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.

20. Every Girl is Best Girl!

Hey, it's the Ace of the COTE archive, finally back to deliver another wacky chapter focusing on the adventures of Kiyotaka and his harem! College has continued to take its toll on me because it's my final year, so don't expect me to be fully back. Plus, I am now a pro-wrestler who wrestles for the local promotion in his country. My free time has continued to diminish until now but as you can see, I am still writing! With that being said, let's get on with the chapter!

COTE: The Eroge Playlist: h-t-t-p-s-:-/-/-you-tube-.-com-/-playlist-?-list=PLzapQr6Br4elz3lo7fOkE34DjcBEnJB87

Discord link: [discord . gg / 4y5QVPj]

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

---

The following day started off rather strange for the students of Class D, mainly because of their teacher.

No, it was nothing too out of the ordinary. It's just that the entirety of Class D were surprised with what they were hearing from Chabashira-sensei this early in the morning, during their homeroom no less.

"I have nothing to discuss with you for today's homeroom. You're free to spend the rest of the period doing whatever you want."

Almost everyone looked at her in surprise, to the point that they almost thought they were hearing things.

But after a few moments of letting her words register in their minds, reality began to sit in and their mortified expressions quickly morphed into looks of delight. It's like they were children who had been gifted with their favorite candy.

"Really, sensei? We can do whatever we want?!"

"Starting the day with a free period? Man, this is the life!"

"This is exactly what I needed after staying up late watching my favorite show! I'm just going to sleep until our next teacher shows up!"

"This is, like, the first time we'll be having a free period! I'm not gonna waste this chance at all!"

"However…"

With just one word, Sae ended their moment of happiness in a matter of seconds.

"That doesn't mean you won't be monitored. It is still homeroom and as such, I expect you to behave as if I'm here, teaching all of you. If you don't behave, well, I'm sure you already know what happens if you do that."

In typical Sae fashion, the woman left an intimidating message for her students and none of them could even say anything afterwards.

And of course, all of them indeed knew what would happen if they didn't behave. It's a mistake that they have to avoid as much as they can, if they still want to keep the points that they've earned in the past month.

None of them wanted to go back to having 97 points.

"In the meantime, why don't you take this time to do something meaningful with the time given to you? Like searching for more evidence of your classmate's innocence," she told them, taking a glance at Akito who wasn't fazed by that remark. "You only have less than a week to help him, you know? Make the most of it. You do know that the reason why you still haven't received your points for this month is because of this incident, correct?"

Many of the students groaned at that. Some boys in particular were more displeased with this because they weren't really dedicated to helping their own classmate and simply wanted this issue to be over with.

But now that their own points were at stake, they had no choice but to take this a lot more seriously than before.

Haruka grimaced, not because of their due points but because of the reminder that they only had four days left before the trial. And within the three days that they have spent searching, they made no significant progress in their investigation.

Kokoro and Nene were hit with a wave of nervousness, before they took a glance at Akito. Both girls were scared of what might happen to him if they fail to prove the young man's innocence in time and they had a feeling that whatever it is, it won't be pretty.

That fateful day was looming closer and closer…

"Chabashira-sensei."

Everyone's eyes went towards the black-haired girl who sat at the back right beside Ayanokouji, as she raised her hand into the air.

"What is it, Horikita?"

Suzune brought her hand back down. "In case that we aren't able to find evidence and Miyake-kun does get expelled, what will happen to us? We lose one classmate and that's it?"

That was a question that piqued everyone's interest. For most of them, they were genuinely curious about what would happen if Miyake wasn't with them anymore. There were also some who were already scared of the answer, because they could suffer the same fate.

Meanwhile, there were a few boys who were eager to hear Chabashira's answer because it involves the scenario of a guy being expelled.

If there were less of them, that means they have more chances to win over the girls! Plus, Miyake was a fairly popular guy among them so with him gone, their female classmates would pay more attention to them, right?

"What is Horikita-san doing…?"

On the other hand, Haruka was about to speak up and ask her classmate why she would ask a question like that as if she was giving up, but the girl immediately noticed Akito raising his hand to stop her. It's as if he knew Haruka was going to react to this and quickly moved to calm her down.

Like his classmates, he was curious about what would happen to Class D if he does get expelled even though it wouldn't concern him anymore in that scenario.

Chabashira folded her arms. "Then you won't like the consequences. I can't disclose what will happen, but I would advise you to keep an eye on your points. This class currently has 212 points, right?"

Most of the students nodded.

"Well, if it happens that Miyake is expelled as a result of the trial, then you can expect that you won't like what will happen to the points you receive after that."

Almost immediately, the students of Class D became worried. What did their teacher mean by that? Is she saying that their points will be decreased once this is over? Even though they haven't gotten any amount from the school yet? Could it be that they'll lose all their points if their situation doesn't get any better?

Yosuke raised his hand, a concerned expression showing on his face. "Sensei, is expulsion really the only punishment that can be given to whoever's guilty? No matter how we look at it, expulsion is such a heavy punishment and it's hardly fair for the one being punished."

"Well, the lightest punishment that he can possibly get is a two-week suspension," the woman explained. "However, because the school is very strict regarding matters like bullying and violence towards other students, it's more likely that an immediate expulsion would be the final judgment."

Akito sighed and shook his head. He would be lying if he said he wasn't worried about the possible outcome of this whole situation, but he still felt confident that the truth will come out and it's the fact that he was innocent.

Plus, he had the support of Haruka and his classmates, even if it didn't involve everyone in the room.

"I'm curious, Chabashira-sensei. You seem like you're already convinced that Miyake-kun was the one who instigated the fight when the trial hasn't happened yet. Does this mean that the Class C students who pressed charges against him have found evidence that Miyake-kun started it?" asked Horikita.

Upon hearing that question from Suzune, everyone turned towards Chabashira-sensei once again. Especially those who are helping Akito in finding evidence to prove his innocence.

Did those Class C students actually find evidence? If they did, then how can it be possible? Akito wasn't the one who started the whole conflict! There's no way that there can be evidence against their classmate when he was the victim!

"I haven't heard anything from their teacher but from how your class doesn't appear to have any sort of lead so far that can prove Miyake is innocent either, I wouldn't hold my breath if he's the perpetrator of the whole incident."

Haruka, Kokoro, and Nene all let out collective sighs of relief. Despite their teacher's harsh words, Akito wasn't pronounced guilty yet and his enemies didn't have any evidence they could use against him.

They were still safe, at least for now. But this did mean that they needed to hurry, otherwise their efforts to save their classmate so far would be for naught. Three days have passed, and they still weren't any closer to finding any leads.

With that, Sae then picked up her clipboard and faced her students once more for a final statement.

"Once again, I expect you all to behave while I am not here. I'll see you all during our class later on."

As soon as Chabashira-sensei left the classroom, Horikita immediately stood up from her seat and marched over towards a certain someone, who raised an eyebrow at the very serious look on the former's face.

"H-Horikita-san…?"

"We can't afford to waste time, Kushida-san. We have to go now."

That was all that Suzune needed to say before grabbing Kikyo's wrist, and then began to walk out of the classroom with the other girl in tow.

"A-Ah, hang on a second! Shouldn't we tell Ayanokouji-kun what you're planning first?" The beige-haired girl asked, having a bit of trouble catching up with her 'friend' to the point that she almost tripped.

"He already knows and you know that, now let's be off."

Ignoring the further pleas coming out of Kushida's mouth, Horikita led the two of them out of the classroom, completely unaware of their classmates watching them leave together with curious looks on their faces.

"Is it just me… or are those two friends?" asked Hondo, raising an eyebrow at the strange scene that just transpired before their eyes.

"I mean, didn't Kushida-san say that she was with Horikita-san yesterday when we were all searching for that witness?" replied Sotomura.

"Did she? I wasn't really listening yesterday. Doesn't she hate Kushida-chan or something?"

"Wait, where did you get the notion that she hates Kushida-chan? I don't think she does," Miyamoto added.

Maezono nodded. "I agree, I don't think Horikita-san hates her. I've been seeing them talking to each other a lot these past few weeks."

"Yeah, I wonder why you're all surprised by this. They worked together while searching for the witness in Miyake-kun's case." Minami added.

Hondo grinned, thoroughly pleased with this turn of events. "Maybe Kushida-chan finally got through to Horikita, then! What an angel…"

Yamauchi was immediately overcome with surprise. "Wait, seriously? Has the Ice Queen finally warmed up to us?"

"Dude, have you been living under a rock? She literally had her own study group for the midterms and I think none of them complained about her, which means that she's a good teacher and she's warmed up to us!" Miyamoto butted in.

"What?! Sudo, is that true?!"

Several pairs of eyes then turned towards Sudo, who was caught off guard at the sudden attention.

"Eh? Uh, she was fine, I guess… I thought Horikita would be unbearable because of her attitude, but things turned out fine…" he muttered, rubbing the back of his head as he thought back to those study sessions he participated in as a part of Suzune's group.

Kayano frowned at him slightly. "That's a bit rude, Sudo-kun."

"What? You can't really say I'm wrong, you know?"

"Sweet! That means she's now available to be taken! I always thought Horikita-chan was cute, hehe. I wonder what it's like to be her boyfriend," Yamauchi grinned as his imagination began to run wild.

Shinohara threw him a look of disgust. "You're a disgusting pig. I hope you die already!"

Yamauchi instinctively moved away, even though his seat was nowhere near the girl. "W-What the hell's your problem?! Ike, help me out here, man!"

He turned to his friend who was sitting behind him but much to his horror, Ike just turned his head away as if he wasn't seeing anything.

Truth be told, he would like nothing more than to help his friend deal with the ugly witch but after Satsuki treated him to an afternoon snack a week ago, he didn't really want to be on bad terms with the girl again. It's the least he could do in return for that sweet gesture, even if they aren't really 'friends', per se.

"I'm just gonna stay out of this one…"

"Wha—?! You traitor!" Yamauchi cried as he felt betrayed, while Shinohara smirked in satisfaction.

While everyone else was pretty loud with their reactions to Horikita and Kushida leaving, Kiyotaka silently watched the whole scene unfold from where he was with a look of interest.

"I definitely didn't expect Horikita to just pull Kushida with her and then leave without saying anything else," he thought to himself. "But I guess Chabashira-sensei's words were just that impactful towards her. I'm still surprised that she has shown dedication in helping Miyake, though. Ever since she found out about what happened to him, she has lent her support in finding evidence for his case. I wonder if the old Horikita would do the same…"

Kiyotaka thought about it for a brief moment, before shaking his head almost immediately.

"Nah, she probably wouldn't. If there's anything I've learned from that girl during our early days here, it's that she didn't care about anyone except for me. And that only changed when she accepted Kushida as a friend. But then again, she might. After all, she believes that the only way for her to reach Class A is to work with her classmates."

