Act 16: Scene 7

After an hour and a half of discussing Miyake's situation in Kushida's dorm room, everyone finally decided to head back to their respective homes to retire for the day. Haruka actually wanted to spend the rest of her day putting their new plan in motion, but everyone else had convinced her to take a rest and that they will continue their search tomorrow.

Ayanokouji was the first to leave under the excuse of wanting to sleep as soon as he gets home, and nobody really had any problem with that. But everything almost went to ruin before he could step out of the door.

While everyone else bid him farewell in a casual manner, Kikyo went up to him and gave him a sweet peck on the cheek, which surprised everyone including him. He couldn't believe that she would do something so bold in front of everyone who was there but then again, she did kiss him in front of the whole class. Afterwards, the girl just gave him a cute smile and then a wink which could only mean that she was doing this on purpose.

Almost immediately, Kiyotaka left the room before anyone could make any comments about what happened. If he stayed any longer, then he would have been dragged back in with everyone and who knows what would have happened from there?

He wasn't lying about wanting to sleep right away. He really did want to get an early sleep after another tiring day as always but unfortunately, like every other day ever since last Friday, it was impossible for him to get what he wanted.

In fact, the moment he stepped inside his room, a pair of arms immediately wrapped around his waist and a pair of, erhm... assets were pressing against his back. This was a familiar sensation that he has been experiencing for the past few days now, but it was still enough to make him feel somewhat embarrassed because the person doing it seemingly had no sense of shame even if he sees her in the nude or something...

"Senpai~" came the sweet and sensual voice of his roommate. "Did you miss me?"

"I saw you earlier this morning," he said flatly while locking the door.

Ichika hugged him tighter, pressing her face and chest onto his back even more. "But isn't it always a good thing to see your cute and lovely kouhai~?"

"If we're talking about you, then I'd say it's a good thing whenever you're not being annoying," Kiyotaka sighed and removed her arms from around his waist and walked towards his bed.

"Aww, but I'm just showing you how much I love being around you, senpai..." Ichika walked after him while giggling in amusement. "I've dreamed of meeting you for years, you know? And now, I'm finally living that dream~"

"I hope the novelty wears off soon so I can go back to living like how I used to," he replied, taking off his shoes and then sitting on his bed, about to let himself fall into the warm confines of his mattress.

"You're going to sleep right away, aren't you? You should think about yourself, senpai. You almost didn't get to eat dinner last night if it wasn't for me reminding you to eat," Ichika pouted, speaking in a tone that made her sound like a disappointed wife more than anything.

The young man took off his blazer and loosened his tie a bit, before sending an unamused look towards his kouhai. "I'll take any amount of sleep I can get without you annoying me to the point that I can't even close my eyes. And don't worry about me, it's not like I'm neglecting my appetite completely."

The girl then smirked, before flashing him a grin. "Really? Even though I've got some information that you might find interesting, senpai? You're going to sleep without even hearing me out?"

That made the young man stop, just as he was about to surrender himself to the warm, comforting feeling of his bed.

Kiyotaka observed the girl for a moment, as he tried to get a good read on what might be in Ichika's mind right now. From the teasing grin that appeared on her face, he could easily dismiss her claim as a lie to get his attention but at the same time, he didn't think Ichika would kid around with a topic like this. Sure, this girl gets on his nerves quite often but that's simply because of her personality which is too much for him to handle along with his other heroines on a day-to-day basis.

Underneath that exterior she puts up, this girl was a subject of the White Room like him, and her prowess and abilities are no doubt useful. If she has 'information', then it's surely something that would be useful to him in the long run.

"I'll be the judge of that," he sighed in defeat, deciding to hear her out at the very least as he faced her. "What kind of information?"

The grin on Ichika's face grew wider as she approached her senpai and sat on his lap, before letting her arms rest on his shoulders, and her legs wrapping around his waist. Other boys would have been extremely embarrassed or had a nosebleed at this position by now, but not Kiyotaka. Not when this might lead to information that can be vital to him.

"I've been looking into Class C like what you told me to do, and I found out about a little incident that happened a few days ago involving some of them. I'm sure you already know what that is, don't you?"

"The same thing as what our whole class is dealing with at the moment, you know that. What do you know about Miyake's case?" Kiyotaka asked.

Ever since the day that Miyake got attacked, Ichika has never talked to him about it nor has she mentioned it in any of their conversations, even during the times when she was annoying him. The fact that she's mentioning this to him now, it must mean that she know something that none of his classmates know, not even him.

