(This chapter has been revised slightly. Please overlook any awkward logic~)
By the time the ceremony ended, it was already past noon.
Kitagawa Kai wandered around alone for a while.
He discovered that there were more surveillance cameras on campus than he had imagined, cleverly installed all over the place.
Only very secluded corners had blind spots.
Apparently, avoiding the cameras entirely on campus was no easy task.
Kitagawa Kai simply used the Universal Video Recorder to snap a few pictures he needed of the upper-year classrooms.
Then he headed to the supermarket to buy daily necessities.
Inside the supermarket, the midday lull made the spaces between the shelves feel rather empty.
Kitagawa Kai scanned the dazzling array of goods.
Toothbrush, toothpaste, body wash, shampoo, towels... Kitagawa Kai carefully picked out products he liked without paying much attention to their prices.
Ebisu toothbrush, into the cart.
Kao toothpaste, into the cart.
Mikimoto body wash, into the cart.
Thirteen-in-one, into the cart-no, better put that back.
Something strange had slipped into the mix.
Why was there an all-in-one shampoo here? Its effects were as pictured.
With that densely packed list of ingredients, was this really something a normal human could use? Would it be okay?!
No science, just hardcore chemical wizardry.
Chips, chocolate, cola-he grabbed these ubiquitous sources of happiness and stuffed them into the shopping cart in an instant.
Before he knew it, he had reached a corner of the supermarket. A small folding table was covered in plainly packaged daily necessities, with a sign beside it reading "Free to take."
"These are free items. The quality looks decent enough."
Just then, a familiar figure not far away firmly caught his attention.
[Ding!] [Romanceable character detected near host: Kamuro Masumi] [Character Strategy Support Pack: Narrator] [Affection Level: 20 (Stranger)]
The girl had a tall, slender silhouette and flowing, long purple hair, but a hint of innate rebelliousness marked her delicate face.
Kamuro Masumi.
The girl was acting furtively, looking every bit a thief.
Kitagawa Kai lightened his footsteps and quietly slipped into a gap between the shelves. He took out the Universal Video Recorder, aimed the lens at the girl, expertly adjusted the focus, and began recording silently.
At that moment.
Kamuro Masumi was very nervous.
She had spent several minutes casing this area, taking in all the supermarket cameras' blind spots and committing them to memory.
Once again, she glanced warily left and right.
Nothing unusual.
No one would notice.
She casually reached out with both hands, precisely snatched up a can of beer, and slipped it into her uniform skirt pocket with a swish.
The instant she succeeded, she felt thoroughly satisfied.
To her, stealing itself was meaningless. She simply enjoyed the process.
In other words, the thrill.
No problem. Another challenge completed.
Finally, without showing anything unusual, she picked out a small item at random, paid like a normal customer, and left the supermarket.
The entire theft had been seamless. Without deliberately watching, no one would have noticed.
Having witnessed the whole thing, should Kitagawa Kai chase her down and threaten her, or chase her down and threaten her?
Such a tough guess.
Kitagawa Kai followed a short distance behind her at an unhurried pace, until they reached a secluded, shaded spot beneath the trees.
"Hey, what are you doing? Following a beautiful girl around isn't very nice, is it? Do you have some secret fetish?"
Kamuro Masumi abruptly stopped and turned around, fixing him with a strange look that mingled astonishment and contempt.
[Ding!] [Kamuro Masumi's Affection Level -20. Current Affection Level: 0 (Disgust)] [Note: Stalker, pervert]
"Hey, you were stealing just now, weren't you?"
Kitagawa Kai stopped too, a faint, ambiguous smile on his face as he exposed Kamuro's actions outright.
The theft had been discovered.
This was awful.
Caught on her very first attempt at Advanced Nurturing.
"Y-you're talking nonsense!" Her expression instantly stiffened. Forcing herself to regain her bluster, she retorted with a fierce front masking her fear, "Are you kidding me?!"
"Disgusting."
"If you're trying to hit on me, find another way!"
Kamuro Masumi folded her arms across her chest and vented all her panic at once.
At those words.
The kitten hissed.
Kitagawa Kai kept smiling as he carefully studied the girl before him.
