Stealing Spree

After walking for a few minutes in the opposite direction towards their school after leaving the train station, the familiar car of Suzuki, Mizuki’s chauffeur pulled up in front of us.

Inside, there’s Mizuki, obviously, as well as Aika and Hiyori. The two who were at the same year as Otoha and Hiyori who seemed to have gotten close to Otoha.

They’re the ones who answered the call or rather, Akane picked from all that volunteered to come with her on visiting the Kaneko Estate later after school.

Mizuki was the necessary one though. Not just for her car but because she’s from a branch family of another former Noble House. Moreover, she’s someone who made a name for herself when it comes to her somewhat revolutionary success in revitalizing their almost failed business. I doubt they would bar her way to visit Otoha.

Aika was actually in the same class as Otoha. She could use that as a reason to be there.

And Hiyori… she grew closer to Otoha after I took her back in. They both had a rather similar disposition, after all.

Otoha, without her shinai, was a demure and elegant lady whereas Hiyori was also demure and extremely shy as long as she’s not in the presence of her idols; me included.

Since it was still a little early, Suzuki drove us to that condominium to have a private place to talk about their plan on how they could be convincing for the Kaneko guards to even be allowed to be reported inside their estate.

And now, we’re in the living room of the condominium unit that Mizuki would transfer to me in the future, sitting around the coffee table.

Ah. No. Only Mizuki, Akane and Aika were sitting there as they were discussing how they would go about it.

On the other hand, Hiyori and I were sitting comfortably on the sofa. The girl was curled up in my arms, recharging her depleted ‘Ruki Energy’ once more.

The three girls didn’t need my input on what they were planning. Or if I could understand this better, they wanted to show off to me. Letting me watch how helpful they could be for me or us.

At times, they would shoot me a glance as if asking me if what they suggested was still fine.

I mean, they’re trying to plan too much that the result they were aiming for was that it would all look like a normal visit to a classmate and schoolmate who was absent for more than a week.

“Ruki… Otoha-senpai will be fine. I will send you a video clip of her later.” Hiyori murmured after rubbing her face on my chest like a cat.

I lovingly patted her head, stroked her silky brown hair and smiled. “Mhm… I’ll wait for that. By the way, you slipped, Hiyori. You bought idol goods again that your allowance for this month was already close to being used up. I want to scold you but… let me hear about it if it’s true or not.”

Upon hearing that, Hiyori slowly raised her eyes and stared at my face before gulping down and averting her gaze. A clear sign that she’s guilty.

Well, that information came from Akane. It was something this girl mistakenly sent to their group instead of her fellow ‘idol otaku’ friend from the same class.

That friend of hers was someone she often complains to me about. It seems that the two girl groups they’re supporting were rivals. As for boy groups, Hiyori wasn’t that invested in them anymore because, for her, I was enough to idolize. However, she couldn’t brag about me to her friend and that’s another thing she’s crying about.

Nonetheless, they’re on good terms even though they had disagreements. If I remember correctly, I already met that ‘idol otaku’ friend of hers back in middle school. She’s not in any relationship so I already forgot her face or almost everything about her. I wouldn’t remember her if Hiyori didn’t mention her.

However, although she deleted that message instantly, Akane who had their chat group opened at that time caught it in clear view. The message went ‘Ne~ Kiyo-chin, what should I do? I bought a lot of Alleil goods… I’m almost out of my allowance. Can you buy some of these from me? I swear you’ll come to like them more than RNB27. You see, my boyfriend will scold me if he finds out.’

Yup. Akane recited that word by word and I couldn’t help but wonder if she had a great memory.

Knowing that Hiyori volunteered to join them today, she mentioned it to me earlier.

They treat each other as sisters now so, in a way, Akane was also worried for this girl that still had her bad habit of impulse buying.

I could remember that there were times when I scolded Hiyori regarding it. It’s not a regular thing but sometimes, she would just be too excited about her idols.

Whenever that would happen, I would be looking for her during lunch break to treat her to lunch. Well, my treat was mostly bread and we were eating it somewhere no one could see us and away from her boyfriend who couldn’t care less about her well-being.

“Hiyori, you’re being obvious by averting your gaze. It’s a yes, then?”

“… Y-yes. I did buy too much. Alleil will be having a concert soon so…”

The hype got to her, huh?

“Alright. Here, it’s not much but I can part with it without being too guilty. I earned it from my part time job.” I pulled out a few one-thousand yen bills I stuffed in my wallet and handed it to her. Well, the bulk of those I earned was stowed away in our room so I couldn’t give her a lot.

But as expected, upon seeing me handing her money, Hiyori hurriedly shook her head multiple times as she pushed my hand away. “Eh? No. No. No way… Why will you give this?… Ruki, it’s my fault. Can you scold me instead? And t-teach me to erase that habit.”

“I will do that later but take this first. Unlike before, I won’t be able to look for you during lunch break anymore.”

We’re now in different schools so… I couldn’t do the same thing as before. This might come off as me being forceful but if I didn’t do this, I’d just worry about her… Ugh.

“No… I can’t accept that, Ruki. Kiyo-chin will buy what I offered her so you d-don’t need to worry.”

Hiyori still refused. As she somewhat stuttered along with her eyes darting left and right, she’s lying about her friend buying it.

“Now, you’re lying… What about this? I’ll buy what you’re trying to sell off to your friend.”

Since she’s probably thinking that it’s a bit excessive to receive money from me, I changed my approach.

However, I noticed instantly that Hiyori put on a helpless expression, the corner of her eyes close to forming tears.

Without responding to my new approach, she turned her head to the side, towards the other girls in the room.

A few moments later, Hiyori weakly called out. “… Akane, help.”

“Hiyori, you know how stubborn he can be. But you’re also one. Did you pick that up from him?”

“Oh. We’re all picking up his stubbornness. I can attest to that. This is normal.”

“Really, we are?”

Because I was too focused on Hiyori, I didn’t notice that they had already finished their discussion. And now, they’re watching us, amused expressions painted on their faces.

Ah. No, Aika tilted her head as she probably started thinking whether she’s also picking up my stubbornness.

Wait… I’m missing the point. This is another case of me being too stubborn.. Great job, me. Haa…