Classroom of the Elite: The Eroge

by LanceSennin

When Ayanokouji Kiyotaka wished for something that can interest him in his new school, he didn't think it would be something like this. After waking up with some weird texts appearing around him and finding out that he is some kind of 'Protagonist' with the power of raising 'Flags', will he be able to survive what's about to come his way? Inspired by SaintInfernalNeos' fic.

14. After Chaos Comes Peace

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Disclaimer: I don't own Classroom of the Elite but if I did, there will be MAJOR CHANGES.

---

Three days after the day of their midterm examination, the results were already out. In any other normal school, it would have taken a week at the very least for all the students' exam papers to be checked.

But ANHS was anything but a normal school.

To say that they were nervous would be an understatement.

It was funny; yesterday they were filled with confidence that they will be able to pass their midterms with no problem, especially after hearing that they will be rewarded with a nice vacation if they pass their finals.

But now that they were about to find out how they did in their exams, they had no idea what to do. A lot of them were already anticipating a low score in all of their tests to the point that they almost didn't want to see their results.

However, they couldn't exactly do anything the moment they heard the bell ring.

"Quiet down, everyone. We are starting homeroom right now," Chabashira-sensei spoke as she walked inside the classroom with her usual aura of seriousness.

Her face conveyed no emotion, which only made those who were nervous even more skeptical of their possible results. They couldn't tell if the woman was pleased or angry with them.

"Chabashira-sensei, we were told that the results of the midterms would be out today. Will you show them to us?" Hirata asked the biggest question that was on everyone's minds at the moment.

"About that," the woman stood behind the podium as anticipation and nervousness began to fill the students. "I'm supposed to show it to you in the afternoon, but I figured that doing it right now would lessen the burden on you for the whole day. Would you like to see your results now?"

A smirk had formed on their teacher's face, which only added to the growing anxiety that they were already feeling.

Despite that, a lot of them also wanted their teacher to just come clean and announce the results to get it over with. After all, the more they wait around, the more they'll feel nervous about their grades.

"Yes, sensei," most of the students chorused.

The smirk on Sae's face widened even more upon hearing their answers. With that, she took out a rolled-up poster and pasted it on the blackboard, but no one could see what it said because she was blocking it.

However, when she faced her class again, the expression on her face had changed. She was now smiling, looking genuinely happy which shocked a lot of her students. They had never seen her smile before, because smug and angry expressions were all that Chabashira-sensei gave them for the past two months.

"Your efforts weren't put to waste. Perhaps it's indeed too early to say that you're nothing but defectives. I acknowledge your efforts on a successful midterm examination, Class D."

Sae moved to the side, allowing her students to see the poster. Everyone's names were listed there, along with the scores they've gotten from each subject.

"Wow…"

"Some of us scored so high!"

"I actually did better than I expected!"

Three students had gotten a score of 100 in all subjects, which were Koenji, Yukimura, and Horikita. The next set of students with the highest scores were Wang, Hirata, and Kushida who did not get a score that was below 90.

The rest of the class got various scores that ranged from 70-100 in each area, which was a clear display of how much they studied for the exams. In fact, the student who had the lowest scores was Yamauchi but even so, his lowest subject was still 7 points above the passing grade so there was no need to worry.

In Kiyotaka's case, the young man scored 85 in all five subjects, which was something that he was satisfied with. It wasn't too high for his classmates to notice, and not too low for Suzune to be displeased with him.

In the case of the girls whom he had helped for the past weeks, both Airi and Kei couldn't believe what they were seeing when they noticed the score that they received. In all five subjects, they did not get a score that was below 70.

For Karuizawa, she was happy that the time she dedicated to studying wasn't wasted. She was also glad that her confident demeanor during the exams didn't end up being baseless words. She knew to herself that she worked hard despite not being one to take her studies seriously and for that, her efforts were rewarded.

In Sakura's case, she was already in tears, because in all her years of going to school, she had never gotten such results. Sure, her scores weren't really impressive when compared to Kei, Kiyotaka's, or the students who got a perfect score in every exam, but just from the tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes, it was already a victory that she never thought was possible.

Chabashira-sensei simply stood back with her arms folded, letting everyone enjoy the outcome of their exams. She didn't bother scolding some of her students who stood up from their seats and cheered for their accomplishment, choosing to let them enjoy this victory for now.

While Airi was staring at her own scores with a dumbfounded look, Kei stood up from her seat and rushed over towards her friend's desk. She then slung her arm over Airi's neck, snapping the redhead out of her trance as Kei grinned at her.

"We did it, Sakura-san! This calls for a celebration!"

"Y-Y-Yes…! I… I can't believe it…" mumbled Airi.

Kei looked at her with a confused stare. "Eh? What's with that tone? You should be happy right now, you know?"

Airi quickly shook her head. "N-No, I'm… I am happy, it's just… I-I'm shocked that… I actually got a score like that…"

"Oh yeah, you said that you've never really been good at academics… my bad," the blonde chuckled nervously in realization before smiling again. "But hey, this means that I was right! There was no need to worry at all because we studied! No way we were going to fail with everything we did."

Even Airi wasn't able to stop herself from beaming in happiness. Her worries have now been laid to rest, even though Kei was right and that there wasn't any reason for her to be worried in the first place.

"I-I suppose so…"

"You two look like you're enjoying your results."

The two girls turned around to see Kiyotaka walking towards them, his hands in his pockets and his usual apathetic expression on display.

"Of course we are! What did you expect?" she flashed him a smirk at first, before it turned into a frown. "I told you that you didn't have to worry! But you just kept on insisting that I might not be able to handle myself!"

"K-Karuizawa-san, I think Ayanokouji-kun was only worried," Airi said in an attempt to calm her friend.

"Well, it didn't feel like it!" the blonde huffed.

Kiyotaka was prepared to apologize for his mistake the other day, only for the world around him to stop. Three new choices appeared before him and the young man could only shake his head in exasperation. The system sure knows when to intervene, huh?

A. [At least you two didn't fail. Otherwise, all my hard work would have been for nothing.]

B. [You two did very well. Even though you've struggled many times while studying, you managed to pass. I'm proud of you both.]

C. [How about a reward? I think I deserve one from the two of you for helping you pass~]

His attention was quickly drawn towards the second option and nothing else. There's no merit to be gained from choosing the first one, and there's no way he was going for the third choice right when he's in the middle of the classroom, surrounded by lots of people. It's a one-way ticket to trouble and he wanted to avoid that as much as he could.

"Here we go again…"

And so with that, he pushed Option B while sighing in defeat.

As the world returned to normal, he gave the two girls a warm smile. "You two did very well. Even though you've struggled many times while studying, you managed to pass. I'm proud of you both. It may only be the midterm exams, but you deserve to celebrate this victory."

Both girls blushed upon seeing him smile, which was just as effective as his laugh. Poor Airi had to turn her head away to hide her beet red face from him and while Kei took it in stride, it didn't stop her face from reddening not only because of his smile, but also because of his words.

"W-Well… we couldn't have done it without you," Kei muttered as she tried to keep a strong facade and face him, but was failing horribly.

Kiyotaka waved his hand in denial. "That's not true. I merely gave you a push in the right direction. It was you who decided to work hard and study for the exams. Your achievement was all on your own."

Kei blushed harder after those words, and she tried to calm herself down by chuckling in amusement. "Y-Yeah, but… you're literally the one who taught us, you know? As much as I want to say that I did it on my own, you helped me and Sakura-san."

"True. But I believe that even without me, both of you are capable of improving yourselves. You just needed a little bit of encouragement and proof that you can do it."

Neither girl said anything afterwards, too flustered and overwhelmed to get anything out of their systems. Despite this, they didn't feel any less thankful for Kiyotaka as if it wasn't for him, they wouldn't be in this position. If it wasn't for his willingness to teach them despite being asked to be a tutor at the last moment, then they wouldn't be able to get through their exams without feeling like a nervous wreck.

[Special Event 'Their Hidden Potential' has been cleared! You gained +10 in Aura!]

[You have gained 20 Affection Points with Karuizawa Kei!]

[You have gained 20 Affection Points with Sakura Airi!]

[You have attained the required number of Special Events to unlock a Bonus Scene!]

[Congratulations! You have unlocked Bonus Scene #1!]

"Oh. I forgot that this whole thing was a 'special event'..." the young man thought as he read through the notifications he received. He had forgotten that he triggered a 'special event' weeks ago, which was something that he has not completed ever since because there was no notification saying that he did. He once thought that the system might have forgotten about it completely.

But now, it looks like he can safely say 'mission accomplished' and it even resulted in a good increase with the girls' Affection Points. It also showed that these 'special events' don't happen in one sitting all the time. It could happen in the background too until the requirements for completing it are met.

However… that last notification was something that he didn't expect.

"Bonus scene? What does that mean?" the young man thought while raising an eyebrow.

The first thing that he thought of was that it would be another 'special event' but considering how it got 'unlocked', it's surely something bigger. From what he knew about dating simulators and eroges, this could also be another term for 'extras' or bonus content from a game. It might not be anything huge, just something that would enhance the 'experience'.

Kiyotaka wanted to think more about this, but he wasn't really in the mood at the moment. They had just finished their midterm exams and were allowed a moment of victory to celebrate their accomplishment. Even he didn't want to ruin this by focusing on the system instead.

Besides, he could just get back on this later. It didn't seem like something that he should be worried about, anyway.

