Act 4: Scene 1

"Can you just tell me where you're taking me?" Kiyotaka asked the person who was with him today, Suzune, as she dragged him by the arm through the campus grounds to who-knows-where.

Last night, Suzune told him through a text that he should get ready for school earlier than usual, because she had something important to talk to him about. He was curious what it was about, but didn't ask her regarding it because it might annoy her. He would simply find out the next day.

Kiyotaka wasn't prepared for Suzune to grab his arm and drag him to the elevator, before they left the dorm building as if nothing else mattered. He couldn't even tell her that they should be waiting for Kikyo, because the girl looked like she wasn't even paying attention to him. It's like her mind was focused on something else entirely...

"No. You'll know when we get there," she said in a firm tone, making it known that her stance won't change.

Even after a week, Suzune still hasn't been able to buy him ice cream like she promised herself. She tried multiple times to ask him but somehow, she was always interrupted by something or someone. Last Wednesday, after they got back to the dorms where no one could possibly interrupt them, Kiyotaka excused himself and went back to his room because of a sudden stomachache. She didn't bother waiting for him to finish and simply went back to her room, accepting defeat.

There was also this past Friday, when she tried to ask him to go with her to the mall first, before buying him some ice cream later. However, that plan also went up in smoke when they encountered Matsushita there and asked what they were doing at the mall, before asking if she could come with them. Since she couldn't reveal the truth to their classmate, Suzune had no choice but to lie and say that she only wanted to check out what the place had to offer.

Suzune groaned.

Seriously, how difficult could asking Kiyotaka out for some ice cream be?

And so, today, Horikita Suzune decided that enough was enough and decided to simply drag her classmate all the way to the ice cream stall where they went during their first day. The same idea she had during the club fair last week.

"That doesn't seem fair," he argued.

"Life itself isn't fair."

Kiyotaka sighed in defeat. It's clear that she wasn't going to budge. All he could do right now is accept his fate and hope that this doesn't lead to anything bad.

"Okay, point taken. Could you at least stop dragging me by the arm? It hurts," he asked.

"We're nearly there, Ayanokouji-kun. Bear with it."

"Some heroine you are. This isn't how you should treat your significant other," he rolled his eyes quietly before deciding to bring up an important matter. "Did we really have to leave Kushida behind for this? We could have let her come along since we go to school together everyday, anyway."

The girl shook her head. "No. Kushida-san cannot be involved. This is between the two of us."

"Whatever you say. If she becomes upset because we left her behind, then you should be the one to explain why," he told her. For once, he wasn't going to do anything about this if it got out of hand. He didn't even do anything that would make this his fault, and even the system knows it. "Although it likely wouldn't do anything since Kushida hates you..."

"I will," said Horikita, although it can be seen that she didn't really care about Kushida and what she would feel about being left out.

As he got dragged by the clearly-frustrated Suzune to who-knows-where, Kiyotaka safely retreated into his thoughts.

It has been a week since he began to live with this weird superpower and so far, things were going well. At least as well as one would expect from a reality-bending power like his.

Thankfully, no 'special events' have taken place within that span of time and the system's broken skill hasn't been activated since the new dorm arrangements.

He took a glance at Suzune, especially her 'heroine screen' that displayed her current status. He didn't know why she was frustrated, but it's the reason why she's like this right now... he wondered what the 'determined' was for.

[Horikita Suzune: 'Frustrated Yet Determined Friend']

[Relationship Status: Strange Friends]

[Affection Points: 48/100]

Anyway, yeah, there was an increase in Suzune's Affection Points throughout the week, but not as big as Kikyo's. He still couldn't explain it, but it's strange how it's faster to gain Affection Points with her than Suzune.

Hmm, maybe it's because Kikyo was just hungry for affection while Suzune wasn't? He had no idea if that was a good thing, though. That girl was still crazy and he still had no idea why she's angry at Suzune but since she's a heroine, there might not be any need to worry.

Oh, who was he kidding? The system will definitely force him into a situation where he would have to work out a compromise between Suzune and Kikyo, because it's obvious that they'll be at each other's throats soon. Not just because of him, but because of the apparent history between them.

