Stealing Spree

Chapter 2120: Boy Best Friend

"Has Akane ever seduced you?" With the glittery glint in her eyes as though she was just acquiring common knowledge, Eri fired her question.

She's going places. But I guess this is still in line with 'a man's perspective'. If Akane does it for me, she'll probably think whether she can also try it with her boyfriend.

"Don't you think Akane can answer that better than me?"

"I will ask her later but Onoda-kun, I also want to hear your side. Hehe." With the same

playful smile as earlier during our game, the girl pressed in on me, her eyes reminding me of Otsuka-senpai.

She's now acting this comfortable with me.

However, for some reason, I'm feeling a little uneasy...

"Alright, I'll answer in the best way I can." I nodded.

Overjoyed, Eri grinned and hugged my arm, "Thank you! I knew I could count on you." Ah. I see.

Looking at her rejoicing like this, I finally pinpointed the source of that uneasy feeling.

Eri. Her trust in me seemed so overblown that her sense of distance from me had already disappeared. And this was after I told her she was attractive to me.

Should I do something about this? Like giving her a lesson on being meticulous. In particular, the lesson for not completely trusting a guy who's not her boyfriend alone in the room with her. I can incorporate it along with my answer.

I know that this can be seen as me overreacting but I can't help but be worried about her being defenseless like this...

No matter what, I still considered myself a dangerous guy for any girl.

After organizing my thoughts, I took a deep breath and prepared myself.

"Alright. Don't celebrate too early. Akane did seduce me before but the reverse was also true." Upon saying that, while she still had my arm in her embrace, I reached for one of her hands and pulled it down to be held by mine, "I also seduced her. Wanna try how I did it?

Not taking my words seriously, Eri laughed at what I did and didn't bother stopping me. She even met my hand and grabbed it just the same.

"Hmm? Are you saying you'll also try and seduce me? Sure. Let me try it!"

Look at her, she couldn't take a hint.

I shook my head inwardly.

"Are you not worried I'm going to take advantage of you?"

"Not at all. I trust you, Onoda-kun."

Haa. I know that she means that. Her trust in me has been built but why do I still feel uneasy? Am I just overthinking again?

No... I trust my gut feeling that I have to do this. To remind her.

"Aren't I doing it already? I'm holding your hand, Eri. What do you think? Isn't this intimate enough for you? Or do I have to do more?"

Now that I spelled it out to her face, there was finally a reaction. The girl immediately averted her gaze.

Following up with that, I changed my act a little. I increased my presence while putting on a not-so-kind and suggestive smile. My hand on hers tightened as I filled the gaps between her fingers.

Sensing the change in me, Eri tensed up and instinctively drew back, instantly creating a distance between us.

However, because of our connected hands, she's still close to me.

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"You... Onoda-kun, what's happening suddenly? You're joking, right?" Her voice stuttered a little and I could sense her apprehension.

I finally got through to her.

Since I didn't plan to scare her silly, I nodded and let go of her hand before dispelling that unsettling cloak I put on.

"Yes. I'm joking. Now, do you understand why I acted like that?"

Eri's lips trembled slightly as she looked around us before returning her gaze to me.

"You are reminding me, is that it, Onoda-kun?"

"Good. Look at you getting nervous. Do not be too careless around other guys. Not even me."

"But you are... a friend, Onoda-kun." She refuted.

"Be that as it may but you don't know what I'm thinking, right? For example, I can also do this." Without warning, I stretched my arm to her back and then grabbed her waist, pulling her closer.

"Onoda-kun?!" Alerted, Eri tensed up once again. And with my hand also brushing against her ticklish area, the girl immediately squirmed but only for a bit. Following that, the girl faced me, "Wait. Wait. Did I do something wrong, Onoda-kun? Or did I ask the wrong question? I'll take it back. It's a little scary for you to suddenly act like this..."

"No. You did nothing wrong. And there's nothing problematic to your question. Like you said, I'm simply reminding you. This is just an extension of it."

"But..." Maybe it was a little too much for her, the girl deeply frowned as her eyes became out of focus. She possibly couldn't process everything all at once.

Well then, I'll add another layer.

"No buts, alright? You're a girl. And an attractive one at that. You act tomboyish but it's not really covering it up. This may just be coming from me but Eri, you should be more confident about yourself."

"I am confident..." Eri declared but there was a little hesitation in her voice.

At this point, I already got my message across. The layer I added was to take care of her low self-esteem.

It may look forced but I could see it's essentially working.

However, looking at how she's not even attempting to escape my grasp, having her see me as a threat is probably not working.

"That's not what I'm seeing but if you say so then so be it. I hope you can really be confident in yourself." I shrugged and slid my arm further.

Because of her lean figure, the tip of my fingertips reached around her navel pretty easily.

I could already feel the softness and smoothness of her belly as she shivered inwardly. And like this, I whispered to her ear, "Alright. Can you look at how close we are, right now? Do you think this is still normal?"

"Yeah. This is not. Onoda-kun, I get your reminder but I don't see any reason to be wary of you. Should I push you away?"

This girl... Despite recognizing everything I did and said, she seemed adamant not to listen to my warning about me. Am I really that trustworthy for her?

In any case, this should be enough.

"Yes, you should. But you're not doing that even when your chest is already racing from

nervousness. Why is that?"

Eri lifted her head to stare at me directly. With a proud grin, she answered, "Like I said, because I trust Onoda-kun not to do anything that will betray my trust."

"I see. You're pretty stubborn yourself."

Admitting my defeat, I sighed, shook my head, and let go of her, taking my arm back.

Eri giggled as her eyes followed me. She's still pretty nervous but I guess she's happy that she

won her gamble.

Am I not intimidating enough? No. It's because, in her eyes, I've already put myself in a position of trust. If I had done that stunt before all this and without any context at all, she might've acted differently.

A few seconds later, Eri fixed her hair and then waited for me to speak again.

I put on a defeated smile and poked her wide forehead.

"Alright. I hope you do well with your boyfriend. If you have more questions, come and ask

me again."

"Hehe. Thank you, Onoda-kun. You're not just great at comforting a girl, you're so thoughtful as well. Now I get why Fuyu fell for you and didn't mind sharing you with Akane."

Upon saying that, Eri hugged me again. This time, her arms also slid to my back, enclosing my

waist.

There's a playful smile on her face as though she's returning what I did to her earlier.

"I convinced you through this, huh?"

"Un. It's convincing enough when you can even go that far just to remind me. Don't worry,

apart from Toshi-kun, only you can get this close to me."

"He's going to be jealous, you know?" "You're now my boy best friend. What's there to be jealous about?"

"Girl, are you hearing yourself right now? Have you not heard of stories about opposite-

gender best friends ruining relationships?"

"Oh. I heard them. But it won't happen with you when you already have Akane and Fuyu."

... I guess the phrase 'ignorance is bliss' is very fitting for this situation. Alright. Let's keep it that way then.

I ruffled Eri's hair and then reciprocated her embrace by dropping my hand on her shoulder.

This only lasted for half a minute. After that, the girl happily returned upstairs, leaving me alone again.