"Although, I hope you understand that this is only the beginning. We still have our final exams to worry about, so our work isn't done yet," he added.

That snapped the two girls out of their little trance and it quickly made them realize he was right. This was only the beginning, as they now had their finals to worry about. Luckily, it would be happening two months from now, so they had plenty of time to prepare for it.

Kei grinned. "Oh, you don't have to worry then. The final exams aren't happening anytime soon. We have lots of time to prepare for that, don't we?"

"W-Will you tutor us again, Ayanokouji-kun…?" asked Airi, speaking for the first time since he praised them for their efforts.

"If you still want me to help you out with studying, then why not?" Kiyotaka shrugged. He was pretty sure that the system would make it so that he would remain as their tutor even if he declines. Why not just agree to it now instead of putting his sanity to the test again? "It's at least better than having to deal with more than two."

The happy look on Kei's face turned into a frown in a matter of seconds. "That better not be an insult, Ayanokouji-kun."

"Trust me, it's not," he defended himself.

All of a sudden, Chabashira-sensei clapped her hands, gaining everyone's attention and momentarily halting their celebrations.

"I suppose that's it for the results. Take your seats and try not to make too much noise until your next teacher arrives. Just because you have produced great results doesn't mean you are not being monitored, and you still have your finals to worry about," Chabashira-sensei reminded them before walking out. "Goodbye."

However, before she could truly leave the classroom, she stopped for a brief moment and seemed to be contemplating something. She stood there for a while and everyone was starting to get confused. Wasn't she about to leave?

Her students watched her closely, wondering if she had forgotten to do something or if there was another announcement that she's going to make.

"Ayanokouji," she suddenly blurted out while turning her head to look at the brown-haired teen who was just about to head back to his desk. In return, after hearing his name being mentioned, he turned and met his teacher's gaze with his own. "Meet me at the rooftop after you're done celebrating your accomplishment. There is something we need to discuss."

And with that, the woman finally left the room, leaving everyone confused at what their teacher had in mind for a moment there. They turned their attention to the one person inside the classroom who might have an idea on what Chabashira's intentions were.

"Oi, Ayanokouji. Did you do something to piss her off or something?" asked Sudo while raising an eyebrow at his friend.

"I have no idea," he shrugged, ignoring everyone's stares around him. In his mind, though, he already had an idea why their homeroom teacher wants to meet with him. "This must be regarding my exam scores. That was the reason why she wanted to talk to me last time."

The last time that he had a talk with Sae was after the revelation of their class being the deadlast among the four classes in their year. It was when she pointed out how he intentionally scored 50 in his entrance exams in front of Suzune and while he tried to deny it at first, he eventually admitted the truth to his classmate. Their teacher must have noticed the improvement in his grades now and wished to confront him about it.

"Well, guess I better head up now and get this over with right away," he mentally sighed before turning to look at Kei and Airi. "Guess I'll see you two later."

Both girls nodded, and Kiyotaka turned around to spare a little glance at Suzune, who also gave him a little nod. She was probably aware of why Chabashira-sensei wanted to talk to him, since she was there the last time their teacher did so… and she also noticed the scores that Kiyotaka got in all of his exams.

As the brown-haired teen left the classroom, various conversations immediately sparked among the students regarding the reason why Chabashira wished to talk to Ayanokouji. Most of them involved typical reasons that concerned a student's performance, but there was one particular 'reason' that came from someone who was jealous of the attention that Ayanokouji received from those of the opposite sex.

"Lucky bastard… why the hell does he get some private time with Sae-chan-sensei?!" complained Yamauchi, banging his head against his own desk over and over.

"I wouldn't call that being lucky, Yamauchi…" Ike muttered, having doubts about the so-called 'private time with Sae-chan-sensei' being a good one.

Meanwhile, Kikyo quickly made her way over towards Suzune with the intention of asking about Kiyotaka. She had no idea why their homeroom teacher wished to talk to him, but Suzune might. As much as she hated to admit it, he was close to her and if there's anyone who has an idea about what's the deal between the young man and Chabashira, it would be her.

"Horikita-san, do you have any idea why Chabashira-sensei wants to talk to Ayanokouji-kun?" she asked curiously.

Suzune thought for a moment if she should tell Kikyo what she knew, but decided against it.

It had been clear that Kiyotaka didn't want to tell anyone that he held back in the entrance examination and denied every accusation thrown towards, but he told her for some reason. Suzune was still learning when it came to things like this, but she was completely sure that this was something that she shouldn't tell anyone else, because it would break his trust in her.

She shook her head. "I apologize, Kushida-san. I don't have any idea, either."

Kushida didn't even need a lie detector to tell that Horikita was lying. However, as much as she wanted to call her out for it, she couldn't do it while they were here in the classroom with everyone else.

"I see… thank you for answering anyway, Horikita-san," she struggled to get the words out instead of outright cursing the girl.

Suzune thought of retracting her words because Kikyo was her friend and she was only curious, but shook the urge off. If Kikyo wanted to know about Kiyotaka and Chabashira-sensei, then she could ask him herself.

---

It didn't even take more than five minutes for Kiyotaka to reach the rooftop and upon getting there, Sae was standing near the fences while smoking a cigarette. Even though she couldn't see him, the woman knew that the person who had arrived was her student.

"So, why did you call me up here, sensei?" Kiyotaka asked as he approached her, wanting to get this over with right away.

"You're not half-bad as a tutor for your own classmates, Ayanokouji-kun," she chuckled, choosing not to turn around as she spoke.

Kiyotaka tilted his head slightly in confusion. Out of all the possible reasons why his teacher wanted to talk to him here, it's the fact that he was a tutor to two of his classmates? No, there's definitely more to this. Perhaps Chabashira-sensei was simply lightening up the atmosphere between them for now, before moving to the serious part.

"I've heard it from Hirata, and I've seen you in the library as well a few times. Before this day, Sakura was one of the people who failed the last exam. Her grades, as you must have known by now, are unsatisfactory. In Karuizawa's case, her grades are barely average and aren't impressive compared to some of your other classmates…"

The young man had no idea where this conversation was heading, but he had a feeling that it would end up being about his grades somehow. Chabashira-sensei mentioned both Karuizawa and Sakura, particularly their performance in academics… truly interesting…

"...and yet, both of them have pulled off stellar results in their midterm examinations. And the reason for that is standing right behind me," Sae finally turned around after those words. The woman had a proud smirk on her face, which was something that Kiyotaka wasn't used to seeing. "Why don't you consider working as a teacher here after graduation, Ayanokouji-kun? Whatever teaching methods you used worked very well."

"I appreciate the kind words, sensei… but I'm pretty certain that my role as a tutor isn't the reason why you wanted me to meet you here," he retorted.

Honestly, Kiyotaka neither had the time nor patience to play around. He wanted to be done with this as soon as possible so he could return to his class and take a nap until their next teacher arrives. The more time he wastes up here, the shorter of a nap he'll have when he comes back.

See folded her arms across her chest. "As expected, you're right. However, I wanted to commend you because it truly is an amazing feat. It's not everyday that you can teach two students and have them improve massively in terms of academics."

"Something tells me that you don't compliment your students like this very often," he commented. Truth be told, he expected this woman to either talk about his grades or get angry with him for holding back. Praising him for something just seems… out of character for her, but it may be related to what she had in mind right now.

"Consider yourself lucky then," she shrugged, not even denying his claim. "When I was checking your exam… I had thought that you were still holding back despite that conversation we had at the teacher's lounge weeks ago. Now imagine my surprise when I realized that you scored an 85 in all subjects instead."

Kiyotaka didn't say anything and only listened. He was right then. This whole meeting was going to be about his grades and it will probably end in another attempt by his teacher to convince him not to hold back anymore. He was completely sure that this is what's going to happen and it made him want to turn around and head back to the classroom, but he remained where he was. He'll give Sae the benefit of the doubt and listen for now, despite being sure of what her intentions were.

"That's 35 points higher than the scores on your entrance exam, and 15 more than the mock exam. It's not too much of an improvement, but it's something. Have you finally decided to stop placing limits on yourself?"

Instead of denying her claim like last time, he simply shrugged. He saw no need to hide it any longer, especially since doing so would only result in yet another argument between them and he had no time for that.

Kiyotaka wasn't going to give her a concrete answer, though. "Who knows?"

"I see," Sae smirked, taking a drag of her cigarette. "Then I suppose you were convinced by someone to not hold back. Horikita, most likely. I did see the two of you continuing your conversation outside of the lounge after I told you to leave."

"Did you call me here just to talk about this?" he asked, looking bored and unamused with this whole conversation so far that he wanted to end it now.

"That is correct."

"Then what is it that you want from me, Chabashira-sensei?"

[A Special Event has been Triggered!]

His growing impatience was quickly replaced with surprise and wonder as he stared at the newest notification that he just received. He had just finished the most recent 'special event' earlier that was related to Airi and Kei, and now there's another? What a way to start his day indeed.

"Now? Of all times?" he rolled his eyes internally. "Wonder what's it about this time?"

Actually, you know what? He didn't even need to think about it. It was clear as day that this new 'special event' involved his homeroom teacher, which would most likely end up in him 'unlocking' her route and officially making her one of his heroines.

Oh, joy…

"Ayanokouji. Are you really not interested in reaching Class A?" asked Chabashira, frowning for the first time ever since their conversation began.

Kiyotaka remained as uninterested as ever. "Is there a reason that I should be?"

