Chapter 9

(A/N) Right now Kiyoko’s timeline is 1 day ahead of Kiyopons because plot and stuff

Kiyotaka POV

    After a restless night, I changed into my school uniform and read a book in my room. I left for my usual training however about 15 minutes into it I sensed another presence other than Kito, upon looking through the area I realized Arisu was casually watching us while drinking coffee.

    Kito asked me if I would need their assistance after school today, I told him I would know by lunchtime. We parted ways and I met up with Arisu. We started walking and I let her know the misunderstanding that Ichinose ran into last night.

“I don’t really see the harm in letting it be, besides I'm sure we will be playing like that soon anyways”

    After hearing those words my heart skipped a beat or two. However, I had to draw the line here. If Kiyoko heard about that I would certainly be toast.

“Arisu, I don't want rumors about stuff like that going around, you understand right?”

“Kiyotaka, I’ll go along with it, for now. However, I won’t let your little sister stand in the way of our relationship, ok?”

    I certainly don't think she was being unreasonable. If I constantly was in fear of setting Kiyoko off our relationship wouldn’t progress any further. The problem with going out with someone as smart as her is that she can see through me easily. Though I don't mind this, hiding stuff from your lover never works out in the end anyway.

    Our walk to school was peaceful, while we were walking we ran into Kiyoko who was thoroughly teased. During that teasing, though I managed to secure a home-cooked meal from Arisu, so it worked out in the end.

    Kiyoko needed 30,000 points, so I just gave it to her. There was no use in denying her that. After the teasing, she stormed off, it seems like I will need to talk to her today or tomorrow.

Our chats are lovely, we talk about music, books, philosophy, and much more. However, something out of character happened. She blushed and looked at the ground and asked

“Kiyotaka, you have been going along with everything I say recently. Are you going out with me because you like me? Or are you continuing to just go with the flow?” she sounded genuinely concerned, I decided to eliminate these worried thoughts right away.

“I go along with whatever you say because I like you”

    She responded by chuckling, grinning, and saying “I knew it”. It was both very cute and concerning that she was this confident. Though I can hardly complain, it is part of her charm.

    When walking through the school building I saw Ichinose, who got flustered and looked away upon seeing me.

    During homeroom, we were warned about the upcoming midterms, anyone who gets below ½ of the average score is failed and has to drop out of the school. At first, this concerned the students but upon seeing the scores from a quiz we took recently we saw no one was close to getting a failing grade.

    The two best grades were Arisu and me, I had a 100% and Arisu had a 98%. The two worst grades were Totsuka Yahiko and Shimuzu Naoki. Yahiko had 68% and Shimuzu had 70%.

    More study sessions were set up just in case, however, it looked like we were going to make it through this with ease.

    This also gave Mine and Arisu’s faction some good publicity. Both of us had the highest scores which helped us to convince our classmates we were superior to Katsuragi intelligence-wise.

    Some of our classmates asked Sakayanagi and me to teach them, but Sakayanagi decided it would be better for her to lead in the tutoring. She was better at communicating which made it easier for her to get the messages across.

    We decided to start tomorrow and she gave the reasoning being that we have a date tonight, which caught the attention of the whole class, but they suspected this already.

    Kito gave me a thumbs up from the corner of the room which I responded with a nod, it was a few simple gestures, but to two bros it meant a thousand words. No that would be an understatement, just looking into each other’s eyes at that moment was like having a whole conversation in 5d chess.

    Arisu read my thoughts again and seemed to sigh at the stupidity of it. However, I paid no attention to this and continued my telepathic communication with him.

    After school, Arisu and I went to the dorms, I got changed into jeans and a white sleeveless hoodie and went to her dorm.

    When she answered I saw her in a blue one-piece, it had no sleeves and exposed her shoulders, it was the epitome of beauty. I realized I was staring too much and redirected my gaze elsewhere, however, it was too late. She didn’t seem to mind, in fact, she was amused by this.

    She made Italian food called “Spaghetti,” and it was delicious after this we watched an Anime recommended to me by some weirdoes on the internet who enjoy writing fanfics. It was called Death Note, definitely, a fun watch and it made us think a bit.

    Our date ended, I was getting up when she said “Kiyotaka, come here.” I stood in front of her when she stood up, leaned on me, moved her face closer to mine, and kissed me on the cheek, and said “Sayonara”

    I laid in my bed and thought about Arisu, when I was with her my heart would race, I would sweat, and I would stiffen up. My first theory was that this feeling was love, however, this is impossible. To love requires trust and intense feelings for the other person, it requires warmth, and I know for a fact that I do not feel and have never felt this warmth even once. I don't trust anyone and I don't feel anything, my existence is an entirely cold one and this will never change. I don't care what happens to Arisu, or Kito, or Kiyoko, I only care about myself. The feelings of warmth and love come from one’s heart, but I don’t have a heart to create those feelings, because unfortunately, I never had the privilege to have something so trivial. No matter what happens, I will never allow myself to forge a heart within my chest, so I’m sorry Arisu, your attempt to give me warmth is pointless because such an event will never happen.

