Stealing Spree

As it was the first time for most of the girls at my school to meet those girls who I mentioned were from my past and vice versa, I somewhat expected that this kind of occurrence would happen.

And there’s no need to blame anyone for it. It should only be me.

However, upon hearing my words while I held all of them close to me, Akane, Yae, Satsuki and Shizu frowned at me and simultaneously averted their gazes as if they had rehearsed it.

Following that, they all removed themselves from my embrace, leaving me standing alone in the middle as they found a place for them to sit and rest their backs.

“Wrong move, Ruu. You pushed the blame on yourself again rather than sweep it away so no one would blame themselves, not even you.” Nami, who was just behind Satsuki earlier, stepped forward and gave her observation of the situation.

This observer girl had outdone me again... I was wrong with my observation of the situation or I wasn’t observing closely but instantly put all the blame on my shoulder rather than look at it objectively.

With her head shaking slightly, she then opened her arms and put me in her embrace. And as if she was trying to comfort me, I felt her delicate hand patting my head.

“... Un. You’re good.” From the side, I heard Miwa-nee’s comment, pertaining to Nami.

“We’re both observers, sister Miwa. This guy sometimes forgets to use his observer ability in full, especially when he’s filled with emotion.” Nami answered her.

Following that, I heard the girls circling around me again and like a candy they were passing on, each of them hugged me with the intention to comfort me.

In the end, instead of my diffusing of the situation that was about to burst due to the rivalry that temporarily sprang up from meeting each other for the first time, it got diffused by itself when they heard about what I said.

Fully taking the blame and taking responsibility for it.

After that situation where each of them tried to confront that it felt like a paradise for me, Miwa-nee asked everyone to take a seat instead of continuing to stand up.

The floor was always sparkling clean due to Miwa-nee’s doing house chores everyday. That’s why those who didn’t manage to squeeze themselves in the long sofa with me, they settled on crowding in front of me.

Following that, Shio and Miwa-nee headed the introduction and how they were related to me.

Mizuki tried asking them why they’re not in the chat group and the two instantly answered it by saying that there’s no need to. They’re adults so they clearly understood this situation with me.

However, they were slammed with more questions by Nami, Kana, Haruko and lastly Shizu, who introduced herself right at that moment as not one of them.

Due to that, instead of waiting for Miwa-nee and Shio to answer the three girls’ questions, Shizu became the center of attention.

And as her lovable little sister, Nami came into her back up even if Shizu told her not to.

“If you’re not his girlfriend then why are you here? Do you want to flaunt your status as Ruki’s cheating partner?” Mizuki didn’t hold back on her question and threw that without hesitation.

However, instead of being intimidated by the noble girl’s question, Shizu flashed a smile instead as she answered confidently.

“Cheating partner? I guess you can all call me that.”

The Shizu in front of us this time was still partly wearing her mask. Partly because she’s not restricting what she truly felt.

And I guess that was the result of the change that slowly brought out the real Shizu. Instead of being completely different when she was wearing her mask, her two personas were slowly merging into one.

And upon thinking about it, that was definitely better than just taking off the mask that most students or even her friends got used to already.

“Shizu-nee...”

“I’m sorry, Nanami... Blame Ruki for making me fall for him. Moreover, he’s the one who entertained and agreed to our consensus.” With her confidence soaring high in the sky, Shio and Miwa-nee who tried to make this a non-hostile situation shook their heads as they both glared at me with their narrowed eyes.

Compared to earlier wherein they didn’t want to blame me for what happened... I was really the one to blame for my situation with Shizu.

While whispers began to happen among my girls, the girl beside me and the youngest among them raised her hand. “Excuse me, may I say something?”

Shizu looked at Ria with interest as she nodded her head to her question.

“You call yourself Dumb-senpai’s cheating partner, but aren’t you just the same as us? Hopelessly in love with this greedy playboy of a Dumb-senpai?”

