Act 4: Scene 7

Sakura Airi sighed to herself.

She was never a talented person and she knew it. She was hopeless when it came to interacting with other people and she knew it. It's the reason why she has always kept to herself and never went out of her way to make friends or socialize with others. Airi knew that she never fit in with any social group because of her defects, and simply accepted things as they are.

She wasn't supposed to participate today as well. She didn't want to at first, but eventually gave in because swimming was too much of a fun activity for her to pass up on. She didn't expect Miyajima-sensei to hold a race that included everyone, though... but it was too late for her to back out at that point.

Airi decided to see how she measured compared to her classmates. Just like what she expected, she was at the bottom when the race ended, though it didn't make it any less painful. It didn't matter that she was only a few milliseconds short of beating the next slowest swimmer, she still lost.

In the end, the only person she could blame was herself. She wasn't talented in anything. She sucked at physical activities and she sucked in academics. The only thing she had was her interest in photography and maybe a bit of singing, but those things weren't going to help her graduate from high school.

She shook her head to get her mind back on track. She wasn't going to sulk now, of all times. She needed to go somewhere in order to get something that belonged to her.

Walking towards the restroom where her earlier 'encounter' with Ayanokouji took place, she could only hope that her uniform was still there. Yes, the same uniform that she threw at him when he caught her changing clothes... and even had a peek at her... assets.

Airi wanted to bury her head in the ground like an ostrich to escape this embarrassment. Ugh, what the hell was she thinking?! She shouldn't have thrown her uniform at him, because now she had to go back in order to get it. She could have used something else to throw at him, like the towel she had at the time, or she could have sprayed water from the sink at him.

Airi immediately realized what she was thinking and shook her head furiously to get rid of it.

"Wait, no, that would mean that I wanted to hurt him! I-It's not like that at all! I'm just saying that there could have been a better way to resolve what happened...!"

The girl blamed herself above everything else. After the embarrassment she felt from being caught in the middle of changing her clothes died down, Airi realized that she was in the wrong restroom the whole time. She didn't want to change into her swimsuit at the locker room with the other girls of the class, and simply went to the restroom where she could do it alone.

She should have looked at the sign of the restroom that she walked into.

Maybe she should go apologize to him... but that would mean that she would need to walk up to him and talk! The idea alone made the girl nervous about doing it, but if it means making up for her mistake, then it's a sacrifice she would have to make.

As she reached the men's restroom where she went earlier, she noticed the 'out of order' sign hanging at the doorknob, making her pale in fear.

What if someone else was already inside?! What if they saw her uniform?! What if it's already gone?! What if she came here for nothing?!

"The restroom isn't out of order," said a voice from behind her, making the girl jump in surprise at someone's presence behind her, before freezing in place out of fear.

Airi wanted to turn around to see who it was, but she was too nervous! What if it was a teacher? Or worse, what if it was a student?! He'd think that she was weird for trying to go into the men's restroom!

The girl didn't move for a few seconds, too afraid of what's going to happen next until she heard the voice again.

"You don't have to be so nervous. It's me," the voice spoke again and this time, Airi realized that he was trying to calm her down instead. Well, at least he wasn't there to make fun of her or anything.

Taking a deep breath, she slowly turned around to see who it was, only to be met with someone whom she had already encountered before.

"A-A-A-Ayanakouji-kun...?" she stuttered, her face becoming redder. This was the same person who walked in on her earlier, the same person who saw her... ugh, it's too embarrassing to think about. "W-W-What is he doing here? O-Oh dear, he is still in his swimming clothes! W-W-Wait, I'm the same...! I'm still in my swimsuit!"

Unaware of the girl having a crisis inside of her mind, Kiyotaka observed Airi for a moment with his usual impassive look, until he saw the 'heroine screen' appear on top of her head.

[Sakura Airi: 'Embarrassed Shy Classmate']

[Relationship Status: An Accidental Misunderstanding]

[Affection Points: 0/100]

[Heroine Summary: Airi is a very shy and nervous girl who always gets nervous whenever she interacts with other people. However, she possesses an exceptional ability of reading other people, especially their true intentions behind their eyes. She loves to take pictures, sometimes of herself which started her career of being a gravure idol online. She uses the name 'Shizuku' and wears fake glasses to hide her identity from her internet followers. She feels very embarrassed about you seeing her in the midst of changing clothes, but knows that it was her fault in the first place.]

"A girl who's actually worse at social interactions than me... who would have known?" Kiyotaka commented. "She's not good at physical activities, does that apply to academics too? Either way, she's someone who desperately needs help, but too much of a nervous wreck to actually ask."

He turned his attention back to the girl herself, who looked like she was about to faint at any moment.

"I assume you're here to get your uniform?" he asked her bluntly.

Unable to trust her mouth to say something, Airi simply nodded her head furiously as her answer. This was the same person who walked in on her, but why did he seem so calm?

