Act 6: Scene 7

Kiyotaka was about to utter the same response that he said to their teacher, but thought twice about it. Suzune knew that he wasn't like their other classmates, at least when it comes to abilities. She likely sees him as either a rival or an equal. She knew that because he implied it when he told her that his 'school' made him study a full-blown novel as part of the 'curriculum'. Yeah, it's true that she didn't believe it at first but after everything that she has seen from him up until this point, she now had no reason not to believe his words back then.

"I don't know if I should be glad or annoyed that I basically told Horikita about what I'm capable of doing," Kiyotaka said in his mind as he sighed heavily. On one hand, he could feel glad that he won't have to hide what he can do from her while on the other, this was only going to make things even more complicated because not only would he have to deal with his eroge superpower, he would also have to show more of what he can do...

"Do you want to know the honest answer?" he asked.

Suzune walked towards him so that they were standing side-by-side. "Of course."

"Then it wasn't. I intended to get a score of 50 in every exam," he admitted.

The girl had already suspected it ever since Chabashira-sensei pointed it out as a possibility, so Suzune wasn't that shocked to know this. She was curious about another thing, though.

"Why? Wouldn't it have been better to do your best in the entrance exams?"

Kiyotaka shrugged. "Simple. I didn't want to attract attention, and I wanted to have a normal high school life. If I had gotten a higher score, there's no doubt that it would have brought me unnecessary attention."

"Then what's the point of solving the complex problems and making a mistake on the easy ones?" Suzune pointed out his hypocrisy. "That alone got you attention from Chabashira-sensei."

"I just wanted to test myself. It didn't occur to me that she would confront you and I about it and reveal what I did."

She thought about his answer for a moment before putting it all together, everything that he and their teacher said. "Does this mean you're not interested in reaching Class A?" she asked, remembering how Chabashira pointed out that Ayanokouji didn't really care about which class he ended up in.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "You have an extraordinary fixation on Class A for some reason."

"Should I not? I'm simply striving to improve my future prospects."

"I didn't say that. You should. It's perfectly natural. But now that we know we're at the bottom of the school hierarchy around here, you'll have a hard time getting there."

"It doesn't matter," she shook her head stubbornly. "I will reach Class A. But first, I wish to find out this school's true motives. Why was I put into Class D? Chabashira-sensei said that I had been deemed a Class D student, but why exactly? When I discover the answer, I'll aim for A. No, I will definitely make it to A."

The young man saw this as an opportunity to show Horikita her biggest flaw. If she wanted to reach Class A, then she needed to be aware of this as soon as possible. The longer she stays ignorant of what's wrong with herself, the longer it will take for her to change. The worst case scenario would be that she never realizes it, and will result in her undoing.

He couldn't let that happen.

"Since you wanted me to be honest, I'll continue to be honest with you, Horikita."

Kiyotaka stood in front of her and stared directly into her eyes.

"You're deemed as a Class D student because of your attitude," he said firmly. "There are honestly times where I feel glad and lucky that I managed to befriend you on our first day here. Because I can tell that you would have been different if I didn't. Very different."

Suzune stared at him in confusion. "Different?"

"Don't you realize it? If we had never been friends, then you would have been someone who has no regard for the people whom she thinks are below her. I'm honestly glad that I prevented that from happening, because I can already see that you're starting to change. Against my expectations, you actually befriended Kushida, someone whom you disliked at first."

"I don't understand..." she muttered, wondering what he was trying to achieve with this.

"Then I'll ask you this and I want you to be honest. If you had never found out that I came from a prestigious school before this, would our relationship stay the same as it is right now? If you had never found out from Chabashira-sensei that I intended to score a 50 in all of my entrance examinations, would you still be here, listening to me?" he asked. "Sure, you only referred to me as a friend after we saw your older brother but at that point, you didn't see me as a person who's inferior to you. Instead, you saw me as someone equal."

