Stealing Spree

Chapter 2113: Turning down another game



Upon clearing my head of that unnecessary worry for Eri and Futaba, I focused on pampering Akane and Fuyu. Well, nothing's much better than just thinking about my girls, right?

They also didn't bring it up again and we switched our topic to what happened during the day. As promised, Akane signed up for the Tennis Club along with Yae and they got themselves into a pretty good position of only needing to attend practices two times per week. They can make that three or more if they want to play more tennis. But all the club will need from them is to be there twice a week.

In short, they became like guest members who didn't have too much responsibility and were just there to attract more members for their popularity.

Yep. That's how Fuyu spun it and the Tennis Club President accepted it.

I mean, who would want Akane and Yae in their club? Looking back to that match between the three of them which had gotten the front page of their school's newspaper, that Club President was smart enough to figure out the pros of having them in their club.

There's a great example in the form of the Home Economics Club. Because of the flood of Club Applications sent to them after Akane joined their club, they had to close their recruitment after they ballooned to 15 members.

They couldn't handle more because they would need a bigger clubroom and it would be too chaotic.

But the Tennis Club is different. As an athletic club that's also active in school competitions, new members mean new blood who can bring glory to their school.

In this school year, the Tennis Club only recruited eight freshmen among more than a hundred first-year students. Four out of those eight were guys who only applied because they were Fuyu's or some other popular girl's admirers.

Of course, even though boys and girls mixed under the same club unlike the gendered clubs in our school, they still separated during practices. Those boys are just there for the little advantage of being in the same club as them.

But even then, Fuyu remained the untainted ice flower that no one could melt. Until me, I guess?

After that, I also told them about my plans for the Potato Clubhouse. That's a tentative name, of course. I just thought about it since root crops should be the easiest to plant and grow, right? Maybe we can add some other crops like sweet potatoes - which is just another potato.

If we add onions, garlic, and ginger, we could eventually cook food there. The field was pretty big anyway. And if we restore the greenhouse, maybe we could also grow some fruits that are sensitive to climate.

Akane was excited about the idea. She even brought up the possibility of visiting our school so she could see it.

Fuyu, on the other hand, appeared a little apprehensive. Knowing that it's a club for me and my girls from that school, she's probably dreading the day of having to meet them.

Due to that, before Eri and Futaba finished their bath, I pampered the girl more to ease up that apprehension.

I promised not to mention other girls when we're together but that's inevitable in that kind of topic. Furthermore, any event in my day always involves them.

A few minutes later, Eri and Futaba finished their bath. With their clothes already prepared, they came out of the bathroom already changed into their sleepwear.

Eri wore exactly what I envisioned. It's not that different from what she's wearing earlier. A printed yellow shirt that barely reached down her waist and comfortable, knee-length cotton shorts. Her shoulder-length hair was combed to one side and clipped in place, probably to let it dry easily. That gave her quite an alluring look. She appeared more feminine. And like I said before, even though she always acted like a tomboy, she's still the most girlish in my opinion. Futaba, on the other hand, wore the usual pair of pink pajamas. It even had a cute flamingo design dotted all around but small enough to be mistaken for circles. She didn't wet her hair and only dipped inside the bath. And maybe to protect it from getting dipped as well, she held it with a hairclip which allowed her nape to be in full view. And although she didn't wash her hair, she already removed her makeup. Her natural face came into view.

She's not at the same level as Akane and Fuyu but she's still pretty. Her slightly thick makeup and fake eyelashes were a debuff - at least, in my opinion. I mean, they only put more emphasis on her eyes than her face.

Many girls nowadays focus too much on that part. Sometimes they will even shave their eyebrows to draw a fake one themselves.

I get it. Most people will lock onto a person's eye first. And in this age where the use of face masks to cover half of their face is becoming prevalent, a person's charm hinges on how presentable their eyes can be.

"Heh. Onoda-kun wanna play again?" Eri started with that as soon as she returned from upstairs. Taking the seat that Akane vacated, she grabbed the controller and then handed me the other.

This girl still hadn't learned her lesson.

Then, coming from the stairs, I saw Futaba cautiously making her way to us. Well, she's still glaring at me but without her makeup, what little intimidation she could muster earlier already disappeared. Even if she frowned at me, she looked even more harmless than Aya. "You two... I thought you were going to wait in the room. The sleepover has already started. My role as your host is over."

"Eh? What do you mean by role? We already kicked you out of your bedroom. We can at least repay you by accompanying you while Akane is in the bath, right?" Eri giggled and forced the controller into my hand.

"Accompanying me, you say? Then why are you asking to play again? You're thinking of exploiting the request again. What? Wanna see Futaba tickled again?"

Upon saying that, I turned to the girl who was already about to sit on my other side.

She immediately pouted and replied, "No. It will be your turn to be tickled, Onoda-kun. We need to get our revenge. Right, Eri?"

"Yeah! We talked about it while we were in the bathroom. You got us good there. It should be fair. Otherwise, we won't be able to sleep!"

"What fairness are you two talking about? You two forced me to do it with the power of 'request'. Why am I the bad guy now?"

"Because you're a bad guy. A beast who can't be reasoned with."

"Pfft. That, she said."

Eri simply giggled and parroted Futaba who looked like she was out on a quest to tickle me.

Too bad. I don't plan to play with them this time.

What if I turned the tables on them? Then it's another tickling session that they won't be able

to get out of.

Yeah. I'm confident that I can win this time if we play again. I mean, look at their eyes. Eri was just here to have fun while Futaba was still disturbed at that result earlier - and the sugar I forced her to take.

"Nope. I'm out. I don't want to play even if you two force me. Let's just watch a show,

alright?"

Taking back the controllers and putting them down, I didn't take the remote and switched the TV channel to a late-night anime show.

Unhappy with my decision, Futaba sulkily nudged my shoulder and whispered, "I'll get you

next time."

I was tempted to say 'There won't be next time' but was interrupted when she suddenly pulled up her phone. It was ringing for a videocall.

It's not just hers, Eri also brought up her phone. Looks like their boyfriends are about to check

on them.

And somehow, they didn't even hesitate to accept it, not minding my presence on their side.

What's going on? Are they not wary about letting them see me next to them? Weird.