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

Chapter 4

The next morning, I found myself in the elevator on the way to class feeling a bit tired as me and Ichika had been up most of the night training.

Hearing the elevator door open I looked up and blinked in curiosity at seeing Honami in front of me before greeting her with a small nod of my head.

“Good morning, Ichinose.”

“Good morning, Ayanokōji-kun~ Did you sleep well?” Honami asked with a radiant smile as she stepped in to the elevator and standing beside me.

“It was good thanks. And yourself?”

“Hihihi I actually didn’t sleep too well. With your observation from yesterday I just kept imagining different scenarios in my head and only managed to sleep for a few hours.” Honami said with an embarrassed laugh while scratching the back of her head.

Taking a closer look at her I immediately noticed the slight bags under her eyes slightly covered by makeup. “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean to make anyone worried.” I apologized with a small bow of my head.

“Upon seeing that Honami suddenly waved her arms back and forth in a slight panic. “Please don’t apologize Ayanokōji-kun. It was not your fault at all. In fact, I’m glad that you managed to notice so soon and spoke up about it. It must have taken a lot of courage to do that.”

‘Well, that and I wanted the credits for a mission objective but I doubt you want to hear that.’ I thought silently.

“Since it’s still rather early how about you let me treat you to a coffee or something with caffeine? I feel somewhat responsible for your current condition.” I offered the girl making her blink once before blushing slightly with wide eyes.

“Y-you don’t have to do that Ayanokōji-kun! I’ll be fine I promise.”

“Come on I insist. You don’t want to fall asleep in the middle of class and lose points, right?” I pushed her a little knowing with her personality she would cave in.

Honami blushed harder before lowering her head a bit hiding her eyes and face from me. “O-okay… Thank you.”

Feeling amused at how cute she looked I remained silent to not embarrass her further and led her to one of the more popular cafes on campus. To no one’s surprise the place was already full even this early in the morning.

Getting in line I decided to make small talk to pass the time.

“Are there any clubs you’re hoping to join Ichinose?” I asked looking at her from the corner of my eyes.

Honami now looking much calmer turned her head to me and smiled. “That’s right. Today is the club fair, right? Hihihi to be honest I was hoping to join the Student Council but I’m not sure I’m qualified.”

“Student Council huh?” I muttered in thought before shaking my head and softening the expression on my face. “Well, from what I’ve seen so far, I’m sure you’re more than qualified to join such a club.” I complimented.

‘That is of course if you even end up wanting to join the Student Council once you get Stamped.’ I thought silently never changing my expression.

Honami looked at me and gifted me a beautiful smile making the surroundings appear dull in comparison. Then out of nowhere she pulled me in for a brief hug before pulling away and looking up at me in the eyes.

“Thanks for the words of encouragement, Ayanokōji-kun~”

‘This girl is seriously something else. For a moment there I thought I felt my heart skip a beat.’ I thought curiously. ‘I never would have guessed that she was actually a yandere if I didn’t already have prior knowledge of it. Then again this is the girl that would choose the original Kiyo over her classmates if it ever came down to it in the future.’

“By the way Ayanokōji-kun, do you think you can have a chat with the class about what you discovered yesterday? There are still many others who left early and didn’t get to hear your theory.” Honami asked while looking at me with a pleading expression making her look super cute and almost making it impossible for anyone to deny anything she asked even someone like me.

“I-I don’t know...” I turned my head away from the girl before I caved.

“It might not seem like it but I’m not very good with crowds. To be honest I didn’t really have any friends until recently so talking to a bunch of others is a little nerve-racking. I only did it yesterday because I didn’t want the class to suffer due to lack of information.”

And wasn’t that a major understatement. Spending the majority of one life sick and in a hospital and spending the new one basically stuck in a cage while being poked and prodded like a lab rat until a few months ago. While I could talk in a big group when it required it, I wasn’t exactly comfortable with it yet nor did I like it if I was honest.

“O-oh! I’m so sorry I didn’t know!” Typical of the girl, Honami immediately apologized while looking like a kicked puppy making me feel a bit bad. “Don’t worry I’ll handle it.”

Seeing such an expression on her face I sighed reluctantly and caved in to her request. “W-well I guess I wouldn’t mind but only if you’re up there with me and do most of the talking. If there’s something you don’t know I’ll step in at that time. Is that okay?”

“Really Ayanokōji-kun? You don’t have to force yourself.” Honami asked still looking at me in worry.

I nodded my head at her while scratching the back of my head. “Yeah, I’m sure. Besides I doubt there’s anyone alive that’s able to say no to you. You’re just too radiant.”

