17 Twice in a row

[Congratulations: You have placed second at the Ranker Tournament +50SP +2EVO]

Back on Beacon again, with a sizable amount more SP and EVO. Though I lost the final fight… Let's not mention the final fight. That was a horrible mess.

[You looked pathetic]

Look let's not even mention that last fight shall we. Nothing happened. I did not suddenly fall in love with the enemy, told her all my abilities and killed myself by her orders. Nothing of such nature occurred. She defeated me by cutting me in half and One's Own Justice did not trigger for whatever reason.

[Yeah, sure…]

STFU.

Moving on to more important business though. System, my memories. You told me they would be restored after I arrived at the Ranker Arena. I finished an entire tournament there so where is my memory.

[…]

I am waiting; do you have another excuse ready yet?

[There seems to be an error in the system. Your memories are on a very high lockdown. Everything is redacted.]

Nothing that might help?

[As I said, redacted till illegible.]

Your proposal on regaining them.

[Win. the Ranker's Journey will end someday. If you win then we can access those memories and more.]

Sounds fishy as all hell. Just remember that trust goes both ways.

[Don't worry, machines cannot lie.]

That sounds totally like something a liar would say.

[…]

Yet I'll believe you anyway. Not that I wish to, but it is part of my obligations considering how much I rely on the system. Distrusting you will bring in nothing but trouble for me. Just remember you're walking on a thin line here System.

[…Thank you]

Do not be thankful, be better.

"What's wrong?"

Blake seems to have noticed something off about me. It should have been an hour and a half since I was teleported away but it seems time within the real world was truly stropped while we Rankers were participating in the Ranker Tournament. How strong would you need to be in order to stop time entirely?

Oh, better answer Blake.

"Nothing. I was just wondering… How strong one needs to be to stop time." I smiled in a joking manner. "Heh, idiotic right?"

However, Blake unexpectedly responded with a blush. Thinking back, my words could as flirting could it not? Those words implied I wished for this moment between the two of us would last forever. That was unintentional on my part.

Those words were beyond corny in my opinion, but Blake blushed at those words for whatever reason. Thinking back she has romantic experience in the past but it clearly was no healthy one considering her relationship partner was the madlad that is Adam Taurus.

As you might expect Adam is a man with bull horns as his animal traits, signifying he is a Faunus. It was a strange name that violated the color-coded naming sense of Remnant, but then again there were names like Pyrrha Nikos, Glynda Goodwitch and Ozpin which has no relations with colors at all.

Yeah, Remnant was strange with its inconsistency.

I kept my thought to myself while Blake was still looking away from me even now. A strange atmosphere enveloped the two of us. It was entirely my fault so there was no means for me to complains about it though. However, could this even be called a screw-up of mine when the result is not necessarily bad? Maybe it was time to play along and consider this a fortunate accident.

I smiled.

"Your blushing face is so cute, Blake. It is lovely."

"Is that your idea of flirting?"

With those words she turned around, hiding her face from my sight. It was a futile effort on her part though, considering even her ears were red in this case. She was blushing very badly for someone unimpressed. Might as well as take this one step further then. no matter how you put it I am still a hormonal teenager who is lost without any affection from anyone close to him.

As someone who travels into different worlds, there was no means for me to attain a long-lasting relationship. Every bond I make will disappear the moment I leave into another world. That means the only relationship I could create was merely flings that could be thrown away afterward like yesterday's trash.

And I was fine with that. A short-term relationship does not equate to a meaningless relationship. I do wish to create bonds, even if they are short-lasting ones they are still meaningful ones that can leave lasting impacts within my life.

I took a few steps until I was right behind her who was still looking away. My body leaned forward. I am on the taller side for someone my age, letting my head sit comfortably on her shoulder, right beside her ears.

I blame this on teenager hormones.

Closing my eyes I guided my lips to her cheeks. The young woman known as Blake Belladonna did not resist. Maybe it was because of some form of fantasy. Maybe it was borne from shock or fear. AT this point I had neither the patience nor the interest to care. All I know is the fact she was expecting something out of me, and I will gladly fulfill it.

However, rather than her cheeks, my lips were greeted with the sensations of something far softer.

Opening my eyes, Blake was kissing me back while pushing her lips to my own.

A few seconds passed.

"Keito, I-I..." Blake barely stuttered over a word, before running away from me.

I blinked.

…What just happened?

--Dimensional Journey--

I went back to the team room. Ruby, Weiss, and Yang have since woken up already. It would have been bad otherwise considering they still need to unpack and school starts in less than two hours. Thinking back I most likely need to find Blake and drag her back quickly as otherwise, she would be late for class, not to mention she has yet to unpack her things.

"Oh, good morning. Where have you been?"

Ruby looked towards me. She and the rest seem to have bathed already considering they are all wearing the Beacon school uniform already. Have to admit the thing looks quite stylish in appearance and material, which is impressive considering the world of Remnant is lacking in terms of daily life commodities thanks to the low population and habitable territory.

