The Anime Trope System: Stone vs. Viper, #8 a LitRPG (ATS) Read online

  “Fancy,” Airi said. “I can’t wait to try the food tomorrow.”

  “Oh, Clyde you shouldn’t keep my soul sister waiting,” Ruri said.

  “Your soul sister? Oh, Harumi,” Clyde said then nodded. “A hellhound and a fox. Fox and the hound. It all makes sense now.” He chuckled.

  “Care to share your magnificent revelation, oh great god of wisdom?” Airi said, doing exaggerating hand motions in the air, along with finger wiggling.

  “Just something from my world,” he said. And an Easter egg he somehow revealed.

  “Let’s go get beef jerky, Ruri,” Airi said, pointing at a nearby vending machine. “Sorry Clyde, I’m taking this cutie away.”

  Ruri wiped away a little drool.

  “I left my money at home and Matsume can’t be found.”

  “She’s napping in the classroom closet,” Clyde said. “Start using your nose on targets other than me.” He winked then started toward the building.

  As he headed to the main classroom where they conducted their work, a thought popped into his head. He collected a variety of Ki crests, including Ruri’s Control, Agility, and Lust and Matsume’s Fierce, Fire, and Composure. Among all of them, there were two highlighted words. Alice’s Radiance and Kanako’s Range. Range’s rarity matched the color of a relic…If he boosted it, how far could he go?

  [This crest has no limit. It is also dependent on the skill. In theory, boosting range to an extremely high level would enable you to target planets and even other universes. However, this would be simply impossible with sex. Sex increases Ki once per day. You’d need 10,000 or more consecutive years of daily sex with the genie to pose a threat to your intergalactic neighbors. Not that you are considering it.]

  Clyde sighed. He knew from the beginning that sex’s limitations and slow Ki increases, would eventually become a problem. Ki items never drop. He needed…a lot of chests.

  The idea came to mind. Airi. Her job on Team Stone could be to locate dungeons and report them to him. He’ll limit the party to just four people to make tracking health and magic easier—his party had plenty of power to spare—and take down whoever guarded the rewards. The Super Druid would probably auto-reserve a spot for herself, which was fair enough. Tear’s network should be able to assist the purple-haired young woman with digital maps, terrain, and anything else.

  [Quest: assign Airi the job as Dungeon Finder. This quest is mandatory and cannot be refused. Reward: 12,000 EXP and 1 *Sun drip potion*.]

  An item for a reward. Fuck yes. The EXP was meager, possibly a randomly selected number. In the hall, Clyde waved down Alice.

  “Where’s Harumi?”

  “I think she’s sitting in the cafeteria,” Alice replied.

  “Let’s go check on her,” Clyde said. His life mate nodded.

  [Good! You’ve enabled quest path: see Harumi. Alice must be present.]

  Uh oh. He hoped the pink-haired young woman was okay. Protect her smile...now that definitely applied to everyone’s favorite fox girl. Everyone loved her, but he did on a deeper level.

  Maybe after the festival setup, he’d go spend some time with Tear. Maybe both. Somehow…he knew that he could do that…

  [You should consider rest because you clearly keep forgetting that you have a harem. You do not have to spend time with just 1 girl at a time; however, to give credit where it’s due, it is sweet. Each girl wants your attention. For thinking of Tear, you gain +10 intellect.+50 endurance.]

  Episode 41 (Part 6)

  Class A Meetup…

  Misaka reluctantly showed up to her class’s meetup, led by the class rep. Everyone spoke of Team Stone members like golden chess pieces or really rare trading cards, yet none of them from Class A were present. Did anyone tell them? No Maki either… Ever since the day that lady disappeared out in the open, Misaka feared that someone would come after her for seeing too much, like in the animes. She didn’t awake to her destined powers yet, so the young woman couldn’t protect herself.

  “Listen up,” the class rep said. “Most of Team Stone’s in Class C. We don’t have any! So we must bring them down—and hey,” the boy made some kind of… popular kid gesture. “You don’t have to worry about their specials. They’re not the only ones that can do unnatural things. I just hid mine from the public. Classes B and D supposedly have a special someone too and put them up as reps.”