"Everything, senpai~" she smirked. "I know who were the people who attacked him, why they did it, and who ordered it! I even recorded the whole thing on my phone."

"You recorded the whole incident?" the young man asked, now fully intrigued with what his roommate knew.

"I did~! Aren't you proud of me?"

Before he could utter a response to her, the world around him stopped and lost color, and Kiyotaka could only roll his eyes in growing frustration. Of all the times that the system could activate and do something, it chooses this particular moment? Right when he was about to have an interesting conversation with Ichika for once? Right when he she had some information that is very important to their whole class at this point?

The deity that gave him this superpower must not want him to get any sleep tonight. Either that or the deity was just bored. Whichever works.

A. [I still think you're annoying, but eh. You did fine, I suppose.]

B. [That was a smart move, Amasawa. You did great.]

C. [I'm very proud of you, Ichika-chan. Now, what do you say to having a reward from your—]

Unwilling to make the same mistake he made yesterday, Kiyotaka immediately pushed the second screen before the third screen could even finish typing out the full sentence. What happened yesterday was completely embarrassing for someone like him, even if the choice he accidentally picked didn't lead to anything bad.

Furthermore, the last thing he needed right now was a horny Amasawa vying for his continuous affection, especially considering her... demeanor most of the time.

"That was a smart move, Amasawa. You did great," he told the girl while giving her a headpat, making Ichika beam in happiness as she let out a purr at the feeling of his hand running through her hair.

[You're becoming quicker in the choices you make! You gained +1 in Wisdom!]

[You have gained 10 Affection Points with Amasawa Ichika!]

[Well done trying to prevent the same mistake you made before too! Keep it up and I won't have to constantly intervene in your escapades.]

Kiyotaka blinked for a few moments, before he shook his head in an effort to forget the three notifications he just saw, especially that third one. Were his eyes playing tricks on him? Or did he just see this eroge system talking to him straight up...?

...yeah, he's not even gonna make a comment on that first notification he got... not unless he wanted to go through a moment of existential crisis by wondering if he was truly in control of his life or if he was just a puppet in the palm of some deity...

Kind of ironic if that was the case.

"Your praise means very much to me, senpai~" Ichika giggled, sending a wink at her beloved senpai.

The girl's voice was at least enough to get his mind back on track, shifting his attention back to the topic of their conversation. "Now, you said that you know who were the people that attacked Miyake?" he asked, hoping to forget what he just saw by continuing this discussion.

"Yep~ It was Kondo-senpai, Komiya-senpai, and Ishizaki-senpai. All of them seemed really eager to beat up Miyake-senpai, even though it was the first time they've seen him," she revealed with a devilish look on her face.

"How did you know who they were?" he asked, raising an eyebrow curiously.

"Well, that would be my secret, senpai~"

Kiyotaka ignored her remark since it wasn't really important and immediately thought about this piece of information that he got from her.

"Ishizaki... he's one of the names that Sudo mentioned when Miyake told us about the incident. Kondo and Komiya, he mentioned those names to us earlier," he thought to himself. "Sudo didn't ask them because he didn't want to risk them catching on to him and our class, but it turns out that they were the ones behind it anyway."

He thought about Horikita's plan to ask Shiina if she knew anything about the incident since she was a part of Class C and if she would be willing to say anything regarding it. Considering how Class C covered up its tracks well after what happened to the point that Miyake had no idea who his attackers were, he doubted that Shiina had any vital information but if she did, then it would be a great help to their class.

"If her plan to ask Shiina doesn't work out, then she'll go with her second plan. If she and Kushida manage to get a photo of Class C, then Miyake will be able to point out these three students as his attackers."

Okay, that answers the question of who were the people that attacked his classmate, but there's still one other question that's been bothering them ever since it was brought up, and it was the most important piece of this puzzle. The piece that can lead them to their victory in this case.

"Amasawa, was there someone else there?"

Ichika's eyes lit up in excitement. "Oh, there was~ she was so scared that I thought she was going to run away! But surprisingly, she didn't and she just stood where she was, hidden from Miyake-senpai and his attackers..."

Kiyotaka considered those words carefully in his mind. "Do you know who it is?"

She nodded. "Of course, senpai."

"Would you mind telling me?"

"I would, but could you brush my hair while I'm at it, senpai? It feels really lonely that I have to do this alone when you're here with me~" she asked, shifting her position so that she was facing away from him instead, before undoing her ribbons and letting her hair fall down.

