Stealing Spree

Seeing that I was unmoved after fully receiving her slap, Izumi-senpai’s whole body trembled as she began sobbing. The tears that she’s holding back gushed out from her eyes. She then tightly grabbed my thick blazer’s collar and headbutted my chest.

Once.

Twice.

Thrice.

Of course, it didn’t really hurt me. She lacked the necessary strength to do so but what she did was a clear sign of her frustration.

Her words couldn’t get through to me. And even though she already kneeled and begged, I remained firm with my decision to make Arisa-senpai mine.

“Why? Why can you be this cruel?”

“I know it will be hard for senpai to understand but I love Arisa-senpai. When I declare that, it’s always me 100% being serious. I’m not like your indecisive crush nor Arisa-senpai’s ex… Call me a playboy or anything but it’s all true.” I could do nothing but shrug as I watched her get contented with venting out her frustrations.

At this point, she’s no longer the delinquent Izumi-senpai who could easily call someone admiring her as her dog.

She’s no more than a concerned friend for Arisa-senpai. It’s admirable, really. However, that wasn’t enough to change my mind.

Apart from watching Izumi-senpai, I also keep an eye out on both doors. Yesterday, Arisa-senpai sneaked into the adjacent room. There’s a possibility that she would appear again.

If she saw this scene… there’s no doubt that she would take her best friend’s side. And that would spell doom to any bud that’s growing for our relationship.

If that ever happened, I didn’t have anyone to blame but myself for being this honest as well as refusing to take a step back.

“For your peace of mind… I have no idea what Arisa-senpai thinks of me beyond that attraction we naturally felt towards each other.”

“… The fact that she’s attracted to you is enough to guess what’s going to happen if you two kept associating with each other.” In between her sobs, Izumi-senpai responded.

She already stopped headbutting my chest. However, she kept it pressed on me as she almost slumped down the floor.

This time, my quick reflex betrayed me. My arms wrapped around her slender waist, preventing her from falling.

Surprised at the sudden turn of events, the weakened Izumi-senpai shot up her gaze, her eyes quickly returning into a slit, wordlessly and incredulously asking ‘Really?’.

Nonetheless, she already lost her balance. She had no choice but to grab onto me, putting us in a rather awkward position.

This should have been fine weeks ago when I was still trying to show her how different I was to Ogawa; I put her on my lap and held her close. This time, however, was a little inappropriate considering how heavy the atmosphere around us was. She’s venting the frustration with my refusal to agree to her request. She’s even pitifully crying.

For the situation to flip into this, I could deem it unexpected yet a welcome development.

I mean, the heavy air completely dispelled. Isn’t that a good thing?

“Have you calmed down, senpai?”

“You’re unbelievable… To take advantage of this situation.”

“Don’t be like that. We both know what happened. It’s a series of accidents. I can release you now but can you even stand properly?” I asked her while gradually loosening my arm to let her stand up and separate herself from me. “You kneeled down and even squatted in front of me. No wonder your knees buckled up.”

Well, she also hit her head multiple times on my chest. If she didn’t get dizzy from doing that, I’d cheerfully applaud her.

“Shut up! I can sta—” Izumi-senpai tried to stand up, however, she couldn’t even finish her words when she fell back down.

This time, without me supporting her, Izumi-senpai completely pressed her body on me as her arms involuntarily hooked around my neck.

… Somehow, I felt like those anime characters with a ‘lucky pervert’ attribute.

Still, I better not lose focus. The situation might’ve been steered in this direction but there’s no erasing the fact that this girl went here to beg me to stop chasing after Arisa-senpai instead of taking up her role as my Mentor.

“If I were you, I would stay still and rest.”

“For what? So, you can take advantage of me?”

At this point, her tears had already stopped. Moreover, she had wiped it in my uniform during the first instance that she fell.

“Look, I’m not even holding you, senpai. You’re the one clinging to me. Do you want me to carry you to that table?”

I pointed to the table behind us. That’s where I made out with Arisa-senpai when this girl ran out of the room after that ‘demonstration’.

Well, I couldn’t just let her hug me like this. It’s quite nice, yes. But it’s not like this happened naturally.

Besides, I still have to convince her to stop begging me about Arisa-senpai.

After much deliberation which took almost two minutes, Izumi-senpai eventually answered in a soft enough voice, contrary to how loud it was when she was shouting at me earlier. “… Carry me.”

Of course, she’s embarrassed but she had no other choice at the moment. I could still feel the stinging pain from her slap but I guess, that’s kinda irrelevant now. It would return to normal later anyway.

“Then hold on tightly, senpai.” Because of our current position, it’s impossible to carry her normally. No other choice but to wrap my arms around her back again as I stood up from my seat and lifted her up.

She didn’t say anything and just followed my words, crossing her arms behind me while letting her chin anchor to my shoulder.

Soon enough, her legs also wrapped around me, making our situation even more daring than normal. It wouldn’t be wrong to call this as Izumi-senpai surrendering herself to me.

Nonetheless, this girl was greatly shaking. Whether it was from her weakened state or because I was carrying her like this, I had no idea.

Either way, the table wasn’t that far away so, in less than ten seconds, I dropped her down to it before taking a step back.

Izumi-senpai quickly covered her face but it was too late. I already saw how red it was… Besides, her reddened ears peeking from her blue hair betrayed her attempt.

Luckily for her, the urge to tease wasn’t being triggered. I ignored it and said my piece.

“I’m sorry, senpai. I cannot grant your request… And as I’ve said, the fate of our relationship actually rests on Arisa-senpai’s hand. I already confessed to her. You see. I won’t tell her my secret or my past if I’m not so sure of my feelings for her.”

Izumi-senpai surprisingly listened attentively to me. The hand covering her face gradually slid down, revealing a melancholic expression.

After a while, I heard her silently mutter, “I get it. I get that you’re serious. But why is Kazuo—”

“Oh, by any chance. Is he still giving you a hard time, senpai?” I cut off her words.

This girl had just tried to compare us. Or rather, she couldn’t help but grumble about that. Most likely, she picked up the sincerity about my feelings for Arisa-senpai.

“N-no. It’s none of your business, is it?”

“You’re the one who brought it up… Now that we’re here and I already said my piece… Didn’t I tell you that I will help you? Or if not that, the fact that I also like you… Have you forgotten?” Closing in our distance again, my hands pressed down on both sides of the table, partly restricting her movements without even touching her.