Act 3: Scene 1

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka had never been more glad about being able to sleep in peace, without anything bothering him. The first time he felt this way was when he escaped from the White Room and slept on a normal bed for the first time in many years, with nothing but peace as the only emotion he felt while he slept. It was almost the same case yesterday, but with arguably a more stressful environment and circumstances...

"After everything that's happened yesterday, I almost hoped to die in my sleep just to put an end to this living hell that I'm in. Wait, that's an exaggeration. I wouldn't compare this to my life in that place, because the one pulling the strings behind it all is someone whom I detest with every fiber of my being. At the very least, this weird superpower isn't really doing anything to put me in direct danger."

The young man had just finished checking if he had forgotten anything to bring with him and was about to leave, only for him to feel that he wasn't ready to go yet. It's like there was something pulling him back in this place and it was tempting to give in... very tempting.

"I feel tempted to just stay in this place and never come out again... but that's going to bring me some intense consequences," Kiyotaka thought, having learned his lesson from yesterday's events.

Plus, he was completely sure that if he doesn't show up to class, some people are going to be upset and will likely cause that insanely broken skill he had to activate again just to keep them from being sad. While that skill wasn't going to harm him in any way, it does have the tendency to drive him closer and closer to insanity with how absurd it was.

Kiyotaka shook his head. He should really get used to it and by that, it meant treating this superpower and everything it can do as something normal. It's becoming more and more obvious that it won't be going anytime soon, and he wasn't dreaming either.

The young man opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, where he saw Kikyo standing outside of her room with a big smile on her face. Her smile only grew wider when she saw him.

"Good morning, Ayanokouji-kun!" she greeted eagerly.

"Good morning, Kushida."

Right, Kikyo wanted to go to class together, which was pretty much the reason why the system made them neighbors, even though they could do that without living next to each other. So, instead of doing it for the girl's happiness, it felt like the system did it for the sake of making his high school life more complicated. It just needed a good excuse to activate the skill...

[Kushida Kikyo: 'Happy Scheming Neighbor']

[Relationship Status: A Rocky Relationship]

[Affection Points: 27/100]

"Well, at least she isn't sad anymore," Kiyotaka allowed himself a sigh of relief before taking notice of the strange word that's next to her name, which seemed to portray the current mood of a particular heroine. "Scheming? Hm, must be about Horikita then. I should really find out what exactly Kushida did in her old school, since her 'summary' made a big deal about it and it's the reason why she hates Horikita. However, that's something I can't ask her, otherwise I risk pissing her off and something bad happening... maybe I can ask Horikita? They did come from the same school..."

Kikyo walked up towards him, her bag firmly in her grasp, before she sent him a look of excitement. "Are you ready to go to school together?"

Kiyotaka gave her a nod and prepared to leave for the elevator, when the two heard someone speaking from behind them with a cold tone, almost to the point that it felt like the temperature around them dropped several degrees.

"You're unbelievable. Heading to class and you're not even going to wait for your neighbor? I thought we were friends?"

The brown-haired teen turned around to see Suzune stepping out of her room with an icy glare on her face, feeling displeased that they were going to leave without her.

Kiyotaka could only wonder what she's getting angry about. Was Suzune expecting them to wait for her or something?

"In my defense, I didn't know you wanted to go to class together. And come to think of it, why didn't you tell me if you wanted to?"

"We are classmates, are we not?" she asked rhetorically. "Since we are classmates and our dorm rooms are also next to each other, it's only natural for us to head to the school building together."

"I don't think that makes sense, but okay," he thought, staring blankly at the girl who walked up to them like nothing was wrong. "If that's what you want, then just walk with us. We haven't even left yet."

"That's exactly what I will do," she folded her arms and let out a 'Hmph!', showing that she was still displeased about being nearly forgotten if she didn't make her presence known.

Kiyotaka sighed. Not even a few hours into this day, and the system was already creating problems for him.

Meanwhile, the other girl who was with them was simply smiling at the scene like nothing was wrong. Her thoughts, however, were a completely different story. "That bitch... she was definitely waiting for us to leave so she could ruin things!" Kikyo snarled in her mind.

Once again, girls are truly complicated creatures.

~XoX~

"You'll get used to this," Kiyotaka said to himself over and over, while trying to ignore the two girls who were holding on to his wrists the same way as they did yesterday. Suzune was looking on ahead with her usual cold expression, but he noticed her sending looks of suspicion towards Kikyo. On the other hand, Kikyo put on the angelic smile that other people around her loved seeing, though Kiyotaka could tell that it was only a mask.

Well, at least they weren't hugging his arm and clinging on to him like a pair of lovestruck teenagers, although that may become reality soon.

Still, this was still a big problem for him, because of his classmates who might see his current predicament and start asking questions as a result. Or worse, they assume right away and think he's two-timing Suzune and Kikyo, which would make things even more awkward than before. One thing's for sure though, his classmates will have a bad opinion if they ever see him with these two girls in such a position, and would ruin his reputation with them for the foreseeable future...