  A girl raised her hand.

  “Maki hangs out with them, so she’s got to have some kind of power. I think she may be Team Stone too. Shouldn’t we have her as class rep? And she’s the most—”

  “We don’t know for sure,” the boy interrupted. “She’s never shown off any abilities. She’s popular, blah blah, powerful family. She just used her connections to force her way into their circle. Most of us are rich, so we’re not going to rely on the old boring tactic of throwing money around to get into Team Stone. Now, just leave it to me, your rep.”

  “Show us your powers,” someone said. The boy chuckled, wagging his finger.

  “Tsk. Tsk. There’s a time and a place for that and it’s not here to burn down our classroom or school. If you can’t trust me, then I’ll step down and let someone else take—”

  “Sorry, sorry,” the questioner said.

  “It’s fine, as long as you know who will lead us to stomping down the other classes,” the rep said. “Hmm, we’ll need a face, someone who will…YOU.”

  He pointed at Misaka. The young woman nearly fell backward.

  “M—m—me?” she said.

  “Yes, perfect. You’re gorgeous. You will be the queen of class A and I will be your knight.” He smiled.

  “I want to be queen,” another girl said. “I fit the roll better and that girl hardly talks. And my family’s more powerful. Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho—” The girl’s friend next to her smashed the top of her head with a large paper fan.

  “As I was saying,” the rep said. “Misaka will be the face of our team.”

  He walked over to the trembling young woman and smiled wider. “To think that—”

  Misaka fainted.

  “Uh-oh, she passed out again,” a girl said. “Take her to the nurse’s room. Her ride should be here in a bit.”

  “Is she eating right?” another girl said.

  The rep looked confused.

  “Do you ever pay attention?” a girl said. “She faints a lot. She may be anemic. You can’t slam things onto her.”

  “I think she gets intimidated really easily,” a boy said. The rep sighed, confused.

  **

  Sato Academy cafeteria…

  Clyde and Alice walked in on Harumi finishing up what seemed to be paperwork. The half-demoness waved at her.

  “Did you call?” Clyde said.

  “I’m ready to call it a night,” Harumi said. “My phone’s dead and Liru…I’m a little tired. The guest appearances are all done, including Ming’s. I think the classes are going to compete over us behind our backs.”

  Clyde nodded.

  “You can—”

  Alice stole his thunder by interrupting him.

  “You can use my phone to call Liru,” she said. Her cheerful expression revealed no malicious intention, but he totally wanted to give up his phone to the pink-haired girl.

  “Really?” Harumi said, accepting her phone. “Are you sure you don’t need it for something?”

  “No, it’s totally fine,” Alice said. “I know how important your sister is to you.”

  “Thank you, Alice,” Harumi said, giving the half-demoness the smile that Clyde wanted for himself. He’d have to settle on the sight of those two getting along.

  “Let—”

  “Let me get you a drink,” Alice interrupted again, causing Clyde’s eyes to widen and twitch for a second. Before the half-demoness could scurry off, he placed his hand on top of her head, rooting the young woman in place.

  “Something’s bothering you, Harumi, and Alice and I want to help out,” Clyde said. The pink-haired girl looked as she we
ighed the options, but let out a sigh.

  “Liru said that she sensed the movement of a dragon fifty miles from her,” Harumi began. “I’ve tried to convince her to just live with us for a while but she doesn’t want to abandon her job. If I got to her with my active powers, that dragon will definitely sense them and come to attack, maybe with an entire clan.”

  Clyde sat next to Harumi.

  “That…is a problem,” he said folding his arms. Dragons were the enemies of Kitsune and responsible for the death of Harumi and her sister’s entire family. This was the first time Harumi openly mentioned one being on the move. He had no idea the rival beings could sense each other. He still had the Investigate the Dragons quest. That meant planning slowly but surely and preventing either of the sisters from doing anything they’d regret.

