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

Chapter 17

(Two days later)

On our second day of our stay at the island, I felt myself being abruptly woken up by a commotion going on outside of the tent I had been sharing with the boys in class. Ignoring all the grumbling from the other guys I silently got up and pulled the tent open where we came upon the angry faces of the girls.

“Which one of you perverts did it?” Shinohara didn’t even let us get a word out before she started yelling at all of us in accusation.

“Can you please explain what’s going on Shinohara-san?” Hirata, trying to disarm the situation, asked with a polite smile.

Seeing it was Hirata speaking Shinohara relaxed just a bit and answered. “Karuizawa-san is currently crying inside our tent because one of you filthy perverts stole her panties. So, which one of you was it?!”

“We didn’t steal anything! How come you’re so sure it was one of us? Maybe one of you, did it!” Sudo ever the hothead was quick respond.

“Can I go and see Kei?” I asked interrupting their discussion making them all turn towards me.

“Ayanokōji-kun…” Shinohara’s anger seemed to simmer for a bit as she caught sight of me.

“Go ahead Kiyotaka-kun.” Honami responded before any of the other girls had a chance while giving me a smile. “I know with complete certainty that you didn’t have anything to do with this mess and I know Kei-san could really use your company.”

“I agree.” Kikyō was quick to back up her words as she looked at the other girls with a smile. “Kiyotaka-kun would never do such a thing, that’s what I believe.”

“Yeah, that’s right. Kiyopon would never do such an awful thing.”

“Fufufu Kiyotaka has my full trust. After all, if he wanted to see some panties all he had to do was ask~ I would have gladly given him some of my naughtiest pair fufufu~”

“Me too! I m-mean not the p-panties part. N-not that I w-wouldn’t, I mean awawawa.”

I stepped away from the group and headed towards the girl’s tent doing my best to ignore how the conversation had suddenly gone from finding the panty thief, to who would be willing to offer me their panties.

Going inside the tent I found Kei sitting down hugging her legs to her chest with her head resting on her knees. Hearing me come in Kei raised her head and looked at me with puffy eyes as she suddenly got on her knees and threw herself into my arms.

“It’s ‘hic’ happening again Kiyotaka. Someone is targeting me again.” Kei whispered into my neck in despair.

“Shh, it’s alright Kei. No one is targeting you. I promise.” I reassured the girl gently rubbing her back in an attempt to calm her down.

“B-but… but.”

“No buts.” I denied cutting her off before slowly pulling back from our embrace and looking her straight in the eyes. “I already know who did this and I can assure you she didn’t do it with the intent to bully you but to cause discord between our classmates.”

Hearing my words Kei slowly blinked before narrowing her eyes at the last thing I said. “She?” Seeing my nod her mouth gained an angry scowl. “It’s that bitch from Class-C, isn’t it? Ibuki-san!”

“Correct.”

“I knew she wasn’t to be trusted ever since she arrived but to think she would even steal a pair of panties from a fellow girl.” Kei muttered angrily suddenly losing her previous expression.

Knowing if I didn’t do something to stop her, Kei would start a commotion I decided to intervene. “By the way Kei, which pair of panties did she steal?” I asked with a smile hoping to distract her by activating her tsun tendencies.

“W-wha? W-w-why do you suddenly w-want to know?” As expected of my cute tsundere she immediately turned red and started stuttering terribly while looking away from me.

“Because, I want to know what my cute Kei likes to wear of course.” I whispered just over her ear making her shiver.

Still looking away from me Kei fidgeted for a bit before opening her mouth. “L-lace. Red lace. I-I wanted you to be the first one to see them but that bitch ruined it.” Kei muttered in embarrassment.

“Hmhmhm how naughty.” I teased gifting Kei with a small kiss on the lips before I pulled away and brought my right hand forward for her to see said panties in my hand. “I found them on my bag. Seems Ibuki wanted to blame me and ruin my reputation with the class.”

Kei squealed in embarrassment and seemed to ignore my last words as all her attention was now focused on her panties as she quickly snatched them away and hid them behind her back. “P-pervert.” She muttered unable to look me in the eyes.

“Focus Kei.” I chided her gently poking her nose with my finger for her to refocus on our conversation and not on whatever her tsundere mind had come up with.

