Stealing Spree

With Nami’s confession, the long withstanding reveal finally happened, albeit abruptly. And because of that, what I anticipated to happen also didn’t happen, thanks to Nami.

Instead of bursting out in anger, she managed to dampen the initial effect by telling him not to make a scene.

That sounded cruel, true. But in the end, Ogawa still listened to her.

And most likely, he only listened because it’s her.

Izumi-senpai and the others were still looking for him but I doubt they would find him.

If I have to guess, that guy will be waiting for Nami. As for where… it’s most likely near their house.

I was aware that this wouldn’t end easily like this and… I wouldn’t be able to accompany her to their door today.

That’s why once we finished their club activity for today, I brought Nami with me to a place where we could be alone.

Before leaving their clubroom, I told Hina to wait for us.

She’s most likely aware of what happened given that she easily accepted it without trying to come with us. Furthermore, she also barred Saki’s way and kept her there.

As for Izumi-senpai and the others who returned after a fruitless search for that coward, I only greeted them.

Although I noticed that Izumi-senpai wanted to talk to me, the time wasn’t right.

When we arrived at the same empty clubroom where I brought Rae earlier, Nami weakly fell in my arms. She immediately buried her face on my chest as if she’s afraid to let me see her current expression.

I knew it. That guilty expression she had earlier most likely resurfaced again. Now that there’s only two of us, she couldn’t hold it anymore.

Although she acted calmly earlier for us to finish that pile of papers, she’s no doubt the one most affected by what she did apart from that coward.

In her mind, this girl was blaming herself for everything that happened. And she’s afraid to voice it out to me because she’s aware of what I would do. Take the blame off her.

Well, in a way everything being her felt was somewhat true. She’s the first one who approached me after all. And without my help, that guy wouldn’t be able to confess to her.

However, even if she didn’t approach me, I was already thinking of a way on how I could steal her back then.

That’s why at this point, who to blame didn’t matter anymore.

Besides, if I took the blame by saying I was the one who broke the harmony of their circle, she wouldn’t let me take full responsibility. And that would become a loop of taking the blame from the other.

“Ruu… Did I… Did I do the right thing?”

Without lifting her head, Nami’s weak voice entered my ears. It was cracked and… it seemed like at any moment, she would also cry.

I guess she also reached the same conclusion as me so instead of mulling over whether it’s my fault or her fault, she’s now weighing if it was the correct decision.

“Right or wrong, I don’t think we can categorize it as either of that. The real question is… do you regret it?”

I could comfort her with kind words but what this girl needed this time wasn’t something like that. There’s no escaping what happened. Even if it’s not today then next week.

As Nami contemplated on how she would answer the question I gave her, I brought her with me to sit on the sofa.

Since we’re already here, we would just punish our legs if we didn’t make use of what's in here.

After a while, I felt Nami moving ever-so-slightly as her arms slipped to my side, hugging me. At first, her embrace was a bit loose but as words began to flow, it gradually tightened. “If there’s something I regret… It’s my decision to stall for time. I should’ve told him about us ever since I fell in love with you. I shouldn’t have let him be drowned in his fantasy. His fantasy that I am still his. Because of that decision, Kazuo ended up hurting Hina and perhaps Izumi as well.”

“The truth is… I stalled for time because I was afraid, Ruu. It’s not because I can’t make up my mind yet. I’m just scared of the future consequences of choosing you. Kazuo wholeheartedly confessed to me. We did push him to do that but when he actually did, I saw how he used all of his courage to do it.”

“However, at that time… I was already thinking of you. My previous excitement and anticipation of his confession felt too weak that…” Nami paused for a bit as she once again lowered her voice to the point that there’s a trace of shame in it. “…accepting it failed to give me the satisfaction I thought I would be getting.”

“Do you know? Even if some of them didn’t say it, I certainly looked fickle in their eyes when I introduced you to them. That’s also what Shizu-nee said to me. To throw away my years of affection towards Kazuo for someone I’ve only known in less than two weeks… it’s unthinkable.”

Satsuki and Nami had the same misery. Perhaps Kana as well. All of them fell for me in less than a month despite still being in a relationship or having affection towards someone else.

Kana with her ex-boyfriend of two years if his perseverance in courting her during their first year counted.

Satsuki with her almost five years of affection towards Sakuma.

And Nami with her anticipation to see Ogawa again and finally enter into a relationship with him after a year of not seeing him when she studied overseas.

Kana’s circumstances could still be said as salvageable because, in the end, she was somewhat forced to accept him because of what he’d shown.

But for Satsuki and Nami. Or especially Satsuki, I let her experience a lot of new things that her defenses against me broke in almost an instant.

Although that’s also almost the same as what happened with Nami, I already slowed down considerably. If I also became somewhat forceful to her, would she fall for me? That’s something I had no answer to.

“Not to brag but… every girl I had from middle school… or those who stayed, they also threw away their bonds with their boyfriend because of me. That’s why Nami… the crux of this issue here is probably because… I am just too great at seducing women.”

I know, we’re in a serious atmosphere but… if I also answered as seriously as her, this girl would just fall further into a depressed mood.

With her words, she still ended up blaming herself for what happened so… to swivel from doing the same, I changed how I worded a supposedly serious response to her, Nami burst out in sweet laughter.

“That’s right. You’re just that great at seducing me, huh? Now we’re at this point. What do you think we should do from now on?” With tears in her eyes brought about by that laughter, Nami finally lifted her gaze to look at me.

This time, the guilty expression she had earlier was changed to slight anticipation for my answer.

“Introduction part two or talking him down?”