Side: Maki
There was a side of Maki that was very concerned with money. But rather than wealth, money represented responsibility to her. It was a symbol of trust, not affluence. Her ledger meant far more to her than the funds recorded therein. That quality made her the ideal accountant, but it also made it all the more shocking when she said one day...
“Satomi-kun, I’d like to misappropriate some of the band’s capital.”
“What?!”
Koutarou was taken aback by Maki’s choice of words at first, but considering the earnestness with which she’d said “misappropriate,” he ultimately assumed she’d really meant “borrow.” Surely Maki wasn’t up to any funny business.
“S-Sure, take whatever you need.”
He nodded readily as he went back to his newspaper and tea.
“I said I wanted to misappropriate funds, Satomi-kun.”
“Help yourself.”
Only listening half-heartedly, Koutarou flipped to the next page of the paper. Though they were talking about money, the only numbers in his head right now were baseball stats.
“You aren’t mad, Satomi-kun?”
“Why would I be?”
“Misappropriation is a bad thing, you know?!”
“If you’re telling me about it ahead of time, it’s not really misappropriation. So if you need money, just go ahead and take it.”
“But, but... I’ll be using it for something I don’t really need!”
“What are you talking about?”
There, Koutarou finally looked up at Maki again. She had both her fists clenched and her face was flushed. It was strangely cute.
“I mean, that’s fine. Use it however you please.”
Koutarou thought Maki saying that she wanted money that she didn’t really need was a roundabout way of asking for an allowance. And since she rarely ever asked for anything, he didn’t mind giving her what she wanted when she did.
“My gosh, Satomi-kun! Why do you keep saying it’s okay?!”
“If it’s you, Aika-san, I don’t really see the problem with it.”
“...Even though I’m saying I’ll do something bad?”
“Yeah. You hardly ever do or ask for anything selfish, so I figure it’s okay once in a while.”
“That’s not the kind of reaction you should be having!”
“Why? Didn’t you want the money?”
“W-Well, yes!”
“So...?”
Koutarou was starting to get confused. Maki said she wanted to misappropriate funds, but then grew frustrated when Koutarou gave her permission to do it. He couldn’t figure out what she was really after.
His thoughts, however, were suddenly interrupted when something came flying at him. It hit him in the head and then bounced off, but didn’t hurt. It was just a balled up piece of newspaper taken from the ads section, after all. And as for the culprit who’d thrown it... Harumi was currently sitting across from Koutarou, enjoying her own cup of tea.
Sakuraba-senpai...?
When Koutarou looked up at her, she pelted him with one balled up piece of paper after another. They all bounced off Koutarou and rolled across the floor. Once she was out of ammunition, she glanced at Maki and smiled.
“Ah...”
Seeing her smile, Koutarou finally realized what Maki really wanted. Her so-called misappropriation was no different from Harumi’s little temper tantrum.
“That said, Aika-san, misappropriation is misappropriation. I’ll have to punish you for that.”
“Here?”
Maki parted her bangs and eagerly leaned forward, practically inviting Koutarou to give her a good flick on the forehead.
“No, I’m thinking I might have to spank you.”
“Should I strip?”
“Don’t you dare!”
“If you’re going to get so flustered, then don’t even suggest something like that. Heehee...”
“...Girl’s sure are tricky...”
“What was that?”
“Nothing. I was just talking to myself.”
“If you say so.”
Though she was still somewhat awkward and not very good at expressing herself, the other residents of room 106 lovingly watched over Maki as she slowly but surely grew more social and comfortable with them.
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