Classroom of the Elite: The Eroge

"Well... here we are. The day of the midterms."

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka took a deep breath as he walked out of his dorm room and closed the door. It was Monday, the start of a new week, and also the day for Class D to have a chance at getting back the points they've lost, and to prove that they weren't the defective class as a lot of people have thought.

He looked at the two doors on either side of his unit and heaved a huge sigh of relief. Kikyo and Suzune wouldn't be walking with him today, as both girls went to school early to meet their respective study groups for a last-minute review, so they had already left.

As a result, he was left all alone for now, not that it was a big thing.

As much as he had gotten used to those girls being with him when it's time to go to school, he liked the peace and quiet more when he's alone. Especially when he rarely had free time these days, as he spent most of it either by studying with Airi and Kei, or getting caught in one of the system's crazy situations.

"I better get going before my daily dose of insanity happens," the young man said in his thoughts. Suzune and Kikyo may not be here, but it doesn't mean that the system would leave him alone just like that.

However, just as he was about to head to the elevator, a new voice suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"A-A-Ayanokouji-kun?!"

A deadpan expression formed on his face almost immediately.

"It was fun while it lasted."

He could still make a break for it and run to the elevator but it was still early in the morning, and Kiyotaka didn't want to waste too much energy. Plus, he was going to take a nap once he's done with the exams. Spending energy unnecessarily will only keep him awake.

Kiyotaka turned around to see one of the people whom he had been tutoring for the past weeks,

Already, a wave of stress hit him. What a way to start off his day, huh? What better way to start the day than to come face-to-face with the girl who hated the idea of being neighbors or living on the same floor with boys?

Knowing this, there's a big chance of this girl running away once she learns that he lived on this floor, or she thinks of him as a pervert and never talks to him again as a result. Either way, it's clear that the system put him in this situation to deal with her and expected that he would be able to handle it all on his own.

Yes, he was the 'Masterpiece' of the White Room, but he wasn't the masterpiece of love gurus!

"Karuizawa," he acknowledged with a nod, not even showing any kind of reaction to the girl's presence.

On the other hand, the blonde girl was completely thrown off-guard upon seeing him here.

A while ago, Kei had stepped out of her dorm with a confident aura all over her. Today was the day of the midterm exams, and she didn't want to show any sign of weakness.

She had been studying for weeks just for this. Yeah, she had never cared for studying before and would rather hang out with friends and have a good time, but this school didn't allow her that privilege. She needed to study not just to pass her exams, but also to reclaim the points they've lost.

Karuizawa had not felt this confident in herself before. Well, maybe because she was never assisted by someone else in her studies until Ayanokouji came into the picture. Not only was he good in, he was apparently a decent teacher as well, capable of explaining lessons easily enough for her and Sakura to understand.

The girl felt confident to the point that she felt that she could get a high score on all of her tests, and she was ready to face the day head-on with a smile...

That is, until she saw Kiyotaka himself in the hallway, about to head to the elevator. Even though his back was turned, she immediately recognized his brown hair and knew it was him.

"W-What are you doing here...?!" she asked as her face began to turn red.

Kiyotaka stared at her for a moment, thinking of what to say, only to realize that there's nothing to think about. Kei saw him while he was still here, and he had a good feeling that if he starts making excuses of any sort, the girl will only get mad at him.

Better take advantage of her shocked state now before her emotions take over.

"I suppose I can't hide it any longer," he shrugged helplessly before gesturing to his door. "I live here, Karuizawa. This is my dorm unit."

"You... live here?" she said in a dumbfounded tone while her eyes widened in disbelief. "W-Why didn't you tell me then?"

The way she asked those questions made it seem like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

They had been studying together for weeks now, and not once did Kiyotaka say anything about where his unit was located. They were friends, so it's only natural for him to reveal where he lived, right?

Hmm, was this the reason why he never walked with her to the dorms after their sessions in the library, even though she was the one who asked him about it every time? During those days, Kiyotaka would either say that he's busy or he's going somewhere and wouldn't be able to retire to his dorm room just yet.

"Because you would have been mad?" he answered rhetorically. "Or have you forgotten how you hated this whole dorm arrangement ever since it began?"

Kei blinked a few times out of confusion. She would have been mad? Why would she be mad? There's nothing wrong with revealing where he lived— ohhhh... that's what he was trying to say.

Realization only struck her just now, and Kei's eyes widened upon remembering her past words regarding the dorms and the chairman's announcement a month ago.

