Stealing Spree

Usually or at least, in my experience, a girl would be flustered or even scared and angry when I grabbed their hands out of nowhere. That held true for almost everyone I encountered. That seems to be not the case with Saionji. Rather than what I listed above, the only reaction she showed was a fearless grin as if nothing could topple her, followed by a meaningful sidelong glance to Nao situated at her side.

"Resorting to scaring me, are you? Too bad. This is also not going to work, junior~" Upon saying that, her hand wriggled out from my hold and turned the tables on me. Her slender fingers flimsily wrapped around my wrist and yanked me towards her. And while repeating what she just did earlier, she proudly declared, "I may have been helpless from the rumors about me and my only avenue is to get angry to clear it but this…"

The girl trailed her voice there as she lowered her gaze to my arm or the state of how she effortlessly pulled me over.

"… Junior, this will never be enough—"

Just before she could finish that sentence, I interrupted her with my other arm which instantly made its way to the back of her head.

Slipping my hand beneath her messy ponytail, I firmly grasped her nape. "What will not be enough, senpai? I never said I'm going to scare you. I'm simply reciprocating the interest you've shown me."

As I said this, I slowly leaned forward, closing the boundary created by the desks between us. She's already close enough so it only took a moment for our heads to be at a dangerously close distance.

But as always, it wasn't in my intention to kiss her. It's just a surefire and proven way to get a different reaction from everyone. The result varies, of course. And I am expecting this girl to show me something new.

"You're beautiful, I won't refute that. However, compared to my Nao there, you're a far second, senpai." I continued. The same as what she did, I intentionally blew my breath right against her face, resulting in the girl flinching in response. And with her head locked in my hold, her only path of retreat was to turn her head to the side.

Since she's someone very confident about her looks, comparing her to another girl was undoubtedly the best way to hurt her pride.

Right. Similar to earlier when I declared that only Nao could take my breath away, Saionji's slanted eyebrows twitched as she tried to come up with a rebuttal.

Unfortunately for her, I didn't give her a chance to do so. "Everyone has their own way to view things. If you're only going to rely on your beauty to stay on top of everything, sooner or later, you'll find yourself in a ditch. Ah no. The rumors about you might've even stemmed from the way you carried yourself. Say, senpai, what do you think about your classmates? Or, what do you think about those friends you hang out with? Are they your friends because you see them as equals or you just thought them convenient to be with?"

Naturally, what I said was only based on my own assumption that she's egocentric and narcissistic to a fault. I mean, the reason why she decided to chase me was to get validation. That she's beautiful and I got taken in by her beauty. That's not something a normal person would do, right?

And by interacting with her here, the way she never wanted to take a loss proved how much she thinks highly of herself. If she's like this everyday, I won't be surprised if my guess that she became a target of rumors by those jealous or just annoyed at her to drag her off her high seat.

As for the friends… well, it really depends on how she treated them. Either they're genuine, cut from the same cloth as her, or just using her to label themselves as the 'cool kids' or the popular group.

I waited for half a minute before relaxing my grip on her nape. Although she wouldn't appreciate that as she's still not affected by the pressure that I was trying to place on her, it would help me in giving her a false sense of security.

And sure enough, the girl's countenance experienced a slight change. She dropped the notion to rebut on how I see Nao as someone more beautiful than her and digested my words while still emanating full confidence in herself.

Most likely, she's running it in her skewed perception that everything revolves around her. She wouldn't realize her flaws.

"Huh? What are you on about? I'm the queen of my class. Everyone can only bow down to my splendor. And my friends? I suppose I can consider them as my royal guards. How's that?"

See that? If Elizabeth's chuunibyou antics could be called cute and hilarious, this girl's claims were just outright absurd and ultimately belonged to her own created world.

Perhaps, if I picked one of her classmates and asked him what he thinks of the girl, he's probably going to answer very carefully to not upset her.

"I'll give that answer 30 points out of 100," I answered while shaking my head.<novelnext></novelnext>

Saionji naturally couldn't accept that. "You… You're just changing the subject! You can't scare and pressure me so now you're denying what is the universal truth."

"Not really. Have you ever seen me gasping at your beauty? No, right? Because compared to the girls around me, they're far lovelier than you." Withdrawing both of my arms from her nape and her hold, I then leaned back on my seat before gesturing for Nao to return to my side.

And instead of letting her sit down on the same chair, I placed her on my lap and kissed her intimately. Faced with that scene, Saionji unknowingly groaned, interrupting her thoughts.

While she was still trying to recollect herself, I paused on kissing my girl and continued, "Alright. If you want to report me, go on and do that, senpai. I'm not scared. But just to let you know, I'm not a trespasser. I'm on official business here along with a teacher from my school."

After saying that, I pointed at my armband that she probably didn't pay attention to or disregarded earlier. Although that wouldn't prove my legitimacy for being here, it's enough to get her out of the loop again.

Saionji frowned and clicked her tongue in annoyance.

"Oh. Before you can point it out. Meeting Nao here in this room is just my personal agenda. You can use that to report me. I'll probably get scolded by the teacher I came here with but that's fine. It's all worth it."

Upon saying that, I turned my attention back to Nao to catch her lips once again. However, she dodged me and said, "Idiot Ruki. Why tell her that? She's a junior and very ignorant of your reason for being here. She has no idea that you have just cleared her from suspicion."

Mhm. Nao is truly a great assistant. For her to anticipate what she has to say after I revealed, she truly deserves my praise.

If I revealed that myself, I doubt it would make an impact on the girl. But as soon as Nao mentioned that, the girl who was already starting to look conflicted rose from her seat, a puzzled expression on her face.

"Wait… What cleared me from suspicion? I don't get it."

Nao looked at me first to make sure that we were on the same page.

"Listen, he's here to ask me for information. Not just to meet me. You're about to get in trouble from the rumors revolving around you. Now, with Ruki confirming that you're not in a relationship with that teacher, you've just been saved from the scrutiny."

"… No, I still don't get it. Why do I have to be in trouble just because of an absurd rumor? I didn't do anything!"

"Yeah. You probably didn't. But you see, Ruki has been trying to let you realize that everyone has a different perception and you refused to listen. If he didn't encounter you here, the information he will acquire might be based on the statements of others or observing your surroundings. Just with the way you act, I can already imagine the other students talking badly about you. So…"

"… No. You're lying. I'm just being myself! I don't need to adjust…"

As expected, Saionji still refused to bend. But that's fine, it's already affecting her, after all.

And that's why I took the wheel from Nao and cut off Saionji, "I agree. You don't need to adjust, senpai. You're kinda interesting as you are. However, won't you at least be flexible? For example, leave this room for us. You won't see me again after today anyway..."

All of this just to send her away peacefully. But then again, with her fearlessness, scaring her wouldn't be effective. By revealing to her the reason why I am here and also informing her of my intention, Nao and I could only hope for this girl to be possessed by reason.

After a minute or so of struggling in her mind, the girl whose head wouldn't hang low, swung down as she slumped on the desk. And with a feeble voice than normal, she muttered, "I… have no idea if what you're saying is true but… I don't have anywhere else to go. I can't return in the middle of the class."

Hmm? Where does the fearless girl go?