Stealing Spree

Because the time we had for today was insufficient to talk about that weird urge of her in length, we decided to put that topic on hold. She’s going to call me later before she sleeps.

I thought of walking her towards their clubroom but decided against it upon hearing the voices coming from the corridors.

After giving her a quick kiss, I ran back to the side door and exited from it.

Right in time, Sakuma was returning from the Gym Storehouse, two soccer balls in hand.

He stopped and stared at me. I looked at him and waited for what he was going to say.

A few seconds later, he resumed walking. When he reached my position, I also began to move.

This guy was most likely still feeling awkward from what he stumbled upon. So to break the ice, I opened my mouth first.

“Satsuki is too lovely, isn’t she? She loves it too much whenever I hug her close.”

Of course, that’s intentional. Even though I didn’t detail it clearly, Sakuma appeared to have started choking from his saliva upon hearing my words. He then flinched and stopped in his steps as if he collided into a wall while his expression crumbled into a pained frown.

There’s no doubt that he imagined us in a daring position. His imagination filled in the lack of details for him.

I also stopped my steps and looked back at him while tilting my head obliviously.

He then forced himself to put on a straight face before responding to what I said.

“… You don’t have to tell me that. Whatever the two of you do, it’s entirely normal. No need to flaunt it in front of me, dude. Are you trying to make me jealous?”

“Why will I do that? I’m just trying to clear the air, you know? You’re being too awkward. Does that clear up your mind?”

“It sure did…”

With a sigh, Sakuma resumed his steps. He seemed to still have something to say but decided against voicing it out.

If I have to guess, it’s something along the lines of ‘Stop doing it in school and take her somewhere more private’. However, he chickened out on the possibility of being called meddlesome by me.

Anyway, that’s just my assumption and I doubt I would say the same if I was in his shoes. I don’t care about others as much as I care about my girls or anyone close to me.

“Are you regretting it? Giving up on her, I mean.” I threw him another question.

Sure enough, he exhibited another reaction. He looked indignant enough as he dawdled between answering yes or no.

This guy still has a lingering attachment towards Satsuki. No matter what was said and done, years of affection wouldn’t just vanish into thin air.

Well, I couldn’t say the same for my girls. Satsuki only has that weird urge left while Nami and Hina’s affection towards Ogawa disappeared which led their friendship and kind gesture to surface.

A few minutes later, right before we reached the soccer field where he had to return, Sakuma squeezed out an answer, “What’s there to regret? You helped point out who I truly liked. If I did confess to her and I suddenly found myself entangled with Setsuna-nee, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself for deceiving the other.”

After saying that, Sakuma ran towards his club, leaving me behind.

Right. He’s still a normal guy. He’s in no way the same as me who wouldn’t pass up with the girls that took my interest. In one way or another, even if I was painfully aware that my girls might be hurt every time I introduce another, I’d still go for it.

I’m my own enemy. As they say.

And only I can defeat myself…

But that is if I am able to do so.

… I’m probably more hopeless than the coward Ogawa with his delusional fantasy.

-

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Doing my daily routine of checking on my girls before settling in on our club, I first checked on Nami, Hina and Saki by visiting them.

This time, I shamelessly entered their clubroom just to see whether something changed.

Tadano looked straight at me, a complicated expression in his eyes. Taku lowered his head, whether that’s a sign of cowardice, I had no idea. He’s still the most difficult to read. As for Ogawa. He still has that overflowing confidence that he’s exuding earlier in class. It’s like he’s flaunting his air of superiority.

He confidently wrote five as his guess on how many votes he received and surprisingly, Chii put an ‘O’ mark on that. Which means the number of votes he received was ranging around three and seven.

From that confidence… he’s most likely thinking that it’s only either five, six or seven and not the other way.

If there’s a competition on who can be the most deluded guy in the world, this guy might take the trophy from it.

Anyway, given that there’s no client for their club activity, Nami happily invited me in, showing them our relationship once more. Although we held back on shamelessly sharing a kiss in front of them, Nami showed her sweet side by keeping me close to her while eyeing her competitors in the form of Arisa-senpai and Izumi-senpai. It’s like she’s trying to intimidate them.

Hina and Saki stealthily tried to draw near me, Hina even grabbed my hand under the table while Saki went behind me and placed her hands on my shoulders, acting playfully.

Upon seeing that, Arisa-senpai’s lips and eyebrows twitched in slight annoyance. When her eyes caught mine, she wordlessly conveyed that she was not happy seeing me being surrounded by the three girls. Izumi-senpai, on the other hand, couldn’t look at me straight. What happened two days ago was still on her mind.

I didn’t stay that long there and I already accomplished what I set out to do, destabilizing their harmonious circle a little bit. I did say last time that I would tell them about the truth but it’s not the time yet.

No… it’s more like, I have to consider their perspectives first. Given that it will be Nami who might get branded as a ‘cheater’, I want to think of a way that will dampen that. Even if she’s ready to get that kind of title, my mind was still gearing towards protecting her image.

No matter what, I’d rather get all the blame than let her suffer from it…

When I left their clubroom, I heard someone running behind me. I turned around and found Kikuchi who came to a halt as she tried to stabilize her breathing.

“You could’ve shouted at me or even called out before I left the room.”

“I forgot, okay? Anyway, scratch that. Answer me this, Onoda-kun, what is it with you?”

Kikuchi straightened her back and looked straight into my eyes. She’s the most normal girl in their circle, if I ignore her identity as a fujoshi who kept on shipping boys to each other. Still, she’s probably one of the sharpest girls in class. And I mean that in an academic way. She’s up there in the top ranks during the last quiz.

With that vague question she had just thrown at me, I acted naturally as I creased my forehead while looking confused. “Excuse me?”