Although her voice was sweet enough to make even the birds chirp, Ria also didn’t hold back. She’s an observant and she had already carefully analyzed what Shizu or everyone said before raising her hand.

“I think so too...” Hiyori, who's shyly hugging one of my legs in front of me, raised one of her hands and put down what’s on her mind.

Seeing her participating in this discussion was truly a step for her. Despite her extremely shy nature, she’s trying to fit herself with her ‘sisters’.

And with Ria and Hiyori starting it, the others also did the same.

Kana agreed while offering more words in her mature outlook. Like, it’s undeniable how Shizu and I love each other. We’re just deluding ourselves to think that we’re not in a relationship yet.

Rae clicked her tongue and called Shizu a dreamer because of how, according to her, Shizu was deluding herself that we’re not in a relationship when in fact that’s where we were standing already.

Ririka also popped up with an agreement to what the other girls said as she began distributing the taiyaki we brought home after heating it in the kitchen.

As for Hina and Saki, they were only silently watching from behind Nami. Perhaps what they said had already been said so they could only nod their heads.

Akane, Yae, Haruko and Miyako didn’t say anything and were just smiling meaningfully. Serizawa-senpai, who was sticking close to Haruko, also didn’t know what to do. Her eyes were tightly closed while she’s doing her best to snuggle in Haruko’s embrace.

Well, she’s truly not involved in anything here so it’s fine. Besides, looking at her acting like that was somewhat fresh in my eyes. Because most of the time, I would only see her trying to avoid my gaze.

As for Aya and Aoi, the former was at my side, holding my hand tightly as her moral support while the latter was sitting in front of me, occupying that space between my opened legs.

And Chii was sitting at one of the sofas, holding the sleeping Minoru in place of his mother. She’s strangely silent today but given that she’s somewhat in the same position as Shizu wherein she hadn’t given me an answer yet, she’s probably refraining from saying anything else.

“Sorry, am I late?”

With her smirk freezing on her face, Shizu who was about to respond to what Ria asked of her was interrupted by another voice.

A newcomer who had just arrived at this moment.

With her eyes widening upon witnessing the current situation, Eimi had her eyes opened wide as she began searching for my figure.

Although she appeared truly surprised, that changed as soon as our gazes met. Eimi let out an embarrassed laugh and slowly but surely went behind the sofa where I was sitting.

Ignoring the attention she was getting from all the girls in the living room, her arms slipped from behind me and crossed them in front of me. “I rushed out to see you but I’m still late. I’m sorry.”

Before everyone’s eyes, Eimi pushed one of my cheeks to have me face her and from that, she unhesitatingly kissed me.

Perhaps now that she’s also one of my girls, the inhibitions she had the first time she went here were already gone. Bravely kissing me in front of everyone, the issue of Shizu and the question she hadn’t answered yet was thrown out the window as they all stared enviously at Eimi.

This wasn’t what I was expecting but... I was certainly glad that she arrived. Otherwise, the place would be heated again.

Due to that, I returned her kiss and welcomed her. “You’re just in time. Thank you for coming, Eimi.”

“... The idiot will always be an idiot. Hmph. And you all love him?” Satsuki, who had been silent ever since earlier, finally said something. And before I knew it, the girl stood up and snatched my lips from Eimi.

“Satsuki, don’t you also love him? Your words are contradictory to your actions.” Nami called her out.

“Who will love this shameless guy?”

However, as expected of Satsuki, the girl still denied it despite not leaving my lips alone. Nami, who couldn’t stand it anymore, stomped her feet and snatched my lips from her.

However, a few seconds later, Akane, to top it all off, stood up from where she was sitting and swiftly declared, “All of us, it seems.”

As soon as she declared that, Nami let go of my lips, giving way for her. “What about you, husband?”

I see. I have to repeat it, huh?

“I love all of you. You all know how much I do.” After answering that, I welcomed Akane’s lips and passionately returned it to her.