"Just the library, Rubes. I need to learn a lot quickly, what with my amnesia and all."

Yang peaked at those words. Thinking back Yang is the only one left in our team who does not know about my loss of memory. Hopefully, there will be no need to explain this to the neighbor team JNPR as well as I am already sick of giving an explanation about it.

"Wait, amnesia?"

What, never seen an amnesiac child before?

"Yeah, retrograde amnesia. It means I've lost memories of my past." I added since it seems like she wanted to ask what retrograde means. "Anterograde on the other hands translates to being incapable of creating new memories."

That said and done I moved towards the bed Blake slept at yesterday. The rest of the team looked at me weirdly as I ransacked her bed but them thinking of me as a pervert is a trivial matter long as it won't cause distraught within the team so I ignored the possibility.

It should be somewhere around… aha!

I pulled a book from under Blake's pillow. It was a book called Ninjas of Love. Thanks to Clairvoyance I managed to gather that the reason Blake went out of her way and kissed me was because of this book. The Skill was not kind enough to give me any sort of details though which is why I seek the book for an answer.

Looking through the back of the cover, it tells the story of a man named Keito struggling while balancing his work life and handling the affections of four different girls.

HG: Lead me to the important bits.

With that done I skimmed through the book. Early in the story, there was a scene where Keito was transferred into a group composed of four female and lives with them. For a porn-book protagonist, it seems he has some form of decency as he denied living under the same roof with four women.

It ended up with voting which results in 2v3 with him staying with the team winning. The next morning he has an encounter with the one girl from the group of four who turned out to be a cat Faunus. Then after some sappy talk following the reveal the Faunus woman kissed the protagonist

Huh.

Well, I think I get the idea of why Blake acted so out-of-character in my opinion. So basically she was high because her fantasy from the book came into reality with my appearance. It sure is some coincidence for the circumstance between our team and the one in the book to be so similar.

After the kiss, the Faunus girl was embarrassed by her own bold act and ran away towards the rooftop. The protagonist then followed her there and made out with her like a true porn-book protagonist.

Well, guess I have a place to go to then.

I used HG to ensure my path was correct while going upwards towards the school rooftop. Soon enough I opened the door connecting the large dormitory to the outside world, greeted by a gust of fresh morning wind. Soon my eyes went towards the sulking girl hugging her knees leaning on a wall.

"What are you doing here, Nagano?"

Nagano was the name of the Faunus girl from Ninjas of Love. I decided to call her by that name since it only seems appropriate for the occasion. As expected her ears twitched upwards instantly, though they withered down again right afterward.

She stood up and patted her knees.

"Nothing… Baka-Keito."

Is this what they call role-playing? It is rather childish but if doing so allows me to be called an idiot and gently laughed at by a beautiful woman then I will gladly continue said childish activity. Does that make me a masochist? Surely not. I shook my head before smiling as her gentle gaze met my own.

"What are you smiling for?"

"Your blushing face is so cute, Nagano."

With those words she turned around, hiding her face from my sight. It was a futile effort on her part though, considering even her ears were red in this case. I took a few steps until I was right behind her. My body leaned forward till my head was sitting at her shoulder, right beside her ears the same as the last time.

My right hand hugged around her shoulder, while my left one slithered across her waist. Our bodies made contact with one another, tightly sticking together with one another. Her gasp could be heard as my breathing landed on her smooth skin.

"I love you, Blake" I whispered into her ear.

At this point, there was no turning back. My hands tightened even more, hugging her figure closely. They started to wander, earning soft purr from her. Yet before it grew into anything in dangerous territory—

"Blake! Kuzuno! There you are!"

I was already beside Blake, looking far off into the magnificent view offered from the school rooftop of Beacon. Blake was slightly disheveled, with a shocked look on her face.

Pfft, totally worth it. I knew a distraction in the form of Ruby was coming here to the rooftop. I was the one to ensure it happens by using HG to wish she will interrupt us at the right moment. That was the reason I dared to play around like that. It was all since I know there would be a get-out-of-jail-free card in the form of one cheery Ruby Rose coming and interrupting us. Otherwise, I would never have done something that bold.

"Sorry if we worried you, Ruby."

I lent out a hand towards Blake who was still shell-shocked. Pfft, totally worth it.

She glared at me before taking them into her grasp and started walking away towards the door into the school building, her fast-paced walking more than clearly expressing her temper. All while our hands are still connected. I was surprised but did not let go of her soft grasp either. In the end, we never let go until reaching our room.

"Oh, you three are back."

Oddly enough nobody asked about what happened between us. Not that I could provide a satisfying response, but still rather strange in my opinion. Maybe this is what they call decency. Not that I ever had any of those in the first place, considering I prefer being a free-spirited person who does whatever he wants.

Well, I suppose it is about time we all go to class.

[Through special actions you have earned the Trait: Charmer +12SP +1EVO]

[Skill: Charm(2) has been derived from Trait: Charmer]

[Rank 12: Clear +30SP]

What a coward.