"Is that something that you should be asking at this point?" The woman shook her head in disappointment. This definitely wasn't how she wanted things to go. "I already told your class before, didn't I? Graduating from Class A guarantees your future. The same can't be said for graduating as one of the other classes, especially Class D."

"And I already said that I'll deal with that matter when it arrives, sensei."

"Don't tell me that you really do plan on staying as Class D for the rest of your time here… I thought you were supposed to be helping Horikita in bringing your class to the top."

Kiyotaka raised an eyebrow at that. The only way she could have known about that was if she had been spying on him and Horikita, which likely happened after she summoned them to the teacher's lounge, which means that Sae was still there despite her words about a faculty meeting…

He sighed. Seriously, how far was this woman willing to go just to convince him to stop holding back? And why the hell did she even care if he held himself back?

"I am helping her. However, that doesn't mean that I'm interested in reaching Class A myself, sensei."

"And why is that?"

"I prefer having a peaceful life for my three years in this place."

The young man knew that statement couldn't be any more wrong, as his high school life wasn't even remotely close to being 'peaceful' at the moment. However, it was the only excuse he had. He can't exactly say that he doesn't want to be Class A because it would bring him attention, since it's not like he'd be the only one gaining popularity if it happened.

"That is rather naive of you, Ayanokouji. What makes you think that you can even achieve such a thing after what I told you and your classmates?" she argued. "Whether you like it or not, you are now competing with other classes. Your so-called 'peaceful life' is nothing but a mere fantasy at this point."

Kiyotaka knew that she was right, but he wasn't going to admit defeat, especially not to her. Fortunately, he still had something up his sleeve and he had a feeling that this would be an effective counterattack.

"I see that you're like Horikita, sensei. Both of you are strangely fixated on reaching Class A. I can completely understand Horikita's case, since she indeed wants to secure her future. What about you, sensei? You're not a student like us, are you? Your future looks like it's already guaranteed since you teach at a school like this, so what's with this strange obsession?"

The frown on her face deepened. "That is none of your business, Ayanokouji. I am speaking as your instructor and as your homeroom teacher. And as your homeroom teacher, I am showing you that graduating from Class A has guaranteed merits. Merits that you wouldn't find if you finish high school as one of the lower classes."

"Let me guess. You were in Class D when you were a student here like us," he guessed, which managed to crack Chabashira's stone-cold facade and caused her eyes to widen for a moment. "You wanted to graduate as a Class A student, but you never did. That's why you're talking to me about this."

Sae couldn't maintain her frown for very long afterwards, and that was when Kiyotaka knew that he was right. All of a sudden, things started to make sense in his mind regarding his teacher and her behavior.

"And now you want me to aim for Class A because you believe that I can help our class immensely and so that you could finally achieve what you've set out to do for years. In your eyes, if the class that you're teaching manages to be the new Class A, it would give you the closure that you've wanted for so long."

When they first met her, she was all-business and kept a serious look on most of the time. It became worse after the first month had passed, when she expressed her disappointment and anger at the whole class for being failures. However, now that they've proven themselves as capable students to her, she lessened her hostility towards them and even looked proud after showing them their results earlier.

One thing was consistent, though.

After their first month here, Sae tried to show that he was holding himself back all this time and wanted him to stop by pointing out the strange results of his entrance exams. She even tried to prove it in front of Suzune to try and force him into a corner. Right now, she just tried to do the same and insisted that the reason for it was to 'guarantee his future'.

It all made sense.

"I might consider listening to you if you tell me the truth, sensei…" he added, noticing that his words had completely silenced the woman and rendered her unable to say anything.

And then, Chabashira sighed in defeat.

"What is there to tell when you've already said everything? I shouldn't even be surprised…" she finally spoke after about a minute of silence. Her serious expression shattered completely, and was replaced with a look of melancholy. "You're right. I was a student of Class D when I was a student here. We actually had a chance at achieving what nobody else has done before in this school: becoming the new Class A despite being known as the defective class."

"What happened?" he asked, wondering how that all fell apart. It must be the main reason for her obsession with reaching Class A, and why she can't move on from it despite the years that have passed.

"You don't need to know why. All that matters is that I wasn't able to achieve that goal. But now, I have my chance at finally putting my insecurities to rest… through you. I believe you can do what I wasn't able to do, Ayanokouji."

Her demeanor had completely changed by now; instead of the usual dead-serious expression that one would normally see from her, Sae looked… defeated, in a way. It's like she had been stripped of all her strengths as a teacher and all that was left was a woman with weaknesses.

"I feel like you overestimate my abilities, sensei. Just because I held back in my exams doesn't mean that I can lead the class in overtaking everyone else,"

Of course, if he put his mind into it and with some effort on his side, Kiyotaka could lead his class and compete with the other classes. However, just the idea of taking charge already left a bad taste in his mind as it meant attention, and he already had enough of that at the moment from a bunch of girls.

Leading a class and overtaking all the other classes… just wasn't worth it.

"That's why I will let you choose," she revealed, making Kiyotaka tilt his head in confusion. "Initially, I was planning to blackmail you into thinking that holding back will get you expelled and that I have the power to do so, but you saw right through me before I could get the chance. Trying to blackmail you now would only be a waste of time when I can simply ask you for help."

As the woman let a self-deprecating chuckle at her own blunder, Kiyotaka stared at her blankly.

"It would have ended badly for you as well," he said in his mind. Kiyotaka felt tempted to leave when Sae basically admitted that she wished to manipulate him and never interact with this woman again, but kept himself where he was. At least, he was able to stop her before she could do something foolish and stupid. "What's in it for me?"

"If you hear me out and accept my proposal, then you will gain my full support. Whatever it is that you feel would be beneficial to the class, I will support you."

"A mutual agreement between a teacher and their student… something like this wouldn't be allowed in this school," he pointed out.

A smirk formed on her face. "That's right. It isn't. But why do you think I wanted to talk to you up here?"

Oh, so that's why she wanted to talk here on the rooftop. In the case that he does end up making an agreement with her, they wouldn't be seen on camera. Yes, it was technically breaking the rules, but no one was currently around to catch them in the act. A smart move on her part.

"However, if you say no, then I will not bother you regarding this ever again. You'll go back to your classroom and forget that this conversation ever happened," Sae reverted back to her self-deprecating tone and chuckled to herself. "Perhaps I deserve it for trying to manipulate someone like you into doing what I want."

Instead of making this woman pay for thinking of manipulating him, Kiyotaka decided to stay where he was and think about this a lot more. At the very least, she admitted her mistake and came clean with what she wanted.

But before Kiyotaka could truly think of what to say, the world stopped and three floating pink screens appeared before him.

A. [No thank you, Sensei. I'm already dealing with a lot of things and I have no time for your request. Even if my chances at a peaceful life are gone, I don't want to be bothered anymore.]

B. [I still wonder why you want me of all people to lead us to Class A, Sensei. However, you can be assured that I won't let you down.]

C. [How about a new deal, Sensei? If I can make our class the new Class A before the end of the school year, then you become mine.]

"How… convenient," he mumbled.

…well, this at least saves him the trouble. He won't have to think of what to say anymore, just the answer that he had to her question and the system would handle everything else.

With that, Kiyotaka weighed the options he had right now.

The first option was definitely appealing to him, and it would have been the one he'd choose in a heartbeat, but he looked at the other ones for now. It's not just because it would be sweet revenge for him, but also because he was dealing with a lot of things. There are currently 8 girls who are also his heroines and five of them are his classmates. On top of that, he was also a tutor of them and there's his already-scarce sleep hours…

It kind of ticked him off that the system was self-aware of all the bullshit that it was making him go through, though.

The second one didn't catch his interest at all. It was simply him accepting Chabashira-sensei's request without some kind of special condition on his part. In other words, he would be admitting defeat and rescind to his fate of being the woman's errand-boy.

It could also be said that it's the most 'normal' response out of the three choices, but also the one that he wouldn't choose no matter what.

And, like most times, that left the final possible choice.

To put it simply, the third option was adding a condition of his own to his teacher's little proposal, which was something that favored him. She won't just support him in his quest to reach Class A, as the stakes became higher this time. If he's able to do it before the school year ends, then Sae would be his… most likely as a romantic partner.

"It's either the first or the third one," he said to himself.

Hmm, it was pretty inevitable that he would eventually 'unlock' Chabashira's route (since he had already seen her 'summary' during their first day here), and this was a one-way ticket to doing it. Why not just do it now and get this over with? Just to save him from the agony of dealing with this on another day?

Kiyotaka wasn't particularly bothered by the fact that this woman was considerably older than him. In fact, it actually amused him that he had gained Sae's interest by simply holding back. It amused him even more that the 'condition' he would give her is basically the reverse of what's happening at the moment. Instead of Sae manipulating him through blackmail, he would have her dancing in the palm of his hand using her dream as bait.

This system was truly something else.

…oh, and he also wouldn't mind having a woman like Chabashira Sae on his side… in every possible way, that is. This woman was beautiful, perhaps even more beautiful than anyone else in class. She was also mature and was serious most of the time. Through this deal, she'll follow his orders without question and being a teacher, it also gives her certain perks that students don't have. That will definitely be useful to him in the future and he'd be a fool to let that opportunity slip through his fingers.

The fact that she's a teacher also made her someone 'off-limits' in the eyes of normal students and in turn, it made the option more appealing than the first one to him.

With all these in mind, Kiyotaka eagerly chose the third option.

