Ayanokouji What If: Popularity Time

V9 Chapter 6.1: Heartstruck

Kiyotaka Pov

Sleeping is easy, they said. It will be fun, they said.

Try sleeping when your phone is blowing up next to your head. I kept my phone alarm on so that in the case of an emergency, I would wake up.

I suppose I should have known better than to leave it on that night, because the next day would be very important for me.

Valentines Day had finally arrived, the day that promised chocolates, candy, and perhaps even an added layer of romance.

Now girls were texting me en masse at 5 in the morning to secure date plans with me. It's easy for everyone to acknowledge that I'm in high demand.

I began to send messages back and forth, organizing dates with a select few girls.

Matsushita, Maezono, and Inogashira were the ones I selected as date partners for today. They would come in handy later, so it was best to make sure I managed to keep my priorities straight when approaching them.

I got up from bed, and stepped into the shower for a few minutes before finally leaving it.

The mirror was covered in steam, so I pressed my hand against it and began to wipe it off so I could see my reflection. It was important that today I made sure my appearance was even more put together than normal so I would be successfully replicating a certain archetype.

I combed my hair over to the side for a more formal look, giving a spritz of a fancy cologne on my wrist. I slapped an expensive wrist watch on the other arm before pausing to examine myself in my reflection. I looked better than usual, that's for sure, so I was confident that I would be able to attract more girls.

I had my phone on silence while I showered, and now, I decided it would be  good to check my notifications. I didn't expect much while I was in the shower, but I was surprised to see a call from Airi. 

She never called me, so it was a rare occasion when she did end up doing so. My gaze shifted though to a  message from Kikyo, asking to come over.

This makes sense, but I'm still in the process of getting ready so it would be better for me to ignore her for now. She would likely stop by later tonight anyways, so it would ultimately end up being ok in that regard.

Today I would ignore my usual gym schedule in favor of getting a few romantic ideas to use to woo more of the girls. I sat on my phone, scrolling through multiple blogs related to romance.

In the White Room, we were taught how to manipulate people, but not related to love. If I had to bet, I suppose I would likely be put into an arranged marriage with a girl from a wealthy family to amass more funds for the White Room.

Suddenly, a knock at my door stopped by train of thought suddenly. I looked at the clock on my phone, and noticed it was 6:00 am. While I would want to ignore this person right now, it was too early in the morning for me realistically to be out and about at this time.

With no other options, I opened the door. Kikyo stood there with an annoyed expression and her phone held up to the door. As soon as I opened the door, she shoved it into my face aggressively.

"You didn't respond to my message," she said with a glare.

"I was sleeping."

Kikyo looked me up and down, "Sleeping in your school uniform, with a watch on, with cologne, and with your hair done up?"

I paused, "Yes."

"Fuck off," she said while rolling her eyes while simultaneously forcing her way past me and into my room.

"Is this visit really necessary?" I asked, closing the door behind me.

"I figured I would get ahead of the crowd, you know? Once you step out of your dorm room you're going to get jumped by girls."

"Yeah, I know."

She frowned at me, "So then why did you not reply in the first place?"

"I was asleep."

"Oh my god," she muttered in an annoyed tone. She rifled through her bag, producing a pink box. On top of it was a gold, shimmery bow.

Kikyo held it out to me expectantly, and I took it from her, turning the box over to examine its every angle.

"It's not a bomb," she declared suddenly.

"I had to check," I replied, slowly undoing the bow on top. I carefully removed the top of the box, revealing a plastic wrapper.

I looked up at her, "That was a waste of a box."

Her face morphed into a glare, "Shut up! I have to give these fancy boxes to everyone so I had to make them look good!"

"So is this not special then? Not made with love or care?"

"God, shut up!" she said with a pink tint on her face. She turned away from me and scoffed at my insolence. Kikyo crossed her arms and plopped onto one of my seats to observe me.

"Come on, I didn't mean it," I said soothingly, coming to her side. I placed my hand on her shoulder and squeezed it softly.

She squeaked and slapped my hand away, her face now redder than a tomato, "Kiyotaka don't tease me like that!"

I chuckled and began to unwrap the plastic baggie, "You just make it too easy. Reading you is like reading a book, especially after you confessed how much you love me." I was teasing her purely for the fun of it and I suppose she didn't enjoy the joke as much as I did.

"Are you just going to keep teasing me?" she said with a visible pout and puffed up cheeks.

I shrugged, "Who knows?"

"Have you thought about your answer yet?"

"Not yet," I replied bluntly.

"Why you-You're wasting my time!"

"You like it though, you like the suspense, the feeling of your heart bouncing between the extremes," I replied, getting closer to her until I was directly in front of her face. 

"No I don't! It's like waiting for death to see if he'll let you live another day, pure anxiety!"

"Then let me ease that for you," I said, before darting forward.

Kikyo's forehead received a quick peck from my lips. Her forehead was smooth, but also strong, which was similar to her nature: Smooth and presentable on the outside, while headstrong on the inside.

"What was that!"

"A kiss," I replied as if it were just another normal thing.

Kikyo seemed to be at a lost for words, thinking for a moment before saying, "Does that mean you...accept my confession?"

I shrugged, "It's just a Valentine's Day Gift."

"You bitch."

Author: Hey bakas, it's Author here, if you couldn't tell. So so sorry (not really) that the chapter was super late, it was cause I was grinding for a group of tests and quizzes, so I could only focus on one fic during that period. Man, Highschool can go eat shit and die fr. Like when am I going to need to know how to calculate the atomic mass of Helium, like when? Unless I choose one specific path out of hundreds, maybe even thousands in life, then that shit is entirely useless. Idk, but if someone wants to do all my homework, hit me up. Have a great day and see you next time I update!