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

Chapter 7

I called it quits when we reached the two-hour mark making everyone let out a sigh of relief especially Kei who slumped down in the table.

“We’ll meet here every Tuesday and Thursday for two hours from now on until exams. If you need extra help with anything please don’t be afraid to ask me and I’ll arrange something.” I told them putting my things away and getting ready to put the books I had borrowed back. Then remembering something I looked back at the girls who were putting their own things away.

“Actually, now that I brought that up, is it okay if I get your phone numbers? This will make it easier for us to communicate between each other. Of course, if you don’t mind that is?” I asked casually.

“Huhuhu oh that’s so cute~ Are you embarrassed Ayanokōji-kun?” Haruka immediately jumped into the opportunity trying to get a rise out of me and failing.

“I-I-m sure Ayanokōji-kun d-didn’t mean it that way H-Hasebe-san.” Airi being the nice girl she was came to my defense.

“Haah I’m too mentally exhausted for this conversation.” Kei muttered tiredly before pulling out her phone and handing it to me after unlocking it. “H-Here. I’ve been meaning to get your phone number anyways since we are already friends.” Kei finished with a small blush on her face and her head turned to the side.

‘Her dere side is finally showing. I gotta admit she looks very cute like that.” I though in amusement before nodding my head and taking the phone off her hands and handing it back a moment later. “Thanks, Karuizawa.”

Blushing even redder at my words, Kei fully turned away from me and let out a small ‘hmph’. “Y-You’re welcome. Besides I should be the one saying thank you, I surprisingly understood everything you explained to me today which is saying a lot. S-so thank you and see you tomorrow.”

With those final parting words Kei left in a hurry leaving the other two girls blinking in confusion at such a drastic change in attitude from her usual one in class.

“Wow I just saw a new side of Karuizawa-san today. And here I thought she was more of a ‘gal’ type.” Haruka muttered quietly to herself before shaking her head and offering me a smile. “Jokes aside, Karuizawa is right in one thing. I also found it very easy to comprehend everything you taught me today. Guess this is a secret skill of yours that you didn’t know huh?”

‘You have no idea how true that is.’

“I-I also think the same Ayanokōji-kun.” Airi took a step towards me with her hands pressed into her chest as she looked at me in awe.

“I’ve always h-had a hard time s-studying and learning anything on my own but today I understood almost everything you said. Everything you said just made sense in my mind. You’re amazing Ayanokōji-kun!” Airi declared strongly with her stutter even lessening the more she talked until she wasn’t stuttering at all.

Then realizing what she said and seeing myself and Haruka looking at her, Airi returned to her former shy self by taking a step back and stuttering out a wave of apologies.

“There’s nothing to apologize for Sakura.” I decided to step in before Airi ran off in embarrassment not letting me get her phone number. “Instead, I should be thanking you for such kind words. So, thank you very much, to both of you.” I thanked with a small bow of my head.

“G-geez Kiyopon, it makes it hard to think you were actually homeschooled when you behave like that.” Haruka muttered with a small blush on her face before shaking her head and giving me a smile. “Anyway, you wanted our phone number, right? Well, here it is.” She said handing me her phone.

“M-me too.” Airi not wanting to be left behind also pulled out her phone and handed it to me.

“Thanks girls.” I said grabbing their phone and adding my contact information silently noticing that my name was the only contact Airi had so far and handing them their phones back. “By the way Hasebe, who’s Kiyopon?” I asked in a small deadpan not liking such a cute sounding nickname.

Just something about the name hurt my male pride a bit and here I thought I wouldn’t care about such a thing knowing it was eventually coming. Proves me wrong.

“Ahahaha it’s just a nickname I came up with.” Haruka said in embarrassment looking off to the side. “If you don’t like it, I can stop if you want?”

Looking at the girl for a moment I slouched forward in defeat knowing that she only gave nicknames to those she considered friends which considering that I just got to really know her today said a lot.

“I-I guess I don’t mind. But at least try to refrain from using it in front of those I don’t know alright? That would be super embarrassing.” I relented with a small sigh.

Hearing my response Haruka turned back towards me with a huge smile on her face as she gave me a thumbs up. “Thanks, Kiyopon~”

Airi looked slightly uncomfortable to the side just listening in to our strange conversation though I did catch her smiling slightly at my new nickname.