Kiyotaka stared blankly at this girl after that demand she made. Of course she would ask him to do something for her in exchange for something she gives him, just like what happened last week during her arrival in this school, when he asked her to keep a close watch on Class C. And come to think of it, she hasn't really said anything about what she wanted him to do for her, but that's a story for another day.

Anyway, it's not like brushing his kouhai's hair was anything crazy. She could have asked him to do something else, but Ichika wanted this for some reason. Might as well let her have this instead of waiting for the possibility of her asking something else, and he didn't want to do such a thing.

"Fine," he sighed in defeat again, as he reached out for the hairbrush on top of his drawer and grabbed the girl's scarlet locks gently.

"Hehe, thank you, senpai~"

"So who was it that saw the whole thing?" he asked again while brushing Ichika's hair.

"Oh, well it was none other than your own classmate, Sakura-senpai~! She even recorded the whole incident with a terrified look on her face, it was so funny to watch!"

Kiyotaka's eyebrows rose in clear interest. That was a name that he wasn't expecting to hear.

"Sakura, huh? That explains why she didn't say anything when Chabashira-sensei asked if someone witnessed the fight. Actually no, it explains why she's been distant this whole time, like she's pretending that this issue doesn't exist."

Ichika turned her head slightly to look at him. "Isn't that a bad thing, senpai? I remember that Sakura-senpai didn't say anything when Chabashira-sensei asked if someone saw what happened to Miyake-senpai... at least that's what I saw while watching what was happening from my seat."

"I can somewhat understand the position she's in," Kiyotaka shrugged. "She's the only one who witnessed the incident first-hand, thus it falls upon her to bear the responsibility of knowing what truly happened that day. And knowing Sakura, she's too timid and shy to even think of confessing that she saw the incident with her own eyes. I do believe she wants to help, regardless."

"Well then, what do you want to do with her, senpai? Are you just going to wait and see what she does?"

"I'll leave Sakura alone for the time being. Now that I know she's the witness we were looking for, our victory is pretty much guaranteed. For now, I want to see what she does with the knowledge she possesses. Will she step up and tell everyone what she knows to help Miyake, or will she keep the information to herself because she's too scared?"

"What an interesting move, senpai. I like your attitude! Now I'm curious about what Sakura-senpai will do now too!" Ichika applauded her senpai's thought process with a big smile on her face. "What about Horikita-senpai and your other classmates?"

"I'll continue to help them as if I don't know anything," he replied. "It's because I'm curious to see if Horikita's plan will be a success. She mentioned the possibility of Shiina knowing something about the incident, and I'm curious about that as well."

"And what if Shiina-senpai doesn't know anything?" the girl asked, knowing who her senpai was referring to.

Kiyotaka shrugged again, as he brushed the girl's hair one more time before stopping. "Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see if that's the case. In the meantime, you said that you recorded the whole fight? I'd like to watch what happened."

"Sure thing, senpai! Let me just get my phone..."

With that, Ichika stood up from the young man's lap and grabbed her phone by the table, before walking back to the young man. While she was trying to find the video that she took of the incident between Miyake and the students of Class C, a sudden memory sprouted in her mind and caused her to snap her fingers upon remembering it.

"Oh, that's right! Senpai, I need to tell you about something else," she said, earning a raised eyebrow from Kiyotaka who was now wondering what this was about. "It has something to do with Horikita-senpai and Kushida-senpai~"

"What about them?"

"Oh, you're gonna love what I found out while I was watching them yesterday~!" she exclaimed, making the young man even more curious about what Ichika was talking about. "But that can wait for later. In the meantime, here you go! You wanted to watch what happened, right?"

With a devilish grin on her face, Ichika handed her phone over to her senpai who took it from her with a thankful nod. As he began to play the video of the incident with Ichika beside him, he noticed that the video was taken from behind Sakura while also keeping the boys' scuffle a part of the video so he could see what really went down.

"I wonder what Sakura will do, when there's only a few days left before Miyake's trial. Will she step forward with what she knows along with the video she took, or will she continue to remain silent until the end?"

Even though he couldn't see the redhead's face from this perspective, Kiyotaka could tell that she was completely nervous despite recording the whole incident on her own phone and the fact that the boys couldn't even notice her presence.

"I hope you don't disappoint me, Sakura," the young man thought as he watched Airi try to help Akito right after the Class C students left the scene.

[A Special Event has been Triggered!]

"What the fu—"

Number of days left before Akito's trial: 4