Her well-fitting school uniform outlined breathtaking curves. The perfectly placed hem of her skirt made her long, straight legs all the more striking.
"There's a can of beer in your pocket that you didn't pay for!"
"Proof? Show me the proof," she snapped, her hackles fully raised like an enraged Hakimi.
"Proof?" Kitagawa Kai nodded, his gaze slowly moving down from her face, flushed with anger, until it settled on her waist and abdomen, covered by her uniform skirt.
"Of course I have it."
Kamuro Masumi's heart sank.
As he spoke, he took out the recorder and played the footage of her stealing.
After watching the video, her heart finally stopped hanging in suspense and dropped dead instead.
"You wouldn't want the school finding out you stole something, would you?!"
Hearing that universally familiar classic line, Kamuro Masumi's face went deathly pale.
She thought of the plots in those adult comics, where the heroine was threatened and then forced to do all sorts of outrageous things.
"Filthy, shameless, hentai!!!" Her voice was shrill and trembling, carrying a hint of tears that even she failed to notice.
Faced with her fierce reaction, Kitagawa Kai remained exceptionally calm.
"Let me introduce myself. I'm Kitagawa Kai from Class B. And you?"
He leaned forward slightly and spoke softly, at a volume only the two of them could hear.
"...Class A. Kamuro Masumi."
"Kamuro, can we have a proper conversation now?"
"W-what exactly do you want?" She bit her lip hard, her body trembling slightly with anger and unease.
"Relax. I won't report you. There's no point in that."
Kamuro Masumi did not relax at his words. She stared fixedly at the recorder in Kitagawa Kai's hand.
"Then what exactly are you after?"
"I'm just a little curious."
Kitagawa Kai smiled. "The school just gave us a hundred thousand points, and a can of beer hardly costs much. Why steal it?"
Kamuro Masumi's gaze shifted slightly.
"That's none of your business."
"You're not short on points, and you don't need this can of beer."
Kitagawa Kai began analyzing on his own.
"You checked the cameras beforehand, looked for blind spots, and only acted after making sure no one was paying attention."
"What you enjoy isn't getting the stolen item at all. It's the illicit thrill of doing something wrong right under everyone's noses without anyone noticing, isn't it?"
Kamuro Masumi fell silent. How had he seen through me so easily? "So?"
"I think you have a lot of potential."
"Huh?"
Kamuro Masumi wondered if she had misheard.
After catching her stealing, he hadn't criticized her, but praised her potential instead?
Was there really nothing wrong with this guy's head?
"You're light-handed, bold, and pretty observant."
Kitagawa Kai offered his assessment. "And when someone catches you, you even bare your teeth to scare them off."
"Who are you saying bares their teeth?"
Kamuro Masumi's hackles rose instantly.
"Look."
Kitagawa Kai pointed at her.
"Even more like one now."
"What are you even talking about?"
"A kitten."
"..."
Kamuro Masumi's temple twitched. She suddenly wanted to punch the man in front of her.
"Instead of taking risks for beer worth a few hundred points, why not stick with me?"
Kitagawa Kai leaned down slightly and lowered his voice.
"I can let you experience something a little more interesting."
"You're going to use the footage to threaten me into doing things for you?"
"Don't make it sound so nasty. This is an invitation."
"Have you ever seen someone issue an invitation while holding evidence of the other person's crime?"
"Well, now you have."
"Filthy, shameless pervert."
"Thanks for the compliment."
Kitagawa Kai was completely unfazed.
"So, Kamuro."
He looked at the purple kitten before him, her hackles now thoroughly raised, and his smile grew even brighter.
"Want to stick with me from now on and look for some more interesting thrills?"
"Who would want to stick with you?!"
"Then let me put it another way."
Kitagawa Kai solemnly held out his hand. "How about being my kitten from now on?"
The air seemed to freeze.
Huh?
She had imagined countless possible outcomes.
Expulsion, blackmail, even worse things-after all, that was how it always went in movies. But she had never imagined that this man would end up making such a baffling demand.
"Who would want to be your kitten, you pervert?!"
"Just tell me what you want! Stop joking around!"
"If you're chasing thrills, then go all the way!"