Chapter 026: Kushida: Wait? You Brought Me Here to Be Your Lookout While You Steal Stuff?!
"What kind of camera are you looking for, Hikigaya-kun?"
Kushida-san didn't sense anything amiss. She followed lightly beside Hikigaya Hachiman, her large, bright eyes scanning the variety of electronic devices surrounding them with curiosity.
Although it was called an electronics store, it had everything from high-tech products like cameras and computers to hair dryers, headphones, and mobile charging accessories.
The variety was immense and quite dazzling.
Since she usually went shopping with other girls—and girls mostly enjoyed makeup and fashion—Kushida rarely visited places focused on electronic technology.
Naturally, she was quite curious.
"Probably something with no shutter sound and very powerful video recording capabilities," Hikigaya replied casually.
"I see—" Kushida-san nodded gently.
The male clerk, who had been keeping an eye on them, saw his professional smile become a bit more genuine. He had clearly confirmed from their conversation that these were two customers with actual intent to buy.
"Do you have any recommendations for cameras?" Hikigaya asked the male clerk.
"We do. Since it's for a gentleman—" The male clerk seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, his tone becoming slightly more relaxed as he made a guiding gesture.
"Please, come this way."
He led Hikigaya to the exclusive glass display case for cameras. Hikigaya's gaze swept across seemingly nonchalantly, but it clearly lingered for a moment on the area displaying several feminine designs in pink and white.
Hikigaya raised a finger and pointed to that section.
"A lot of girls must like buying cameras, too."
"Ah..." The clerk rubbed his hands together, squeezing out a smile that looked somewhat awkward, appearing quite plain.
"Actually, not many. After all, students' phones have very strong photo functions now, so customers who specifically buy cameras are truly not that common."
In other words, sales weren't great.
"I see. It seems your turnover isn't very high then. In that case, Kushida, I'll buy a lady's camera for you as a gift. It'll help boost the store's performance," Hikigaya said.
Then, Hikigaya's gaze quickly scanned the counter and settled naturally on the pink-cased camera he had seen the male clerk using to surreptitiously film earlier. Acting as if he had just discovered it, he pointed directly at it.
"I'll just buy this one. Wrap it up for me."
"Ah! Customer, th-this one is a specific display sample!" The male clerk's voice instantly jumped an octave. A flash of obvious panic crossed his face, and he instinctively took a small step forward, almost physically blocking the pink camera.
"It's been sitting here for a long time; it has quite a few signs of use and minor flaws. If you want it, I'll go to the back warehouse right now and get you a brand-new one of the same model! We have stock!"
Watching the male clerk's overreaction, Hikigaya knew.
It seemed his guess was correct. This camera was indeed the one the male clerk had deliberately used for surreptitious filming.
In the original story, this clerk was Sakura's stalker fan, engaging in both trailing and harassing messages. Yet, when he was finally caught, he immediately cursed Sakura, calling her an "ugly girl."
A true fan wouldn't do such a thing.
The reason he targeted Sakura was likely just because he felt she was timid and easy to take advantage of.
This kind of person simply lusted after the bodies of beautiful young girls. Any young girl would do.
And that camera likely held the evidence of his secret recordings.
"Um, Hikigaya-kun, I don't think that's necessary."
Hearing that Hikigaya wanted to give her a camera, Kushida quickly waved her hands. Her tone was a bit distant.
Although she had seen Sakura Airi using a camera, she truly had no interest in photography. More importantly, she didn't believe that simply accompanying him to a shop was worth receiving such an expensive gift.
After all, even a cheap camera would cost tens of thousands of points. That wasn't a small amount.
Especially since Hikigaya-kun said Class D didn't have many evaluation points left... if she accepted the gift now, she probably wouldn't have the money to return a gift of similar value.
And if Hikigaya-kun was giving such an expensive gift because he liked her, that was even worse, because she didn't want to date right now.
"No, no, no, I really want to give you a gift," Hikigaya said.
"Go get me a few more models of ladies' cameras to look at. I'll pick one in a bit. For now, I'm going to look at the computers."
"Certainly, certainly." Hearing that Hikigaya was no longer obsessing over the pink camera on the shelf but still intended to buy a camera for the girl beside him, the male clerk hurriedly headed toward the storage area in the back to prepare as many other styles of ladies' cameras as possible.
Then.
Hearing that Hikigaya wanted to buy a computer, the female clerk also walked over. Hikigaya asked her to get several new laptops as well, claiming he wanted to buy a lady's laptop too.
Now, both clerks had gone to the back of the shop to get stock.
"I can't help but feel that Hikigaya-kun from Class B seems... quite wealthy," Kushida Kikyo thought nervously, her pink lips slightly parted as she looked at the suddenly empty shop.
"Kushida, I'll have to count on you then. Before the male clerk comes out, help me keep a lookout," Hikigaya said quickly.
"I'm going to steal an SD card."
"Okay... eh?" Kushida Kikyo was just about to agree.
But very quickly.
??
Wait!
Brother?!
Kushida Kikyo almost froze.
'Do you even know what you're saying, Hikigaya-kun?
You're... going to steal something?
So all that talk earlier about gifts and buying computers was just a bunch of flowery words to lure the two clerks away? Just because you spotted that there are no cameras in the shop, only at the entrance... you actually want to steal something from the store?'
"Kushida-san, this is our shared secret, right?" Hikigaya said, looking at Kushida's face with a sincere gaze.
He knew that Kushida Kikyo was extremely interested in gaining people's trust, especially regarding secrets.
So he said it that way on purpose.
As for Kushida, her heart indeed skipped a beat. Holding a secret—especially one the other party shared proactively that couldn't be told to a third person—had a natural attraction for her.
But this wasn't an ordinary secret! This was theft! And she was personally involved in the act, involving criminal evidence? Her slender fingers trembled slightly, her heart struggling, feeling that this was absolutely not okay.
"Before we entered the shop," Hikigaya seemed to see through her hesitation and immediately lowered his voice, explaining at top speed, "I saw that male clerk fiddling with the camera at the entrance. His movements were suspicious; I felt like he was secretly filming the female customers from earlier. When I intentionally mentioned this pink camera just now, his overreaction confirmed my suspicion."
Oh.
I see.
So you didn't really want to give her a camera. Talking to the male clerk like that was just a test and a way to get him out of the way.
Exactly—she was just there to accompany him; how could she be worth a camera as a gift?
Kushida Kikyo immediately snapped out of it.
In other words, Hikigaya-kun from Class B actually had a strong sense of justice.
Kushida, who also possessed a certain degree of justice, immediately cooperated.
With Kushida as the lookout, Hikigaya went to the pink camera.
His fingers slid over the sample camera, and with extreme speed, he popped open the small compartment door and removed the SD card from within. Then he returned everything to its original state.
Five minutes later, Hikigaya purchased an entry-level black camera, spending 80,000 points, and then left the shop with Kushida-san.