  “The best bet is to simply do nothing,” Clyde said. “I will investigate your dragon threat soon, but until then have your sister send you daily updates on its movements. Try to get me a location. She can’t go hard-charging when we don’t know what we’re up against. Harumi, when you ready, let me know the specific dragon clan that killed your family.”

  Harumi flinched. He was about to pull her in for a hug, but Alice beat him to the punch with a grab on the other side.

  “Okay, no,” Clyde said, annoyed then pulled Harumi into him, anyway.

  “Hey!” Alice said.

  “You’re robbing me of her,” Clyde said, laughing. The pink-haired girl heavily blushed. Alice pouted. He sensed…a mood drop and a trickle of jealousy in the half-demoness, through the bond, then pulled her too, which immediately snuffed the negative emotions away. “You know, I’ve got plenty of hugs to go around.”

  Alice melted into him. Was he paying enough attention to her? Maybe she wanted more. Fuck, what would a harem main character do in this situation? Clyde internally chuckled. As if he’d get his advice from them. They would probably want Clyde’s council instead.

  “You two are too good for me,” he said, gaining more blushes. That wasn’t even intended to be smooth talk, just a stated fact, yet it still got a positive reaction.

  [Quest completed: see Harumi with Alice present. Further progression possible for your investigation of the dragon threat.]

  Harumi leaned toward Clyde as if to kiss him, but Sazuki barged into the cafeteria, followed by other students.

  “Job well done,” she said. “You may go home for the night.” She stopped in front of the young man.

  “Uhmm, Leader,” she said then whispered to him. “All the classes are betting Team Stone like wager pieces. They’re all fired up and motivated, but I can end this now if you want.”

  “Let them bet,” Clyde said. “Class C won’t be losing.”

  Sazuki shot him a blank stare. Maki too.

  “Maki,” Sazuki said. “Are we hearing this? You know what, let’s toss in a wager, just between us. If Class A wins, you’ll have to do whatever I say for a day.”

  Clyde grinned.

  “And if Class C wins, in addition to doing whatever I say, you’ll have to go on a date with me.”

  Sazuki’s blush seem to gather attention.

  “Da—date?”

  “Yep, with the possibility of lewd stuff at the end,” is what he wanted to say, but knew there was a limit to messing with her.

  One could hardly tell if she was once the ice queen at that moment, the heat from her face almost palpable. Long black hair, glistening gray eyes, and a slightly-above-average bust, the only reason someone like her could be single was due to anime logic. Well no. Ice queen. Harumi’s case of being single definitely revealed anime logic.

  He was actually glad that a group of girls currently surrounded her so that she didn’t hear this conversation. But why? Some of Earth’s way of thinking still peeked every now and then. In the end, he decided that Harumi would simply have to get used to seeing her friends in his…harem.

  It still felt strange to acknowledged this, but who was he to argue with a system that revealed to him the ways of being unimaginably strong.

  Chika barged into the conversation and sat on Clyde’s lap, right in front of everyone. In addition to the blushes, there were expressions of longing. The men of course were pissed.

  “The top students, dating?” someone said.

  “All three. A threesome,” someone said.

  The sound of Kitome telling them to shut up while delivering the paper fan of justice almost made the young man laugh. But the students weren’t wrong.

  “I want in on this! If we win, you must join Chika Corps!” The silver-haired girl pointed at Sazuki.

  “Chika corps?” Clyde and Sazuki said at the same time.

  “I’ll tell you about it later,” Chika said then laid back. “Being a CEO is so draining.” She made a pouty face. “Clllyydee, refuel me.” And she kissed him. “Ah! That helps.”

  “Clyde kill yourself,” one of the men said.

  “We should crucify him,” another said.

  “Oh quit whining,” a girl said. “Maybe if you stopped thinking you could buy dates, you’ll actually get one.”

  Laughter and then students began to take jives and roast each other. Eventually, Sazuki shut them down.

  “Enough,” she said, smiling. “Go home, get some rest and be ready to run stands or participate in events, eat, whatever. Have fun.” They cheered then slowly dispersed, casual chatter filling the cafeteria.

