chapter 13 :Technically

"So...reading books make you smarter?" Erika asked with a skeptical tone.

"Technically, yes. But I'm considered a special case." Takeshi told her, before he folded his arms behind his back and leaned back in a relaxing position. "As you would imagine, I read many many books. History, politics, science, theory, mathematics, you name it. I've covered a lot of subjects in a fast rate and able to memorize it without any limit. I simply took war tactics and strategies from a few books I read a long time ago and applied it in this situation." Takeshi explained to her, all the while not telling her about his abilities with books.

Erika kept staring at him with incredulity, before she shook her head and gave out a small smirk.

"Well, aren't you that smart one? Should I start calling you the bookworm?" Erika asked with a sly and teasing tone.

"Well, with the rate I'm going with, I might as well be considered one." Takeshi said with an accepting smile. Erika faltered a bit when she heard his response.

"I didn't expect you to accept it so easily..." Erika muttered. Takeshi clasped his hands together while giving his usual carefree smile.

"In any case, now that you are here, this makes things a lot more easier." Takeshi said.

"That is what the job pays me for." Erika responded. "So, now that I'm here, care to let me into your plans?" Erika asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, right. Now that you're here, I can add in more variables." Takeshi said as he drew out a new piece of paper to write on.

This is going to be a long night for him and Erika.

(The Next Day - Kuoh Academy Library)

"So if you manage to use this formula, and then use this..." Takeshi said while pointing to a few pictures on a book. "And after a simple calculation, you finally reached your answer." Takeshi said to a female classmate next to him.

"Ah! So that's how you figured it out! I can't believe I didn't notice it." the female classmate said with realization, and gave an appreciatve look towards Takeshi. "Thank you Fuyushima-san! I wouldn't have solved it without you!"

"Ah, it's not problem. Happy to help." Takeshi said with his carefree smile. It was then the female classmate looked down to her watch and realized the time.

"Oh, perfect timing! I better get going now or else I'd miss meeting up with my friends." the female classmate said as she quickly cleaned up stuff. She then hurriedly left.

"Take care!" Takeshi said his goodbye to his classmate, and gave a content sigh as she looked back to his own stuff. "That makes the 12th classmate that asked me to help them today..." Takeshi quietly said to himself.

Let it be known that while Takeshi isn't that famous and popular in Kuoh Academy, he did manage to make an identity. Asides from his infamous reputation of almost being late to school almost every time, which students just see it as a quirk of his, he also has another reputation.

Due to him having the power to easily understand and memorize the contents of a book he comes into contact with, it's only natural that he exceeds well in his classes. In fact, his ranking within the school board always rivals Sona. Time to time, their rankings and testing scores always go against each other for the #1 spot. Sometimes, Sona is #1 in the rankings. Then other times, he gets #1. It's a cycle the goes on between the two. Takeshi, however, doesn't seem to take this mind and just goes with it in stride.

And because of his rivaling rankings with Sona, some of the students came to him for academic help, to which he happily accepted their requests and helped them with their problems. And due to his carefree and friendly personality, it makes him approachable by many students. He also gained a small reputation within the library, a place where he sometimes spends at by reading the books there (even if it isn't necessary). His status managed to earn the admiration and affections of those bookworm girls in the library.

As stated before, his reputation isn't that big. It only gave him an identity in school. Even if he knew, he wouldn't really care or mind.

With that in mind, Takeshi begun packing up his stuff and planned on leaving the school and back to his home where he can plan strategies with Erika. As he left the library and walked alone through school grounds, his ear picked up some rustling. Turning his head, he blinked a bit in surprise when he saw Issei leaning a tree while shuddering about something.

Being concerned about his fellow classmate, Takeshi approached Issei from behind and merely tapped him on the shoulder.

"Excuse me-" Takeshi said to get his attention.

"NO MIL-TAN! I DON'T WANT TO...!" Issei shouted with a horrified tone as he sharply turned to see who it was. "...O-Oh. It's only you." Issei said with relief while wiping the sweat off of his forehead.

"Urm, you okay?" Takeshi said, a bit lost and unsure what made Issei react so jumpy like that. However, whoever this Mil-tan is clearly horrified Issei.

"You could say that..." Issei said while his eyebrow was twitching.

"Well, alright then. Just wanted to check on you if you were alright after what happened that night." Takeshi said, making Issei blink in confusion on what he said.

"What do you mean?" Issei asked. Takeshi raised an eyebrow.

"Don't you remember? I saw you...wait, you weren't aware I was there that night when the Fallen Angel attacked you." Takeshi said as he remembered the event, with Issei mostly lying on the floor dying from impalement.

Issei's eyes widened in shock as he heard him say that. "Wait, you saw what happened to me that night!?" Issei asked in shock.

I sure did. It didn't help that the Fallen Angel tried to kill me afterwards." Takeshi said while scratching his cheek.