Stealing Spree

I had to admit, Fuyu's observation was at least on point. Miho was never a friendly girl to anyone. In fact, I’d never seen her be that friendly to any other girl before I stole her. That’s why seeing her with us and even claiming that she’s close to both Akane and me was a valid point of suspicion.

Nonetheless, Fuyu acting like this when there’s not even a shred of evidence and she’s once again relying on her own judgement was definitely a little off-putting

Normally, I should be mad at her but given that I was guilty – even if it’s not considered cheating in our complex relationship – I couldn’t be compelled to do so.

Besides, before I could even turn and respond to her, the girl had already returned to Akane’s side and hid from my gaze. Seeing her side frame that still resembles a wet chick, weak-looking and shivering, the girl was still afraid of me, or rather, afraid of how I would react.

From what I could see, Fuyu was most likely aware that she was being too nosy about our relationship. However, she’s the type of person who’s frank about what’s going on inside her head with those she deemed close to her.

In this case, the girl’s connection to Akane got extended to me after I accepted the girl.

Anyway, giving me no chance to respond or even refute her, I could only shrug and let it pass.

There’s no way I could confront her now that we started walking. Besides, Akane noticed Fuyu’s act and gave me an understanding wink. That’s her way of saying to leave Fuyu to her.

She’s going to talk to her later.

Anyway, if there’s a chance… I also wanted to talk to her. Clear her doubts about me or know what’s going on in her mind. She’s Akane’s closest friend after all. I don’t want to continue being a subject of her suspicion even if she’s doing it for Akane’s sake or there’s another reason for it.

It could get tiring. Really.

Anyway, during this walk and after separating from them at the school gates, I never felt uncomfortable anymore. I waded through the opposing wave of students who would sometimes stop and stare at me and escape from it without breaking a sweat.

Before going on my way to my next destination, I looked for somewhere to rest. Fortunately, I was near the park where I met Yukari yesterday. Taking the same bench where we sat yesterday, I then pulled my phone out to check on my girls’ messages.

There’s Nao, who had just woken up after oversleeping, asking me to become her alarm clock in case it happened again.

Elizabeth’s new epithet that would be added to the list of her made-up titles.

And lastly, Kana’s joyous news about how her novel passed the second round of screening.

The other girls had normal mornings so apart from their morning greeting and a spill of their thoughts this morning, there was nothing important happening.

Ah. Well, there’s Aika who’s subtly complaining about my promise to run with her again. Apart from that time when we raced each other and ended up in a love hotel, we never got to run again.

And so, along with her adorable cat stickers filling our chatboxes, she’s hinting at me to suggest a time where we could do it again. Of course, I meant running, not the trip to the love hotel. But there’s no hurt hoping for it as well.

After replying vaguely to the girl to tease her a bit, I tucked the phone back into my pocket and walked back to the station.

Surprisingly, there’s no new email or missed call from Hana. I neither answered nor replied to her earlier… She’s probably thinking of another approach.

Or it’s just not time yet for her to make another attempt to be noticed by me.

Uh… Anyway, I better stop thinking about her… It felt like I was slowly getting drawn to her mind games. Although she wouldn’t succeed in stealing me… I might soon find myself searching for her to make her mine again.

With her declaration, I doubt my girls would be happy if I told them that my interest in the girl was growing again. But still, I had to tell them about this when I became certain. I hate keeping things from them, after all.

-

-

Around thirty minutes later, I found myself back in front of the condominium to see Yue and Miss Manager off.

They’re going to go back to Tokyo this morning so… there’s not much time for us.

When I entered the car where Yue was already waiting, the girl instantly leapt in my arms and wailed like a lost child who finally found her mother.

“There, there… You’re making this like it’s our last farewell. We’ll see each other soon enough, right?” I comforted her while gently rubbing her head and back.

Miss Manager was outside the car… giving us this chance to be alone for the last time in a while. Well, she’s also acting as a bodyguard to make sure that no one could see Yue meeting a boy.

“S-still… This is too short, Ruki. I finally… I finally became your girlfriend. After more than a year, I finally heard you saying ‘I love you’ to me… I want to hear more of it… Want to wake up next to you… I don’t want to go, Ruki.”

Clearly, this was just her being emotional. So all I had to do was to continue comforting her. Her career was as important as our relationship. Without it, she wouldn’t be complete.

And so, what I had to do here was to continue comforting her and calm her down.

But yeah, that’s just too lonely, right? I could also hear my mind whispering not to let her go again and keep her by my side.

However, if I became as emotional as her, this would just be harder for us… That’s why I chose to lighten up the mood instead…

“Is that so? Then let’s go and run away from Miss Manager. I’ll hide you somewhere she can’t reach. What do you think?”

As soon as I said that, Yue’s wails stopped as she looked up at me, dumbfounded. She’s not wearing makeup so the tears neatly wet her face. She really looked like a child this time with tears and snot decorating her beautiful face.

“E-eh?” She uttered after a while.

“What, you don’t want to? What about I come with you instead?” This time, I smirked as I used my thumb to wipe the tears from her cheek.

The girl blinked twice before a bright smile dropped on her lips.

Yep, this was a lot better than her crying face.

“Stop joking, you idiot. You’re not serious about that, are you?”

“Oh? But I am. You’re now my girlfriend. Naturally, I want to stay as close to you as possible.” While keeping my smirk, I lifted her chin and unhesitatingly took her lips, engaging her in a long, deep kiss.

Yue accepted it but once we were done, the girl lightly hit my chest before saying, “No, you’re not serious. I sensed it… You’re a selfish yet very considerate guy… You always want what’s best for us.”

“Is that what I am? Selfish and considerate are contradictory, isn’t it?” I continued with my act to push her out of her gloomy mood for our eventual parting today.

“What about it? You’re always full of contradictions anyway. The truth is… you want me to pursue my passion, right? I bet if we didn’t coincidentally meet, you wouldn’t even consider meeting me again. You’ll be like, ‘This is better for her. She doesn’t need someone like me in her life’.”

At this point, the gloomy Yue when I showed up was no more. The girl was now smirking at me, proudly radiating her pleasure regarding her perfect read on me.

“Wow. I never thought my Yue could read me perfectly.” I sarcastically said. However, the girl’s nose was already up high, she didn’t pick up on that.

Instead, Yue smugly declared, “Heh, who do you think I am? You’re just so easy to read.”

“Mhm. My Yue is so amazing.”

“Praise me more!”

And with this, the girl’s mood turned for the better. In fact, when Miss Manager returned to the car to check on us, she was surprised. Most likely, she’s expecting that we’re both going to be emotional about this parting.

Soon, I stepped out of the car after giving the girl one last intimate kiss, ignoring our audience.

Miss Manager frowned a bit on that but didn’t say anything.

A while later, I watched the blue car as it sped off into the distance. I stayed in that spot for a while before walking back to the station.