But, on a more positive note, Kiyotaka realized a handful of things about the system that would be very helpful from now on. The first was that the broken skill he dreaded would only activate if one of his heroines became sad and was in need of a smile. He understood it after reading through it again, and he realized that it wasn't the system itself that was screwing him over.

Because of that, he realized that in order to prevent it from happening, all he needed to do was keep his heroines happy... which would be very tiring to do, but worth it.

Secondly, he realized that while the 'heroine summary' screen shows up every time he looks at a potential heroine, the three choices don't exactly follow the same routine. He realized this after having a perfectly normal conversation with Sato, whom he noticed was a soon-to-be heroine since she lived on the same floor as him (and all the girls who resided there were more or less his heroines).

The entire time that they talked, the usual choices didn't appear once and by the end of it, Kiyotaka had let out a massive sigh of relief.

This could only mean one thing, and that is the system isn't letting him 'unlock' every heroine's route all at once, which is a good thing. He honestly thought that this dating simulator system wouldn't have a problem with dumping every heroine onto him and letting him handle it, but it looks like he was wrong.

It's like the dating simulator games that he had played from Eiichiro's collection. Every heroine route in those games weren't unlocked right away, and there was a specific requirement for each one. He wondered if the same applied for this dating system.

It actually happened with Chabashira-sensei and Asahina-senpai already. He saw their 'summaries' when he looked at them and that's it. While he did talk with Nazuna, the choices never appeared.

Maybe the one who granted him this weird power had a heart, after all.

Lastly, after thinking about it for days, Kiyotaka finally realized the true benefit behind this dating simulator. It was so obvious that he couldn't believe he didn't notice it at the beginning, but that's because he was in despair over it at first.

It was to make him feel love.

Throughout the week, he noticed that he was becoming comfortable with Suzune and Kikyo to the point that it almost didn't bother him anymore that they walk to school altogether in the morning as if they were a couple. The only thing is that they should learn how to keep up appearances, because they acted as if the three of them being seen altogether wouldn't result in further complications.

He had raised his 'Affection Points' with them a lot of times each time they talked, though Kiyotaka didn't really care about it anymore. As long as it means preventing the system's broken skill from triggering and giving him a massive headache, then he could deal with it.

Plus, those 'Affection Points' was actually a good thing, because he realized that the system was helping him achieve one of the biggest things he had wanted to achieve ever since he escaped that place, and that is to piss the ever-loving shit off his father.

What other way of doing so other than the 'Masterpiece' becoming a normal person?

While the White Room did give him abilities and intellect the likes that no one has ever seen before, he would never forgive that man for what he's done which is taking the chance of a normal life away from him.

Who knows? Maybe the system would help him enough to the point that he would be able to show emotions willingly and without a problem? But that would be getting ahead of himself. He still had no control over the system and he doubted that he would.

"Here we are," spoke Suzune, snapping her companion out of his thoughts.

"Huh?" the young man muttered as he took a quick look at where they were. One look at the ice cream stall, popcorn stand, and the taiyaki stall was all he needed to realize where they were. "This is the same place where we went last week... why are we here?"

Suzune let go of the boy's arm before scanning her surroundings for any possible interruptions to what she was about to do. God, if there was something that might interrupt her, then she might actually lose it.

"Nothing out of the ordinary... I'm also sure neither Kushida-san nor Matsushita-san know where we are."

Once she was satisfied and completely sure that the coast was clear, she turned back towards Kiyotaka.

"I wanted to ask you something, Ayanokouji-kun."

"Which is?" he raised an eyebrow at her slightly. "This better be important..."

She cleared her throat. "Would you mind if I buy you ice cream? I wanted to repay you for helping me last week, and I recall that you really liked ice cream."

"That's it?" he asked, scratching the back of his head.

Suzune nodded.

He sighed. He should have seen this coming. Well, maybe not the part about buying him ice cream, but the fact that Horikita brought him all the way here for such a simple reason.

"If you wanted to invite me for some ice cream, then couldn't you have said it over the text you sent last night? Did you really have to drag me all the way here?"

Speaking of which, they had exchanged contact information in the past week, so the two could talk whenever they want, even if they're not together. Kiyotaka did the same for Kikyo, which made the girl jump around in joy afterwards. For obvious reasons, the two girls immediately rejected the idea of exchanging contact info. Well, it was more on Suzune's side while Kikyo 'respected' her wishes, although it's pretty obvious that she would rather lock herself in her room for a week than get the black-haired girl's number.