"If you're angry about this, then get it over with. Just keep it in mind that I wasn't the one who wanted to live here."

The young man then waited for a response from her. He expected her to be a little mad at least, giving him a warning about being a pervert, and then letting it go. The worst-case scenario would be receiving a slap from her and then getting angry to the point that she didn't want to see him again. He hoped that it wouldn't come to that point, as it would only lead to more problems for him.

However, despite his expectations, the response she gave him was surprising.

"Uh... I'm not mad," she confessed whilst looking conflicted about something.

"Is that so?" he raised an eyebrow curiously. This was an interesting development, and Kiyotaka wanted to know what led to this change. "What happened to your dislike for boys because they might act on their perverted desires?"

"W-Well, you already proved that you're different, alright?! What, you want me to look at you the same way I see a lot of our idiot and perverted classmates?" she snapped, placing her hands on her hips and then sending him a little frown.

He shook his head. "That would be an unpleasant outcome, seeing as how I'm supposed to be tutoring you and Sakura. Such a situation would make it hard to speak with you, so no."

"Good. Besides, you're not really a pervert like the two idiots... or are you?" she sent him a look of suspicion this time, as if she was trying to find out if Kiyotaka had hidden intentions in mind.

Kiyotaka shrugged. "Whatever I say wouldn't matter because there's no guarantee you'd believe me anyway. The only one who can answer your question is yourself, Karuizawa."

Her look of suspicion disappeared in an instant. "Huh?"

"Ask yourself. Do you think I'm a pervert like some of our classmates?"

That was a question that the girl couldn't answer for a good while, because she thought deeply about what to say. She was also in deep thought, unable to get his question out of her mind after he said it.

Did she think of him as a pervert? Or better yet, what does she think of him? Obviously, they've been on good terms ever since the talk that they had at Keyaki Mall, even though it ended with her being angry with him for the simple reason of talking to her. Sure, she felt grateful towards him when he lent her some points and for helping her study in preparation for the midterms, but were they even friends? Or were they simply acquaintances? There was never really a label for their relationship, now that she thought about it...

Kei felt utterly confused by his question and didn't know how to answer it, causing her to let out a scream of frustration while shaking her head furiously, unaware of the redness that began spreading across her face.

"Aaaggghhh, we're just wasting time! Let's get to class already!" the girl cried as she walked towards him.

"Sure, why not?" he replied.

Actually, this was even better. He doesn't want to stand around here until class starts of course, especially on the day of the midterm exams. He had no idea what made Karuizawa scream out of nowhere, but it's clear that his question before that made her think deeply.

As the two prepared to leave and head for the elevator together, they were stopped in their tracks by a new voice, one that they recognized right away for the shy and meek tone that it had.

"A-Ayanokouji-kun...?"

Both students turned around, and were met by the sight of Sakura Airi standing not too far away from them, with a red face that could rival the color of her hair and shaking nervously to the point it looked like she was about to faint at any second.

Kiyotaka wasn't surprised anymore by this turn of events and simply sighed to himself. After Kei saw him exiting his room, he was already certain that his morning won't be over without the daily dose of craziness that the system provided him. The only thing he could do now was accept his situation and deal with it accordingly, to the best that he can.

"S-Sakura-san?"

"Good morning, Sakura."

In contrast to the tone of surprise that Karuizawa used, the young man was completely monotone in his delivery, as if he was saying, "I'm tired of this shit."

"Y-Y-You also live here...?" the girl stuttered.

"That's correct."

"O-O-O-Oh, i-i-i-is that s-s-so? U-Uhm... I-I-I-I d-d-didn't know t-that..."

"Of course you didn't know. It's not like I've been telling everyone about it. What about you? You also live here, yet you never said anything when our classmates spoke up about who lived on this floor," he pointed out, making the redhead widen her eyes in alarm.

Karuizawa was ready to scold Ayanokouji for unnecessarily pushing her friend into a corner she had no way out of, only to realize that he actually made a good point. When she and some of the girls complained about the new co-ed arrangements for the student dorms, they also found out which of them lived on the 4th floor but Sakura never said anything.

This was also the first time that she saw her friend on this floor, which was why she was surprised at seeing Sakura here.

"I-I-I w-wanted to say something too... but... i-it was just so e-embarrassing..." said Airi, turning away as she was too embarrassed to even look at Kiyotaka.

Kei shrugged, unsurprised that that was the reason why she didn't say anything. Plus, knowing what Airi is like, it would actually be more surprising if she even raised her hand that time.

