Will to Survive
By : CJDGOAT
...
V0 Chapter 1 - Day at the Mall
[July]
"What are you doing, Tsubasa?" I questioned her antics. We're both in the living room. We were watching TV while I rested my head on her pillow-like thighs.
"Oh, it's nothing you should worry about," she sweetly giggled. She was doing something to my hair. It didn't make much sense at all.
I wanted to point out that a few weeks ago, she told me not to ruffle up her locs the day we met Sakayanagi and his daughter, who, to my shock, was our age. When Tsubasa learned, she pouted. It seems Tsubasa started liking her and wanted to babysit her despite her apparent disdain for Tsubasa.
She continued to play with my hair while humming a lovely tune for about 20 more minutes.
"There, I'm finished!" Tsubasa proclaimed in excitement. Slowly, we both got up to our feet. I started stretching a bit before I felt something weird on my head.
Reaching out to touch it, Tsubasa swiftly caught my hand. "Hey! I want you to see it in the mirror when I record!" She pouted.
Tsubasa, unexpectedly, is the most troublesome maid out of the bunch.
Sighing, I lowered my hand and approached the nearest bathroom. After reaching the bathroom door, I slowly twisted the doorknob.
Tsubasa now had her phone out and started recording. When I entered, I was appalled at the sight. Were these...?
"Dreadlocks?!" I exclaimed while making a face of pure confusion. This was the most I've ever expressed, and it wasn't when I was sharing a romantic moment with Tsubasa.
I didn't even make such a face finding out about that place being shut down.
While I continued to examine my hair with a dumbfounded look, Tsubasa was crying out tears.
"Oh my gosh, Kiyotaka! You're hilarious!" She laughed at me for 10 whole minutes.
After we left the bathroom, I adopted a downcast look before Tsubasa spoke up.
"Cheer up, Kiyotaka!" She said while playfully hitting my arm. Tsubasa is a strong girl, superior to most adult men, but her punch didn't hurt. Thankfully, Tsubasa is a pacifist, so nobody's ever experienced a full forced blow from her.
I ignored her attempts to cheer me up and continued with my sullen mood.
"Now you're making me feel bad, Kiyotaka," she continued. "It looks great on you, you know?
"If it looked good, you wouldn't have laughed so hard..." I trailed off.
"I was laughing because of your reaction. You always have this stoic, dreamy expression on your face. Seeing it switch like that was amusing," Tsubasa gushed.
"Dreamy?"
"Is that all you heard?" She chuckled in embarrassment. "It's just, that expression is so attractive. It's like–when I gaze into your eyes, I drown more and more into them. Girls like that sort of quality in guys."
"Hmm, interesting." I looked at her, and she held an expectant gaze. I sighed before giving her what she wanted. "I like you because you're a beautiful, caring girl who seemingly has all the patience in the world. When I oversleep, you bring breakfast up to me, when I need help you're the first to appear. Additionally, you're the greatest teacher ever," it seemed this was doing the trick. I decided to throw in one more bone to satisfy her. Why not? She's my cute little Tsubasa for a reason.
"Also, you're the greatest cook in the mansion," this caused her to completely malfunction in embarrassment.
Her face was now flushed in a tomato red. Once she noticed my gaze, she turned away to hide herself.
We arrived at the couch, and I turned the TV to switch back to the anime we were watching. Of course, it was a slice-of-life romance, and we were on the 12th episode. It helps set the mood for what I'm going to do.
I reached over to the still-blushing Tsubasa. She looked at my face in minor anticipation, the blush still coating her stunning face.
When my hand reached her face, I tucked a strand of hair behind her right ear. Soon, the distance between our faces decreased. 10cm, 5, 2, 1.
My lips connected with hers. Tsubasa's plump and soft lips fit mine like two Lego pieces. She moved her hands behind my back to pull me in closer.
I grazed my tongue across her lips, non-verbally asking for permission to enter her mouth. She agreed.
Her moist tongue wrapped around mine in a loving embrace. We engaged in a fierce battle for dominance, but since I felt like pampering my darling, so I let her win. We were so absorbed in each other's proximity that we didn't hear the approaching footsteps.
*Click*
"Kya! You two are so adorable~!" One of my maids, Matsushita Jun, squealed in girlish delight.
After realizing we had a spectator, Tsubasa quickly pulled away before wiping her lips.
"J-Jun-san! What are you doing here?!" Tsubasa screeched, her face still red.
