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

Chapter 14

(Day After the Trial, Third POV)

“Tsk, those bastards got one over on us.” Kakeru Ryuen said with an angry frown on his face as he paced back and forth in front of the class.

“Ichinose turned out to be a formidable opponent huh?” Mio Ibuki muttered with a pensive look on her face.

“No,” Ryuen denied with a shake of his head. “It was not Ichinose. Someone else is pulling her strings.”

“Who though?” Mio asked curiously. “Other than those two pretty boys Ayanokōji and Hirata, that class doesn’t have too many people that stand out.”

“Hmm,” Ryuen thought for a moment before turning his head towards a beautiful girl with silver hair and violet eyes who was not paying attention to what was happening around her and had a book in hand.

“Shiina.” Ryuen called out grabbing the girl’s attention watching as she put her book down and looked at him curiously. “You seem to be buddy buddy with that class. In your opinion, who is really leading them?”

Shiina took on a thoughtful look for a moment before shaking her head. “I don’t know. I mainly only speak to Ayanokōji-kun about books and haven’t really interacted much with the rest to get a proper read on them.”

“What about this Ayanokōji, what do you think of him?” Ryuen quickly followed up.

“He…he is the only person who I know that shares my love of books. He appears serious most of the time but in reality, he’s really kind. Always helping me and others with their problems and working hard for them.” Shiina answered without a second thought going on a bit of a ramble about the boy.

When silence descended into the classroom Shiina blinked and looked at everyone finding that the girls were giving her knowing looks and most of the boys in class appeared jealous for some reason.

“That damn pretty boy Ayanokōji! The bastard is not content with the girls from his own class and now he’s gone after our angel Shiina-san!” Yamauchi yelled at the top of his lungs in anger with many other boys voicing their agreement.

“Yeah. Fuck that guy!”

“Leave some girls for the rest of us you pretty boy bastard!”

“Quiet!” Annoyed at all the sudden noise Ryuen was quick to bring order back to the classroom before taking on a pensive look again. “Hmm not Ayanokoji then…a girl perhaps? Or is Ichinose really calling the shots?”

After thinking on the subject for a while Ryuen looked at the pair of stooges Ike and Yamauchi causing them to sweat in fear when they noticed his gaze on them. “You two! I want you to do something for me.”

While they discussed plans and plotted, no one noticed when Shiina silently slipped out of the classroom with one thought in mind.

‘I have to warn Kiyotaka-kun.’

=====

(Regular POV)

The day of the trial had come and gone without any fanfare. With the evidence we had against Class-C it had been easy for the Student Council President, Manabu Horikita to rule in our favor. The other three students had ended up getting expelled for wasting everyone’s time much to their shock.

Ryuen had still not made an appearance in our class yet but that was probably only a matter of time now with the expulsion of 3 of his lackies and losing class points on top of that.

Hiyori already knew what was going to happen to her classmates from the beginning so she was not angry at me about it thankfully. This morning she had informed me that Ryuen was now personally gunning for our class and had sent out some of his lackies to find out as much information as they could about us.

My mind was pretty much already made up about the guy. If he makes any move towards any of my girls then he was done.

Simple as that.

Speaking of guys who were about to disappear, I was now standing a few meters away from Airi and the rabid fan of hers who we had met at the mall in our outing. The guy had just managed to corner her and was just speaking nonsense to her as Airi slowly backed away from the man unaware that everything was being recorded.

I was having an inner battle with myself on whether allow things to continue as they did in canon or step in now and prevent that degenerate fuck to actually touch Airi.

On the one hand this experience will actually a big step for her growth as a person and finally pushing away from her previous self. On the opposite, this event will most likely psychologically scar her for a while and all on my belief that it will help her.

In the end I realized that even though a part of me wanted to wait and let Airi experience what was about to happen so I could take advantage of such an opportunity, I just couldn’t do it. My instincts were all but screaming at me to go in there and kill that fucker.

So, with my mind made up I made my move.

