Classroom of the Elite: The Eroge

After class was over, Kiyotaka went to Keyaki Mall just like Kikyo told him to and waited by the entrance. He was honestly looking forward to this, because all he had been doing for the past weeks was talking to one or two of three people, which included Kikyo herself.

It would be nice to hang around with some of his other classmates... as long as the system doesn't plan on doing anything crazy. He could handle 'unlocking' a new route, but nothing more than that.

Kiyotaka took a sip from the iced matcha tea that he bought from the cafe, when he saw the duo of Ike and Yamauchi approaching in the distance.

"Yo, Ayanokouji! What'cha doing here?"

The young man thought about it for a moment. Should he tell them the real reason why he was here? They'll surely react in a negative manner if they find out that Kushida invited him here... should he lie and tell them that he was just here to chill and stand around?

Eh. It's not like they can threaten him or anything.

"Kushida invited me here to hang out with a bunch of her friends," he answered honestly. "And before you even ask, she asked me because we are friends."

Ike narrowed his eyes the moment Kiyotaka mentioned Kushida, but was immediately silenced when he explained his situation further. "Hmm... I've got my eye on you, though..." he muttered.

Oh, if Ike only knew just who he was talking to.

"We were actually invited here by Kushida-chan too!" Yamauchi said eagerly. "This just means that she likes me! I mean, she wouldn't invite me if she didn't, right?"

Ike then turned his attention to Yamauchi. "In your dreams, Yamauchi! She obviously invited us because she was interested in me. You're just included because we're together most of the time."

Kiyotaka had no idea why, but he suddenly felt like punching these two in the face as they argued about why Kikyo invited them. He had never felt like this earlier when they did the same, but now he was and it was bothering him.

"If you two don't mind me asking, what exactly do you two find attractive in her?" asked Kiyotaka.

The two suddenly stopped in their arguing, as they looked back at their classmate in confusion.

"Eh? What's not there to like? She's cute, she has a nice chest, and she's really nice!"

"Yeah! She'd be the perfect girlfriend for anyone! Especially for me."

"For you? You mean me!"

Just when it looked like they were about to start another argument regarding who was the better fit for Kikyo, the very girl who was the subject of the conversation had finally arrived.

"Sorry we're late, but thanks for waiting!"

"Oh, no worries, Kushida-chan! We were only just- hey, why is that guy here?!"

To the complete shock of the two boys, the beige-haired girl brought Hirata with her. There were three other girls with them, Matsushita, Mori, and Karuizawa. Kiyotaka was surprised to see Matsushita with them, but then he felt a bit of relief that he wouldn't be a complete stranger here. He figured that Kushida would be busy being friendly towards everyone, which would leave him in an awkward position of being the odd one out. Therefore, it's a good thing that Matsushita was here with them.

"I just happened to see Hirata-kun along the way, and I thought of inviting him! Will that be a problem?" said Kikyo, smiling brightly at the two boys.

Ike stared at her for a few moments, before he approached Kiyotaka and led him away from the scene as if he was a coach that was telling his men about an important play.

"Hey! Do you have something that can make Hirata go away?!" he whispered.

"I see no reason to get rid of him," Kiyotaka replied, taking Ike's arm off his shoulder.

"Can't you see it? That bastard will completely overshadow us! Don't you know that he has an army of fangirls praising him all the time? If he's here, then he'll hog all of the girls' attention and leave nothing for us!"

Kiyotaka rolled his eyes. "I still don't see the problem."

Ike glared at him. "You traitor! You're on Hirata's side, aren't you?"

"I can't even understand where you got that idea from."

"Yamauchi, help me out here! How do we get rid of Hirata?"

"Don't ask me! I'm not good with this sort of thing."

"Just give me an idea, man!"

Yamauchi thought about it for a moment while scratching his head. "...maybe we could lead him somewhere where he can get lost?"

"That's a good one, but we could easily get caught if we do that!"

"If my presence is a bother, then maybe I should just go on ahead?" asked Hirata, overhearing the conversation between the three.

Realizing that they were caught red-handed, the two quickly put on innocent looks and faced everyone else.

"W-We don't really mind at all...! Right, Yamauchi?!"

"Yeah, yeah! L-Let's just get a move on! The more, the merrier, right?

Kiyotaka only sighed at their behavior. Moments ago, they had no problem talking about how they would get rid of Yosuke. Now they're pretending that they have no ulterior motive, most likely so that Kikyo wouldn't be upset with them and lose their chance at being with her.

Well, not like they had a chance in the first place, anyway.

"The hell were you three whispering about, anyway?" asked Karuizawa, narrowing her eyes at the three boys.

"Don't lump me in with these two," said Kiyotaka as he felt offended that the girl would even associate him with Ike and Yamauchi.

Being the genuinely nice guy that he is, Hirata didn't hesitate to get between Karuizawa and the other boys. "Okay, okay, let's all calm down. We're here to spend time together as classmates and get to know more about each other. Kushida-san, where are we heading to?" he spoke before looking at Kushida, who organized this whole get-together in the first place.

"R-Right!" she shook her head and put on her usual smile. "Let's go inside the mall, first. Let's decide where to go next from there."

Everyone nodded in response, as they walked into the mall. Kiyotaka opted to be behind everyone else so he could be at peace. Sure, he wanted to hang out with his classmates, but he also wasn't going to place himself in the center of attention.