With nothing more to discuss we parted ways for the day with the promise to keep in touch. Unfortunately, I still had to put the books I borrowed back to where I got them from and so with a tired sigh, I got to it.

While I was putting the last book away, I spotted a silver-haired girl trying to reach for a book but not quite reaching it due to her short stature of about 150cm.

‘I should’ve guessed she would be here with her love of books.’ I thought silently while I went up to her and reached for the book she wanted and turned to her.

“You’re…” Hiyori muttered quietly with an angelic voice while looking at me closely as if trying to recall if she knew me or not.

“Here.” I said handing her the book. “I’m Ayanokōji Kiyotaka, from Class D.”

“Thank you very much, Ayanokōji-kun.” Shiina said in a soft voice. “Class D huh? I’m Shiina Hiyori, Class C. Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise, Shiina.” I said offering the angel of this school a polite nod feeling happy to meet her this early into the school year as she was tied for first on my favorite list for this world along with Honami. “Are you fond of Emily Brontë?” I asked recognizing the book and as a way to start a conversation.

“No…I just saw this filed in the wrong section and I wanted to put it back where it belongs.” Hiyori explained softly.

“I see.” I said with a nod. “Going by what you just said, you must be a fellow reading enthusiast no?” I followed along with a curious look on my face.

“Fellow enthusiast?” Hiyori cutely tilted her head before blinking in realization. “Oh, that’s wonderful~ I haven’t met anyone who shared my love of books before. Have you read anything by Dorothy Leigh Sayers?” She asked now with a smile on her face and before I could even respond she was quick to pull out a book from the shelf.

“No, I haven’t gotten around to it.” I said with a shake of my head as while I knew of the author, I was more interested in fiction.

“Well, then, I really recommend this, the first novel in her Lord Peter series.” Hiyori said handing me a brown book with an excited smile on her face.

“Thanks. I will certainly give it a try.” I said taking the book from her. “It will be interesting to read a mystery novel for a change.”

“Oh?” Hiyori tilted her head curiously. “You’ve never read mystery novels before? Then I hope this one piques your interest then. What is your favorite genre?”

“I have read a bit from every genre to be honest but I lean more towards Fiction, Horror, Fantasy and Poetry.” I answered honestly.

“Hihihi, typical of a boy but Poetry being one is a surprise.” Hiyori giggled seeming amused at my answer.

“I bet.” I nodded in agreement never looking away from Hiyori’s beautiful violet eyes.

“Umm, I hope I’m not being too pushy. I just… You looked like you were looking for a book to check out.” Hiyori suddenly said sounding a bit nervous.

“Don’t worry, you were not.” I dismissed with a shake of my head. “I will definitely give this a read as soon as I can.”

“Good~ When you’re done with it, I want to hear what you thought about it.” Hiyori said with her eyes almost sparkling at the thought of having a book buddy. “There’s no one in Class C I can talk about books with.”

“It’s a deal.” I agreed readily seeing nothing wrong with it before extending my hand forward much to her confusion. “I guess this makes us friends then huh?”

“Friends?” Hiyori asked looking down at my extended hand curiously before smiling beautifully up at me and grabbing my hand with both of her own. “Friends~”

In the end I ended up adding another phone number to the list when Hiyori asked if we could share numbers so we could talk whenever we wanted about what books we had read.

While walking back to my dorm I casually pulled out my Company Phone and took a look at all the Captures made by Ichika on the first day here. Each and every single one of them had a countdown next to their name steadily ticking down to zero.

“Tomorrow huh?” I quietly muttered to myself as a small smirk spread over my face with none being the wiser. ‘It’s like Ichika said before. Being cute/handsome is a boon all on its own.’

=====

(Following Day)

The following day everything proceeded as normal during class time with the only significant change was being approached by Kushida during lunch time requesting for my phone number and asking me if I could help her befriend Horikita.

While I had no problem giving the girl my number, I had declined on her request due to being too busy tutoring Kei, Haruka and Airi and told her I could help when I wasn’t so busy anymore. Kushida had been surprised at my refusal before thanking me and saying she understood before leaving with some friends of hers.

“What did Kushida-san want Ayanokōji-kun?” Honami asked while approaching my desk with her hands hidden behind her back.

