Act 5: Scene 3

Three weeks passed since school started, and Ayanokouji Kiyotaka was as vigilant as ever, as though he was expecting the worst to happen at any time, in any place. He was already prepared for something to happen, even though everything around him was peaceful. They were going through a usual class, his classmates were being their usual friends, and nothing.

What's the reason behind his behavior?

It's because the system has been quiet lately.

Too quiet, even.

For several weeks now, his crazy superpower hasn't done anything that would make any regular person bang their head against a wall until they pass out or die. And if he learned anything in that place, it's that the worst is always yet to come during a time of peace. He could tell that the system was planning something behind his back... and Kiyotaka knew that he should be prepared for such an instance when it happens.

There's a bit of good news about all this, though.

He hasn't 'unlocked' any new heroine route ever since Airi, but the reason behind that was because he didn't interact with any other girls throughout the weeks. Aside from the usual interactions he has with Horikita, Kushida, and sometimes Matsushita, nothing else happened other than raising his Affection Points with them as well as his 'dating stats'.

He was also able to enjoy a lot of nights because nothing bothered him in his sleep and relaxing by himself always felt comfortable.

If Bed-chan was a heroine, he would spend the most time with her. At least she gives comfort and not stress.

Oh, and speaking of which, his neighbor across the hallway hasn't shown her face to him at all within the past several weeks. Not once did they see each other when it's time to go to school or when it's time to go home. He never saw her during the weekends, either.

It made him wonder if his way of teasing Sakayanagi was too much to the point that she can no longer be around him, but that would be ridiculous. If that really happened, then the system would have said something or it would have activated the reality-altering skill to make things right.

Still, it would be nice to know what that girl has been up to for the past weeks. She knew about him and the White Room, after all. While he didn't think that she would rat him out, some kind of update on Arisu would be nice.

Too bad the system doesn't give him the luxury of knowing. The 'heroine summary' could be the perfect way of knowing what they're up to, but it doesn't work that way.

"Ayanokouji-kun," a familiar voice called out, snapping him out of his thoughts.

The young man turned to the person who spoke and raised an eyebrow at her. "What is it, Kushida?" he asked.

Kikyo stood in front of his desk with a big smile on her face, obviously in a good mood today. She always is, especially when she's around him because of a certain reason.

"Me and a few of my friends are planning to go to the mall after class. Do... Do you want to come with us? I already asked Horikita-san, but she didn't want to..." she asked, smiling nervously.

Kiyotaka thought about it for a moment. Hm, if he went with them, he would have to make Bed-chan wait for him a lot longer. But that would be bad, because sleep was an important thing to him now and-

Ah, what the hell? It's been weeks since the last time he felt mentally drained. A little trip to the mall wouldn't hurt... unless the system does something, of course. Plus, it's been a very long while since he's gone out and explored more of this school.

"Sure, why not?" he told her. Kiyotaka had no idea who she was talking about when she mentioned her 'friends', but that's only a minor issue in his eyes.

It can't be worse than walking in on one of your heroines while they're changing clothes, right? At this point, he'd rather take 'unlocking' another heroine's route instead.

"Okay! I'll tell everyone else that you're coming with us!" Kikyo nodded excitedly.

Kiyotaka stared at her as she walked away, particularly at the pink screen floating atop her head that bore strange information.

[Kushida Kikyo: 'Happy Energetic Friend']

[Relationship Status: A Rocky Relationship]

[Affection Points: 99/100]

It's hard to believe, but it's been that way for almost three weeks now. Ever since their first swimming class, the Affection Points he's been getting with her have decreased significantly and remained that way for some reason.

It completely confused him, because at her previous pace, Kushida would have reached a hundred 'Affection Points' even before Sakayanagi. And then, all of a sudden, her pace slowed and now that it's at the 99 mark, it refused to go one step further.

