Stealing Spree

Chapter 169: Chii's Identity

Just like I planned. I won the game within 15 seconds. When that guy who planted a grudge to me saw that, it made him more upset.

That doesn't matter though. That's kind of childish to be that upset in an activity for the PE class.

The game continued after that and none of the remaining class 3 guys who were grouped with us won the game while all 5 of us managed to win. Who told them to compete with us? If they just played normally…

Ah. We're the ones who started it, right? Still. Blame it on that guy who took the 2 seconds deducted seriously.

In any case. We're now free for the rest of the PE.

Aya is the only one I'm worried about because of her low stamina. That's why when she won her game, I relaxed knowing Satsuki and Nami would surely win theirs.

Itou and Chii also won their game. Only Mori was left to play another round. And Imada as well.

Luckily, that girl stopped bothering about me and Nami but she's always the first one to react when there's something happening to us. Just like that time when Nami helped me with cleaning the clubroom.

One of these days she'll piss Ogawa off for constantly shipping us.

Though we're free, that PE teacher won't allow us to leave. Having nothing to do, we watched the rest of the game while relaxing.

In time, the girls who also finished their game crowded around us.

Well, I am with the other four who are in the same group as me so when Satsuki, Aya, Nami and Chii came over, it didn't really look like they're crowding around me.

However. It probably looks like that in the eyes of Sakuma and Ogawa. Satsuki, Aya and Nami were closer to me after all even if from afar it looks just like a crowd of our class.

"You guys, looks like you pissed off those in your group."

Chii commented when the atmosphere became too strained that no one was trying to talk.

"They asked for it. Heh."

Fukuda replied to her. He's still so into Chii. Though she claimed he's her boyfriend, they're really not like that. And Fukuda despite his reputation, I never saw him lay a hand on Chii. He's surprisingly pure, eh? Or is it just because it's Chii?

I really wonder what it is that she wanted to talk about.

"Onoda pissed off the other guy. He thought Onoda deliberately passed it to him to make him drop it."

Sakuma snickered while retelling what actually went on.

"You probably threw hard or he's just an idiot who doesn't know how to catch an overhead pass."

Satsuki also chimed in and berated the guy who failed to catch the ball.

"Well, probably both."

I shrugged at her comment and that earned some few laughs from the others.

Our gathering spot now became the refuge area for our classmates who won their game. The class 3 also made their own gathering place with Itou as the center. She's probably still upset with me that every time our gazes will meet, she will instantly turn to another direction without any change in her expression.

Through my visit to the Book Club, Himeko was really changing little by little now, however since they kept pushing me away, I couldn't spend some time with her.

One hour later.

This PE class ended with everyone successfully winning their game. Though some failed to win the game in more than two tries. The throwers soon got tired as well so it became easier for the 'It' to tap the ball.

The look on that PE teacher's face was full of disappointment. I don't know if it's because no one fell for her trap or because the others still got tired easily.

In any case. The PE class for today became this light that after the first 30 minutes, we're just sitting on our corners.

With Satsuki and Aya at my side, they subconsciously lean onto me as we watch the rest of the game. Nami refrained from joining them and instead, she sneakily searched for my hand and held it in hers in a way that no one would see. For her, that was enough.

These girls. One of these days, everyone will really notice something about us or someone already did.

Err... I wanted to show them but yeah, it wouldn't benefit any of us, instead, it might reflect negatively on them.

Aya will go home with me later. Since I'll ride Shio's car, I'll take her with me and drop her at our house first to meet Akane and Miwa-nee before accompanying Shio to pick a house she will move in.

Tomorrow she will leave our house to go to her parents who were currently living in their hometown to confirm everything. When she comes back next Monday, she'll have the answer to what she will do from now on.

During the 30 minutes break before the last period, I met Chii on the empty room where Mori brought me before and also the place where I confessed to Satsuki which led to us having sex while Sakuma was looking for her.

"You're finally here, Onoda-chi."

Without the flair of a gyaru, Chii calmly smiled as she watched me enter the room. Like this, she's really a normal girl.

"Well… it's already been a week and I also got curious why you wanted to talk to me."

I never understood her thinking process even if we kept talking in messenger. It's like she always has that gyaru mask on which made me fail to understand what she's really thinking. And since we didn't have the chance to be alone for me to observe her, it stayed that way.

But now…

"Actually, you might've already guessed. I'm just acting as a gyaru."

Chii confessed and sighed. I don't know what her sigh meant but that sounds heavy. Could it be she couldn't talk to anyone about this?

"I did guess that's the case but why are you revealing this to me?"

"Seems like you really have forgotten about me. Did my face change that much? Or is it because my last name is different from last time?"

"Huh? Wait. We've met before?"

"Will this make you remember?"

Chii let down her hair and released it from being tied up. However, that still didn't ring any face in my memory.

"Still no good?"

"Sorry."

"Then what about this?"

Chii stood up and drew close to me and pulled me by my collar. With our face so close together and by the action she made, a certain memory was triggered.