"How about a new deal, Sensei? If I can make our class the new Class A before the end of the school year, then you become mine," he asked the woman with a smirk as the world went back to normal.

At first, Sae thought that she was only hearing things. But then she quickly realized that there was nothing inherently bad about her hearing and it was working fine, so… what did Ayanokouji say?

Something about her being his…?

…no, that can't be. The boy was just joking, obviously. He must have learned how to do that from his classmates, that's all. But just to be sure…

"I'm sorry, can you repeat that?"

Kiyotaka's smirk turned into a grin.

"If I can lead our class to become the new Class A before the end of the school year, then you become mine, sensei."

Oh god, he was actually serious.

Sae didn't know if she should feel nervous, disgusted, scared, or a mixture of all three. To add to that, this boy was grinning, something that she had never seen him do before and it was getting under her skin easily, which she hated.

"W-What the hell are you talking about?" she tried to sound serious, but failed.

"Isn't it obvious already? Or do you want me to explain it to you slowly?"

He took a step towards her, and Sae moved back out of instinct. Kiyotaka continued his advance with the woman stepping back every time he did so, but was soon stopped when the metal fence of the rooftop met her back.

Her eyes widened in both fear and anger that she had been cornered with no possible way out. The fact that he was way taller than her only made it worse in her case.

She could try to push him away and make a run for it, but that would defeat the original purpose of why she was here. She also needed his response to her question and despite Kiyotaka's… questionable actions, he was about to give his answer to her.

In other words, she was trapped.

And so, as much as she hated it, Sae stayed where she was. That didn't stop her from glaring daggers at the young man, though.

"If I give you what you want before the school year ends, then you'll be mine, sensei. How is that hard to understand?" asked Kiyotaka, grabbing the fence on either side of her head which made his teacher feel like an animal stuck in a cage.

Despite her growing anxiety for what might happen, Sae put on her usual stone-faced expression and stared back at him with as much intensity as she could muster.

"Did you hit your head somewhere, Ayanokouji?" she mocked. "It must be the reason why you're blurting out nonsense out of nowhere."

He leaned even closer to her face, making the woman gasp. "Sensei, is it really that hard to understand what I want? You want me to fulfill your dream, and I want something in return, which happens to be you."

"Damn it! What the hell is this kid?! How can he talk like that?!" she ranted in her mind, while being unable to stop the blush that was forming on her cheeks.

She had no idea how Kiyotaka could be this smooth and suave in his tone and the worst part is that it was working on her!

"I'll say it again," he leaned close to her ear this time, so much that his breath sent chills down her spine. "I. Want. You."

The red hue on her face became worse, but the woman was then allowed to breathe normally when he moved away from her ear.

"Y-You must be just as much of a horndog as some of your perverted classmates, huh? I thought you were different from them, Ayanokouji. It turns out… you're just like them," she said defiantly.

"Can you really blame me, sensei? When the prize is too good to ignore?" he chuckled. "I wonder why you don't have a boyfriend yet. Has your luck ran out?"

"I simply have no time for things like that," she shot back, feeling insulted at that jab towards her.

"Hmm, it doesn't feel like it. I think it's simply because you haven't found the right person yet. I mean, look at you."

His hand left the metal fence and Kiyotaka began to point out every single one of his teacher's good points.

"Your hair looks gorgeous," his hand touched her hair. "You have a beautiful face," his hand trailed her cheek down to her jaw. "A nice chest, these sexy hips, and those delicious thighs…" he didn't touch any of those areas lest he risk getting kicked where it hurts the most, though he did stare openly at them. "...the guy who marries you will surely be the luckiest person in the world."

Sae's face was no different than a boiling tomato at this point after every compliment he gave her. The worst part is that it didn't feel like he was lying, and all that he said was genuine.

It took about a minute for the woman to calm down in order for her to say anything in return.

"You're insane. Student-teacher relationships are obviously not allowed, Ayanokouji. If you're caught being in a relationship with one, then the punishment you'll receive can be as severe as an immediate expulsion," she tried to send him a glare, but Kiyotaka couldn't really take her seriously because of the embarrassed look on her face. "I'm sure you know that, or has your libido blinded you to the point that you have no idea what is right or wrong anymore?"

Kiyotaka laughed as he lifted her chin up so that she was facing him, and he took great amusement in seeing his normally-serious teacher be reduced to a blushing schoolgirl.

"I know that they're not allowed, sensei, but we won't get in trouble if we're not caught, right? That's what you implied earlier when you told me that you'd support me if I agreed to your proposal. Besides, if you hated this, you would have pushed me away by now and threatened me or something."

"Damn him! Damn this little shit and his smooth-talk!" she shouted in her mind. Sae hated the fact that he was right, and she hated herself even more for not doing anything to defend herself against his offensive assault.

"It's how things work around here, is it not? I can give you what you want, but I don't feel like having your support only. It's honestly not worth the effort," he explained. "But having you, as a whole? That's something to think about."

"He's actually being serious about this…" she thought, feeling her heart beating faster inside her chest.

It was already clear a while ago that Ayanokouji wasn't kidding when he stated his demands, but it was only now that Chabashira realized it.

He wanted her in exchange.

"Well? How about it, sensei? If you say no, then we can forget this conversation ever happened. I'll go back to the classroom and continue to live my high school life. But what about you? Can you move on from that dream of yours?"

Sae was stuck at a crossroads after that question. Obviously, there's nothing she would want more than to put her past failures to rest and work with Kiyotaka, but his damn condition was something she wasn't fine with.

"Okay, think. You've been through worse, Sae. You can handle a kid and his perverted mind," she said to herself in hopes of calming down.

Hmm… Ayanokouji said that he would help her and lead the class himself, but he wasn't satisfied with only her support. He wanted her, in a literal sense. It's scary that the young man knew what he wanted and how he was completely serious about it.

Well, it's not like she would give herself up to him if he was successful. After all, he only said that if he manages to do it before the end of their first year, then he would get to have her.

He didn't say anything about accomplishing it after.

A smile slowly formed on her face as Sae realized the loophole within his words.

She'll still be able to get what she wants and as long as Kiyotaka doesn't do it in record time, her chastity would be safe. Besides, there's no way he could actually make the defective class into the top one in the span of a year. And he's just one guy. As much as she believed in his abilities, she couldn't see any possibility of Kiyotaka pulling off the impossible within the ten remaining months.

In her case, it took three years for her former class to even get a chance at beating Class A, and that's why it hurt so much when they blew it.

Becoming Class A in a year… was simply impossible.

"Fine," she scoffed. "If… If you manage to get our class to become the new Class A before the end of the school year, I'll… I'll be y-yours."

Damn, it's already humiliating and degrading by simply saying it! To think that this boy punched through her defenses and made her feel this way… this was definitely something she won't be able to forget for a long time.

"It's just until the year ends, just until the year ends…" Sae took a few deep breaths to calm herself. She can get through this, she has dealt with bigger problems in the past. A boy being controlled by his libido is nothing.

Kiyotaka only smirked, thoroughly pleased with the outcome of this situation. It couldn't have gone any better than this.

"I knew you'd make the right decision, sensei."

[Special Event 'The Teacherslayer' has been cleared! You gained 10 Affection Points with Chabashira Sae!]

[Sae Route has been Unlocked! You can now see 'Heroine Status' with Chabashira Sae!]

[Your current status with Sae has changed to 'Never Too Old for Love'!]

[Congratulations! You have unlocked the Achievement: 'Older than You'! You gained +5 in Charm!]

Kiyotaka ignored the barrage of notifications he had received and brought out his phone, before showing it to his teacher.

Apparently, he had recorded the whole conversation about their 'deal' on his phone and only stopped it just now. The look of horror on Chabashira-sensei's face afterwards was priceless and it made him laugh.

"Everything that you said has been recorded, sensei. Just to make sure nothing goes wrong," he said, which was also a warning to his own teacher about any possible intentions of selling him under the bus.

"Why do I feel like you've been preparing for this moment for a long time?" she asked after calming down from that shock he gave her with the recording. "Don't tell me you were planning to ask me that question from the start?"

"Who knows? I'll let you think about it, Sae-chan-sensei~" he shrugged, even using the nickname that the perverts use for her.

"You little shit…" A tick mark appeared on her head as Kiyotaka continued with his assault. This boy was really getting on her nerves!

"You might want to think twice about the insults, sensei. After all, I'm all you have left when it comes to your dream."

"Just like that? You're going to stop holding back now, just to get… j-just to make me yours?"

Sae felt extremely uncomfortable with getting that out of her mouth. It still left a sour taste in her mouth that she was at the mercy of a boy, her student no less.

"I think of myself as a man of my word, sensei. You can be assured that I'll get to work as soon as I have to."

With that, he finally removed his hands from the fence behind her and moved away, allowing the woman to breathe freely again.

Sae felt relieved that he finally left her alone, yet there was also a tiny part of her that felt mildly disappointed that he didn't do anything further. She was too frustrated with Kiyotaka to notice it, though.

"You sound confident… are you sure you can do this?" she grumbled while trying to regain her bearings.

"As I said earlier, sensei… the prize is too good to ignore," he teased, making her face turn red again. "And what happened to your faith in me? Earlier, you were preaching about me being your only hope of putting your insecurities to rest. Did I overwhelm you?"

"Don't push your luck, Ayanokouji. You're not going to get me that easily. According to your terms, you only have until the end of the school year to reach Class A. That's 10 months left for you to work with," she shot back with a smirk of her own.