Her eyes slowly widening in realization, Suzune looked down and thought about everything he said just now. Her attitude, what she could have been if they had never been 'friends', what could have happened if she didn't have a favorable opinion about him from the start, and how she saw him now compared to their other classmates.

Kiyotaka felt a sense of satisfaction when he noticed that his words were getting through to her, so he decided to press on. "Plus, think about it. Do you really think that you alone can get our class to overtake the other classes? I don't really care what class we end up as but I'm asking you, as a friend, can you do it all by yourself?"

With that, Kiyotaka stopped and waited for Suzune's response, which took about a minute. The whole time, the girl kept her head low and she was completely quiet. When she finally spoke though, she didn't sound like the usual cool and calm girl that everyone was used to. Instead, her tone carried defeat and humility, now that she realized what her flaw was.

"No. You're right... I cannot solve this problem on my own. We won't even make it to the starting line without everyone's cooperation."

"Then you'll just have to get them to cooperate, which shouldn't be hard when you have people like Hirata and Kushida who have a powerful presence in the classroom. Teach them how to behave so our points won't go down. But even with that, we'll still be stuck with 97 points because we have no idea how they can be increased."

That was still a big problem that they both had no way of dealing with. All they know is that their points can be deducted from committing various offenses inside the classroom. They had no idea how it could be increased, despite their teacher telling them that it's possible.

"It sounds like we've got a huge problem on our hands," the girl commented.

He nodded. "And under that problem, we have three major issues. Tardiness and doing something else during class are the first two. Third, making sure no one fails the midterm exam."

"I believe the first two issues are manageable, but the midterm exams are a different matter entirely."

The short test that they had taken last had contained a few difficult questions, but it had been pretty easy overall. Still, even at that level, some students had failed. They were very lucky that it wasn't an official test, otherwise they would have been expelled from the school.

"I need your help, Ayanokouji-kun."

Kiyotaka raised an eyebrow at her statement, which was something that came completely out of nowhere.

"Help? Is that so?"

"You're right that I can't get to Class A all on my own. I need everyone to cooperate and do their part. That includes you. So, if it's not too much of a bother, can you help me?"

"I'll do what I can as a member of the class," Kiyotaka shrugged. He had no problem helping out the class as a normal student, of course.

"That's not what I meant," she shook her head. "I'm asking you to help me lead. You said that I saw you not as someone inferior but rather, an equal. I agree with you. That's why I want you to help me. I... cannot do this alone."

He stared at her, his expression unchanging. "You shouldn't put your faith in me."

"I am not. I'm putting my trust in you," she corrected him. "I'm trusting you as a friend that you will do your part in making our class better. If you don't wish to attract attention, then it's fine. You won't have to tell everyone that you're more than a simple student, as long as you do what you have to do as a part of the class."

Obviously, there was a big part of him that wanted to flat-out reject her plea because like what he had feared, it would completely destroy whatever hope he had left of having a peaceful high school life. Living with an eroge superpower wasn't this bad, since the system always causes things to end in his favor.

The most stressful thing about it would be its broken skill that can alter reality itself, but it still didn't compare to coming out of the shadows and stepping up to lead a classroom. Sure, Horikita assured him that he wouldn't have to show what he's capable of to everyone, but leading a class? It honestly sounded worse than dealing with an eroge system that annoys and overwhelms him in a multitude of ways.

Regardless, despite a big part of him wanting to say no, all he could do was sigh in defeat, before nodding slowly in agreement.

"All right."

The reaction from the girl came in an instant. Wide eyes and her mouth hanging open, almost as if she couldn't believe it.

To show that he was completely serious about this, Kiyotaka even offered her his hand, which the gobsmacked Suzune immediately took after realizing what his answer was.

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

After dismissing that particular notification, Kiyotaka suddenly felt drained of his remaining energy for the day, as he wanted nothing more than to lock himself in his room and bury himself within the confines of his bed right now.

"Rest in peace, my chance at a peaceful life..." he thought, shaking hands with Suzune and affirming their little partnership.