"What does it look like, silly? I'm taking pictures of you two while you get hot and steamy~."
"You say that as if it's a normal thing," I pointed out.
"Well, maybe it's normal in someone else's family, ever thought of that?" Jun countered.
"Whatever. What are you going to do with the image you took?" Tsubasa took the words out of my mouth.
"Set it as my wallpaper," she placed a finger on her chin to give the image of her thinking, "or maybe I should print it as a poster and hang it all over the mansion."
"P-p-please don't do that," Tsubasa weakly begged.
Jun approached me and started touching my hair, "What'd she do to you, Kiyotaka-sama?"
"I don't know, but if Tsubasa thinks it looks good, I'm glad to have a hairstyle like this."
"Kya! You're so cute, you two!" She wrapped us in a group hug, shoving both of our faces into her squishy boobs.
After she released us, I decided to question her. "Jun, today's a Saturday, what are you doing here?"
"Hmm, well my parents are out of town and my sister's hanging out with her friends, so I planned to invite you two to hang out with me today!"
"Jun, you know you're an adult, right? Wouldn't that be weird for you?" I asked.
"Yeah, you're over 4 years our senior, Jun-san."
"W-woah, you guys are making me feel old!" She nervously chuckled. "To be fair, you two look and act wise beyond your years. Especially when factoring in your assets, Tsu-chan," Jun playfully teased.
"Assets?" Tsubasa innocently tilted her head in confusion. "What do you mean, Jun-san?"
We both facepalmed at her cluelessness.
"Th-that's beside the point! Are you two willing to head out with me today?"
Tsubasa and I nodded in unison.
"Kiyotaka, my bag of clothes is in your room, correct?" Tsubasa asked.
"Yeah, but I think you left your bra in the bathroom." I notified her.
"And whose fault is that? You just had to fondle my breasts after we showered, huh?" She sarcastically replied.
"But they were right there, and it's your fault for suggesting we shower together in the first place." I quipped back.
"B-but that's because you kept me in bed. If you hadn't done that, we wouldn't have been in a hurry since I needed to make breakfast and rush to the supermarket before the lines got long!"
"Well, I needed the extra sleep because you forced me to stay up late to watch a show with you."
"That's because you chose to hang out with Eiichiro-kun for 12 hours when we both had a holiday from school yesterday!" She huffed, "I wanted to spend some time with you too."
We kept bickering as we made our way to my bedroom. To prevent me from groping her again, Tsubasa changed inside the bathroom.
"No, no, you've got it all wrong Kiyotaka! Try again, this time, put some more effort into it." Tsubasa-sensei scolded me.
I tried again, struggling to follow her advice as I attempted to smile again.
"Sheesh, you're a generational talent when it comes to learning, but you can't learn to simply smile?" She let out a defeated sigh.
Jun was in the driver's seat, cheerfully humming while Tsubasa and I were goofing off in the back.
"Hey, that's not so nice. You know that place didn't allow me to show emotion." I said in a light-hearted tone.
"But smiling is second nature to all humans, it might as well be what makes us people!" Tsubasa argued.
"So does that mean you're calling me less than human?" I tried to put on a fake pout.
Tsubasa didn't respond and just rolled her eyes in response.
"You two are so cute, but hey, Tsubasa, doesn't he already know how to smile? Or are you saying you don't love him for who he is despite what you told us that night~?" Jun playfully teased from the front seat.
"J-Jun-san! I thought we agreed not to speak on that!" Tsubasa wailed in embarrassment.
Jun only let out a hearty laugh in response to her antics.
At the sight, I only let out a light chuckle. The many faces of Tsubasa were a must-see.
After a 15-minute car ride, we finally arrived at a mega mall in the heart of Tokyo.
"Alrighty, we're finally here!"
"I remember coming here with Aoi-nee a couple of times, but all she did was make me carry her clothes."
"That sounds just like her."
Jun sent me a mischievous grin, "Sounds like you're in luck, 'cus we're going shopping!" My heart sank faster than an anchor cast out into the sea.
Tsubasa tried to stifle a laugh at my sudden shift in attitude. "Don't worry, I won't buy too many clothes, Kiyotaka~."
I guess this is the price I must pay to assimilate into society...
We slowly approached the gaping maw known as the West entrance of the mega mall. I found it quite fitting as it felt like I was entering the belly of the beast.
As the three of us made our way through the mall, I noticed a couple of jealous stares from some girls and boys alike. The girls were jealous for some reason I have no clue about, while some boys were envious because of the two beauties on either side of me.
