Stealing Spree

Late at night, before I resigned to our bedroom with Akane and Nao, I sat down in the living room and contacted Satsuki.

Just like what we agreed earlier, it’s to talk about that weird urge of her or fetish for that matter. Considering it only extended to Sakuma and she knew how weird it was for her, the girl expressed her desire to ultimately remove it.

Before starting, I commented about her room that’s already too familiar in my eyes and of course, I didn’t forget to check out her sleepwear. It's a rather childish pair of yellow pajamas with lemon prints. Well, considering its design, it’s something she bought while thinking about me. And knowing that I would be calling her tonight, she intentionally wore it to show off. I teased her a bit which successfully mellowed out the heavy mood she was exuding.

The girl’s giggles that’s passing through the phone and filling the living room where I stayed also managed to soothe my mind.

Nonetheless, even if our talk started lighthearted, when we reached the core of the problem, it quickly turned heavy.

I reminded her to freely let out what she was thinking as I wanted to hear everything in her mind. My ability was clearly limited so the first order of business was to listen. Listen carefully.

Satsuki made a gesture of reaching her hand out towards the screen, in hopes that I could come through it and join her there. I put on a smile and did the same before telling her to close her eyes and switch the call to just a regular voice call, putting the phone right next to her ear. That way, it would feel like I was lying beside her.

As always, it’s better to be mindful of their mental health. That’s kinda funny coming from an abnormal person like me but… thinking about it, I could somehow remember that I also did this very same thing to some of the girls I stole in the past. I listened to their problems and… if it’s within my ability, I would solve it for them, albeit without their knowledge.

And if it’s something that I couldn’t do by myself, I used words to offer advice or solutions that they could apply to it.

Whether that’s the reason why they stayed, I have no idea. I was just doing my desire’s bidding at that time. Steal and protect what I stole, by any means possible…

Satsuki followed my instruction and soon enough she eased up once more before continuing with our talk.

Although it’s still fine when she’s only harsh with her words towards Sakuma and it was actually her way to mask her previous affection for him, the thought of tormenting him by showing even our physical relationship was eating her mind.

If not for her naturally strong disposition, the girl could possibly even break down in tears after becoming fully aware of it.

Spending an hour as we skirted around and dug through her past, I helped the girl try to get to the bottom of it. Where it originates and how to prevent it.

Upon hearing everything, I made a conjecture.

The origin of her weird urge could probably be traced back to that ‘incident’. The incident that overturned their whole family.

As for why she wanted to torment Sakuma, I could only put out a guess that it’s something that sprouted when she caught him making out with her sister, Setsuna.

The traumatic experience days prior to it as well as the unexpected discovery that her savior and the reason why she went through that experience were kissing each other combined together and gave birth to that urge.

There’s just one point. Her relationship with her sister didn’t suffer any backlash.

However, thinking back to it. There’s the fact that Satsuki asked her older sister to give Sakuma to her. She deprived Setsuna of what might be a budding affection towards Sakuma.

Although one could argue that they were still young back then, I was more or less at the same age when I started my ‘stealing spree’.

Once I was done presenting my conjecture, Satsuki pondered over it carefully.

Clearly, a part of her was accepting that reason while another part was firmly rejecting it.

Even though I couldn’t see her face, her voice was enough for me to draw another conjecture.

It’s as if Satsuki ended up in conflict with admitting that she did both her sister and Sakuma wrong.

True, she’s aware of what she did way before she met me. However, with the conjecture that I presented to her – which she probably tried to fit in the missing pieces of the puzzle in her own mind – Satsuki finally found a plausible reason why she did all those.

A while later, Satsuki’s sobbing voice reached my ears. “R-ruki, am I that bad?”

“Let’s see, before I answer, can I see your face first?”

She would definitely reject it. However, like they said, it’s the thought that counts. Besides, it’s also a way for her to briefly halt her tears if ever they started running down her eyes.

It’s just a conjecture but the girl probably took it as a truth already. Because the explanation regrettably fitted the reason she’s looking for.

“N-no… I don’t want you to see me like this again…”

Yep. She really rejected and from how shattered her voice just now, her pretty face and her cool expression most likely already warped to the same face she wore after that talk with Sakuma a month ago.

“Mhm… If that’s what my Satsuki wants. Then can you imagine me hugging you right now? Wiping your tears off and combing your hair gently… That’s what I want to do at the moment. Pamper you until you calm down.”

“… Idiot. I already love you so much, do you want me to love you more?”

“Yes, I want it. I want my Satsuki to love me more. And I’ll return it threefold, fourfold or how many folds you want to… But really, I’m impressed. For the reviled tsundere to say that straight.”

“S-shut up. Who’s the tsundere? Answer my question now, Ruki...”

Of course, it’s none other than you.

Anyway, I gulped those words down. Judging from her voice, what I did effectively calmed her down. Her sobs grew weaker and even her breathing stabilized.

How I wish I could comfort her personally…

“Let’s see. Bad or not. I guess it doesn’t really matter. Because it’s a matter of perspective.”

“What do you mean?”

“Hmm… Let’s put myself as an example. Before the change in my mindset, stealing someone else’s girl to satisfy my so-called ‘secret desire’ was never wrong in my mind. I never even regretted doing it… Although it’s not at the same level as what happened to you, let’s just say, you somehow snapped. It’s too much for your mind to process it. In the end, it took form like that.”

“… In essence, it’s still bad.” Satsuki’s voice weakened, she’s clearly busy being depressed from how she interpreted it.

“If that’s how you want to look at it. But Satsuki, you wanted to stop, right?”

“Yes… How can I? And… should I apologize to Setsu-nee?”

“There’s not much of a solution to it other than moving past it… Try to be kind to him? As for your sister, if you regret what you did, then you should… However, there might be repercussions depending on how she will react.”

Honestly, one possible solution for it was to exhaust her desire to torment Sakuma. But that would involve us intentionally showing it to him. Call me selfish or anything but... I would never let any other guy see her in her most vulnerable state.

Haa… Should I really be selfish here? I don’t know… If it’s for Satsuki…

Ugh. No. I would never… But if it’s like what Yua and I did to shoo her ex away from the door, it’s plausible.

... Now I’m the one in a dilemma.

Well, better not think about it at the moment. What I suggested might be effective as well. If she started treating him kindly, then it would slowly be chipped away, right?

… Who am I convincing here?

“Treat Sakuma kindly… That idiot is better off being badmouthed. He’s too slow! Setsu-nee came and went but nothing happened!”

Ah. That change in her mood… She’s infuriated by the progress of their relationship, huh?

After another round of insults directed to Sakuma who was impossible to hear any of it, Satsuki calmed down. She then heaved a sigh before continuing. “And… I regret it. Setsu-nee deserved to be happy but I might’ve taken it away from her… I want to apologize.”