Stealing Spree

I waited for at least thirty seconds to see if there’s a follow-up from it, like ‘I’m kidding’ or ‘Did I get you with that?’ but nothing of the sort came about.

In her mesmerizing naked posture, Aoi remained steadfast as she stared straight into my eye, waiting patiently for my response.

I guess she’s serious about that. Of all things I was expecting, it was truly unexpected.

No wonder she didn’t tell me about this straight up. She probably consulted Akane first. Given that the silly girl told me about it, Aoi already got a go-ahead signal from her.

Akane most likely went out of the room to give Aoi this chance to explain to me in detail what she meant by that.

“Tell me about it.” I lifted my body a bit and rested my back on the headrest. Since this might be a serious one, I better hear everything from her and understand it so that I could decide on what to do.

It might be similar to how Haruko asked me to steal the five girls that she helped. However, I had a feeling that that was not the case here.

Aoi sat down next to me and rested her head on my shoulder before starting.

While I waited for her to start, I covered us with the blanket, including the sleeping Ria. I also pulled the girl up so as not to cover her completely. Moreover, even though she didn’t wake up, the girl adjusted her sleeping posture and stretched her arm to hug me.

Lost to her adorability, I began to comb her hair dotingly.

Well, it was at this point that Aoi opened her mouth again. I thought she was going to explain the details of that favor but she brought up a name. A familiar one.

“Do you remember Ohori-senpai, darling?”

“Ohori-senpai? Of course, I do.”

Ohori Tomoyo. She’s a year older than us and an upperclassman that was always with Aoi before I managed to steal her. No, even after I stole her, Aoi was still often with her.

Now that I think about it, are they still hanging out together?

More than a senior, Ohori-senpai was her childhood friend. Someone she's been close with ever since young. I remembered Aoi mentioned that because Ohori’s family moved away from their neighborhood, the only time she gets to hang out with her is during school.

Well, the only reason I remembered her was because she’s one of the reasons why I got closer to the unruly girl.

Hearing my acknowledgment that I still remember the girl, Aoi’s eyes shined with enthusiasm. “Great. Then, if that’s the case, this will be easy. Please steal her from her current boyfriend.”

As expected, she wouldn’t bring her up if it’s not about her. However, what’s the reason for asking me to steal her childhood friend?

Perhaps seeing the confusion in my eyes, Aoi lightly hit her head and stuck her tongue out. “Ugh… I’m an idiot. I have to explain why, right? First, let me show you something.”

After saying that, she reached for her phone. After fiddling with it for a bit, she presented it to me. On the screen, a photo was on display.

However, it’s neither Aoi nor Ohori-senpai. Or at least, the one in the photo didn’t look like the one I could vaguely remember.

It’s a photo of a couple, walking out of a love hotel. However, from the angle and the background, it was taken from inside an establishment. A coffee shop, to be exact.

“Did you take this?”

“Un. Took it by chance. That guy is her boyfriend. And the girl… I’m sure you understand it even without me explaining it.”

Well, it’s truly easy to understand. The guy is cheating on Ohori-senpai. And more importantly, they even went to a love hotel. Should I praise or criticize him?

I have no right to both because I’m worse than him in conventional thinking.

Anyway, if he’s cheating, why did this lead Aoi to ask me to steal Ohori-senpai?

If I remember correctly, Ohori-senpai was also a headstrong girl. She’s also unruly but Aoi beat her in that regard. Aoi once told me that she picked up her behavior from the girl but from the time I remembered spending with them, I concluded that they rubbed that behavior on each other. They’re like two peas in the same pod. Similar in a lot of ways.

However, since Aoi was the only one with a boyfriend back then, she naturally became my target.

Aoi and Ohori-senpai were close as childhood friends. Most of the time, even though they’re separated by a year, they’re together.

When I was in the process of stealing Aoi, Ohori-senpai acted as a bridge for us. Well, she found it amusing that I was approaching Aoi despite knowing that she’s already taken.

Although I didn’t clearly express my intention to make Aoi fall for me, Ohori-senpai found it entertaining.

Right. For her, helping me get close to Aoi was only for her entertainment. But in the end, since she cared for her friend, the girl also told me to back off and stop hoping.

Little did she know that at the time she told me to back off, Aoi was already mine…

After that, I stopped looking for Aoi whenever she was with Ohori-senpai so that was possibly the last time I talked to her. I was already successful with stealing my target, after all…

Back to the topic, was she hoping to give the guy a taste of his own medicine? By asking me to steal Ohori-senpai, Aoi was enacting revenge?

But something’s not right… Why offer her up to me? She could just tell Ohori-senpai what she discovered...

Unless…

“Ohori-senpai knows that she’s being cheated?” When I said that, Aoi didn’t even blink as she quickly nodded her head.

“I’m right. You’ll understand it easily, that’s my darling.”

“But Aoi, if it’s to help Ohori-senpai then I can do so even without stealing her.”

“Ah… I haven’t explained properly, darling. You see…”

As though she remembered something, Aoi put a hand on her chin as she reorganized her thoughts.

Looking at her like that, it somehow started to build suspense. I waited for at least two minutes before Aoi opened her mouth again.

And this time, she laid out everything. The reason why she asked me, what she wanted to happen and her desired outcome if at all possible.

“You can just let her go after stealing her but I also won’t mind if you really fell for her, darling. However, in this case, I hope you can bring back the past you or the methods you were using before. To open Ohori-nee’s eyes that her boyfriend isn’t some hot commodity that she didn’t want to lose even though she’s already being openly disregarded.”

Ending it at that, Aoi then put on a rather forced smile. And right at this moment, Akane returned with a pitcher of water.

Aoi quickly jumped out of the bed to drink water before filling another glass for me.

While she was doing that, my mind started digesting and organizing everything Aoi revealed.

Her favor boils down to one thing, she wanted to help her blinded friend who stopped listening to reason.

Furthermore, the situation sounds familiar… It’s just like Arisa-senpai’s past where Izumi-senpai failed to convince the girl that she was being fooled by her boyfriend at that time.

What should I do here? It’s like Aoi had just told me, ‘Go and cheat on us, darling.’. She even told me to bring back my past methods… But she specifically raised it as asking me for a favor.