Chiaki slowly broke away from the others and deliberately slowed her pace, allowing her to walk alongside Kiyotaka. "So, Kushida-san invited you too, Ayanokouji-kun?" she asked in amusement.

The young man looked at her in confusion. "I thought that would be obvious."

She shrugged. "I just didn't expect to see you here. You normally head back to your dorm room immediately after class because you want to rest as soon as possible. I don't think I've ever seen you go somewhere else first, other than the club fair."

"That may be, but I don't want to spend three years in this school as a shut-in."

"You want to talk for a bit then? It's been a while since we last talked and you always stick with either Horikita-san or Kushida-san. I'm getting kind of jealous," she said half-jokingly.

"Aren't we talking now?" he retorted in a sarcastic manner.

While the two teens were left in their own world, the rest of the group had their attention directed towards Ike, who approached Hirata with a look of suspicion on his face. "I'm going to be straightforward with you, Hirata. Are you going out with Karuizawa?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Uhm... no. But where did you hear such a thing?" Yosuke asked, raising an eyebrow curiously.

"That's not important. Are you going out with Karuizawa or not?!" Ike pressed on, even raising his voice slightly.

All Hirata could do was smile gently and shake his head. "We aren't."

"Oi, stop bothering him already, will you?" said Kei, sending an annoyed look at the two that immediately caused them to back off. "We're not dating at all."

This time, after hearing Kei's statement, Ike had no choice but to take it as the truth.

"Seriously? But the rumors were pointing to you two being a couple!" Yamauchi exclaimed, which caught everyone in the group off guard, especially Kiyotaka.

The young man looked at Karuizawa in slight interest. "Did the system make a mistake?" he thought, although he didn't look convinced. His eroge superpower had the freaking ability to alter reality itself. Moreover, it had a mind of its own, so it couldn't have made the mistake of having her live on the fourth floor if it wasn't going to make her a heroine.

"Is it true, Karuizawa-san?" asked Kikyo, genuinely curious about this matter.

"Hell no!" Kei folded her arms across her chest and took in a deep breath to calm herself. "No offense to Hirata-kun. He's a nice guy, but I don't really want to be with anyone right now. Especially because of this annoying dorm arrangement."

Hirata only flashed a smile, not even offended by that remark. "I completely understand why you feel that way, Karuizawa-san."

"Karuizawa-san, it's been three weeks since that happened. Don't you think it's time to move on?" asked Mori out of concern.

The blonde gyaru had never really moved on from the chairman's announcement several weeks ago and hated how the girls and boys can now be neighbors instead of living on completely separate floors. She was still angry until now to the point that it was getting ridiculous, because almost all of the girls pretty much accepted how things work now. Even Shinohara, who was as vocal as Karuizawa about her annoyance regarding the co-ed dorm arrangements, has been quiet lately.

"Hell no! I can't trust almost any other boy in our class! They might have hidden intentions behind their eyes, especially these two!" replied Kei.

"W-Well, what about you, Kushida-san? Do you have a boyfriend?" asked Ike in an attempt to steer the conversation somewhere else.

Kikyo blinked a few times in surprise. "Oh, uh... no. But it would be nice to have one, though!" she giggled.

And then, upon hearing those words, Ike and Yamauchi felt like they died and went to heaven out of joy. The two had massive grins on their faces, their growing happiness on full display for everyone to see. Although they would never even get a chance at being with her, just hearing Kushida say that she didn't have a boyfriend was enough to make them cry tears of joy.

"Oh, no... I think I'm crying..."

"It's okay, Yamauchi! Let it out! Let it all out! We both have a chance, so let's make the most of it!"

The rest of the group watched them with varied reactions. Hirata and Kushida chuckled nervously, Matsushita and Mori stared at them weirdly, while Karuizawa looked away in disgust.

"Ugh, there they go..."

Kiyotaka shook his head in slight disappointment. These two find out that the girl was available, and they immediately treat it as if Jesus himself descended down from Heaven. Oh well, maybe it might amuse him to see their reactions when they find out that Kikyo will have a boyfriend in the future, and it won't be them.

After letting the two perverts have their moment of bliss, they continued on their way. Their first stop in their little journey to the mall was, of course, the clothing store. The girls wouldn't pass up the opportunity for new apparel, obviously.

Kiyotaka opted to stay outside while waiting for them to finish, while the other boys went with the girls to help them carry their bags once they were done. Of course, Yosuke accompanied them with the genuine desire to help while Ike and Yamauchi treated it as a way to score points with the girls.

The young man passed the time by observing the mall from where he was and listing down the most interesting places in his mind, until he noticed one of his companions was heading out of the store.

To his surprise, it was Kei who was done with shopping first. She only carried a small bag with her as she walked out of the store and headed to where he was. That was when Kiyotaka noticed the familiar 'heroine screen' above her head, and he was a bit surprised with what he saw.

[Karuizawa Kei: 'Frustrated but Vigilant Classmate']

[Relationship Status: ?]

[Affection Points: 0/100]

[Heroine Summary: Kei is a typical gyaru that loves fashion and hanging out with friends, but her past is a complicated one. She has a long history of being bullied in her old school. She has been beaten, pushed around, had her hair pulled, experienced her shoes being filled with different things, and more. In this new school, she wants someone who can pretend to be her boyfriend so that that person can protect her from being bullied this time around. However, because of the change in living arrangements for the freshmen, she doesn't want to talk to any boy yet.]