Chapter 86 - A Secret Outing (1/2)

Recently, I haven’t been going anywhere with Hiiragi-chan except spending time at her place. Our relationship being a secret, we can’t hang out outside very often. However, I wonder how she really feels about all this. If it’s Hiiragi-chan, she would probably insist that it was fine like this.

“Recently, the amount of time we spend relaxing at home has increased, right?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

Across from me, Hiiragi-chan tilted her tea cup a bit, while looking at me with curious eyes.

“It’s nothing… I was just wondering whether you felt bored.”

“I like it, you know? This relaxing time that we have. At first, I said that I wanted to go places and have fun, but after getting used to it, this is nice in its own way.”

She said quite a mature thing. If she had a place that she wanted to visit, she would have mentioned it, so it doesn’t seem like she’s particularly dissatisfied.

“Next Sunday, why don’t we go somewhere fancy for a change?”

“Next week…? Ah. Sorry. That day is a little…”

“Ah, did you have plans?”

“Yeah… well… just a little…”

“What were you planning on doing?”

“Eeeh? It’s nothing, nothing important.”

Hiiragi-chan’s eyes were swimming around. It was unusual for the Hiiragi-chan, who would immediately answer in the affirmative when I wanted to do something, to refuse. Rather, I was a little taken aback, because I didn’t expect her to refuse.

“I-I see…”

“S-sorry!”

In the end, Hiiragi-chan clasped her hands together and apologized, but never told me about her plans. Maybe she’s getting tired of me…? It’s already been half a year since we started dating. Doesn’t this happen a lot between couples? The end of the honeymoon phase!? She’s been around me for too long and now she’s tired of me…?

Since Hiiragi-chan is Hiiragi-chan, if the plan wasn’t that big of a deal, I believe it should have been fine for her to tell me… Hmmm? She didn’t want to say it, so her saying that it wasn’t a big deal was just an excuse?

Even when I asked her again, she just said, “It’s just something trivial…”

Cheating…? No, my Hiiragi-chan would never do something like that…

Due to my extreme anxiety, I called Natsumi-chan in order to confide with her about it.

“Haru-chan, cheating? No no, that can’t be possible, right?”

“No, but, even if I ask, she won’t tell me at all.”

“Well it’s certain that she wants to keep something a secret from you.”

“I was wondering whether that would be something like an affair or something along those lines… If you don’t have anything to feel guilty about, then you don’t need to hide it, right?”

“You have a point. But, if you’re really that worried, why don’t you just secretly follow along? If Haru-chan were in the same position, she would definitely do that, right? She’s a stalker after all.”

Natsumi-chan laughed as if remembering something.

“Why don’t you tell Haru-chan what you’re thinking right now. She would probably cry tears of joy, you know?”

“Is that really so…?”

“That feeling that Haru-chan gets when Thief-kun makes her heart skip a beat… That, I think I get it a little… Normally you look to be very composed, but when you show a weaker part of yourself, that gap, it’s just a little… unfair…”

The last part was said quietly while mumbling.

It seems to be the thing that’s called gap moe. I can understand it myself, but I couldn’t help but tilt my head and wonder whether I was really like that.

“Natsumi-chan, are you like Sensei in liking gaps like that?”

“E-enough about me… Anyways, everything besides that matter is normal, right? It’s fine, for sure.”

Even if she tells me that it’s fine, I still felt uneasy.

Sunday, I started my stakeout early in the morning from a position where I could see Hiiragi-chan’s place. I observed for about an hour, but no one moved in or out. The car was parked in the parking lot, so I don’t think she’s left yet.

“Hello!”

Pon, someone tapped my shoulder from behind.

“Uwah, that scared me.”

Natsumi-chan had arrived. The luxury car that seemed to have brought her here, drove off quietly down the road.

“Were there any movements?”

“Not at all.”

At work yesterday, I had told her that I was going to do a stakeout, so she probably came out of curiosity.

“Thief-kun, buy me an anpan and milk.”

“I don’t want to. If you want it, buy it yourself.”

“Then it won’t match the atmosphere!”

“I don’t care about that. Ah, she came out.”

She wasn’t wearing something as fancy as when she’s going out on a date with me. Instead, her attire seemed a little rough and easy to move in, with a cap on her head.

“I wonder where she’s going, Haru-chan.”

She seemed to be in a good mood as she spun her keys with her finger and then got into her car.

“This is bad. She’s planning on going somewhere far.”

I grabbed the handles of my bike.

“Eh? You’re planning on chasing after her on your bike?”

“It can’t be helped, right?”

“Wait, just wait a moment. I’ll call.”

Call?

Natsumi-chan brought out her cell phone and called someone.

“… Hello? It’s me. Can you bring a car around? Yeah, around Onee-sama’s home… Yeah, yes. It’s urgent, please hurry.”

Her character had changed into one of a feminine lady.

“What? Why are you staring at me like that?”

“I was just thinking that you really were a lady.”

“Talking like that is too stiff, so I don’t really like it. But if I don’t do that, everyone at home will treat me like a delinquent.”