Stealing Spree

When morning came, my ears were greeted by the pitter-pattering of our roof as a soft drizzle of rain poured continuously outside.

I had no idea when it started but the temperature had already dropped slightly. It felt like we'd returned to the last week of winter.

In any case, my silly wife cuddled in my embrace and slept soundly as usual. The warmth of our bodies was enough to keep her from sensing the drop in temperature. Add to that, the comfort of our bed and being by my side was a perfect combination to make her forget even the freezing cold of winter.

The same couldn't be said for my other girls though.

To tell the truth, I woke up from the vibration of my phone. It's an early morning call from one of them.

I picked it up and upon seeing the name of the caller, their image while rolled up in the bed immediately popped into my head.

Casting off the remaining drowsiness in my head, I tapped 'answer' and the video call started to connect with the loading notification spinning in the middle of my screen.

"Ruki… Good morning. I need help."

With her beautiful pointy nose taking on a scarlet color, Miho pitifully looked straight at me. A second later, she sniffed roughly which resulted in a frown.

Not counting her nasally voice, that peach-colored nose alone was enough clue as to what was bothering her.

Knowing her sleeping habit, the sudden rain pushed her immune system past its threshold.

She's someone who often sleeps without a blanket on. On top of that, her room has AC which she seldom turns off.

It's a habit born from her occasional hint of inspiration in the middle of the night. She would sometimes wake up and run to her piano right away.

What's that got to do with her AC? Well, she wanted to keep her room temperature stable like that.

Alas, the sudden shift in temperature would always catch her off guard. Like today.

"Mhm. Good morning. Say no more, wait for me. I'll sneak inside your house. It'll be my first attempt so… give me directions."

"You know it's impossible. I won't miss school. Pick me up?"

Miho laughed before shaking her head and providing a different approach.

Well, like I said, I had never been able to sneak to her room yet. Whenever she would catch a cold like this in the past, I would bring her home or somewhere we could rest – sometimes skipping a class or two until her condition turned for the better.

It looks like today won't be any different.

"Alright. I'll be there but take your med right away and try to sleep some more."

Miho didn't make it difficult for me to persuade her. She obediently nodded and smiled. Then after demanding a kiss over the screen, she energetically jumped out of bed to get a cold medicine.

When she returned I reminded her to wrap herself like a maki roll with her blanket. Then I watched her gradually fall back to sleep before ending the call.

With that, my first destination today was set.

Looking at the time, I also opted to close my eyes again, hoping for another hour of sleep.

Thankfully, I was successful.

When I opened my eyes again, it was still a little dark outside. Akane was already awake, greeting me with a good morning kiss.

From there, our day started as usual. The first half an hour was spent in bed, our desire and affection overflowing. Relieving the side effect of the tea was definitely just an add-on to our already active lovemaking.

Then I spent the next half an hour practicing keyboard and reviewing Mizuki's lessons.

Akane made breakfast during that time and when I joined her downstairs, we first did our regular exercise before eating.

Even though we used to only shower in the morning, we opted for a dip in the tub today because of the rain.

When everything was done and we finished preparing for our day, we went over our plans.

Not counting my promise with Miho, there's still a lot on my list.

As for Akane, her day will mostly be spent with either her friends or the other girls. They have plans to come and watch Fuyu's match and perhaps, Aika and Sena too.

She even teased that they might also show up at Satsuki's match.

Well, I'm not against it. And Satsuki will surely be glad for more support.

I just had to juggle myself a bit more than yesterday, right?

Not a problem at all. I bought the Shadow Clone scroll and mastered it in my sleep. I'll split myself up into multiple clones to be at different places at the same time.

As if!

Anyway, I'll find a way to make it work.

If there's a will, there's a way. Right?

Fortunately, the rain let up when Akane and I started our walk to the train station.

After my trip to the other school which consists of at least arriving at their school gate four times escorting different girls – I also used the chance to check on Sena and Aika, giving them an early encouragement before their matches today – I arrived at our school just a good minute before Shio entered our classroom.

She started by announcing that the same as yesterday, we only have half a day of class and the rest would be free time.

Obviously, everyone rejoiced at it.

Also, those who were absent yesterday had returned except for Satsuki and the silent guy.

Although his suspension hasn't been announced yet, it's already in effect.

Well, no one cared whether he was there except for those who knew him personally. Given that the guy only talked with Ogawa or Tadano, they just treated his absence as the extension of his sickness from yesterday.

And with the news of the Girl's Basketball Club advancing to the semifinals, most of those who didn't come to watch yesterday expressed their intent to cheer for them.

With Nami taking the lead, they started organizing a plan even before Shio finished her announcements.

Well, she didn't stop them. For sure, she's in the same mood as everyone, excited and perhaps proud of the grumpy girl who made a name for herself yesterday.

"Onoda-kun, what about you? Are you not coming?"

Perhaps noticing me only quietly watching at my seat, Wakaba, who looked like she was already over with her awkwardness towards me, asked.

When the others heard that, attention instantly focused on me.

Welp. I wasn't that proactive because Nami could already do that herself and there's nothing much to add anymore. But I guess with how high-key we've become lately, there's a lot of them who were more curious how things would develop around us.

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised to hear other students openly discussing my vague yet clear relationship with the girls surrounding me.

That sounded confusing but that's probably how they see it. Without confirmation, it's very vague. And yet, with how affectionate we often are, only those blind or disillusioned would dismiss that as nothing.

"Is that even a question? Of course, I will. In fact, I'll suggest that we make some banners to show our support for them. What do you think?"

And upon mentioning that, Saki, Chii and Aya produced materials for it. They came prepared.

It's something we talked about last night when I called them to check in and say good night.

Some were immediately amazed and even got hyped at the prospect.

And obviously, some weren't pleased that I was getting the attention again.

Let's not name them anymore. They're irrelevant to what we're planning to do anyway.

With that, Wakaba could only shake her head at how absurd it became before sitting back down.

Aya came to the rescue though and grabbed her friend's hands, asking her to help. Kashiwagi, who was nearby, laughed at the turn of events.

Perhaps if she's any closer to me, I might've been subjected to a slap on my shoulder by her.

Not long after that, Shimura, Misumi and eventually Kanzaki also sprang up to take the initiative.

In the end, Shio declared that our first period was another free time. It's her contribution to our class's cheering squad.

That aside, she soon continued with her announcements.

It’s mainly about the camping trip, giving us the details and what we should prepare.

Setsuna-nee, Juri, and another person from their department were already here at our school, having a meeting with Hayashi-sensei and the Principal.

As it’s something everyone was also looking forward to, that became another topic our class discussed while making those banners.

What a lively morning. Right?