Chapter 87: Walking with Aya

Along our way to the Bookstore, I got a glimpse of Nami and Ogawa.

Nami is laughing cheerfully. That's a face I have yet to see from her. She really likes that indecisive bastard. Her whole focus is on him that she will not notice me looking at her like this.

Well, it's fine. In the first place, Ogawa is really the one she likes since middle school.

Now, my desire to steal her grew even stronger because of how I came to like her.

I will make sure that it will happen. Nami will be mine.

It's a wonder that his other harem members aren't around. Nami probably took care of it so they wouldn't be disturbed.

I glanced at Ogawa. He is still like a harem protagonist whose face is always flushed. Maybe if Nami touches him, he will jump back in surprise.

Will he really be able to confess?

Err. Let's hope so.

I took my eyes off them and stared ahead.

Aya was walking beside me, her head down.

"What's wrong, Aya?"

"Uhm. I want to hold your hand."

Surprisingly, she's this assertive. She's in love with me but I can't do the same yet for her. I like her and I want her to be mine but to love her, it hasn't reached that level yet.

I looked around and there's no one from our class near us.

This is fine, isn't it?

Maybe rumors about us will start if someone saw us but I guess it's fine. This girl needs some spoiling so she can be at ease. She's someone I got without stealing her from someone else, I guess I'm inexperienced with this. Fujii will fall in this category too since no one is actively pursuing her. She always rejected whoever will come forward.

Err. Now I'm starting to put them in their own category.

I took her hand and crossed our fingers together. She immediately blushed, a smile blooming on her lips. She strode forward and matched my walking pace.

We arrived at the bookstore soon enough and her eyes glittered brightly at the New Arrival section.

She pulled me with her, not minding the gazes of other students inside.

And as I feared, someone from the same class is here. Upon seeing us, he made a cool pose like those glasses guys from anime, fixing their glasses smugly. He nodded at me and raised his thumb up.

This guy is that leader of the otaku group. I'll talk to him later.

"Look Ruki, this is a new book I am waiting for to be released."

She showed me a hardcover book written by a western author. I don't know which genre it is but seeing how enthusiastic she is at showing it to me, I remembered that this girl loves reading. This is her way to escape and in the end, it became her only hobby.

Looking at her happily talking about something she likes puts a smile on my face. I never experienced something like this with the other girls since it's always me stealing or scheming to steal them. And all were done sneakily. Maybe there are times where we relax together but not in a public place like this.

We did risky sex on public though but yeah not something normal like browsing books.

Is my lifestyle going to change now?

Maybe…

We're about to be adults, I have to think for their futures as well as mine. If I want to keep them while adding more and more of them, I have to plan it better.

Maybe get a bigger house and let us all stay together?

Just where will I get the money though. Haa. Let's do it one step at a time. Satisfying those I accepted and working hard on those I haven't conquered yet are my current priority.

It's weird, I know. But this is how I am now.

"Really? What's it about?"

"Uhm, you see this is a sequel so maybe you won't understand it."

"I'm willing to understand its story from Aya."

"Really?"

I nodded and her smile became brighter.

She then enthusiastically summarized the book for me to understand its story. And I listened to her. There were times when another customer will shush her and she will turn red but for me, she will continue albeit in a softer voice. She's truly enjoying this and I let her while trying to know more about her. In the end, she picked that book and she went to the counter.

I used that time to talk to Matsuda, the otaku leader.

"Yo. So, you and Rindou are a thing?"

He started. He's reading a manga and from its cover, it's an ecchi rom-com where the protagonist is an otaku that was mysteriously surrounded by beautiful girls. He's projecting himself in it.

"You could say that but we're not dating."

"I see. You want it to be a secret, right?"

I wouldn't be here talking to him if not for that.

"Of course."

"Well, you have my word. These lips are sealed tight. I'll be smitten by my 2D waifu if I go against my words."

"You won't ask anything?"

I took a step closer to him. He flinched and put down the manga he's reading. I could see his sweat dripping down from his forehead.

Am I this intimidating to him?