"Senpai," a familiar voice cut into his thoughts, bringing the young man back into reality.

Kiyotaka only sighed as he turned his head to face the girl who was also his roommate (which nobody else knows, thankfully). Earlier, she was only sitting by the door where she was normally found but for some reason, she was now here and looked like she's planning to tell him something.

"What is it now, Amasawa?" he asked, already having a feeling that he wouldn't like whatever it is that comes out of her mouth.

"Do you mind if I go after them? I'm interested in how Horikita-senpai's plan would go~" she asked in a cute tone while leaning forward with her hands behind her back.

He gave her a blank stare.

Seriously? That's what she wanted to ask him? This felt like a humorous attempt to get his attention more than anything. That or she just wanted to bother him since their teacher wasn't here.

"Do whatever you want. What do you need my permission for?"

She grinned before leaning closer so she could whisper her next words to him. "Well, it's because I'm under your care, isn't it?"

"Good thing you still know when to keep your voice down."

Ichika simply giggled at the expression on her senpai's face before another person made their way towards the two of them. And from the sight of her eyebrow twitching madly, it's clear that this person wasn't in the mood for a tea party of any sort.

"Amasawa-san, would you mind keeping your distance from Kiyotaka already?" asked Karuizawa, who inserted herself in between Kiyotaka and Ichika to keep them away from each other.

"Oh, don't be so jealous, Karuizawa-senpai. I was planning to leave the classroom anyway," Ichika laughed in amusement before sending a wink towards the blonde girl. "Enjoy having some time with Ayanokouji-senpai to yourself~"

Barely able to hide her giggles, Ichika then skipped away happily and headed out of the classroom, leaving behind a frustrated Kei and a blank-faced Kiyotaka.

Kei gritted her teeth in frustration. "That girl… urgh, she gets on my nerves every time she opens her mouth."

"I wonder how she can just sit in our classroom and then leave anytime she wants… she did the same thing yesterday," Chiaki muttered curiously as she approached her two classmates. "Could she be a relative of someone who works here?"

"Don't know, don't care. I just don't like her being around Kiyotaka. It feels like she's up to something every time," she huffed whilst crossing her arms.

Chiaki sweat-dropped. "You're really doing a poor job of hiding your jealousy there, Karuizawa-san…"

"So what if I am? Don't tell me you're not bothered by that girl?"

After hearing that question, Chiaki's mind went back to the moment when they first talked to Ichika for the first time, which was only a few days ago.

Not only her, but there were three others who joined her in questioning the younger girl. They tried to get some answers from her to sate their curiosity and to find out how she is connected to Kiyotaka but unfortunately, it didn't end the way they wanted it to.

For Chiaki, well… let's just say she wasn't able to recover after what Ichika brought up in front of everyone else.

A blush took over the girl's features, before she cleared her throat to calm herself. "Well, I am. I can't really deny that, but I'm not gonna cause a scene in front of everyone just because I'm not comfortable with Amasawa-san around."

"Ahhh, whatever!" Kei whined in frustration before giving Kiyotaka a serious frown. "Kiyotaka, you should stay away from that girl. I don't trust her one bit."

"Calm down, Karuizawa. You're letting someone who's younger than you by one year get to your head easily," he told her while at the same time, he was thinking about what the younger girl had in mind. "I trust her not to do anything that will attract attention."

Kei pouted at him before looking away with a huff, displeased that the young man wasn't even taking her seriously. The girl even looked like she could cry at any moment…

He immediately saw the look of distress on her face and winced. Not wanting to risk the system activating and triggering that overpowered skill that can warp reality, Kiyotaka immediately stood up and reached out to pat her head, which made her eyes widen in surprise.

"Don't worry about Amasawa. She just gets a kick from teasing other people. I suggest you just do your best to ignore her."

The girl's cheeks turned pink at his gesture, as she looked down in a pointless effort to hide her embarrassment. That being said, Kei definitely looked like she was enjoying the comforting feeling brought by the headpat.

"You know what would make me feel better?" she mumbled.

"What?"

"If… If you start calling me by my first name from now on, then I'd feel better."

He raised an eyebrow. "You want me to call you by your first name?"

"Well, I've been calling you Kiyotaka since last week, so it's only fair that you do the same for me!" she snapped, forgetting that she was even embarrassed in the first place.

He scratched the back of his head and shrugged to himself. At least she didn't ask for something crazy like kissing her in front of everyone, which would have been worse.

"If that's what you want, Kei, then who am I to deny it?" he told her.

Kei's eyes widened in surprise, as if she couldn't believe that he actually did it despite her insistence. It didn't take long before her cheeks flared up once again out of embarrassment, and then looked to the side with a shy smile.

[You have gained 10 Affection Points with Karuizawa Kei!]

[Congratulations! You have unlocked the Achievement: 'The First Name is Sacred'! You gained +5 in Charm!]

Kiyotaka only sighed at seeing the two notifications that just appeared and didn't even bother dismissing them, letting both disappear naturally.

Well, he has called her by her first name now. One of his heroines at that, and he successfully prevented the system from activating because of her being sad. That's a good thing, especially after the system 'talked' to him yesterday…

However, now he was wondering if he'll have to call his other heroines by their given names from here on out. Knowing how Kikyo is like whenever she feels jealous of another girl is already a big red flag for him. Not only her, but Suzune could also be displeased with this new development because, well… that girl can get easily jealous as well.

Actually, you know what? All of his heroines can easily get jealous of one another, barring a few exceptions. Tsubasa, Hiyori, Airi, and Honami are too pure-hearted to even be jealous of anyone while Sae isn't 'madly in love' with him yet for her to be even jealous. However, Kiyotaka definitely felt like Sae is the type of woman to be angry if her man was being taken away. Her mood swings in class don't happen for no reason, after all.

This is how it's gonna be then? He'll be more surprised if he isn't the subject of a tug-of-war between his heroines at this point because of how jealous they can be. Hopefully, it doesn't get to the point where they'll turn into bloodthirsty yanderes as a sign of their feelings for him.

Please, system-san, don't make that a reality. For Kiyotaka's sake.

"W-Well, it's a good thing that you're not that hard to convince!" the blonde girl exclaimed, bringing him back to reality. "I thought you'd be stubborn about it or something which would have been annoying…"

"Calling someone by their first name isn't really a big deal for me."

"Oh dear, now I feel that I'm being left behind… even though I was the one who gave you your first kiss…"

As he heard those words, Kiyotaka turned to their other companion, who was looking away in order to hide her face from them as if she was feeling left out. However, it was quite obvious that this was only an act to get his attention.

And it worked.

"Do you also want me to call you by your first name, Matsushita?" he sighed.

The long-haired brunette smiled to herself, feeling pleased that she managed to get his attention with almost no effort at all.

"Well… I guess that wouldn't be such a bad idea, would it? After all, we're already familiar enough with each other. Right, Kiyotaka-kun?" Chiaki asked, putting more emphasis when she said his name.

…yep, he called it.

Because of that, Kiyotaka wasn't surprised at her request and simply shrugged once more. This also means that he should be prepared for when Kikyo and Suzune find out about this, especially in the former's case.

"I suppose you're right, Chiaki."

A big smile appeared on Chiaki's face as soon as her name left his mouth and a healthy blush took over her features. Surprisingly, the young man found this to be a beautiful sight to see that it made him blush slightly as a result.

If he had to be honest, Chiaki was very beautiful. There's no question about it. In fact, he could say that she's a good contender for the title of 'prettiest girl in the classroom' and it wouldn't be crazy if she won that award. There was just something about this girl that radiated elegance above everything else, which actually makes her stand out among his female classmates.

Ironically, her 'heroine summary' stated that Chiaki prefers to hide her abilities from everyone else to avoid putting attention on herself. It didn't say anything about hiding how beautiful she is from other people though, and most of their classmates acknowledge it.

[You have gained 10 Affection Points with Matsushita Chiaki!]

After a few moments of silence, Chiaki smirked and sent a wink at the person whom she had her eyes on for quite some time now.

"Ara~ I like how sensible you can be, Kiyotaka-kun."

Brushing her bangs to the side, Chiaki leaned down and planted a sweet kiss on his cheek before pulling away almost immediately afterwards.

Kiyotaka stared at her in surprise, while Chiaki only smiled. He didn't expect her to kiss him out of nowhere but then again, it's not like she had anything to hide from their classmates. They had a front-row view of the kiss she gave him last week, after all.

Her eye twitching in annoyance, Kei gritted her teeth at the scene that's happening in front of her. It only became worse when Chiaki turned towards her with a smug look on her face.

"You're not getting ahead of me, Matsushita-san!" she growled.

"Oh? And what are you going to do about it, Karuizawa-san?" Chiaki smirked.

Kei didn't answer her. Instead, she turned her attention towards Kiyotaka and grabbed his face, before leaning closer towards him with a huge blush on her face.

The 'Masterpiece' didn't do anything to stop Kei as her lips descended upon his own in a loving kiss, even though the rational part of his brain was screaming at him to do it. He only stared at the girl and didn't do anything more than that, but that didn't mean he didn't enjoy the sensation of her lips. This is only the second time that they had kissed, yet it felt just as good as the first time.

After a few seconds of keeping their lips together, Kei pulled away with her face as red as a tomato, but didn't look like she regretted her actions one bit. She bore an embarrassed look for a while, before slowly coming to terms with what she did and found herself becoming happier as a result.

And so, the young man became the victim of two kisses from two of his heroines and the worst part is that it didn't stop there.

Or is it?

"Is it because I enjoy this or is it just because I know that resisting it is futile? Or is it because of the system, as always." Kiyotaka asked himself, questioning his own helplessness when it came to his heroines.

After taking a moment to get over her embarrassment, Kei immediately turned her attention towards her 'love rival' and flashed a smug look of her own.

"Heh. Bet you can't do the same as me, Matsushita-san."

Chiaki merely smirked in response, unaffected by the taunt.

"Ara, I think you forgot that I was Kiyotaka-kun's first kiss, Karuizawa-san. Shall I provide a demonstration?"

The smug expression on Kei's face vanished right away and was replaced with a look of panic that was masked with anger, especially when the brunette went in front of Kiyotaka and grabbed his face as well, looking like Chiaki was about to do the same thing as she did.

And once again, Kiyotaka remained in his seat, unable and unwilling to do anything against what the girl had in mind. It's like he was a sponge that was ready to absorb anything that was thrown at him.

"D-Don't you dare…!" Kei warned, looking as if she was about to blow a fuse.

Just before she could lean in to close the distance between them, the brown-haired girl giggled to herself and shook her head, feeling amused upon seeing the angry look on Kei's face.

