Chapter 1696 Running away
Confirming what I had suspected earlier, Setsuna-nee found herself in a situation where her responses to Akane and the other girls seemed somewhat stiff. Her smile was even forced at times
Based on my observations, she might be more self-conscious in a private setting than in a public one, where she could maintain a facade.
For instance, on the day they went to watch the practice game, Setsuna-nee was surrounded by our classmates. At that time, she confidently carried herself as Satsuki's older sister, awing everyone who approached her.
However, this time, with my girls acting differently and the seniority she often relied on not being as pronounced, Setsuna-nee struggled to interact with them.
How do I describe it? It's like she couldn't keep up with them.
Juri moved closer to us in an attempt to help. Unfortunately, even with her assistance, Setsuna-nee remained somewhat nervous in her seat, occasionally clutching the hem of her shirt.
Subtly, Juri conveyed to me her thoughts on Setsuna-nee's behavior.
"This is only a guess and I know how inappropriate to tell you this but I think you need to hear it, Ruki. If anyone can help, I believe it's you or maybe Sakuma-kun." She prefaced with that before moving closer to directly whisper it to my ear, "She's afraid to deepen her relationship with other people. A friend or two is enough as well as her family. Other than that, she keeps everyone else at arm's length."
I see. That's quite close to my suspicion. But like she said, it's also a guess on her part. She probably had yet to discuss it with Setsuna-nee.
Well, I'd rather let Sakuma tackle that. The problem is... can he do it?
I don't know.
Minutes passed like this with some of the girls also retreating to give Setsuna-nee a breathing space.
She had attempted to stand up and leave the room a few times. Most likely, reaching her tipping point.
Unfortunately for her, I stopped and pulled her back down. Furthermore, I abandoned trying to simply sit beside her and munch on the few dumplings that Mizuki kept on delivering on my plate. I moved behind her, keeping her in place.
As I couldn’t just wrap my arms around her, I only put my hands on her back which eventually settled on her waist. Apart from that, my legs limited the movements of her feet when I stretched them out on her sides.
That earned me her animosity, of course. And then, it got translated to the back of her head banging against my chest as though she wanted to topple me down.
At that position, Juri and Mizuki who moved next to me also inched closer. The former soothed her friend’s grievance while the latter communicated with her through the plates of food she was presenting to her.
Naturally, that also gave them the opportunity to approach me outside of Setsuna-nee’s eyes.
Juri slowly conveyed to me in between her sneaky kisses what she was feeling at the moment about meeting Akane and the other girls in the room. With that introduction she did earlier in the venue wherein she openly showed them our relationship, she expected them to hound her for it.
To her surprise, though. Not only Akane didn’t mention it, but they also even acted friendly to her without any hint of deception. Hence, Juri got pretty comfortable right away, leading to the scene that I witnessed upon arriving here – She got so focused on conversing with them that she failed to notice Setsuna-nee feeling out of place.
Mizuki, on the other hand, continued stuffing my mouth with the same food she was eating. She kept on giving me what she thought was the best in terms of taste. And using the prepared table napkin, she’d wipe my mouth of the sauces that would be left at the corner of my lips.
Ah. Right. She tried licking it off first but Setsuna-nee paid more attention to her than Juri so she couldn’t do it that much.
Anyway, that situation only lasted until the door opened again with Otoha and Hitomi returning from outside. Behind them, the ladies in kimono carried the next set of their course meal to be served on the table.
Taking that chance, Setsuna-nee finally broke free from me as she made the excuse of going to the bathroom.
Otoha guided her there but even after we finished with the new dish, she never returned.
Well, that’s obvious, isn’t it? Why will she continue to subject herself to this situation when she can be with her Satsu-chan outside? Running away was her only option. Sakuma was probably also enlivened upon seeing her.
In any case, the same as the other two rooms, Setsuna-nee not returning brought me the chance to dote on my girls without holding anything back.
Akane, Yae, and Nao eagerly waited for me in their seats. Then, I moved to Eimi, Kana, and Rumi before checking once again on Sena and Ayu. After all of that, I returned between Juri and Mizuki.
We then spent the next few minutes there talking about a lot of topics while I continued serving my girls their teas.
Also, I convinced Suzuki-san, who was refusing to sit down, to join us at the table
How did I do it? Well, I have no idea. I guess I’m just that persuasive – Yeah, right. As if it was that simple.
Even Mizuki failed to convince her, after all.
Thanks to that, the girls once again looked at me with suspicion as though I did something that allowed me to get through Suzuki-san’s adamant refusal.
Maybe I’ll hear their various speculations later. Of course, they’ll probably arrive at a similar explanation like I got the woman to be interested in me.
But she’s not like Hitomi so I doubt that. Apart from what happened yesterday morning wherein I also got her to join me in breakfast, there’s nothing really noteworthy with our interaction.
I’m just that persuasive, right?
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As always, I couldn’t stay for long when the others were waiting for me. I waited until Hitomi and Otoha returned from outside so that I could also dote on the two before leaving.
First, I returned to the main area where Satsuki and the basketball club members are located. As I expected, I caught Setsuna-nee there with Sakuma hovering around her.
She looked at me hatefully but didn’t unreasonably nag at me. She did look like she was going to run away again but upon realizing that she was already outside and she had to put up her facade, she just scoffed at me and started ignoring my presence.
Well, that’s better. My only goal for stopping by was to get Satsuki and Eguchi-sensei, after all. Aya already moved to the second room so, there’s really no reason for me to check on our classmates.
Nonetheless, to make sure that they wouldn’t just form their own conclusion in their heads about what I was up to, I made another round, checking on them table by table.
Wakaba and Kashiwagi asked me about Aya. They saw her going to the room, after all. And so, I told them they could come and check on her. While the rooms were supposed to be private, it just so happened that we all wouldn’t fit in the main area so Otoha put the girls there.
As for Shimura, Misumi, and the other girls from our class, they curiously asked me why I went into the three rooms.
I mean, they could see me moving from one room to another so… I guess that’s understandable.
As always, I kept my answer vague, leaving them to scratch their heads in confusion when I left.
I told Shimura those girls are important to me though. Given that she already saw me with Juri, she’d probably be able to piece it together soon.
As the celebration was already over since the basketball club members who played earlier were starting to feel the exhaustion creeping on them, the dessert was soon served by the restaurant staff.
And using that chance when most of them were gushing about the sophisticated daifuku and exquisite puddings, I returned to the previous room with Satsuki, Eguchi-sensei, and obviously, Setsuna-nee who ditched Sakuma again to follow her sister.
I guess I’m feeling generous today so I allowed the guy to follow us. Not like he could do much there when Setsuna-nee was more focused on her sister than anyone else.
Anyway, as I promised, I introduced Eguchi-sensei to Hitomi and Suzuki-san. I also brought Ayu over. She’s within their age group, after all.
While the two chauffeurs weren’t that used to socializing, Ayu and Eguchi-sensei seemed to immediately get along.
I guess it helped that Ayu was so passionate about boxing. It easily became their main topic of discussion.
I stayed with them for a few minutes, just listening by their side before moving back to Satsuki.
And with this, the celebration slash exquisite dinner courtesy of Otoha and Mizuki gradually comes to an end.
This day turned out so eventful for me that I probably wouldn’t be able to rest right away even if we soon began our preparation to go home.
It’s not anyone’s fault anyway. I just can’t miss my chances with the women I cared for a lot.
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