Learning to Live (Ayanokoji SI-Waifu Catalog) (Patreon)

Chapter 3

(That Evening)

Hours later I made my way to the convenience store to get some necessities in order to disguise that I didn’t really need them due to my Pocket Apartment having everything I could ever need. I had barely been able to escape the barrage of questions I had received during lunch time after I had been practically forced to accompany the girls by a smirking Tsubasa who liked seeing me nervous.

Well almost all of the girls as Horikita, Sakura and Hasebe had gone their own way during lunch and me and Hirata had been the only guys present.

It only got worse when Ichika had come strolling along with a mischievous smirk on her face and proceeded to hug me in front of everyone.

The barrage of questions had only increased at that point but I wisely had thrown Ichika under the bus without remorse and let her handle the trouble she caused.

On a positive note, I found out that due to the changes with Tsubasa and Honami, Ike and Yamauchi actually belonged to Class C which I was glad for as Kiyotaka usually ended up roped up into their shenanigans and I wanted no part in that.

Entering the store, I walked around the isles picking up a few essentials and put them in a basket before eventually running into Horikita who upon taking notice of me pretended she didn’t see me at all.

“Another unpleasant coincidence.” Horikita said with reluctance once she saw I wasn’t going away.

“Of course.” I said with a deadpan before sighing and trying to talk to her. “Still not willing to talk to me?”

“No thanks.” She immediately shot me down making me blink in surprise even if I was still expecting it. “Like I already said, I feel no need to make friends.”

“I didn’t say anything about being friends.” I shot back making the girl blink this time. “However, we still need to interact with one another on what’s about to come and especially since we’re seatmates.” I threw the girl a hint to see if she could catch on to what type of school this was.

“What do you mean with what’s about to come?” Horikita asked giving me a small glare.

“I thought you saw no need to get along with anyone?” I asked with a raised eyebrow throwing her words right back at her making her scowl.

“Tsk, whatever.” Horikita turned her head away apparently done with our conversation.

Sighing at how stubborn she was I walked towards the basket of free items while speaking just loud enough for her to hear. “Don’t you think it’s weird that there are free items in a school where you’re supposed to receive a budget each month? Or the fact that some upper classmen picked some out when it’s supposed to be the beginning of the year when everyone should have received their budget for the month?”

With those parting words I made my way to the front of the store to pay for my things when I saw a commotion going on and saw Sudo as expected getting angry at the cashier about forgetting his phone in his dorm. Stepping up to the scene I put the things I wanted to buy on the counter and offered to pay for his things as well making him turn to me with an angry look on his face.

“There’s no need for that! I don’t need your pity!” Sudo barked almost getting in my face but thinking otherwise once he saw I was taller than him.

“This is not about pity.” I shook my head calmly not feeling intimidated at all probably due to Kiyo’s own impassiveness and Stress Defense helping me keep cool.

“I just thought it would be a hassle to go all the way back to your dorm room to grab your phone when I can easily pay for them and you can pay me later.” I said with a shrug.

Sudo seemed to realize what I meant as the aggressiveness disappeared from his face as a slightly embarrassed look replaced it. “I-I see. Thanks man I owe you one.”

“No worries.” I dismissed paying for both of our things and handing him his getting a grateful nod from the teen.

We talked for a bit introducing ourselves as Sudo handed me one of the snacks I had paid for him as thanks and went to a bench to finish the treat. Then seeing a couple of upper classmen walking towards us I subtly put my phone in my front pocket facing forward and pressed record.

“Hey, you two. That’s our seats, get lost.” One of the teens demanded arrogantly while his buddies just smirked at us.

As expected of the hothead that was Sudo, he immediately got up in their face only being held back by the firm grip I had on his shoulder.

“Hahaha look at him. He looks like a little chihuahua all bark and no bite.” Another student teased making it harder to keep Sudo in place.

“What you say?!” Sudo yelled trying to get off my grip on him and failing.