Feeling lighter than ever I was quick to get behind the asshole and harshly pulled him away from Airi before he managed to touch her and threw him against the alley wall making him immediately pass out. Not caring at all about if he was still alive or not, I turned to Airi who was looking at me in shock with a terrified look on her face.

‘Yeah, I made the right call.’ I thought upon seeing that face and gently took a step towards her so I wouldn’t startle her. “Are you all right Airi?” I asked in a concerned voice.

“K-Kiyotaka-kun?” Airi spoke in a low voice as if not believing her eyes yet.

“Yeah,” I nodded my head and took another step forward glad that she didn’t back away. “Everything is okay now Airi. I called security so they should be here soon.”

Turning to look at the downed stalker one more time and confirming that he was still down, Airi suddenly launched herself into me and hugged me as hard as she could as a sob finally escaped her mouth. “Kiyotaka-kun! I was so scared! Waahhh!”

Bringing my own hands around the girl I brought her closer and whispered encouraging words to her ear while gently caressing her back. ‘Definitely made the right call.’

Minutes later security arrived and after showing them the video I had taken and Airi giving a statement of her own they had taken the still knocked unconscious man on the floor. Unfortunately, he was still alive but I had managed to stamp him in the guise of restraining him so he would disappear in a few days getting rid of the problem.

After being questioned I accompanied Airi back to her dorm room and was asked to come in for a bit as she had something she wanted to say to me. We were now sitting side by side on her bed with Airi leaning her head on my chest and my arm around her waist.

“Sorry about not coming earlier.” I apologized still feeling a little bad about what I had been planning to put her through.

“N-no, it’s not your fault. It’s mine for not contacting you even though you warned me beforehand to let you know if I ever met that man. I… I just wanted to handle this problem on my own instead of having to rely on you all the time but I failed at that too.” Airi muttered in a sad tone.

“I understand where you’re coming from but you got to understand that some situations are just too dangerous to handle on your own. Such as confronting a clearly insane and rabid fan of yours that has an obsession with you.” I reprimanded her lightly as without me there Airi would have probably been molested which just infuriates me at such a thought.

I’m sorry…” Airi whispered looking down at her lap with a few tears escaping her eyes.

“Please don’t cry.” I sighed and pulled her chin up while gently wiping away her tears with my thumb. “I’m not saying this because I’m mad at you or anything but because I was really worried about you.”

“Y-you were worried about me Kiyotaka-kun?” Airi asked with a blink.

“Of course, I was silly girl.” I said gently flicking her nose feeling a sense of déjà vu. “Remember what I said at the beginning of the year? I don’t have many friends and you have become someone I consider truly precious to me.”

“P-precious? Me?” Airi stuttered with her face suddenly turning red.

“Hmhm there is nobody else here is there?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

Airi only turned redder at my words and looked sideways unable to look at me anymore. “Thank you. Umm Kiyotaka-kun, I… Umm…” She suddenly started stuttering horribly looking from side to side.

“Yes…” I raised an eyebrow in confusion. ‘Could she be about to confess?’

“Kiyotaka-kun! I love you! Please go out with me!” Airi suddenly shouted with her eyes closed.

Blinking once at Airi actually going through with her confession I realized that even though my previous plan to make her grow had failed, Airi had still somehow managed to grow on her own without my input.

I smiled at the girl in front of me and gently intertwined one of our hands together grabbing her attention. “I would love to.”

‘Still nothing. In fact, this time around, I didn’t even feel any anticipation.’ I thought blankly.

It was Airi’s turn to blink now as she slowly processed what I said to her before she smiled and threw her hands around my neck and pulled me in for a hug while squealing in happiness.

‘I don’t foresee any more confessions from anyone else going forward. That means I now have nothing to do but train my power and do a mission here or there to get extra credits.’

We spent a few more minutes just chatting happily while I mentally opened up my Hud and raised the setting that allowed my Companions to not feel jealousy to other girls in my retinue to 85% with the Toggle perk.

