Chapter 209: Troublesome Mentor

"Well, she got leg cramps so I had her rest here. Anyway, why are you looking for me, senpai?"

I answered a straight-up lie before turning the questioning around.

That way, she wouldn't follow up on her question and instead answer mine. Mori was also surprised at Izumi-senpai's sudden appearance that she seemed to get her tongue-tied.

"Is that so? Hmm."

Izumi-senpai said, clearly doubting my lie. However, she soon dropped it to answer my question.

"I'm your mentor. Why else will I look for you? Get on your feet and let's go."

"You're late for an hour, senpai."

"Don't mind the details, Onoda-kun."

She brushed off my complaint before turning her head to Mori.

This girl is fully displaying how much of a delinquent she is. Truly different if Ogawa's in the vicinity.

"Hina, will you stay sitting there? I'll take this guy away."

"Ah! I'm coming with you! My mentor might be looking for me as well."

Mori looked at me first before answering her while hurriedly standing up to chase after us.

"Is that so? Then why are you with this guy?"

Well, she can suspect all she wants. Mori is also someone who can act after all.

"He was about to ask our Class Advisor about his mentor. I volunteered to come with him but I suddenly felt my leg cramping."

See? Her excuse has more details than mine.

"I see. Beware of this guy. He can say crazy things."

Ah. I guess she's still holding onto what happened the last time we encountered each other.

I turned my head towards her to observe her. A shoulder-length blue hair waved to her right making one of her exposed while the other was covered. Her ear was adorned by a shiny earring. It's probably made from a gemstone. Her uniform was a bit loose with one of the buttons purposely left undone. Her skirt was higher than normal, exposing half of her milky white thighs. Her calves were covered by knee-high white socks.

"What kind of crazy things?"

"Don't tell this to Nami, alright?"

After saying that, she glanced at me first and smirked before closing in next to Mori's ears and whispered.

Alright. She is trying to agitate me but that won't really work.

"Alright. Mentor. Is this what you're going to teach me?"

"Shut up for a minute Onoda-kun."

I guess I got unlucky on the mentor lottery. This Mentor Program will be useless if she continues to be like this.

What should I do then?

"Mori, let's go."

I said and pulled Mori away from her.

She was surprised but when I turned around with Mori in tow, she was speechless.

Mori, on the other hand, also went speechless. Nonetheless, she followed after me while tightening her grasp of my hand.

One step. Ten steps.

After 20 steps, Izumi-senpai didn't call out and I didn't look back. Only when we arrived at the entrance of the School Building did I let go of Mori's hand.

"Why didn't you resist me when I pulled you away?"

"She's trying to make you look bad in front of me and I hate it."

Mori's eyes turned into a slit as she pouted her lips. She's clearly showing her annoyance towards Izumi-senpai.

"I see. You're surprisingly honest to your feelings, Mori. I'm liking you more."

"I'm always like this. Just that Kazuo's avoiding me whenever I will say it to him."

Ah. He's also like you. He's also honest with his feelings however he couldn't muster the courage to confess. Not until Nami made that kind of measure.

"Forget Ogawa. I can treat you better than him."

"I know. But I still like him."

Not for long. I'll make sure you'll forget about him. He will notice one day that you stopped chasing him When he starts looking for you, you're already mine by then.

Well, regardless of whether he started looking for her with affection or not, I will still aim to make her mine. Mori's just someone I put on hold due to her devotion to Ogawa, now that that devotion has been split to the two of us, it's just a matter of time before I take the other half.

"I'm going in, shameless guy. You talk it out with Izumi-senpai."

"Alright. See you later, Hina."

Mori's ears perked up and a smile flashed on her lips when she heard me calling her by her first name. Her conflicted face from earlier has already cleared up.

"Un. Keep the kiss as our secret, Ruki... And we shouldn't casually call each other by our first name like this, it's fine when we're alone."

"Alright, if that's what you want."