  “One more wager.” Kitome sat next to Harumi, who was no longer surrounded by other girls. Kazumi stayed behind, curious of any possible scandal. Perverted glasses girl to the letter? “If Class D wins, Clyde must do whatever I say.”

  “Oh yeah,” Seth said, “If Class B wins, Kitome has to show up to school in magical girl form. She could even transform at the gate.”

  He dodged her six punches, laughing.

  “Alright no more wagers, let’s get this—”

  “I’m also in Class B,” Melody said, walking up to the group, carrying papers. Clyde suspected Sazuki carried out revenge in the form of labor for ignoring the many invitations to join the student council. At first, it seemed like she always had a meeting with the student council president. “If we win, Clyde must publicly announce whatever I want.”

  Clyde’s eyes widened, but it was too late.

  “Deal,” Alice said. “I’d settle for adding more dessert to the school menu. There’s like no cake, no pies, no cookies.”

  Natalia walked over.

  “Yuki said dinners ready.”

  Everyone looked at the loli. She shrugged.

  “I’m hungry.”

  Episode 41 (Part 7)

  Clyde invited the entire party to dinner, but Toru wanted to get back to Fumi and also check on his gothic loli assistant Nina. Seth, Kitome, and Yusuke declined too with their set of excuses—but the young man saw the tiredness in their eyes. Sazuki thought for a second, considering, but she wanted to check on Kiko.

  “Where’d Melody go?” he wondered aloud.

  “She took off ahead of us,” Alice said.

  “Ah.”

  When they stepped outside of the academy, Clyde initiated the Jump. Toru gave the non-housemates a ride home. Upon opening the door, the delicious aroma of Yuki’s divine cooking hugged everyone’s noses. Melody, dressed in an apron, finished setting up the table, although seeming to put extra care in two spots. One obviously for him, the other, more than likely meant for herself. Sophia seemed a little annoyed having her job stolen by the redhead.

  Melody smiled upon noticing them, eyes on Clyde. As everyone walked in, she hurried to him.

  While unbuttoning his school uniform shirt, she said,

  “Would you like a bath, or dinner, or...” She blushed, and he already knew the answer to that question. Chika ruined the moment by whacking her with a paper fan.

  “I’ve already done that.” She continued onward to their room. “Who’s making these?”

  “Okay, I propose a ban on the paper fan gag,” Clyde said
to his crew then turned back to his teary-eyed redhead who probably asked Yuki for advice. What they fail to realize was that the mischievous demoness, twenty-two years old, pulled all of her examples from the books she read. She lacked the experience to actually give advice but couldn’t turn down the cute opportunities to mess with them. “A bath actually sounds nice, but I have one more stop after dinner.”

  Melody had actually prepared a hot bath for him.

  “Damn,” Clyde said. “You’re the best.”

  Stars shined in Melody’s eyes.

  “Come on, strip, my Soother.” Clyde feigned innocence, pretending to cover himself up while batting his eyelashes. Melody laughed. “I’ll be doing your laundry.”

  “Wait—” Clyde tried to say, but it was too late. The redhead took his clothes and left. Sighing, he got into the tub and relaxed. Minutes later, Melody returned, dressed in a thin robe.

  “Let me wash your back,” she said. His erection burst into maximum overdrive.

  “Well, you are my fiancée,” he said. Before he knew it, Melody was kissing him, tears streaming from her face. She pulled back.

  “It didn’t hit me until after it was done,” she said softly. “I made you take a soul-oath without any explanation. It’s almost like—”

  “It’s fine,” he said. “I’m not mad, but quite the opposite. It’s a little different from my world, but I’ll explain that to you some other time.” He wanted to surprise her with the ring.

  System, can I craft this ring? He thought. Melody kissed him again.

  [Yes. You will gain additional EXP and relationship points for crafting something like this from your heart.]

  “Do you want to join me in the tub?” Clyde said, voice nonchalant. The redhead chuckled.

  “I’m here to wash your back, remember?” she said. “Everything else can wait until bedtime.”