6 Main Heroines Who Absolutely Want to Monopolize Me - Volume 1 Chapter 4.4

Ex-Girlfriend, Childhood Friend, and Stepsister 4

“How about some sausages?”

As we walk a little further together, a saleswoman calls out to us.

“Sure, I’ll have some.”

“You’re really frugal, aren’t you? It’s not even on our shopping list.”

I hold out my hand eagerly, and she gives me a sausage skewered on a toothpick.

Maion, who has been raised in a well-to-do family since elementary school, looks at me with a look of dismay.

What’s wrong? If someone offers you free food, you should eat it.

I take the sausage from the saleswoman and put it in my mouth.

The firm texture and the hot juices that burst out from the inside are delicious.

“Mmm…!”

“Wow…!”

As I smile happily, the saleswoman lets out an exclamation of admiration.

“You seems to really enjoy it! It makes me happy to see you like it!”

The saleswoman is beaming.

“Somehow, you have a face that makes me want to cook for you!”

As I hear a slight noise like something falling in the distance, Maion stretches a little and whispers in my ear.

“This person somehow smells like a thieving-cat.” (homewrecker.)

“Would your girlfriend want some sausages too?”

“……. “

Maion remains silent, looking intently at the saleswoman, and hides behind me. Just like a cat.

It seems Maion’s habit of strongly disliking talking to strangers she doesn’t know has not changed yet.

“She’s a shy girlfriend, huh? Sticking close to her boyfriend?! How adorable!”

“Well, she’s not exactly my girlfriend…”

“Oh, my apologies! Is it your wife?”

As I attempt to correct her, the saleswoman only accelerates her misunderstanding.

Though it’s quite obvious from our age and attire that we’re not married, there’s no need to clear up the saleswoman’s confusion, so I just smile awkwardly and move away from there.

“I wish you two a long and happy life~!”

The saleswoman is so cheerful it’s a bit worrisome. We didn’t even buy any sausages.

“She was quite something, huh…”

As I say this while looking at Maion, she nods and says, ‘Yes, well, I guess so,’ with a slight smile at the corner of her mouth.

“What’s wrong, Maion?”

“I heard we don’t really look like siblings?”

“Well, yeah, I guess not.”

Of course, it’s because we don’t look alike, we’re not even blood-related.

“She was an interesting thieving-cat.”

Maion smiles, which is unusual for her.

After finishing shopping and stepping outside, Maion suddenly hugs me from behind.

“Maion…?”

“Maion has been waiting for this moment. Onii-chan,”

I feel her trying to lean against me.

And a whisper with a soft voice tickles my ear.

“There’s something I’ve been wanting to talk to you about, just the two of us.”

“Now?”

“Yes. Before we go home, just the two of us.”

We’ve been alone together before.

But perhaps what Maion is seeking is a truly private moment, not just being alone in a public place like the store.

If that’s the case…

“I don’t think we’re alone right now.”

“Huh?”

I convey my additional request to the puzzled Maion.

“Maion, just stay like this, hug me.”

“Huh?”

With a slightly displeased expression at my strange request, Maion timidly reaches her right hand toward my left chest.

“Your heart rate is rising. Are you nervous…? It’s incomprehensible, are you trying to give me negative points? It’s futile since I’m hugging you from behind and you can’t see my face.”

As she finishes checking my heartbeat, she tries to withdraw her hand, but I grab her wrist and keep it there.

“No, that’s not it. Just stay like this. I’m going to summon it now.”

“Summon? What on earth…?”

I took out the familiar note—Sakiho’s photo—from my pocket and brought it into view.

At the same time…

“Shinichi, not now!”

Sakiho Shinagawa suddenly jumped out from a little distance away.

“Geez, Shinichi, you’re so mean! If you do something like that, you’ll give me negative points! Not cool, okay?”

Sitting on a bench outside the store, Sakiho looked up at me, not showing any remorse but rather scolding me.

“By the way, when did you realize I was here?”

“I had a hunch even before coming here. Wasn’t it tough to ride a bicycle all the way here?”

“It was an electric bicycle, so, well… Wait, you knew that much!?”

“Wait a moment, this is confusing. Maion doesn’t know what’s going on…”

Maion, looking unusually bewildered, frowned, so I explained:

“There was not only a motorcycle but also a bicycle at the log house. Sakiho hid the fact and followed us on that bicycle after Maion, and I went to the supermarket. She was tailing us the whole time.”

“Ehh, is that the case…?”

“What… Did you find the bicycle, Shinichi? It was in a blind spot from the entrance, so we didn’t notice it when we first arrived… That’s not fair, you should have told me.”

“No, I didn’t see it. By the way, what do you even mean, ‘That’s not fair’?”

Ignoring my retort, Sakiho widened her eyes.

“You didn’t see it? Then why…?”

“When Sakiho checked the log house with everyone, she said, ‘There’s only one motorcycle.’ That phrasing felt odd to me.”

“Is there something strange?”

Maion tilted her head.

“Normally, if you find a motorcycle in a place where you didn’t expect anything, you’d say, ‘There’s a motorcycle.’ The phrasing, ‘There’s only one motorcycle,’ emphasizes that there was nothing else. So, I thought there might be other vehicles. And since Sakiho doesn’t have a driver’s license, if she wanted to keep it a secret, the only option would be a bicycle.”

“I see. Sakiho-san tried to follow Maion and Onīchan with her bicycle, I understand up to that point, but…”

However, Maion’s furrowed brows have not yet disappeared.

“But I don’t understand. Why would you do something like that? There shouldn’t be any benefits to following us, and if you don’t plan to reveal yourself, there won’t be any changes in points…”

“Yeah, that’s true…”

Maion’s point is valid.

In this competition, there is no merit in following closely as it wouldn’t add any points.

I can’t understand the reason behind Sakiho’s actions either.

“Why is that, Sakiho-san?”

“That’s just common sense?”

However, Sakiho says it with a face that seems to say, ‘I don’t understand the meaning of your question.’

“Because he, Shinichi, is there.”

“Is Sakiho-san’s stalker motivation the same as that of a mountain climber…?”

…It’s really a part of her that I can’t understand.