"That's completely understandable. Horikita didn't say anything as well," Kiyotaka explained. "Furthermore, could you imagine how the rest of the boys would react if they found out that I live on a floor filled with girls?"

The first thought that immediately came to the girls' minds was that a lot of the boys would be jealous of him, particularly Yamauchi and Ike. Those two have always been desperate perverts and it's quite obvious how they would react in that possible scenario.

They might even go as far as to 'persuade' Ayanokouji to take pictures of the girls for 'research', something that would have been disastrous if it happened...

"The only ones who know of my situation are Kushida and Horikita, since we were walking to the dorms together when the announcement was made," he added.

Both Kei and Airi were taken aback at that revelation. It looks like they weren't the first to know about Kiyotaka's living arrangements, and they were even more shocked that neither one of those girls mentioned anything about it or had a reaction of some kind.

"Wait, those two already know?! And they don't have a problem with it?" the blonde girl said in pure disbelief.

"If anything, I'm the one who's not fine with living on a floor that's only inhabited by girls," he shrugged.

Oh, he could still remember that day... the day when his superpower first altered reality when it fulfilled Kushida's desire to be neighbors with him. Seeing first-hand what the system could do honestly scared him and while he was slowly getting used to the ridiculousness, it was still mind-boggling that the idea of breaking the natural flow of things was something he could do or rather, what his superpower could do.

"Let's go already. I'm sure neither of you two wouldn't want to be late today, would you?" he asked.

The two girls snapped out of their little trance and nodded, before following him to the elevator. Thankfully, nobody else was around to see them, so they were able to get inside without any more interruptions.

While they were inside the elevator, a sudden thought struck Kei and it was something that worried her. Kiyotaka was one thing, but what if there was another guy who lived on the 4th floor? Or worse, what if it was someone with malicious intentions?

"Wait... is there another guy living here? Other than you?" she asked in a worried tone.

"As far as I know, no one else."

Kei blinked a few times, before she looked at him with a dumbfounded look. "Wait, you're telling me that you're the only boy who lives here?"

Strangely, Kiyotaka looked unaffected by that fact, as though he was used to it at this point. "That's exactly what I'm telling you."

"Huh..." she breathed out. While she still disliked the idea of the co-ed dorm arrangements, Kei wasn't as hostile to it as she was back then, now that she was reassured that no one with malicious intentions lived on the same floor as her. "This might not be as bad as I thought... if Ayanokouji-kun's the only guy who lives here."

"If you're still worried about my presence, I understand. However, I can assure you that I have no ulterior motives in mind. I'm not planning to peek on anyone around here, nor am I thinking of perverted thoughts," he told them while letting out a sigh of indignation. "Seriously, I'd rather sleep than do something else."

"Uh... I... I don't believe Ayanokouji-kun is like that..." Airi spoke, shaking her head in disagreement which got Kiyotaka's attention.

On the surface, it may not sound like a big deal coming from Airi but because of the... 'incident' that happened between them a month ago, it was definitely one. Thankfully, neither of them brought up that issue again and moved on from it, but it still meant a lot that the girl didn't think of him as a pervert after that. It was only an accident, after all, and no one was truly at fault... although Airi should really be careful about where she's going in the future.

"I-I may not be that close to you, but..." Kei spoke up this time, causing the young man to turn towards her. "...so far, you've shown no sign that I shouldn't trust you, so... I'll believe you."

"I'm glad that the two of you trust me," he nodded in satisfaction. Kiyotaka was fortunate that these two weren't hard to convince. He had thought at first that they would be the harder ones to convince that he had no ill intentions in mind. "In return, can I trust you both that you won't tell anyone about me living on this floor? If someone finds out on their own, I'll deal with them myself but as much as possible, don't say a word to anyone."

Airi didn't say anything, but she nodded her head to show that she understood. Plus, it wasn't like she interacted with other people much, so she had no one to tell.

"Sounds fair," Kei shrugged. There's no way she would tell their classmates that a boy lived on the same floor as her, though it would be nice to inform some girls about it, particularly those who lived there as well like Maya and Chiaki.

Kiyotaka felt relieved now that this issue had been resolved rather easily.

Still, it was only the start of the day, and the system already decided to throw him in the middle of a sticky situation in the form of Karuizawa and Sakura finding out that he lived on the 4th floor. From this, it was already obvious that this day won't end without his sanity being put to the test yet again.

That's why it's a good thing that he would be able to take a little nap after the exams.