Oh, if only she knew…

"We shall see, sensei. We shall see," he chuckled.

---

After their classes were done for the day, Kiyotaka made a slight detour to Keyaki Mall, particularly the new ice cream shop that he and his heroines tried out the other day.

"To think that I have to get used to something like that in the future…" he thought.

The young man grimaced as he remembered what happened during that. What was supposed to be a little detour with Karuizawa and Sakura ended up being a trip with Kushida and Horikita tagging along. It was definitely a drag that he had to be with four girls at the time, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle.

It did serve as a little reminder that he would be dealing with more than just those four girls, though. Plus, he had three more heroines in Matsushita, Ichinose, and Shiina…

And then, Sakayanagi had to show up.

That was when things started to take a turn, especially when the lilac-haired girl began mentioning their first meeting, which she definitely did on purpose in order to get the attention of the other girls.

Unwilling to deal with the impending disaster that would have happened, he quickly snuck away while his classmates weren't looking, which was something that his companions didn't appreciate…

And it ended up in him getting smacked in the head by both Horikita and Karuizawa the moment they saw him in the classroom the next day.

"As much as possible, I don't want to go through that again," he thought as he ordered a vanilla sugarcone. In the end, only one person was to blame for his sudden departure that time. "The next time I see Sakayanagi, she'll be begging me on her knees to stop."

It was obvious that the girl only pulled off that stunt to get back at him for what he did to her. How else can he respond to that other than doing the same thing?

Today was a pretty eventful day, if he had to give his opinion. First, the results of their midterms were announced and he was pleased to see Kei and Airi passing with flying colors. Those two deserved it after studying hard for several weeks. Afterwards, his teacher made him follow her to the rooftop where she tried, and failed, to get him to do what she wanted.

How?

With the help of his eroge superpower, of course.

Despite the crazy yet enticing encounter with his homeroom teacher, he had no regrets about his actions at the time. As a matter of fact, he actually enjoyed making the woman into a blushing mess who couldn't fight back against him.

Chabashira-sensei tried to manipulate him into working for her, and that's something that did not sit well with him.

Besides, it's what his broken superpower would have wanted. Ever since the first day of school, he had known that Sae was going to be one of his heroines.

Still, as much as he hated it, he now had to work in order.

It's not all bad, though… considering the prize he would get when (not if, when) he leads their class in overtaking all the other ones to become the new Class A. Plus, this would also be another way of getting revenge on Sakayanagi, since she's a student of the current Class A.

"I guess I now have a reason to take a more active role in the class," he mentally shrugged. "Horikita will no doubt be happy about this."

Speaking of Horikita, the girl had asked him for details on what happened between him and Chabashira-sensei as soon as he returned from the rooftop earlier, but he didn't say anything specific. All he told her is that their teacher talked to him about his grades, leaving the girl confused and wishing for more answers, but their next teacher had already arrived by that time.

As he left the shop with the ice cream that he bought, the young man was about to head home to his dorm unit when he felt his phone vibrating.

Bringing it out of his pocket, Kiyotaka saw that it was a message from Kikyo.

Kushida: Come to my dorm room. We're going to celebrate today's accomplishment, Ayanokouji-kun. ;)

She wants him to go to her dorm unit and celebrate today's accomplishment? The girl was most likely referring to their midterms. But what the hell is with that wink at the end? Was it to send a secret message to him or something?

"Hmm… it probably means she's planning something during this celebration she's inviting me to," he said in his thoughts as he tried to think of a possible answer to his question. "Come to think of it, am I the only one that she invited or are there gonna be other people there?"

That wink she sent with that message gave off a mischievous vibe more than anything, so this 'invitation' likely involved only him and nobody else… which means that he will be alone with the girl in her own unit.

…oh god, is this it?

Will this be the moment for him to lose his virginity? This must be what she meant with that message, right?!

Nah, it can't be. There's absolutely no chance. Perhaps she was just being vague about the details, or she's only messing with him. After all, Kikyo was still a little pissed from the stunt he pulled off at the ice cream parlor a few days ago.

Either way, he should go and head to Kikyo's dorm unit. Whatever this is about has his attention now and besides, if he didn't show up, he was certain that he would have to deal with an angry Kikyo afterwards, and he was in no mood for that.

After reaching the dorms, he stood outside of Kikyo's unit and knocked on the door a few times.

It didn't even take a few seconds for someone to open the door for him, and the one who greeted him was the person who sent him the earlier message.

"Oh, Ayanokouji-kun! You're finally here," Kikyo smiled and stepped out of her dorm so she could greet him properly.

Kiyotaka gave her a nod of acknowledgement. "So what's the message about? What did you mean by 'celebrating our accomplishment'?" he asked.

"Hmm… what do you think~?"

Kikyo flashed him a smirk and leaned closer to him, their bodies nearly touching as a result. She didn't stop there and gave him a half-lidded look, before altering her smile into a seductive one.

Kiyotaka kept a calm look on the outside, but he was completely surprised and taken aback on the inside.

Was he wrong then? Was Kushida really planning to do the other thing?! Should he just let her? Roll along with it? How would his other heroines react? There were so many questions going through his mind at the moment that he couldn't do anything in response to her actions.

Fortunately, he would be saved by another voice coming from inside her dorm unit.

"Kushida-san, is that Ayanokouji-kun?" asked a voice that Ayanokouji could tell belonged to Horikita.a

"A-Ah, yeah it is! He just got here!" replied Kikyo, separating herself from the young man almost immediately out of panic. As much as she wanted to boast his superiority over Suzune by being close to Kiyotaka, the bitch wasn't the only one inside her unit. "Damn bitch just had to ruin things when I was already making progress, huh? She's lucky I even thought of inviting her…"

"Then why don't you let him in?"

Kikyo rolled her eyes hard in annoyance as she opened the door and gestured for Kiyotaka to go in. The young man chose not to comment on her behavior and simply went inside like what she wanted.

He blinked in surprise upon seeing several of his classmates there, including Suzune, Kei, and Ken. Most of them were gathered at the center of the room and when they noticed his arrival, they immediately reacted.

"Yo, Ayanokouji!" greeted Ken.

"Welcome to the party, Ayanokouji-kun!" Kayano cheered with her arm slung over her teammate's shoulder.

"Hey," Maya waved her hand with a smile.

"Tch. Why the hell is he here? He's gonna steal the girls from us again!" Yamauchi grumbled in annoyance, obviously not pleased with Ayanokouji's appearance. They were having such a good time by themselves, they didn't need this lucky bastard to rain on their parade!

"Oi, be quiet. Kushida-chan is just there, you know?" said Ike out of worry, a bit nervous about being heard by the girl who invited them. She might even kick them out of their dorm room if they mess up!

Yamauchi began to wail. "I don't care! It's just unfair that Ayanokouji gets to have the girls to himself while we're here suffering!"

"I know, Yamauchi! I know!" cried Ike, joining his friend in shedding anime-like tears out of jealousy. "Almost all of the most beautiful girls in the class live on this floor too… oh, if only I could live here…"

"Would you quit it already? At least be grateful that you were even invited by Kushida-san."

Kiyotaka weakly waved at Ken and Kayano, before turning his attention to Suzune. The girl was sitting on the bed, quietly reading a book and ignoring everything else around her in typical Suzune fashion.

He quickly approached her for some context on what was happening. "What the hell is going on?" he asked,

Suzune let out a sigh. "To put it simply, Kushida-san wanted to host a little celebration with her friends for passing the midterm exams. She talked about it earlier on the phone and asked me if I could come over to her dorm room to be present for it."

"I'm surprised that you actually accepted the invitation. Staying in your dorm room and being away from everyone else seems more of a Horikita move to me," he commented, taken aback at how this girl agreed to do something that he couldn't really see her doing. Well, it was getting her to change for the better, at least… so he wasn't really going to complain about it.

"Because Kushida-san is my friend, and I would be a fool to decline such a thing when she went through the trouble of planning a celebration… something that you are incapable of understanding for some reason."

Kiyotaka raised his hands in surrender the moment Suzune glared coldly at him. It looks like she still hasn't moved on from what happened a few days ago. No, it wasn't because he left them out of nowhere, it's because he didn't invite her to go to the new ice cream shop with him.

He could only hope that the girl doesn't hold a grudge against him for what happened, because he was sure that he didn't want to see her get angry. "I'm sorry about that, okay? Inviting you and Kushida just wasn't on my mind at the time, that's it."

"Hmph," she huffed before shifting her attention back to her book.

Kiyotaka sighed. He had no idea what to do to get this girl to forgive him. He could invite her to eat ice cream with him alone as an apology, but he had a feeling that it would only make things worse. He could also try to approach her about class-related affairs to show that he was now willing to work with her in order to get to Class A, but that would have to wait when they're completely alone.

He was just thankful that the system wasn't punishing him or anything for making one of his heroines angry.

For now, he should leave her alone.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kikyo beckoning for him to join her at the balcony. Since he had nothing else to do, he followed after her. Perhaps talking to the person who arranged this little 'party' would be interesting, because he was becoming more tempted by the moment to just head back to his dorm room for an early rest.

"I'm surprised you were fine with those two guys being in your room," he told her as soon as he stepped out onto the balcony.

"You wish," she groaned while closing the patio door so that no one would hear them. "You don't know how much I want to kick them out right now and make sure that they won't be able to attend classes tomorrow."

"Then why don't you? Not that I'm saying you should," he asked.

