Stealing Spree

Chapter 65: The Girl who Relies on her Knowledge (1)

”You. Youʼve been here before, arenʼt you?”

Hayashi Makiko, the school nurse, asked. Like the first time I saw her, she still wore that dark purplish lipstick. Unlike Miwa-nee, sheʼs purposely showing off her mature charm. What Miwa-nee has is like a natural charm she gained because of her having a child.

Maybe that will also happen to Akane when we get a child in the future. Ah. Why am I already thinking about that? Understanding love comes first! I can somehow feel it now but Iʼm still far from understanding it.

”Yes. Last Friday, I brought a classmate who collapsed here.”

”Right. And now, youʼre bringing another collapsed student. You, are you that unlucky?”

This school nurse. How was that connected to unluckiness? Eh? Is she someone who believes in superstitions?

”No, we were in PE and this girl collapsed from exhaustion.”

”I see. Put her down to that bed. You can go back now.”

Ah. She didnʼt pursue that small talk. Well, sheʼs a professional. I guess sheʼs just doing her work.

”Uhm. Can I stay?”

”What? Is she your girl?”

Err. No, of course. I just want to clear up that thing between us. If not, sheʼll always glare at me whenever we meet.

”No, but Iʼm somewhat responsible for why she collapsed. I want to apologize to her.”

”Then alright, help me out and buy an energy drink or even a juice at the vending machine outside. Sheʼll need that if she wants to recover before the school ends.”

Ah. Right, PE is about to end now. And after that will be the last class for today. If she stays here for 3 hours, sheʼll go home at night.

After I put her down on the bed, Ms. Hayashi took Fujiiʼs glasses off of her before she checked her pulse. It became foggy from her sweat and it might break if she moves in her sleep.

I donʼt have any plans after PE anyway, so staying here until this girl wakes up is fine. Iʼll just get an excuse form from Ms. Hayashi.

I have plans after school though, to visit Haruko and her girls. Maybe I should not show up in front of Rindou there, Iʼll ask her to allow me entry to that Poem Appreciation Club next to their club.

Doing what Ms. Hayashi asked, I went to the nearest vending machine to buy a juice for Fujii. I also got one for me. Even if I only moved a bit during the game, concentrating to catch and to dodge burned some of my energy.

When I went back to the infirmary, the school nurse was freaking gone again! She left a note, along with the tablets of vitamins like what she gave to Sakuma last Friday, saying she has somewhere sheʼll have to go to.

Now Iʼm curious. Whatʼs making her busy? Or is this also a coincidence? But three coincidences canʼt be called a coincidence anymore. Thereʼs definitely something.

I walked inside the enclosed space where Fujii was sleeping. Her complexion looked better now, but Ms. Hayashiʼs instruction was to have her take the vitamins and the refreshment.

I took the chair and sat next to her bed.

Should I wake her up? She might get the wrong idea if I did. Sheʼs not on my list so yeah, I donʼt have any inclination to make a move on her. Just that it was troublesome to think that someone will always glare at me whenever we were to meet.

Now I wonder how that game will end? Or it might not end. The teacher was just driving us to push ourselves. Considering her personality, itʼs likely that. With the rules she set, the game wonʼt end that easily. Simply catching that special ball will add another 3 inside the playing field. And with the huge number of outfielders, both teams will always utilize them.

Ah. I donʼt care about that game anymore. Satsuki will probably carry our team to victory.

Letʼs see. This girl, she exhausted herself. Just how low was her endurance?

Err. Well, it mightʼve been because of how agitated she was whenever she threw a ball in hopes of hitting me.

My phone was at my locker back at the changing room so I didnʼt have anything better to do except watch this girl.

As I thought, having her glasses on looked better for her. There were always people like her who looked much better with it. If she removed it, she would just be a little attractive. The glasses added a lot to her charm.

Well, sheʼs a nerd who keeps taking in knowledge, no wonder her eyes will deteriorate easily from excessive reading.

After 15 minutes, I almost fell asleep just waiting for her to wake up, it was then that I heard Fujiiʼs soft voice. She just woke up which made her voice a bit weak.

”W-where am I?”

She mumbled as she slowly opened her eyes. The fact that she collapsed earlier hasnʼt registered yet.

”Infirmary.”

When she heard my voice, she turned her head to me and almost instantly, it widened, surprised to see me at her side. Her sleepiness disappeared, itʼs like she got energized upon seeing me.

I might be more effective than the vitamins and energy drink. What the hell?

”Y-you. Youʼre that shameless 1st year!”