Some others started mocking my ridiculous hairdo and earned death glares from Tsubasa, which quickly silenced the haters.
I'll mention that there's an intriguing existence at this mall. It seems the mystery girl is interested in what my group is doing more than most.
"Here we are!" Jun exclaimed.
"You have good taste, Jun-san! This is where I usually go as well."
"So this is where I go to die, huh?"
"Don't be so dramatic, Kiyotaka, I told you I won't buy much~!" Tsubasa's cheeky expression did not reassure me in any way.
"How does this look, Kiyotaka-sama~?"
"Cover up more."
"Do I look good, Kiyotaka...?"
"Of course, the pants look nice on your ass, too."
"W-what?! Don't say such things in public!"
"Kiyo-sama, how about this?"
"It's better than the last one."
Exchanges like this continued for about half an hour before we went to the checkout. As we approached the front desk, I noticed a gaze peering at us from in between the clothes. The instance I tried to form eye contact, she instantly acted like she was browsing through some skirts.
When we left the high-end clothing store, I carried about 5 bags on either arm. The bags weren't heavy for me, but it was still uncomfortable.
"Alrighty, we're going to see a movie!" Jun declared.
"Have you seen that new romance movie yet?"
"No, but it looks so good! The male lead is like, so hot, and the trailer got me so hyped!"
"I know, right?! Let's go see if we can catch some tickets!"
The two squealing girls dashed off without me. What is Jun doing?! What am I supposed to do with all these bags?
As if reading my thoughts, Jun turned around and haymaker her car keys at me, yelling, "GO PUT THOSE BACK IN THE CAR! WE'LL SAVE A SEAT FOR YOU!"
Catching the keys, I swiftly retreated to the car while carrying pounds of clothes.
Once I opened the trunk and set the clothes inside, I noticed that girl behind a tree and pretended not to see her.
I approached the entrance again and strolled toward a secluded area in the enormous mall. I took a post and awaited my stalker.
Soon enough, the brown-haired offender revealed herself, to which I swiftly blind-sided her and pulled her into my hiding spot.
The girl sported long, light brown hair complemented with beautiful blue eyes that showed my apathetic reflection. Her face was pretty, but Tsubasa gapped her by leagues. She also had medium-is-premium tits with a nicely shaped body.
She currently wore a flushed look. Is it because she got caught? Or because I'm holding her close to me?
"Why are you following me?" I finally decided to interrogate her.
"I-I'm not following you, I-it's a coincidence..." She meekly muttered.
"You're obviously lying."
"H-how do you know?" She averted her gaze.
Suddenly, I had a realization.
"Are you related to Matsushita Jun?" I don't know how I didn't realize their resemblance earlier.
"Heh heh, you caught me!"
"Matsushita, I've heard of your antics from your older sister. It seems both siblings are a handful."
"Antics? What did she mean?" The stalker questioned.
"She told me about how you have a creepy habit of stalking your crushes and people you find interesting," I explained while releasing my grip on her arms.
"N-no way she said that! I told her not to reveal such things!" Matsushita covered her face in embarrassment. I guess I shouldn't have pointed that out.
"W-what else did she tell you?"
"She told me how you have a crush on me despite only ever seeing pictures and hearing stories."
Matsushita turned into a bright red tomato and promptly passed out.
Ten minutes later, Tsubasa and Jun started to bombard me with texts. What's the point of individually texting me if they're right next to each other?
If there's one thing the White Room can't teach, it has to be women. I decided to reply to Tsubasa first.
Tsubasa-🐶❤️
[Tsubasa-🐶❤️]-Kiyooooooooooo!
-Where are you?
-R U okay?
-Is something holding U up?
-please respond, or no touching for a month!
-hello?!
-pls... i'm getting worried!
-kiyooooo
-jeez, no touching for a week? [13:12]
This isn't good. I've been told a happy wife means a happy life, but she certainly is not happy right now...
I'm fine.-[You]
I won't be able to make it to the movie. Meet me at the west side, hallway 9.5-C-[You]
[13:13]
[Tsubasa-🐶❤️]-No, we R on our way now!
-better have a good excuse
-3 [13:14]
How can she send me an angry emoji and an emoticon heart in the same minute? Does she have bipolar disorder?
I checked Jun's text to see if she sent me anything different.
Jun
[Jun]-so u finally found her
-i should reward u for a job well done~
-or would u prefer a double reward from me and my sis? [13:09]
I closed the chat.
