Stealing Spree

Upon arriving at the back of the Theater House, that follower was already waiting for me. She looked rather annoyed because, obviously, I was late or I took my time in coming.

Nonetheless, the girl, who if I remember correctly was named Tanaka-senpai, immediately relaxed her expression as though someone flipped her switch. She couldn’t afford to be mad at me or else, whatever they were planning would be scrapped.

The girl then smilingly walked towards me, her hands clasped together, “Great! You’re finally here. Can you hide for a moment? I’ll have the others leave. You can use that chance to… slip inside their clubroom.”

“Senpai can do that?” Putting on the same act as before, I cautiously asked.

“Un. Leave it to me. If you can help her. She won’t need to get another guy to make Ichihara-senpai jealous. She can just live like an ordinary student.”

“I see. So, senpai’s intention is to make Kujou-senpai independent. I guess that’s probably for the best.”

“Y-yeah. Marika-sama doesn’t deserve to be treated like an object.”

She stuttered at first but still managed to force out that statement. Whether that’s her true sentiment or not, it didn’t matter.

Someone was definitely using her to get me involved with both Kujou and Ichihara. Regardless of the identity of the one in the photo.

Yeah. It’s neither Marika nor Ichihara Jun who’s pulling her strings. It’s someone else. The former, while a little clever, was too naïve and the latter only knows how to get in trouble and then rely on his daddy dear to wipe his ass.

It could be Enomoto but I found that highly unlikely after finding out things about him from Nakanishi-senpai.

There’s someone else close to the two that wanted to split them up. The only thing that I couldn’t wrap my head around was… why me? I couldn’t remember anyone having a grudge against me except Inugaki and Goto. Unless it's someone who bore a grudge on me just recently.

Anyway, this particular event was definitely being orchestrated by that one. Still, what would be their end goal? Catch me with Marika? That’s too bland if that’s the case.

In any case, I’d play along with this farce and use it to my advantage.

“I understand. I promised to help so… I’ll leave it to senpai to give me the opportunity.”

“Thank you, Onoda-kun.”

After that somewhat genuine show of gratitude, the girl then went inside the Theater House while I hid like she asked.

I kept my eyes peeled on the surroundings though. Maybe. Just maybe the one pulling her strings was watching this event. However, until I heard the footsteps coming from out of the Theater House, I found no one nearby.

With that, I waited for a few more seconds before Tanaka-senpai sent me the signal to go inside.

Remembering the path that I took with Misaki back then, I quickly arrived in front of the club rooms of both Drama and Theater Club.

I could hear voices from further ahead which indicates that a club must be practicing there. Most likely, Misaki’s Drama Club. Somehow, I thought of checking on the forehead girl but since I probably only had a few minutes to check on Marika, I decided to see if I could do it later.

Walking to the Theater Club’s door, I knocked three times before the familiar voice of the ringlet girl came over.

“Hmm? Why must you knock? It’s open.”

Perhaps thinking that it was her followers or clubmates, the girl returned a puzzled response.

Well, that’s the method I thought to use in checking whether she’s truly alone or not. Undoubtedly, no one was inside the room apart from her. Looks like that Tanaka-senpai or whoever’s behind her had that kind of pull. To remove everyone in the same room as Marika.

Before heading inside, I once again checked my surroundings, scanning every corner in case someone was hiding in it. Upon finding nothing, I returned my focus to the door and unhesitatingly pushed it open.

Just like I had guessed before. The room was actually identical to the one Misaki’s club was using. The only difference was the decoration and the arrangement of certain pieces of furniture filling up the room. There’s also quite an elegant air as though this was like a professional set.

As I stepped foot inside, I quickly found the girl in front of the dresser mirror. She’s staring at herself, practicing her smile.

Naturally, with the mirror that’s wide enough to capture a wide angle, the girl’s eyes found me staring at her.

As such, she immediately jumped in surprise and turned in my direction to confirm that I was standing where she saw me from the mirror.

I raised my hand and waved in greeting before putting a smile, “Senpai, you looked like you saw a ghost. Am I that scary?”

“… Junior-kun.” It took a while before the girl managed to mutter the nickname that she’s fond of calling me. And soon enough, as the realization dawned on her, her shoulders once again shook as she cautiously continued, “W-why are you here? Where are Tanaka and the others?”

I tilted my head in response before putting on a believable act, “I thought of paying a visit after yesterday. Checking if everything is fine with you. Oh, right. I saw a group of girls and boys leaving earlier. Was that them?”

With her eyes widening further, the ringlet girl tried to regain her composure before muttering silently, “Why will they leave?”

That question wasn’t directed to me but simply a question she had to ask herself. She’s probably used to having them around so… with those followers leaving her side, she started wondering if something happened.

And seeing how she’s still pondering about that, I used that window of time to take a step forward, closing our distance.

Upon noticing my presence close to her again, the girl was brought back to reality. She then looked up and immediately averted my gaze.

Well, that’s fine with me. After what happened yesterday, I expected that she’d be like this.

“Senpai, am I making you uncomfortable?” I asked as I reached for a nearby stool to sit in front of her. “Or did I overdo it yesterday?”

As soon as I mentioned that, Marika appeared as if she got tickled by an invisible hand. She immediately looked giddy as she rubbed her legs together. Following that, while her head remained hung low, her eyes sought mine.

And in a voice that could be described as soft and sweet, she answered as the same complicated expression started filling up her face, “No, you didn’t. That… I sent the photo to Jun-kun.”

Hearing that from her, the news was confirmed. Let’s see. I guess I should ask her what exactly happened with that. Better to hear everything from her than rely on gossip.

“I see. Was it effective? Did he get jealous?”

“… He got mad at me.” Marika pursed her lips. However, I could somehow pick up that she’s not really disheartened by it. Instead, there’s some hint of relief in her voice.

“Well, that’s the normal reaction, isn’t it? If I’m your fiancé and you send me a photo like that, I will also be mad. But you have your reason, it’s understandable.”

“Yes, that’s right Junior-kun! He… what he did was worse, no? I put my trust in him. Believed all of his words. Yet, he dared to introduce a girl to me. That’s preposterous even for him!”

“Honestly, I don’t know, senpai. I’m not Ichihara-senpai. But you see, he’s missing out a lot. You’re beautiful and too sweet to boot. To still go to another girl despite having you as someone he’s set to marry, I can only think of one thing…”

Halfway through my words, Marika flinched and averted her gaze again. But well, it’s easy to guess what happened. Her face was probably heating up. However, when I started hinting at what might be the reason Ichihara Jun was doing that, her gaze returned to me and this time, the girl was determined to hear me out.

“… Senpai, it must be because you don’t want to give him what he wants.”

“Eh? What do you mean by that, Junior-kun?”

“Simple. Let me demonstrate it for you.” As I said this, I reached for the girl’s hands and pulled on her. And by using my strength a bit, I dragged her to my lap, almost the same way as the daring position she initiated yesterday.

This time, however, I enclosed my arms around her waist, keeping her in place.