“Ahem, right. So, what do you intend to do? Should we just kick the bitch out of our camp?” Kei asked after heeding my advice and adopting an angry scowl again.

“No,” I shook my head much to her confusion. “We could use this to our advantage. At the end of the test, she will have unknowingly ensured that our class becomes the new Class-B.”

“Hmph. If you ask me, she still deserves a punishment for stealing my panties.” Kei pouted cutely with her hands crossed.

“Don’t worry. This will be the first and last time she does something like this. If she messes with you again, I will personally take care of her.” I assured with my face taking on a serious expression.

“G-good. I’ll leave it in your capable hands then.” Kei nodded her head in agreement with a smile now on her face.

“Come on let’s go. We don’t want the others to get suspicious as to what we’re doing here.” I said and made to stand up only to stop as I felt Kei suddenly grab me by the collar and pulled me down into a steamy kiss.

Pulling away while breathing heavily to get some breath back into her lungs, Kei looked at me with a small smile on her red face. “Thanks, Kiyotaka~”

“Anything for my cute Kei.” I responded with a slight turn of my lips and after another small shared kiss between us we finally left the tent with Kei glued to my side.

“Karuizawa-san! Sorry but we weren’t able to find the culprit even after going through all the boys’ belongings.” Shinohara apologized as soon as she spotted us.

Looking at the scene in front of us all the boys except for Hirata looked annoyed and some were even angry at having been accused without any evidence with the girls looking angry right back.

“It’s alright Shinohara. Thanks to Kiyotaka I’m much calmer now and while I’m still angry at the panty thief, I don’t want to let this event affect our class negatively. So please, let’s get along at least until this test is over.” Kei requested looking much calmer now.

Seeing that the person asking was the actual victim, everyone reluctantly decided to let the matter drop for now even if it didn’t completely stop some hidden glares from being thrown between the two genders. From the corner of my eye, I spotted Ibuki looking somewhat pleased at the result even if she was quick to hide it.

Begrudgingly everyone went back to their normal routines as living in the jungle required all of us to pitch in if we didn’t want to have a hard time.

=====

While that was happening unbeknownst to everyone but a few people, an invisible figure was going around the island spying on the other classes and letting it slip who the ‘leader’ of Class-D was while under disguise.

“Fufufu Senpai is sure to reward me for this later~”

(4 days later)

On the sixth day of our stay on the and we received our second surprise when we woke up to the smell of smoke and found that the campsite had been trashed with somebody also burning most of our supplies.

“Ibuki-san! Has anyone seen Ibuki-san?” Nene Mori asked.

“Tsk, I knew it! She must have done this!” Sudo yelled in anger immediately coming to a realization as to who the culprit was. “She also must have been the one who stole Karuizawa’s underwear and blamed it on us.”

“What do we do Kiyotaka-kun?” Honami asked me worriedly standing a bit away from everyone else.

“Don’t worry. Everything is going according to plan.” I quietly reassured my girlfriend pulling her in for a hug.

“O-okay if you say so then I’ll believe you.” Honami muttered with a sigh relaxing in my embrace.

Watching the others panic around us I finally allowed myself to relax as the test was now officially over and the only thing left to do was wait until tomorrow for the results to be made known.

“Come on, we should calm everyone down before Sudo and Kei go on a warpath.”

“Hihihi they do look rather mad huh?”

=====

(End of Island exam)

The end of the Summer Special Test was officially over and we now found ourselves back on the beach along with the other classes waiting for the results to come in. Just moments ago, Ryuen had come out of the jungle by himself after making it seem as his class had all dropped out after a few days on the island.

After Ryuen tried to provoke Sudo unsuccessfully for a while the teacher of Class-A finally appeared and cleared his throat grabbing everyone’s attention.

“Please pay attention. I’m about to announce the results now.” Seeing he had our attention he began. “In last place with 0 points is C-Class. Third place is B-Class with 90 points, while A-Class is in second place with 140 points. Finally, D-Class is in first place with 450 points.”

Ignoring the cheers from our class I turned to Ryuen and enjoyed watching his surprised look at the results. When he turned to look in our direction with a glare, I couldn’t help but let a slight smirk slip on my face only making him angrier when he saw it.

Similarly, Class B and A found themselves surprised at the results with Katsuragi now being yelled at by his classmates.

