Stealing Spree

Chapter 2117: Eri's Problem (1)

As I heard the girl approaching from afar, I pretended not to notice her until she called out to

me.

"Hey, Onoda-kun... Are you still awake?" She started. The volume of her voice was close to that of a whisper.

I pulled myself up a bit and looked in her direction. Looking mildly surprised, I completed my act and responded to her.

"Eri? What? Can't sleep? Or are you also going to nag at me for Fuyu?"

My lips curved up and Eri immediately shook her head.

Since I could still hear some sort of activity upstairs, albeit faint, the other three should still be awake. Besides, I doubt they can sleep easily after what happened even if I managed to turn it a lighthearted earlier.

So, that means, this girl went down here with an excuse, leaving the three in the room.

If she was going to the bathroom to pee or something else she might need to do, she didn't need to call out to me. If she was thirsty, she could just use the other entrance close to the front hall which could directly let her bypass the sofa I was lying down on.

With those possibilities crossed out, there was no doubt that she was here for me.

And most likely, this could be unrelated to everything else that happened...

Let's see. A consultation maybe? Did Akane send her to me for advice? I don't know. I can only wait to hear it from this girl herself.

Sensing that I was waiting for her to answer, the girl took a step forward and helplessly smiled.

"I wish I could do that but those two have convinced me thoroughly. It's only hard to believe because of how you revealed it. We were just starting to suspect you and you already dropped the bomb."

"Sorry about that. I thought about it a lot. But knowing that you four are always together, it'll be hard to completely hide it from you. Also, rather than let your suspicions grow which might lead to problems within your group, I decided to just come out and deal with it tonight."

"You know what, Onoda-kun? That's the reason why Futaba found it hard to swallow. That decisiveness didn't account for what we were going to feel about it."

Ah. She's right. I only put Fuyu and Akane on the scale. That might have come off as insensitive and reckless to them.

"You're right. So, how should I make it up to you? Or is that why you're here? To collect my due punishment."

"Pfft. Stop it, Onoda-kun." Eri burst out laughing and shook her head again, "Futaba might collect some but that's not what I'm here for."

"Hmm? Then...?"

"I have something to ask. And I heard you're the best person to answer it for me."

Bingo. Although she didn't directly say Akane told her to come down here, I could catch it from how she was fidgeting from delivering that last sentence.

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In any case, I should keep this lighthearted.

I sat back up, putting my feet down on the ground before facing her properly.

"Girl, who do you think I am? The Great Shameless Spirit of Wisdom? Let me guess, are you troubled about something you wouldn't normally ask some inexperienced about it?

That made her giggle but her reaction afterwards was obvious. She's here for my expertise. "Eh? How did you...?"

And what kind of expertise was it? I also had no idea what prompted Akane to send her here to

me.

Let's just be earnest for now.

"I mean, looking at you, anyone can tell something's different about you. Not counting what happened afterward, it wasn't even that long when you were about to energetically jump at me to pry my mouth open to make me talk. You're still bubbly back then. And I may be wrong but I find it rare to see you fumbling like this. I did tickle you until you almost lost it earlier but I knew this wasn't about that. Why don't you take a seat first and tell this Great Sage of Shameless Wisdom your troubles first?"

"Wait? Why did your title change?!"

"Don't mind the details. It still holds the same meaning anyway."

Once again, I made the girl laugh. And perhaps I hit some correct marks there, she followed my words and closed her distance from the sofa.

I scooched over to the side, opening up plenty of space for her to sit down

Eri silently stared at me, perhaps calculating the risk because of my mention of the tickle earlier.

She became more guarded, I guess? I mean, despite everything that happened afterward, it was such an experience for her. But then again, I had no plan of scaring her with it. Mentioning the tickle was just my way of maintaining a lighthearted mood.

"Ugh. Don't remind me of it. But... Onoda-kun, is it really fine?"

"Are you asking me if I'm going to pounce on you to tickle you again? Nope. You can even tie my hands to my back."

"Geez. Stop joking like that, Onoda-kun. Once is enough, I don't want to experience it again." Eri pouted and then averted her gaze. For sure, she remembered how she had become so helpless earlier.

Alright. That's my bad. I should stop using that to lighten the mood.

As I watched her take a seat, I made sure to maintain a distance from her. Now, that's me being considerate. That made her curl her brows though but no matter.

"Alright. That's just me trying to ease up your tension. Did it work or not? Also, I haven't teased you in a while, right? Last time was with the ice cream here in this same room."

Since I dropped the tickle, I brought up another topic. She's still not completely relaxed after

all.

"You didn't count that tickle?! Ugh. Right. It was Futaba who asked you to do it. I'll forgive you for it. As for the ice cream... that's delicious. Even Futaba couldn't say no so it's fine."

Looks like it's working. She's easing up bit by bit. But I feel like we're going off-topic in this direction. Yeah. My fault.

"Should I also apologize to her? You saw it, right? She seemed to be holding a grudge towards me for feeding her more sweets. She's now calling me a bully."

"Nah. Don't bother. Even if she is trying to get back at you for giving her more sugar, she's quite happy to eat that much anyway. She also has a sweet tooth like Fuyu. But I think it's her boyfriend who reminds her not to so... you kind of enabled her there."

So, that's the reason, huh? Is he reminding her to maintain her figure or is it her own initiative, telling him to keep reminding her? It's hard to guess. Either way, I was truly a bit forceful in feeding them sweets. I even doubled down specifically for Futaba. I guess I should tone it down next time. She might form a grudge against me as the Accursed Sugar Provider. "What about you, Eri? Your boyfriend isn't strict?" I asked switching the topic back to herself. I'm aware that we're still off topic but we're kind of getting invested here. It's still not too late to circle back later.

With that question, Eri glared at me as though I just asked her for a fight.

She then slid close to me and hit my arm with her fist as though venting her frustration on me

-- but not at the same level as Futaba earlier.

A second later, Eri started giggling, her body relaxing more.

"That's a silly question, Onoda-kun. How can he be strict when my body remains like this?"

She pointed at herself and then ran her hands on her sides, tracing her straight and not-so-

curvy figure.

This girl... She's putting herself down. It's not like her figure isn't attractive. She does lack nutrients in some parts but it doesn't take away from her charms. Her shoulder-length hair and lean figure really suit her.