"No. It wouldn't be the same if it's one of those."

"Why is that?"

She glared at him, switching into her 'ice mode'. "Enough questions. Do you want ice cream or not?" she asked.

"I do," he replied without hesitation. Free food was still free food, and this was ice cream they're talking about. He'd be a fool to turn this offer down.

"Then wait here."

With that, Suzune took off for the ice cream stall to buy one for the two of them. She felt like she could use one to calm her nerves.

Deep down, the girl was overcome with relief and joy that she finally got to ask him the question that's been bothering since last week. This time, there were no interruptions and Kiyotaka gave her an answer.

Meanwhile, the young man only stood there and stared at the girl, wondering what the hell was this all about.

After getting ice cream for two people, Suzune returned and handed over a vanilla cone to her classmate, who muttered a quick thanks before accepting it.

The two sat down at a nearby bench as they ate their snacks. There was still an hour before their class starts, so they were free to take their time out here.

Kiyotaka decided to break the silence between them by speaking out his mind at the moment. "Horikita, you didn't have to do this, you know."

Suzune dropped her glare and adopted a more thoughtful look, remembering how much she was struggling to ask him a simple question throughout the past week. It was completely stressful and distracted her during class several times, to the point that she felt she had to put the issue to rest.

The girl looked down as she ate her ice cream quietly. "You don't understand. I have wanted to ask you about this ever since last week but for some reason, I kept on getting interrupted by things that were out of my control."

"I'm sorry that happened to you."

"It's not your fault. I'm just relieved that I've finally gotten this off my chest. It would leave me angry and frustrated to owe someone a debt after he helped me with my own problems... especially because I'm supposed to be his friend."

Kiyotaka waved off her concerns. "It was nothing. You were going through something and like any decent person out there, I asked what's wrong."

"Don't talk about it like it's nothing significant," she retorted. "I've never talked about my brother to other people before, let alone how I see myself compared to him. I don't know how to explain it, but it feels better to tell someone else about it. And if I had to be honest, not many people would listen if I told them about my problems."

"So you decided to buy me ice cream as thanks," he concluded.

Suzune nodded quietly.

Kiyotaka stared at her afterwards. The system may be the reason why, but it's almost amazing to see how much this girl had changed in the span of a week. When they met, he immediately thought that they wouldn't get along because of her personality.

He wasn't prepared to see how wrong he was. And now, the same girl whom the system described as someone with a superiority complex who could never have a friend to save her life, had bought him ice cream as a sign of gratitude for what he had done for her.

He had no idea what it's like to fall in love but with this dating sim power, there may really be hope for him to learn.

"Then thank you for being thoughtful," he bowed slightly in gratitude before reaching out to pat her head kindly, shocking the girl with his gesture. Kiyotaka's hand somehow felt incredibly warm and comforting as Suzune felt her face heating up.

[Your Heroine is becoming more comfortable around you! You gained +3 in Charm!]

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

[Congratulations! The Skill 'Headpats are the Best' has been Created!]

[Headpats are the Best] (Passive Skill): Grants you and your heroine a soothing feeling when you pat one of your Heroines' heads. Every headpat you give will be filled with love and affection that can only be seen in anime and manga.

Kiyotaka stared blankly at the new notifications that popped up in front of him.

"Maybe I should have thought twice about doing that. For some reason, it just felt like the right thing to do... but now, I have another skill which is just about as useful as that smile one," he thought to himself.

He quickly removed his hand from her head, which snapped the girl out of her temporary trance and made her turn towards him.

"Sorry about that," he said, looking away to prevent this situation from becoming any more awkward than it already is.

Similarly, the girl also looked away, though out of embarrassment. "N-No, I... I didn't hate it..."

Hearing the girl's words made Kiyotaka consider doing it again, but threw that idea out of the window immediately. "Am I actually blushing?" he asked himself, feeling a weird heat in his face that he could only attribute to embarrassment.

Yep. Definitely a superpower that can piss his father off if he sees it.

"We should finish up here and head to class. You still have to explain to Kushida why we left her behind," he coughed.

"R-Right," muttered Suzune as she shook her head in an attempt to calm herself.

Romance sure is complicated.