The setting from before was just too low and a few fights had broken out between the girls with Kei and Honami being the ones that clashed the most.

Since I had also turned off the forced attraction that the binding applied between Companions it was inevitable that they would never agree on everything. That’s just the way I wanted it however as I was rather possessive of what I considered mine and I absolutely hated sharing even if that person was myself.

Bit hypocritical of me but I didn’t really care honestly. Though, I would have to find a way to keep all my girls satisfied when I eventually bound more girls in the future.

Anyways, I left back to my dorm room after eating a light dinner that Airi had cooked for us. Before leaving I had leaned in and gave Airi a kiss on the lips leaving the girl staring off into space for a while.

When I reached my Sweet Home that night, I was immediately greeted at the door by none other than Arisu who was no longer using her cane and was now looking a little taller and curvier thanks to Body Tune-Up.

“Ara ara, you sure have a lot of nerve to leave your girlfriends hanging after promising to have dinner with them Kiyotaka-kun.” Arisu teased with her hand in front of her mouth hiding the small frown of jealousy from her face. “Especially since I have a feeling you were with another girl.”

“My little experiment is over.” I said as an answer leaning down and greeting the girl with a kiss on the lips catching her off guard and headed to the kitchen.

It took a few seconds for Arisu’s brain to finally reboot itself then she realized I was no longer standing in front of her. “Kiyotaka-kun, does that mean that we can finally stop pretending like we don’t know each other?” Arisu asked running up to catch up with me.

I had told Arisu, Ichika and Kikyō before that I curious about something so I was holding off on just dating everyone for now and that I would let them know when it was over.

With my experiment being a failure, I no longer had a reason to keep hiding my relationship with them.

“Correct.” I nodded my head and entered the kitchen seeing the other girls I had let in on my secret. Those being Ichika and Kikyō who were sitting around the table.

“I’m back everyone.” I greeted receiving cheerful hellos in return from the two, even Kikyō who had come to accept and even love her new life due to everything I could offer her.

Sitting at the head of the table with Arisu and Ichika to my sides I turned to look at everyone while laying my head on my palm. “With my experiment over and every target captured, the school is basically under our control already. I will now focus all my attention on my training and getting stronger.”

“Huhuhu, this means I get to spend more time with Senpai~” Ichika cheered with a fist in the air.

“Are you planning on letting anyone else in on your secret Kiyotaka-kun?” Arisu asked curiously getting Kikyō’s attention.

“I want to but I have nothing to really offer them due to how limited on credits we are at the moment.” I said with a shake of my head.

“Makes sense.” Arisu nodded seriously. “If they also have nothing to contribute, then they will only be in the way.” She said a little harshly but overall true.

“With that said though there are five girls that I will tell regardless of their usefulness or not.” I continued making everyone turn to me with curious looks.

“As long as it’s not that bitch Horikita then I don’t care.” Kikyō said with a small frown.

“Who is it Kiyotaka-kun?” Arisu asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Kei, Hiyori, Honami, Tsubasa and Airi. Those girls among all others are now completely dependent on me and I can tell that they will not take it well if I suddenly disappeared from their lives or even stopped talking to them.” I responded immediately.

“Though depending on the next world that opens up, they might not be able to join us at first. If that happens, I would have to save up credits to grant everyone some sort of power.”

“Huhuhu I can’t wait to see the look on that stuck up bitch’s face when she finds out that the guy, she has feelings for didn’t pick her.” Kikyō quietly whispered to herself with a dark chuckle.

Ignoring my pet psycho, I continued. “That doesn’t mean I won’t tell anyone later of course as I’ve heard some good things from a sempai of ours by the name of Fuka Kiryuin that got my attention.”

“Kiryuin-sempai huh? I’ve heard good and bad things about her.” Arisu muttered with a finger on her chin reciting what she knew of the girl.

“Ne Senpai, that’s all well and good and all but I have a question. Do you know where we’ll be heading next?” Ichika asked with her hand raised pretending to be a student making me roll my eyes in amusement.

