The Person Who Only Wants to Drop Out of Real School, Section 23

"Then I'll play along with him."

With that thought, Kushida quickly adjusted her mood. When she lifted her head again, she had already returned to her little angel persona.

In fact, there was even more seriousness and determination in her eyes, making her look very hardworking in her pursuit of learning and making friends.

The little angel's approachability had greatly increased, making others want to get closer to her.

This also made Bai Lan's guilt over "bullying an idiot" weigh a little heavier.

In that case, better to rip off the bandage quickly and get it over with!

"I can already feel your enthusiasm for learning to talk back. Strike while the iron's hot—follow me!"

Kushida: Strike while the iron's hot? What does that even mean?

After speaking, Bai Lan waved his hand, turned around, and headed toward the staircase he had just come from.

Kushida watched Bai Lan's back, clenched her fist to give herself a boost of courage, then followed.

"Alright, start Phase One of learning. When in Rome, do as the Romans do—we'll begin with your traditional Japanese national insult."

Bai Lan said with a serious face: "Repeat after me: Ba~ka~ (idiot)."

27. Baka, Hentai, Useless (Please read and vote~)

To make Kushida let down her guard and practice without worry, lest others see the little angel practicing insults and ruin her image, Bai Lan planned to take her to a spot behind the school building.

This place was far from the cafeteria, convenience store, stairwell entrance, and the second-floor classrooms.

At this time of day, it was a spot where people rarely passed by.

Plus, the classroom walls in this school had excellent soundproofing. Speaking a little louder here, saying something strange, wouldn't attract anyone's attention.

But the limit was only "a little louder."

If something happened and Kushida shouted too loudly, it would still draw people over.

Very safe.

Soon, the training began!

"Alright, start Phase One of learning. When in Rome, do as the Romans do—we'll begin with your traditional Japanese national insult."

Bai Lan said with a serious face: "Repeat after me: Ba (idiot) ka (dumbass)."

"Ba, baka." Kushida's voice was very stiff.

"Louder! You think you can learn to talk back with a voice that small?! Again! Ba--! Ka--!" Bai Lan raised his pitch.

Kushida felt like Bai Lan was insulting her, and a flicker of anger rose within her.

"Ba! Ka!" Kushida stared at Bai Lan, her voice a little louder, carrying a barely restrained fire.

"Louder!"

"Baka!"

"Good! That's the spirit! Keep that feeling and repeat it fifty times!"

"Baka baka baka..."

As Kushida chanted "baka," she watched Bai Lan's reaction, trying to read something from his face.

Without realizing it, her attention completely off her mouth, Kushida mechanically finished fifty rounds of "baka."

Bai Lan: "What's with that dryness after fifty times? Another fifty to wet your throat!"

Kushida: "..."

Because if she stayed stiff, she might have to do another fifty, Kushida, perhaps wanting to end this sooner, was forced to tap into her potential.

In the second round of fifty "bakas," Bai Lan felt as if she had suddenly gotten it, picking it up quickly.

From around the twentieth time onward, Kushida's "baka" became very smooth. In fact, she began unconsciously adding her complex maidenly heart into the "baka," transmitting her emotions into the heart of whoever heard that "baka."

Bai Lan listened to the "baka" in his ears.

He could almost hear her thoughts through her "baka":

This "baka" carried her frustration!

This "baka" expressed anger!

This "baka" seemed to be accusing someone?

This "baka" was... pain?

Bai Lan couldn't help but be surprised: She learned this fast? Was she a genius at talking back? All these years, it was civility and manners that had suppressed her talent!

"Great! You've mastered 'baka' well. Now for the second item. Repeat after me: Hen-tai (pervert)!"

"Uh..." Kushida hesitated. "Is this word also used to insult Horikita?"

Bai Lan: "This is the basics! You have to learn it all. And this word has double the impact coming from a pretty girl's mouth!"

Kushida didn't say much else and quickly started staring at Bai Lan, "perving" on him.

Soon, the "perving" ended.

"Starting the third item—combination technique!"

"Idiot, pervert! Say it together, fifty times!"

This time, Kushida raised no objections and directly began "idiot pervert"-ing.

If anything, she was even a little eager...

To be honest, Kushida felt her own behavior was a bit foolish, but alongside that foolishness, she also vaguely sensed... it felt kind of good.

She had never before vented the emotions pent up inside her directly at a living person, face to face.

In the past, Kushida had been dumped on with a lot of emotional garbage from others, and she couldn't help but be affected by those negative feelings. She also wanted to confide in someone, needed an outlet.

But she had to maintain her image in front of others; she couldn't show a negative, pessimistic side.

Besides, many of the things she wanted to vent about couldn't be shared with anyone.

At first, she'd find a place with no one around, punching and kicking trees, railings, whatever, while cursing them out.

But that method wasn't very effective. Without any feedback, it made her feel like everything she did was futile, like she was useless. Often, the more she vented, the worse she felt.

Then she discovered the internet.

Her best outlet before had been using the internet as a tree hollow—through the screen, confiding in strangers she didn't know, complaining about all sorts of things around her.

That method worked well.

Lots of netizens would agree with her thoughts, encourage her, comfort her, and even join her in badmouthing her bizarre friends.

Of course, there were also inevitably people who argued with her, who took the opposing side.

Online, no one knew anyone, and no one coddled anyone.

At first, Kushida would still talk to them politely, like she did in real life. But people online were even better at pissing you off than people in reality.

Over time, though, Kushida couldn't take it anymore.

She felt she didn't need to maintain a relationship with these faceless strangers, so she just started cursing them out, venting her emotions fiercely.

At the beginning, this worked fine.

But reality taught her that even the internet wasn't safe...

Someone recognized her.

And then, her world was destroyed.

After that incident, she never dared to use the internet as a tree hollow again.

This kind of face-to-face venting, where she could even see the real-time reaction on the target's face as she hurled insults at them—

This was something she had never experienced before.

It gave her an unprecedented sense of exhilaration!

It was absolutely amazing!

Even though she couldn't vent about her unspeakable secrets.

She could still think about those awful things in her mind while pouring all her pent-up frustration, anger, and other dark, negative emotions into these simple shouts of "idiot" and "pervert."

Since Kushida was "practicing" and Bai Lan was the coach, she could vent at him without any burden.

Plus, she felt that Bai Lan was clearly trying to mess with her on purpose, which was infuriating.

So she cursed him out with even more gusto.

But then, Kushida suddenly had a thought: Bai Lan said Horikita liked to vent stress by lashing out at people—could that actually be true!?

If so, then wasn't Bai Lan really trying to help her?

And here she was, cursing him out...

Whatever, forget it, she'd enjoy herself first!

"Idiot pervert idiot pervert idiot pervert idiot pervert idiot pervert..."

Kushida cursed while recalling her past.

Soon, the fifty rounds were over, but Kushida couldn't stop at all.

"Alright, alright! That's enough times, you can stop!" Bai Lan tried to call a halt to move on to the next item.

No use.

"Stop!"

By now, Kushida was high on the pleasure of venting. She found Bai Lan, who was trying to stop her, a bit annoying.

For a moment, Kushida completely abandoned her little angel image and directly yelled at Bai Lan to "shut up" and not bother her.

"Shut up, shut up!"

After yelling "shut up," she went right back to "idiot pervert"-ing.