"Because they were planning to use your room as the place where we'll be doing this," she scowled at him, as Kiyotaka blinked a few times in surprise. "I suggested that they should use my room instead because I know how they'll react if those two perverts find out that you live on the same floor as me. They were even planning to surprise you outside of your room."

Yeah… that would have been disastrous. He could only imagine the reactions that the perverts would have if they found out that he lived on this floor. The worst possible scenario would be that they spread the news to their class and in turn, the whole school will find out eventually.

Although, why the hell would they want to hold a party in his room of all places? Couldn't they have suggested their own dorm units? The minds of those two idiots were things that he would never be able to comprehend.

In the end, all he could do was bow his head in apology.

"Sorry about this."

"You owe me for this, Ayanokouji-kun~" she said in a sweet voice, which only hid her growing annoyance and frustration regarding this whole situation.

"You don't have to tell me twice," he sighed, before noticing that Kikyo was approaching him the same way as she did earlier when he got here. The same seductive look was present on her face, and that wasn't a good sign. Kiyotaka quickly glanced to the side and fortunately for him, none of their other classmates had noticed them. "What are you doing?"

"Ayanokouji-kun, do you know that Horikita-san likes you?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Well, of course she does. If she didn't, she wouldn't have been friends with me."

"Still trying to act like you're dense…" she shook her head and sighed. "Well, it doesn't matter. You won't be acting dense for very long, anyway."

"What are you talking about?"

All of a sudden, Kikyo grabbed his uniform tightly and pulled him down so that they were eye-level. He was caught off guard by the sudden action and kept his guard up for whatever she might be planning to do, but all the girl did was send him a smile. It wasn't a fake one born from the mask she puts up, but rather a genuine one.

"I really like you, Ayanokouji-kun. You're not like other boys in this school. Even after finding out what I really am under this mask I put up, you never treated me differently. Do you know you're the first one to do that for me?"

"I didn't," he answered calmly despite his current predicament.

Kushida let out a sigh of bliss as she recalled the first time she laid eyes on him. "Ever since we met, I've had my eye on you, you know? We're friends, but you're so mysterious and there's a lot of things I don't know about you… though that just made me want to learn about you even more. You're just so… endearing in my eyes, Ayanokouji-kun."

"If this is your attempt in confessing your feelings, Kushida, then I can say that it's not the right way," the young man pointed out, referring to how this girl was grabbing his uniform in an almost-threatening way.

He could understand her words and feelings but seriously, what kind of girl confesses her feelings while grabbing the collar of the boy she likes as if she's choking him?

"Oops, sorry about that. It's just that I really wanted you to know what I think about you," Kikyo giggled as she let go of him.

Kiyotaka shook his head while fixing his uniform. Between her and Suzune, Kikyo was harder to handle for obvious reasons. "Then I want you to know that I can't answer your feelings right now."

It's not that he wanted to reject this girl, really. Ignoring the issue with her fake personality, Kikyo would be a good choice as a girlfriend for any lucky guy out there. The girl was cute, pretty, good in academics, a socialite, and she can be friends with almost anyone.

However, Kikyo wasn't the only girl who had eyes on him. At the moment, there are eight girls who are also his heroines and to choose one of them could have devastating effects on the other girls, and he didn't want to invoke the wrath of his superpower should that happen. Plus, the system was clearly setting him up for the harem ending, which means that choosing one is already out of the window since day one.

Kikyo rolled her eyes in amusement, not even surprised with her answer. "I expected as much. You still can't choose between me and Horikita."

He was already panicking on the inside as he listened to her. "Please don't be the wrong answer, please don't be the wrong answer…" he said in his mind, hoping that what he said wouldn't have the opposite effect of what he hoped.

Luckily, Kikyo didn't explode in anger or anything. She only giggled in response to his response while shaking her head. It wasn't enough to calm him down, though.

"Well… that just means that I'll have to work hard in order to get your attention, Ayanokouji-kun. I'll prove to you that there's no need to choose between us, because I'm the only choice you have."

"I can tell that this won't be good," he said to himself. He won't regret rejecting Kikyo for now, though. He didn't need to be an expert in love to know that it would have been the worst outcome not only for him, but for his heroines too.

"You can be guaranteed that I won't hold back, Ayanokouji-kun," Kushida looked out into the open, taking in the breeze. The sun was starting to go down and in an hour or two, the moon would take over. "I'll make you mine, no matter what."

"Is that all you wanted to talk to me about? I'd like to head back to my room and rest," he asked, wondering if this 'declaration of love' was the only reason why Kikyo invited him to this little party at her dorm unit.

Kikyo shrugged. "Well, you could leave if you want, but we just ordered two pizzas and a bucket of fries over the phone earlier. Sudo-kun brought three large bottles of soda with him when he got here. If you stick around for a few more minutes, you can eat with us."

That put a halt in his desire to go home.

Hmm… well, free food was definitely something he wouldn't object to… even if he was starting to feel tired.

"All right, I'll stick around for a bit."

As he went inside, Kiyotaka chose to sit beside Kei, who was busy using her phone. However, she quickly noticed his presence and smiled upon seeing him. It honestly amazed him at how her perception changed from being someone she couldn't trust into a good friend but then again, it's just the nature of his eroge superpower. The same basically happened for Suzune as well.

"Hey, Ayanokouji-kun."

"Hey," he greeted in return. Unsurprisingly, a certain redhead was nowhere to be found despite the blonde girl's presence. "I see that Sakura's not with you."

"Well, you know how she is, don't you? I would have been more surprised if she actually accepted and celebrated with us," she joked.

Another thing that surprised him about Kei was her relationship with Airi. The two were like night and day in terms of how different they were, but they became friends nonetheless. Even though he could attribute that to Kei's insistence to be friends with the shy girl, it can be said without question that Airi was also doing her best to change herself.

He nodded in agreement. "That's true. That would be a more surprising outcome, but it would be good for her, nonetheless."

"Yeah, I really hope she can change eventually…" she mumbled, the smile on her face disappearing in favor of a gloomy one for some reason.

He immediately noticed the change in her expression. "Are you okay?" he asked out of concern, wondering what could have made her sad out of nowhere.

Kei's eyes widened in alarm, realizing that she had been caught in the act.. "Y-Yes, of course I'm fine…! It's just… I'm… I have a lot on my mind right now," she quickly covered it up with a nervous chuckle before flashing a weak grin.

Kiyotaka didn't believe that excuse one bit, but he decided to leave it alone for now. Trying to get this girl to talk would be a challenge with how stubborn she could be.

It didn't take long for the food to arrive and once it did, the 'celebration' began. The Class D students shared the two pizzas and soda amongst each other and celebrated today's accomplishment, while also reminding each other of the upcoming finals. They may have survived their midterms, but their final exams were a different story. That didn't mean they couldn't celebrate, though, because their victory today was still a victory!

Of course, Suzune didn't join them for that, simply choosing to eat her share on her own despite Kikyo's attempts to get her to join them. Kiyotaka only shook his head in amusement at that interaction. Even after all the changes she exhibited in the past two months, old habits still die hard for Horikita Suzune.

After a while, right when Kiyotaka was feeling tempted to head home to his dorm room, the young man felt someone tapping him on the shoulder, making him turn around to see Kei looking at him with a conflicted expression on her face. Looks like he was right in thinking that she wasn't feeling well, and now she was going to tell him about it.

"Can I talk to you? It's important," she asked.

"What's the problem?" Kiyotaka sounded so concerned for her that it surprised even himself.

"No, not here…" Kei shook her head as she glanced at everyone else, before turning back to him. "Can we go to your room?"

Kiyotaka thought about it for a moment, wondering if there would be any risks in doing such a thing, before he shrugged mentally. It's not like the others would know that he and Kei would be having a private conversation, unless they leave together in front of everyone's eyes.

In response to her question, he brought out his phone and typed in a quick message before sending it to the blonde girl. Kei felt her phone vibrate and immediately read the text he sent.

Ayanokouji: I'll head out first, then you follow. If we leave together, it'll raise some questions. I'll leave the door unlocked for you.

Kei turned to him and nodded in agreement. He must have thought that whispering things to each other, no matter how quiet they are, they would be caught in the act and their classmates would start questioning them.

Kiyotaka then stood up, gaining everyone's attention. "Thanks for the food, everyone. But I want to head back to my dorm. It's been a long day for me, and I'd like to get an early rest."

"Come on, stay for a while longer, Ayanokouji!" Sudo insisted, and Ayanokouji only shook his head at that. "Ugh, where do you live, anyway?"

"I'm not obligated to answer that," he told his friend as he headed for the door. Before leaving though, he turned his head to glance at everyone inside. "See you tomorrow, everyone."

"See you, Ayanokouji-kun!"

Kikyo waved her arm in farewell, with Maya, Kayano, and Satsuki doing the same. Suzune still looked like she was angry at him, but sent him a weak wave nonetheless. The only ones who didn't react were Ike and Yamauchi, who looked happy more than anything now that he was leaving.

After closing the door behind him, he quickly went inside his dorm unit before anyone else could see him and left the place unlocked so that Karuizawa could get in without a problem.

He dumped himself on his bed after kicking his shoes off, before waiting for Kei to arrive. Luckily, it didn't take the girl more than five minutes to step inside his room. Any longer than ten minutes, and he would have been asleep.

"Thanks for letting me in here, Ayanokouji-kun," Kei smiled as she opened the door and went inside.