“Not yet. The current progress bar is at 90%. I have a feeling by the time we finish the Summer Special Test it will fill up the rest of the way.” I said looking at my HUD and seeing the current progress for this world. It was so high due to already having captured most targets and avoiding several scenarios with my selling of prominent characters in this world like Nagumo.

“Fufufu, are you still planning on reaching Class-A before our departure?” Arisu asked in amusement.

“That’s the plan.” I nodded my head. “I hate to lose after all. Will you stand in my way?” I turned to Arisu with a raised eyebrow.

“While I would love to have a match of wits with you, I think I’ll pass this time. You did just manage to completely cure me after all. I’ll just have to content myself with our chess matches and other activities for now.” Arisu said in a saddened tone that was ruined by the blush on her face and the way she was currently rubbing her thighs together in obvious arousal.

“Tsk, back off you horny succubus! It’s my turn tonight!” Kikyō immediately exclaimed with a nasty glare aimed at Arisu’s direction.

“Moving on, I need you girls to cover for me tomorrow as I need to leave the school for a few hours.” I butted in before they got into another argument.

“Oh, and where are you headed to Senpai?” Ichika asked curiously.

My face suddenly lost all expression making the others blink in confusion. “The time has come for me to have a reunion with my old man.” I said with a cold tone.

There was silence for a moment before Ichika burst out into a giggling fit.

“Huhuhu I love that look of yours the best Senpai~”

=====

(Following Day)

“Can’t say that I’m glad to be back here.” I whispered to myself while I hovered in the air and looked down at the entrance to a facility that I knew was underground.

Yesterday before falling asleep, I had used my Skill/Magic Creation ability to recreate the magic that allowed Yato to fly and had immediately passed out afterwards in exhaustion. Then when I woke up, I let the girls know to cover for me before turning myself invisible and flying here thankful for my power up as the flight had been exhausting.

Thankfully I had stopped half way here to take a break and to acquire some makeshift weapons from a hardware store. Well steal really since I didn’t want to leave a trail. From the store I had picked up some hammers and metal crowbars and while I was at it had also stolen a mask to cover my face along with putting on a different outfit in the off chance that my invisibility ran out from the department store across the street.

“Well, no time like the present.” I whispered to myself before taking a deep breath, wiping all emotion from my face and slowly making my way to the door with a pair of crowbars on my hands.

The guards at the door didn’t even have time to react before they slumped to the ground after a blow to the head.

‘Let the massacre begin.’ I thought darkly.

=====

(Third POV)

“AAAAHHHH!!”

“W-WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!”

“GET ME THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!”

“OH GOD! T-There’s so much b-b-blood!”

Terrified screams could be heard in an underground facility all coming from people dressed in white as they watched something systematically and ruthlessly kill their coworkers. Escape was futile as every time someone tried, they didn’t get more than two meters before they dropped dead with heavy bruises on their face as if from a metallic object.

Curiously enough though only the men or women dressed in lab coats were being targeted with the children being left alone who only watched everything happening around them with blank looks on their face.

“Tsukishiro! What’s happening?!”

A middle-aged man with brown hair screamed at the man beside him as they barricaded themselves in an office.

“An assassin seems to have sneaked in to the facility Professor and it appears they are using some advanced cloaking technology if none of our cameras picked it up.” Tsukishiro, a middle-aged man, responded tersely as he stood in a ready stance ready for anything.

“How much longer before the authorities arrive?”

“Any moment no-”

!!CRASH!!

Tsukishiro was interrupted midsentence as the door to the office came flying forward along with all the furniture that was stacked against it crashing into the man and burying him under it knocking him unconscious.

“W-w-whose there?! D-do you have any idea who you’re messing with?!” Atsuomi Ayanokōji screamed in a frightful tone as he backed up against the wall behind him.

The air suddenly shimmered in front of him before revealing a tall figure making the man widen his eyes in shock.

“Hello Father. I’m home.”