The cherry on top of it all however, was that as of this moment we were now considered Class-B having overtaken two classes at once. Since the test was only half way done though we would not be officially recognized until the second part of the test was completed but if everything still played out like in canon then that wasn’t really a problem for us.

I was knocked out of my thoughts when I felt a body collide with my back as two hands wrapped themselves around my neck with a head of blonde hair coming to rest on my left shoulder.

“We did it! Hihihi this is so awesome~” Tsubasa exclaimed in a loud and happy voice.

I just nodded my head in agreement, her cheerful attitude reminding of the first time we met.

“How did we get so many points though? I thought we only managed to secure two spots for our class.” I heard Chiaki mutter quietly before she turned my direction and gave me a scrutinizing look to which I only responded with a shrug making her sigh in defeat and give me a wry look.

The other students while happy didn’t seem satisfied about not knowing what happened so they all started asking if anyone knew how we had managed to get so many points.

Taking the reins Honami was quick to grab everyone’s attention and explained to them what we had already discussed yesterday.

Basically, other than the 150 points for guessing every class leader we had also gotten an additional 240 points out of the remaining 300 we had started out with. Next, we had gotten the remaining 60 points due to the 4 spots we had claimed.

And finally using Ichika’s semblance, we had tricked Ibuki into thinking that Honami was the class leader by making a perfect illusion of the card given to us. After that we just had to make it seem as we had misplaced the card where Ibuki could see it and having Ichika follow behind her while invisible when she stole the card to keep the illusion going.

“So, who was the one that managed to claim the other 2 spots?” Maya asked curiously once Honami had finished her explanation.

“None other than Kiyotaka-kun and Tsubasa-san of course~” Honami turned to me with a smile and gave me the spotlight. “He asked me to keep it quiet until now as he is too humble for his own good.”

‘Haah, I think your perception of me is a little biased Honami. I have many characteristics but being humble is not one of them.’ I thought with a deadpan before I was swarmed by everyone as they congratulated me and Tsubasa for a job well done.

=====

With the end of the first half of the special test everyone was now celebrating being back on the ship and away from toughing it out on the island. However, I knew that we would only have a few days at most to relax before the second half of the test would commence where we would be assigned to groups made up of every class.

That was the reason I was using this small break to spend some time with my angel Hiyori who had asked me if I wanted to have tea with her in her room while we discussed the latest book we had read.

“Here you go.” Hiyori said as she placed a cup of tea in front of me before sitting to my side.

“Thanks.” Taking a sip from the tea I turned to look at the girl next to me. “Have you faced any difficulties in your class with the new changes?” I asked softly.

“No,” Hiyori shook her head gently. “Though I’ve never seen Ryuen-kun so mad before.”

“He might do something reckless soon. Especially since he now knows that I’m the one he was looking for.” Grabbing her small hand in mine I gave it a small squeeze making her look up at me. “Please let me know if you think you are in danger, okay?” I asked in slight worry knowing what the guy had done to Kei in canon.

“Mmn.” Hiyori only nodded her head with a serious look that only managed to make her look even cuter and unable to resist I leaned down and stole a small kiss from the girl making her blush cutely.

“You’re adorable Hiyori~” I said with a small smile taking over my face and pulling Hiyori into my lap making her squeak.

“Mou, meanie.” Hiyori complained with a pout on her face.

Her reaction only made me cuddle with her closer as I peppered her face with kisses making her squirm in my lap as she broke out into giggles.

“Hihihi stoop Kiyotaka-kun~”

Several minutes later we were lying side by side on the bed with Hiyori curled up to my side as we talked quietly.

“… Hey Kiyotaka-kun?”

“Mmn.”

“You’re not returning to school next year, are you?”

Blinking at the sudden question I turned to look down at Hiyori to see her looking at me with an understanding look.

“Hmm, what makes you say that?” I asked curiously trying to stall for a bit.

“You have been steadily building up your classmates into certain roles of leadership as if you’re not planning to be here for much longer. Not to mention that you have been taking care of the most troublesome students from other classes along with helping your classmates overcome their defects if what I heard from the girls is true.” Hiyori was quick to answer listing off everything she had seen so far.

I blinked once more at her answer before I chuckled and rubbed her head affectionately. “Your observation skills are truly exceptional Hiyori.”