"Oh, very well… I shall hold back on kissing him for now. I don't want to put too much pressure on you, Karuizawa-san," Chiaki teased with a smirk. "I only hope that you won't forget how I did it first before anyone else."

"Ugh, so what if you were Kiyotaka's first kiss? I can kiss him better than you!" Kei groaned.

"Hm, and how do you know that? He hasn't given his opinion, has he?" Chiaki replied. "Plus, I kissed him while we were at the bath together, which was both of our first kisses. It's something that he'll never forget and it's something that I'll never forget~"

Even though she knew that her classmate/love rival was only doing this to elicit a reaction out of her, Kei couldn't help but fall victim to it.

Chiaki did make a point, though.

What she did at the bathhouse was something that shook everyone there to the core, and even Kiyotaka admitted that he enjoyed his first kiss with her. The fact that it happened in an incredibly steamy setting only made it better. It truly was a first kiss that he would never forget.

Still, Kei refused to give in and defeat so easily.

"Kiyotaka, who's the better kisser between us?!" she asked the only person who could give them a clear answer on who was superior.

Kiyotaka only gave them a deadpan look and remained quiet, knowing that whoever he picks from the two of them will cause the other to be mad and he didn't want to find out what would happen if that was the case. He kept quiet even when Chiaki joined in and asked the same question

"Oh, just end me now…" he said in his mind as the two girls continued to invade his personal space like it was nothing.

Meanwhile, many of the boys in Class D sent glares towards the young man out of jealousy, all while wondering how he could be so lucky when it came to the girls.

First Kushida-chan, then Matsushita, and then Karuizawa… all of them have shown that they were interested in him romantically.

"That lucky bastard…" was the collective thought in all of their minds.

---

Suzune and Kikyo walked through the hallways of the school building with one goal in mind: To obtain a photo of Class C so that Miyako can pinpoint which of the students within that class were the ones who attacked him.

While Suzune was completely determined on getting the task done, her companion was not-so-pleased with her actions.

"Geez, if you wanted to continue with your plan to ask Shiina-san, then you could have just said so, Horikita-san. Other people wouldn't have been so forgiving if you did it to them," Kikyo spoke in a scolding manner while sending a small frown towards her friend.

She definitely didn't appreciate her companion's actions in the classroom, right after Chabashira-sensei allowed them to have the rest of their homeroom to themselves. Before she could even do anything after their teacher left, Horikita had dragged her out of the classroom by the arm, basically demanding to be accompanied by her friend.

It was quite the comical scene, from an outside perspective.

Suzune sighed and lowered her head in response. "I apologize if I have caught you off guard, Kushida-san. I simply do not want to waste time while we have it. We only have until the end of homeroom to be able to put the plan in motion."

"Stop trying to justify yourself already, you bitch… now my arm hurts a bit because of you," she scoffed in her mind while stretching her right arm, before putting on her mask again. "The plan? Does that mean we're heading to Class C right now to ask Shiina-san about the incident?"

"That's correct," Suzune nodded.

"Don't you think it's a bit risky to do this now, Horikita-san? What if they're having a class right now? We can't really ask Shiina-san if they're busy, let alone go to their classroom."

"If they are currently having a class, then we'll do this later. However, it wouldn't be a bad thing to see what they are doing for ourselves and if it's possible, we could get a photo of them while they're unaware of our presence."

Kikyo sighed to herself. "I hope you're right, Horikita-san. I just don't want us to get caught by them and get accused of doing something suspicious."

"They won't. We'll be quick and discreet with our movements to prevent any of them from seeing us. As soon as we get a clear photo of Class C, we leave immediately."

"Roger that, Horikita-san."

The two continued on with Kikyo leading the way, as she was more familiar with the school hallways than Suzune. However, before they could even reach Class C's designated room, they quickly spotted their person of interest heading out of her classroom before walking away to who-knows-where.

"There she is," Suzune pointed to where Shiina was, while keeping her eyes glued on the girl from Class C.

Kikyo whistled to herself. How incredibly lucky they were to get an opportunity like this! It would make things a thousand times easier for them compared to their efforts in the past two days, all of which had contributed to nothing.

"Wow, we're lucky that she's not in her classroom right now."

"Hmm… where could she be going at this time? Could she be meeting someone? Is she planning to do something? Or could it be that she's planning to go to our class to see how we are faring in our investigation of Miyake-kun's case?"

The beige-haired girl sent a deadpan look at her companion while wondering if Horikita was actually serious about those allegations. She has to be kidding… but just from seeing the dead-serious expression on her face which was directed towards Shiina, it's clear that she wasn't kidding.

Seriously, this bitch should learn a thing or two about emotional quotient instead of the other one. Maybe it would change her from being a stuck-up pathetic bitch to someone bearable. However, never in a million years could Kikyo see herself helping this homewrecker because one, Horikita is too selfish to even think about other people and two, she'd rather get caught having sex with Kiyotaka than lending this bitch a hand.

"Horikita-san, I think she's just going to the restroom…" Kikyo sweat-dropped.

Upon hearing that suggestion from her friend, the raven-haired girl quickly realized that she had gone overboard with the possible scenarios in her mind that she didn't think of a simple reason such as going to the restroom.

"...you make a good point, Kushida-san."

At the very least, Suzune seemed to acknowledge the mistake she made and lowered her head to try and hide her embarrassment. Kikyo saw this and only smirked to herself, amused at Suzune's obvious blunder which was a pretty rare moment in itself. In fact, she had never seen this bitch acting like this before.

The two waited for a bit until Hiyori was at a considerable distance away from her classroom, before they finally decided to follow her. When they caught up to her, Horikita tapped the girl's shoulder a few times to get her attention.

"Shiina-san," she spoke as Hiyori turned around to face them.

The silver-haired girl from Class C took a moment to observe them for a bit, before realizing "Oh. You're… Horikita-san and Kushida-san, right? I remember we took a bath with Ayanokouji-kun together a few weeks ago."

The blush that appeared on Suzune and Kikyo's faces was instantaneous, as the two of them immediately turned their heads in different directions. They were both taken aback at what the girl from Class C said out of nowhere, all while Hiyori looked at them in wonder.

"P-Please be mindful of what you say out in the open, Shiina-san…" Suzune tried her best to glare at Hiyori, but was struggling to even do it without blushing furiously.

It was only after those words that the silver-haired girl realized what she said and the possible implications of it.

"I'm sorry. I just said what was on my mind," Hiyori chuckled nervously.

"You're lucky no one was around…" Kikyo scoffed in her thoughts. Honestly, she wouldn't have a problem with others finding out that she was interested in Kiyotaka. After all, she kissed him in front of her class about a week ago.

What she didn't want other people to know was that she spent a few hours in the local bathhouse not just with him, but with eight other girls. She didn't want other people to think that she swings both ways, because she doesn't!

"So what can I do for you two?" Hiyori asked with a smile.

"Where were you heading? We saw you walking out of your classroom," Kikyo asked in return.

"To the restroom. Is there a problem?"

Kikyo sent Suzune an 'I told you so' look right away, while the black-haired girl looked a bit ashamed at being proven wrong at the very least. However, she shook her head immediately to get her mind back on track. They were here for a reason.

"Will it be okay if we ask for a bit of your time, Shiina-san? We want to ask you a question."

Hiyori nodded. "Sure. We don't really have anything to do for the next hour since Sakagami-sensei let us have the rest of our homeroom to ourselves. What is it?"

"Are you aware that a few of your classmates have gotten involved in an incident a few days ago?"

"Yes, we were told by Sakagami-sensei that three of my classmates were involved in a fight with another student, but I don't know who they were in conflict with because I wasn't listening. Why?"

"The student that your classmates have gotten in a conflict with happens to be one of our own. They cornered him near the bathhouse and proceeded to assault him to the point that he needed to be brought to the clinic to treat his injuries."

"Oh, my…" Hiyori gasped softly, bringing up a hand to cover her mouth. "I hope he is okay…"

Kikyo shook her head with a smile. "Don't worry about him, he's fine."

Hiyori let out a sigh of relief. "I'm glad to hear that. I'm not surprised that my classmates were like that towards him."

"Do you know anything about it?" asked Suzune, hoping for a positive response from the silver-haired girl.

"I'm sorry, Horikita-san. I don't know anything. I don't like violence and I keep my distance from anything related to it."

Suzune sighed and donned a thoughtful expression. Somehow, she expected that response so she wasn't surprised.

"Do you at least know who among your classmates were involved in that fight?"

"Hmm…" Hiyori thought about that question for a moment, before she was struck by a moment of realization. "I do remember Sakagami-sensei telling the rest of us that Ishizaki-kun, Komiya-kun, and Kondo-kun couldn't attend classes three days ago because they were treating some injuries that they had sustained for some reason…"

Both girls from Class D widened their eyes slightly in response, as they wordlessly agreed to one single conclusion.

"It's them. It has to be," Suzune stated. "I remember Sudo-kun mentioning that this Ishizaki-kun could be one of the attackers. Komiya-kun and Kondo-kun must be two of his friends who were also mentioned by Sudo-kun."

Kikyo nodded in agreement. "Yeah, but it's strange… they weren't able to go to school and yet they were the ones who ganged up on Miyake-kun. And even more strange, Miyake-kun was able to attend class and not them."

"It appears that they really wanted to sell the act of them being the victims and that Miyake-kun was the one who started the fight. It wouldn't be as convincing if they were able to attend their classes like nothing happened."

"But how could they do that? Did they inflict self-harm on themselves? Or are they just faking it?"

"If they were only faking their injuries, then it wouldn't have reached the point where a hearing would take place in order to settle the case between the two sides. They must have shown proof of their injuries to their teacher to prove they weren't faking," Suzune shook her head. "At the same time, the teachers realize the absurdity that three students were the ones who are injured in a 'fight' against one individual, so they believe that there's merit in Miyake-kun's words."

"Then that means they did it to themselves," Kikyo concluded. Even though they were part of a rival class, the girl couldn't help but be impressed with the lengths that Ishizaki, Kondo, and Komiya would go through in order to pin the blame on Miyake despite being the perpetrators of the whole incident.

"That's the most likely scenario that I could think of, Kushida-san. Of course, there is also the possibility that someone else caused the injuries that they sustained, but that would be another case entirely."

"So this is why they couldn't make it to class that day…" the silver-haired girl muttered as she listened to the conversation between the Class D girls. To think that her classmates were a part of this thing…

"Shiina-san, do you have a photo of those three students? Anything will do, as long as it shows their faces," asked Suzune while turning towards Hiyori. All they needed to provide Akito was a photo of three students from Class C, and he could point out if those were his attackers, which she was sure that they were.

