Stealing Spree

Failing to find the owner of the voice, I resumed my walk. Nonetheless, I strained my ears to pick up any sounds produced by the girls. However, even when I joined up with the group, I never heard anything resembling that voice again.

Although there’s that option to ask them one by one, I wasn’t compelled to do so. If it’s truly someone who knows me by name, she could just come up and present herself to me. But whether I could remember her or not was still up for debate.

Having rejoined them, I soon stopped paying attention to whoever was the owner of that mysterious voice and just deemed it as though I misheard it. If she’s keen on getting my attention, she would surely try to convey it to me in one way or another. And if I continued checking out the girls from another school, my girls would definitely be jealous of it.

A while later, a group moved out of the school grounds. Kanzaki headed the group along with Wakaba. Fukuda, Ogawa and Taku returned and joined us. However, none of them even dared to look or approach us.

I mean, I was once again surrounded by my girls but because we’re a large group, it wasn’t that noticeable unless someone truly focused on us.

In this way, we soon reached the place where we were going to eat. It’s neither a fancy restaurant nor a fast-food chain. Instead, it’s a simple snack house located in the nearby shopping district.

Counting our numbers there are close to 20 of us here. Seeing the delight from the shop owner and its workers as they saw us entering and filling up all their seats, it felt like we reserved the whole place.

In any case, since it’s just a snack house, the food they offered was nothing extravagant. Perhaps if we’re a group of adults, they would offer their best sake. Too bad, we only got fruit juice.

To not be too obvious, I joined the boys at their table and reveled at the sour faces of Fukuda and the rest.

Once we were close to finishing our meals, we joined tables with the girls and that’s the chance we used to get closer even in the group. Although we did it as naturally as possible, I failed to evade the spotlight.

“Among all of the boys here, isn’t Onoda-kun the one closest to a lot of girls?”

“I know, right? Are you boys, okay? Get your back into it. Sooner or later, all of us will be linked with him.”

While Kashiwagi opened up that topic, Wakaba seconded and even expanded on it.

“What’s good about Onoda? He’s just the Disciplinary Officer, right? Remember how he messed up his speech.” One of the two followers of Fukuda answered. He even smirked at me as though he was provoking me to respond.

I remembered. This one was the guy who berated me for skipping cleaning duties. His name started with an insect, Mushitani, I guess? Anyway, back then, Saki berated him back, even digging up his blunders from last year that he choked on his words.

So, he still had a bone to pick with me, huh?

“Is that so? Why don’t you look in the mirror and ask yourself how different you are from Ruu?” Nami spoke up before me. From the tone of her voice, she’s clearly annoyed that someone tried to pull me down.

With that, the atmosphere immediately turned awkward as he once again choked on his words. He shrunk in his seat and acted like a defeated idiot. Fukuda shook his head before saying something to save his goon.

“No need to be so hostile, Andou. Don’t make it so obvious that you jumped ship from Ogawa to Onoda.”

“And what of it? Does it have anything to do with you?” Maintaining the same tone, Nami continued. She didn’t deny his statement causing the others unaware to whisper among themselves.

But since he mentioned Ogawa, the poor guy’s face darkened.

Fukuda continued and his other goon joined the fray. Hina and Saki also spoke up and even Chii expressed her disappointment for Fukuda for souring the mood of our group. By then, Chii’s friends, An-rin and Ku-shii also joined but they’re laughing as though it’s fun.

Kanzaki looked like she was having a headache. And obviously, Wakaba and Kashiwagi who started it up also had troubled expressions.

As for me, even if I wanted to speak up, I had no point of entry. Even before I could open my mouth, I would receive glares from my girls as though telling me to stay out of it. Aya, on my side, even held my hand and shook her cute little head.

Their topic still lingered around me. And hearing all of that, even with my thick face, I couldn’t help but be embarrassed.

Perhaps noticing me after a long while, Kashiwagi clapped her hands and wryly smiled as she tried to mediate. “Alright. Can we all stop now? I didn’t mean for this to sour the atmosphere. Onoda-kun, do you have something else to add?”

And with the direct mention of my name, their attention instantly focused on me.

“What else should I add? I think I’m already the most hated guy in our class by now. But I won’t forget the gratitude. I have to thank Nami and the others for defending me. So…” I intentionally trailed my voice there and scanned everyone’s expressions. Upon seeing that they were all waiting for me to finish my words, my lips stretched into a shameless grin and said “… can I fall in love with all of you?”

Whoosh~

A pin-drop silence ensued.

A few seconds later, someone slapped the table, “You idiot! Are you trying to make it worse?!”

That’s Wakaba. If not for the distance, she would probably lunge and slap me to oblivion.

Soon after that, Nami soon followed, “I don’t mind that, Ruu. Fukuda already exposed me, after all.” The girl then shrugged and smiled beautifully.

It didn’t end there. Hina, Saki and Chii also expressed agreement.

“Well, does defending Ruki also mean I’m exposed?”

“Possibly. I also don’t mind. It’s Ruki, after all.”

“Uh… I also agree. Kii… I mean, Onoda-chi is a great catch, isn’t he?”

“Uhm… Me too!” And Aya, upon seeing the other four declaring their agreement, was also compelled to speak up. She raised her hand and stood up. But soon enough, her face reddened in embarrassment.

Wakaba and Kashiwagi almost clapped their hands upon seeing Aya’s courage. But their expression soon turned grave as even An-rin and Kushii joined the fray while laughing.

And on the other girls who were just silently watching, some of them also joined the fun. Perhaps, they thought it was all a joke.

As for the boys? Well, their faces turned purple with anger, or at least, those who were involved with what had transpired. They couldn’t say anything anymore.

Soon enough, the tense atmosphere mellowed out and as though a cool, refreshing breeze passed in the middle of our tables, laughter erupted, enlivening the whole snack shop.

By the time we left and started going in groups to go home, the lively atmosphere remained.

“You’re a riot, Onoda. Take care of our Aya. And no. Don’t fall in love with us!” Kashiwagi and Wakaba said that before laughing again.

And similar words were uttered by the other girls who thought everything was just a farce.

On the other hand, my girls, especially Nami, had a lovely smile on their lips while exuding some kind of victorious aura.

Whatever happened inside that snack shop, I guess it would stick in the minds of everyone. Ogawa’s plan to expose me would also lose all its firepower. I mean, they would start referring to the declarations we made here.