Act 3: Scene 4

"I see..."

"The student council is always looking for potential recruits among the freshmen students in order to replace the graduating ones. If you wish to join the student council, then you must swear to join only our organization for your own sake. We do not accept students who are already involved in other clubs."

"Why don't you join the student council, Horikita? That way, you can talk to your brother like what you wanted."

The younger sister of Manabu actually thought about that possible scenario for a brief moment, before shaking her head.

"I don't think it's the right time for us to meet again. Not this soon. Not until I prove myself in his eyes," she stated.

"She really looks up to him if she can say something like that," Kiyotaka thought. "Hm, I wonder if the system can help her grow out of that superiority complex that she has... or can it only help in romantic situations?"

"Furthermore, we in the student council will not appoint anyone who possesses a naive mindset, for it will sully the sanctity of this school. It is the student council's right and responsibility to enforce and amend the rules. We gladly welcome whoever it is that understands this.

Manabu's speech ended afterwards, drawing applause from the crowd. He then left the stage, as the next club representative took his place and explained their own set of qualifications for potential members, followed by the next one, then the next one, and so on.

After every club was done, Tachibana took over the stage again and smiled at everyone.

"Thank you all for coming. The club fair has ended. We will now open the reception area to anyone who wishes to sign up for a club. Registration period will be until the end of April, so if any student wishes to join at a later date, please bring your application form directly to the club you wish to join."

As the crowd began to disperse, Kiyotaka turned towards Suzune. "Let's go," he told her, earning a nod from the girl.

The two started walking out of the gym, making Chiaki look at them in confusion.

"Wait, you two aren't going to join a club?" she asked as she quickly caught up to them.

Kiyotaka stopped walking and shook his head. "I wanted to check out the clubs here if there's anything interesting among them, but nothing really caught my eye. What about you?"

"Well, you actually have the same reason as me," she replied.

"Seems it's more like the other way around," he thought.

Suzune folded her arms and sent an impassive look at their other companion. It's like she was telling Chiaki to 'get lost and leave them alone' but fortunately, the other girl was unaware of it.

"Both of us have nothing left to do here, so we'll be heading back to our dorms, Matsushita-san."

After hearing those words, Chiaki stood beside them and smiled. "Then let me join you two. I was planning on going back to my room, anyway."

Kiyotaka shrugged as he didn't really care either way. If she goes with them, then there will surely be more instances for the system to raise her 'Affection Points' and there's really nothing he can do about that. If not, then he would live to see another day without interacting with Matsushita, although that still left Horikita whom he was neighbors with.

Meanwhile, Suzune looked displeased that the other girl with them was tagging along with them. Kikyo was already one issue, and now Chiaki as well? To make matters worse, she was living on the same floor as them since she was listening earlier. She knew that a lot of their classmates were residing on the same floor as Kiyotaka and her.

To top it all off, she still didn't get to ask Kiyotaka if he would like some ice cream! At this point, she may as well drag his ass to the ice cream shop, buy him a cone or two, and be done with it.

"That does sound more appealing..." she thought, finding herself becoming pleased with the idea.

The three students walked together from there, but didn't get far when a new voice stopped them in their tracks.

"Hi there!" a cute and bubbly, yet mature voice said. "Are you Ayanokouji Kiyotaka?"

Kiyotaka turned around to see a young woman with chocolate-brown hair and purple eyes grinning at him. She had a distinct sunflower pin and two regular hairpins on the right side of her hair and she wore a peach-colored sweater on top of her school uniform.

"That's me," he tilted his head in slight confusion. How did this girl know who he was? Better play along for now so he could know more. "Can I help you with something?"

"Wow, I guess Nagumo wasn't kidding... you really do look like you're done with life..." It was after those words that the brunette realized what she was saying in front of the guy and his two friends. "Oh, sorry about that. I didn't mean to offend you or anything. Anyway, I'm your senpai from Class B. Name's Asahina Nazuna!"

As she threw her arm out for a handshake, Kiyotaka saw a pink screen appear on top of her head that contained a section that was becoming familiar to him by now.

[Asahina Nazuna: 'Sunny Bright Senpai']

[Relationship Status: ?]

[Affection Points: 0/100]

[Heroine Summary: Nazuna is your senior by one year in this school, and a student of Class B. She is very attached to an amulet that she owns, believing it to be a harbinger of good luck and romance, and that it can bring people together in a fated encounter. While she is close to Nagumo Miyabi because she is a part of his social circle, she isn't fond of his attitude and hates it when people refer to her as his girlfriend. She heard about you from Nagumo himself, who also happens to be the current Student Council Vice President.]

"So the system includes seniors as well, huh? Somehow, I saw that coming and I'm not surprised," he remarked. Well, it makes sense too. If the system was going to add a teacher of all people, then why not his senior as well? With that, he turned his attention to the one part in her 'summary' that seemed suspicious. "Nagumo Miyabi... how does he know me? Is it only because he's the vice president of the student council?"

