Stealing Spree

“Oh? Is that her? Hmm. Not bad. She’s definitely right up your alley, Ruki.”

Mizuki said, evaluating the egocentric girl tagging along with us.

As someone who follows my priority list to a tee, having my girls close to me puts the attention I directed to Saionji at the bare minimum. I, sure, am glad that she’s still with us though. Unfortunately, her presence could only linger in my afterthought or whenever I would catch her in my vision.

It’s quite sad if I put it that way but that’s just how it is. She already got special treatment earlier at the boxing match.

In any case, Nao wasn’t restricting her anymore. Saionjicould’ve walked away anytime she wanted to. And yet, she chose to follow us here. Or concisely, she insisted on following me.

The girl might be the embodiment of a girl full of pride but she also had this one-track mind on accomplishing what she set out to do. Today, her goal is to continue getting my attention and prevail against me in order to satisfy her bloated ego.

“What? What are you looking at?” Sensing Mizuki’s eyes on her and hearing the words she uttered, Saionji irritably glanced back at her. She raised an eyebrow as though she was also trying to evaluate my girl.

“Hmm? Nothing, I’m simply staring at a poor, pretentious girl chasing after my man. Tell me, do you want his attention?”

Mizuki found her words amusing as she immediately moved close to her. In no time at all, they faced off against each other.

The other girls who saw that opened up the space for Mizuki while Nao attempted to warn the egocentric girl about Mizuki. Unfortunately, that went in one ear and exited from another.

I guess she’s back to her usual self. A proud girl who believes everything revolves around her. Her earlier timidity had long disappeared. Within the short few hours of being with the girls connected to me, she successfully outgrew her initial discomfort.

Or maybe, this was just her pride not to be looked down on manifesting. She couldn’t stand Mizuki evaluating her like that.

“Huh? Why would a gorgeous girl like me chase for his attention? Girl, you can have him for yourself.” Saionji stood her ground, crossing her arms in the process. However, despite her words denying Mizuki’s allegations, that last sentence was said with difficulty.

It was like she just forced herself to speak that out even if she didn’t mean it at all.

Mizuki didn’t fail to pick that up. However, instead of calling Saionji out for it, she laughed in a mocking tone. “Is that so? Sure. You can take a hike and leave us alone. I can’t stand a fly who thinks she’s a butterfly buzzing around him.”

“Wah?! A fly, you say?!” Agitated, Saionji’s face fell. However, she instantly recovered and responded like I expected. “Do check your eyes. You must’ve been too overworked that your vision is already failing you.”

Unfortunately for her, Mizuki wasn’t the kind of girl who would simply let her off. And since she probably decided to test the girl’s interest in me, she opted to use this aggressive approach.

On my side, Otoha and Hitomi interestingly watched that proceeding. The former was shaking her head as though she was already pitying Saionji while the latter offered no commentary. She’s probably just keeping an eye on them. In case the two went physical to each other, she’d step in right away to break it off.

As for the other five… Aoi and Ria watched that in interest. They never interacted with the girl earlier. They were seated away from each other, after all.

Elizabeth looked like she was taking notes at how Mizuki was acting but at the same, her eyes sparkled at Saionji’s lack of fear.

Yukari and Eimi watched on worriedly. In the end, they eventually approached me, their expressions conveying the same message, ‘Step in and stop the conflict between the two.’.

Honestly, I’d love to do so but it’s not necessary yet. It had yet to reach that point.

Although neither of the two backed down, the tone of their voices gradually returned to normal. Even if they continued championing their unbending pride, their back-and-forth jabs at each other deescalated the tension.

Soon enough, as our destination loomed before our eyes, the two girls’ voices mellowed out.

“So? If you’re not interested in him, why are you here? Don’t tell me you’re just begging for his attention.”

“Mind you, I don’t need to beg at all. He’s going to give it to me whether you like it or not.”

“Ah. Fair enough. Even if his interest in you is at the bare minimum, he’s bound to do that. Ruki is that kind of guy.”

Upon saying that, Mizuki glanced at me. She cutely stuck her tongue out before retracting it almost instantly

Uh. Knowing Mizuki, confronting Saionji was just her way of finding out the extent of her interest in me.

“Huh. You sound used to him acting like that.”

“Is it that strange? Tell me, do you know why we’re all here with him?”

“... I don’t know.”

Thrown with that question, Saionji was stumped at first as she looked in my direction. While her gaze lingered on me the longest, she also checked out the girls surrounding me. In the end, she shook her head as she couldn’t find the right answer.

“See. You don’t know. I won’t preach about it to you. However, you should really stop acting like everything revolves around you. It’s perfectly fine not to be honest with your feelings but if you’re going to pursue him, heed this advice – Stay true to yourself.”

Alright. That advice sounded contradictory to what she just said but I guess it’s in line with how I tend to act around all of them. I’d rather have them be true to themselves than act differently to suit my taste.

For sure, if Saionji suddenly changed into someone subservient, I might really lose interest in her.

Anyway, Saionji’s forehead creased. Most likely, trying to make sense of Mizuki’s words. But as always, she fell back to her usual egotistic side that believes in herself regardless of what other people say.

“How did this end up with you giving me advice? I don’t need it.”

“Suit yourself. It’s not going to be my problem if he loses what little interest he has in you.” Mizuki shrugged and concluded their talk there.

She returned to my side and pinched my arm.

I grabbed Mizuki’s hand and pulled her close to me. Then, at the same time as that, I gave Saionji a side-eye.

Before long, as though not wanting to be left out, the egocentric girl pushed through, squeezing into the tight space to reach me. And like earlier, she grabbed the hem of my shirt, eliciting giggles from my girls.

As we walked into the entrance of the indoor court, Elizabeth and Aoi took an interest in conversing with the girl. Of course, it once again switched the girl’s haughtiness on. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to intimidate them and with what she just showed them, the chuunibyou and the unruly girl could easily handle her like a rice being molded into a ball.

“Alright. I’ll be back soon. Hitomi, wanna come with me?”

Upon joining up with Nami and the others who guided us to our seats, I went around to check on them again one by one, not minding the stares being thrown at me by our classmates.

And with that done, it’s time to give a quick visit to the Basketball Club. Inviting Hitomi was obviously just my way to create a chance for us to spend time with each other.