Stealing Spree

In a way, what I asked her wasn’t a wild guess at all. The possibility of Sachi being truly interested in me was high. And whatever secret she managed to find out about me was what she was using to appeal to me.

If that’s the case, then just by the fact that I called her out here, she’s more or less successful. Because of the threat of that secret leaking out, I now had to divert my attention to her rather than spend my free time with my girls. But there’s also the question of whether I’m going to be interested in her or not.

I mean, she’s a fine girl, in more ways than one. Unfortunately, on top of seeing her as a threat, this was our first real interaction with each other. I don’t have that much of an impression of her aside from that.

Returning to the situation at hand, Sachi took her time to respond to me. And from how I saw it, it’s the case of not wanting to give away her current advantage over me.

She contemplated a lot. And when she finished doing so, she straightened her back and exhaled, calming the tension that probably reached her head.

She then gently raised her gaze, the blacks of her eyes narrowing slightly. With this, the air around her seemingly changed. She put on her game face, something I only saw once during the ‘Capture that Flag’ activity where she’s the Captor of Class 4.

She’s getting serious, is it?

Taking this time to fully capture what’s unique about this girl, apart from her taller than average height, she’s slender yet she got the right plumpness in places where it mattered – thighs, butt, and even her chest.

She has shoulder-length dark gray hair. She tied it low just to keep them tidy. Just like how Satsuki ties her hair whenever she’s going to play.

In a way, everything about her fits her athletic image. Although her facial features couldn’t be said to be in the realm of extremely beautiful, she has her own charms that can make any guy look in her direction.

“Why don’t we end this here, Onoda?”

And that’s the result of her long contemplation... A little disappointing but it’s just as I expected.

Instead of answering it, she’s trying to run away. I could safely assume that it’s a ‘yes’ but she didn’t want to admit to it.

Thinking about it, it’s not even five minutes since she arrived. It’s a very short talk if I let her go this time. Furthermore, nothing would be cleared if that happened.

From what I could see from where I was standing, the girl looked slightly relieved.

In fact, questioning her like that might be the cause for it. She refused to answer and opted to escape but she failed to control her facial expression.

And so, I stepped forward again, this time I reached for her hand, not just her wrist. “Do you need to go somewhere? I don’t think our talk has been fruitful. I mean, look at how you dodged my question.”

Sachi lowered her gaze to check on my shameless attempt to hold her hand. But instead of escaping my grasp instantly, the girl waited for a bit and answered me first before doing so. “I didn’t dodge it. I just chose not to answer.”

It was faint but a thin smile showed up on her lips. Little by little, I’m slowly getting a grasp of her character.

“That’s the same thing, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is.” This time, the girl shamelessly smiled. Her mood once again fluctuated back to how she was earlier.

Looks like she already dropped the attempt to leave.

“But it’s still different in my book. You seem to have forgotten, you also shot down all of my questions to you earlier.” The girl pouted as she recalled her questions earlier one by one.

And one by one, she’d comment a complaint about how I answered it.

“You’ve just said it, Katayama. I answered every question you threw. Admit that you’re just unsatisfied.” My lips curved up into a smirk.

At this point, my plan to make her believe that she’s still the one in control of the situation was more or less successful.

Earlier, her questions might’ve started off talking about my closeness to the teachers but they quickly diverted to different things such as my role as the Disciplinary Officer and why Shizu gave me that position as well as the rumors surrounding me.

That made me recall the day she started showing interest in me; the day we conducted the Riverside Cleaning.

But thinking about it, apart from showing up with Shizu and following her upstairs, nothing stood out that day... So, my first guess that this was about Orimura-sensei still stood at the top.

“Okay. I admit. I’m not satisfied with your answer. You sounded like you were reading from a prepared script. In short, it’s not your honest answer.”

“Honest answer? What is an honest answer for you?” I knit my brows and put a hand on my chin as though I was contemplating.

A few seconds later, I exaggeratingly exclaimed, gathering her full attention to me. “Should I answer like this?” I coughed once to prepare my voice. My lips then stretched into a grin before continuing,

“Katayama, you’re right. I’m in a relationship with the teachers, President Asakura and the other girls you mentioned... They’re all in love with me.” Saying all that with an overly zealous expression, I exaggerated it further by acting it out.

And while I’m doing that, I watched the girl’s minute reaction.

Sachi covered her mouth as a burst of stifled laughter rang out.

“Pfft! What the heck, Onoda?!”

Soon enough the girl failed to restrict it.

“I... I can’t, that’s too hilarious! Puhahaha”

Erupting with laughter, Sachi grabbed her stomach in the process. If not for us standing outside, she’d probably also roll on the floor from how hilarious she found it.

On the other hand, I simply watched the girl tremble from excessive laughter until she lost her breath. I still kept my exaggerated expression at first but soon enough, I relaxed and closed our distance.

When she almost huddled over because of it, I reflexively supported her. “What now? Satisfied?”

“Wait. Let me... take a breather. Pfft.” The girl grasped onto my shoulder, supporting herself this time. Moments later, Sachi wiped the wet stains on her eyes from laughing too much. “Okay, you got me there. I indeed want to hear you admit to one of them... But not all!”

“Beats me, I only enacted what you wanted to hear. I hope you’re satisfied” I shrugged and held her closer.

If she found out that more than half of it was true, I wonder what her reaction would be?

Perhaps noticing our current situation, the girl suddenly grew stiff... But with her stomach still hurting from too much laughter. She couldn’t step away from me.

“This...”

“What? Don’t tell me you’re embarrassed.” Holding her even closer, I noticed how her face became like a ripe apple from how red it is.

“Of course, I am! Ugh... Alright, you win. I’ll stop rubbing it on your face and tell you what I know.”

Wait... Is it over? Making her laugh made her surrender?

“Is there a catch to it?” I asked, a little suspicious.

The flustered Sachi raised her gaze, “There is. But don’t you want to hear it first?”

“I think I already have an idea about it. But fire away. Let’s clear this up and start anew.”

“Start anew... Onoda, you’re a hateful fellow, aren’t you?”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“There’s a lot of things wrong with it! Ugh... Okay, here it is...” Sachi screamed this time before heaving a sigh as she gave up retorting.

Anyway, making her laugh, flustered and agitated... All of that was calculated. To think that it’s this effective...

Soon enough, the girl finally told me what she just tried to use on me.

It’s not surprising, really. It’s all about how she linked me to the ‘ghost’ in the shower stall. And while holding onto the suspicion that I might be involved with Orimura-sensei, Sachi began observing me.

Furthermore, the reason she approached me today was to clear her doubt. My growing popularity was also a factor. This girl thought she might not get a chance if she stalled it any longer.

And since she already revealed that secret she’s holding, I cleared that situation for her. Naturally, it’s mixed with truth and lies.

Like I got lost in the shower stall and before I could escape, she, along with the members of the Volleyball Club arrived.

As for the reason I ended up walking along the halls and getting lost at the Gymnasium’s Girls’ Side, I used Eguchi-sensei as the reason, not Satsuki. It’s more convincing since I’m her Student Assistant.

Sachi took a while to digest that information. Fortunately, she looked convinced.

However, once that happened, the girl finally revealed the catch...

“Onoda, let’s be friends.” Sachi smilingly held out her hand after she finally extracted herself from my hold.

Is it this simple to make a friend?