Kiyoko POV

    The midterm exams were introduced today, and everybody in the class kind of freaked out, however, that was only the logical reaction. Expulsion is on the table and there are many students who are borderline and if not on the failing spectrum.

    Once classes were over everyone except Kouenji-kun had stayed behind, The blonde narcissist got up and began to walk out when Hirata-kun called out to him.

“Kouenji-kun, before you leave it might be a good idea to hear me out if you don't, you might risk expulsion during the midterm exam”

“Nonsense, did you see my score on the quiz the other day? If anyone needs to hear you out, then it’s Red Hair-kun over there.”

“Even if you are smart with good grades, there are no guarantees. And if you are that confident, then would you consider tutoring your classmates, contribution like that would be very helpful!”

    Hirata-kun tried to appeal to the goodwill in Kouenji-kun’s heart. Bad move, Hirata-kun, you are searching for something that is non-existent. It was worth the try however Kouenji-kun will probably respond with something selfish and maybe a little sexual harassment.

“Nonsense, I have no intention of helping this class. However, I would be more than willing to ‘tutor’ some girls in my dorm room late at night, would any of you ladies like to join me?”

    I knew it, but that aside all of the students who were weaker in academics stayed in the class looking for guidance, and all of the smarter students (aside from Kouenji-kun) stayed as well in hope of preventing their classmates from being expelled.

    I soon found myself in the library with Ike-kun, Yamauchi-kun, Miyake-kun, and Haruka-san. I was in charge of answering any questions that came up and making sure that studied their hardest.

    The first thing I noticed after handing out the worksheets given to me by Horikita-san was that all of them were really focused and trying their hardest. This was weird due to the fact that I had two of the three idiots at my table.

    After they were finished writing their answers I looked them over and graded them. Haruka-san and Miyabe-kun for some reason got almost all of the same answers correct, this was a weird coincidence yet also convenient if I don't have to explain too much to them and I can make the same notes and study sheets for the two of them.

    Ike-kun and Yamauchi-kun were a different story. Each of them gave it their all, yet got only a 36 and 32 percent on it. As I was about to tell them their scores both of them were shaking, and when I put the papers down with a bit of force on the table as an experiment both of them flinched very hard. It seems Horikita-san entrusted them with because they have an intense fear for me, though that is to be expected, I showed monstrous strength to them and beat one of them up.

    This was a good opportunity, with this knowledge I can likely bring their scores up by a lot. When leading men there are two great motivators, greed and punishment. Greed only works when you have the means to feed your subject’s greed, and punishment only works when your subjects have enough faith in your strength and benevolence to accept punishment willingly. If you don't have the means to feed your subject’s greed, then they will search elsewhere for material gain which cannot be obtained through their current ruler. If you use punishment without displaying strength and benevolence then your subjects will view it as fear-mongering and not discipline, thus leading to rebellion and disorder, you need to win the hearts of your men before using such a tactic.

    I decided to calmly explain the material to them, making sure they were following along through each part. Haruka-san and Miyabe-kun both have enough motivation already in order to assure that they will work hard without me here. I will need to create motivation for the two idiots in order to assure that they will work hard.

“Yamauchi-kun, Ike-kun, there are two great motivators, rewards and punishments, If both of you can score above a 90% in all subjects on the next test your reward will be a glimpse at pantsu I'm wearing on the day we get our results.

    This light up their eyes and they might have started drooling if they did not fear for the punishment part of the speech I was giving.

“If either of you somehow gets below a 50% on the test in any subject, then your punishment will be decided based on whatever mood I’m in on the day we get results, is this clear?”

“YES MA’AM!” they said in unison, which caused the librarian to ironically yell at them for being too loud and walked off.

“Ummmmm, Yoko-chan, aren’t you going a bit too far for the reward?” Haruka-san asked

“Such scores are impossible for both of them, and they are too afraid of expulsion to cheat on this exam, I created that impossible reward as something to chase after while simultaneously running away from  the punishment” I replied

“Ohhhh, that makes sense, your so smart, Yoko-chan!” Haruka said while grinning

    During the study sessions leading up to the midterms, I saw a great improvement in them. Even on a day off that we were given, I saw them meet up after school ended at their seats carrying their textbooks with them.

    I followed them to the dorms that day, they stopped at a convenience store to get a bunch of Five Hour Energy along with noodles and various snacks. Once they got back to Yamauchi-kun’s dorm I got a quick look inside and saw it was surprisingly clean. There were a lot of tissues in the garbage bin along with very obviously hidden porn magazines and soda cans and dirty clothes everywhere. On the wall, there was a giant banner with the goal ‘SEE KIYOKO-SAMA’s PANTSU’.

