Chapter 821 - Little By Little

It was a minute or two before our teacher for the fifth period arrived. That’s why instead of being too conscious of their eyes filled with suspicion as to why we all arrived together while dusty and slightly haggard, we indifferently walked towards our seat without giving them any hint of what they’re probably expecting to hear.

At that point in time, we all have the same thought. There’s no reason for us to explain ourselves to them.

Let them make their own conclusion.

New rumors might definitely rise but as always, if there’s no confirmation. It would stay that way.

Anyway, with this incident… my mind somehow cleared up regarding our current situation.

I might have been excessively playing it safe that it’s probably a little suffocating for the girls to restrict themselves on how they should act around me.

Being discreet had its own limit. The number of times where these girls would be seen together with me would rise as the days go by. Our relationship was already beyond just a simple couple who had just started their first romance after all.

I made all of them my girlfriends. Shamelessly at that. Moreover, they accepted the fact that they wouldn’t be my only one.

However, because I wished to prevent them from getting a nasty reputation if our relationships get exposed, we adopted the solution I first thought of; hide it and restrain ourselves when in public.

The girls also understood that logic. They’re not dolls or puppets that couldn’t think for themselves.

And it should be working. No. It’s working properly since until now, no one, except those we informed, had caught on what’s the real score on the relationship I have with each of them.

But like I said, there’s a limit to that. Eventually, someone from a group we were informed would find it suspicious that I was close to other girls.

That’s why to prevent that suspicion from being raised by them to the girl who introduced me as her boyfriend to them, I better start making it natural that I was close to other girls.

Right. That plan that would make me someone close to a lot of girls should start.

Instead of having a circle of similar-minded guys, which was the norm, I would be in a circle where I was the only guy.

Sure, they would call it a harem but if we didn’t openly state the real nature of our relationship, they could only continue to speculate and be suspicious.

And so… Because of this incident, I would now throw discretion to the bin.

Naturally, I wouldn’t suddenly act too intimate with them. But little by little, I would openly dote on them.

For example, like this…

“Aya, come closer. Let me wipe that dirt off your face.” I called to the girl at my left as I pulled my handkerchief out.

Even though a little confused, Aya meekly followed it, even closing her eyes as she pushed her face closer.

I wiped her face off the dirt and dusted her shoulders off before ending it with a smile as I patted her head dotingly.

Apart from that, I also turned to the girl on my right and did the same for her.

Although she acted a little repugnant from what I did, the smile that she quickly covered up by raising her arm in front of her lips gave away what she truly felt.

Behind me, I heard Sakuma saying something but I didn’t pay too much attention to it and just responded to him with a hum and a nod.

Furthermore, sounds of gasps and murmurs from around us were also picked up by my ears. Likewise, the same as how we nonchalantly went back to our seats, all of those were ignored as though I hadn’t heard them.

They better stand up and ask their questions. Maybe, I might sate some of their curiosities off.

Anyway, looking at Nami, Saki and Hina, they all looked a little envious. Most likely, Chii as well.

Unfortunately, I already lacked the time to stand up and do the same for them. Besides, if I did that then… the ‘little by little’ that I mentioned would be trashed almost immediately.

For today, that’s enough.

Oh. I guess I have to mention how Ogawa, Fukuda, Tadano and Taku – no, make it the entire male population of our class – appeared glum at that show I just did. Furthermore, some of the notable girls like Kanzaki, Wakaba and Shimura had various reactions to what they witnessed.

But that’s the end of it as the fifth period soon started.

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Time passed and the Mentor Program was once again upon us. As I expected, there were some who came to me or the girls to satisfy whatever curiosity they acquired over the incident from earlier.

There’s didn’t get a satisfactory answer though. We all told different stories as if we only chanced upon one another at someplace before we all ran back to the class when we found out that we were about to be late.

Naturally, that left much to be desired but with our stories clicking on the right place like a puzzle they had just completed, they eventually came to a halt.

Obviously, our answer was something they knitted together and relayed to me through messages.

Right. They probably used the group they had with all of my girls or a group they created for this specific occasion to talk about that.

From what I heard from them when we also briefly met up outside before separating to go to our respective mentors, all of them pitched in ideas on how to make it sound legitimate when pieced together by the others.

All of them were even laughing at how perfect it turned out. And in my eyes, it became a bonding moment for the seven. Even the usually silent Aya was having a good time.

Truly, that’s a picture I would want to put on a large frame and admire it at least an hour per day like a certain ‘art connoisseur’.

“See you all later…”

That’s all I could say before seeing them off one by one.

Well, that’s because there’s a part that couldn’t be translated into words… Sweet kisses and their lovely smiles…

With that out of the way, my feet quickly moved towards the abandoned clubroom to wait for my ‘mentor’.

I was keenly hoping that it’s Arisa-senpai but it also wouldn’t be bad if it’s Izumi-senpai. While I was aiming to further cement my relationship with Arisa-senpai, I was also anticipating what kind of change would reflect on Izumi-senpai after what happened between us last week.

Sitting down on my chair, I once again pulled my phone to kill time. Well, calling it ‘to kill time’ was wrong… I was just utilizing my free time to check on the girls that were currently away from me.

As always, it’s fulfilling to hear from them even if most were doing some kind of mischief. For example, there’s Elizabeth who started sending photos of her drawing some kind of magic circle with a caption saying, ‘I’m going to summon you now, my Dark Prince.’. Or Ria’s recitation of the ingredients of the new chocolate bar she had just eaten while also explaining how good they were for the body. One by one.

Actually, although I could admit how I am missing all of them, I couldn’t wait to hold Ria and Aoi again…

If this continued, I might just run to their houses, pick them up and bring them home with me.

Uh, wait… That’s not a bad idea, right?… Ugh. I should’ve thought of this earlier…

Let’s see… Maybe I could do that tomorrow or the next day. And I could set that up as a precedent. Because if I did it for them, who’s there to say that I wouldn’t do the same thing for the others? Anyway, I still needed to be careful and not forget my prior plans before doing so. And I had to put in a few windows for resting or I might hear them nagging at me for tiring myself out again.

A few minutes later I put my phone back in my pocket as I welcomed my lovely mentors… Right. The two of them showed up together.

And obviously, there’s a third person.

“Oh. This is new. No. More like, this brings me back to the first Mentor Program session. Don’t you think so, Ogawa?” I smilingly said in a rather teasing tone as I stared at the guy I abhorred for his cowardice and idiocy.

“… Don’t talk to me with that kind of familiarity. We’re not friends.”

Ah. What is this? He finally found his balls to talk back to me.. Finally.