"No problem," he replied while sitting up from his bed. "Make sure you lock that, by the way."

[Congratulations! You have unlocked the Achievement: 'My Place is Free Tonight'! You gained +5 in Aura!]

Kiyotaka blinked a few times at seeing that system notification which came out of nowhere. He was first confused on what it was about when nothing has happened with any of his heroines yet, until he got a good look

"'My Place is Free Tonight'? What does that mean?" he asked in his thoughts, feeling completely stumped at first with a total lack of possible answers, until he looked at Kei who had taken off her shoes and turned to him afterwards.

"Can I sit there?" she pointed to the spot beside him on his bed, to which he nodded.

Now that he thought about it, Kei is literally the first girl to step inside his room. Within the two months that he spent here in this school, even after weeks of spending time with Suzune and Kikyo, none of them have gone inside of his room. As a matter of fact, Kikyo's unit was the first dorm he had been to that's not his own.

It feels weird that there's an 'achievement' for this scenario but then again, there's nothing 'normal' about his broken superpower in the first place. He shouldn't be surprised that there's an achievement for the first time that a girl steps inside of his dorm room.

"What did you tell everyone else when you left?" he asked the girl as she sat beside him.

"I just told them I was feeling sleepy and I wanted to go home early to sleep. Luckily, they didn't ask any suspicious questions like if I was going to meet with you or something," the girl sighed, feeling relieved that everyone else didn't ask those kinds of questions.

"Basically the same excuse as mine," he commented in his thoughts, feeling a bit amused at her decision. Karuizawa must not have thought of a good reason to tell them, so she did the same thing as him. "So what's the problem? It must be pretty serious if you wanted to talk in private."

"It's… uh… it's… kind of embarrassing to say…" Kei muttered, looking so ashamed that she had to look away, even though she was pretty determined to talk to him a while ago.

"Well, if you don't say anything, then I guess we're going to be like this the whole night," he joked. Kiyotaka had no problem helping her out with whatever problem she had, but Kei needed to say something first before anything else.

[A Special Event has been Triggered!]

His eyes widened slightly upon seeing the new notification from the system, before resisting the urge to groan. It just couldn't resist, huh? Of course the system would do this right when he's completely alone with Karuizawa.

"What the hell is this 'special event' going to be about this—"

"...would you be my boyfriend…?!"

That snapped him out of his thoughts.

Kiyotaka looked at his companion, whose cheeks were bright red in embarrassment as she struggled to keep her gaze locked towards him. The girl definitely said something, but his attention was drawn to the notification just now and because of that, he couldn't catch on to what came out of her mouth.

"Come again?"

Kei blushed even more at realizing that he didn't hear her, so she had to say that embarrassing question again! She felt the urge to snap at him for failing to listen to her, but thought against it. She was trying to seek his help, and yelling at Kiyotaka won't do her any favors.

And so, despite the great embarrassment that she felt upon asking it the first time, Kei spoke again.

"W-Would you please b-be my boyfriend, Ayanokouji-kun…?"

Kiyotaka could only stare at her with his mouth hanging open.

What the hell was going on today? Seriously, was it his lucky day or something? It was crazy enough that Kushida confessed to him earlier, and now Karuizawa too? And that's not even counting the encounter he had with Chabashira-sensei at the rooftop—

"W-Wait, before you think of anything else, I don't mean that literally…!" she added, which snapped the young man out of his thoughts again. Compared to her usual fiery and tsundere demeanor, it was weird yet interesting to see Kei in a state like this. "Uh… what I mean is… will you be fine if you… p-pretend to be my boyfriend for a while?"

Kiyotaka took a moment to absorb her words and let them register in his mind. "You want me to pretend to be your boyfriend?" he asked, completely stumped at the nature of her words.

The girl nodded weakly, feeling the heat in her cheeks continue to rise as she tried her best to keep her gaze towards him.

…okay, so he was wrong. This wasn't a confession at all, but he was left confused at what Kei's intentions were. If she's not confessing, then what is she trying to accomplish? To have him as a fake boyfriend? For what, though? What does she need a fake boyfriend for? To show off to the girls that she had a boyfriend, albeit a fake one?

Ugh, if only the system could give him a clue or some context in such situations…

"Wait a second… " he thought as he had a moment of realization.

When he first saw Kei's 'heroine summary' about a month ago, it stated how the girl had been bullied ruthlessly in her old school and what she was planning to do here in this new school.

She had intended to look for someone who could protect her as a fake boyfriend, only to hold back on that plan when the dorm arrangements were changed. From there, she didn't do anything more to advance on that plan because she grew distrustful of the boys and didn't wish to talk to any of them. That changed completely when he and Kei talked for the first time at Keyaki Mall and from there, their relationship only became better to the point that she didn't become angry when she found out that he lived on the same floor as her, despite her opinion about the dorm arrangement months ago.

"She's trying to get me to be her fake boyfriend," he concluded in his thoughts while rolling his eyes. "Of course she would. I'm the only guy she talks to, anyway. I'm also the only guy she trusts, so it shouldn't be a surprise that she'd ask me that question."

Kiyotaka wanted to slam his head against the wall. He felt angry and frustrated with himself for not realizing it sooner, to the point that he actually thought that Kei was actually confessing to him for real!

Instead, the young man sighed mentally.

Well, as much as he wanted to help this girl, he can't really accept anything without learning the truth from Kei herself. Sure, he may know about her past thanks to the system, but that was from his point of view. In the blonde's eyes, he had no idea about what happened to her in her old school. If he agrees to her ludicrous request without context, it would only end badly for them both.

"Why?" he asked her.

"L-Look, just give me an answer, okay? Will you or won't you?" she pleaded, looking more embarrassed by the moment.

"Well, that's not fair. You invite me for a talk in my own room, and you're not going to say anything? How am I supposed to help you when I have no idea what's going on?" he argued, wanting the girl to be honest with what she wanted from him.

"I…I'd rather not say…" Instead of embarrassment, she now looked gloomy. The same expression she had for a moment in Kikyo's room was back.

"I won't force you to tell me anything. But if you want me to even hear you out, I need to know the reason why you're asking me to do such a thing for you."

Kei became quiet after that, and Kiyotaka only stared at her. The girl seemed like she was contemplating what to do and he simply waited for what she would say. If she tells him the truth regarding this whole thing, then good. If not, then that would be a shame, even though he already knew why she was doing this.

"You're my friend, right? You're someone I can trust… right, Ayanokouji-kun?" she asked, her voice going from flustered to nervous in an instant.

"Do you even have to ask?" he asked rhetorically.

The girl let out a massive sigh of relief at his reassuring words. "All right, I'll tell you… but… you have to promise not to tell anyone. Please," she pleaded.

He nodded. "I promise."

…and tell him, she did.

Everything that he already knew about her past, Kei explained it to him with more detail. He already felt bad for the girl when he saw her 'summary', but now he felt a bigger need to protect her after she told him her first-hand experiences at being bullied. Several times during her re-telling of her life in her old school, Kiyotaka felt murderous intentions that he had not felt in a long time, and it was directed to the people who pushed her around and targeted her.

It was probably because of the system. No doubt that it was influencing him and caused him to feel bloodlust towards Kei's bullies, not that he minded it. As a matter of fact, he was tempted to ask the girl for the names of the people who bullied her and pay them a visit, but thought better of it. As much as he would like to do that, it required a lot of effort and he already had his hands full with a lot of things.

It even reached the point where a few tears began to leak out of her eyes, causing him to offer her a clean handkerchief, which she accepted gratefully. Kiyotaka told her afterwards that if she didn't feel comfortable telling his story to him, she could stop but to his surprise, Kei insisted that she'll tell him everything.

After saying everything that she had to say about her life in her past school, Kei remained quiet and only used the hanky that Kiyotaka gave to her in order to wipe away her tears.

"So let me get this straight… you were bullied in school your whole life…"

She nodded.

"And on the first day of school, you were planning to ask a boy from our class if he could pretend to be your boyfriend…"

She nodded again.

"But then, the chairman announced the new dorm arrangements, so you backed out on that plan for a while out of fear…"

Kei nodded yet again.

"But then, we became friends and you started to trust me… you even saw me teaching Yamauchi and Ike a lesson at the library," he finished his own little summary of everything she said, while also feeling surprised that Kei witnessed that particular moment.

How did he not detect her presence that time…? Hmm, probably because he was too focused on teaching those two idiots a lesson they would never forget.

"That's why I asked you… because you looked like someone who could protect me if something bad happens…" she said quietly, remembering that particular moment at the library. She didn't mean to spy on him, but it's what solidified her decision to ask him if he could pretend to be her boyfriend.

"I see," he muttered.

"Well, now you know," Kei brought her legs up to her chest and hugged them together, as she rested her head on top of her knees. A few more tears escaped her eyes, which she wiped away. "Now you know why I'm asking you for help. Because I don't want to get bullied again. I don't want it to happen again. I just want… I just want to have a normal life here… is it too much to ask for?"

Kiyotaka stared at her for a moment, as he tried to figure out what to say. Should he reassure her that everything will be fine? Hold her hand? Give her a hug? Tell her that he'll be there for her? He still sucked when it came to this subject, damn it!

Before he could do anything though, three pink screens appeared in front of him as the world froze completely.