Turning towards the bullies I decided to cut this conversation short. “May I ask that you leave us alone now senpais? You wouldn’t want me to hand this over to the school, right?” I said pulling out my phone from my pocket making the bullies pale when I turned it around and showed them the video of the entire conversation.

“S-shit, I thought you were defects.” Random guy one said.

“I can’t afford to get in trouble at the start of the school.” Said random guy two.

“Now I can make this video disappear of course as this is the start of the year but I’m afraid I’m going to need a little favor.” I threatened them with a blank face glad that Sudo had calmed down and was now looking at me with wide eyes.

“W-what do you want?” Random guy three asked after looking at his buddies for a minute.

Hearing that I felt my lips twitch a bit pleased I could use this to my advantage. “I’m sure we could let this go for let’s say…” My blank expression suddenly disappeared as I gave them a cold look. “10,000 points. Each.”

At my answer the three flinched before reluctantly pulling out their phones and after getting my student id transferred them over. Then after making sure, I deleted the video they left not once looking back finally leaving us alone.

“What was that about?” Sudo asked in confusion his previous anger nowhere to be seen.

“Don’t worry it’ll be explained in class tomorrow. Though I’ll give you a hint. Make sure you conserve your points as I don’t think we get the same amount each month. Night Sudo.” I explained briefly as I didn’t want to explain everything to the teen and wanted to get back to my dorm.

“Sure thing. Thanks again Ayanokōji, I owe you one.” Sudo not seeming bothered by my brief explanation shrugged his shoulders and went his own way.

While walking back to my dorm I caught Horikita from the corner of my eye standing not far from where we had that confrontation letting me know she had probably seen everything. The girl seemed like she was about to call out to me before deciding against it and also left the area.

Reaching the fourth floor where my dorm was, I slowly made my way to room 401 before stopping a few meters away from it.

The reason?

Well, that would be because Ichika, the little gremlin that she was, was standing in front of my door leaning back against it and giving me a cheeky smirk.

I said nothing to the cheeky girl as I unlocked my door and motioned for her to go in first getting a giggle in return. Once we were both inside, I put the things I bought down and went to make some tea.

“Hihihi what no greeting for me Senpai? Are you perhaps still annoyed for what happened during lunch?” Ichika asked with a giggle as she kicked her legs back and forth in my bed.

“Of course not. I assume you managed to Stamp some targets?” I asked only offering her a brief glance before turning my attention back to the tea.

“Yup~ Being a pretty girl has its merits you know?” Ichika confirmed childishly and winking my way. “Being able to turn invisible also helped.”

“Hmm.” Pulling out my phone I noticed that Ichika had gone above and beyond having already Stamped most of her class as well as those who were with us during lunch. “Good job Ichika.” I finally praised the girl with a nod.

“Hihihi, anything for my beloved Senpai~”

A few minutes later I handed her a cup of tea and a snack I had picked up at the convenience store as I didn’t feel like cooking tonight.

“I would offer to cook for you but unfortunately I don’t feel like it tonight.” I commented lightly taking a seat next to the girl and taking a sip of my tea.

“No Senpai’s cooking tonight? Boo~” Ichika said in distaste but nonetheless dug in.

“Haah, if this is your reaction to my regular cooking then I dread what might happen when I eventually buy Faerie Feast.” I said with a shake of my head.

“Ooh~ That perk that makes all the food you make supernaturally delicious right? Senpai! We must get that perk next!” Ichika said with metaphorical stars in her eyes.

“Don’t be stupid.”  I reprimanded her and flicked her forehead lightly getting a small ‘oww’ from her. “There are many things we have to buy first before we can focus on comfort.”

“Hmph! Kiyobaka-senpai.” Ichika pouted cutely looking like a chipmunk with her cheeks all puffy like that.

We remained silent after that until we finished eating before Ichika looked at me curiously as if wanting to ask a question.

“What is it?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Senpai, while I understand the need to acquire as many points as possible at this stage, doesn’t this world have too many low-level targets?” Ichika asked looking genuinely curious.