"I don't. I'm sorry."

As Hiyori shook her head, both Class D students felt a wave of disappointment hit them both.

"I guess we have no choice but to take a picture of Class C ourselves," Kikyo sighed.

"I suppose," Suzune sighed as well. While she had no problem with doing what she needed to do in order to gather the necessary evidence, a photo of their three suspected perpetrators would have made things easier. "However, we have to be careful. If one of them even sees us doing such a thing, they will be suspicious of our actions and be aware that we are catching on to their scheme."

"Uhm, what are you two planning?" Hiyori asked, tilting her head curiously.

"Should we tell her? She's classmates with the people who attacked Miyake-kun," Kushida whispered into Horikita's ear.

Horikita thought about it for a moment, picturing what could happen if they did. "Shiina-san said that she dislikes violence. I don't believe she would tell on us and inform her classmates about what's happening."

"Well, it's your call, Horikita-san. I just hope you make the right decision."

The beige-haired girl stood back and let her friend think about what they should do. If this had taken place a while back, Suzune would never think of trusting a student from another class with any kind of information but after everything that's happened until now with Kiyotaka and Kikyo, she had gained a better perspective on things around her. And so, after a while, the black-haired girl took a deep breath and faced Hiyori once again.

"To put it simply, we are looking for evidence that can help our classmate with his current situation, Shiina-san. According to him, he only needs a photo of Class C to be able to point out who are the people that attacked him. Because of that, we are planning to take a picture of your class sometime within this day so we can show it to him."

"Hmm… maybe I can help with that?" Hiyori pondered.

"What are you saying, Shiina-san?"

The silver-haired girl smiled. "Instead of you two taking a picture of Class C as a whole, I could just do it myself and give you two a photo of Ishizaki-kun, Komiya-kun, and Kondo-kun. That would save you from taking a risk of being seen by my classmates."

Both girls from Class D were surprised, to say the least. They didn't expect someone from the same class as Miyake's attackers would help them in exposing the true culprits in this case. But then again, the fact that Hiyori was helping them by giving the names of the likely suspects was already more than what they expected from this encounter.

Suzune raised an eyebrow, skeptical of the girl's words. "Are you sure about that?"

"It would be easier for you both if I'm the one who does it, wouldn't you say? You wouldn't have to show yourselves to my classmates and there would be no chance of Ryuuen-kun finding out that you're doing something behind his back."

"Ryuuen-kun?"

"Ah, he's the one who leads Class C. He's really violent with everyone, even his classmates, but I simply ignore what he does."

"...and you're not afraid of him?" Kikyo couldn't help but ask.

Hiyori chuckled. "Naturally, I am. But he doesn't do anything to us unless he needs something to be done, or when someone's not responding to his orders. Ryuuen-kun normally doesn't care about what we do, unless he's suspicious of someone. I'll be fine."

"This Ryuuen sounds like he will be a problem in the future…" the black-haired girl thought, before she realized "Wait. Could it be that he ordered those students to attack Miyake-kun? They wouldn't target someone they don't know for no reason, not when it would risk getting themselves expelled. It would also explain why Miyake-kun was attacked at a place specifically where there are no cameras around."

Now that she thought about it a lot more, the whole situation was strange.

Their first thought was that those Class C students attacked and beat up Akito for no reason but if that was the case, then they would have done it out in the open without a care in the world, even if they get in trouble for it. Instead, they first dragged him behind the bathhouse before proceeding with their attack, which was a place that happened to have no cameras around.

Nothing that could possibly record what really took place that day.

It was very clear that bringing her classmate to such a place was intentional, in order to prevent any kind of evidence from being traced back towards the attackers. It also enabled those students from Class C to inflict injuries on themselves so they could frame Akito for the incident, despite the obvious fact that they had him outnumbered.

But still, this left the question of what could be Ryuuen's motive in this whole thing, as the leader of Class C.

What could he be planning as his endgame here? Why go so far as to have three of his classmates target someone from another class and instigate a fight? Why do that even though there's a huge risk of it backfiring on him? What could be his reason for doing all this?

"I need to discuss this with Ayanokouji-kun later," the girl decided in her mind. This wasn't a matter that she could handle on her own. She could definitely use his input on this and share ideas with him regarding Ryuuen.

"So what do you think?" asked Hiyori, flashing them an innocent smile.

"You'd be helping a rival class if you do this, Shiina-san."

"I don't care about our classes being rivals," Hiyori shook her head. "I simply dislike violence and I prefer it if everyone gets along."

For a moment, just a moment, it felt as if the two girls from Class D were seeing a pair of angel wings from behind Hiyori, along with a halo on top of her head. This caused both Suzune and Kikyo to widen their eyes in disbelief at what they were seeing.

"...and you're Ayanokouji-kun's friends too, right? I'll be glad to help his friends!"

Their eyes widened even more upon hearing those words, as a bright light from above began to shine down on her like she was some kind of holy figure.

Of course, the two were aware that they were only seeing things but it still felt like they were talking to an angel this whole time.

In fact, it rendered both Kikyo and Suzune unable to give any kind of response to the silver-haired girl for a few moments, something that Hiyori noticed right away.

"Horikita-san?"

The voice of the silver-haired girl snapped Horikita out of her little trance, as she shook her head to get herself back on track.

"Forgive me for being unable to answer, Shiina-san. It's just that I wasn't expecting you to act so… gentle and nonchalant about this. Are you sure about helping a rival class?" she asked, wanting to be sure if this is really what Shiina wished to do.

"It's fine, really. If it means helping Ayanokouji-kun, then I'll gladly cooperate."

"You're an angel, Shiina-san!" Kikyo spoke as a genuine smile appeared on her face.

"I get those comments a lot from other people, but thank you for the kind words," Hiyori chuckled. "That being said, can I have both of your contact information? I can't really send my classmates' pictures if I don't know how to contact you."

Suzune didn't need to be told twice. This meeting already went better than what she expected, so showing a bit of information about herself didn't really bother her this time.

"Very well, I will show mine."

"So will I!" Kikyo added, bringing out her own phone.

With Hiyori's added cooperation in the mix, the mission to prove Miyake Akito's innocence was finally making some progress… from Class D's end, at least.

Because watching the three from a distance was a certain magenta-haired girl who was ready to bring out Kiyotaka's trump card anytime. She laughed softly at the sight of Suzune and Kikyo shaking hands with Shiina Hiyori of Class C

"Oh dear… Senpai must be really popular in this school if he can get another student to betray her own class like this~"

---

As the bell that signaled lunch break began to ring, the students of Class D left the room one by one for a well-deserved meal at the cafeteria. For one Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, he wouldn't be able to follow them right away, at least not until two of his soulmates are finished discussing whatever they needed to discuss with him.

A few minutes ago while their class was still ongoing, Suzune passed a notebook to him. It had a message on it that read, "Don't go to the cafeteria yet. Kushida-san and I need to discuss our findings with you. We shall head there together afterwards."

Kiyotaka just shrugged to himself before returning her notebook. The fact that his seatmate would tell him this in the middle of class must mean that they got some valuable information from Hiyori earlier, so he should keep his ears open for this.

After everyone else had left the room and only his two heroines were left with him, Kikyo walked over to his and Suzune's desks as he leaned back against his chair.

"So what did you two want to talk about?" he began, sending a curious look at his heroines.

Suzune cleared her throat, before she spoke. "Just as I wanted to do, we went to Class-C earlier to try and ask Shiina-san if she knew something."

"And did she?"

"Not really," Kikyo shook her head sadly. "Shiina-san said that she doesn't like violence so when their class talked about it, she didn't listen."

Kiyotaka remained silent, knowing that that won't be the end of it. He was already aware that Hiyori disliked violence thanks to her 'summary', and he doubted that this would be all that the two had to tell him.

"However, she mentioned three names who were unable to attend their classes the day after the incident because they were supposedly treating the injuries that they have sustained from an unknown event: Komiya Kyogo, Kondo Reo, and Ishizaki Daichi."

"Kondo and Komiya, huh? The same guys who seem to be Ishizaki's friends from what Sudo told us. Looks like he made the right decision, then."

"What did he do?" Horikita raised an eyebrow.

"Yesterday, he told us that he tried asking his clubmates if they saw someone by the bathhouse on the day of the incident. However, he made sure to leave out Komiya and Kondo since they're both from Class C. He figured that if he asked them too, they'd find out that we're looking for evidence that would lead us to them."

"A wise choice by Sudo-kun," Suzune nodded in approval, while Kikyo looked pleasantly surprised. "Engaging even in a simple conversation with them would have been bad."

"Everyone else was surprised by it since he actually had some good reasoning for once," Kiyotaka shrugged. "So is that everything you learned from Shiina?"

"We then tried to ask her if she had a picture of her three classmates, but she didn't have anything."

Kiyotaka nodded slowly. He could understand that. Expecting someone to have a picture of someone else simply because they are classmates was a flawed plan from the beginning, anyway.

"Then that means you'll have to take a picture of those three yourselves."

"Heehee, not quite!" the beige-haired girl giggled in amusement.

"Oh?"

Suzune folded her arms as she continued on, "Although she had no photos of her classmates, Shiina-san had volunteered to do it instead of us. She proposed it because it would be less suspicious if it was her who took a picture of the three suspects instead of us, and we agreed. She said that she would gladly cooperate if it meant helping out Ayanokouji-kun."

He honestly didn't see this coming. There was a possibility of Hiyori helping them out through verbal information in the scenarios that played out in his mind, but for the girl to go one step further than that by providing a picture of the suspects (who were her classmates, no less) in exchange for nothing…

To think she would go against her class's best interest just to help him. She may just turn out to be his favorite heroine— wait no, what was thinking? He's not supposed to play favorites when it comes to this whole thing!

"I have to thank her the next time I see her. What an angel," the young man thought to himself, erasing any thought of having a 'favorite'.

[You have gained 10 Affection Points with Shiina Hiyori!]

[You are starting to realize that every girl is best girl! You gained +8 in Wisdom!]

Even though the first notification that appeared out of nowhere was definitely more out of place than the other, the second one was what got his attention.

"Every girl… is best girl. What the hell does that mean?" he asked himself, directing his question to his own 'superpower'. "Is it about not playing any favorites? Since you seem to be sentient anyway, could you answer that question? I'm not the one who's well-versed in this subject, you know…"

---

So far, so good.

After leaving their room with her classmates, Hiyori had been invited to eat lunch with Manabe and her friends. However, as always, she respectfully declined the offer.

It's not like she was actively avoiding any kind of interaction with her classmates. Hiyori simply believed that it's better if people spend time with others whom they feel comfortable with. Then again, one would never be able to step out of his/her comfort zone if they didn't actively go out and pursue social interactions with other people.