“Huh?!” Honami exclaimed in surprise making me look at her to see that she had turned completely red while looking away from me. “W-what’s that supposed to mean?” she asked in an embarrassed whisper.

Blinking at her sudden shyness as I don’t think I said anything too forward I then recalled that as beautiful as she was, Honami had no experience whatsoever in anything romance related. I almost let out a snort at her cute reaction but held myself back as she might see it as me making fun of her.

“I just mean that I think you’re a wonderful person Ichinose. Even though it’s only been a day you already get along with most of the class and I can tell that they trust you. That’s not an easy thing to do you know? Especially with a class full of teenagers with differing personalities.” I praised meaning everything I said.

Honami turned even redder at my praise then all of a sudden, her embarrassment disappeared and a look of sadness and self-contempt replaced it. “I’m not as great as you think Ayanokōji-kun.” She muttered lowly now looking at the ground.

“And there it is. Even though she’s such a great girl, Honami doesn’t see it that way still feeling deep regret due to her actions in middle school.’ I was honestly not surprised at her expression taking a turn and somewhat expected it. I wanted to help nip this in the bud as soon as possible after all.

“Based on your expression I’m going to take a guess that something happened in the past huh? That’s the only reason I can fathom for you making such a face.” Getting closer to the girl I lowered my voice to a whisper making sure she was the only one that heard me.

Unmentioned was the small fact that I had used the new skill I had created called Alluring Voice. While coming nowhere close in effectiveness as the perk sold by the Company, it still compelled the recipient a bit to listen to what I had to say.

Releasing a gasp Honami turned her head so fast towards me that I even heard her neck pop. Ignoring that however, Honami was now looking at me with wide fearful eyes. Then studying my expression for a bit, she let out a sigh when she seemingly found what she was looking for and gave me a resigned smile.

“Hihi no wonder you were able to immediately tell that something was wrong with this school. You’re extremely observant Ayanokōji-kun.” Honami got out with a nervous chuckle.

“Having no friends growing up, I had no one to talk to so I spent most of my time observing others.” I revealed a bit of my past to the girl before shaking my head. “This is not about me however; we’re talking about you for now. Now before you say anything let me just say one thing alright?”

Too nervous to respond, Honami only nodded her head at me as she nervously tucked a stray hair behind her ear.

“I don’t know what you did and to be honest I don’t really care. However, if there’s something I have plenty of experience in is making mistakes. To err is to be human after all.” I said using my skill again then gently placing my hand on her hair and patting her head softly.

“The most important thing is if we learn from our mistakes and judging by your expression, I’m going to take a wild guess that you did.” I finished giving the girl a small smile and gently pulling my hand away from her hair.

Throughout my speech Honami’s face had remained frozen in place not even responding to when I had patted her head and only managing to keep walking as if in auto pilot. Though I did notice that she also seemed to be focused on my lower face a lot or more specifically at the smile on it this being the first smile she had probably seen of me.

When the silence stretched for about a minute my smile slowly disappeared and a nervous one replaced it wondering if I had crossed a line or something.

“Hihihihi.” Honami suddenly burst out into uncontrollable giggles even bringing up her hand to her mouth in an attempt to stop herself and failing miserably.

Hearing her laugh, I felt myself relax relieved that I had not messed things up and just listened to her beautiful laughter.

“Haah haah whew. I haven’t laughed like that in a long time~” Honami said once she finally stopped laughing and turning to look at me with a radiant smile on her face. “Thank you Ayanokōji-kun~ I think I needed to hear that.”

“You’re welcome.” I shrugged not letting her know that I had technically cheated with my skill. “I don’t think I really did anything special anyway.”

“No,” Honami shook her head denying my words. “That was the first time someone has ever offered me such kind words so thank you. Truly.” As if to emphasize her point Honami extended one of her hands towards mine and held it softly, with her hand feeling small in comparison to mine.

Looking down at our joined hands for a moment I realized that this was actually the first time I held hands with a girl not counting Ichika. “I’m just glad it helped.”

“It truly did.” Honami said with a serious nod before giving me a curious look. “Are you sure that you don’t want to know what I did?”

“I’m sure.” I gave her my own serious nod finding it curious that she still hadn’t let go of my hand. “If you want to tell me, I’ll be glad to listen of course and while I may not know if I can help you with your problem, I can at least promise you that I will never betray your trust.”

