Chapter 353: Friend (2)

"Thank you again, Kinoshita-sensei, Onoda-kun."

As we parked next to her house, Fuyu thanked us twice, first before she left the car and second before going inside their gate. She even bowed politely to Shio.

Her modesty despite being called as the ace and admired by everyone was still like this. If it's really not because of Akane overshadowing her, she'd be more popular.

Nonetheless, I guess it's much better to keep her away from being tarnished by others.

And naturally, I hadn't thought of getting my hands on her. I'm afraid to corrupt that girl just like how I corrupted my pure girls.

Ah. Of course, the greatest factor was that I also saw her as a friend.

Well, there might be a time that she would also get herself a boyfriend but that's something I had no control over anymore. And I would certainly not regret it. Ah. Maybe only a little.

At the moment, she's like a precious gem that I don't dare to touch with my dirty hand. She's best to be admired as Akane's trustworthy best friend.

Obviously, I have no idea what she will think if she finds out the type of relationship Akane is in with me.

Most likely she'll hate me and will try to pull Akane away but in the end, that silly girl will certainly choose me and their friendship might drift apart.

Ah. I was overthinking again. Let's not pile up assumptions and just be glad that Akane has her and the other two as friends.

"You kept on staring at her. Don't tell me you're also thinking of making her your girl?"

I only unconsciously stared at her disappearing back and this girl already made a deduction of what that look meant…

"Shio, what do you think of me?"

"A pervert who will not spare even his teacher and his aunt." Shio bluntly answered before starting the car again.

I don't have any rebuttal to that, do I?

"I guess that's true. But I'm not thinking like that about Fuyu. I just appreciate her friendship with Akane. You see… I never had someone I can call a friend."

"Sakuma-kun isn't one?"

Of course, he isn't. Group buddy perhaps?

"You know what happened."

Although I was honest about almost everything. The girls were mostly unaware of the process of how I stole or conquered them. Perhaps those girls on their chat group already talked about it amongst themselves but I wasn't truly detailing the entire process.

For example, Nami was aware that I was going after Shizu but apart from what I told her that I was helping her open up, the rest was only vaguely described by me.

On the same note, I also only told Shio bits and pieces of what went down with me and Satsuki.

"Ah. It's not entirely your fault. As you said, you realized that you love Satsuki. It's fair game when you confessed to her first."

Fair game? That's what I think as well...

"Shio, you should start distancing yourself away from me. Look, I've started influencing your thoughts. That's not something my Shio will say."

Based on what I know about her, this woman would surely tell me that what I did was truly wrong. However, at the same time, since it's already in the past, I should just make sure that Satsuki wouldn't be hurt because of me.

"This guy. I'm telling the truth! You know, although I only had one chance at romance during my high school, let's not mention that guy. Haa… Why did I remind myself of him? Anyway… I heard a lot of things from the girls in my class."

"Alright, I'm listening for an adult view."

Well, since she started giving her view about the situation. Let's hear about it.

But wait, how did we end up on this topic?

"This isn't an adult's view but a woman's view! You see, a girl may harbor some kind of interest in a guy and she may start thinking that she now likes that said guy. She will begin hoping that the said guy will someday confess to her or she gathers enough courage to confess to the guy. That's how it is normally. But you see, if another guy then begins showing an interest in her and that new guy actively shows it for the girl to notice. New thoughts will enter her mind. Unless it's something deeply embedded in the girl's heart or mind, she will also start having an interest in the guy who's not scared to show his interest to her." Shio ended her words while gulping down the accumulated saliva on her mouth.

"I understand. But Shio, there's still a lot of factors for the girl to be interested in someone else other than the guy she took an interest in. For example, appearance."

"I know where you're getting at but you're being sidetracked, Ruru. We're talking about what you did with Satsuki, right? That girl, she came to love you more than Sakuma-kun much earlier than you thought of. Perhaps, she was holding onto what she thought of as love on her part towards Sakuma-kun but with your interactions with her… you gradually climbed up and stepped on where he was standing before. You replaced him and what she thought as her still loving him when you're the one embracing her, she's just running away from the reality that you've successfully won her." Taking her hand off the gearshift and slowing down the car, Shio put her hand over mine before continuing. "That's why. You shouldn't blame yourself. They're not a couple before you approached her. If the friendship between the two of you cannot bloom again then it just means that he can't accept that he lost to you."

Before I answered, I picked up a bottle of water placed on the dashboard and handed it to her.

Well, she looked parched after talking for too long.

Fortunately, we're already near her apartment. Parking the car to the side of the road, Shio drank it before turning her body towards me to wait for my response.

"No. When I decided to get Satsuki for me, I already cut the possibility of being friends with him."

Now that Sakuma's focusing on Satsuki's sister, would it just sweep away what I did to them?

Shio didn't know that the two asked me for help. To make the two of them a couple. And I used that to my advantage.

"I see. You can certainly look at it that way. Ruru, do you also want a friend?"

"Honestly, I don't know. With my secret. I probably will not be able to trust anyone else to keep the secret once they find out. So as much as possible, I will spend the time with all of you instead."

There's no way I would trust another guy with my secret.

Although I showed Ogawa that I was going after Hina, it's not to the point of showing him the true nature of my relationship with them.

As for Sakuma, I only told him that I wouldn't mind taking everyone who took my interest. He's unaware of the actual extent of my relationship with the other girls except with Satsuki

Well, this just confirmed it. I don't need a friend that might endanger the secret about my relationship with all of my girls.

There's no point lamenting the fact that I didn't have any friends like everyone else.

"Ruru. Come here, let me hug you." With a tinge of wetness in her eyes as if she understood the conclusion I arrived at, Shio enclosed me in her doting embrace.