After a few minutes, Matsushita finally woke up while Jun and Tsubasa approached us. At the sight of Jun, she hid behind my back. I can't blame her. I would do the same if my sister was such a handful.
"Heya, Chiaki!" The sister in question began waving at us from about 20 feet away.
Suddenly, Tsubasa started running and quickly jumped into my arms.
"K-K-Kiyotaka! Never do that again, I was so scared!" She started sobbing into my shirt.
"It's alright, Tsubasa. Don't fret." I started rubbing my hands on her lower back, I wanted to reach below and grab her ass through her skirt, but it probably wouldn't be a good idea at the moment.
Turning my attention to Jun and her sister, I listened in on their conversation while Tsubasa silently teared up in my chest.
"Time to pay up, lil sis~," the older one mockingly said.
"Ugh, fine... He really is incredible as you say, Nee-san."
After slapping what seemed to be 15,000 yen into Jun's hand, they continued talking.
"What—Did you doubt my words~?"
"Not really, I just wanted to see for myself."
"Ahh, they do say seeing is believing!" Suddenly, Jun's warm blue eyes adopted a devious glint. "Say, Chiaki-chan~~"
I don't appreciate where this is going...
"Why are your legs so shiny? Are they wet?~~" Chiaki's face turned pale, then pink. "Were you two, 'getting down to business'?"
At those words, Tsubasa glared at the younger Matsushita. "Having to share Kiyotaka with one Matsushita is enough, I don't know if I can survive two."
"Share?! You're weird, Nee-san!" The implication caused Jun's face to flare up.
She then deflected the embarrassment back onto her sister and Tsubasa, "Don't worry, he's still a virgin, Chiaki-chan~. Actually, I heard Kiyotaka and Tsu-chan sleep in the same bed and bathe together all the time~ I'm not so sure if he's innocent anymore~."
Jun's ability to flip situations is honestly impressive. I feel like that ability will be mandatory later in ANHS.
Now, all three girls around me wore bright pink faces.
Trying to refuse the situation, I decided to speak my mind.
"I want ice cream," I suddenly blurted out. The random request broke through the awkward atmosphere, leading to a hearty laugh from the rest of the girls.
"Alright, we can go get some ice cream, Kiyotaka-sama," Jun wiped tears from her eyes. Was it that funny?
The rest of us followed Jun's lead...out of the mall?
"Jun-san, why didn't we stop to get ice cream inside the mall?"
"Well, I wanted to treat you guys to the best ice cream in the world, you know?"
"Oh, I remember this place, you've brought me here a few times!"
"Yeah yeah, and you kept gushing about it every time!"
"Jun, you've got to stop revealing embarrassing things about your little sister like that," I interjected, feeling second-hand embarrassment for Matsushita.
"For real, Kiyotaka-sama? You're supposed to be on my side, you know?" She crossed her arms in a cute pout.
"Hey, Ayanokoji-kun, what's up with your hairdo?"
"Hmm, I wonder why," I sarcastically replied, staring at the guilty party.
Tsubasa nervously chuckled at the interaction.
"For real though, since it was my darling Tsubasa's idea, I have no qualms with it." Tsubasa slapped my arm lightly as a result.
"S-stop, you're embarrassing me!"
"Sheesh Nanase-san, you're really compliment shy~." Matsushita teased.
"Only for Kiyotaka... Ughh! You two are the worst!" Tsubasa sped up her pace to match Jun's while Matsushita and I shared a nice laugh.
"I can see why you like her so much, Ayanokoji-kun."
"Yes, she's become an irreplaceable existence to me. She's captured my heart."
"For someone who appears so gloomy, you can be really sappy, Ayanokoji-kun."
"I'm really trying to make an effort to change, 14 years in the place can change a person, you know?"
"I still don't know much," Matsushita admitted, "but I can say, Jun, Tsubasa, and I are here for you!"
I pat her head, and she flashed me a great smile.
After a short while of walking, we appeared at a crosswalk.
"You two," Jun pointed at Tsubasa and me, "be careful when crossing the street since it's your first time. The drivers here are really lousy, you heard?" She warned.
Thankfully, we crossed with no incident.
We approached the ice cream vendor and made our purchases.
"I'll take mint flavored! Two scoops!" Jun eagerly told the man stationed at the ice cream truck. Soon, she turned and said that she'd pay for the orders.
Since Jun and Tsubasa rushed here as quickly as they could, they left us behind, which allowed me to think about what to order.