This situation only caused him to grow even more curious. What exactly will happen when he maxes out the AP (Affection Point) meter? Will it give him a reward? Does he get an achievement? Will he finally be able to see the 'Aura' dating stat? Hell, maybe it might even have him lose his virginity to a particular heroine since sex scenes normally happen in an eroge!

All of these were questions that he wanted answers to, and the wait was killing him. Kiyotaka considered himself a patient person but since this eroge system has done nothing other than be straightforward with what it's about, as well as the fact that it had a mind of its own then he had a right to feel frustrated.

Kiyotaka also wondered why it wouldn't go up any further, which must be a reason that has something to do with Kikyo herself. It's unlikely for the system to be behind it, because isn't it supposed to be helping him?

He didn't really understand how, but Kiyotaka was about 100% sure that Kikyo herself was keeping him from maxing out her 'Affection Points'.

"Menu," he whispered to himself.

As the world around him froze, Kiyotaka chose the [Dating Stats] sub-menu and observed his progress in the eyes of the system.

[Dating Stats]

Charm: 97

Wisdom: 118

Aura: ?

He wanted to laugh. The fact that one of these 'dating stats' actually got to 100 before 'Affection Points' was almost hard to believe, especially with how fast he's been gaining those with Kikyo. Even Arisu was near the hundred mark but because he hasn't seen her since the first day of school, it hasn't gone up in any way.

The world returned to normal as soon as he closed the menu. From there, Kiyotaka spent the last remaining minutes of their free time thinking of how to deal with this dilemma.

"I don't think the same will happen to Horikita, Matsushita, and Sakura. However, I don't get that many 'Affection Points' with Horikita. The other two give more, but I interact with them even less than Horikita and Kushida. That being said, I could approach them on my own but it's risky. Matsushita's with her friends most of the time, while Sakura is out of the question. What to do..."

Kiyotaka could have continued thinking of a solution but unfortunately, he wouldn't get the chance to because Chabashira-sensei walked inside the room with her usual serious look, shutting everyone up immediately with her presence. She was carrying a stack of papers with her, and some of the students wondered what it was.

"Everyone, prepare your pens. We'll be having a test today."

Various reactions erupted from the class right away, and almost all of them weren't positive.

"A test?! Sae-chan-sensei, you can't be serious!"

"Aw, how am I supposed to answer this? I wasn't listening!"

"This is bad... how do I get through this?!"

"Calm down, all of you. This exam won't be counted in your academic report. No punishment will come to you if you fail this. However, should I catch any of you cheating, then you will be expelled from this school, effective immediately."

That explanation calmed most of them... somehow. It still didn't stop them from becoming nervous when Chabashira-sensei handed out the papers to the students in the front row, who passed it to the next, and so on until it reached the last row.

As soon as the test began, Kiyotaka wasted no time scanning the test questions. It involved all five main subjects with only a few questions that were equivalent to five points each.

"These questions aren't even that hard... I fail to see why they're struggling," the young man thought as he looked at most of the questions. However, upon reaching the final three questions, Kiyotaka blinked in surprise at the problems. The sheer complexity of the questions were honestly more suited for a college student more than a high school student. "Ah. I see now... though, it does make me wonder why would the school give its students this type of test? They couldn't have been joking around when they made these..."

"No way... these questions are just so hard..."

"How the hell do you answer these things?"

While some of the students expressed their nervousness upon seeing the questions, there were also those who remained perfectly calm and looked like they could ace this 'test' without breaking a sweat. Horikita, Koenji, and Hirata were a few of them. Of course, being who he is, Kiyotaka could answer those last three questions if he wanted to, but his usual mindset was different.

"I guess I'll do the same as I did on the entrance exam, but I'm sure that Horikita will treat this as another competition between us, even though this isn't going to affect our grades. I also don't want to attract attention by getting a perfect score, though... fine, I'll put in a bit of effort just so I don't disappoint Horikita."

In about fifteen minutes, Kiyotaka was already done with the test and chose to take a nap until the end of their session. Chabashira-sensei monitored everyone closely by walking around, keeping a watchful eye on her students and to those who would dare to cheat.