Stealing Spree

At the end of the club hours, I escorted Shizu to the Student Support Club but before that, I waited until we were alone in the room before giving her the present I prepared.

She had the same reaction as the others upon seeing it. Confusion.

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Nonetheless, Shizu's lips stretched into a delightful smile upon taking a peek at it before carefully putting it on an empty space in the glass cabinet where the tea set was being kept.

It’s another cheap present, of course. It’s also not customized. Just a simple pair of teacups that we could use whenever I was here.

Honestly, I also got Mina the same present just with a different design. They both love their teas. Shizu was now enjoying drinking tea with me while Mina already made it a habit to brew one for me whenever I would visit her in the club. I’m no longer a mere taste tester. With her admittance of her feelings for me, my visits became more special.

Well, there’s just that incident so I refrained from teasing her too much last week.

“I’m used to getting presents. But it’s mostly from my teachers as a result of my ‘great job’ as the Student Council President or just being a Class President. I accepted all those with a smile but they’re like trophies. But this… I guess it’s right to say that if one receives a gift from someone special, no matter what it is, it will automatically be an irreplaceable treasure.” Shizu said as she stood before the cabinet where the cups were displayed, admiring them sitting inside it.

With the setting sun as the background, Shizu’s whole figure was basking with the orange light of the setting sun while standing there became another picturesque scene that I quickly captured in a photo as something to be admired and framed.

When she heard the clicking sound from it, she turned her head to me and I took another one.

I then walked towards her, hugged her from behind and showed her what I captured on my phone.

“You always have this tendency to make everything feel and look special…” The girl muttered before heaving a sigh. A short exhalation that most likely contained some of the words that she refused to say, lest ruining this precious moment.

“I don’t know what you’re saying. I only tried capturing your beauty so that I can admire it for as long as I can.”

I tightened my embrace and for the next few minutes, we savored that moment in silence while our hearts remained aflutter.

-

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On our way to the Student Support Club, I informed her of what happened earlier with Ogawa and the possible effect it might show in their circle. I’ve also been meaning to tell it to Nami and the other two but I guess there’s no need to. They’ll be able to notice it given his absence and the way Arisa-senpai and Izumi-senpai acted.

Shizu told me that it’s great that I did that; less headache for her. In a way, she’s also tired of accommodating the guy and his unyielding hope. Many times, she already got the urge to tell him that she’s also my girl just to make him stop. But like me, she’s also thinking about Nami’s guilt for the guy.

Truthfully, that’s another key reason why she still wanted to stay in that circle, not just because she’s too kind to be cruel to him.

Nami did say before that she wouldn’t care about him anymore but knowing that girl, she just said it as another consideration to me.

It’s kinda complex if you would think about it but it’s understandable if you fitted yourself in her shoes.

Anyway, with what happened today and if nothing changed to Ogawa, Nami would truly be fed up and stop caring altogether.

For now, it’s still fine to care about their friendship.

Sooner or later, I would pull her out of their circle’s influence anyway. Maybe, kick that guy out of the club and have him take the silent guy with him. Tadano could stay but I doubt he would be able to stay as the lone guy in the club.

Others with their wild fantasies would think it’s a chance to form a harem but more often than not, that kind of situation would only devolve to him being isolated because he wouldn’t be able to relate.

Well, that’s that... I accepted Shizu’s praise with a shameless smile which made the girl stare at me in disbelief.

She only returned to normal when Kikuchi energetically greeted her when we arrived at our destination.

Since I already messaged Haruko to wait for me in their club, I walked with them to their bus stop.

I also used that time to check on the three girls or four if I included Arisa-senpai. I didn’t give them their presents yet. I decided to save it for tomorrow.

Before they boarded the bus, I noticed that Tadano was looking at me weirdly. It’s more like he’s deliberating whether to talk to me or not. As for the reason, it’s most likely concerning Nami or Ogawa.

But I’m putting my bet on the latter. He’s not going to tell me that he heard Nami’s moans that night in her room, right?

In any case, Tadano failed to finish deliberating as their bus had already arrived. Besides, even if I noticed that he wanted to talk, it would just be wrong if I approached him myself. He’s not a girl, after all.

On my way back to the Club Building, I ran into the President of the Game Club and his girlfriend, Miura-senpai. They looked like they had just concluded their club activities since other members of their club passed by them, saying ‘See you tomorrow’.

Truthfully, I wouldn’t notice them if the President didn’t call out to me. From how friendly he came off, I probably made quite a good impression back then that he still remembered even though I ended up not joining.

As for Miura-senpai, she’s just silently listening, perhaps thinking that it’s a boy-to-boy conversation.

Or so I thought...

“Onoda-kun. Why don’t you visit our club again? Do you know? After that day, our new members, especially Itou, became less enthusiastic. It’s like they reached the peak of their satisfaction after that game we played.”

What is this guy implying? Am I a catalyst for fun for their club?

That’s the first thing that came to my mind upon hearing those words. That shouldn’t be the case. Although I remembered that the game was rather lively that day, it’s not because of me. It’s because of how absurd their board game was.

Wait. He specifically mentioned Itou…

I looked to the girl beside him and sure enough, she had this apologetic expression as she showed a wry smile.

“Uhm. Senpai, I appreciate the invitation but I’m already in another club. Why don’t you create a new game that will enliven the first years?” I suggested.

He was about to respond to it when I continued, which made him take a step back and scratch his head, “But if this is about Itou, I’m sorry, I also don’t know how to deal with her.”

“Is it obvious?” The President of the Game Club laughed awkwardly.

“Maybe? Also, Miura-senpai gave it away.” I gestured to the girl next to him.

“I told you to let me handle it when we run into him but you went and blurted out a blatant lie.” While shaking her head, she berated her boyfriend. “Now that the cat’s out of the bag, Onoda-kun, let me reiterate. Can you visit our club again? For Itou.”

…These two. What made them think that whatever was happening to that girl would be solved by me?

Ugh. Better ask them instead.

“May I ask why you think I’m close to Itou? Also, it seems like you prepared for the possibility of running into me.”

Upon hearing my question, the couple showed a different reaction. They appeared surprised and confused at the same time.

“Wait, don’t tell me… you two aren’t close? Then why is she always mentioning your name?”

“Is she now? Wait, senpai. I’m as confused as you two. Why will she do that? As far as I know, she hated my guts.”

Of course, I could count on the possibility that she also has that inclination to like me. But her hate over how she’s thinking I’m stealing her sister from her was more prominent.

Again, the more baffling thing here is… what’s going on that they even resorted to asking me to visit their club again?

I have no spare time for this....