Stealing Spree

Although read as a text, Yumei’s words had that bubbly tone that told me she was grinning when she typed it. Tadano’s little sister always had this mischievous streak, making Tadano having to look out for her. But knowing her, this ‘request’ could be anything from harmless to outright troublesome.

I typed back a reply, “Request, huh? What kind of trouble are you dragging me into, Mei-chan? And as long as it’s not going to bring us both trouble, my lips are sealed.”

Half a minute later, my phone vibrated from notification of her new message, “Hehehe, I knew I could count on you, Handsome-senpai. My request isn’t troublesome but… I think only you can help me with it.”

“Only me? Now that’s quite specific. You’re closer to Nami and the other girls, right? Why me?”

My phone buzzed again, Yumei’s reply popping up almost instantly.

“‘Cause you’re, like, the guy for this, Handsome-senpai! It’s about your cosplay thing, but it’s super secret. Can we meet up after school? Pretty please? I swear it’s not gonna get us in trouble with my dumb Onii-chan!”

I couldn’t help but shake my head. If Tadano caught wind of this, that guy would surely confront me again. But could I reject this girl?

Well, I probably can. I mean, I’m quite busy these days. Meeting up with her after school may be impossible.

“Do you know he hates my guts and he’s overprotective of you? Anyway, I probably can’t meet you after school. I’m quite busy, you see. However, if you like, you’re welcome to visit our school. I’ll ask someone to bring you.”

Sumire and the others would be coming again even if they’re supposed to have their final exams today.

Right, this girl should also be taking their final exams, right?

I hurriedly sent another message asking her about it.

“Hey, Mei-chan, aren’t you supposed to be neck-deep in final exams today? Shouldn’t you be worrying about that instead of this super-secret cosplay request?”

My fingers hovered over the phone screen, waiting for her reply while keeping one eye on the girls around me.

Chii was still leaning on my shoulder while Kushii switched to hugging my arm as well after I started using both of my hands on the phone. Meanwhile, An-rin was pretending to scroll through her phone, but her side-eye glances my way were as obvious as her uneven ribbon earlier.

Eventually, Yumei’s reply buzzed in. Even without opening, I already expected her enthusiasm to fly off of it, waving off my concern about her exams.

“Exams? Pfft, I will ace it easily, Handsome-senpai! And since I’ll swing by your school. I’ll pretend I’ve come to visit him, no probs! Just tell me who’s picking me up.”

Yep. She won’t back out at all. I guess my mistake is to reply to her message right away.

If that guy saw her approaching me, I could already picture Tadano storming up to confront me for approaching her sister again.

Still, her request being tied to cosplay piqued my curiosity. Was she also planning to do some cosplay? She’s not the type to do so, if I recall correctly. She’s simply someone who’s quite active on social media. She won’t spend a day without updating them.

Let’s see… if I rule that out, then… the only plausible reason is to see me…

I typed back, “Alright, Mei-chan, you win. I’ll have a few seniors of yours pick you up. They’re also coming here later, after all. You’ll recognize them easily. But you better tell me what this request is when you get here. No beating around the bush, alright? And if Tadano shows up, tell him I’m not the one who approached you.”

Chii shifted against me, her head tilting to peek at my phone. “Who’s that, Kii? You look like you’re quite troubled with dealing with her.”

I smiled and showed her our chat logs, “It’s Tadano’s little sister, Yumei. She wants to request something from me. I don’t know what it’ll be but knowing Tadano, he’ll think I’m preying on his little sister because of this.”

“Pfft. It’s understandable why he’ll think that way, Kii. You’re quite the charmer.”

“Mhm. I have an irresistible charm, right? Anyway, I’ll deal with it when the time comes. We’re busy enough as it is. If her request is something that will take me away from my duties, then I’ll turn her down.”

The train soon arrived at our destination. As we exited the station, Kushii let go of my arm. She and An-rin went a step ahead of us, acting normally as if everything that happened between us had been thrown to the back of their heads. Either they’re embarrassed to be seen clinging to me, or they just didn’t want to get the attention of the other students. Regardless, they’re still stealing glances back at me.

From their expressions, I could pick up a mix of lingering embarrassment and something softer, like they were still processing everything that happened between us.

Chii, on the other hand, stayed glued to my side, happily enjoying the attention we were getting as we walked towards the school gates.

She’s not afraid of being talked about. And given how my relationship with everyone remained to be seen as vague to the eyes of many, there’s not going to be any drawback for her about this.

Besides, she’d probably boast about this to the other girls later. So, I’d better prepare to appease them.

“Oi, Kii, you’re gonna have to tell me more about this Yumei thing later. I’m not letting another junior steal your attention from us. Sumimin and Umi-chan are the exception.” Her lips curled into a teasing smirk, but her eyes had a hint of genuine curiosity.

“Don’t worry, Chii. Yumei’s just a kid with a wild idea, probably. If it’s anything too crazy, I can just shut it down faster than An-rin can threaten to dye my hair pink.”

I doubt it’ll be as crazy as how I got entangled with An-rin and Kushii though. Most likely, she’s going to act like my admirer. Someone she could boast about on her social media, like the first time we met.

Anyway, speaking of An-rin, she spun around and walked backward with her hands on her hips. Her ribbon remained slightly askew despite my earlier fix.

“Tch, I heard that, perv lord! Don’t think you’re off the hook just ’cause we’re outta my house. I’m keeping an eye on you! But… how funny will it be to see you get flustered by a junior? Pfft.”

Her voice was loud enough to draw a few curious glances from other students passing by. Upon realizing that, she immediately turned around, acting like she didn’t say anything at all.

Kushii, walking beside her, rolled her eyes. “An-rin, you’re gonna make everyone think you’re the perv with how much you keep yelling about it.”

“Shut up, Kushii. A-at least I’m not like you. Secretly hugging him on the train.”

“Are you jealous?”

“Nope! You and Chizuru can take Onoda-han for yourselves. Like, I’m totally not into him!”

Realizing she said that in a louder voice again, the girl hurriedly covered her mouth before glaring at me.

On my side, Chii couldn’t help but giggle before teasing her friend, “An-rin, your words and actions don’t match, y’know?”

The banter continued as we approached the school gates. Soon, the familiar figure of Ryouko-san holding her stick as she watched every student pass by.

Her expression was strict enough that most of them nervously walked past her.

In any case, a rare smile showed up on her face as soon as her eyes caught me.

We slowed down our steps and greeted her. Knowing Ryouko-san’s relationship with me, Chii’s possessiveness acted up as she tightened her hold on my arm as though she were declaring to our lovely PE Teacher that I’m hers this morning.

Ryouko-san couldn’t help but shake her head before waving her arm, unbothered at Chii’s display.

After all, she knew I’d still come for her regardless of my other girls’ attempt at trying to monopolize me. Yep. That’s how much of a bastard I was.

As we stepped inside the School Building, I briefly separated from Chii and the other two at the shoelocker.

And just like the previous days, Sachi popped up from somewhere, taking her chance to talk to me this morning. She brought up more gossip circulating around different group chats. I found some of them interesting but the rest? They’re just fun little pieces of information that I have no idea if there will come a time to use them.

When I regrouped with the three gyarus, they all eyed Sachi, who walked by my side as though finding another rival.

Luckily, it didn’t evolve into a catfight. They all acted normally, sandwiching me between them.

Wait, that wasn’t normal, wasn’t it?