Stealing Spree

Because I was always the one doing the stealing, I couldn’t really sympathize with what Ogawa felt at the moment.

He’s certain that what they felt for each other was mutual. However, a day after he confessed, Nami introduced me as someone that could act for them. At that time, he was already suspicious of me.

I mean, I was the one Nami used to corner him, after all. She deliberately drew close to me to spur him into action.

It was successful.

It should be their time to be happy as a new couple.

But to bring me up again as someone that would act as her boyfriend for the plan that I suggested myself, it definitely broke his mind.

Taking in my answer, his expression immediately turned sour but he couldn’t utter a response. He gritted his teeth, clenched his fists and even let out a guttural groan as if he was struck on his abdomen.

Most likely, he’s now trying to come up with another response.

“Wait a minute! Did you mean Nanami and Kazuo became a couple?”

As I expected, it was Izumi-senpai who first voiced her reaction while Arisa-senpai only had a blank look on her face. Her brooding eyes shifted back to me after releasing a sigh after looking at Ogawa’s reaction. Whatever’s going on in Arisa-senpai’s mind, it was surely along the lines of whether she could still trust me or not.

But that’s fine. I would find the time to explain and tell her everything that happened. Sure, explaining things wouldn’t solve anything as it was already in the past. Nonetheless, it would allow her to hear our side of the story. Perhaps, Nami would also approach her or it would be the other way around.

In any case, I should face these questions for now and in the process, make Ogawa finally accept that he already lost Nami to me. Oh. And Hina. Not that he would care enough about her. That girl taking her revenge was the reflection of how Ogawa acted even after knowing her relationship with me.

“It’s true, senpai. A few days before Nami brought me to your clubroom and introduced me as her boyfriend, she and Ogawa should still be officially a couple. However, only the four of us know about it.”

“Four?”

“Hina also knew about their relationship.”

“I see… Did she try to... stop them?”

“Of course, she planned to do so. She’s just like you, after all. However, it didn’t work.”

With this, instead of a talk between Ogawa and me, it became Izumi-senpai who asked the questions.

Well, I could understand why she’s like this. She knew that the two’s mutual understanding of each other failed to bear any fruit because of my appearance. She even rejoiced that day as the seat next to Ogawa became open.

At every answer I gave her, Izumi-senpai’s expression gradually crumbled into a mess. In the end, she once again turned to Ogawa, her arm stretching out to reach his shoulder.

Before she could do that, I opened my mouth again and directed my next words to him.

“By the way, I answered your question, Ogawa. Won’t you at least respond? Or is that all? You all heard it. I admitted to everything that happened. The core problem here was my sudden swooping in to take Nami from you. I’m sorry for betraying your trust if there was any at all.”

Upon hearing that, the girl next to me sighed again but she still remained silent. Izumi-senpai stopped her hand and looked at me with a mix of anger and confusion.

I could understand her anger but her confusion probably came from how she began to see me in a different light only to hear all of this.

As for Ogawa, he finally gathered his thoughts and faced me with a rather renewed determination. However, her whole person was already oozing out the despair he was feeling.

Whatever happened or whatever sentence or speech he managed to arrange wouldn’t change the already determined outcome.

He’s fighting an already lost battle. It’s like he’s charging into the frontlines after everyone already packed up and left the battlefield. That pointless.

He could call himself brave but all he would get were laughs and mockeries.

“Fight me, Onoda! Fight me for Nanami’s hand!”

See that? Another disappointment…

And I wasn’t the only one who thought that, Arisa-senpai clicked her tongue and stood up while Izumi-senpai who was looking at me with a complicated mix of emotions shifted her gaze back at him, disappointed at what she heard.

Well, I shouldn’t let Arisa-senpai take over. I should be the one to finish this delusion of his.

And there’s no point in me caring too much about whether he would be able to stand back up or not. Once and for all, this issue should end here. Today.

I grabbed Arisa-senpai’s hand and shook my head at her.

Understanding what I wanted to say, she sat back down, albeit in difficulty. She then crossed her arms and impatiently started tapping her shoe on the floor.

“I refuse your challenge. Nami is neither a prize nor an object one can own. She’s a person that has her own free will. Didn’t she already talk to you? I mean, she talked to you first in hopes that I won’t need to deal with you myself. But what did you do? You ignored what she told you and confronted me. And now here we are again. You’re showing Arisa and Izumi-senpai how pathetic you are.”

“I may be a villain, a bad guy, a bastard or anything you can call me because of what I did. But Ogawa, I will never be as pathetic as you. Learn to accept reality and move on.”

“Do you know? I very much want to deal with you but Nami, Hina, Arisa-senpai and Izumi-senpai still see you as their friend. If not for that… you won’t be here, standing and trying to challenge me into a fight.”

“I won’t play into what you want to happen. Believe me, I’m holding myself back not to knock you out. It’s the first time I see someone as pathetic as you. But that’s fine, you’re still young, you can still change, am I right?”

“That’s why… For now, sit down and end this futile struggle you’re showing us.”

I released a long sigh filled with my disappointment to him as I ended my speech there.

Arisa-senpai and Izumi-senpai were silent on their seats. The latter even had her hand on her chest while she was breathing rather roughly. Whether she got nervous or scared, I had no idea.

Seconds passed and Ogawa remained standing. The sharp and intense glare that he used on me gradually lost its fire.

And slowly, her knees buckled before a loud sound echoed inside the room as he dropped back on it.

“I’m pathetic…”

A minute later, Ogawa’s despair-filled voice started chanting those words over and over.

He hunched his back and lowered his head lifelessly, his fist loosened and he clasped his hands together as if he was praying.

He’s utterly defeated.

However, seeing him like that, I had this feeling that it wasn’t the end yet.

Even if he accepted my words and started criticizing himself, he still failed to understand what he did wrong.

That’s why…

“Ogawa, here I will apologize to you.” I stood up and bent my back to show more sincerity. This was unlike what I did before. This time, I mean it.

I kept that up for half a minute before straightening my back again and continued, “I won’t ask you to do the same to me… Instead, apologize to Nami, Hina and Izumi-senpai.. You owe them that.”