So, for all intents and purposes, Hiyori just didn't feel comfortable with any of her classmates.

As a result, the silver-haired girl sat alone at a small table with no one around her. However, this was exactly what she wanted because of what she intended to do.

With her phone in hand, Hiyori opened her camera and carefully raised her device towards the table where Ishizaki, Komiya, and Kondo were sitting. She made sure to zoom in on their faces before taking three separate photos of them, without anyone else noticing.

"Now all I have to do is send this to Horikita-san and Kushida-san later on. I hope you'll be able to make good use of this, Ayanokouji-kun."

She smiled as she began to think about her friend, whom she first met at the library by some stroke of fate. Ever since that day, she only met him one other time, and that was when they met at the bathhouse two weeks ago.

"Oh…" she murmured to herself, feeling a strange sensation on her back, something that's quite pleasurable. For some reason, she could still remember the feeling of his hands on her body, even though it's been a long time since it happened. And from there, Hiyori realized what she was thinking about and caused her to blush profusely.

She shook her head to rid herself of those thoughts, before focusing on something that's… less embarrassing. Surprisingly, someone like her wasn't immune to the fact that she still took a bath with a boy, even if it only happened because she was curious about what it's like to have someone wash her back.

"I hope we can meet again soon… maybe during summer…?" she thought to herself as soon as she calmed down from her moment of embarrassment.

---

Kiyotaka shook his head and quickly dismissed the two notifications that showed up out of nowhere before he could get distracted any further, not wanting to lose his focus because of the system and especially not in front of Suzune and Kikyo. Plus, they may still have a few things that they could tell him about their little adventure earlier towards Class C.

"That's not all, though. We've realized something strange from all of this."

Yep, he was right. They still had more to tell him, which means now is not the time to get carried away and distracted by the craziness of the system.

He nodded in response, before gesturing for them to continue.

"Shiina-san said that Miyake-kun's attackers weren't able to go to school because they were injured. But Miyake-kun told us that they outnumbered him and they easily took him out, so he couldn't have given them their injuries," Kushida began, before her friend took over for her.

"Moreover, it is very strange that they brought Miyake-kun to a secluded area where there are no cameras first before they made their move. If they began a fight for the sole purpose of inflicting violence on another person, then they would have not cared about where they are and proceed to attack Miyake-kun either way. However, they cared about being seen, otherwise they wouldn't have bothered. They knew the risk of being seen by other students, which is why they had to move the conflict to a place with no possible witnesses.

"Are you saying that this whole attack on Miyake was planned?"

Suzune nodded. "Exactly."

Kiyotaka stared at her for a few moments, observing every aspect of the expression on her face. He was trying to gauge just how certain she was regarding her assumption.

"What makes you so sure that this was all planned, Horikita?"

"Because it's the only way for the culprits' actions to make sense," she donned a more serious look upon saying those words. "Why would they bring Miyake-kun somewhere where there are no cameras? A place where their actions can't be recorded by the school? Because they don't want to get caught in the act. By attacking our classmate without anyone else to see what happened, it allowed them the opportunity to frame Miyake-kun for the whole incident by injuring themselves. In their eyes, with no one around to see what was happening, they can get away with this incident without any repercussions."

Ayanokouji nodded his head in acknowledgement. "You really thought hard about this, Horikita."

"Unfortunately, those three attackers were so confident in having no witnesses to their actions that they couldn't comprehend the possibility of one existing. As I have said earlier, Sudo-kun made the wise choice of leaving his two clubmates alone because they would have realized that we're currently trying to find someone who has witnessed the incident, which will give us the advantage for Miyake-kun's upcoming trial."

Kikyo chose this moment to voice out her concern about one particular issue. "This still leaves the issue of who's our witness, though. Even if Miyake-kun confirms that Kondo-kun, Komiya-kun, and Ishizaki-kun were his attackers after Shiina-san sends us a picture of them, it won't mean anything because no one can prove that he's telling the truth."

Suzune turned to face her friend, looking unbothered by that slight mishap. "That's true, but now that we have accomplished our goal of getting information from Shiina-san, we can shift our attention back to searching for the person who witnessed the incident."

"You're right, Horikita-san! We can get back to helping Hasebe-san and everyone else now that we're done getting what we need from Shiina-san," the beige-haired girl exclaimed, her mood changing once again in a snap.

The sound of someone chuckling softly then got their attention, as they shifted their gazes towards Ayanokouji. Their eyes widened slightly when they saw the smile on his face; they've already witnessed it several times before yet it still felt like the first time… and for that reason, it made them flustered.

"Well done, you two. You brought us one step closer to saving our classmate. Especially you, Horikita. After all, talking to Shiina was your plan. I trusted that you'd be able to pull off your idea and you didn't disappoint at all. I'm proud of you."

[You have gained 15 Affection Points with Horikita Suzune!]

[You have gained 5 Affection Points with Kushida Kikyo!]

Kikyo beamed at the praise she received, especially because it came from the person she had feelings for. It reached the point that she didn't even care about the fact that he praised Horikita even more.

Speaking of which, Suzune couldn't even react properly at first. Her face had been consumed by embarrassment that she didn't know what to do. How could she? She wasn't even expecting to be praised by him!

But after a few moments, she managed to recompose herself and accepted his words of acknowledgement by putting her arms on her hips and showing off a proud smirk.

"Did you expect anything less from me, Ayanokouji-kun?"

"No. If anything, I knew you were capable of pulling off your plan."

[You have gained 10 Affection Points with Horikita Suzune!]

Kiyotaka blinked a few times in wonder. That was a very quick change in the rate of Suzune's Affection Points, which is something that has never happened before.

Also, twenty-five in so little time?

The Suzune whom he knew two months ago wasn't like this at all. He could still remember the time when he could only get one Affection Point from their interactions back then, and that was during their first week here.

But then again, she did change a lot in such little time that it's hard to argue against this development. It's still a bit unsettling that he raised Affection Points with her by simply praising her efforts, though.

"Is Horikita weak to compliments or does she just like to get praised?" he thought to himself.

"Your praise means a lot, Ayanokouji-kun."

Meanwhile, the smirk on Suzune's face grew wider as she puffed out her chest, feeling more and more confident and proud of herself just from his compliments. In fact, the expression on her face screamed, "Praise me more, Ayanokouji-kun!"

"Yeah, I guess I have to give you credit, Horikita-san. Your plan went really well in our favor," Kushida added, deciding to give credit where it's due for once, even if it was towards someone whom she loathed.

"Thank you, Kushida-san."

Kiyotaka shook his head, deciding to get his mind back on track. "Anyway, what are you two going to do regarding the witness? Gonna join us in asking students and other people around?"

"Hmm…" the black-haired girl muttered, calming down from the moment of euphoria brought by Kiyotaka's words of acknowledgement. "Has anyone tried to ask the owner of the bathhouse if he had seen anyone then?

"Not to my knowledge, no. Everyone else is completely focused on asking students to try and talk to him."

"Then Kushida-san and I will try to ask him as soon as possible. Since the incident happened at a place within the premises of his establishment, he must have a clue on who attacked our classmate, if he's not the witness we're looking for."

The young man nodded, understanding the new goal that she had set her sights on. "You may be onto something here, Horikita. While I was talking to Miyake yesterday, he mentioned that he woke up at the clinic with Hasebe by his side. Of course, he couldn't have gone there on his own, so someone brought him there."

"I remember Miyake-kun also said that when he passed out after he was attacked, he heard two voices and not one. One of them belonged to the girl who might have witnessed the whole thing, but what about the other voice?" Kikyo spoke up as she thought about the possible identity of that voice.

"Then this means the owner of the bathhouse is of our utmost priority now," Suzune concluded, connecting their three statements altogether. "There is a big chance that he couldn't have seen the fight itself, but he knows the person who witnessed the incident. It is also unlikely that he knows the identity of that person, but he should at least be able to describe what this girl looks like, bringing us even closer to unraveling the mystery of who is the witness. Well done, Kushida-san."

Kikyo chuckled nervously at that. "Ahaha, don't mention it… I just wanted to help…"

"Looks like you two already have an idea of what you're gonna do next. Should I tell the others about everything you gathered today?" asked Kiyotaka.

"I believe that it would be wise to keep the information to ourselves for now, at least until we talk to the owner… Tomose-san, was it? I still remember his name when we went there."

"Are you sure, Horikita-san? Hasebe-san would want to know about this as soon as possible because she's the most concerned out of all of us regarding Miyake-kun," Kikyo raised an eyebrow, wanting to be sure if this is what Suzune intended to do. "And maybe Inogashira-san and Mori-san too."

Suzune nodded and folded her arms across her chest. "It's better to not get their hopes up without any concrete proof to support our side. Until we confirm our hypothesis that the owner was with our witness on the day of the incident, it's nothing but pure conjecture. However, we can show everyone else the photos of our three suspects later after class. Shiina-san sent me a message earlier that she'll be able to do it while our lunch break is taking place."

"Oh yeah, she sent me the same thing too! I can't believe I forgot about it, hehe…"

While the three continued with their discussion, a certain red-haired girl stood outside of the classroom with a shocked expression on her face.

The girl had made the embarrassing mistake of forgetting her phone when she left the classroom earlier so she went back there, only to stumble upon the sight of Kiyotaka discussing something with Horikita and Kushida.

Out of respect and because of her shyness, Airi didn't go inside and simply remained where she was for the moment. However, it was because of that very decision that she overheard everything that the trio of students were discussing inside.

"Ayanokouji-kun and everyone else… they're all looking for someone who can help them…"

Airi leaned against the wall beside the door, the expression on her face being a mixture of nervousness and regret. Her mind immediately went back to that day, when she saw her classmate completely helpless against three other students.

It was a day that she would rather not remember.

"That day… when I saw Miyake-kun… I couldn't handle the sight of him getting attacked relentlessly… I wanted to help him… but I was too scared of doing anything!"

She would rather forget about that day because it served as a reminder of how useless she was. A reminder of how her personality brings nothing but trouble to the people around her.

Yet at the same time, she couldn't forget about that day because that's not who she was. Someone got hurt that day in front of her own eyes, there's no way she could forget something like that.

"...I was useless… because I was afraid of facing other people. Because of me, Miyake-kun was helpless against the students who attacked him. Even if I did help him by calling for help, he still got injured. And now, even when everyone's helping him, I still can't do a thing…"

Somehow, Airi blamed herself for Miyake's situation, even though she was but a mere bystander in the whole incident. She did nothing but stand in the background while her classmate was beaten up, and only made a move once his attackers had left.

She did nothing but watch.

Why?

Because she was too nervous to approach other people.