"Then move aside," he told her. "It's in there. I kept it safe when you left and placed that sign there to keep other students out."

Panicking, the girl quickly moved to the side, allowing Kiyotaka to remove the 'out of order' sign from the door before opening it. He led Airi inside the restroom, before pointing to the girls' uniform that was folded neatly by the sink.

Almost immediately, Airi rushed to the sink and grabbed her clothes. She was about to change into her uniform, only for the realization that she wasn't alone kicked in.

Kiyotaka was still inside with her, and he was just behind her. He was only wearing a pair of trunks, while she was about to change clothes. It felt like the exact same scenario that they were in earlier... she could just run out and leave him here, but Airi quickly threw that out of her mind.

What's important was that Ayanokouji helped her out even though she was the one who made a mistake. She had to thank him for this.

"T-T-Thank you for... k-keeping my clothes s-s-safe... Ayanokouji-kun..." she stuttered, keeping her back turned towards him.

Kiyotaka only stared at her for a few moments before she froze, as the three choices appeared in front of him. "The system actually had perfect timing this time," he remarked. At least he would be saved from the agony of figuring out what to say to a girl like Airi. With how socially awkward the two of them are, he may end up doing more harm than good.

A. [Next time, don't make the mistake of walking into the men's restroom, will you? This was all on you.]

B. [I'm sorry if you thought that I was peeking on you. That was never my intention. I only came to the restroom to wash my face. It never occurred to me that you were here too.]

C. [I enjoyed the view, by the way. You just might have the biggest pair that I have ever seen, Airi-chan... and yours are the only I've seen so far~]

"Not going to choose Option C this time. If I said that, Sakura would likely never talk to me again," he sighed. The first choice was also out of the question. The girl's feeling embarrassed as hell already, it would only make her feel worse than she already is. And yeah, she did change her clothes in the men's restroom, but there has to be a reason for that, right?

And with that, Option B was the best choice to go with this time.

"I'm sorry if you thought that I was peeking on you. That was never my intention. I only came to the restroom to wash my face. It never occurred to me that you were here too," he said in a sad tone while putting on a sad look. It immediately got the girl to turn towards him so she could reassure him that he did nothing wrong.

"N-No...! No... it... it wasn't your fault at all... it's mine..." she admitted, her face completely red out of embarrassment. "I didn't want to change clothes with the others in the girls' locker room, so... I chose to do it in the restroom instead. B-But... I never really noticed that I was in the wrong restroom the whole time..."

"She was too shy to change clothes with her classmates, huh? Now that I know what she's like, that's not surprising to think about at all," he thought, observing the girl's flustered look closely. "Like with Kushida, I hope there's some way to deal with this flaw of hers, maybe even help her improve her abilities."

He may have accepted and surrendered to his fate of being the 'protagonist' of the system, but it would leave a sour taste in his mouth if his supposed 'heroines' are incompetent and unable to stand on their own. Horikita and Kushida have a major flaw each, but those were attitude problems. Airi, on the other hand, was not only a nervous wreck around other people, her abilities are significantly worse than the other females of their classroom.

Well, he could think about this some other time. He still had to respond to Sakura's words.

He waved her apology off. "It's fine. Just make sure you wander into the correct restroom next time. I'd say you're lucky that it was me who walked into you instead of someone like Yamauchi, not that I'm saying you're lucky that I walked into you, of course."

Argh, what the hell was he saying? He's basically telling her that she should be thankful that he got an eyeful of her breasts earlier! He actually wouldn't even be surprised nor blame her if Airi decides to never talk to him again after this. So much for being a heroine, huh? The system should have helped him that time!

He was very lucky that Airi didn't outright run away this time, though. While her face became redder to the point that it matched her hair and after remembering that Ayanokouji did, in fact, walk in on her and saw her assets, she understood that the situation could have been worse. She was already lucky that the young man with her was thoughtful enough to leave her uniform here and even made sure that nobody else would go inside this room until she retrieved it.

"Yes, I... I understand..." she replied while bowing slightly, the lens of her glasses becoming foggy due to the steam that came out of her head. "Uhm... t-thank you again... Ayanokouji-kun..."

[You have gained 40 Affection Points with Sakura Airi!]

"That's a lot of points for the first time that we've talked," he thought, a bit surprised at the amount of points that he received from this. It was way more than anything he had gained with his other heroines thus far. "I thought it'd be way harder to gain Affection Points with her because of what happened earlier too..."

In any case, Kiyotaka was glad that he had resolved this issue right away. He initially thought it would be hard considering how he and Airi met, but it's a good thing that the system helped him in the nick of time. A good way of making it up to him too, because the young man was completely sure that the earlier fiasco with Airi was simply a product of the system making more complicated situations for him to deal with.

And secretly, Kiyotaka feared that this wouldn't be the only time something like this happens.