Stealing Spree

If they only met during their second year in high school then that means, the incident with her ex happened already. For sure, Setsuna stopped being involved with other guys because of it. And since it wasn’t publicized, even Koizumi-san was unaware of it.

I wonder… Is she the same as their parents? She’s also unable to move on from it.

And with that in mind, is this behavior also born from it? A defensive mechanism she built for herself? I don’t know. And I probably won’t know unless I get the chance to interact with her without any pretense.

Satsuki was worried and guilty for her older sister. Despite how close they appeared back then, they surely had things that they were not saying to each other.

Should I stick my foot in and pry open what she’s hiding? I still lack a lot of information and I also have to probe Satsuki’s thoughts about this. It’s important for her, after all.

Anyway, going by my plan, I first told the two that our relationship was like an open secret that no one talks about. Even though there’s no confirmation from both of us, the way we treated each other was already obvious.

Since it would be hard to convince Setsuna that we just wanted to keep it a secret, phrasing it like that was proven easier for her to swallow

Furthermore, Sakuma backed me up on that. I gave him a silent thumbs up for that. Too bad for him though, he’d be in for heartbreak if I told her what Koizumi-san shared earlier.

Well, it’s not like he has no hopes. Sometimes, perseverance can be rewarded. Look at Kenji, after a year, even though it’s only because Kana was pressured to accept, he still got her yes. Unlucky for him though, I managed to steal the girl a year later. And well, Sakuma was also a victim…

Ah. Let’s be optimistic for him. He’s doing his best even though he’s clearly inexperienced. He just had to melt Setsuna’s frozen heart.

And with that, we stopped chatting out there and went up to the audience stands. We used a different entrance but it's still closer to the side where the students of our class gather. We’ll be instantly seen if we went to the other side, after all. Furthermore, it would surely be a hassle to deal with the opposing school’s crowd.

Taking up an open spot in between – I only assumed this – the second and third years. Their crowd was bigger so we instantly blended in with them.

Well, before that, we naturally got some kind of attention that instantly focused on the two women. It only needed one look to know that they’re not high school students. Furthermore, with both of them being exceedingly attractive, both girls’ and boys’ eyes that caught sight of them widened in either admiration or delight.

Well, since they failed to hit on the girls from the other school, a few brave souls tried to block our way intentionally. But with me stepping in front of the two and Sakuma copying me, they retreated while frowning. None of them looked like a fighter and most of them were those types who think they’re too popular to hit on every girl. There were little to no delinquents here. Apart from Fukuda’s group from earlier, the audience coming from the higher year were all normal students.

“How dependable.” I heard Setsuna playfully whisper. But whether it’s directed to me, Sakuma, or to the both of us, I had no idea.

Now that we’re here, we took a step back and let the two women stand next to the railing to properly watch the match below. Sakuma and I positioned just a step behind them.

However, Koizumi-san turned her head to me and pulled me forward as she moved to the side, giving me a spot to take. “It’s only appropriate to not hog the whole space. All four of us can squeeze together.”

She then released my hand and smiled before turning her attention back to the match below.

This girl is really something. I can’t say that I’m just trying not to be conspicuous.

Anyway, to maintain a little stealth, I stood sideways rather than squeezing my width there. This way I only took up a little space.

However, when Sakuma managed to squeeze into the other side, Setsuna couldn’t help but push Koizumi-san. And that resulted in us being too close to each other again. I also reflexively held to support her from being unstable.

“Sorry, Onoda-kun. It looks like I’m wrong with my calculations.” She gave a wry smile before tucking a part of her hair behind her ears.

The little action she did was so picturesque that I found myself staring at her side frame as well as that gaudy ring-shaped earring she was wearing. Due to that, it took me a few seconds to respond.

“No. It’s fine. I can take a step back again. I can easily see from here, anyway.” Without waiting for her to say yes, I already moved back but I kept my hand holding onto the railing. That way, no one else could squeeze in.

“Un. Sure.” Having no chance to reject, Koizumi-san could only nod and force a smile.

And it was at this point that I also stopped myself from focusing too much on her.

I looked down below to check on the scores and Satsuki before craning my neck to get a glimpse of my girls past the crowd blocking my view.

Thankfully, no one noticed me here yet. And based on the heads that I managed to capture, they already rejoined the girls from our class, creating a rather large crowd. Some of the boys were just standing there and most of their attention was cast below.

The first half was about to end and surprisingly, the lead remained at 10 points. However, the seniors were already sweating a lot and some of them already showed signs of exhaustion.

A few minutes later, the bell for the end of the first half filled the gymnasium.

“Huh?! Oi, Ryou, explain this. Why are we losing?” Setsuna exclaimed as soon as the players vacated the court for the half-time break.

“Eh? I don’t know…” Not knowing what to answer, Sakuma looked at me for help.

This guy… am I his father? Even with a simple question like that, he can’t produce an acceptable answer. There are a lot of options like ‘It’s not over yet.’ or ‘They’re just warming up, watch them in the 2nd half’.

“It’s not that we’re losing, Setsuna-nee-san, it’s just they’re fighting against the top 1 in the prefecture. I say, they’re doing well for themselves.”

“Un. I think so too. But it will be tough from now on.” Koizumi-san added.

“What are you saying? How can it be tough?” Setsuna again and she looked like she was not playing around, she really wanted to understand it.

“Uhm. No. Our team looked like they’re about to run out of stamina.”

With Koizumi-san taking over to answer Setsuna’s questions, I opted just to listen and watch our surroundings.

And since it was half-time break, the crowd noticeably thinned as the audience went out to take a break or buy something outside the gymnasium.

And although I made sure that we were still safe from being seen by our classmates, I failed to account for the door we entered from.

“Eh? Sakuma and… Onoda? Why are you here? Our class is right there—Oh! I see… I understand. Have fun, you too!”

One of the girls from our class appeared from that door and instantly noticed us. She’s about to point towards our crowd but upon seeing both Setsuna and Koizumi-san, her imagination worked out to reach a slightly colorful conclusion. She then sped up as if she couldn’t wait to share what she saw with the others.

I was one step too late to stop her. Or rather, even if I stopped her, it would just speed up the inevitable.

“Oh? Your classmates? Come on and let’s greet them.” Setsuna grinned as she dragged Sakuma with her to follow the girl.

And left behind by the two, Koizumi-san and I could only shrug and follow…

With the distance being only a few steps, it didn’t take long for us to arrive there. And as I expected, the girl who saw us was in the process of sharing the gossip with the girls. However, with our arrival, whatever conclusion she managed to create failed to be conveyed as the attention of our class all focused on the two women.

“Eh? M-maemura? Wait, you’re not…” One of the girls blurted out as she noticed the likeness.

“Yes. I’m Maemura. Satsu-chan’s older sister! Nice to meet all of you and thank you for coming to cheer for her!”

Surprisingly, Setsuna gave a rather normal and polite greeting. However, that didn’t mean everything would go well…