Stealing Spree

Nami settled back on her seat and glanced at me but when Ogawa arrived, her attention turned to him.

I guess I couldn't beat him for now but soon.

Satsuki and Sakuma arrived just before the class started

I noticed Satsuki's expression. She was feeling down about something. I wanted to know why but I guess I have to wait to ask her.

Between the four of us, something already changed.

I got the two at my sides as mine.

And Sakuma wasn't that talkative now.

Well, I still didn't know if it's because he heard us or his pending confession was putting him under pressure.

Just yesterday he was in a good mood that he finally made that move to ask Satsuki. Did it only sink in now?

Ah. This is good too, I don't need to deal with his constant pestering if he's like this.

When the 1st period ended, I went out of the class for a bit. It's not to meet anyone, of course.

Err... Who am I lying to?

I chased after Shio. Like Satsuki, she seemed worried about something and it was showing on her face during the class.

"Shio."

I called out to her when I caught up and my voice immediately alerted her.

"You! Don't call me like that here in the hallway."

She almost hit me with her teaching materials. Good thing she stopped when she saw me.

"Is everything okay?"

I tried not to show that I'm worried about her.

But me chasing her like this could be seen as me worrying, right?

"Did it show on my face again?"

She touched her face. She's probably thinking she could fix it with her hand.

I nodded at her.

I couldn't go near her because it might look weird for others if I were to do that. That's why, I maintained my distance from her.

Other teachers were also in the hallway, passing us by to get to their next classroom to teach while some was also talking with a student like me.

"Yes, it did. Uhm, can I be of help, Ms. Miyazaki?"

I changed my way of calling her and tried to be polite. It will be bad if other teachers heard that I'm talking to her casually.

"No. This is not something you should worry about, Onoda. You should go back for now."

She shook her head and turned her back to me before continuing to go to her next class.

I guess it's inappropriate to talk about that here.

I wonder when can I have a chance to talk to her again? She was refraining to call me to her room.

Ah. She's probably still thinking about her being an adult. That adult problems should be resolved by an adult like her.

I guess I'll can only rely on the chance to run into her again.

After that, the class went on normally.

I noticed that Satsuki couldn't look straight at me. Was she still thinking about my confession yesterday or maybe she also wanted to tell me what's pulling her down right now?

I heard from her talks with Aya that they were made to play a mock game yesterday. 1st years and 2nd years against the 3rd years.

Was that the source of why she's feeling down?

I don't know. I have to ask her to confirm it.

And yeah, they considered that topic as under girls' talk which Sakuma and I couldn't join in but we could listen.

We still have idle talks but most of the time it will be just Satsuki mouthing off at Sakuma. Unlike before, he's hadn't uttered any retort and just took all the insults she was throwing at him.

This guy. He's couldn't stop himself to show how much he likes her

He talked about resolving their problem before confessing while Satsuki didn't want to tell me about it until Sunday

But yeah, I'm already really curious about it.

What problem could it be that stalled them this long?

"Onoda. Looks like your fame these past few days already died down."

Sakuma finally started his questions again. Did this mean he really didn't hear us? But there's a possibility he was just acting.

"What fame? This is better, you know? I don't need to deal with more troublesome things."

I answered him with the same tone I always use.

"You say that but trouble always looks for you."

Did it always look for me?

Ah. Now that I think about it. Trouble really does look for me.

And that's all my fault.

It started when I tried to see what Shio was reading back then. When I was unconsciously looking at Kana's back and maintaining my distance to her which Nami noticed. And lastly, when I coincidentally met Harada on that train.

"Isn't it because of that tongue of his? Do you think he's always that quiet?"

Ugh. Satsuki? Right. It's mostly because of my glib tongue. Talking to girls left and right? Now they're already around me.

Well, that's my desire anyway. I'm a slave to it. But I have to restrain it now, even if I find another target, she can wait after I sorted out my current targets.

"N-no, they just find him interesting. I guess."

Aya? She's now joining the talk like this. This is a step forward for her. Ah. I can't help but feel proud of her.

"Onoda, look, you already have Rindou at your side. Shouldn't you start considering her?"

Then Sakuma turned the topic to Aya. This guy…

"E-eh? What are you saying, Sakuma?"

Hearing what he said, Aya couldn't help but be flustered.

"Rindou. You know, I want to help you."

What was he trying to start here? Did he want to facilitate my relationship? Was he doing this so that I would divert my attention from Satsuki?

"Hey, Mind your own confession, Sakuma."

