Stealing Spree

Judging from his uniform that’s slightly different from mine but the same as that Kenji, the guy was another 3rd year. He probably noticed Ishida-senpai when he was about to sit down at the table neighboring ours. Clutched in his arm was a thick book with a black cover. I couldn’t see its title but judging from the thick notebook and pen that he also brought with him, it’s probably something related to what he’s studying.

Whether he’s Ishida-senpai’s classmate or not was still up for debate. And he’s not that guy who confessed to her. This guy could be said to be sporting the ‘cool guy’ aura. I bet he’s someone popular. Someone who otakus and losers would scream at as ‘riajuu’. A member of the cool kids or popular kids, I guess?

In any case, I couldn’t care less about his identity. Since my year level was also obvious with my uniform, he probably dismissed me as a junior Ishida-senpai was looking after. I also had no defining features like Sakuma, Ogawa and those like them. Hence, his eyes only stopped for a moment on me.

“O-oh. Ichihara-san. I-I’m fine. This is just the heat.” Although she stuttered a bit, Ishida-senpai straight up lied in her answer. Moreover, she didn’t even try to remove my hands from her.

But Ichihara? Is he related to Ichihara-san from the gym? Although that might be her surname after marrying to that family, and there’s a possibility that two unrelated families share the same surname, it’s safe to assume that he might be related to her husband’s family.

I mean, our city might be seen as huge but the people populating this place were the same old families. There were those like Sakuma’s family moving in from another prefecture but from what I read in a local newspaper that I chanced upon and still remembered years ago, more than 80% were locals who've been living here since the old warring states era.

Anyway, there’s also no merit in me if he’s related to that so I dropped that thought in less time Ishida-senpai needed to answer him.

“Oh. Is the AC not working properly at this side?” He accepted Ishida-senpai’s answer but the next words he uttered left me rather astounded. “Hey, junior. Can you go and ask the librarians to check?”

The audacity to command me to do something… He’s a senior so it’s probably par for the course for him to command his underclassmen. But do we know each other?

No. Right? Besides, if that’s what he’s thinking then he should do it himself. Why pass it to someone else you just dismissed?

Ugh… Wait, why am I being agitated by this?

Oh… So that’s why.

He quickly returned his focus on Ishida-senpai, his eyes smiling as though he found prey.

This guy… is not normal. Or rather, he thinks himself special.

He probably thought that he was going to score points with Ishida-senpai by acting like that. And if I leave my seat to go and find one of the librarians, he could chat up the girl.

Really, the audacity of this guy is making my fist itchy.

What does he see from Ishida-senpai, anyway?

She’s pretty, true. But that’s not easily noticeable unless you spent a lot of time with her. I originally dubbed her as someone normal, in a beautiful sense, but the more I spent my time with her, the more I saw that hidden beauty that was normally hidden by a scowl, a frown or just an expressionless face.

“Senpai, what do you think?” Although I still acted like a junior, I didn’t respond to him. Instead, I turned my head to the girl who I could easily pull close to me to give him the same amount of surprise he was not expecting. But where’s the fun in that?

Not knowing where to look, Ishida-senpai appeared troubled. Her palm had started sweating… And beads of sweat started lining her forehead.

The lie that she made about being influenced by the heat had now come true.

“… N-no. Stay here. We’re still not… finished.”

With two pairs of eyes waiting for her answer, it took the girl some time to respond.

Upon hearing her answer, we naturally had two differing reactions, my lips stretched into a wide smile, albeit it was hidden from that guy. On the other hand, Ichihara’s approaching steps stopped before a barely inaudible sound of a clicking tongue reached my ears.

He’s annoyed, huh?

After fixing my face, I shifted my eyes to him. To check his full reaction.

He’s smiling. It’s not like Ogawa’s kind smile. Although it looked genuine on the surface, I could easily point out its fakeness.

The guy is a pro, tell you. He’s used to wearing that fake smile. Although faint, a small blood vessel pulsed on his temple that was partly covered by his hair. His left eyebrow was also twitching slightly. If not for my observer skill as well as my seeing through his intention, I would probably miss that.

“As you can see, Ichihara-senpai, Ishida-senpai won’t let me go. We’re doing an activity that I needed to pass today. She’s mentoring me, you see…” Mixing my response with a polite and impolite tone, the guy also saw through it. His fake smile widened and the grip he had on the book tightened.

I guess he also has sufficient strength for a brawl.

Ah. Right. One thing I also notice… Even though his voice was loud enough for everyone in the library to hear, no one was shushing him down.

What a difference in treatment. Is he actually that… lead delinquent? I don’t know. There’s no indication that he is.

“Is that so… Then at least give her a handkerchief to wipe her sweat. What are men if we cannot be considerate?”

Oh. Did he just mask his jab at me as sound advice? He also knew his way with words.

“Actually, I offered it but Ishida-senpai has her own. Besides, it’s over me to offer my stinky handkerchief…” I shrugged.

My handkerchief was a little dirty or rather, it was already used… Earlier, during lunch break. I used it to wipe the sweat off my girls…

“Well then, Ishida-san can use this.”

“N-no. No need. I have mine.” Before the guy could hand his handkerchief that reeked of cologne, Ishida-senpai quickly pulled out her yellow handkerchief and began wiping her face.

Seeing that, the guy looked like he was about to click his tongue again but was interrupted. Not by us but by a newcomer.

“H-here you are, Jun-kun. Must you hide from me? Good thing someone I asked told me that you went here.” A girl, wearing a third-year school uniform appeared from the direction of the bookshelves. She had golden ringlet curls for her hair and it was adorned by a large ribbon behind. She’s slightly huffing for breath, most likely she ran from outside to here.

Really, her appearance was probably the one that would fit the ojou-sama bill more than Otoha or Himeko. No. She’s more like a princess-type of character that was mostly haughty in manga or anime. Yet, looking at her gentle face, she’s probably far from it.

“D-don’t run off again, you promised we’ll study together.”

“Ugh… Marika.”

The guy groaned and muttered the name of the newcomer silently. Just looking at his expression, he dreaded being found by her.

“Uh… Onoda-kun, let’s go.”

Although it looked like some interesting scene was about to ensue, I felt Ishida-senpai’s hand tugging at my sleeves, her face told me that she wanted to escape immediately.

And the reason for that was revealed before I could say ‘okay’.

“Ah!” The ringlet girl exclaimed as though she caught something.