Stealing Spree

When Nami and the others arrived, I already lost the chance to also give them the presents I prepared. The day was just starting anyway. I would be able to find more chances to give it to them later.

Nonetheless, in an effort to slowly ingrain in the minds of our classmates that I am a guy with many ‘girl’ friends, I intentionally approached Nami, Hina and Saki. And even Chii when she arrived.

I greeted them and talked about something that we prepared beforehand.

Well, with our constant messages to each other, most of the common topics were already exhausted. That’s why we had to fabricate some.

And due to that, my indiscernible popularity gauge got another boost. In some of our classmates’ eyes, that’s the first time I initiated a conversation.

Shimura, Wakaba and even Kanzaki all looked at me with their brows knitted in surprise.

Five minutes before the bell chimed, those from the sports club showed up one by one. Obviously, my eyes only focused on Satsuki, who, at the time she appeared, was sporting her rare smile.

Just from that expression, something good must’ve happened in their club.

“I’ll be a starting player in our coming practice match against the number 1 school in our Prefecture. Sensei managed to convince them to agree to it.”

Perhaps noticing my anticipation, Satsuki spilled the happy beans. Her lips even stretched further which just showed how excited she was for it.

“Number 1 and you’re playing at the start… What happened while I was not watching?”

Although I was sometimes checking on their practice. Those happened when they were also about to finish. Moreover, even if she’s updating me almost every day on what’s happening in their club, it’s mostly her growing reputation as the substitute Center and her budding friendship with her clubmates.

Perhaps, if I focused on hearing about gossip in other classes and year levels, I would be able to hear her name. She’s beautiful and a rising star in their club.

“Hmph. A lot. You should visit again.” While her first reaction was to act slightly upset, Satsuki lowered her voice to a whisper as she put out that suggestion to me.

“Alright. I’ll do that later.” I immediately gave an answer which caught the girl in surprise.

“Huh? I’m joking, you idiot.” She hurriedly tried to take it back.

“Well, I’m not. Or am I not welcome there anymore?”

“… I bet you’re just going to flirt with my senior. You’re a pervert.”

This girl… Is she still worried about that? She didn’t know that those seniors were just teasing her.

“Hmm. I guess that’s what’s going to happen if you let me be. But rather than flirting with them, I might get hit on. Don’t you think so?”

Alright, that’s a shameless statement. I had never been hit on before. Because before they could form that kind of idea, either I already left the premises or I already made the first move.

Anyway, that’s clearly just my attempt to tease the girl…

And it’s super effective.

“And you’re going to like that! Ugh. Fine! I’ll stick to you and make them uncomfortable.” Although her voice was still close to a whisper, her face clearly twisted in annoyance at that possibility. But for me, this act of hers was nothing short of adorable.

A while later, the bell chimed for the starting of homeroom. Shio soon showed up in our classroom, as beautiful as I first saw her.

However, seeing her serious expression, most students in the class drew air into their lungs and held their breath as they waited for what she was going to say.

Before doing that, Shio first picked up a chalk and wrote on the board behind her. Once she was done, she faced the whole class again and talked partly in English and partly in our native tongue as she explained what was coming for us this week and the next.

Starting today until Wednesday. Our homeroom would just be reviewing the lessons we finished. And on Thursday and Friday, the midterm exams would begin.

At that time, club activities will be suspended and we’ll be able to leave school early. The PE during Friday would also not happen but Eguchi-sensei would also prepare some kind of exam that would be equivalent to Midterms.

In any case, the grades and rankings that would be posted on Monday or after they tallied and recorded everything only reflect the five main subjects namely; English, Math, Science, Social Studies and Japanese.

History was included in Social Studies but it had a different period slot in our curriculum.

And by next week, the 6th period that was originally occupied solely by History class would start to share a day with Music and Art subjects. The 7th period, the added subject for our school’s curriculum would also start sharing days with Home Economics.

The Physical Education classes would remain the same. However, focus on Health Education would begin to increase in frequency. Because of that, Eguchi-sensei would get more time to rework her scrapped lesson plan.

Of course, as her Student Assistant, I might be constantly called by her to help her prepare those. And the opposite would happen once she finished it; the reason to go to her would disappear.

In any case, that’s the entirety of Shio’s announcement before starting our review sessions.

With the atmosphere around her close to a fully-bloomed flower, the class went smoothly and she managed to make most of us recall some of the lessons we had already forgotten.

When the bell rang, I once again moved to assist her in bringing her things to her next class.

Using the brief time that we could be together, I gave Shio my present for her.

It’s also not anything fancy nor expensive. It’s another necklace but with a ring as a pendant. Engraved on the ring was a date. The date when she finally accepted me for her.

Of course, there’s no corresponding pair for that ring as I intended for it to not be worn on her finger. I planned to get a better one for that.

“Ruru… come to my office later and help me wear this.”

Shio quickly pocketed it and said that. And although a smile was threatening to bloom on her face, she restrained it to the best of her abilities.

Well, students would surely be curious why she’s showing a huge smile and exuding a very elated vibe around her if she showed up in class like that.

“I understand, sensei,” I answered, acting like a model student because another teacher was heading our way.

Time passed quickly and we were relieved from mental stress as lunchbreak approached.

Since there’s no PE today, we all ate in our class and like earlier, I stepped up on being a little proactive in mingling with my girls while still keeping the act of someone indifferent to fame.

Because of that, I once again became the center of attention and questions came my way concerning my ‘visible’ change. I didn’t openly answer that and just shrugged and put on a smile.

Their reaction?

My girls almost giggled at how I acted while the boys, especially those close to my girls and who had knowledge of what the real deal was, scowled at me. Most especially, Fukuda and Ogawa.

I thought of saying something that might come off as a slap to them but I held back… If I pushed them like that, our peaceful lunchbreak would be disrupted after all.

A scowl wouldn’t hurt me anyway.

Once we finished eating, I left our classroom without any excuse. I didn’t see the reason to do so, after all.

A few minutes later, I met up with Nami near the Gymnasium. And together, we began our walk towards that abandoned clubhouse.