Fortunately for the young man, everybody else was too preoccupied with what they were doing to notice Kiyotaka, Suzune, and Kikyo stepping inside the classroom. It was also a good thing that they got here thirty minutes before homeroom starts, so there were only about seven people inside the room at the moment.

Taking this as an opportunity to save the three of them from any misunderstandings, Kiyotaka gently shook off their hold on his arms and quietly walked towards his seat without gaining anyone's attention.

Kiyotaka enjoyed what free time he had from here going forward by taking a nap on his desk afterwards, because about ten minutes later, his classmates began to flood the room in droves. Good thing his two heroines weren't making a scene. Suzune was quietly reading a book in her seat, while Kikyo was talking with their classmates like the socialite she was.

Right away, the topic of many conversations within the classroom was the sudden change brought about by the chairman of the school yesterday.

"Yep, I expected this to happen. Best to stay quiet," Kiyotaka thought as he kept his head down, but continued to listen on. He hoped that his two heroines wouldn't mention anything about his situation, of course. While there was no need to worry about Suzune because she doesn't even talk to anyone, Kikyo was a different story.

"Yamauchi, did you become neighbors with some beautiful girls?!" asked Ike out of excitement.

As expected, some of the boys (mainly Ike and Yamauchi) were ecstatic to talk about the new co-ed dorm arrangements, with a few of them looking really pleased about living next to someone of the opposite sex.

They had thought that they would spend three years doing nothing but chasing girls from afar, but now they had a big headstart and were eager to take advantage of it.

"Nah..." Yamauchi sighed, before letting out a loud groan of frustration. "I got thrown into a sausage party instead, because all the people on my floor are guys!"

"Yikes... that sucks."

"I know, right?! Here I thought the girls can live with us now... why the hell would the chairman make the dorm buildings co-ed for the students if they're not gonna give me some hot neighbors?! I bet some bastard is enjoying having girls by himself because they live next to him!"

Kiyotaka felt tempted to laugh at his misfortune, but kept quiet. It seems that while the system helps him out in various unpredictable ways, the same doesn't happen for other guys.

Ike shrugged. "Oh well, at least I'm not as unfortunate as you."

"What?! Are you saying that you're neighbors with a girl?!" Yamauchi asked, as he and the other boys involved in the conversation were caught off guard

"Yeah, but... the girl could've been better," Ike sighed, feeling that this wasn't going as well as he had hoped despite getting the very thing that he wanted.

Yamauchi began shedding anime-like tears out of jealousy. "You lucky bastard! At least be grateful that you're neighbors with a girl! Unless you're faking it..."

Kiyotaka wanted to feel bad for them, but only shook his head. He could only imagine their reactions when they find out that he's neighbors with three girls, and one of them isn't even part of their class... come to think of it, which class did Arisu belong to exactly?

"Ugh, why did I have to be neighbors with that pervert...?"

From the other side of the room, a certain blue-haired girl with pink eyes groaned in frustration as she complained about her current predicament to her friends. Kiyotaka noticed that Kushida was with them,

"Wait, who are you neighbors with, Shinohara-san?" asked Sato.

"That desperate pervert from yesterday! I thought he was stalking me when I saw him on the 6th floor where my room is supposed to be, but it turns out that he was actually my neighbor!"

Kiyotaka heard her easily because Shinohara wasn't exactly being quiet. "Ah, so she's the unfortunate girl who ended up as Ike's neighbor. Poor girl."

He could only pity her. It was the system that altered the original living arrangements for the students and turned it into a co-ed dorm for everyone (only the freshmen, though) instead. If it was up to him, then there would be no need to change things and simply have them as they were.

Unfortunately, he wasn't in control of a broken skill that can alter reality.

"I hate this! Guys aren't supposed to live in the same place as girls! Now I have to keep watch 24/7 just to make sure I'm safe from perverts!" ranted Karuizawa, slamming her fist on her desk out of frustration.

"Are you also neighbors with a boy, Karuizawa-san?"

Kei calmed down immediately, as she thought back to when she got to her dorm last night. When she got there, she didn't see any boy around.

Okay, there might be one who lived there with them and for all she knew, she was neighbors with one but there's no way she's going to check the rooms there one by one if that was the case. For now though, she could consider herself safe from any guy who's thinking of being a pervert...

"Hmm, not sure. I didn't see any guy around the 4th floor when I got back to my dorm last night."

"The 4th floor? That's where I live too!" Kushida smiled. "It's too bad we didn't see each other then..."

"4th floor? She lives on the same floor as mine—" Kiyotaka thought, before a wave of realization hit him. "Oh, I see now. The system placed her there because she must be a 'heroine' as well. Hm, if that's the case, then it shouldn't be a stretch to say that the whole 4th floor must be inhabited by girls whom the system sees as heroines..."

Honestly, it makes sense. He was already neighbors with Horikita and Kushida, while Sakayanagi's room was opposite his. With Karuizawa's room located at the 4th floor like them, it's pretty obvious.

With this dating simulator system being crazy as it is, it would definitely do something like putting his heroines all on the same floor as him. Now that he thought about it, that would actually be the most plausible move for the system.

Why would it waste the chance to have his heroines live near to him?