Stealing Spree

"Don't hate me, Onoda-kun. If you're going to hear me out, that's all I wish. My admiration for you never took a hit from this… interrogation." While biting her lips, perhaps to stop her tears from streaming down her face, Yanagi Kaede pleadingly gazed upon me, her words imploring for my understanding. "It's my wrong to follow you when there are other options like paying a visit or asking Tomiko to set up another meeting with you… I was being cowardly."

Well, if someone else heard all of that, they would think I was bullying her or I was tormenting her over something she did.

However, the truth of the matter was… everything was in line with the interrogation that flowed rather smoothly.

I asked questions and she answered each of them honestly, without missing a beat.

The only reason she probably resorted to saying that was because when I reached the end of the questions lined up in my head, I silently contemplated and rearranged the various thoughts in my head.

Her anxiety penetrated the walls of her sanity, short-circuiting her mind, and making her believe that I wasn't convinced by her answers.

In any case, what I garnered from her answers was this…

A stalker.

Yanagi Kaede admitted to stalking me. And it didn't start today.

According to her, she's been watching me ever since the day she sent me that letter. She also didn't deny that she wrote it by hand and with her own words. When I asked her why she wrote it like that – with poetic and exaggerated descriptions akin to an old-era maiden – she simply tilted her head, implying that she found nothing wrong about it. It's her normal write-up. Or even with her essays, she's that overly dramatic with details.

Well, I didn't try to pry too much about it given that it didn't even make her cringe when I recited the words she had written by memory

Anyway, although admitting to stalking me sounded really bad at first, I couldn't help but shake my head when she went into detailing it.

Why? Because everything she did would hardly be considered harmful.

She never tried to approach me on her own aside from sending that first letter. She maintained her distance appropriately, not even giving me a clue that she was watching me from afar.

In her defense, she's already satisfied by admiring me from a safe distance. She could already draw out the motivation and determination from seeing me smile and interact amiably with the other girls.

In fact, after two weeks of my transformation, today was the first time she followed me closely which ultimately led me to detect her presence. As for the reason she did that… it's because of what happened yesterday with Ichihara.

Mhm. It spurred the girl to action in trying to prevent someone from making things difficult for me.

She thought I might suffer the same thing as her for offending a senior as popular and well-known as that guy.

No matter how she worded it, this girl, who had nothing to do because she was still unmotivated to strive in their club, went out of her way to look out for me. Without my knowledge though.

So… Should I be mad at her for that?

"Who says I'm going to hate you? I'm just processing everything that you told me. I can fault you for following or stalking me. However, no matter how I wrap my head around it, you've done nothing harmful to me. Except at least, you must've been aware of my close relationship with the girls around me."

Catching her before she could fully kneel in front of me, I responded with those words. Then when I stabilized her footing and got her to look me straight in the eye, I flicked her forehead and put on a genial smile, an attempt to calm her head down and not let it spiral into depression.

The girl yelped at the pain brought about by the flick but I achieved my desired result. She calmed down, sucked up the tears that were threatening to overflow, and faced me again without looking like she was wronged by me.

A while later, her head bobbed up and down, her wordless reply to what I said last.

"Well, I'm done hiding that closeness anymore so it's not a big deal. My reputation was now built around my current position – the Disciplinary Officer – and the way I've presented myself to be close to most girls."

Mhm. That's the result of the small blocks that I have continued to build ever since I came up with the idea of slowly becoming high-key with my relationship with my girls.

"That… certainly is the case. Onoda-kun, you became so popular that seeing you always surrounded by girls was already considered a normal occurrence. People will find it more unnatural if you're not around a girl. Boys can only seethe in their jealousy because if they stepped out to call you out, a big chunk of the female population in our year level or our whole campus will go out of their way to defend you."

"Wait. I understand the first half. And the latter half was news to me. They will defend me?"

Somehow, now that she had regained her calm, the girl was now spitting out more interesting information about me. While that proved that she was really stalking me, it's an insight that neither I nor my girls can come up with easily.

"… Onoda-kun, you're not aware of the extent of your popularity? Eight out of ten girls on our campus only have good things to say about you. As for the remaining two, one probably disliked you while the other one was still unaware or couldn't be bothered."

Or in short, I have 80% approval ratings from the girls in our school? Isn't that exaggerated?

"Alright… I take it that that statistic is the result of observing me for the past two weeks?"

Yanagi Kaede nodded once again without any hint of falseness in her eyes. Whether she's biased with that or not, only time will tell.

But if I took her word for it, it meant that… my high-key status was already too prominent.

I feel like I should be happy with that but at the same time, dread the effects of it for the rest of our school year or my time here in this school.

I will always be at the top of the hottest topic and everything I do in public is guaranteed to be disseminated to everyone in a blink of an eye.

… Is it really a good thing though?

"Are you okay, Onoda-kun?" Upon seeing me going silent again, Yanagi Kaede called out to me, a hint of concern in her voice. Yet, the girl didn't make a move to touch me openly. It's like she's being very careful about how to act around me – perhaps in fear that I would not look kindly to her.

"Yeah. Don't worry. I only thought of clearing up your reason for following me. I can't believe that I'll be hearing all this… Furthermore, you're still admiring me as a person. Have you not considered me a womanizer?"

Although I could somehow explain why my girls accepted our complex relationship, it's illogical for this girl to not feel anything about it and continue looking up at me. There must be a reason.

"I do consider you as one. However, Onoda-kun, that's irrelevant to me. My admiration for you is not tied to it. It's about your transformation and the way you dealt with it."

And with that as an answer, Yanagi Kaede put on a confident smile as she stabilized her footing and put me under her admiring gaze.

Somehow… rather than my stalker, I found the girl to be my fanatic …

What will Watanabe think of this, I wonder?