    While I was a tiny bit disgusted with their intense determination to see my underwear I was also impressed with their academic growth. They memorized all of the math formulas and got stronger in every other subject, it even looking like they might get above 60 percent. However, this school wasn’t that easy, because exactly one weak before the midterm exams Chabashira-sensei warned us that very little stuff we have worked very hard on memorizing won’t be put on the test, different parts of our textbook will be tested, and we have on weak to prepare.

    While being slightly worried about their mental state I looked at the two idiots and discovered they had been broken. Though to my surprise that only lasted for about ten minutes, after that time Chabashira-sensei left, and both of them looked each other in the eyes with a burning passion.

“This is but an obstacle the God Of Pantsu has placed in our path, we shall overcome it as brothers, Haruki!” he said as he held out his hand

“Let’s do it, Kanji!” replied Yaumuchi as he firmly grasped his friend’s hand “this is nothing The Brotherhood of Pantsu cannot overcome”

    Everyone looked at them as they would a senile old man, however they just ignored it and went about their complaining. They thought it was just some more of their antics, however, I was a bit concerned. To think such a cult has been formed was knowledge that I rather would have not obtained, but whatever.

    Even if Yamauchi-kun and Ike-kun would pass without my aid, this next part would still be necessary. I invited Kushida-san out to lunch with me who accepted, she asked what we were doing here, but I just warned her to keep her mouth shut about what will happen next.

    We approached a senior student who was eating the free vegitable lunch seat and sat down across from him. We negotiated for a little while and eventually I got the price of it down.

After 4 days Kushida-san and I passed it out, we were thanked by a lot of people. Kouenji-kun didn’t take it, however he won’t need it. Then the next day everone walked in and sat down with greate confidence, except for one person.

“Ken, what's the matter? You getting cold feet?”

“I-i never looked over the english part of it”

“What the hell is wrong with you? Now there is no way you will pass!”

“D-don’t worry, I studied really hard on everything else and I looked over the english part of it for 10 minutes before coming to school”

“But still…”

    This was a bit troublesome, but everything will likely work out in the end. I prepared a plan just in case one person were to actually fail, but it is a bit of a problem to execute.

    Once all of the scores were revealed two days later, I saw that Ike-kun and Yamauchi-kun both averaged at 82 and 86 points which means no pantsu for them. Sudo-kun got about 56 points in all of his subjects except english, where he got a 34 points, which was just below the necessary 35 for passing.

    Horikita-san fought back, but it was to no avail. After Chabashira-sensei left for a smoke I left aswell. After approaching her I requested to buy Sudo-kun one english test point, this was responded to by laughter and an unreasonable demand of 100,000 private points for it.

    In response to this I just showed her my phone, which had 255,000 private points in it. She got wide eyed in response and laughed even more and took the 100,000 points from me. This was the second time I needed to borrow points from Kiyo-nii, I probably look so stupid in his eyes.

    When I was walking back I was stopped by Horikita-san, she followed me out, however, never got a chance to join into our conversation. She questioned me about where I got that many points, which I responded to honestly. After getting back to the classroom I announced that Sudo-kun’s expulsion has been rescinded.

“How did you do it?” “Nice job!” “Thank you!” “Along with getting us this tests answer sheet? Your amazing Kiyoko-san!”

    I was getting praised by and questioned by all of our classmates. I responded by saying “I paid 100,000 private points to raise Sudo-kun’s test score, but I still need to pay my brother back for his help with it, can I ask you guys to help me with that? I am short 65,000 private points, and if I don't pay him back soon I’ll be charged interest”

“Don’t worry Kiyoko-san, we’ll help you! I can transfer you 50,000 private points right away!” Hirata replied which rallied the whole class to aid me. I had secured my position as an intelligent and kind person in their eyes, which brought me closer to the position as class leader.

    Everyone in the class (other than Kouenji and those without any points left) pitched in and got me 100,000 points back. After transferring the points back to him I was left with 30,000 private points.

    We had passed the first trial this school threw at us and created a small sense of unity within this class. I would say this was a complete win, however I had to rely on Kiyo-nii again in order to get this surefire victory.

    At the end of that night I went to bed and looked at the photo of me and Kiyo-nii on my phone. Each day we are growing farther apart, I grabbed my pillow and threw it at the wall. It did no damage and helped sooth my distress slightly, but it did nothing to solve the true problem at hand. The fact that the stupid bitch Arisu-chan is getting in my way. I need to eliminate her at all costs, but I know that the only way to do that is to defeast Kiyo-nii, which is never going to happen.

It's been a little while since I last posted so sorry bout that, I have been and will be pretty busy in the future with school, work, and SAT prep. Aside from that, thanks for reading and have a beautiful rest of your day