It was a stupid reason, and Airi knew it. Even though she had a friend in Kei and a great tutor in Kiyotaka, she was still the same girl who couldn't have a proper conversation with another person to save her life.

It's because of this flaw that she didn't have the courage to raise her hand when Chabashira-sensei asked the class if there was a witness to the incident. Her guilt was also eating her up that day which kept her from even thinking of raising her hand.

If only she had a bit of courage or even a little burst of confidence in herself, then she could walk into the room right now and tell her classmates that she"s the witness…

"What do I do…? I don't want to be a bystander in all this… I want to help too… I don't want to be someone useless…"

Airi leaned against the wall behind her, as her legs started wobbling. She slid down until she was sitting on the floor, completely helpless. Tears began to flow down the girl's eyes, causing her to remove her glasses and cover her face with her hands. She tried to keep herself from openly sobbing, but fell victim to the urge anyway.

From inside the classroom, Kiyotaka had finished his discussion with Suzune and Kikyo, now they were planning to head to the cafeteria altogether.

But before he could follow his two heroines out of the classroom, a pink screen manifested in front of him which prompted him to read its text right away.

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

For the first time ever since he learned what this particular skill was capable of, Kiyotaka didn't look like he wanted to bang his head against a hard surface.

Instead, he only stared at the notification with a serious look on his face, as though he could already tell what this was about.

---

After classes had ended, Kiyotaka sent a quick message to both Kei and Airi, telling them to meet him outside of the classroom for something important. Both girls had no idea what he wanted to tell them but nonetheless, they followed his order and stood in the hallway outside of the classroom.

They only waited for about a minute before Kiyotaka stepped out of the classroom and walked up towards them.

"I'm glad you two are here," he acknowledged their presence with a nod.

"Is there something you need to tell us, Kiyotaka?" Kei raised an eyebrow at him curiously.

Airi's eyes widened at what she heard from her friend's mouth, as she turned to face the blonde gyaru with a look of bewilderment on her face.

"K-Karuizawa-san, you… you called Ayanokouji-kun by his name…" she stuttered.

"Yeah, something wrong with it?"

"N-No, it's just… it's surprising that you were using his first name… it's supposed to be done only to people you're c-close with…"

Kei shrugged. "I've been calling him by his name for a while now. You already said it, it's normal for you to call the people you're close to by their names, I'm pretty sure we're enough at this point. Also, I'm surprised you only realized just now."

"Oh, I… I haven't noticed… I'm sorry," Airi hung her head in shame. Ugh, she was such an idiot. Her friend literally kissed Kiyotaka in front of everyone about a week ago, there's no way that they wouldn't be 'close' after that.

Just thinking about that moment brought a little ache in her heart, but Airi ignored the feeling. Now isn't the time for it. Besides, Kei wasn't the only one who kissed Ayanokouji that time.

"Eh, no worries. It's nothing big," Kei chuckled, before she suddenly remembered something important. "Oh, that reminds me! Do you mind if I start calling you by your name, Sakura-san?"

"W-W-What…?!" Airi cried out in embarrassment.

"Woah, chill out. It's just a name, girl. No need to get worked up about it, like I told you at the library when we first met."

"B-B-But… t-t-t-this is something different…!"

"Well duh, that's why I'm asking you first, right?" the blonde chuckled once again, finding her friend's reaction to her question hilarious. "Is it fine if I call you by your name?"

The redhead's blush grew darker, and it got to the point that she had to turn her head away. This was something that she had never experienced before, someone asking for her permission to call her by her first name, mainly because she didn't have any friends before… certainly not to this extent.

"Uhm… I suppose it's… f-fine…"

"Nice! I know I already said this before, but you can call me by my name too, Airi-chan."

The blonde patted her on the shoulder softly, causing Airi to blush harder, although there was a hint of a smile on her face out of happiness.

"I'll… k-keep it in mind, K-Kei-san…"

The two girls shared a smile before turning their attention back towards Kiyotaka, who was just staring at them with his usual impassive look. Both Airi and Kei were immediately hit with a wave of embarrassment, realizing that they had left the young man out of their conversation… even though he was the one who asked them to meet him here.

"Oh, uh… sorry, Kiyotaka. We got distracted talking to each other…" Karuizawa scratched the back of her head awkwardly, having no idea what to say, really.

"Don't worry about it. As a matter of fact, I appreciate you talking to Sakura as much as you can. You know she doesn't really interact with the rest of our classmates."

Airi lowered her head in embarrassment, unable to refute that statement because it was true.

"While you could have been nicer about it, I agree. Airi-chan here needs some more friends. But I'm fine with being her only friend for now if she wants!" Kei placed a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder, in response to that little jab from the boy. "Anyway, what are we gonna talk about?"

Kiyotaka put on a more serious look as he took a deep breath, before uttering his next words.

"I want to remind you both that even though the whole class is focused on helping Miyake at the moment, you shouldn't forget about studying on your own. We still have our finals to worry about before the summer break, just so you don't forget."

His two heroines shifted in their places almost in an uncomfortable manner, mostly out of embarrassment. It's as if the thought of studying didn't cross their minds at all before this.

"Well… I have to admit that I completely forgot about studying, hehe…" Kei chuckled nervously, before waving her hands before her frantically. "But trust me, it's not because I didn't want to! It's just that I've been more focused on helping Miyake-kun, that's it."

"Uhm… I've been studying a little…" Airi admitted while keeping her head down. "B-But it's hard to understand lessons without you explaining them to me, Ayanokouji-kun… I-I understand everything better w-when you're helping me."

Kiyotaka observed them for a moment, gauging the answers that they had given him

"All right, first of all… Kei, while I'm sure Hasebe and Miyake would appreciate your efforts to help out, you shouldn't forget about your responsibilities as a student," he told the blonde gyaru.

Kei just nodded her head, knowing that she shouldn't let this whole case overshadow the fact that she's a student who has to study in order to pass her exams. To do otherwise would

"...Sakura, it's good that you still tried to study on your own, even if you're having a hard time. Having initiative is the first step in improving, after all. And don't worry about struggling in the lessons because after Miyake's case, I'm planning to resume our study sessions."

Airi looked elated at hearing that their sessions will happen again, mostly because she found it easier to study with him around, as if his presence alone was a motivator. Meanwhile, Kei let out a slight groan. Though she had no problems with studying in order to get good grades, there's no way she would look forward to doing it all the same.

"Studying at the library again, huh? It was fun being away from that place while it lasted…"

"Unless you feel confident enough in yourself to be able to get through the exams without my help, then you need to do this, Kei."

"I've a long way to go before being as smart as you…" the blonde sighed again, before sending the young man a wink. "Oh well, at least it won't be that bad. After, you'll be there with me, Kiyotaka~"

Kiyotaka shook his head and simply continued on with his words.

"While it's good that you can admit that you're not yet capable enough on your own, you can't stay at this level, Kei. Sooner or later, you'll have to get through exams on your own. I won't be able to help the two of you forever, after all."

"Ugh, of course I know that. It's just that studying is so boring when it's only me! It's a lot more fun when it's with friends…" she pouted.

"We can still study together if that's what you're worried about," Kiyotaka shook his head.a "My only point is that you have to be capable enough on your own so you don't have to depend on me anymore to pass your exams."

"Oh," she blinked a few times in realization, before smiling brightly. "Well, that's a relief! At least I'll still be able to do this!"

"Here we go again…" he said to himself, resisting the urge to sigh in exasperation as Kei lunged forward and wrapped her arms around him in a big hug, as the girl seemed to be enjoying this moment with him.

While Kiyotaka struggled to deal with an overly clingy Karuizawa who was having the time of her life hugging him, Airi remained quiet with her head hanging low. Her gaze was directed to the ground and full of doubt, with the young man's words echoing in her mind over and over as though she was reminding herself of them.

She has to be capable on her own? It sounds like a fever dream. A task that's completely impossible for someone like her.

Airi couldn't see herself being confident without Kiyotaka around to help her. As a matter of fact, the only reason why she was even here and not expelled was Kiyotaka himself, because he helped her through his tutoring sessions. She couldn't see herself succeeding without depending on him.

"B-But what if we still need you to teach us, Ayanokouji-kun? W-What if… I still need you… to teach me…?" she asked nervously, struggling to even raise her head to look at the young man because she was afraid of what he would say. Would he turn her away? Would he stop tutoring her as a whole? Just thinking of these scenarios was already making her second-guess herself…

"I'll help you with your studies for as long as you need, Sakura. But there will come a time where you'll have to get through your exams without me. I won't always be there to hold your hand, and you know that."

Airi bit her lip. She wasn't that dumb. Of course she knew that Kiyotaka won't always be there. In fact, if she ever graduates from this school, there's no guarantee that he will still be by her side if it happens. For all she knew, she could be all on her own after a year of being here.

Still, the thought of being alone without anyone to help her… it scared her.

"But what if I can't? T-The only reason why I even passed the midterms was because… was because you were helping me."

"Then you just have to take a risk and be confident in yourself that you can do it."

The redhead blinked a few times as she registered those words in her mind, as if she had never even considered them before.

"Take a risk…?"

Kiyotaka managed to pry himself off of Kei's grip before shaking his head. "And I disagree with what you said. You didn't pass the midterms because I was helping you. I don't recall giving you the answers, nor did I give you a code of some kind to help you during the exam. Did I?"

"...n-no, you didn't…" she murmured, a thoughtful expression taking over her face.

"Besides, I said it after the exams, remember? That achievement was yours. I didn't accomplish it for you. I'm not the one who answered your test, am I? It was you who worked hard for a passing grade. All I did was guide you to your goal, Sakura."

"Y-You did…"

"...which also means that you took a risk when it happened. None of us could have known who would pass and who would fail when the midterm examinations took place. All of us took a risk by going through those tests with the possibility of getting expelled if we failed, and our efforts paid off."

Kiyotaka took a step forward and placed his hand on Airi's shoulder, making her gasp softly in response. It also caused her to raise her head and look at the young man directly, unable to steer her gaze elsewhere.

"You took that risk despite knowing that you could get expelled if you failed. You have it in yourself to be capable enough on your own, Sakura."

The girl's blush darkened even further, but she did her best to keep herself from losing her composure… even if he was so close to her like this…

"Wow… I definitely wasn't expecting you to give Airi-chan a life lesson just now," Kei commented as she watched the interaction between them. No, she wasn't jealous at all because there's nothing to be jealous about. It's not like Airi was going to stake her claim on Kiyotaka like Chiaki and Kikyo, the girl was too shy for that sort of thing.

"Anyway, that's all I wanted to tell you both. It wasn't my intention to take up a lot of your individual time," Kiyotaka heaved a deep sigh and moved away from Airi, allowing the red-haired girl to breathe normally again.

