Volu 9, Chapter 4: “Ichinose’s Secret, Kamuro’s Secret” Part 2
It was about a week after the school entrance ceremony when Sakayanagi first contacted .
On my way back to the dormitories, I stopped by the convenience store. I quickly finished my business in the store and left.
“Just a mont please.”
In route between the convenience store and the dormitories, one of my female classmates called out to .
“What do you want?”
“It hasn’t been very long since we started school here, so I thought that I’d like to talk with you for a little bit, Kamuro-san.”
“You’ve rembered my na.”
“I have morized the nas and faces of all my classmates.”
That said, this girl’s pace was very slow.
The walking cane she grasped in one hand was more than enough proof to show that her legs were bad.
I rembered her na- Arisu Sakayanagi. She was very conspicuous because of her physical handicap. Even though I had no intention of rembering the nas of my classmates, hers had managed to stick with for so reason.
“May I accompany you on the way back?”
I would usually decline. However, although it wasn’t directly because of her bad legs, the mood made it hard to turn her down.
“Suit yourself.”
“Thank you very much.”
She gave a pleasant smile and sped up a little in order to match my pace beside .
“I’m not going to help you if you fall from overdoing it.”
“I’ll be okay. This cane and I are old friends.”
That said, she still wasn’t moving very quickly.
“Haa…”
Even though I let out an intentionally heavy sigh, Sakayanagi didn’t seem to pay it any mind.
Her outward appearance was frail, but she had the heart of a lion.
“By the way, what were you doing at the convenience store just now?”
“What?”
“From what I can see, it doesn’t seem like you bought anything.”
“So what? Sotis you just can’t find anything you want.”
I attempted to end the conversation there, but Sakayanagi grabbed ahold of my arm.
“You were shoplifting, were you not?”
Sakayanagi asked, looking straight in the eyes.
Her eyes were shining. It was as if she had just found herself a new interesting toy.
“While I’m guessing that you’ve scoped out the place a few tis already to determine the positions of the caras, was this your first ti doing it at this school? Or how many tis does this make it now?”
“Are you sure I stole sothing?”
“Yes. It seems like you aren’t taking very seriously, but I am confident. If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t have asked you if you shoplifted sothing.”
“Well. That’s true.”
Sakayanagi reached out to because she had witnessed steal from the store.
“Even if I did steal sothing, so what? Gonna tattle to the school?”
“Let see. While it would be very simple for to report this to the school, please hear out before it gets to that point.”
“Huh?”
Without making it clear whether or not she even took notice of my confusion, Sakayanagi continued:
“Your execution was magnificent. What surprised the most was how you kept your composure. Normally, people would buy cheap things like gum or candy in order to ease their guilt. However, you don’t seem like you’ve ever done that. This also proves that shoplifting has beco routine for you.”
Sakayanagi had hit the mark. After seeing in action once, she could tell that I had been doing it for a long ti. But, what does that matter?
I had no intention of letting this go on for very long.
No matter how good my execution was, the fact that she had seen in the act would never go away.
“Do what you want.”
I reached into my bag and took out the can of beer I had stolen from the convenience store.
Generally speaking, people under the age of 20 weren’t allowed to buy it.
It was only sold here for the teachers and other staff living on campus.
“Hurry up and contact the school.”
Even though I said this, Sakayanagi asked sothing entirely unrelated to that.
“Do you drink often?”
“Hah? …No. I don’t have any interest in liquor either.”
“In other words, you don’t use shoplifting as an outlet to ease the burdens of everyday life, but instead as a ans for you to savor a thrill and experience the guilt of sin.”
ILLUSTRATION: simgur/qyhYH6H
She proceeded to arbitrarily analyze the situation.
“I get it. You’re able to calmly analyze a situation. So how about we go and quickly hand over to the school?”
“Are you certain you want that? If the school finds out you shoplifted, you probably wouldn’t be able to avoid suspension.”
“So?”
“It has yet to be one week since the entrance ceremony. There are still many things, both enjoyable and not so enjoyable, to look forward to after this, yes?”
“If you’re not going to contact the school, I’ll do it myself.”
I tried to take out my phone, but she stopped .
“I’ve grown to like you, Masumi Kamuro-san. You have to beco my first friend.”
With that, she urged to put my phone away.
“What are you saying?”
“I’ll keep your secret, so in return, please help out with a few things.”
“That… isn’t what I’d call a friend.”
“Is that so?”
“Besides, do you think I’ll just obediently listen to you?”
“Indeed, even if I was to report you to the school, you likely wouldn’t suffer very much damage. But even so, your status as a shoplifter would then be exposed. If that were to happen, wouldn’t that cause issues with your ability to shoplift again in the future?”
“Not only are you saying that you’ll let get away with it this ti, but I’d even be able to do it more if I wanted to?”
“You’re free to do whatever you want. I won’t be getting involved with that. In the first place, even if I appealed to you and told you that what you’ve been doing isn’t acceptable from a moral standpoint, it still wouldn’t be able to make you change your ways. Or am I wrong?”
“That… Well, I guess…”
“Still, I believe following my instructions will be anything but boring. That place in your heart that could only be satisfied with shoplifting… Perhaps I’ll be able to find sothing else that can take its place.”
That was my first encounter with Arisu Sakayanagi.
(Part 2 End)
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