me. Whether she’s inspecting my facial features or she’s just making sure that I wouldn’t leave her eyes, I had no idea.

Either way, I finally got a response to her albeit confusing.

“Onoda-kun, who told you to reach your own conclusion?�

Look at this girl and her question... Is she perhaps trying to make me lose my patience?

“Your fwilence, of couwse.� I answered. However, because she still hadn’t freed my cheeks, my words weren’t articulated well. I then grabbed both of her hands, pried them off and held them down the table. “Can we be serious now, Coach? You got your fun but I’m still lost with the reason you called me here without even speaking to me.�

“You’re smarter than this, Onoda-kun. I reckon it’s already obvious by now.�

“I see. It’s a test of my patience, after all. That’s not funny, coach.�

I shook my head in slight disappointment.

Coach Ayu continued giggling like a child. She’s having too much fun with this.

“Why? Seeing you slowly succumbing to impatience and eventually jumping to a different conclusion was a fun experience. I didn’t account for that, however.�

“Well, you appeared disappointed when you learned about what I did.�

“Un. Normally, that should be the case. Kicking you out, I mean. But remember what kind of gym we are? We’re used to talking using our fists.� Coach Ayu pulled her hands out of my hold and threw some punches in the air to drive a point. When she’s done the woman dropped her hand back on my hold. She probably did that unconsciously since she just continued speaking. “I won’t encourage brawling but with a justified cause, I can cut you some slack. That’s why... instead of scolding you I did this.�

Well, I didn’t point out her unconscious action. Instead, I squeezed her hand and rubbed my thumb on her rough palm while continuing our conversation. “I see... This is Hisa-jii’s idea, right?�

That’s our culprit. This situation is born from that old man’s machination. I refuse to believe that Coach Ayu set this up.