Stealing Spree

Although there were students who we passed by who looked on curiously upon seeing me carrying someone like a princess, they soon lost their interest after seeing the wound on Arisa-senpai’s knee. And that made our trip to the infirmary smooth.

Arisa-senpai, on the other hand, used her hand to cover her face. Most likely, she didn’t want to be seen by others as a clumsy one or she just didn’t want to look at me directly.

Either of the two, it didn’t matter at all.

Just the fact that she specifically came to check on me was enough to raise my mood. Even if she ended up pushing me away after the treatment, knowing that I was still on her mind was enough.

When I arrived at the infirmary, Hayashi-sensei wasn’t in. That’s surprising since every time I would come here, she’d be inside.

In any case, I opened the door and put her down on one of the beds.

“Stay still, senpai. Let me get the first aid kit. We have to treat that before infection sets in.”

“Y-you don’t have to. I can…”

“There you go again. I promise I’ll leave after treating your knees.” I cut her off and went to one side of the infirmary where the first aid cabinet was located.

I quickly picked the necessary medical items for it before returning to her side.

I made sure not to look at her face directly because if I did, the restraint that I put on myself concerning the attraction I was feeling for her would burst out.

Besides, she also remained silent after I cut her off. Whatever’s on her mind at the moment, she’s keeping it to herself.

Although I wanted to catch her sneaking on me at first, that changed after seeing that pained expression and her clear attempt to not look at me.

Rather than use this chance to get close to her again, I just wanted to treat her injury and make sure that she’s fine.

As I kneeled in front of her, Arisa-senpai hurriedly pushed down her hands between her legs.

Well, she’s wearing a skirt so if she didn’t do that, I could easily take a peek.

“Hold it properly, senpai. Let me check how serious it is first.” I said as I held onto one of her legs to inspect the wound.

Uh… I could describe how wonderful her leg feels in my hand in detail but I better not, right? It’s not the right time.

Pushing that thought to the back of my mind, I seriously began inspecting her wound.

Both of her knees were scraped but thankfully, it’s not as big as I first thought. It’s just her blood that made it look like that at first glance. Still, she would need to plaster a band-aid on her knees for a few days until the wound dries. However, it would surely leave a scar. It’s on her knees after all.

For girls like her, having a scar was somewhat shameful. She might need to get a scar-removal lotion and apply it carefully. But that’s after it healed completely.

“It’s not that serious, thankfully. But I can’t help but wonder how you trip and get wounded like this… Please be careful next time, senpai.” I muttered my evaluation to which she responded with a weak whimper.

At this point, I had no choice but to look up and check on her expression. Her lips were pursed, her forehead was slightly creased and her eyes were half-open as if she’s deliberating whether to look down or not.

Nonetheless, with our eyes meeting each other, she hurriedly averted her gaze. Seeing that, I felt a little bitter. She really hated looking at me or it’s just her way to also stop that attraction she’s feeling for me.

We’re both aware of it. It would definitely be uncontrollable if we let it run rampant.

“Anyway, I’ll clean the wound first… Please endure the pain, senpai. It will only sting a bit.”

I brought out some cotton and wet it with alcohol. But before I could push it to her wound, one of her hands grabbed at my wrist, stopping me.

“W-wait don’t use alcohol.”

It’s understandable for her to do this. Even me, I somehow hate the feeling of that stinging pain. However, it’s not a reason to stop.

I continued moving my hand, overpowering the strength she’s using to stop me.

Seeing that she’s losing on that part, her leg then tried to eject from my hold. But given that I was prepared for that, I just held it down and pushed the cotton on her wound.

At the same time as that, I looked up and saw Arisa-senpai issuing a hissing sound as she tried her hardest not to scream from the pain. The corners of her eyes quickly became wet as tears threatened to form and trickle from them.

I hated seeing her being hurt but this was necessary. So as soon as her leg stopped trembling, I put all my focus on cleaning her wound. And once that’s done, I switched to her other knee.

With the most painful part done, I quickly move to apply the antibiotic cream on both knees before putting on band-aids on both knees.

It didn’t take that long. Scraped wounds weren’t that serious anyway. It’s just painful. The reason that it needed to be treated quickly was to prevent infection.

“There. It’s done.” I declared as I let go of her legs. “Senpai should take this time to rest. Let the medicine do its wonder before walking again.”

I stood up to throw away the bloodied pieces of cotton and returned what I used to the first aid cabinet.

“T-thank you.”

With my back turned to her, I heard a weak voice uttering her gratitude to me.

“It’s partly my fault anyway so I’m just guilty. There’s no need to thank me, senpai.” I answered without turning around to face her.

This should be the time to leave as I promised. However, I found myself hesitating to turn around and walk out of the door.

Seconds passed quickly and I remained at that spot, just staring at the red cross symbol of the first-aid cabinet.

“O-onoda-kun?”

Perhaps wondering why I got stuck there, Arisa-senpai called out to me.

“Hmm? Don’t mind me, senpai. I’ll leave as promised. I… I just need a little time to calm myself down.”

“That’s not why I…”

Arisa-senpai tried to say something but in the end, she couldn’t finish it as her voice trailed off.

Most likely, she’s trying to say ‘That’s not why I called out to you’. However, remembering that she had chosen to distance herself from me, she stopped.

Well, that’s my own pessimistic interpretation. I said I accepted that she chose that option but it still stings. It’s more painful than applying alcohol to a wound.

“See that, you can’t finish it, senpai. It’s really fine. You focus on getting better and I won’t show up at that abandoned clubroom again. To stop the same incident from happening.”

At this point, I already found the courage to turn around and walk straight towards the door.

That last sentence I uttered had two different meanings. The first one was obviously seeing her scampering off to escape only to trip and injure herself. The other meaning was about our relationship. Call it helping her or anything but if we found ourselves alone in the same room, like this, that undeniable attraction would go haywire.

I was barely holding on so I had to escape quickly before I lost myself to it. She’d hate it if it happens. Possibly.

It’s not like this would be the last time we’d see each other. Perhaps a month from now or if not that, a year later, I would still have a chance to seriously go after her. At the moment, it’s better to respect her choice and see where that would take her.

Yep. That should be the case…

However, before reaching the door and escaping the infirmary, from the corner of my eyes, Arisa-senpai’s staggering figure came rushing.

“You numbskull! Stop creating your own damn conclusion!”

Along with that snarly scream from her, Arisa-senpai tackled me down, her arms slipped to my back and gripped my clothes tightly.

Ignoring the pain from falling on my butt, I lowered my head to see the girl holding onto me, her face buried in my chest.

This girl… just after telling her not to move, she did this.

Moments later, a warm sensation seeped into my uniform, spreading onto my chest.

I recognized it.

Tears.

Arisa-senpai was crying.