I retorted but yeah, this guy didn't take it seriously.

"Right, right. You don't worry about it Onoda. I'm worried about you. You always help me, now it's my turn to help you."

Sakuma even patted my shoulder like assuring me that with his help, everything would go well.

Worrying about me eh?

"I never asked for your help, man. Rindou and I are getting along just fine."

"Y-yes, we are."

Aya also chimed in. Her glittering bright eyes peeked from the fringes of her hair stared affectionately at me.

"I see. What about Andou?"

Determining he couldn't continue to push Aya, he switched to another girl.

This guy…

It didn't look like he heard us but one thing was for sure. Sakuma was feeling threatened by me. He wanted my attention to be diverted to someone else.

"What about her?"

"Don't tell me you haven't heard?"

What should I have to hear? Was there a new rumor circulating about me?

"He's an idiot running around all over, how can he hear about it?"

Satsuki sneered from her seat.

This girl…

But she's right. I kept running all over. My only rest nowadays was the time spent in class.

"T-that…"

Aya stuttered, she probably heard about it as well but she didn't know if she should tell it to me.

"Huh? What is it? Tell me."

I looked at the two girls first but since it was Sakuma who mentioned it, I turned to him.

"Tsk tsk. Onoda. There are rumors about the two of you."

He smirked while clicking his tongue.

Am I supposed to be surprised by it?

"Rumors again? Sakuma, why do you always believe in rumors?"

I asked him. This guy loves this kind of gossip.

Ah. Satsuki was the same. These two were the ones who told me about Nami and Ogawa liking each other.

"When there's smoke, there's a fire. Even if the rumor deviates a bit, there's still an original source."

Well, true. And I wouldn't deny a rumor about me. I was already way past being the Classmate A. Denying it would just fuel the said rumor to burn brighter. If I didn't do anything, it will soon die down anyway.

"Okay. Will you tell me that rumor or not?"

"Don't be impatient, sheesh. It's about Andou and you, the rumor was that you two were meeting each other during lunchbreaks."

Eh? That's a spot on rumor. It's only been 3 days since we started and it already turned into this rumor.

Could it be someone saw us on the first day? I followed her there after all.

"Where did that come from?"

All rumor has its source. Who saw that lead to this? Looks like it's more known to the boys than the girls.

Kanzaki didn't mention it yesterday when we're talking about rumors.

"Huh? You won't deny it?"

Sakuma was confused that I responded nonchalantly about the rumor.

"What's there to deny?"

I was really meeting her anyway, even Tadano found us there yesterday. That's why there's no point denying it.

"What the hell? This guy…"

He scratched his head, not knowing what to retort. He looked at Satsuki and Aya but the two didn't comment about it.

"Satisfied?"

I smirked at him. He should be satisfied by now, right?

"You'll make Rindou sad."

This guy... Haa. He's back at mentioning Aya.

But yeah, she would probably mind it but she wouldn't voice it out. I already told her about the girls surrounding me are all my targets. She will have her time while the other girls will have theirs too.

"No. I told you we're getting along just fine."

"I give up. You're really a tough nut to crack. You can't even get flustered by what I revealed."

Maybe nothing he says will bother me. Unless it's about their past. Ah, I'll talk him out for it.

"No. I'm just admitting to it. Isn't that what you want to hear?"

"Idiots. Stop gossiping here. Do your boys' talk somewhere else."

Satsuki finally couldn't hold herself back so she sent a kick to the leg of our desks.

"Maemura, don't you want to hear it?"

"I don't, so stop talking, you idiot."

She glared at Sakuma which made him gulp down the words he wanted to say as a follow-up.

"Ugh. Anyway, good luck, man."

Defeated by Satsuki's glare, he patted my shoulder again.

"What? You think I'll go after her?"

"Isn't that why you're meeting her?"

If he knew I was trying to steal that girl, he would be energized for sure.

"You don't know anything, Sakumea. Rumors are rumors."

"Then tell me."

"So you can start another rumor?"

"What do you take me for? I'm a friend, I'll keep your secrets to the grave."

"Then please bury yourself right now. With that loud voice of yours, can't you see we're already the center of attention?"

Right. They're all listening to his loud voice.

Well, it's a known rumor anyway.

I looked at Nami and Ogawa. The former is facepalming while the latter had a bitter smile on his lips.

He's now Nami's boyfriend and hearing about a rumor between her girl and me, it's sure to get to him. And what's more, I will be acting as her guy on the surface for their friends.

Knowing Nami, she probably already told him about the plan.