Looking at the beautiful girl I offered her a nod in greeting while getting ready for lunch myself. “She was asking for my phone number as apparently mine and Horikita’s are the only ones she hasn’t gotten yet.”

“I see.” Honami nodded in understanding before becoming nervous with a blush on her face. “U-umm Ayanokōji-kun? D-do you want to have l-lunch with me?” She asked while looking down in embarrassment.

Blinking at her sudden request I nonetheless nodded my head. “Sure. I would love to.”

“G-great! Though instead of going to the cafeteria do you mind if we go somewhere else a little bit more p-private?” Honami requested with a smile.

“Of course, Ichinose. Do you want me to cook for us again?” I asked curiously walking out of the class with Honami besides me.

“No, no that’s not what I meant.” Honami shook her head rapidly before looking at me with wide eyes. “Though that’s not because I think your food is bad or anything! In fact, I thought your food was delicious so I just wanted to…” She rambled for a moment before going quiet again and fidgeting with her hands still hidden behind her back.

“Relax Ichinose, I understand.” I reassured the nervous girl by placing one of my hands on her shoulder and gently squeezing.

Honami took a deep breath and slowly let it out finally getting her nerves under control and gave me a smile in thanks. “Thanks for that.”

We remained quiet the rest of the way while I lead us to one of the many benches in the small park the school had. Sitting down I finally turned to Honami again and finally saw what she had been hiding behind her back all this time.

“H-here!” Honami slowly extended her hands forward with a bento box wrapped in a blue cloth. “I wanted to thank you for everything you’ve helped me so far even though we just met. I looked up online that this was one of the best ways to say thanks other than giving someone a gift.”

Taking the bento from her hands I felt a strange feeling in my heart but chose to ignore it.

“Thanks Ichinose… I mean it.” I said softly putting the bento down on my lap and looking at the girl across from me with a small smile.

‘Come to think of it. Isn’t this the first time a girl has made lunch for me? Yeah, I think it is.’ I thought silently not recalling that ever happening in the past.

“Y-you’re welcome.” Honami said with her smile increasing in size along with her blush at seeing my smile.

“I feel bad about eating this alone though, did you also make something for yourself Ichinose?” I asked curiously not seeing another bento anywhere on her person.

“O-oh! P-please don’t worry about me Ayanokōji-kun. I ate a big breakfast this morning so I’m not really that hungry but please eat.” She said waving her hands back and forth in an attempt to tell me it was not a big deal.

At that exact moment however, a loud grumble was heard coming from Honami’s stomach making the poor girl let out an embarrassed squeal as her face turned bright red.

“Seems that your stomach feels otherwise.” I teased slightly with my eyes narrowing in amusement before scooting myself a little closer to the girl and opening up her bento. “How about we share it instead? That way we both don’t go hungry?”

‘Knowing her, she probably skipped breakfast trying to get this prepared for me.’ I thought silently to myself.

“B-but Ayanokōji-kun I couldn’t!” Honami said with a shake of her head. “This was supposed to be your present.”

“Well, since this is my present now that means I can do with it whatever I want with it right?” I asked with a raised eyebrow getting the girl to look confused but nonetheless nodding her head. “In that case I want to share this with you. Problem solved.” I said with a nod giving myself a mental pat on the back at such a foolproof plan.

“O-okay… Thank you for sharing your lunch with me Ayanokōji-kun.” Honami said with a small, embarrassed smile before covering her stomach with her hands as it let out another grumble.

Shaking my head at her silly thoughts I nonetheless opened the bento finding myself surprised at the wide spread of foods neatly arranged.

Just like that we spent the remaining time of lunch happily chatting along as we took turns eating out of the food she had made. Honami had gotten super embarrassed when she realized that there was only one pair of chopsticks and would always blush red whenever it was her turn.

When our impromptu date came to an end, we happily went back to class chatting along with the feeling that something had changed between us. Or at least in Honami’s mind anyway going by the way she stuck rather close to me the whole time.

I was even questioned later by Ichika, Haruka and Kei that I had looked strangely happy that day.

While I couldn’t deny that my ‘date’ with Honami was part of it. The main part was due to feeling my phone vibrate the whole day due to the notifications from all the captures finalizing. When it finally stopped, I took a look at it while having dinner and saw that I now had 59 credits in my account.

‘The only problem now is deciding what to buy next.’