Hiyori closed her eyes and let out a pleased hum at my action before turning to look up at me expectantly waiting for an answer.

Knowing I wasn’t getting out this one I let out a sigh and mentally prepared myself. “Haah I was planning on telling you all during winter time so I guess there’s no harm in letting you know now.” I whispered quietly making Hiyori perk up as she focused all of her attention on me.

“There are 3 reasons why I can’t remain in this world with all of you. The first is that I have successfully exhausted all the credits I can get from this world by way of the Stamp and the missions that I can take on this world are rather limited. In fact, once our first-year ends, I will have exhausted all missions for this world.”

“Like the mission that you explained to us before we arrived at the island?” Hiyori asked curiously and seeing my nod went back to dutifully listening again.

“The second reason I admit it’s a little personal for me. Did the other girls explain my past to you?” I asked quietly.

“Yes.” Hiyori’s face took on a sad look momentarily as she snuggled closer to me.

“The truth is that I feel shackled in this world even if that man can no longer do anything to me. I feel that as long as I remain in this world I will always remain under the shadow of that man and what he subjected me through.”

“Even though it sounds selfish I want to start fresh in another world where nobody knows me.” I revealed my feelings to the girl and told her part of the truth as while I did feel shackled by this world, my ‘father’ had nothing to do with it and instead it was Kiyotaka himself the one responsible for me feeling this way.

Relying on Kiyotaka’s memories a lot these past months, I had unfortunately also picked up some of his feelings about this world. None were stronger than the incessant need to get as far away from this world as soon as possible. Kiyotaka’s feelings on wanting to be truly free were too strong for me to ignore and it didn’t help at all with my own backstory before being reborn as a Contractor.

All I knew was that these feelings wouldn’t disappear unless I left this world for good and never returned.

“Mmn, okay.” Hiyori nodded with some relief in her eyes as she brought up her hand and rested it on my chest. “And the third reason?”

“If I’m being truthful though I’m worried about you girls.” I revealed with a sigh pulling Hiyori closer.

“You won’t lose us.” Hiyori tried to reassure me but her words rang hollow in my ears as she didn’t know of the horrors out there that could erase us in an instant on a mere whim.

“You don’t know that.” I shook my head denying her words making her frown. “Depending on the kind of world it opens up, I might have you all stay here in this world while I accumulate enough credits to grant all of you your own power so you can protect yourselves.”

My words only seemed to sadden Hiyori as she now looked on the verge of crying. “D-does that mean that we won’t get to see you while you’re gone?”

I felt myself frowning at seeing such a pure and innocent girl looking so distraught. Such a look just didn’t belong to someone like Hiyori.

“Of course not. Have you forgotten about our Sweet Home that can be accessed by all of us?” I reminded her with a smile getting her to blink slowly and drop her depressed look. “No matter where I travel to in the universe, that place will always be the bridge that connects us.”

“Really?” Hiyori asked quietly never taking her gaze away from me.

“Really, really.” I continued as I playfully booped Hiyori in the nose getting her to go cross eyed for a moment before a giggle escaped her mouth.

“Okay then~” Hiyori said with a smile now on her face before she suddenly straddled my lap with her hands coming to rest on my chest.

Raising an eyebrow at her actions I felt my pants immediately tighten when Hiyori gave me a sultry look that looked out of place in her angelic face.

“Kiyotaka~ How about we make out now?” Hiyori asked, no demanded from me as she slowly grinded her hips across my groin. “It’s not fair that the other girls can kiss you anytime they want while I have to wait for moments like these.”

Ignoring the slightly painful feeling of my pants becoming too tight I looked at Hiyori curiously. “Are you jealous?”

“Huhuhu, of course I am. I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time now if I’m honest~” She revealed with a small moan at the end as she ground her hips particularly hard.

‘Always the quiet ones huh?’ I thought then let out a grunt as I felt my control rapidly fading at the absolutely lewd look of Hiyori as she slowly lost herself in pleasure. “Careful Hiyori if you continue like that, I might not be able to stop myself at only kissing.”

“Mmn I don’t think I would mind that very much.” Hiyori whispered with a moan as she looked down at me with hooded eyes.

“Tsk, what a naughty girl you turned out to be.” I let out with a small snort before pouncing on the lewd girl.

“Aaah~”