Stealing Spree

Several minutes later, Satsuki and I exited Eguchi-sensei’s car. Instead of dropping her right in front of their house, we’re going to walk the remaining distance to their doorstep.

Eguchi-sensei will be waiting for my return so… it’s not like I’m going to leave her behind. It’s a chance for us to be alone, right? Furthermore, she has no intention to back down on driving me home tonight

Anyway, there’s another reason why we opted on walking too.

Because Satsuki fell asleep and I have no plans of waking her up abruptly even if I have to carry her on my back to their doorstep, I contacted someone to look out for us outside their house.

And when it comes to her family members, I only have one person to contact on my list.

Setsuna-nee.

Their parents still have no idea about our relationship. Even if I didn’t mind introducing myself to them once and for all, Satsuki and I have planned that for a later date.

That aside, I learned from Juri that they’re going to stay in their house tonight instead of their dormitory.

Apparently, they’re going to visit the school tomorrow to have a meeting with the Principal and finalize the camping trip for this weekend. I just don’t know if they’re going to meet the acting Principal or if it will be handled by Hayashi-sensei.

And to be honest, knowing that Juri will be there became another factor why I contacted Setsuna-nee.

It has only been two days since we last met but I already missed her. Really, I’m hopeless when it comes to the girls I fall in love with.

In any case, that’s it…

With the street already nearby the car, it didn’t take long for us to spot them. Likewise, they also noticed us after passing through the first lamp post.

Setsuna-nee, as always, was pretty excited to see her little sister. And thanks to our talk two days ago during that scouting trip, she’s now more welcoming of my presence. She wouldn’t simply try to jab at me without any reason.

Next to her, Juri didn’t hesitate to focus more on me than Satsuki. She openly waved while donning a pleasant smile. It’s like she’s a housewife welcoming her husband after a day’s work.

When Satsuki noticed that, she elbowed my side, expressing her slight dissatisfaction. It’s probably too obvious in her eyes that my attention had been captured by Juri.

Yep. I deserved that.

Upon arriving in front of them, Setsuna-nee warmly stared at her sister before going up to hug her.

Satsuki didn’t reject it, however, there was a clear confusion in her eyes.

I mean, it was just recently that the distance between them had started closing again. Satsuki was still used to how annoying Setsuna-nee could become whenever they would meet each other.

Having Setsuna-nee act this gentle around her surely put her in disbelief. Even though that phone call from back when she stayed the night with me also showed how caring Setsuna-nee is to her, Satsuki considered that a rare occasion.

Nonetheless, it also only took a few seconds before Satsuki melted into her older sister’s embrace. Her confusion was replaced by delight as she returned her embrace,

“I’m home, Nee-san.”

“Un. Welcome home, Satsu-chan.”

Not gonna lie, watching them like that is pleasing to my eyes. It took a long time for them to patch up their originally close relationship. And now that it’s almost perfect again, I couldn’t help but be happy for the siblings.

Juri was probably thinking the same thing as well. She’s a witness to how annoying Setsuna-nee was to Satsuki, after all. To see them reconcile and grow closer again must be a wonderful sight to her.

But then, she looked at me and raised a thumb.

Yeah. She’s attributing this development to me.

While I could say that it’s a great decision to ask Setsuna-nee to look out for us, I wouldn’t say it’s all because of me. The two also made their efforts to close their distance and now… they’re reaping the seeds they sowed.

Gone are the days when Satsuki would be eternally annoyed at how her sister acted. Likewise, Setsuna-nee would stop being annoying with her attempt to protect the girl. She’s going to turn into a doting sister.

As for how that will affect me… it’s a step in the right direction of not needing to worry about her intervention, right?

Following that, the two of them walked into the house while conversing in a lively tone about Satsuki’s basketball matches today.

Naturally, Satsuki didn’t simply forget about me. She first ran back and kissed me while whispering good night and reminding me to take care.

Thanks to Setsuna-nee’s attention fully focused on Satsuki, she didn’t notice that she left Juri behind.

When they disappeared into their front door, that left the two of us staring at one another.

Juri, with the same pleasant smile on her lips, took a step forward, closing our distance.

Almost instantly, I noticed how her shoulders were shaking. The same as me, she’s probably restraining herself from lunging at me. We’re not in a private space and Setsuna-nee could return at any moment. It’s risky for us to act upon our undeniable attraction for each other.

“Should I say good night to you too, Ruki?”

“I can’t say no to that. Seeing you and hearing your voice is enough for me though. Mhm. It’s great to see you so soon, Juri.” I replied as I took a step as well. I reached for her hand and gave it a tight squeeze and the girl did the same.

I thought I would only be able to see her during the camping trip or our still-unplanned date. Now that she’s here before me, it’s taking my everything to prevent myself from acting upon my desire for her.

“Same. I’m glad I updated you about our stay here.”

“So, you’ll be at our school tomorrow… Maybe I can sneak out to meet you.” ．

“If you’re going to skip a class for that, won’t it be inappropriate?”

With an impish grin, the girl’s propriety freak trait once again reared its head. But this time, she intentionally brought that up to tease me.

But then again, it’s a valid point.

“I see. I thought that would be a good opportunity to spend time with you again.”

“I admit, that sounds so tempting, Ruki. However…” She trailed her voice there before leaning close to my ear and whispering in her oh-so-sweet and alluring voice, “… let us not get ahead of ourselves, hmm?”

I got tickled by her crisp breath and her voice sent a volt of electricity to my body that almost made me shiver.

Interpreting what she just said, I could somehow sense that every word she said was laced with her concern for me. Either she didn’t want me to act impulsively or she was also afraid that if she became too drunk with her feelings for me, she could drop everything for the sake of being with me.

She’s supposed to still be in the middle of contemplating what she wanted to do regarding her infatuation with me as well as what I revealed to her. However, every passing second she’s spending with me is probably contributing to how close she is to giving up and simply following what her heart is pointing at.

Really, that’s amazing in its own right if that’s the case.

After thinking for a while and weighing in my thoughts, I eventually nodded and scratched my head, acting silly in front of her.

“I understand. Let’s let nature run its course, right?”

“Un. I’m glad you get it right away. Anyway, I’ll be coming in, take care on your way home, Ruki. See you soon.”

Without waiting for me to reply, Juri turned around to follow Satsuki and Setsuna-nee inside. Before entering the front door, she turned around one last time to wave at me before muttering ‘Sweet dreams’ while showing her most beautiful smile.

Yeah, right. Let me repeat what I said earlier. I’m hopeless when it comes to the girls I fall in love with…

In the end, Satsuki and I benefitted a lot from this arbitrary decision to ask them to wait for us. That’s an effort well spent, I guess?

After waiting for a minute to make sure that none of them would come out again, I turned around and made my way back to Eguchi-sensei.