Stealing Spree

Chapter 2102: Do you hate him?

Several minutes passed after that not-so-honest denial of Kazuha-nee. She even glared at me to prevent me from bringing it up again.

I'd let her have that and simply shrug to wait for her to gather her wits and set us straight to what she's really envisioning by inviting me to her room.

"Okay, shameless guy. Let's go over this again."

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"I mean, forget the last few minutes. I'm not being myself there."

"I see. Looks like I'm finally getting to see that devious older sister again."

"Who are you calling devious?!"

"Now, you tell me."

"Ugh. Enough. I shouldn't be taken in by your pace."

"Will you believe me if I say I'm just being myself? It's Kazuha-nee who's acting differently. And here I thought I'd get bullied by you. Can I demand back the time I spent worrying about how to get out of it?"

"You shameless boy. I'm still going to bully you. I have to get back at you for that humiliation."

"Wait. Humiliation? Kazuha-nee, did I humiliate you? I'm pretty sure I asked for your permission at every instance that something happened between us."

"... The last one! You forced it on me."

Oh... So she meant that one. The moment I pinned her down on the bed and kissed her.

Yeah. I did force her on that because I was cheeky. Halfway through, she still accepted it, savoring the last few moments before she ran away.

In any case, that truly didn't erase what I did. Now I feel like my apology from earlier is half- assed.

With a bitter smile, I guiltily lowered my head in silent apology. With both of my arms pressing on the kotatsu table, I probably looked like I was offering my neck to her.

"Kazuha-nee is right. You don't have to wait to bully me for it. Just punish me right at this moment, I'll take it without resisting."

I didn't look at her expression but from what I could capture from my vision, my words made her shake violently. Either she found it unbelievable or she was just angry that I was acting like this.

Starting with a sharp tone as though she was stabbing me with it, a soft sigh then escaped her mouth.

"You... Don't decide that for me, Ruki-kun."

Hearing that, I couldn't help but raise my gaze. Kazuha-nee had a troubled look on her face.

Before I knew it, my arm already automatically moved, reaching out to cup her cheek.

She dodged it though and I awkwardly pulled my arm back before sitting back properly. After rearranging my thoughts, I took another gulp of the juice and emptied the glass this time.

Treating that as a shot to boost my courage, I faced the woman opposite me again.

"Yes. You're totally right, Kazuha-nee. Forget I said anything. It's your decision to be made, not mine."

"Great. As long as you understand." She replied but a few seconds later, Kazuha-nee started giggling.

Confused, I tilted my head at her which just made her giggles louder. Maybe she found it funny to see me clueless like this.

But well, what can I do? I really did not understand what made her giggle like that.

"Ruki-kun. Is it just me or am I seeing more of your hidden sides?"

"I don't know what you mean by that. What hidden sides?"

"I mean this. You can also be clueless, huh? That's new. Hina did mention I could understand you better in the future but did she mean this?"

What is this woman on about? I can guess what she's trying to say here... However, it will probably be too off the mark.

I guess I should just play along and figure it out through her mouth.

"Maybe. This is what she meant. Kazuha-nee, I may be shameless most of the time but I have this clueless side of me. I can't even understand how I made you giggle. But I guess it doesn't matter to me anymore. I can see the conflict on your face resolved, after all."

"Uh-huh. There's your dangerous tongue again. Kazu-kun should really take a page from you."

"He can't. He's different from me."

And that's the truth. From the looks of it, Kazuha-nee also agreed to that.

"Yes. I know. You made me aware of that. But Ruki-kun, can you tell me something?"

"What is it?"

"Do you hate Kazu-kun?"

Ah... This question. I knew this was coming from a mile away. This was why she brought me here. To find out the truth.

Although I could lie to her, she didn't care about that. She could pick it out from my answer

after all.

But well, let's just set it in for now.

"Let's see. Can I lie?"

"No. Tell me the truth. I want to hear it from you." Kazuha-nee swiftly replied. Her beautiful eyes seemingly locked me in place. Somehow, I could feel that I was being drawn to her further just by looking at her current expression and the way our conversation was going.

I shook my head inwardly and cleared my head to give her a proper answer.

"I see. Kazuha-nee must've heard his side of the story."

"I do. And I... It may be unbelievable but when I think about you, I can't help but feel like it makes sense and those are something only you can do."

"Wow... That sounds like you're praising me."

"You can take it like that. I'm praising you but at the same time, I'm criticizing your

personality."

"Alright. That's fair. I won't deny anything even if he painted me like some kind of a monster

to you. I'll just be honest. Because I believe Kazuha-nee deserves to hear the truth."

"Why do you think I deserve it?"

"Because I like you. I'm biased like that."

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Perhaps not expecting me to just blurt that out, Kazuha-nee was left speechless. However, she quickly controlled herself. Her lips which were twitching and seemingly about to either frown or smile calmed down as she sternly put me under her intense gaze.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that. Go on. Answer my question, Ruki-kun. Honestly."

I wryly smiled. I knew she'd do that. This was Kazuha-nee we're talking about, after all. She's someone who could dump a boyfriend in less than three hours. She's quite hard to please.

We just really caught her in the net that night and pushed her over the edge so that she bit into

the temptation.

If not for that, nothing would've happened between us.

"I did hate Ogawa."

"Did? Why is it in the past tense?"

"Because I don't think it's worth hating him anymore. You must've heard how I stole everyone away from him. But Kazuha-nee, I did that because the girls deserved happiness. He

couldn't give that to them so I did."

"You hated him because of that?"

"Yes. He's too indecisive and delusional. Like you said, if he took a page from my book then

he might be a little better. But that's not what he did. He buried himself in his delusion. The day you met me at the mall, you tried mediating between us. However, he didn't tell you that at that time, Nami was already mine."

Kazuha-nee listened intently and from her bodily reaction, her emotions ranged from being angry, annoyed, helpless, and then pity.

Well, that's normal. What I said must be insulting to her. That's her precious little brother. She might be the type to torment him but Kazuha-nee still cared for him a lot.

"... So, did you specifically target Kazu-kun?"

"I don't. I may have some lingering thoughts about tormenting him by my actions but I never

targeted him. Ah. Right. I punched him in the gut once."

"Why?"

"For Nami. Ah. No. It's to wake him up to reality."

"Elaborate."

"That's it. There's no deeper reason. Like I said. He deluded himself in his fantasy where

Nami is still in love with him."

"... Ruki-kun. Do you still hate him?"

After everything, my hate for him was just really out of pettiness. Without it, I didn't really care about him. All this time, I only cared about the girls around him.

"Not anymore. However, I don't think I can get along with him. What about him? He hates

me, right?"

"Yes... And he's trying to protect me from you."

"Then, Kazuha-nee can simply follow him. We had an agreement, after all. Besides, I also did

you wrong."

As I said that, I broke out of eye contact and turned my head sideways. In my head, I was

already thinking of leaving.

However, I probably shouldn't do that. For Kazuha-nee's sake, I should wait for her to collect and arrange her thoughts about everything I said.