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Volume 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 me.

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 moment please.”

In route between the convenience store and the dormitories, one of my female classmates called out to me.

“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 remembered my name.”

“I have memorized the names 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 remembered her name- Arisu Sakayanagi. She was very conspicuous because of her physical handicap. Even though I had no intention of remembering the names of my classmates, hers had managed to stick with me for some 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 me.

“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? Sometimes 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 me 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 times already to determine the positions of the cameras, was this your first time doing it at this school? Or how many times does this make it now?”

“Are you sure I stole something?”

“Yes. It seems like you aren’t taking me very seriously, but I am confident. If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t have asked you if you shoplifted something.”

“Well. That’s true.”

Sakayanagi reached out to me because she had witnessed me steal from the store.

“Even if I did steal something, so what? Gonna tattle to the school?”

“Let me see. While it would be very simple for me to report this to the school, please hear me 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 me 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 become routine for you.”

Sakayanagi had hit the mark. After seeing me in action once, she could tell that I had been doing it for a long time. 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 me 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 me something 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 means for you to savor a thrill and experience the guilt of sin.”

ILLUSTRATION: https://imgur.com/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 me 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 me.

“I’ve grown to like you, Masumi Kamuro-san. You have to become my first friend.”

With that, she urged me to put my phone away.

“What are you saying?”

“I’ll keep your secret, so in return, please help me 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 me get away with it this time, 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 something else that can take its place.”

That was my first encounter with Arisu Sakayanagi.

(Part 2 End)