Stealing Spree

During the 3rd period, we moved to the Science Room, the place where Kanzaki and I talked last week.

We’re moving on to practical lessons so our science teacher decided to start conducting his classes in the specialized rooms to familiarize us with the apparatuses that we’re going to use in the future.

And since he’s not that particular about our normal sitting arrangement, we got to pick our own seats.

Like I had observed last week, there were long tables – eight tables to be exact – that could accommodate four students each rather than individual desks.

Taking that into account, I picked my seat on the second table from the right and the second seat close to the wall.

Following me, Nami and Hina sandwiched me with Kikuchi taking the left corner.

Then behind us, Satsuki, Aya, Saki, and Chii shared it among them.

With that, all of my girls were accounted for. Kikuchi was just an extra who chose not to leave her best friend behind.

With my popularity that continued to rise every passing day as well as the fact that I stopped being concerned over this high-key status, my girls also adopted the stance to partly ignore whatever reaction our other classmates would make to this arrangement.

Whenever there was a chance, they would be placing themselves near me. But at the same time, they would not neglect taking appropriate precautions to not be overly conspicuous with the true nature of our relationship.

“Too bad, Ruki. Your girls are not enough to create a proper wall.” Hina humorously said after carefully taking in our new sitting arrangement.

“Won’t that be excessive?” I decided to humor her, “Having at least one of you at my side is enough. If I grab any of you like this, anyone will think twice to disturb us.” I stretched my arm to her side, firmly holding her waist. My palm and fingers dug and pressed harder, bypassing the thick uniform to accurately feel her skin’s softness.

Hina’s smile froze for a moment. She lowered her head to check on my naughty hand before placing her hand on it.

Since the ones behind us were also my girls, I was confident not to be caught by those behind them. Kikuchi might notice it but the girl could act oblivious, allowing me to feel up my Hina completely.

Well, the ones in front of us could catch us if they turned around.

Anyway, the ones sitting there were Kanzaki, Shimura, Misumi, and the girl who egged Misumi earlier to check if I was really Onoda earlier. If I’m not wrong, her surname is Haruno.

Then, the ones at the left table in the same row as us were occupied by the trio of Ogawa, Tadano and Taku with Sakuma as the fourth member.

They would also not be able to see my hand on Hina’s waist. And even if they did, they’d be stupid to make noise.

Behind them, there’s Fukuda, his lackeys as well as Yamada.

In a way, the sitting arrangement became really shuffled except for some obvious groups forming.

Back to the present, Hina failed to utter a comeback and just settled on enjoying our closeness.

On my other side, Nami silently looked at me, on her lips, a meaningful smile.

Understanding that, I stretched out my free arm and held her the same way as Hina.

And with our teacher starting his lessons, everyone’s attention focused on him, letting us get away from flirting in this room.

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When lunch break arrived, my prediction came true. A crowd of girls suddenly showed up at the door, their heads instantly searching for a figure.

However, once they spotted me eating with my usual group, they retreated.

That’s great. At least, they had proper manners not to disturb me from eating my lunch.

Satsuki and the others also saw that as a little baffling but as long as they didn’t openly approach me, they also found no reason to deal with them.

If we kept minding the attention I was getting, we wouldn’t get a peaceful day.

And so, we pushed them to the back of our minds and decided to spend the rest of the day unbothered.

Or so I hoped so.

When I went out to get our test papers from Shio’s office, someone followed and stopped me.

It’s not a crowd of girls anymore but one girl who probably staked outside our classroom. Before I reached the Administration Building, the girl called out to me.

I was going to pretend not to hear her but one teacher who came out of the building pointed that out to me. Perhaps, he thought that I wasn’t hearing the girl.

Having no choice but to acknowledge that, I turned around and faced her.

From her uniform, she’s a second-year student. And upon getting a clear view of her face, I recognized her.

“Uhm… I’m sorry I can’t hear you.” I gave an excuse with a straight face. But at the same time, I began observing her and discerned what this was about. This might not be related to my new appearance, after all.

The girl instantly shook her head, indicating that she didn’t mind, “It’s my voice that’s not loud enough. Uh… How do I start?”

“No rush, senpai,” I said. “I’m listening.”

This girl in front of me was someone I already met or rather, someone I got the chance to interact with. To be specific, last week, on my way back from the convenience store.

One of the many followers of Kujou Marika who I frightened for trying to warn me about being involved with her.

Nonetheless, compared to that day, this girl wasn’t flaunting that haughty air of being her follower. In fact, she appeared tamed enough to be mistaken for somebody else if not for her distinctive ribbon.

“C-can we change location? This is important.”

The girl gathered her courage and scanned our surroundings. She even checked thrice behind her to make sure that no one followed her.

So, this isn’t about her… Possibly this is about Kujou Marika.

Did she order this girl?

Is this her next move?

I was certainly intrigued. However, I wasn’t that compelled to follow this girl somewhere.

I mean, there’s only a few minutes before the next period. I wanted to spend time with Shio, you know?

I have my priorities straight. My girls before everything else.

“Here is fine. I have somewhere to be. If you can’t say it now… then forget.”

“N-no. Wait! I’ll say it.”

Seeing that I was about to leave her there, the girl panicked.

After checking our surroundings three more times, she looked straight into my eyes and pleaded.

“You’re the Disciplinary Officer… Can I ask you to investigate something?”

“Sorry, my job description isn’t like that. I’m someone who will only enforce school rules that were violated.”

What is this girl saying? Investigate? I’m not a detective.

“No. Please, hear me out first.”

“I’m listening. But can you get straight to the point, senpai?”

“It’s about Marika-sama… Please, pull her out of Ichihara Jun’s influence!”

At the same time as she said that, the girl bowed to me at an almost right angle. Only those who were begging someone or sincerely apologizing would do this…

But… Even if she said that…

“I apologize, senpai. It sounds too personal. I don't have any connection to Ichihara-senpai and Kujou-senpai.” Without thinking twice, I turned her down and continued on my way.

In this time and age, who goes to someone unrelated to beg like that? No matter how I spin it, it looks and sounds too fishy.