Stealing Spree

With the classes over for the day, students have littered in and out of the Club Building. Some were on their way to their clubs while some were just there to wander and kill some time before the actual club ours.

Because of that, my short journey to the empty clubroom where my girls were gathered experienced quite a bit of interruption – My growing popularity’s fault.

First, even before I could step foot inside the building, a girl blocked my path and started a conversation with me. She was with her friends who remained behind just listening to us. And from their uniforms, they were 2nd-year seniors who probably heard about me from the rumors floating around.

The girl’s eyes beamed with seemingly endless curiosity. However, compared to the girl I know who’s like the embodiment of it, she’s still ways away from her level.

I mean, Otsuka-senpai would be curious about the littlest of things. Though I haven’t run into her these past few days, she sometimes sends me messages filled with unrelated questions. I always try to answer those whenever I have time. And like I said, answers just continued to breed more questions for her curiosity’s satisfaction.

Anyway, the girl who blocked me barraged me with questions, most of which were also unrelated to what she might’ve heard from the rumors.

For example, she asked me if I like the anime and manga industry or what I think about the current trend of mass-produced isekai stories. How the hell would I know? Give or take, I still struggle to finish one light volume. I relied on Aya’s book summaries and her retelling of the stories she read. And for anime and manga, I had no time to catch them. Well, there was a point where I diligently bought Weekly Shonen Jump issues and tuned in on a few late-night anime – for the obvious reason of using them as a way to approach my target. But that’s already in the past.

In the end, I found out the reason for those questions. The senior who blocked me as well as the friends behind her was a member of our school’s inactive Broadcasting and Newspaper Club. Inactive because even if they still exist, they didn’t have that much presence in the past few years.

Most likely budget reasons or just the lack of motivation from the members. It’s a mystery why they haven’t been shut down yet. Shizu also never mentioned them. If I had to guess, they got reduced to a simple hobby club.

In any case, with that reveal of their origin, they admitted how they wanted to revive their clubs. And as the hottest topic recently, they decided to make me the front page and the headline for the broadcast and 1st issue of their newspaper.

Furthermore, blocking me and barraging me with questions wasn’t the end. They extended another invite to me for a formal interview in their clubroom...

What a mess.

I didn’t answer them right away and played it off as though I was hurrying somewhere.

Thankfully, they weren’t persistent in getting a quick yes from me. They also thanked me for entertaining and answering the abrupt questions on their end.

Yeah. I think I got a positive impression from them. But well, I’ll try to avoid them as much as possible.

For the second interruption... I ran into Enomoto along with Nikka-senpai. The former called out to me as though we were best buddies. As for his reason, I had no idea. The latter returned my greeting with an amiable smile. She’s still as cheerful as the last time I saw her.

I mean, I got her that chance to be alone with Enomoto and Reira-senpai had started becoming cheerful after that tour invited her to.

Instead of the wariness from before, her gaze was now filled with goodwill – something Enomoto would probably dread to find out.

In any case, I acted the same way as before around them, and with Enomoto, I got him to get straight to the point with his reason for calling out to me.

Not that surprising, he mentioned the incident yesterday with Ichihara Jun or the new rumors about me. He even tried to tease me about it. And because of that, Nikka-senpai’s amiable smile also temporarily disappeared. She thought I was going after Reira-senpai. That’s why hearing about the rumors about me escorting Marika away pointed to her how unfaithful I am.

And since I said temporarily, I actually managed to explain myself to her. Although not that convinced yet, she dropped it and just reminded me to take care of Reira-senpai when I see her again.

Thanks to that, the third interruption was caused by myself.

I asked them if she was also coming so I waited for the girl to show up at the stairs.

Reira-senpai was surprised and delighted at the same time. And like Enomoto, she tried to tease me about the rumor she heard about it, saying something like, “Silly brat. You’ve been busy with another girl these days, huh? You don’t need your favorite senior’s comfort anymore?”

Naturally, I played along with her more than I did with Enomoto’s attempt.

Since she mentioned it, I asked for a bit of her time and used it to catch up with each other – acting shamelessly intimate with her at the same time.

Reira-senpai wasn’t averse to it. In fact, hearing me ask for her brought a spark in her eyes that seemingly dulled for the few days that we hadn’t seen each other. And even if she kept on scolding me, putting me in her embrace swept away the negative feelings accumulating from her.

For the girl, I’m still no more than a junior she could be comfortable with. And the same as last time, she doted on me like a caring mother.

My thought of acting naughtily with her was thrown into the trash. I decided not to take advantage of her anymore. At least, for the time being, I like our current closeness.

Anyway, as much as I wanted to extend my time with her, it’s unfortunately impossible. And so, before separating from her, I told her I was going to visit her again in the club next week.

Reira-senpai agreed right away. Her eyes betrayed her and showed me how much she was looking forward to it. Mhm. For her, I was providing the tunnel that constantly leads her out of the prison she put herself in. And at the end of that tunnel was a new world she could explore with me.

And there, after separating from her, I finally made my way to the empty clubroom.

Welcomed by my girls who prepared another feast for us to share, our lunch and perhaps only time to gather today became rowdy and blissful at the same time.

Like she promised, Shizu brought Marika with her. Experiencing another fun dining experience like yesterday brought more than a smile from her.

Even after knowing that everyone in the room was connected to me, Marika was still pleased with the experience of being in a group where she was not being revered like an untouchable existence or someone they should serve.

I guess that's all she needed to be happy. Alas, her family circumstances placed her in that position.

After going around the table, pampering my girls left and right, I eventually reached Marika. Copying what she’d seen from the other girls, she asked me to sit down on the same chair as her. She’s not on my lap but on the space opened up between my legs. And naturally, my arms enclosed around her navel and my chest supported her body.

In this way, she had me all to herself. Not that she’s denying the others but I guess, she’s just trying to establish her presence.

And while she’s not using her acting skills, her gracefulness as a noble blood was on full display. But little did she know, the girls found her innocence adorable.

Anyway, as I’ve been meaning to pamper her as well, I did that while we conversed about things we could talk about. And from there, our topic switched to Ichihara Jun’s reaction to yesterday.

Apparently, the idiot tried to barge into the house she was staying in again. He got repelled by the two guards. And earlier this day, the pompous idiot came to her desk, warning her not to meet me anymore.

But with Shizu picking her up personally, he couldn’t do anything but watch her get taken away from their midst.

“And here I thought I could try to reach a compromise with him...” I lamented my naïve thought earlier.

With that guy, there’s no reason to compromise. I’ll apologize to Hayashi-sensei but even if the idiot brings forth the might of his family, I’ll face him for Marika’s sake.