"No. That Tadano is no match to you, how can I pit myself against someone like that? I still want to see the end of One P*ece."

"I guess you're right. Don't worry, I'm kind to a sensible guy like you, who knows, I might be able to help you with something."

He gulped down but in the end, he shook his head and waved his hand in front of me.

"No. I'll forget I saw anything."

"Alright. See you, Matsuda."

Well, if he's that sensible, I don't need to scare him, right? If rumors start, he's the only suspect so I guess he'll keep his words.

I turned around and I could hear him release a sigh of relief. Do I look scary to others now? Because of that incident with Tadano and Fukuda's interest towards me, right?

Aya saw what happened but she chose not to say something. After she's done paying for the book, we went out of the Bookstore. Now, there are fewer students from our school. I took her hand again as we continued our way to the station.

Her train is in the opposite direction so we will have to go our separate ways after passing the ticket station.

"Shall we go home?"

"Uhm… I want to stay longer with you."

I looked around and saw benches around for those waiting for someone or just waiting for time. There's a vending machine next to it.

"Let's buy a drink."

Still holding her hand, I pulled her with me to that vending machine. The area is almost deserted at this time.

It works for us. Aya can spend alone time with me. It's a bit hard to have that at school, but here, it's possible.

"Thank you for today, Ruki. And sorry for how I acted earlier."

After we settled on a bench to rest and drink the juices we bought.

Aya timidly sat beside me, her eyes fixed on her canned juice.

She's speaking what's on her mind now and I find it great. To me, she won't be as shy now. I opened her up to voice her thoughts like this.

"You don't have to say sorry, you're mine now, Aya. I understood what you felt earlier."

"No, it's kind of my fault. I knew I'm not the only one but I acted jealous seeing you with Haru-senpai."

Even Akane can get jealous so it's a given that anyone else can.

"It's fine to feel like that, Aya. Even Haruko can feel jealous. She's even more jealous of you, I accepted you as you are."

"Right. You accepted me and it's without your desire."

She leaned her body on me.

I put my arms over her shoulder to support her.

"You're kind of special. Most of them are all stolen by me because of my desire, right now apart from that silly girl, you're the first one I accepted without stealing you from someone else."

"Un… I love you, Ruki."

I could now feel her I love you and Haruko is right. It's still not as strong as hers but this is still love. This girl really fell for me.

"And I like you, Aya."

"Uhm. I was told you can't feel the emotion of like or love."

Right. Everyone of them will be confused like this. To think that they will hear the word like and love from me, it will surprise them for sure.

"It was fixed last night. It's now safe to say that I really like Aya, I wanted you to be mine since the first time I talked to you. I told you that my reason was impure, right?"

"Yes. What was the reason? I am kind of curious."

"You're mine now so I guess it's safe to tell you. I was actually trying to open you up so you would have the courage to date someone."

"I see. But you talking to me like that made me see you as someone special."

That's how she fell for me. For trying to open her up, to give her courage to talk to other people. She can't do that by herself.

Err… Maybe Haruko could by using that book but I found her first.

"Yes, that's a blunder on my part. Turns out I just really wanted you to be mine."

"Ruki…"

"You know, we're in public but I'm having this urge to kiss you."

Aya looked on our left and right and when she found no one near us, she looked at me in the eye, with the same eyes as yesterday when she asked me to kiss her.

"Uhm. There's no one around."

I also looked around to confirm and with a smile I asked her.

"You're right. Can I kiss you, Aya?"

"Y-yes. You don't need to ask me, Ruki."

This girl is really cute. And the way she changed was all witnessed by me. The stuttering is still here but now, she's always speaking what's on her mind.

I'll continue helping her so that not only to me, she will also open up to others. It will help her in the future, for sure.

My hand touched her face as I leaned in to kiss her. Like yesterday, she accepted it freely. Letting me do anything I want. From sucking both of her lips, to entwining our tongue together. She's still inexperienced even after that so I will lead her again today. We can only kiss for now but maybe I can start planning on when we can do it for her first time.

That's necessary to make her completely mine. It will be the same for my other targets as well.