Classroom of the Elite: The Eroge

Chapter 17 Act 3: Scene 5

?As the three left, both second-year students were left in their places just staring at their retreating figures. Nazuna was the first one to speak after a while, as she had a lot of questions regarding that young whom she was talking to a while ago.

"Hey, Nagumo. You said that Horikita-senpai was talking about Ayanokouji-kun yesterday, right? Why so?" she asked.

Miyabi shrugged in an amused manner. "How should I know? Even if I'm the vice president, it's not like Horikita-senpai shares his secrets with me."

"Hoooohhh..." the girl stared at him in wonder for a moment before letting out a chuckle. "In that case, I guess I'll watch out for him then. If the student council president has his eyes on a freshman, of all people, then he must be someone interesting."

The blonde chuckled as well. "I'm surprised. You rarely pay attention to one person, a first-year student no less. Is it too early to assume that you have a crush on him, Asahina?"

"Hah! Are you kidding? Or did the years of being a ladies' man finally get to your head? I just want to see what Ayanokouji-kun is all about up close. Plus, he's younger than me. I don't really think we'd be a good match."

While Nazuna listed down the possible reasons why she shouldn't be a couple with Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, the smile on Miyabi's face finally fell apart and was replaced with a look of contempt as he turned back to the first-year students who were walking away.

"I don't get it. I don't think there's anything special about him, yet Horikita-senpai said that he's someone to watch closely," Nagumo thought to himself as a smirk now took over his features. "The only special things I'm seeing are those two beautiful girls with him. One of them was Horikita-senpai's sister, and the other... I don't know what her name is, but who cares? I'll simply take a look at the records and see who she is."

Nagumo smiled to himself. It looks like the new batch of students this year was a full package.

Meanwhile, with the three Class-D students, they were on their way back to the dorms when Chiaki broke the silence between them. She had kept quiet the whole time while they were speaking with their two upperclassmen earlier but now that they were away from them, she saw it as an opportunity to speak.

"It's only your second day here, and you already got the attention of the student council president? It looks like you're going to leave your mark on this school, Ayanokouji-kun," she commented.

"I don't believe it's anything big. It's normal for the student council to keep an eye on the students, especially if those students exhibit any kind of strange behavior," he told her in an attempt to make her drop the issue.

Great. Even though the system wasn't doing anything at the moment, its actions were starting to bear consequences, starting with this. Some power this was, helping him to romance 'heroines' and leaving him to deal with the repercussions. Why can't it help him in situations like this too?

Chiaki put a finger on her cheek in a thinking pose. "But Nagumo-senpai didn't even know why the president was keeping an eye on you. He only talked about it with Tachibana-senpai. Don't you think that's strange?"

He shook his head. "I don't think I'm the right person to give an answer to that, Matsushita."

"So, you didn't really do anything?"

Suzune folded her arms and sighed, before frowning at their companion. "Matsushita-san, could you please stop with the questions? Even Ayanokouji-kun himself doesn't have the answers to your questions, because he really hasn't done anything that could warrant the attention of my brother. As a matter of fact, I don't even understand why you are asking him if he did anything. Is there a reason why you seem eager to know?"

The girl could tell that if Kikyo was here, she would do the same thing.

"Thank you, Horikita," Kiyotaka thought. Truth be told, he was actually wondering why Matsushita was bothering him about this issue and was about to ask her, but Horikita solved that problem for him. He may have wanted to know about her intentions as well as why she was interested in him, but oh well. There's always a next time.

"Okay, okay, I get it..." Chiaki smiled nervously from Suzune's cold stare, so she quickly decided to drop the issue. At the very least, her suspicion about Kiyotaka being more than what he seems to be was on point. "So, you're heading back to the dorms for real? You don't have anything else to do today?"

"No," he said flatly. Just the thought of doing something else other than being with Bed-chan would make him lose his mind... so he was really hoping that the system would let him be for now. "I would like to rest early."

p?nd?`no??1--?o? Chiaki then walked ahead of her two classmates, before turning to face them with a sweet smile.

"Well, we better hurry then. Wouldn't want you to collapse out here in the open, would we?" she teased.

Famous last words.

~XoX~

"Uh... may I ask why are you still here, Ayanokouji-kun? Shouldn't you be heading to your dorm room since you're tired?"

Chiaki could only stare in disbelief at Kiyotaka, who stopped before a door that was only a few meters away from hers, with Suzune at the one that was beside his. After they reached the dorms, she was surprised that he still came with them to the 4th floor, but simply assumed that he was being a gentleman and wanted to make sure that they got to their rooms.

However, that doesn't seem to be the case here.

"I'm already here. My dorm room is this one," he said, sending her a bored look.

"W-Wait, you live here?" she stuttered, obviously caught off guard by this sudden knowledge.