That girl. The girl who confessed to that Class Hunk in my 5th grade. The first girl who I stole from someone else. Though she was the first and the one who started me to walk on that path, my memories of her were quite vague.

When I grew bored of kissing her and stopped trying to get her. She's the one who pursued me in turn, pulling me to some corner by my collar where no one will see. She will then proceed on kissing me like how I did it to her before.

However since I was focused on the other two I also got to steal, my time with her wasn't that appreciated. I know. I'm a scum back then who only looked ahead and not behind me. I can only vaguely remember her name now. Kousaka... Chizu… ru?

Chizuru

When I reached that point of realization, I saw Chii snickering as she looked at my most probably surprised face.

"Did you finally remember me? I thought by letting you call me by the nickname you yourself gave, you will remember. But it's almost two weeks and there aren't any signs of you actually remembering me."

"Wait. Is it really you? Chii…"

"Yes. Who else will pull you by your collar like this? I actually didn't think that I would be seeing you again. You also changed a lot, Kii."

Kii. The nickname she gave me.

"When I first saw you during the first day of school, I immediately knew it was you but I was part of…"

The delinquent group. She didn't finish her sentence but it's understandable by the way she pointed on her face that was full of make-up to make her look like a gyaru. She's only acting as a gyaru to get close to them and maybe for protection, I don't know her real reason and I don't think I need to know about it.

"During that day in the train, when I saw you sitting like a good boy while holding that box of cake and your phone, I couldn't help myself but to see your reaction if I suddenly talked to you. You did recognize me as your classmate but you didn't even spare me a second glance as if you found me troublesome. I even told you to call me Chii but that never triggered anything from your memory. So, I thought at that time that I will let you realize it was me."

"… You're actually completely different from the Chii in my memories. She's…"

"Timid, naive and clumsy. Right?"

She completed my sentence and that was correct. That was the Chii who I stole back then. Even when confessing to that guy, though it might be attributed to her being still young by then, I could never relate this Chii to that Chii.

"Yes. Not only your name, the way you carried yourself changed, even if you dropped the gyaru act, I would never know it was you."

"You say that but wasn't it because you grew bored of me? Unlike the other two back then, I'm the only one who's actively pursuing you and you didn't like that."

I grew bored of her and just let her do what she wants whenever she will pull me on some corner, though it still somehow excited me back then, the experience with the other two were better.

"…You're probably right."

"I was actually hoping you will steal me again when I told you about Fukuda being my boyfriend but that also didn't work. What was it again? Igniting your desire."

"That did cross my mind but I considered the trouble of being tangled into your group and… my hands were full by then."

"Ah. Too bad eh? To think that it actually crossed your mind. Anyway Onoda-chi. You're probably wondering what's the real reason why I wanted to talk to you."

Chii stopped pursuing that point and changed her topic to the thing I am still puzzled for. She waited a lot and by the way she talked it's clearly not about our past.

"I wanted you to remember me, so I revealed it. Just like how I vowed back then. There's already a lot of girls around you. I will surely be put aside again if I try to…"

Ah. The way I stopped caring about her back then was something she also wouldn't forget. I don't know if she still likes me and I also don't know yet if I still like the Chii from before. The Chii of this present is someone mysterious to me. But that last sentence of her...

"I'm sorry from before. You know how I was back then."

"It's fine, I enjoyed it and will never forget those memories with you. You're probably the one that led me to change my image from that timid, naive and clumsy girl. I'm now the opposite of it, ah except clumsy. That's hard to change… Just like you said, you really wouldn't know it was me if I didn't reveal it to you."

"I will be a hypocrite if I said I'm glad that you managed to change yourself so I won't. But it's nice knowing that you managed to change yourself."

People will eventually change. Just like how I was slowly changing. Chii casted off that previous her that even if she already gave the answer, I couldn't connect her to the girl from my memory.

"I'm actually glad to see that you changed, you're not that guy who only looks ahead anymore. Kii. I'll say this now before saying the real reason why I wanted to talk to you. I couldn't bring myself to forget about you. I don't know if I love you or anything close to that, just you're always on my mind. I have been observing you since the first day but I couldn't get the courage to talk to you again. Maybe I'm afraid that if you remember me, you will also remember how you became bored of me. So there's that."

"I won't deny that I grew bored of the you from before, Chii. You noticed it yourself after all. But you know, I wouldn't steal you from that guy if I didn't like you."

Right. I liked everyone who I stole before. Even if she looked plain back then.

Chii smiled before she turned serious and finally told me the real reason why she wanted to talk to me. She probably revealed our past to make it a foundation to whatever it is she will ask of me.

"I'm really happy and relieved to hear that from you, Kii. Now that our past was out of the way, the real reason why I want to talk to you is…"

"This might really sound ridiculous but... Fukuda. Please help him."

It really sounds ridiculous. Why is she asking me to help Fukuda? He looks fine to me, though.