"Aw, can't we hang out together for a bit, Kiyotaka?" Kei pouted and tugged on his shirt a few times as an invitation.

He shook his head. "I have to get going. I think Hasebe wants my help to keep on searching for our witness, so I'll see you both tomorrow."

"Oh, fine… but don't think you'll be leaving without this!"

With a mischievous look on her face, Kei threw her arms out wide and wrapped them around the brown-haired teen in another big hug, as she nuzzled her face against his chest. It always felt good to do this with Kiyotaka, and she could never see herself getting tired of doing this… even if he has yet to return her hugs.

"Yes, you like to hug me. Is there anything new?" he said blankly.

"Oh, I'm gonna get you to hug me back eventually. I don't understand why you don't want to when you already did it before. Did you forget that i's normal for friends to hug each other?" she giggled before letting go of him. "Bye, Kiyotaka!"

Kiyotaka waved his arm in farewell, before walking off and leaving the two girls. While Kei began to go into a monologue about figuring out a way on how to make Kiyotaka return the action whenever she hugs him, Airi kept her gaze glued towards the young man who was slowly disappearing from their view.

"Take… a risk…" the girl thought to herself, repeating his earlier words in her mind over and over.

---

After leaving the school building, Kiyotaka sent a message to Haruka asking if she wanted to meet up today to continue their search for the witness to Akito's case. Within a few minutes, he received a reply from the girl, who stated that she would meet up with him in an hour. Her reason was that she wanted to accompany Akito to the clinic to see if he had fully healed from his injuries already.

Their usual meeting place was Keyaki Mall, so Kiyotaka could head there now and just wait for Haruka to arrive. However, he didn't feel like waiting, so he decided to take a detour somewhere to pass the time for now.

This brought him to the ice cream stall that he and Suzune had been to before, as he decided to buy a sweet cone for himself. Maybe he could even get something bigger too. He would never pass up the opportunity to eat more ice cream, obviously.

Right as he was about to pay the needed points for his food, a violet-haired individual suddenly stood beside him, looking like she was going to buy something as well.

The two turned to each other at the same time, and both were pleasantly surprised at seeing who they had run into at this time of the day.

"Didn't expect to run into you here of all places, Ayanokouji."

"I share the same sentiment, Himeno."

Both acknowledged the other's presence with a nod, before Kiyotaka took his large cup of assorted ice cream flavors from the stall owner. He then headed to the nearby bench and sat down, before digging into his frozen treat. After purchasing a vanilla cone from the stall, Yuki went to the same bench and sat down like him.

"I didn't think we'll see each other again this soon, especially since we only met a few days ago. I thought the next time we'd meet would be during summer break," the violet-haired girl stated.

Kiyotaka immediately took notice of the obvious change in her demeanor. During their first encounter, this girl was initially cold and got annoyed easily. It was almost like meeting a carbon copy of Horikita, until Himeno cleared the air and showed him that he was completely different from his classmate.

This time around, Yuki was the one starting the conversation between them? He wondered if this is because of the system or this is what she's truly like. It wouldn't surprise him if this was another scenario that his superpower cooked up for him, though.

"We're students in the same school. We were bound to see each other again. If not inside the school building, then the outside of it."

"You make a good point," Yuki shrugged as things fell silent between them. After a while, she turned towards him while raising an eyebrow. "You got some time? I want to show you something."

He nodded in response, and he felt his curiosity growing right away. "I'm supposed to meet someone but that won't happen until later, so I got time, yes. What is it?"

"Remember when we first met and I said that I saw you somewhere, but I couldn't tell where?"

"Yes, I remember you pulling on my cheeks while saying those words," he deadpanned while pointing to his cheekbones.

The girl scratched her cheek as a blush adorned her face. "Like I said before, sorry about that. Anyway, I finally remembered where I saw you before. No wonder you looked familiar when we met."

Yuki brought out her phone and opened her browser, before typing in a link that seemed to lead to some kind of blog site. Kiyotaka raised an eyebrow at her while his curiosity continued to grow.

A few moments later, he noticed the girl handing over her phone to him. He slowly took it from her and shifted his attention to whatever was shown on it.

It was a list.

A ranked list, to be precise, but he had no idea what could be the criteria for it. Nagumo Miyabi stood at the top, followed by Horikita Manabu. The third and fourth spots were occupied by two second-year students whose names were Miyahara Kento and Jake Lee. And below them was a name that got his attention…

…which was his own name.

He blinked a few times, as he began to wonder what his name was doing here when he had no connection to the four people above him. That was when he noticed the title given to the list as a whole, something that would give him more questions than answers.

"'The Official ANHS Ikemen Rankings', huh… what exactly is this?"

"Wait, you don't know what that is?"

"I think I've heard one of my classmates complaining about 'ikemens', but I don't know what it means. What is it?"

"Are you serious? It's a pretty hot topic among the girls of the school and it updates on a weekly basis."

"If I knew what it was, then I wouldn't be asking you, would I?"

"You must be joking. I'm sure some of your classmates have talked about it because I saw a few of them leaving comments on it."

Kiyotaka shook his head.

"It's basically a blog that's all about creating a ranking of who's the best guy to date in this school. A lot of the first-years keep themselves up to date with it, especially Class-B. I don't know why, maybe because they're trying to check who's available for them to ask out?"

"I know girls like to talk about attractive boys among each other but to think that they'd actually do something like this…"

"If you think that's weird, then you should know that there's another blog like that, but it's created by guys instead. They make a ranking list on who's the best girl to date in this school across all the year levels. Surprisingly, I remember that it has a lot less viewers than that one."

"Sounds like something that Ike and Yamauchi would tune into," he commented in his mind.

"You'd be surprised at what else that blog has," Yuki grinned. "It's made up of a team of female students who go around and interview other girls about the guys that they include in their rankings, so they have something else to put in and not just names."

"They should utilize these skills in proper journalism instead of wasting it on pointless gossip," Kiyotaka sighed as he noticed the next names on the list under him. There was Kiriyama Ikuto, Hirata Yosuke, Hashimoto Masayoshi, Shibata Sō, and Miyake Akito.

Apart from himself, Kiyotaka didn't expect to see Hirata and Miyake's names here. But then again, this list was based on the perspective of female students around this place, so who knows what's going on in their heads. He didn't even know he was popular enough to be the 5th on this list.

So much for not drawing attention to himself…

"It gets worse than that. Some of them even follow the student around while they're unaware of it so the team can keep track of what happens to their so-called 'candidates'. They even snap a few photos of those boys for their gallery."

"Really?" he gave Himeno a skeptical look.

She nodded. "Look at what they wrote under you and tell me it doesn't show that they're following you around."

While Kiyotaka found the idea of someone following him around slightly creepy, it's not like he hasn't seen this behavior before. After all, the system labeled one of his own heroines as a stalker when they first met.

Shrugging to himself, Kiyotaka pressed on his name, causing a mini-tab to appear under it that seemed to show a description of him.

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka

1st Year, Class D

Ayanokouji's placement in this list is not a joke. Even though he looks like a gloomy loner, there is more to him than meets the eye. Ever since he was seen walking with President Horikita's younger sister on the first day of school, our team has kept a watchful eye on him. Never before has this school housed a student like Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. In a matter of weeks, he has garnered the attention of several popular female students, including Asahina Nazuna, Kushida Kikyo, Ichinose Honami, and Sakayanagi Arisu.

The entirety of our team are admittedly impressed with his natural charisma, and it makes us wonder if his loner persona is just for show. It makes us wonder why he doesn't have a girlfriend yet, because all of our readers would definitely say yes to him if he ever asked them out. It also makes us ashamed of ourselves, as some of us are developing a slight bias for him which goes against our principles in maintaining a fair assessment of the ikemens of our school.

There are some who believe his existence is akin to legends of old out of admiration, while there are also some who think he should have never been born in the first place out of jealousy. Either way, there hasn't been anyone who has garnered such a polarizing reputation ever since the early days of Vice President Nagumo Miyabi, and we are looking forward to seeing how his life in this school will unfold. Will he get a girlfriend or will he remain a bachelor? Only time will tell!

After reading through the content about him, the young man returned the phone to his companion right away and cleared his throat to regain his composure.

"That was strangely detailed in some parts, but not to the point of fearing for my privacy being destroyed for good," he told her. "The people behind this know who I'm mostly with but thankfully, they don't seem to know where I live. That would be troubling."

"Told you so," Himeno shrugged. "It's disappointing that the people behind this whole thing don't have anything better to do, though."

"How did you even know all these things about them? It's obvious that you have a distaste for this blog and what it's about, but you're quite informative about it."

"A lot of my classmates were talking about it a few days ago and since they weren't really quiet while it happened, I ended up listening."

"I see," Kiyotaka nodded as he threw his empty ice cream cup into the nearby trash bin. "You said that the first time you saw me was through this list. Am I correct to assume that you are interested in these things, Himeno?"

Yuki shook her head. "Not really. I just got annoyed by my classmates telling me to check the blog out over and over, so I gave in and skimmed through most of it."

"If you only skimmed through it, then how were you able to remember what I looked like when we met?"

"I said I skimmed through most of it," she corrected. "When I saw your picture, I got curious and read the description under it."

"I wonder what it is about me that caught your attention, then."

"It's because of that blank look on your face," she smirked, finishing the rest of her ice cream cone. "I couldn't understand how someone with that expression got considered as an 'ikemen' by the creators. You weren't even smiling in your picture, unlike the rest of the guys who were included."

"I apologize for not meeting your expectations," he bowed his head upon hearing those words from her.

"Why the hell are you apologizing for that? If anything, I think you're a lot more interesting than most of the ones on that stupid list."

"Does that mean I'm one step closer to getting a date with you?" he joked, bringing up the question he asked her when they first met, something he did unintentionally.

Yuki chuckled, being reminded of that same moment as well. "Haha, who knows? You're not getting it this time, that's for sure."

"It was worth a shot. After all, you're a pretty attractive girl yourself, Himeno. I suppose there's always next time."

That was something that the girl wasn't prepared for, because she thought they were only joking around. And so, she was caught off guard with the sudden compliment he gave her to the point that she blushed out of embarrassment.

[You have gained 8 Affection Points with Himeno Yuki!]

Kiyotaka quickly dismissed that notification and scrambled his mind on what he should say, noticing the flustered look on Yuki's face. This wasn't his intention at all!

"I apologize, that came out of nowhere."

Those words caused the girl to snap out of her embarrassment and made her look at him as if she had been offended.

"What are you, dumb? If you're going to flirt with me, then you better mean it! Don't you dare give me mixed signals!" she threw a glare at him.