I felt her hand give me a small squeeze before she finally pulled her hand away from mine and walked a few steps ahead of me not giving me a response. Just when I was about to question to myself if she was just going to leave me hanging like that, I saw the girl turn her head back towards me with a huge blush on her face.

“C-can we talk after school before the club fair starts?”

Blinking at her question I was quick to nod my head at her making her smile. “Of course.”

“S-see you in class then A- Ayanokōji-kun! There’s something I have to do before class starts. T-thanks again for the coffee!” Honami said in a rush before making a hasty retreat with a quick goodbye.

‘Guess the embarrassment finally kicked in.’ I thought raising an eyebrow in amusement at such a cute reaction before resuming my way to class.

Reaching the classroom, I noticed that most of the girls were already there along with only a few guys. Making my way to my seat I stopped half-way through when I heard a few voices called out to me grabbing my attention.

“Good morning Ayanokōji-kun~” Kei along with her group of friends Chiaki, Maya and Satsuki greeted me cheerfully making me blink once in surprise.

‘I guess I made a bigger impression on them than I thought if this is their reaction. Though I guess that was a given due to being invited to have lunch with them yesterday.’ I thought while raising my hand and greeting them politely in return. “Morning everyone.”

Before I sat down, I was further greeted by Kayano, Kokoro, Nene and Mei-chan who if I was not mistaken, were considered part of Hirata’s ‘harem’ who followed him around everywhere in the anime and light novel.

“You seem rather popular.”

A voice came from beside me in a drawl making me turn in my seat to see Horikita with a frown on her face with her head slightly turned in my direction.

“You would be popular too if you just talked to any of them Horikita.” I shot back with a casual shrug.

“Hmph, I already told you that I have no desire nor need to make any friends. They would all just hold me back after all.” Horikita quietly huffed arrogantly making me look at her in a deadpan as she was the one that was actually holding the class back in canon for a while.

“Whatever you say.” I eventually say turning back to my desk and pulling out a book to read. “Though I wonder how long you can keep that attitude in the following weeks.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Horikita demanded finally fully turning my direction and glaring my way. “This is the third time I’ve heard you say such things. What’s going on?”

“You would know already if you hadn’t left yesterday during introductions.” I commented lightly never looking up from my book.

“Fine, keep your silence.” Annoyed at not getting the response she wanted Horikita went back to heading hew own book.

“Ayanokōji-kun, were you able to find any more clues about what you talked about yesterday?” I heard the voice of Kei say from across the room making me turn in her direction.

Seeing that quite a few others were also paying attention to our conversation, even Horikita to my side, I raised my voice a bit to make sure I was heard by everyone.

“I did,” I nodded my head, “but please wait until class starts so we can discuss this with everyone.”

“Okaay~”

My answer seemed to satisfy everyone as they went back to what they were doing, even the now curious Horikita who would peek at me from time to time from the corner of her eye.

Minutes later Honami finally arrived accompanied by Tsubasa chatting along amicably. Honami then immediately sought me out and upon catching sight of me looking straight back at her blushed gain with a smile on her face. Then signaling me over with her hand to come over, I stood up from my seat already guessing what she wanted.

“Are you ready, Ayanokōji-kun?” Honami asked sweetly with her blush receding slightly.

“Yes.”

With my agreement Honami then turned to face the whole class who were already paying attention to us anyway as most of them already knew what was going on thanks to my announcement yesterday.

Before she could begin however I saw Sae already heading to class so I signaled her to wait for a second getting a curious look from her but agreeing anyways. When she finally arrived, I was quick to grab her attention as this would also help prove one of the things, I had told everyone yesterday about this school being ran by a point system.

“Sensei,” I called out making Sae turn to me and give me a raised eyebrow as she saw me standing next to Honami. “What’s the cost of buying the first 10 minutes of Homeroom?”

My question drew surprised gasps or curious glances from everyone as they turned towards our teacher to see what she had to say about such a strange question.

“Hoh,” Sae mused with a slightly upturned eyebrow and folding her arms below her breasts. “What makes you think that such a thing is possible?”

“In your introductory speech you specifically mentioned that in this school, you could buy anything using points. So how much?” I shot back calmly.

After a few moments Sae finally let out a small smirk as she closed her eyes. “10 thousand points.”

I ignored the even bigger scene that played out in the background with everyone now talking and pulled out my phone where a few moments later the points were sent.

“Have at it then. I’ll be back in ten minutes.” Sae commented with a smirk still on her face as she turned around and left the classroom that had devolved into slight chaos now.

Turning to Honami who was looking at me in slight awe I nodded my head at her. “We can begin now, Ichinose.”