He wasn't surprised that Chiaki's dorm room was beside Kushida's, so she was still near his own unit by only a few steps. The young man was about to answer, only for the world to freeze as three new choices showed up in front of him.

A. [Yeah, why? Is there a problem with me living here?]

B. [Believe me, I'm just as surprised as you, Matsushita. If you're wondering, I never asked to be put here. I'm not in charge of the students' arrangements in this school.]

C. [That's right, and if you think you can follow me around without noticing, then you haven't seen what I can do, Chiaki. Actually, you can follow me again anytime. I'll show you what you're in for if you do.]

Kiyotaka ignored the first two choices in favor of the third one, choosing it in an instant. It was amusing to see her speechless reaction earlier after he exposed her for following him, and it should be equally amusing to see how she would react to this one as well. It might even get her to leave him alone after this.

As the world around him returned to normal, he sent her a smirk that was similar to the one he showed earlier. He even winked at her for good measure.

"That's right, and if you think you can follow me around without noticing, then you haven't seen what I can do, Chiaki. Actually, you can follow me again anytime. I'll show you what you're in for if you do."

The brunette couldn't say anything as a response. The only thing she was capable of doing was look at him in shock and embarrassment, her mouth hanging open and her cheeks turning red.

[You gained 5 Affection Points with Matsushita Chiaki!]

Kiyotaka stared at the new notification after regaining control of himself. "I still wonder what would happen once the number of Affection Points reach 100... I hate to admit it, but I'm curious to see what it will be. Surely, it wouldn't be something bad since the system only wants the heroines to be happy."

"Ayanokouji-kun."

While Chiaki was left in a speechless state, Kiyotaka was snapped out of his thoughts when he felt Suzune tapping him on the back, making him turn towards her.

"Tomorrow. We'll walk to class together. Don't forget it," she told him in a firm tone that left no room for disagreements.

All he could do was nod. She only wanted to go to school together, no big deal. Still, she should've told him this yesterday instead of getting angry earlier this morning. "Sure... if that's what you want."

"Good. Enjoy the rest of your day," she nodded in satisfaction, before disappearing into her room.

With that, Kiyotaka decided to retreat into his fortress of solitude as well, before another stressful situation finds him again because of the system. He turned towards his other classmate, who was still in a state of embarrassment from everything that just transpired.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Matsushita."

"W-Wait, I—" she snapped out of her shock right away and tried to stop him, but Kiyotaka had already headed inside his unit and closed the door, leaving her in the hallway alone.

Chiaki stood there for a few moments before going inside her dorm room as well, then throwing herself into her bed. She buried her still-red face into her pillow as she racked her brain for answers.

"It doesn't make any sense... I'm so confused..."

How exactly can Ayanokouji switch from his apathetic expression into a seductive look without any effort? It's like one was only an act, while the other was his real personality, but there's no way of knowing for sure. What if both personalities were an act? What if they were a part of his overall personality? It was just an endless pit of questions for this issue.

To make things worse, his sexy personality caught her off guard both times and left her in a flustered state. She couldn't stop herself from blushing despite being a normally calm and composed person most of the time.

And then... there's also the fact that she lives one dorm away from Kiyotaka. Earlier during class, their classmates were talking about the new dorm arrangements for the first-year students and a lot of the girls stated that they were residing at the 4th floor, including herself. Heck, even Chabashira-sensei lived here!

It never occurred to her that Kiyotaka's dorm unit was also here, but that's because he didn't say anything in class earlier.

"Why didn't he say anything earlier, then...?" she asked herself. "Oh, probably to avoid trouble with the rest of our classmates. The girls would have crucified him for sure, while the boys would gang up on him out of jealousy..."

Yeah, if he said anything during homeroom today, then all of the girls would no doubt be mad that a boy lived on the same floor as them. Horikita must have known about his situation earlier then; Suzune had no reaction to Kiyotaka being her neighbor ever since they arrived at the dorms. Kushida might be aware as well, since she arrived in class with both Ayanokouji and Horikita earlier,

"This is more complicated than I thought... I thought this would be a simple issue that wouldn't take a day to figure out..."

At first, she only wanted to know more about him because he had gotten the attention of both Horikita and Kushida, which was an interesting sight. Yesterday, she noticed right away that Horikita Suzune wasn't the kind of person who would become friends with anyone, while Kushida Kikyo was the type of girl who would rather make friends than get a boy's attention, even though she has already won over the hearts of many of their male classmates.

If that wasn't enough, then the fact that the three of them entered the classroom together earlier as if they were a three-way couple was what sealed it. Then there's also Horikita accompanying Ayanokouji to the club fair... it's like she was already comfortable with him despite being distant to her other classmates.

Anyway, what started as a curious desire to know more about a person now evolved into an aching need for answers, because this was just too much.

She'll figure out the mystery behind Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, no matter what!