“That’s correct.” I agreed with a nod. “Are you perhaps wondering why we don’t just gather enough points, buy the I Want Out perk and leave to a world with better targets?”

“Hmm.” Ichika nodded her head telling me I got it right.

“The reason is simple.” I said calmly pausing for a minute and finishing my tea. “Time.”

“Time?” Ichika tilted her head cutely in confusion.

“Haah,” I let out a breath before looking at her seriously. “Ichika, if there’s one thing you take away from this conversation, let it be that I’m not as strong as you think.”

“Wha?” Ichika blinked in confusion as if not properly computing what I had just said.

“What I mean is, that you are overestimating my abilities. There are countless beings that are stronger, faster, smarter or any other quantifiable scale that you can think of and some that you can’t even comprehend.” I explained never once losing the seriousness tone in my voice.

“If we were to do as you said, there is a very high probability that we would die.” I finished with surety as the worlds that Ichika was thinking about, while appearing normal, could be lethal to regular humans like us.

After all, even with this new body thanks to the Body Tune-Up perk, it did not just immediately disqualify that I could die just as easily from a bullet like any other regular human. Heck, we could even be done in by a disease at this point.

“B-b-but Senpai you…”

Seeing her with such a devastated face I let out a sigh knowing I had probably broken the image she had of me but nonetheless continued as she needed to hear this.

“Let me finish.” I interrupted lightly getting Ichika to clam up and look at me unsurely. “The reason we are in this world with weak targets is because I want to use the time while here to train our abilities in a relatively safe environment.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know those powers that I was able to get us at the cost of a sum of credits?” I asked and getting a nod I continued. “Well, nobody ever said that you have to be content with that level of power. With the right talent or a proper teacher, you can take your power and train it to be even stronger than the original.”

“Could you explain a bit more?” Ichika asked now looking very interested at what I said.

“Of course. Let’s take your power over Aura and creating physical illusions for example. At the moment you can create a few clones and make very realistic illusions around your vicinity. If you keep training however the number of clones could increase and you could even extend the range of your illusions.” I explained pausing for a moment.

“The biggest advantage we have Ichika is that our limiters, those placed on every being, have been removed.”

“Even without a Template, with enough time and effort you could attain something like superstrength yourself. The Templates are only a shortcut to that. The only thing you can’t attain by training by yourself is specific powers only available to certain species or not having the proper biology for it like your Aura. Understand?” I finished gently with a smile now gracing my face.

“Hihihihi understood. So, it’s not that Senpai is weak, he just needs time until he becomes the strongest! Umu, I knew Senpai was the greatest~” Ichika said with a nod and once again looking at me with stars in her eyes.

‘No, it seems you clearly don’t understand.’ I thought with a mental sweat drop before sighing in defeat. ‘Yandere girls sure are something.’

“Going back to your original question about leaving this world…” I said in an attempt to bring the conversation back on track.

“Hmm, what is it Senpai?” Ichika asked looking all chirpy again.

“In spite of what I said, I really don’t like this world as it brings too many memories of that man. So, I want you to be ready because as soon as we finish this year and I kill that man, we are leaving this world.” I said with a cold look taking over my face.

“Fufufufu of course Senpai~” Ichika said letting out a dark chuckle and looking at me sensually while licking her lips. “By the way Senpai, are you planning on bringing any girls with us on our adventure?”

“That would depend on them if I’m being honest. Since this is a boring normal world with no supernatural elements, I don’t think many girls would drop literally everything and come along with us at the drop of a hat. Of course, there might be some exceptions.” I said looking at her with a pointed look causing Ichika to grin widely and puff up her chest in pride.

“Thanks for the compliment, Senpai~”

‘If you consider being an obsessive yandere a complement then sure.’ I thought drily.

“With that said though and based on what I know, I have a feeling that the number of girls willing to accompany us would be very low, in the single digits.” I said thinking specifically about 2 other yanderes, a tsundere, a kuudere, an idol and a certain two-faced girl.