”Donʼt you think thatʼs rude? And youʼre also a 1st year, what did I do to you?”

”Y-you. T-that piece you wrote. Itʼs shameless! I read from a book, youʼre what we call a pervert!”

”Who told you to read it? I only wrote it according to the word prompt they gave me.”

Agitated. Fujii didnʼt know what to say next. Itʼs true that she chose to read that herself. I only passed it to Ishida-senpai. So, her acting like this was somewhat unreasonable. But I couldnʼt really blame her. She probably hasnʼt read something like that before.

”I read from a book that I should stay away from perverts like you. Why am I here?”

”I brought you here because you collapsed in PE, donʼt you remember?”

She raised her body a bit and rested her back on the headrest. Her eyes squinting, sheʼs looking for something. Her glasses. She only noticed it now that her mind finally awakened fully.

”I remember, you hit me with the ball. Uhm. W-whereʼs my glasses?”

”And Iʼm here to apologize for that. Here, the nurse took it off earlier.”

I handed it to her. She immediately put it on and once again looked at me.

”T-thanks. About you hitting me with the ball, weʼre in a game. I read about sportsmanship, itʼs fine.”

”Then, how do you feel now?”

She kept talking about what she read. Looks like she always bases what she says from those knowledge she accumulated.

Thatʼs her type, that much is expected. But yeah, she still has a lot of gaps in her knowledge. Especially about that subject. Her reaction was too extreme when I only wrote about panties on that piece. What would have happened if I wrote more than that?

”Weak. I want to sleep more.”

”Here, take this.”

I handed her the juice and the vitamins. She took it and like a kid, she alternated her gaze between the tablets and me.

”T-thanks for the juice, but what are these?”

”Vitamins. The nurse told me to have you take that.”

She nodded and after deliberating for a bit, she handed the juice back to me.

Ah. Sheʼs still weak. Thereʼs no way she can open that canned juice.

I opened it and handed it back to her.

After taking in the vitamins and drinking half of the juice, she laid her body back to bed.

”I hated you because of that piece you wrote. Now, it looks like youʼre not that bad. But still, youʼre a pervert.”

”Itʼs a bit uncomfortable to have you always glare at me.”

”S-sorry for the glare, Iʼll stop.”

”Itʼs fine, weʼre good now? Ah. Me being a pervert, maybe. But everyoneʼs their own pervert, you know?”

”Y-yes. What do you mean by that?? Why havenʼt I read about that? Are you making things up?”

Ah. This girl, she somehow resemble that Curious Type Otsuka-senpai. The only difference is, Fujii, she relies too much on the knowledge she gained from reading. If itʼs Otsuka-senpai, she will asks about anything sheʼs curious about and take it in. Fujii will refer to her knowledge if it has evidence that can prove it.

Sheʼs a bit unfit to the Literature Club. She mightʼve the ability to create her own piece but what will be written there were not her own thoughts but all based on her own knowledge bank.

She prioritizes those books over her own thoughts. So when she read my piece, she reacted extremely like that.

Kana broke down what I wrote and gave her own view. Otsuka-senpai probably did the same but what she read was too amusing for her. And about Ishida-senpai, well, thatʼs the most normal reaction. She got angry because she thought I was just playing with them.

”Thatʼs just my own thought.”

”Your own thought, but thatʼs baseless.”

”Itʼs not baseless, itʼs from my own experience.”

”Exactly baseless if you only refer to what you experienced. You need supporting evidence.”

”Then you should start reading psychology books. Thereʼs probably someone who will say the same.”

”Alright, Iʼll prove you wrong.”

Look at this girl. Sheʼs this troublesome. Sheʼs a bit harder to deal with than Otsuka-senpai. She always bases everything on what she knows, not what she thinks. How can she cope with her friends? I saw her talking with them earlier.

”Donʼt you have your own fantasy, Fujii?”

”What kind of fantasy?”

”Like, what kind of romance do you have in mind?”

”Romance? Just normal; date someone, marry him and have our own kids.”

”Your romance is too bland, did you think that through?”

”Why do I need to think it through? Everyone will lead to that anyway.”

Sheʼs strong in her stance but yeah, I find this girl too troublesome. Should I just leave her be and go back to class now?

I stood up and turned towards leaving this enclosed space.

”Where are you going?”

”Going back to class.”

”W-wait! Donʼt leave me here.”

”Why?”

I turned my head to look back at her and saw her slightly trembling figure.

Eh? Could it be sheʼs scared to be alone? Now this is her own thought. Sheʼs still not hopeless, I guess.