Stealing Spree

Shio was still asleep when I arrived at her apartment. I did knock first in case but in the end, I used the key to enter.

I found her in the bedroom, still sleeping peacefully with a strange posture. She’s lying on her stomach with her feet dangling off the bed. She’s in too deep of a sleep that she probably hadn’t moved since falling asleep last night.

Her bag was on the floor so I picked it up first and put it on the corner before approaching her.

I deliberated whether to wake her up or not but I decided against it in the end. Judging that she needed more rest, I just carefully fixed her sleeping posture; bringing her to the middle of the bed and covering her with a blanket.

She momentarily woke up. Although still in a half-asleep state, she immediately recognized me as a refreshing smile bloomed on her lips. She pulled me in her embrace before eventually falling asleep again.

When she wakes up later, she’ll probably believe that it is all just part of her dream.

I guess until she finds my message and what I left behind.

I placed her breakfast on the table and left a note with it.

Before leaving, I tidied up the apartment for a bit and went to check her new collection room wherein she’s slowly filling it up again with new light and manga volume releases along with a few merchandise.

Yep. She’s still a closet otaku. I looked at the titles and it's all in the same genre as before. Romcom with storylines that mostly dealt with taboo relationships. Well, at least, they’re not as explicit as before. There’s even one titled; ‘My Cold Beauty Teacher is Secretly Clingy Only to Me’ and ‘I Failed my Class So My Strict Teacher Became My Special Tutor, Taking Care of Me Both At School and Home, Physically and Mentally’.

Yeah. That second one is rated M. The cover was even more risque than the one I’d seen her reading before.

Right. We made a plan to move all of her collection from that house but with her ex-husband getting caught and about to go to trial, the house which is their joint property remained untouched.

Shio could probably get all the rights to it since the divorce settlement would cover it.

And although she could move back in there, it’s probably better that she didn’t. It would just bring back bad memories

I’ll be accompanying her to it when the time comes.

Following that short stop at Shio’s apartment, I resumed my run and reached Ayu’s house uninterrupted.

When the woman opened the door, she already had a towel and a drink prepared for me.

Even if she was initially against me coming to bring her breakfast, she had already anticipated my arrival and prepared for it.

Because of that, I failed to restrain myself from pulling her in my arms, spoiling her as much as I could before remembering my original goal of serving her this morning.

Ayu was initially embarrassed but upon seeing my dedication, she eventually stared at me with more than just appreciation and affection.

After breakfast, we watched the video I sent earlier where she pointed out more of my mistakes or what I could improve on. When we finished with that, she also helped me prepare for my lesson later; both for those who enrolled in my program as well as for Koharu-chan.

I stayed with her for more than an hour before leaving. When I asked her if she had plans for today, the girl vented to me about her former coach who contacted her this morning, asking her to accompany her somewhere.

Well, at least, they’re not going on another training session. From what I gathered, her coach’s interest in her was rekindled. Maybe it’s because she saw Ayu hadn’t changed at all even after suffering from her career-ending injury. Or maybe it’s also because Ayu is looking more feminine these days, she’s blooming beautifully because of our relationship. Whichever the case, it’s probably going to be good for Ayu.

That’s why I bid her good luck contrary to her expectation that I was going to comfort her.

That earned me a jab on my shoulder and a bite on my neck.

“Ruki, you’re here!”

Even before I could reach the vicinity of the park where I was supposed to meet up with Aika, I found the girl charging out of it while calling out to me.

There’s a brilliant smile plastered on her face which properly conveyed her excitement and longing for me.

I had to stop in my steps to catch her. That’s how excited she was.

Nonetheless, even though Aika looked like she was still brimming with energy, it didn’t escape my notice of her sweaty appearance. Given the current time, she had already run a few laps while waiting for my arrival here.

I looked past her shoulder and checked out the park. It’s already filled with people. It’s natural though. It’s Sunday and it’s close to eight o’clock. Our city was already wide awake

Thinking about it, Aika usually runs before the sun fully rises from the east but she delayed it because of me.

“Aika, tell me. How long have you been running?” I asked after helping her regain her balance.

The girl looked up and grinned at me, “Not that long! Only fifteen minutes.”

Fifteen minutes, huh? As if. Looking at how her eyes were darting around, she probably cut that in half. She's bad at lying after all.

“Really?”

“No… Uhm. Half an hour?”

See? But then again, I couldn’t really call her out for it. I mean, I also spent my time running from our house to here.

“Then let’s go sit over there first,” I said as I grabbed her hand, leading her back to the park.

As we took a seat there, I used the towel that I brought with me – not the one Ayu prepared at her house – to wipe her sweat dry.

We could continue our run later. For now, it’s more important to catch up with my girl.

Unfortunately, because of our appearance and how we seemed to forget we were in a public place, we became one of the attractions in this park. Aika clung to me as much as she could, not minding the spectators around us. And likewise, I held her close while doting on her.

We conversed for a while, talking about what we missed doing together or how our days went. Naturally, I also narrated to her my experience at the camp. Like Akane, she became easily fascinated by my story, especially the first activity of running up the hill.

She started to imagine if it could be a good training ground for her because of the obstacles and the slope.

It’s quite funny that she felt challenged when I told her that she might find it difficult, asking me to bring her there to race.

Aika and I spent our time like this. It’s always worthwhile even though we couldn’t do a lot of things. Just the presence of each other was enough for us.

But of course, I wouldn’t let our time end without fully savoring it. We’re already being limited just because we attend different schools.

I have to make it up to Aika and the other girls whenever we get a chance like this.

That’s why after we exhausted our topics and recovered a bit of our stamina, Aika and I resumed our run.

We did a few more laps in the park before bringing her with me on a short date on this side of the city.

I treated her to breakfast and eventually went somewhere we could be alone together…

Two hours later, I separated from Aika after walking her home.

As I had no other plans this morning apart from going to the supermarket with Eimi, I opted out of running back home due to the stinging heat of the sun.

My heel turned in the direction of the train station. While walking, I checked my messages, replying to my girls and updating them on my whereabouts.

I could’ve spent my time just chatting with them but somehow, I ran into an acquaintance right at the ticket machine.

It’s not that unexpected considering I’m in the area close to our former middle school. It’s actually more of a miracle that no one recognized us when I was with Aika earlier. But I guess that luck finally ran out.

And of all people, it should be this troublesome girl.

“Whoa… Am I seeing things? I almost failed to recognize you. That hairstyle changed the vibe around you, Onoda-kun.”

Sounding uncertain and surprised at the same time, the acquaintance that I mentioned was none other than the ringleader of the popular group in our class back then, Machida.

“Are you sure you’re not mistaking me for someone else?” I replied while acting unperturbed even though she already named me. It’s better to get away from her before the others from her group show up.