A. [Why didn't you fight back? Or better yet, why didn't you report the people who did those things to you?]

B. [I'm sorry to hear that. If you ever need someone to lean on, I'm here.]

C. [...I know what it feels like.]

After feeling relieved at the system's timely intervention, Kiyotaka quickly observed his possible choices. The first two options were completely normal responses, so Kiyotaka ignored them right away. What caught his attention was the third option which, for the first time ever since he's lived with this eroge power, wasn't a perverted choice.

He tried to think of what the third option meant, but all he could think of is that he would show empathy towards her by sharing his own experiences that were similar to hers. It was the only fitting context that he could think of, because it was about relating what she went through to what he experienced…

…which also means that he would be telling this girl about his own past.

"No way."

…that would be his response if this was any other time. If they weren't in his room right now and Kei wasn't feeling depressed, Kiyotaka would have flat-out rejected this option and go for either of the first two instead. It's not out of anger or anything, though. He simply didn't want to disclose any information about his past to anyone, not even his heroines.

Right now, though? There's no doubt that this was the right choice to make.

['To Protect Her Smile' has been Activated!]

Yep. Curse this broken superpower for influencing him enough to make him willing to go through such lengths to keep his heroines happy.

And so, despite having this feeling in his gut that's telling him that this would come to bite him in the ass eventually, he pushed Option C.

"...I know what it feels like," he said as the world around him started to move again.

"What…?" Kei sniffled, as she turned her head to look at him.

"I know what it feels like to get pushed around and be unable to do anything. That feeling of helplessness… when you think that the whole world is against you? I know how it feels. Like you, I also want a normal high school life that's free from those feelings."

Kei blinked a few times as his words started to click in her mind. He… understood her? Kiyotaka knew how she felt?

"You do…?"

"It wasn't anyone from my school who did it to me, though. Someone else made me feel that way."

"W-Who?" she asked, now filled with curiosity regarding her friend.

Kiyotaka took a deep breath, bracing himself for what he was going to say.

There's no going back now.

"My father," he revealed.

The girl needed a few moments to let his words sink into her mind, and all that she could feel was confusion afterwards.

"Your… father?"

"Well, I wouldn't really call him that since he never acted like one. It was just to tell you who he was," he shrugged.

Kei raised an eyebrow. If she was curious before, she was filled with a ton of questions now. How could Kiyotaka's own father be the cause of his suffering?

"What exactly did he do to you?"

"I can't really describe it, but let's just say that I wasn't raised like other kids. While others normally have a good childhood, playing with others, making friends, and being taken care of by their parents, I didn't get any of that. I had to survive on my own."

Those last words rang in her ears like they were the tolling bells of a church. Kei couldn't believe what she was hearing. She thought she had it bad in her old school? Well, Kiyotaka went through worse and it affected her more than she thought.

"But… no one deserves that! How could your father do something like that to you?" she exclaimed, before a sudden idea struck her mind. "W-Wait, is this… is this the reason why you always look like that?"

"Perhaps… but I don't really remember when exactly. All I know is that I've been like this for as long as I can remember," he told her honestly. "I should be thankful for this superpower, though. If I didn't have this, I might have never felt what it's like to smile and laugh again…"

For all the trouble and stress that the system had given him, one thing that he would never be pissed about is the fact that his strange power helped him get in touch with his emotions again to the point that he could show it on his face through his expressions.

"But why would he do that to his own son…?" Kei asked after getting over her shock at his last answer.

He shook his head in amusement. That man seeing him as a son? He'd rather seduce every single one of his heroines than believe that bullshit.

"I don't believe he ever saw me as a son. In his eyes, I'm only a means to an end."

"What do you mean?"

"That's something I can't tell you," he shook his head. He had already revealed enough of his past to her, there was no need to go further. The White Room was a subject that he would never bring up to anyone who was completely innocent to its horrors. "Maybe someday in the future, I will… but not now."

Kei frowned and pouted at him upon hearing that. She still had a lot of questions about him, and he's going to leave her hanging like this?

"Now you're the one who's being unfair. Come on, I told you about myself. Why can't you do the same?"

Kiyotaka sent her a serious look. "It's not just that. It's more complicated than you think, and it's better if you just leave it alone."

"Fine," she relented after a few moments. As much as she wanted to argue that she wanted to know more about him, it was Kiyotaka's choice if he wished to tell her or not. "I still want to hear the end of this story, though. Someday when you're not so secretive."

"Regarding your original question…" he said, shifting the conversation elsewhere. "I apologize, but I can't give you a relationship that's fake. That wouldn't be fair to you. Everything that you wanted to avoid in your old school? It would only come back if I pretend to be in a relationship with you."

Kei sighed. She wasn't even surprised at his answer. "Yeah, I expected as much."

"Really? You expected it yet you went on ahead and asked me anyway," he raised an eyebrow at her out of interest.

"Well, I still wanted to give it a try! I had no idea what would be your answer, and if there was the slightest chance that you'd say yes, there was still a chance."

"Why me, though? You could have approached anyone else about this who would agree to be a fake boyfriend in a heartbeat."

"You were the only one I had in mind," she muttered, her cheeks turning red again for the first time in minutes. "I don't have any other guy friends in the classroom, and it's not like I'm popular outside of the class. You're right, though. I could have asked someone like Hirata-kun and he might have agreed, but I trust you more."

"I see…"

The two sat there in silence afterwards, with neither one of them knowing what to say next.

What now? Kiyotaka had given his answer to her original question, so does that mean that they were done? Should she leave now? Should she just stand up and say goodbye? This turned out to be a pretty eventful and emotional conversation between them, but was this now the point where they would have to bid farewell to each other?

"I guess that's something we both have in common, huh?" asked Kei, feeling a bit uncomfortable with the silent atmosphere between them, yet there was something in her mind that was telling her not to leave yet.

"I suppose," he replied while rubbing the back of his head, sharing the same uncomfortable feeling as her. Damn his socially awkward nature for not knowing what to do now.

"Do you… do you want to hug?"

Upon hearing that question, Kiyotaka quickly turned around to face her, and he wasn't surprised to see the girl blushing furiously. Did she just say what he thought she said?

"...do I want to hug?" he repeated her question, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Yeah, a hug. What, you've never gotten a hug before?" she smirked despite the burning feeling in her cheeks.

He actually thought about that question for a good moment. "I… don't believe so," he told her honestly, unable to recall a moment where he had been hugged by someone.

Remembering what he said about his father just a while ago, Kei immediately regretted her words. "O-Oh. I'm… sorry, I didn't know."

"It's fine."

The girl cleared her throat. "W-Well, do you want to hug, then? Friends do it all the time and it feels really good to do it," she asked, changing her position so that she was kneeling on the bed while facing him.

He blinked in surprise. He had expected something like this from either Suzune or Kikyo, but not Kei. Although, he shouldn't really be taken aback by this. After that deep and heartfelt conversation that they had about their somewhat similar pasts, it totally makes sense why Kei would do this.

"Are you sure? I thought you hated boys."

"Oh come on, are you still worried about that? I already told you that you're different from any other guy out there! Why do you think I asked you to be my fake boyfriend?!" she snapped at him, before raising her arms and spreading them wide, an invitation for him to do the same. "A-And, I thought… I thought that since we kinda went through something similar when we were younger… it would feel better than any normal hug…"

"If it's fine with you, then I wouldn't mind."

He assumed the same position as her, kneeling on his bed and facing the girl with his arms spread apart. The two stared at each other for a few moments, before Kei surprised him by lunging first, wrapping her arms around his back. Kiyotaka stared at her for a moment before doing the same, as he felt her hugging him tighter.

Kiyotaka's eyes widened slightly at her action. He didn't dislike it, though. As a matter of fact, he was compelled to do the same and after he did, the young man felt a sense of comfort filling his entire body, as though it was telling him that everything's going to be alright.

It was a completely foreign feeling to him, and yet he didn't mind it. In fact, he wanted more of it and let himself surrender to the sensation.

"This feels… nice," he commented while letting his head rest on her shoulder.

"It does, doesn't it?" A sigh of contentment escaped the girl's mouth as she leaned her head against him. Kei smiled to herself as a few more tears escaped her eyes but this time, she didn't feel like wiping them away. "It's funny, I wanted to talk to you because I wanted you to pretend to be my boyfriend… but maybe a hug from a friend is all I needed."

Kiyotaka found himself agreeing with that statement wholeheartedly.

"Perhaps."

[Special Event 'Kei's Salvation' has been cleared! You gained 50 Affection Points with Karuizawa Kei!]

[Relationship Status 'Out of Darkness' has been maxed! Relationship Status with Karuizawa Kei has been upgraded to 'Best Friends'!]

[Congratulations! The Skill 'Hug Monster' has been Created!]

[Hug Monster] (Passive Skill): Grants your heroine a warm sense of comfort when you wrap your arms around them and makes them feel safe from everything else. The hugs you give are extremely addicting and will result in you being glomped by your heroines at the most unexpected of times.

Kiyotaka stared at the notifications that showed up and quickly read through their contents. Normally, he would have felt annoyed or frustrated with this scenario but to his own surprise, he found himself reacting by shaking his head in amusement, as if he was completely used to this already and didn't feel like the system was destroying his sanity.

"What even is my life at this point…?" he asked himself before turning his attention back to the girl who was hugging him and the warmth he felt from it.

In the midst of his chaotic life in this school, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka found a few minutes of peace in this hug that he shared with Karuizawa Kei.

And it was something that he would cherish for the rest of his life.

---

MINASAN, YONDE KURETE ARIGATŌ! AISHITEMAAAAASUUUUU! *starts playing air guitar*

-Lance