Well, I already made it complicated with Izumi-senpai. I should really refrain on making it more complicated for us. I also have to deal with that delinquent girl. If I can't turn her bad impression of me in a normal way then I'll have to do it unconventionally. For example, stealing her affection for Ogawa as well.

"Onoda..."

After a while, Izumi-senpai showed up and called out to me in a cold sounding voice, however, all of those were ignored by me.

"Yo Mentor, I'm waiting. Where did you go?"

Upon hearing that, Izumi-senpai visibly seethed in annoyance but she managed to control herself as she took a deep breath.

"How thick is that face?"

"I don't know, wanna check it for yourself, senpai?"

I smiled and stepped forward to close the distance between us.

And when she saw that, Izumi-senpai instinctively took a step backwards. When she realized what she's doing, Izumi-senpai stopped and clicked her tongue.

"Alright. You win."

"But we're not playing a game?"

Izumi-senpai put a hand on her forehead before sliding it upwards to grab her own hair which showed her current frustration.

"Just shut up for a moment, alright? I give up. So let's start this program."

"Do you hate me, senpai?"

I took another step forward and she also took another step backwards. She's now trying to keep her distance.

"I don't. I'm just annoyed at you last time."

"Shouldn't I be the one annoyed at you? Why did you make it as if it's my fault?"

Well, I did say those things about making her fall for me but was that enough to be this annoyed?

"Ugh. When will you stop?"

"If you take back what you said back then."

"Are you this petty? It's only a slip of my tongue. I'm frustrated, alright?"

"But that's what you really think about me. Nami's rebound."

"Because there's no other explanation when you suddenly appeared and introduced yourself as her man."

Ah. Right. My perception was already different from them. From my perspective, it's just a simple stealing her affection away from him but for them, it was as if I appeared out of nowhere to break the years of silent romance between the two.

"I see. I guess I'll accept that explanation. Is our relationship unacceptable to you? Are you secretly rooting for them?"

"Of course not. But I'm prepared to be his second. Now that you take the undeniable first, I'm going to aim for the first spot."

Izumi-senpai proudly declares.

"But he only sees you as his cool senpai."

"It doesn't matter, I'll make him be mine soon. Sooner or later, he won't be able to resist my charm."

This girl is full of confidence, eh? But she seemed so timid back when I visited their club room. She only listened and let Arisa-senpai do the talking.

Ah. I guess that's how she wanted to be perceived by him. The cool commanding senpai. But if that's the case, she lost completely against Shizu-senpai who could shut them up whenever she appeared.

"That's some confidence you got there, senpai."

"You know, when you decide to do something, make sure you have the confidence to accomplish it first. If you start doing it while thinking that you might fail, then your chances of failing are higher than succeeding. Remember this, Onoda-kun. Keep a positive mentality."

Positive mentality eh? Will she still stay positive if she failed at something despite her full confidence? In any case, her personality is slowly building up. This delinquent senpai is a bit interesting.

"Wow. That's some wisdom you got there, senpai. Should I take that as a lesson from my Mentor?"

"Suit yourself. Now let's go."

Izumi-senpai shook her and turned around. Upon seeing that I followed behind her.

She's my mentor and she seemed to have something planned somewhere. It's not a group of delinquents who will beat me up, is it?

"I must say, you're really a bit cool just then, senpai. Have we cleared the bad air between us?"

"You know, if you shut your mouth or you cut off that tongue, you'll also be a bit cooler, Onoda."

I guess in terms of being foul-mouthed, Satsuki is still better than her. Even if that girl could only continuously say idiot and pervert, it's filled with her emotions. In Izumi-senpai's case, it's just her way to cut the conversation off. Well, it's still too early to judge. As my mentor, I'll have a lot of time to observe her.

"Alright. I'll take that as a yes."

"Haa. What did Nanami see in you?"

Izumi-senpai sighed as she continued her walk to who knows where with, me following behind her.