#48 Shoplifting (short)

We finally returned from the cruise ship. To be honest, it felt much better, feeling of the solid ground under my legs.

With those special exams gone, the first semester ended and we have only 7 days free before the second semester starts.

Well, it's not like I complain because I don't really need any spare time except for my daily training. I also postponed my meeting with Sakayanagi so I can use these 7 days to resolve that but I have no contact on her...

"Aah...this sucks" I mumbled while lying on the bed, looking at the ceiling.

I guess I will go for a stroll through the park since I already finished my daily training. After that, I can ask a few people who could know Sakayanagi's contact information. Kushida is probably the one option but I don't really want to go and ask her.

I will think about it later, anything can happen during my stroll and I still have 7 days to resolve that problem.

I got up from my bed and took some casual black jeans and a gray T-shirt from my wardrobe.

...

After walking through the park for 30 minutes in pretty hot weather, I was thirsty so I decided to stop at the convenience store near the park.

That's where I met the person I just needed to solve my problem with Sakayanagi's contact information.

Masumi Kamuro from Class A who is always around Sakayanagi.

But before calling out to her, I noticed her strange behavior. It almost looked like she was sneaking around so I decided against calling her name aloud. I quietly entered the store and hid behind some shelves with products on them. I was occasionally checking out what she was doing and noticed her hiding something under her clothes.

After a few minutes of browsing the shelves, she decided to leave the store...

What the hell is she thinking? I frowned while watching her slowly leaving the store with steady steps.

I followed right behind her and when we were far enough away from the store I called out to her.

"Hey, Kamuro-san"

When she heard someone call out her name, she turned around.

"Oh, Walker-kun...What are you doing here? By the way, Sakayanagi-san was already complaining to me about you not fulfilling your promise.

She wasn't even startled when I called her out not too long after her shoplifting...she must be really experienced in this.

"I am just walking around"

"Alone? Without any friends?" She threw me a weird look

"I don't really see any around you either..." I threw the same weird look right back at her.

"You really have an answer for everything, right? If there is nothing else I might as well go back to Sakayanagi-san" She said and wanted to leave but I stopped her.

"Wait, I didn't stop you just to have a small chat with you." After she heard my words she stopped and turned at me once again and waited for me to continue.

"You know...I saw what you did back there" I told her with a casual smile and when she heard my words, her expression turned serious.

"What do you mean?" She still tried her luck, to be sure she didn't misunderstand me.

"Don't worry, you didn't misunderstand my meaning. Shoplifting" I looked towards the location where she hid the stolen product.

She shivered a bit but she quickly calmed down and took out the can of beer from under her clothes.

She cautiously observed my expression for a while but when she saw no change in my smile or brows position, she just sighed in defeat.

"Don't worry, I have no evidence I just wanted to verify if what I saw was the truth"

She didn't look like she believed my words.

"Throw me that can" I casually said and she appeared to be confused for a few seconds before throwing that can to me.

I quickly opened it and gulp it all down in one go.

"Aaah, I needed that" I formed a satisfied smile when I quenched my thirst with a nice cold beer.

"What are you doing?" She asked me, totally confused about the entire situation. Shoplifting, drinking alcohol, both of it was naturally forbidden at this school.

"You looked like you didn't trust me so now we are both partners in crime." I said and winked at her.

"Why did you do that? Don't you think of me as a weird person?" She asked in a confused voice.

"Well, I have a little favor to ask of you and thanks to you I was able to quench my thirst without paying for anything. Not to mention, I wouldn't be able to buy such nice cold beer even if I wanted to." I genuinely thanked her and continued.

"And weird person? I don't really care, there are even worse crimes to do than simple shoplifting...You must have your reasons and I can't afford to judge every single person based on one action they did." I answered totally disinterested in what she did.

It took her a few minutes to absorb everything from this weird situation. After all, we aren't really friends and we talked to each other only a few times and now we became "partners in crime".

"...What kind of favor?" She took a deep breath before asking. She probably thought I had some bizarre or weird request for her.

"Can you give me Sakayanagi's contact information?" I asked her.

"Huh? Is that...your request?" She looked like she was pitying herself that she was so cautious over nothing, pretty amusing sight.

"Yes, so my partner in crime, if you can give me her phone number I would be very grateful" I had an amused smile while saying that.

She facepalmed and showed me 2 different numbers on her phone's display.

"Why are there 2 different numbers?" I asked slightly confused.

"The first one is Sakayanagi's, and second one is mine in case you need something..." When she mentioned her phone number she turned her head slightly away from me.

I had no problem with having more contacts so I copied both of the numbers to my phone.

I thanked her and we parted ways.

*sigh* I sighed while looking at the picture of Kamuro in the store on my phone's display while strolling through the park back to the school dorms.

I don't think I will ever find a use for this picture but I will at least keep it within my phone.