Kiyotaka blinked. This girl definitely shared some similarities with Suzune, but was also completely different compared to his classmate. He was pretty sure that if he had done the same with Suzune, she'd be flustered and warn him not to do it again. But Yuki was the complete opposite, telling him not to do it if he didn't mean it.

"Okay, okay. I get it," he raised his hands in surrender. "Moving on, I suppose I should thank you for showing me this website, Himeno. It would have been more troublesome if one of my classmates told me about it. But if you're correct that some of them actively read this blog on a regular basis, then it means that they'll spread the word anyway."

Thankfully, she seemed to have calmed down after snapping at him earlier for his not-so-good attempt in flirting.

"You got lucky that your class got involved in this mess with Class C, then. Maybe that's the reason why no one in your class spoke up about it."

"Hmm… I saw that that list was only published this week as well, so I agree with you there," Kiyotaka nodded.

"I guess it's safe to say the first-year classes are talking about that issue more than those 'ikemen rankings' and the blog itself as well. Your class is having a really hard time with this, huh?"

He shrugged. "My classmate didn't want a lot of people knowing about the incident, but it was inevitable for the other classes to know when we began asking different students if they witnessed what happened that day."

"Oh yeah, that reminds me. Got any luck looking for a witness?" she asked, leaning back against the bench.

He shook his head in disappointment. "Until now, there isn't any."

"That sucks for you, Ayanokouji. Don't worry though, maybe with Ichinose-san's help, you guys can finally be one step closer to finding a witness."

"You told Ichinose?" he asked, raising an eyebrow curiously.

"I told you I would, didn't I?" she asked rhetorically. "After I told her about the whole issue, she quickly told the rest of the class. There were some of us who already knew because they were asked by your classmates before, but Ichinose-san relaying the message to them was the first time that most of them heard it."

"I'll have to give her my thanks the next time I see her, then."

"Well then, you can give it to her now."

That foreign voice caught the pair's attention and caused them to turn their heads towards the newcomer. Both of them were met by a beautiful girl with pink hair and blue eyes who had a bright smile on her face.

"Hi, Ayanokouji-kun!" she waved her arm at him happily. "Hello to you as well, Himeno-san. I didn't expect to see you here. And with Ayanokouji-kun, no less."

"We ended up in front of the same ice cream truck. Just a coincidence," Himeno shrugged.

Honami chuckled slightly. "I see. How have you been, Ayanokouji-kun? It's been a while since the last time we met, after all."

"I've been fine. When it comes to trying to approach you though, that's a different story. I noticed you've been avoiding me," he pointed out.

At first, she didn't avoid him. Honami still greeted him here and there whenever they saw each other, but that's it. She couldn't maintain a proper conversation with him every time that she'd stutter and blush profusely before excusing herself, just to hide her embarrassment from him. It reached the point that she would just avoid him completely to save them both from the awkwardness.

It looked like she had finally gotten over her embarrassment now, though.

"I have, haven't I? I'm really sorry…"

All Honami could do was bow her head in apology, feeling horrible for her actions as of late. Friends weren't supposed to avoid one another, but after what happened between them several weeks ago at the 'Heaven on Earth' bathhouse, there was no way she could keep a straight face while he was around. It was too embarrassing for her, because she would remember how he washed her back every time she saw him.

She would remember how his hands were all over her bare skin… and even though he didn't touch her anywhere inappropriate, the sensation she felt while it happened was overwhelming…

Honami shook her head furiously. Today was an exception. She would ignore her embarrassment for the sake of a very important issue that she has to discuss with him. She can't lose her focus now!

"Don't worry about it. I understand why you were like that," Kiyotaka reassured her, knowing why Honami avoided him until now. He honestly couldn't blame her, not after their time at the onsen together with the rest of his heroines.

"What are you two talking about?" Yuki asked in confusion, feeling a little lost in their conversation.

The leader of Class B was quick to shake her head and hands, wanting to shoot down any suspicious thoughts that her classmate might have regarding her and Kiyotaka.

"N-Nothing, Himeno-san…! It's nothing, really."

"You were avoiding Ayanokouji? What happened between you two?" asked Yuki, ignoring Honami's words.

"I-It was just a misunderstanding between us, Himeno-san. Nothing more, okay?"

The violet-haired girl rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right. That look on your face says otherwise, Ichinose-san. The more you try to cover up for it, the more it's obvious that something happened between you two."

"She's telling the truth, Himeno. There's no need to dwell on a past issue that's already resolved," Kiyotaka added, deciding to save Honami from embarrassment before this ends up in her running away again.

Yuki narrowed her gaze at the two of them for a few moments, before rolling her eyes.

"For the record, I still think you two are trying to fool me, but whatever. Not my problem," she sighed in exasperation as she stood up from the bench. "Should I leave you two alone then?"

Honami shook her head. "There's no need, Himeno-san. I'm not planning to talk to Ayanokouji-kun for long. I just want to talk to him about what you brought up the other day."

Upon hearing that, Yuki sat back down while bringing out her phone and a pair of earphones, distracting herself with some music while her classmate was busy talking with Kiyotaka.

"When Himeno told me that once she tells you about what happened to Miyake, you'll tell your whole class about it," the young man remarked. "I have to admit, I didn't think you actually would."

"Of course. When Himeno-san told me about what happened to Miyake-kun, I wanted to help right away. The only way I could do that is by asking all my classmates," she smiled, feeling a lot calmer now compared to earlier.

"Is there any progress with that?"

"I'm sorry, Ayanokouji-kun. Almost all of us were still in our dorm rooms when the incident happened, since it was on a Sunday morning. The few people who were outside that time though, were nowhere near the 'Heaven on Earth' onsen…" she lowered her head in disappointment. "It pains me that Class B can't help you point out who's the witness that you're looking for."

"It's all right, Ichinose. What you did is more than enough help for me and my class."

The girl shook her head.

"No, it's not enough…" she raised her head to look at him, a serious expression forming on her face. "I won't stop here, Ayanokouji-kun. Even if none of my classmates are the witness that you're looking for, I'll keep on asking other people if they saw what happened to Miyake-kun last Sunday."

"Are you sure about that?"

Honami only nodded, while also showing off a look of determination.

"Well, I'd be an idiot to reject the added assistance. Especially when Miyake's trial is in a few days…" he admitted,

The serious look on Honami's face fell apart upon hearing those words. This was something she wasn't aware of at all. "Wait, what?! I didn't know about that! What trial are you talking about?"

Kiyotaka raised an eyebrow at that response, because Ichinose should have been aware of this. If Himeno told her about Miyake's encounter with the three Class C students, then she should have told Ichinose about the upcoming hearing as well. With that, he turned his attention to the person who could give him the answer he's looking for, because it was obvious to him that she had been listening to them the entire time.

"...I thought you told her already?" he asked.

All Yuki could do was scratch the back of her head, having nothing to say that could explain her blunder. "I told her that you were looking for a witness. I… guess I forgot to tell her that there was a hearing involving your friend…"

The brown-haired teen shrugged to himself. Either way, it already happened and there's no use dwelling on it even further, like what he had stated earlier.

"Well, to make things short, Miyake was given a chance to prove his innocence through a hearing next week involving the student council and the teachers. As you already know by now, our whole class is working together to find a witness by asking people around."

Honami listened to every word that came out of his mouth, while also connecting them with the things that Yuki told her a few days ago. Needless to say, she wasn't pleased with this turn of events at all. "I didn't think things would escalate to the point of a trial taking place, but regardless, you can count on me to help out, Ayanokouji-kun."

"I guess I'll lend a hand as well," Yuki sighed as she put her earphones away, involving herself in this conversation openly. "I was stupid enough to forget that you were doing all this because your friend is gonna be on trial, so I'll take responsibility for my mistake."

"It's not your fault, Himeno-san—"

Yuki raised her hand, cutting off her classmate from saying anything more. "Save it, Ichinose-san. I'm helping too."

Kiyotaka bowed his head slightly in gratitude. This will surely do wonders for the morale of his class when he informs everyone of this, especially for Hasebe, Inogashira, and Mori. Those three were the most affected by this whole case, apart from Akito himself.

"Once again, I appreciate the help. My classmates too, once I tell them about this. However, I don't have any means to contact you. I'm certain you have the same dilemma towards me as well."

"Then I guess I'll let you have my number," Yuki shrugged as she opened her phone and typed in her number and email.

"Me too!" Honami brought out her phone and did the same as her classmate, before having a moment of realization. "It's funny how we've known each other for about a month now yet we haven't even exchanged contact information until now."

"I wonder why," Kiyotaka did the same as the two parties exchanged their contact information afterwards. After saving their numbers and email addresses in his contacts, he cleared his throat to get their attention again. "Just a word of advice, try not to ask someone from Class C. In fact, make sure to steer clear of them."

"Why?" asked Honami.

"Because if we asked one of them, then that person could inform his classmates that we're looking for a witness to the case. If that happens, they'll be aware of what we're doing and might come up with something to screw us up. Right, Ayanokouji?" Himeno turned towards the young man with a frown.

"Exactly."

"I see. I'll refrain from asking any student from Class C, then."

"That's good to hear," he gave them a nod of satisfaction, before standing up from the bench. "I believe I should get going now, though. I have to meet a classmate of mine who wants to conduct a quick search for our mystery person for an hour or two."

Yuki stood up from the bench as well, stretching her limbs before turning to her two companions. "I'll do the same, then. I have nothing else to do for the rest of the afternoon, so I guess I can kill time asking people if they saw anything that day. Till next time, Ayanokouji. See you tomorrow, Ichinose-san."

"Until next time, Himeno."

"Stay safe, Himeno-san!"

Yuki waved goodbye at the two, who did the same as they watched her walk away. Kiyotaka then turned towards Honami and gave her a curt nod. This encounter ended up better than what he had expected, as he was finally able to clear the air between them after several weeks. It was honestly surprising that Airi got over her embarrassment around him before Honami did.

"I'll see you whenever, Ichinose."

Before he could leave though, the next words that he would hear from the pink-haired girl would make him stop in his tracks.

"Uhm, Ayanokouji-kun…"

"What is it?"

"It's…" she muttered, as Kiyotaka waited for her to say anything further. However, much to his surprise, Honami just shook her head and flashed him a smile like it was nothing. "I-It's nothing. Please forget what I said. I'll go ahead and ask the people walking around if they saw what happened to Miyake-kun. I have some free time as well."

With that, the girl turned around and walked away, leaving him alone. Kiyotaka kept his gaze on the girl as she left, taking note of the strange behavior she exhibited just now in his mind. He even noticed that the last smile she gave him, like it was forced for some reason. It was completely unlike her, and it made him confused on what she was actually going to tell him before she decided not to.

"Weird," he thought to himself, wondering if Honami was going through some problems of her own…

Number of days left before Akito's trial: 3

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

-Lance