Stealing Spree

Close Friend

“Tell me, will you be in trouble if they find out that you got educated by us about things that they never taught you?” I asked as I reached for Misaki’s chin, guiding her tilted head back before pressing my thumb just below her lips.         

The girl followed my movements with her eyes and joyfully smiled from my touch. No doubt, this girl likes being doted on by me. Is that still in the realm of being a friend? But I guess I’m also at fault for being too touchy like this.     

In any case, I got her response right away.     

Misaki blinked her pretty eyes and lightly shook her head. “Not that I’m aware of. Grandma told me to broaden my horizons in this school.”     

Looks like her grandparents simply took her into custody to stop her parents from controlling and limiting her education. However, instead of teaching her themselves, they sent her to high school.     

Either they’re busy with something else or they wanted the girl to discover everything by herself.     

And whatever reason they have, this was still stupidly dangerous. At least, in my opinion.     

“Hmm… Alright, let’s drop that matter for now. How is it? Have you understood everything we said?”     

Since our purpose here was to educate her and not pry on her family history, I set that aside for now and returned to the main topic. Maybe I could touch on that in the next instances… For now, we had to make sure that she understood everything we just told her.     

“Yes! I’m grateful to both of you, Maaya-sama, and Ruki. I’m what people call ignorant, am I correct? I worried you both. I sincerely apologize for doing so.” Misaki slightly bowed her head at us. And even if I’m just next to her, the girl didn’t allow me to stop her. That bow contained her apology as well as gratitude, after all.     

I accepted that with an encouraging smile but Itou hurriedly put a hand in front of her as she frantically returned an apology.     

“No, I should be the one saying that. I waited until Onoda pointed out that you needed it.”     

“Maaya-sama is protecting me. That alone is enough.” Misaki innocently giggled as she just let that apology bounce back to the flustered Itou.     

Doing that a couple of times until Itou finally surrendered, the room then became filled with the two girls’ laughter.     

While they were doing that, I remained at Misaki’s side, observing the little changes that were happening in her mentality. Although there’s still her fixation on her forehead to be bare and the paper fan that she used to cover her mouth with, the girl was maturing in front of my eyes.     

Of course, that didn’t mean her innocence would be dispelled right away. In fact, we had a lot more to teach her. Those could be done slowly. On a day-to-day basis. Itou could do the most part for that while I would also put in some time for it. At the moment, what she needed were the basics and fortunately, she absorbed them all without any problem.     

“Ruki, is it fine to ask a question now?”     

Perhaps noticing that I turned silent or she just had enough of their back-and-forth teasing that’s probably something they did for the first time, Misaki turned to me, expectation shining from her pupils.     

“Sure. I promised to answer your questions too. Let me hear it.”     

Yeah. There’s no running away from this. This was the main reason we had this situation in the first place. To clear up her misconception about relationships further than just friendship.     

Having gotten my permission, Misaki’s enthusiasm went up a notch as she immediately reached for my shoulder before closing the distance between us by squeezing in my chair. Although it would be easier for her if she sat down on my lap, the girl was most likely afraid that it would inconvenience me. And so, while still looking so innocent, her mischievous action led me to make a move to support her back, preventing the girl from sliding off the chair.     

I could’ve stopped her but chose not to… Since I could already guess the content of her upcoming question, I’d use this situation to make her understand. That she couldn’t simply jump from being a friend to more than that without fully understanding what it entailed.     

“Can I become your close friend? Like Chizuru and the others.” Misaki, while enjoying my hand supporting her back, expectantly waited for my answer.     

“Before I answer that, Misaki, Itou had just told you that you cannot get close to a guy so easily. Did you not listen to her?”     

“I did listen! But you’re Ruki, not just some guy I don’t know. You won’t take advantage of me.” Misaki answered and with her words that were seemingly filled with trust in me.     

How naïve and innocent…         

“I see. Then it’s fine as long as you understand. Don’t let anyone else take advantage of you.” I patted her head and the girl giggled in satisfaction, “Answering your question, you’re already my close friend. There’s no need for you to ask me about that.”     

“Eh? But… Why does it feel different?”     

“Because the others aren’t just my close friends. They’re more than that. Remember what Itou told you? What’s the relationship higher than being friends?”     

“A… couple?”     

“Correct. And that’s what they are to me.”     

Upon hearing that, Misaki frowned before looking at me with concern, “I don’t understand. You can only be a couple to one person. If you do it with many, you’ll be hated. Are you hated, Ruki?”     

Seeing how she still had the time to be concerned about me, this girl was certainly one of a kind.     

“Normally, that should be the case. However, our situation is unique and it’s something I won’t be able to explain to you properly. Long story short, Misaki is my only friend while the others are my girlfriends. You’re unique in a way…”     

Telling her the truth like this, I expected the girl not to get it right away. And I prepared a short explanation about it.     

However, just like her previous answer, she’s not even concerned about my mention of girlfriends. Instead, she focused on her own status.     

“… Unique does sound good but Ruki, it means I can’t be like them. I want to be like them.”     

“Alright. Misaki, why do you want to be like them?”     

“Because…” Misaki opened her mouth but she couldn’t produce a word after that.     

Of course, she had no idea why she wanted to be like them. Everything was new to her. She was just influenced by what she saw.     

“There. You don’t have any idea, right? Misaki, you’re entirely new to this… new concept of relationship. Before this day or before this hour, you’re only aware of becoming friends with someone else. Take it in slowly. Do not decide this hastily or you might regret it later.”     

“Regret? What’s there to regret?”     

“A lot.” Upon saying that, I put a hand on her head and caressed it once more. At first, she was not reacting to it and was seemingly deep in thought. But as I continued to brush her hair endearingly, the girl’s expression gradually relaxed.     

Soon enough, she raised her head and stared at me while biting her lips… “How can you be sure that I will regret it?”     

“I’m not sure. I’m stating a possibility, Misaki. For now, you should focus on understanding everything you learned from us. I have a favor though. Please keep my relationship with the others a secret. If someone else finds out about it, I will really be hated.”     

As I ended that with a forced smile, Misaki looked on worriedly.     

Instead of responding to me, she first looked at Itou before standing up and putting me in her embrace. It’s soft, warm and extremely comfortable, pressing her lips close to my ears, the girl then whispered, “I will follow your words, Ruki. After I understand everything, can I come and ask you again?”     

So, she’s not giving up, huh? I’m sure she’s just being taken in by impulse. Although I said it’s clear to see that how we treat each other was already more than what friends do to each other, Misaki was bound to fill in the gaps in her knowledge and with it, she’d mature. A possibility exists that she’ll find our situation ridiculous or repulsive.     

And at the moment, she’s still the same innocent girl. I vowed not to take advantage of that trait of hers.     

“Mhm, you can. For now, we’re close friends.”     

“Yes! Thank you, Ruki…” After whispering her gratitude, I felt her damp lips pressing on my cheek followed by satisfied giggles coming from the girl.