"Whatchya ordering, Ayanokoji-kun?" Matsushita leaned forward and looked at me cutely.
"Honestly, I have no idea," I answered honestly. "What do you think I should order?"
"I usually order chocolate chip, can't go wrong with that, you know?"
"I guess I should order that, then."
After ordering, she and I sat down at a table together.
"Alright, this is going to be my first time ever having ice cream." I grabbed a spoon and slowly took a bite out of it. The taste was nothing like I'd ever had before.
The food back in the White Room was shit compared to this. Not even Mai or Tsubasa's breasts could compare in taste.
The magnificent taste could qualify as humanity's magnum opus. If aliens were to beam down and proclaim their takeover, just a spoonful of this sugary snack would cause them to turn tail on our planet!
"Tsu-chan! Look over there!" I heard Jun yell, and suddenly, I heard footsteps rapidly approaching Matsushita and me. "Quick, take a picture!"
All three girls started flashing their cameras at me, making me go blind in the process.
"You look so adorable, Kiyotaka!" Tsubasa gushed while hugging my head into her chest tightly.
"I'm saying!"
"Agreed."
After Tsubasa stopped suffocating me, I decided to speak up.
"What happened, why did you guys start fangirling?" I was utterly confused...
"Kiyotaka-sama, that was a proper smile you just had, we three will cherish the memory for the rest of our lives!" Jun declared.
The other two teens nodded in unison. Sheesh, is a smile really that big of a deal?
The four of us continued to chat about useless things, I kept eating my ice cream, and with every bite I took, my personal paparazzi went crazy.
As we approached the dangerous intersection, Matsushita suddenly called out to me.
"H-hey, Ayanokoji-kun," for some reason, her face was red, and she started stuttering.
"Yes, Matsushita?"
"You've got a little something on your face," she reached into her handbag and pulled out a handkerchief. She closed the distance between her hand and my cheek and wiped something off my face.
"Thank you, Matsushita." I flashed her a warm smile, increasing the red hue on her face.
"I was thinking," she started twirling her hair, "can we start calling each other by our first names?"
What a simple request. I can fulfill that.
"Sure, why not, Chiaki?" She blushed even harder before jumping at me to quickly hug me.
Seems like I've made a new friend.
Soon, the walking light shone, and our group of four started crossing the street.
Suddenly, a truck commonly seen in the Isekai genre of manga and anime came barreling down the street. It was moving at well over 100 km/h. Because the girls were currently distracted, the second they noticed this life-erasing machine coming for their lives, it would already be far too late.
Taking initiative, I took a stance. The world was in slo-mo to me.
The truck is a class 4 truck weighing between 6350 and 7260 kilograms. My goal is to cause no casualties here, so I should base my calculations on the vehicle being 8500 kilograms for safety.
The truck is moving at about 130 km/h
Kinetic Energy = ½(mass)(velocity)²
Once the values get put inside, this equals around 5.5 x 10⁶ joules of force (5.5 million). Roughly 3.82 times weaker than the force required to destroy a small building. Or about 3438 times stronger than Mike Tyson's recorded punch of 1600 joules.
"That should do it."
I thrust forward with a strength I haven't displayed since my years in the White Room. I remember punching with this force once, and I was scolded for punching my punching bag through a wall once. I apologized and never displayed such power again.
But that was years ago, and I'm much stronger since then.
Why am I wasting my thoughts on such a trivial thing? What matters right now is that I'm surrounded by people who I can confidently say are valuable to me, especially Tsubasa. It's up to me to protect them now.
My left fist came in contact with the truck, utterly stopping the raging truck in its path. The force of my fist even bounced it back a bit as the force busted the engine, causing it to be stationary. Thankfully, no explosions occurred.
"K-k-kiyotaka?!" Tsubasa was the first to react.
"Sorry for the scare, but the issue's all fixed now."
More and more eyes were drawn to the scene.
"Did he just stop that truck with a punch?!"
"Impossible...!"
"Is that guy even human?!"
"Now I'm all sticky! That was so hot!"
"Way to go, Kiyotaka-sama!" I didn't know where this last voice came from.
I turned to my three stunned companions on the floor. I kept my head facing downwards so my dreadlocks obscured my face.
"Meet me back at the car, you three, I don't want any clear pictures of my face circulating the web. Bye."
The three, still stunned, nodded in unison before I dashed off. Today was great, even if my hand paid the price for it.
End of Chapter 1...