He accepted the handshake, but his next words showed how skeptical he was of all this. "It's nice to meet you, senpai, but I have to wonder how exactly you know me."

"Oh, one of my classmates told me about you! Apparently, your name came up while he was doing his duties in the student council, and I was really surprised that the 'Ayanokouji' he was talking about was actually a first-year student!"

"My name came up? How could that have happened?" he asked himself in surprise. "I suppose it wouldn't be surprising for the student council to check on their students, but I've only been here for a day. Did I do something to gain their attention?"

Since this was a question that he wouldn't be able to figure out on his own, Kiyotaka decided to ask the girl something else. "How did you know what I looked like then?"

"That's because my classmate sent a picture when he was talking about you," she sighed while massaging her forehead with her fingers as if she was in distress. "Sorry if that sounded weird, it's just that he's the vice president of the student council and—"

"It's fine," he cut her off, although his thoughts were a different story. "So I did do something to gain their attention, but what exactly? Was it from when I helped Sudo yesterday? Those guys were second-year students, and they could have reported me to Nagumo-senpai after I dealt with them..."

"Asahina, what are you doing here? Our classmates have been looking for you."

A new voice had entered the scene and this time, it was from another man. The four then turned their attention to the one who spoke, and they saw a tall man with light blonde hair and blue eyes walking towards them with a look of concern on his face.

"Ah, nothing to worry about, Nagumo. I was just saying 'hi' to the guy you were talking about in the group chat last night."

"Really?" The young man named Nagumo Miyabi asked out of interest, as he looked at the only other male among the little group. His eyes widened slightly in surprise. "Oh, so it really is you. It's an honor to meet you, Ayanokouji-kun. My name is Nagumo Miyabi, Vice President of the student council."

He looked at Nagumo curiously. Time to ask some questions. "How do you know me, senpai?"

The blonde man chuckled, though Kiyotaka could tell that there was something underlying beneath that smile he had. "If you're wondering, you didn't do anything wrong. Horikita-senpai simply mentioned you several times in the student council room yesterday, and I couldn't help but be curious. He rarely talks about someone specific, let alone a freshman."

"Is that so? I hope that it's because I made a good impression on him," replied the first-year as he observed Nagumo closely.

"I don't have a clear idea why, because he only talked about it with Tachibana-senpai. I only happened to overhear the conversation," Nagumo looked at Kiyotaka's companions after his explanation, and he was surprised to see a black-haired girl who looked familiar in his eyes. "Wait a minute, are you Horikita-senpai's little sister?"

"What does it matter to you? And how do you know who I am?" she asked while throwing him a look of suspicion.

"That's because he showed us what you look like a few times before," he smiled. "Horikita-senpai also talked about you, you know? I don't know what was on his mind, but it seems like he wants to meet you soon, most likely when the time is right."

"He does...?"

Suzune's look softened almost instantly after hearing that about her brother. Strangely, she wasn't excited about it or anything, but was simply confused and surprised that it was her brother who wanted to talk to her, not the other way around. Was it true, though? Did her brother really want to talk to her?

That was when Kiyotaka realized it.

"I see now. Horikita's brother must have seen the two of us yesterday," he said in his thoughts, thinking back to when the two of them saw her brother at the campus entrance. "When he saw his sister, he only made it seem like he didn't care at all, but he was actually watching us both the entire time. Since I didn't feel anyone watching yesterday, he must have been watching through the school cameras. But then again, he might have watched us up close and I didn't notice because the system prevented me..."

Kiyotaka didn't know how to feel about this. On one hand, this wasn't really a big issue because the student council keeps track of all its students here, so it's not like his secrets will be spilled out into the world. On the other, it meant that he would eventually have to confront Horikita Manabu, whether he's the one to do it or the other. Since Manabu must have been watching him and Suzune yesterday, there's no doubt that he would be involved if those two siblings eventually have a discussion.

Oh, well. He can continue to think about this another day. Right now, a well-deserved date with Bed-chan was very tempting because he was still trying to get used to his new life with a dating simulator power. He could only hope that that broken skill doesn't get activated on the way back to the dorms, though... or the possibility of a 'special event' happening.

"If that's all, then I believe we should get going now. It was nice to meet you, senpais." Kiyotaka said as he turned around and began to walk away, with Suzune and Chiaki following after him after a brief moment of being surprised.

Miyabi was caught off guard, as he didn't expect Kiyotaka to leave just like that. "You're not going to stay for a bit and join a club? You could join the student council, if you want. I can even arrange a meeting with Horikita-senpai for you."

The brown-haired teen didn't even need to turn around to utter his response. "No thank you, Nagumo-senpai. I wasn't planning on joining any club, anyway."